Leadership
Nancy Owens Hess
Executive Director
Nancy Owens Hess brings many years of experience working in corporations and internationally to her current role at the Elizabeth Stone House. She joined the Stone House in 1998 as the children’s service coordinator and was appointed co-executive director in 2007 and Executive Director in 2010.
Prior to the Elizabeth Stone House, Hess was the executive director and founder of Institute for Transitional Economies, an organization that developed training programs for adult learners from the People’s Republic of China and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Early on in her career, she was the president and owner of CET, Inc. that developed international exchanges and language learning programs with the People’s Republic of China.
Hess holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Sociology/Anthropology from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass.
Maryann Chaisson
Director of Operations
Maryann Chaisson serves as the Elizabeth Stone House’s Director of Operations. She joined ESH in January of 2004 as a member of the development office. In February of 2005, she was appointed the Program Administrator of the ESH confidential site in Jamaica Plain. Chaisson went on to serve as Program Administrator for both sites until a fire closed the confidential location in August 2007. In 2007, Chaisson was appointed as Director of Operations by the board of directors following a strategic planning process and agency reorganization.
Prior to her joining the Stone House, Chaisson coordinated the Silk Road Gala for the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence and served as Special Events Coordinator for the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation. Chaisson also brings nine years of experience working for the Bank of New England to her role at the Stone House and holds an Associate Degree in Human Services from Bunker Hill Community College.
Contact at (617) 409-5414 or
mchaisson@elizabethstone.org
Tara Dendy
Director of Adult Programming
The Elizabeth Stone House welcomed Tara Dendy as Director of Adult Programming in October of 2011. Prior to the Stone House, Dendy was the program director at Community Resource for Justice's McGrath House, an organization that serves female offenders referred by the Suffolk county sheriff's department, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Massachusetts Parole Board.
Dendy also brings 15 years of experience specializing in working with women and their children through different modalities such as domestic violence, homelessness and substance abuse. She is a level one licensed alcohol and drug counselor.
Jim May
Director of Development
Jim May came to the Elizabeth Stone House in 2005, out of retirement, to help with an application for HUD funds to support the transitional housing program. That project led to another, and then to another and another until he was appointed director of development in early 2012.
Jim worked in small businesses most of his working life, and was a founding partner in the business he retired from. The ethos of small business in which the owner can keep the books, do the marketing, as well as sweep the floors and shovel the sidewalks prepared him well for the non-profit world, which sometimes requires all hands on deck when a project needs to be finished.
For fifteen years, he held a series of positions focused on marketing. He also was involved in numerous projects funded by various agencies of the U.S. government – hence his familiarity with the process of government grant making. In his private life, he served for nine years on the board of directors of the Milton Foundation for Education, in which position he chaired the grants committee for five years and co-chaired the Celebration for Education, the foundation’s primary annual fundraiser. When he’s not at work, he typically takes a busman’s holiday – co-chairing the annual budget drive for his church, raising funds for accessibility improvements to local buildings, and even putting the arm on his neighbors to support efforts to rebuild the local schools.
In short, Jim spends his time asking people for money – now for the Elizabeth Stone House. Often enough, they give to him.
Tanya McLean
Director of Children's Programming
Tanya McLean joined the Elizabeth Stone House as the Director of Children’s Programming in July of 2010 where she oversees all aspects of ESH’s family and children’s programs. McLean specializes in working with children and families that have experienced violence and homelessness. Prior to joining the team at Stone House, McLean directed the therapeutic afterschool program at The Second Step, where she developed a curriculum tailored to the unique needs of children living in the transitional housing program.
McLean is a LCSW and holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from Boston University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from Hamilton College in New York.
ESH Board of Directors
Maryann Civitello, Board President
Maryann Civitello is a partner in the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Her practice area is commercial real estate and she represents a large national drugstore chain in the acquisition of property throughout the United States. She has been a member of the Elizabeth Stone House board since 1994 and became the president of the board in January 2008. Maryann also recently served as a board member for seven years of the Girl Scouts, Patriots Trail Council. In May 2008 she was elected to serve on the Board Nominating and Development Committee of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. She is also a founding member and a member of the board of the Friends of St. Bernard's, Inc., a non-profit organization in Newton.
Linda Rosen, Board Clerk
A resident of Lexington, Massachusetts, Ms. Rosen joined the Elizabeth Stone House Board of Directors in October 2007. Ms. Rosen is a former hiker, Team Leader & Team Leader Coordinator with Wilderness Heals and has been extensively involved in the hike for the past five years. A librarian by trade, she helped coordinate and manage the hike for the past two years and in 2007 was the hike’s top fundraiser. With a background in research and marketing (Digital Equipment Corp., Microsoft), Ms. Rosen brings ideas and resources in the marketing, development, and fundraising areas to the Board, and she is Co-Chair of the Fundraising Committee.
Charleen Tyson, Board Treasurer
Since 2004, Charleen Tyson has been Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a quasi-public, non-profit lender whose primary business includes real estate lending for affordable housing, first-time homebuyer programs and providing technical assistance to cities and towns on affordable housing development. In her position, Ms. Tyson manages total assets of $350 million, $987 million in lines of credit with Massachusetts banks, a net mortgage portfolio of $244 million, cash and investments of $100 million, and gross annual revenue of $15 million.
Prior to joining MHP, she served for three years as Executive Vice President and CFO for MassDevelopment, where she managed finance and accounting, human resources, administration and technology. She has also served as Director of Finance at the New England Aquarium and Controller at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals/Angell Memorial Hospital.
In addition to her work as Treasurer of the Elizabeth Stone House, she also serves on the South Shore Charter School Board of Trustees, and on the finance committee for the Town of Hull. She received her MBA from Simmons College School of Management and did her undergraduate work in business management and science at Bridgewater State.
Betty Burns
Elizabeth (Betty) Burns is a Senior Vice President managing the Business Operations group at Natixis Global Asset Management – US. Natixis is a global financial services firm based in Boston and Paris. Ms. Burns is responsible for Affiliate Sales Support working with the various investment management firms that fall under the Natixis umbrella in the US; vendor oversight and dealer operations as they relate to the Natixis Funds, Loomis Sayles Funds and the Hansberger International Series; and business continuity administration for the Firm in the US. Ms. Burns is a member of the Funds’ Investment Committee and Risk Oversight Committee.
Ms. Burns has more than 32 years of financial services experience and has been with Natixis for over 25 years serving in numerous roles within the firm including sales support, marketing and business operations.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Burns worked at Fidelity Investments. Ms. Burns graduated with a BA in English from Merrimack College. She resides in Topsfield, Massachusetts and has two children.
David S. Dlugasch
David S. Dlugasch is currently Vice President of Acquisitions for Diversified Funding Incorporated, where his primary focus is sourcing and underwriting new assets for DFI. David is a licensed Massachusetts real state broker as well as a member of the United States Green Building Council.
While studying at Merrimack College, David served as a coordinator of the Best Buddies Merrimack chapter and was influential in starting the program. While in college, David also served as orientation coordinator, responsible for organizing and executing two orientations per year for incoming freshman to Merrimack. David also volunteered for The Boys and Girls club of Lawrence.
David graduated with a degree is accounting from Merrimack College and currently resides in Chestnut Hill, MA.
Gayla E. Langlois
Gayla E. Langlois is a Senior Associate with Alvarez & Marsal Dispute Analysis & Forensic Services in Boston. Ms. Langlois assists clients and counsel involved in commercial disputes, analyzes damages related to intellectual property infringement matters, assesses intellectual property license compliance, and investigates allegations of fraud, embezzlement, and financial reporting irregularities.
Prior to joining A&M, Ms. Langlois was an attorney with a full service intellectual property firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this role, she focused on assisting clients in obtaining patents, trademarks and copyrights, as well as dealing with infringement issues. Ms. Langlois gained further intellectual property experience while in law school, most notably at Bose Corporation. Prior to attending law school, she spent four years with the Advisory Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. At PwC, she participated as the lead staff member for various projects, including breach of contracts, patent and trademark infringement lawsuits, and forensic investigations.
Ms. Langlois earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a concentration in finance, from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Ms. Langlois is a member of the American Bar Association, Boston Bar Association, and Women’s Bar Association.
Susan Phillips
Susan Phillips is a partner in the Environmental Law Section of Mintz Levin, where she advises developers, lenders, purchasers and sellers of property with contamination or environmental permitting issues. Her particular emphasis is working with national retail chain stores on the acquisition, development and financing of Brownfield sites throughout the country.
Ms. Phillips received her B.A. in biology from Cornell University and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. She has been selected by "Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business" as a leader in environmental law, was named to the 2011 inaugural edition of the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Woman Lawyers, and has been named a "Massachusetts Super Lawyer" every year since 2006. She is a member of The International Council of Shopping Centers, New England Women in Energy and Environment, and a member of ASTM International, where she participates in various standard-setting committees relating to the real estate industry. She joined the board of the Elizabeth Stone House in February 2007.
Caroletta Shaw-Boyd
Ms. Caroletta Shaw- Boyd of Dorchester, MA is a former resident of the Elizabeth Stone House and an active member of her community. While at the Stone House, Ms. Shaw-Boyd showed great character, strength and perseverance. As a survivor of many of the issues that women at the Elizabeth Stone House face, Ms. Shaw-Boyd brings a plethora of real life experience and perspective to the Stone House’s board.
While at the Elizabeth Stone House, Ms. Shaw-Boyd was like the “mother” of ESH and showed true leadership. Ms. Shaw-Boyd was a model resident, who worked hard to reunify with her children and find new employment. During her time at the Stone House, Ms. Shaw-Boyd was promoted from a housekeeper to a supervisor at the Taj Boston Hotel, where she remains today. She is full of ideas, charisma and passion and is committed to the Elizabeth Stone House programs and its mission.
Randall E. Whittle
Mr. Whittle comes to the board of the Elizabeth Stone House after nearly four decades of endeavor in the field of Child Welfare with the Department of Children and Families. Now retired, he began his career in social welfare and social justice in 1972 as a community organizer for the anti-poverty agency in New Bedford, Massachusetts in the waning days of the Office of Economic Opportunity and the War on Poverty. This seminal experience was formative to the values and interests that have guided and shaped his career in social service over the ensuing 37 years.
His work in child welfare was further informed and broadened by 20 years as an adjunct professor of Social Welfare Policy and Techniques of Interviewing and Counseling at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and a Master of Arts degree in Social Rehabilitation from Assumption College,Worcester. He is a Licensed Certified Social Worker.
These complementary beliefs that government has a responsibility to its most vulnerable citizens and that public education plays a central role in the development of the skills and knowledge necessary to individual success in life have have compelled his involvement in such voluntary advisory activities as the Headstart Program, Community Connections, Bridgewater State College School of Social Work, and now the Elizabeth Stone House.
He is married and the father of four grown children.
Lawrence S. Witko
Larry Witko is currently Vice President of Retail Leasing, Marketing and Management for Nordblom Company, where his primary focus is the 127 acre, 4.2 million square-feet, mixed-use, high-density development planned for Northwest Park in Burlington, Massachusetts.
With 20 years of experience in real estate development, Mr. Witko brings much needed expertise to the Elizabeth Stone House Board of Directors. He brings a depth of knowledge to the Board, having completed a diversity of projects both nationally and internationally including the initial redevelopment of the Prudential Center in Boston. Past clients and projects include an Australian REIT and MassDevelopment, as well as retail mixed-use projects in Toronto, Buenos Aires and Madrid. Mr. Witko is fluent in Spanish.
Mr. Witko is a resident of Milton, Massachusetts and has been a long-standing member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. Starting his education in Germany at the University of Munich, he completed his undergraduate degree at George Mason University in Virginia and is currently pursuing his Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. Mr. Witko is a founding member of the DC Hotline in Washington, DC, and is also a Board member of the PC Walsh Foundation for Children’s Hospital. He joined the board of the Elizabeth Stone House in October 2007.