Leadership

Evelyn Rivera Beaudreault

Co-Executive Director

Evelyn Rivera Beaudreault has more than 25 years experience in the Human Services field working with individuals of various ethnic and socio economic backgrounds in the areas of women’s mental health, victim services and early intervention/child development. In 2000, she joined the Elizabeth Stone House to manage and oversee the support groups program. She was appointed co-executive director in 2007 and is currently responsible for all programming at the Stone House.

A survivor of childhood domestic violence, Rivera Beaudreault has worked with many families, children, batterers and the judicial system over the years. In 2002, she served as a domestic violence advocate and resource specialist for the AWAKE Project at Boston’s Children’s Hospital. In addition to her work at the Elizabeth Stone House, she is also a co-facilitator of the Domestic Violence Intervention Program for batterers at Roxbury Comprehensive Services.

Rivera Beaudreault holds a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Cedar Crest College in Pa. She is also certified by the Massachusetts Department of Pubic Health as a facilitator for the domestic violence intervention program.

Nancy Owens Hess

Co-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. As co-executive director of the Elizabeth Stone House, Hess oversees all of the organization’s operations.

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.

Amy Howard

Director of Development
Amy Howard joined the Elizabeth Stone House in August of 2008 as Associate Director of Development and was promoted to Director of Development in May of 2010. As Director of Development, Howard oversees all aspects of ESH’s individual giving program and provides strategic oversight to all of ESH’s development initiatives. Having worked in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC on issues affecting women and children, Howard brings a broad perspective to her work.

Howard holds a Masters Degree in Social Work with a concentration in nonprofit management and resource development from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Skidmore College in New York.

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.

Erin E. Miller

Director of Residential and Community Services

Erin E. Miller joined the Elizabeth Stone House as the Director of Residential and Community Services in July of 2009. Erin has worked in the domestic violence field in a variety of arenas including community based programs, local and national coalitions. Having worked in Arizona, Washington state and Massachusetts, she brings a diversity of experience and a wide perspective to her work. Most recently, she worked at the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance, managing SAFEPLAN, a statewide, court-based domestic violence advocacy program. She also brings with her, specialized skills and interest in outcome evaluation, impact of domestic violence on children and community engagement and social change models as means to end violence.

She holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration, with a focus on Domestic Violence from the University of Colorado at Denver and a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Arizona State University.

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.

Deborah Johnson

Board Secretary

Deborah Johnson is an attorney currently enjoying a self-selected sabbatical and providing pro bono services to the Elizabeth Stone House. Most recently she worked at Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo, P.C. in Boston, where her practice involved advising insurers on a number of complex coverage issues involving asbestos, tobacco, and directors and officers insurance. She also practiced in the area of commercial real estate litigation, representing clients in a variety of matters involving breach of contract and summary process.

Prior to her legal career, Ms. Johnson was employed as an insurance claims adjuster in the Home Office Environmental Claims Unit of Travelers Property Casualty in Hartford, CT. At Travelers, Deborah handled environmental pollution and toxic tort claims, including claims for hazardous waste property damage and bodily injury resulting from exposure to asbestos and lead paint.

Ms. Johnson has been a member of the Elizabeth Stone House Board of Directors since May 2007 and currently serves as the Board’s Secretary. She has lived in Boston for nine of the last ten years – living in Jamaica Plain and in Roxbury, where she currently resides. She is a longtime member and ministry worker of Jubilee Christian Church in Mattapan, a neighborhood of Boston.

Charleen Tyson

Board Treasurer/Clerk
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.

Doreen Blanchette

Doreen is currently the Accounting Manager for the Nordblom Company. Prior to joining the Nordblom Company, she was the Finance Manager for Hydro-Environmental Technologies, Inc. She brings 20+ years of accounting/finance experience from working in the computer, environmental and real estate industries. She currently is a member of the Nordblom Community Service Group, in which they do various fund raising and collection activities.

Ms Blanchette was a firefighter for the town of Groton where she initiated the Senior Smoke Alarm Program. She ran the S.A.F.E. (Student Awareness of Fire Education) Program and was a member of the TRIAD organization, which was set up for the protection of senior citizens. She also worked with the Massachusetts District Attorney’s Office in the Juvenile Firesetters Intervention Program where she taught 10 week sessions to children that were involved in setting fires.

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. For over 20 years, Susan’s practice has involved the full range of federal, state and local environmental and land use regulations. Her practice is primarily transactional in nature, and 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, and has been named a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer.” She is a member of The International Council of Shopping Centers 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.

Linda Rosen

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.

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.

Martha Zackin

Martha is of counsel in the Boston office of Mintz Levin, practicing in the Employment, Labor and Benefits and Litigation Sections. Before joining the firm, Martha was Corporate Counsel for Keane, Inc., a large multinational public corporation. Martha was selected as a 2007 "In-House Leader in the Law" by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, in recognition of the work she performed for Keane. Before joining Keane in 1994, she was an associate at a major Boston law firm.

Martha received her J.D., cum laude, from Boston College Law School. Before attending law school, Martha received an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Boston College, with a concentration in counseling children and adolescents. During school and after, Martha worked with young children and adolescents in Boston who had been traumatized by abuse and neglect. She also worked with adolescent girls who had become enmeshed in the juvenile justice system and the Department of Youth Services.

She received her B.A. from Emory University. After graduating from college, before beginning her Masters program at Boston College, Martha owned and operated a stained glass studio in Atlanta, Georgia.