Our Board and Staff
Staff
Hanna Birkhead
Policy and Programs Fellow
Hanna is a graduate of Bates College, where she received her BA in Politics in May of 2011. During her time as an undergraduate, Hanna focused heavily on women's issues in politics, completing her senior thesis on the gendered nature of elections on the United States. She has also worked for The League of Women Voters of New York State as a writing consultant on their project: "Increasing Voter Participation in New York: Opportunities in the Empire State." She is proud to be working with Mass. NOW to continue to fight for equality across the board.
hanna@massnow.org | 617-254-9130
Jennifer Jackson
Policy and Programs Fellow
Jennifer is a 2011 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recieving her BA in Psychology with a second major in Legal Studies. Her undergraduate honors thesis, "The 21st century American Family: Do United States laws support the best interests of children with same-sex parents?" analyzes the misuse of the best interest of the child standard and the effects of the absence of legal recognition of parent-child relationships between children and both of their same-sex parents. Ms. Jackson is currently a student in the Women in Politics and Public Policy Graduate Certificate program at UMass Boston. Her interests inlude LGBT rights, reproductive rights, gender equality, unintended consequences of law, and interactions between law and society.
jennifer@massnow.org | 617-254-9130
Board of Directors
Jill Ashton
Co-President, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Jill Ashton joined the board of Mass NOW in 2006 and has served as co-president since the beginning of 2010. She is the director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, an independent state agency that is tasked with reporting on the status of women in the Commonwealth and making recommendations regarding policy that would facilitate their advancement. Ms. Ashton is a graduate of the Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy at Umass Boston and received her undergraduate degree from William Smith College. In addition, she serves on the board of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy.
Jane Erickson
Treasurer, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Jane currently manages the Contracts Department at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc., a global public health non-profit that partners with governments in developing countries on a wide range of issues including HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal and child health, and strengthening in-country health systems. She completed a Fulbright Scholarship in Makassar, Indonesia and graduated from William Smith College with degrees in Political Science and Public Policy, focusing on student voting rights and civic engagement.
Nina Selvaggio
Secretary, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Nina Selvaggio joined the board of Mass. NOW in 2011, after formerly serving on the Mass. NOW board from 1999-2005 as the Northeast representative to the National NOW board. She has built a career in the nonprofit sector and has worked for social justice both professionally and personally since she was in college. Nina currently stays home to take care of her one-year old son. She graduated form the University of Illinois – Urbana with a degree in Political Science and Women Studies and looks forward to going back to working outside the home in the near future. Nina lives in Boston with her wife, son and their pug, Bella.
Katrina McCarty
Vice President of Legislation, Mass. NOW Inc; At-Large Foundation Member
Katrina McCarty is Director of Development and Finance for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. She has worked as a policy analyst for Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and as Staff Director to former State Senator Cheryl Jacques. In these roles she worked with diverse constituencies to further budget, policy, and organizational priorities and conducted presentations and trainings on related issues. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Drew University and a Master's in Public Administration from Northeastern University.
Jenn George
Vice President of Fundraising, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Orly Jacobovits
Vice President of Membership, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Orly Jacobovits has served as the Co-VP of fundraising since Nov 2010. After college Orly worked as a community organizer at Keshet, which works for the full inclusion of GLBT jews in in Jewish life. She is currently a first year law student at New England Law. Orly graduated from New York University with a b.a in Sociology. Her area of study was gender, women, and the family.
Nicole Newman
Vice President of Action, Mass. NOW Inc
Elizabeth Norman
Vice President of Governance, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Elizabeth is an associate attorney at Ropes and Gray LLP in the Tax and Benefits Department. She received her JD from the University of Michigan Law School, and has her BA from Swarthmore College.
Laura Michelson
Vice President of Communications, Mass. NOW Inc and Mass. NOW Foundation
Trish Calvarese
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Jenny Efimova
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Jenny Efimova is the SafeLink Hotline and Outreach Manager at Casa Myrna--Boston's foremost provider of shelter and supportive services to victims of domestic violence. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Public Administration from Northeastern University.
Cheryl Garrity
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Cheryl Garrity is a family law attorney in Burlington, Massachusetts who volunteers in her community, particularly helping other women. Among various community activities Cheryl has been a past president for Mass. NOW (1996 to 2000), past president at New England Women Business Owners (2008 to 2009), and currently is a board member of the Human Rights Committee for the Greater Lowell Mental Health Associates, and co-chair of a mentoring circle through the Women’s Bar Association.
Summer Jackson
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Summer Jackson is a 2008 graduate of Stanford University (B.A. International Relations, Minor in Feminist Studies) and a Boston NOW Board member. She has researched gender in the Middle East, women in politics, and peace movements in Israel, Egypt, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. While at the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, she assisted in the development of a new online Graduate Certificate for Women's Leadership in a Global Perspective. Summer currently works as a Legislative Aide for State Representative Gloria L. Fox (D-Boston).
Andrea Morgan
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Davi Rini
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Dave is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a BS in communication studies, and is currently a law student at Northeastern University. Dave has spent a number of years volunteering for organizations working to prevent rape and domestic violence; he has been a volunteer with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) as a community awareness and prevention speaker for five year, and recently joined the board of the Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project. He helped organize the Boston chapter of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism in 2008-2010, a community group focused on critically examining masculinity. He served on the Mass NOW political action committee in the summer of 2010, and is interested in pushing for policy reform with the legislative committee.
Linda Rogers
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Linda Rogers is a long-time member of Greater Boston NOW. She is a former treasurer of Massachusetts NOW, and she is a Board member and was one of the founders of the Massachusetts NOW Foundation. She is also treasurer of Community Change, Inc., a nonprofit which challenges systemic racism. She is currently a Bankruptcy Analyst with the Office of the United States Trustee, which is an agency of the Department of Justice which oversees the bankruptcy process. A certified public accountant licensed in Massachusetts, Linda graduated from Northeastern University and in her private practice she audited small non-profit organizations. She has two grown children and seven grandchildren.
Mahima Subramanian
At-Large Mass. NOW Foundation Member
Mahima Subramanian graduated from NU in 2004 with a B.S. Psychology and American Sign Language. Soon after, she began work at Jane Doe, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. In September of 2008, Ms. Subramanian left Jane Doe Inc. to become the Assistant Director of the Rape Crisis Services of Greater Lowell, Inc., where she is currently the Executive Director.