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About UsCommissioner BiographiesClick on the name of the Commissioner below to read her biography or scroll down the page to read all biographies.
Ruth Bramson |
Linda Cavaioli |
Helen Corbett | Deborah DiMasi
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Erika Ebbel
Ruth Bramson has held senior executive positions with several major corporations including Shaw’s Supermarkets/Star Markets where she served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer, Reebok International, Scandinavian Design and Bausch & Lomb. Most recently Bramson was named the first Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts.
Commissioner Bramson is the founder of Suited for Success, a 501c3 organization where she served as Chairman of the Board for 5 years. She is a Trustee of Middlesex Community College and a founding member of the Board of Employers against Domestic Violence.
Linda Cavaioli
has served as Executive Director of the YWCA of Central Massachusetts since
1992. In this position, Linda reports to a 31-member board of directors and
oversees the daily operations of a $4.3 million non-profit organization
dedicated to the empowerment of women and girls and the elimination of racism.
Linda is active in the community and serves as a member on the board of
directors of the United Way of Central Massachusetts and Edward Street
Children’s Services. She is also a member of the Martin Luther King Community
Breakfast Committee, City Manager’s Task Force on Bias and Hate Crimes, United
Service Executives, Worcester Rotary Club and Worcester Women’s History Project.
She also has served as regional chairman of the YWCAs of New England Council and
is a member of the National Association of YWCA Executives. Currently Linda is
the Chair of the YWCA USA Regional Leadership Committee.
Helen Corbett
is a founding partner of Corbett & Lalli, a communications media and marketing firm headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts with a satellite office in Danvers, Massachusetts. During her 25-year career in strategic marketing communications, she has assisted numerous organizations, corporations and government agencies in executing effective public relations campaigns and special event/conference projects. Ms. Corbett has produced television and radio advertising for numerous public and non-profit agencies and developed and produced video and film projects for numerous public service campaigns. Her productions have received national recognition for excellence in both documentary and educational video production. She is a former Girls, Inc. of Greater Lynn, Executive Board member, and continues to be an active Friend of Girls, Inc. and a member of the Essex County Anti-Crime Council.
Deborah M. DiMasi
is
one of our region’s most effective advocates for suicide prevention and an
outspoken champion for veterans who experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
Motivated by the suicide of her brother Jeff, a soldier and veteran, Deborah has
testified publicly before the Massachusetts Legislature, urging a dramatic
increase in funding devoted exclusively to suicide prevention, and the creation
of a special commission to investigate the effects of war on returning
Massachusetts veterans.
Erika Ebbel
is a 2004 graduate of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology majoring in Chemistry and minoring in music. She is
currently attending Boston University Medical School in the Division of
Graduate Medical Sciences as a Ph.D. candidate in Analytical Biochemistry. She
also plans to obtain an MD. In 2002 Erika founded the WhizKids Foundation, Inc.,
(www.whizkidsfoundation.org) a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to promote
student interest in mathematics and the sciences. Since its inception, WhizKids
has been working towards setting up science-oriented programs across the
country. She was selected by L’Oreal Paris as a 2007 Woman of Worth for her work
with WhizKids and was featured on Lifetime TV. In 2006, the Governor’s Office nominated Erika to serve as
a Commissioner for the MA Commission on the Status of Women. She is a contributing editor and columnist for Wellness Options Magazine,
a health/science magazine, available in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In 2004, Erika was Miss Massachusetts in the Miss America Scholarship
program. Throughout the last four years, she has been invited to speak at
numerous events, encouraging young girls to pursue careers in math and science
and engineering.
Donna Finneran
is currently the co-owner of a small gift basket business called "Just Perfect!" She is active in the Dorchester YMCA and serves on the Board of Visitors of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union. She is also on the Democratic State Committee and is involved in many local and neighborhood civic organizations. Donna is interested in adult education, and specifically in encouraging women to return to school to receive degrees, and helping them to do so. She is also concerned with and works towards improving the availability of shelters for women and children.
Marianne Fleckner
is the Director of Administration and Finance at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation. Before joining the MDCR, Marianne was employed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as their Associate Commissioner of Management & Operations. Before that, she was with the Massachusetts Human Resources Division where she managed a staff that defined the Commonwealth’s Business Requirements for a new automated Human Resources/Compensation Management system. She has also worked for Governors Weld and Cellucci as their Deputy Chief Secretary. Marianne is
a member of the National Notary Association, member of the League of Women Voters, a Library Trustee for the Westford J.V. Fletcher Library and a volunteer with the Westford School system. The women’s issues she is most involved with are sexual harassment in the workplace, domestic violence and equal pay/equal work.
Catherine Greene, Esq., MCSW Secretary, is the Director of Campaign & Major Gifts for the Perkins School for the Blind. Located in Watertown, MA, Perkins provides services to individuals who are blind, visually impaired and deafblind, each year reaching more than 92,000 people in 62 countries. Prior to joining Perkins, she was an advocate for victims of domestic and sexual violence. She served as the Director of Public Affairs and the interim Executive Director of Jane Doe, Inc., and also as the first Executive Director of the Family Justice Center.
Commissioner Greene received her B.A. in Political Science from Brown University and her law degree from Boston University School of Law. Greene was appointed to the MCSW in 2003 and she has been an active member of the Legislative Committee, the Chair of the Unsung Heroine initiative for the past two years, and an Officer and member of the Executive Committee for the past four years.
Elizabeth Houlihan
is the President and Owner of E. H. Houlihan & Associates, a business consulting firm. She was the Chief Operating Officer for CO Space, Inc., Burlington, MA. She had a twenty eight year career with Nynex (known now as Verizon). Mrs. Houlihan held numerous Senior Management positions at Nynex. She was the Vice President of Enterprise Markets, Vice President of Consumer Sales and Service for New York and New England overseeing 98 offices and over 6000 employees. She was the Vice President/General Manager of Operations for five New England states. Mrs. Houlihan has served on numerous boards, public and private over the last 15 years. She presently is the Vice President of the Women's Overseas Service League, Boston Chapter, serves as a director on the board of the Matthew W. Houlihan Foundation Inc. and the President's Advisory Board at her alma mater, Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth Ma. She was the recipient of the YWCA 1993 Women’s Achievement Award in New York City. She holds a BSE from Salem State College and attended Harvard Business School PMD 56 serving for the past 18 years as the class agent. She served in Vietnam during the war as a Dept. of Army Civilian, and taught third grade in New Bedford MA. She and her husband William, raised four sons, and now reside on Cape Cod.
Helen Jackson, MD
has been a resident of Boston since 1970. She is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist in
private practice.
Angela Menino
has more than thirty years experience in the field of accounting with John
Hancock Financial Services. She is a Founding Member of the Boston Women’s
Commission, the Boston Community Schools (now called Boston Community Centers),
and the MCSW. Angela has been active with a number of Boards in Boston. She was
recently appointed to the Advisory Board for the Massachusetts Women’s Political
Caucus and serves on the Board of Dress for Success in Roslindale. She serves as
First Lady on committees supporting a number of programs that benefit women and
families, including, the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, the Jane
Doe Foundation, the Patriots’ Trail Girl Scouts, the Big Sister Association of
Greater Boston, and the Boston Women’s Memorial. As First Lady of the City of
Boston, she frequently hosts dignitaries and neighborhood groups and keeps an
active public schedule, often appearing and speaking on behalf of the Mayor.
Greer Tan Swiston
is a software engineer by training. She graduated from MIT and has worked on projects such as the Space Flight Operations Center at NASA JPL, an image processing software package for a startup company, as well as the Y2K intiative at Fidelity and the MLDirect online trading project at Merrill Lynch. She was recently awarded the Outstanding Leader award by the Newton Girl Scouts. She currently serves as: advisor for Asian SistersParticipating in Reaching Excellence (ASPIRE); President of the Chinese Alumni of MIT; Chair of the Newton Republican Ward Committee; and is a board member of the Newton West Little League. Formerly she was: President of the Boston Chapter of the Society of Women Engineers; an Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC) mentor; and on the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association (GBCCA). She was the first Asian woman to run for state office in 2004 and is currently pursuing local office as an Alderman-at-Large in Newton.
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