Board of Directors

Stephanie Cleary

Senior Consultant, Accounting Management Solutions, Inc.
Stephanie is a Senior Consultant at Accounting Management Solutions, Inc., which is an outsourced accounting and financial management firm in New England. She works as a consultant for numerous nonprofit clients in the Boston area. She is the Interim Director of Finance at NOAH and works closely with the Board of Directors. Stephanie has over eleven years of financial and accounting experience, with seven of those years working in the nonprofit sector. As former Controller of Jumpstart for Young Children, she performed a full range of finance and accounting functions that included leading the annual and A-133 audit, month end closings, accounts receivable, accounts payable, reporting, financial forecasting and reports, budgeting, payroll processing and administration of private, federal and state grants and developing policy and procedures. Stephanie has developed and trained financial and non-financial personal. She teaches a financial course specifically geared toward nonprofit organizations at the TDC Training Corp. in Boston, MA. Stephanie earned a B.A. degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Masters in Public Administration in Finance and Human Resources from Suffolk University.

Nicole Gann

Nicole has had fifteen years of experience in various volunteer organizations, including acting as Clinical Services Director of UCLA's crisis hotline. While attending law school, she volunteered in the Housing Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services. There, she helped clients who were seeking emergency shelter and others who were facing eviction from subsidized housing. Later, while employed as a litigation associate, Nicole volunteered for the Housing Project, and represented clients who had been served with eviction papers. Nicole was also her firm's liaison to the Domestic Violence Council, and represented several women who were seeking restraining orders after having suffered domestic abuse. Nicole currently devotes time to La Leche League of Massachusetts, serving as a Leader. In this position, she has made a difference to many women who have sought her counsel for breastfeeding advice. Nicole received her law degree, cum laude, from Boston University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. A California native, Nicole lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her husband, Joshua, and their two children.

Jameila Haddawi

Jameila is a Pediatric Physician with the Harvard Vanguard Medical Group. Prior to arriving in Greater Boston, Jameila and her family resided in Southern California where she served as the Chief Resident of the Children's Hospital of Orange County and Attending Physician for the PSF Hospitalist Division. Jameila's work has been recognized with awards such as Resident of the Year at the Children's Hospital of Orange County. Jameila completed her undergraduate work at Smith College, where her exposure to many different women and their enormous impact led her to decide to pursue a career in medicine. She completed medical school at Tulane University and her Residency training in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Orange County. Jameila was driven to enter the field of pediatrics as a result of her strong belief in the power of preventative medicine and healthy habits for making healthier children and adults. She is especially drawn to counseling pre-teens and teenagers about their goals, lives, and challenges. Jameila lives with her husband and two children in Newton, Massachusetts.

Nancy Hegarty

Vice President, Strategy, Thompson & Thompson

Nancy is the Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Planning for Thomson CompuMark, an intellectual property research firm specializing in trademark and copyright research. As the Investment Committee Chair, she is responsible for ensuring the investment strategy and business strategy are in sync and will enable achievement of financial projections. Ms Hegarty has served on the Leadership Committee of the United Way's Today's Girls, Tomorrow's Leadership initiative and as a mentor in Babson College's Center for Women's Leadership Program. Ms. Hegarty holds an MBA from Boston University, a Masters of Science in Taxation from Bentley College and a BS in Accounting and Quantitative Methods from Babson College. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts. She enjoys spending time with family and friends at her home on Cape Cod, traveling and golf.

Tracy Li, Student Member

Student, Harvard University
Tracy is currently a junior at Harvard College. She majors in economics with a particular interest in economic policy and development, although her coursework spans a range of fields from Chinese to computer science. Outside of class, Tracy serves on the board of the Strong Women, Strong Girls Harvard Chapter as an Assistant Director. Tracy is now a third-year mentor with the program. In addition to her work with Strong Women, Strong Girls, Tracy is the Director of Philanthropy for the Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business. Among other projects, she spearheaded the organization's first Young Women in Business Conference for high school girls. Tracy participates in women's activism in through other venues as well, including Harvard's Institute of Politics and the Harvard Association Cultivating Inter-American Democracy, for which she serves as the co-chair of the Inter-American Commission of Women.

Bryanne Mahoney, Student Member

Student, Northeastern University
Bryanne is a fourth-year student at Northeastern University. This will be her second year involved with Strong Women, Strong Girls, and her second year of mentoring. On campus, Bryanne has been active in many history programs, as well as the Jewish Studies department. Currently Bryanne is completing her second cooperative education placement working in the field of education reform. She will begin graduate classes in the spring, and she is slated to graduate in May of 2009.

Tracy Nowski

Consultant, McKinsey & Company
Tracy is a Strategic Management Consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she works with Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to help them solve their most pressing problems. Tracy graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 2007 with a degree in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her prize-winning thesis on female political candidacy took an interdisciplinary approach to the challenges women face on the gubernatorial campaign trail. A life-long advocate of women and girls, Tracy was the recipient of the 2007 Harvard College Women's Leadership Award and was recognized for her contributions to Harvard with the Frothingham Prize. Tracy participated in Strong Women, Strong Girls for all four of her years in college, eventually serving as Director of the Harvard Strong Women, Strong Girls Chapter. In addition to her work with Strong Women, Strong Girls, Tracy participated in undergraduate student politics, campus theater, and anti-violence activism.

Laura Gassner Otting

President, Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group
Laura founded the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group in 2002. Prior to forming the group, she served as the Senior Vice President of ExecSearches.com, the web's leading site for mid- to senior-level nonprofit job postings and search services. Laura has served as Vice President at Isaacson, Miller, one of the largest search firms in New England, and one of the most highly respected nonprofit executive search firms in the country. Previously, Laura served as a presidential appointee for the White House Office of National Service, a program officer for the Corporation for National Service and as a member of the Clinton/Gore Transition Team and 1992 Election Team. She holds a Master of Arts in Political Management from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. Laura sits on the boards of Camp Starfish and Newton Montessori School, and is the immediate past chair of Strong Women, Strong Girls. She has also served as a member of the Alumni Board of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University and as the founding board chair of the Boston Choral Ensemble. Laura is the author of Change Your Career: Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector.

Colleen Richards Powell

Director, Office of Career Services, Harvard University
Colleen is the Director of the Herchel Smith Fellowship Program at Harvard University, a program that funds scientific research opportunities for students across the globe. Prior to this role Colleen was the Special Assistant for Student Affairs in the Office of the President at Harvard, where her primary responsibilities were to advise the President on matters related to student affairs, and to serve as a liaison to the Deans of Students at Harvard’s twelve schools. She also served as a member of the University’s crisis management response team, a group of administrators selected for first-line response for emergency situations affecting the Harvard campus. Colleen is an active member of the Harvard community and has served on several University-wide and Harvard College search and advisory committees. Prior to this role, Colleen was the Director of Clubs at the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, where she was responsible for managing and providing services to 130 alumnae clubs and informal groups around the world. Before moving to Massachusetts, Colleen lived in Washington, D.C., where she worked on the staff of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. There, she worked directly with the Democratic General Counsel on children’s issues, youth development and low-income policy. In addition, Colleen held primary responsibility for issues related to teen pregnancy, fatherhood, child safety, hunger and homelessness. During her time in Washington, D.C., Colleen also supervised interns from a charter school for at-risk youth. Upon graduation from college, Colleen was elected to serve a three-year term on the Wellesley College Board of Trustees as the sole young alumna board member. In this capacity she served on committees overseeing the college’s fundraising, admissions, student life, alumnae relations and social responsibility in investments. Colleen pursued her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Wellesley College and her Master’s Degree in Education at Harvard University. Colleen is an elder at her church, and she lives with her husband in Newton, MA.

Marie Schwartz

Marie is the Founder and President of TeenLife Boston, an information services company that helps schools and families to connect students with opportunities for growth beyond school, such as summer programs, community service opportunities, jobs and internships. Marie has over 20 years of marketing experience in the financial service and information industry and many years of nonprofit leadership experience. She has a BSE from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard. In addition to Strong Women, Strong Girls, she is currently on the Board of Overseers of the Boston Ballet and the Board of Advisors of Peer Health Exchange. Marie lives in Brookline with her husband and two teenage sons.

Veronika Tatum

Veronika began her career as an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney and Banc of America Securities in New York focusing on merger and acquisition transactions in the business services space. Veronika now works for Webster Capital, a private equity fund making investments in middle market companies, where she focuses on executing leveraged buyouts in the consumer, business and healthcare services, light manufacturing and distribution sectors. Veronika has also served as an active Board of Directors Observer for a number of portfolio companies throughout her career advising on corporate strategy, business development, merger and acquisitions and financial reporting. Veronika received her B.A. degree in Economics and Political Science from Macalester College.