Boston Rising staff members bring a variety of backgrounds and experience to the organization. All Boston Rising staff members share a passion for clearing the way for the Rising Class.
Damon Cox
Director, Capital & Evaluation
Damon thrives in a creative start-up environment. He has over a decade of experience in marketing and communications in the media industry with extensive strategic consulting experience to nonprofit organizations. Past positions include VP of Marketing and Promotion at Universal, one of the largest media companies in the world, and VP of Marketing & Creative Development at CDE. Damon is passionate about building entrepreneurial opportunity and clearing the way for the next Rising Class. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Florida.
Tiziana Dearing
Chief Executive Officer
Tiziana Dearing is an accomplished leader in the business, nonprofit, and academic sectors. She has deep experience in the field of social justice and has dedicated herself, through her career, to clearing a path for the Rising Class. Most recently, Tiziana served President of Catholic Charities, Boston, and was formerly the Executive Director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University. She has over a decade of experience consulting to both nonprofit organizations and Fortune 500 companies.
Tiziana is active in her community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Cooperative Society, on the Advisory Board of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, on the selection committee for the Quadir Prize, and as a trustee of the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan.
Alexandra Edelstein
Assistant to the CEO
Alexandra Edelstein works as the Assistant to the CEO, Tiziana Dearing. Her interest in inspiring and working for sustainable socio/economic development has led her to experiences such as working with Global Development for Peace and Leadership in Cape Town, South Africa and, most recently, Link Community Development International in Edinburgh, Scotland. After working on a community justice program for the Alliance for Sustainable Communities – Lehigh Valley in college, she co-produced a documentary on restorative justice practices and continues to be impassioned toward advocating for social change. Alexandra holds a B.A. in Government/Law and Philosophy from Lafayette College and a Master’s Degree (LLM) in International Law from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Lee Farrow
Embedded Evaluator
Lee is currently the Embedded Evaluator at Boston Rising and will lead the organization in creating a “learning organizational culture”, where she will document and capture the work in real time, to support growth and intentional development, grounded in community knowledge and lessons learned.
She was recently appointed the first Community Scholar at Stonehill College, where she teaches Leadership, Women and Community Organizing. Lee is also a Pastor’s Scholar in Boston University’s Graduate School of Theology. There she is looking at the linkages between community building/social justice work and the principles/values of forgiveness/restorative justice/spirituality, as she continues to develop an on-going prison mission project, Do-Right Ministries: a social mission. Lee has previously held leadership positions at My Sister’s Keeper (MSK), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harlem Children’s Zone and Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. She currently sits on the board of The Edward L. Cooper Community Garden and Education Center in Roxbury, MA.
Lee is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in Fashion Design. She holds a Master’s Degree from Southern New Hampshire University in Community Economic Development, and she is a Licensed Certified Life Coach.
Maryanne Healey
Specialist, Accounts Processing
Maryanne Healey manages all accounting operations for Boston Rising. She has over fifteen years of experience supporting office operations and executive leadership at Copley Real Estate Advisors and Meredith & Grew.
Imari Paris Jeffries
Partner, Community Co-Investment
Imari Paris Jeffries has a history of driving performance and results for nonprofits as well as a deep commitment to the Boston community. Imari served as the first full-time Executive Director of Friends of the Children-Boston. He has held leadership positions at the Massachusetts Service Alliance, the BELL Foundation, and Jumpstart. Imari began his career of service in the U.S. Armed Services during the First Gulf War.
Imari has served on the boards of the African American Federation of Greater Boston, the Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership, The Elizabeth Peabody House and Save the Harbor, Save the Bay. He holds a Masters in Education and American Studies as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts.
Paul Johnson
Partner, Operations
Paul Johnson is an entrepreneur who has founded start-ups in the non-profit, academic and health care sectors. He has led strategic innovation over the past 15 years at industry leading companies including Phase Forward (now Oracle), ChoiceStream and AT&T. As Partner for Operations, Paul combines his deep technical expertise with his passion for social justice to create software and social interactions that support the Rising Class. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University.
Audrey Jordan, PhD
Partner, Grants, Investments and Assessment
For the past 12 years Audrey was the Associate Director for Peer Learning in the Organizational Learning unit of The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Audrey had been an executive on loan with Lawrence CommunityWorks and Boston Rising for several year prior to starting her new position with Boston Rising as Partner for Grants, Investments and Assessment. Her previous 15 years of work experience had been in applied research, first at the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services; and more recently through the Center for Public Policy Survey and Evaluation Research Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Psychology from The University of Virginia, and a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Doctorate from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Allison Kroner
Senior Associate for Fundraising and Communications
Allison works as the Senior Associate for Fundraising and Communications. A Cambridge native, she comes to Boston Rising with a passion for community building and civic engagement as well as a deep commitment to Boston’s Rising Class. Allison worked previously as the Assistant to the President at Catholic Charities, Boston. She held several volunteer positions during her college career, most recently with the United Way of Greater St. Louis and the Campus YMCA. Allison holds a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.
Chris Olver
Product Manager
Chris has managed online video production within the non-profit space for five years. As an in-house video producer with Australia’s largest NGO – World Vision Australia, Chris created hundreds of educational online videos around global poverty, economic development and disaster recovery. Throughout the last decade Chris has lived and worked across five continents, documenting the stories of people experiencing poverty throughout the world. Chris holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Video Production and Dramatic Arts from Flinders University, Australia and is a recent graduate of the Masters in Public Policy program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Brittany Parker
Manager, Co-Investment Operations
Brittany Parker works as the Partners’ Assistant, supporting Boston Rising’s executive team and working closely with the Executive Assistant to the CEO. Brittany is passionate about volunteerism and giving back to her community. She has held a variety of volunteer positions and most recently served as a Community Health Advocate for Health Leads (formerly Project HEALTH) and as a Research Assistant in Harvard University’s Lab for Developmental Studies. Brittany holds her Bachelor of Arts from Boston University.
Talia Rivera
Director, Connectivity & Learning
With over a decade of experience mobilizing residents and community- and faith-based organizations, Talia specializes in youth violence, gang interventions and street work in the City of Boston. She is co-founder of Villages Without Walls, and has served as a Community Organizer for the Eos Foundation, as Network Coordinator for the Black Ministerial Alliance, as Violence Intervention Mediator at the Boston Ten Point Coalition, and as a Street Worker for the City of Boston.
Helen Rosenfeld
Interim Development Director
Helen Rosenfeld has spent her career dedicated to non-profit management work and helping to grow organizations that focus on education and small business development, both domestically and abroad. She has served in senior management roles with a variety of non-profits in the Boston area.
She has worked with the Boston Public Schools, supporting the Department of Extended Learning Time, Afterschool and Services (DELTAS). She also served as the Executive Director of Friends of Young Achievers (FOYA), building support for the Young Achievers Science and Mathematics Pilot School, one of Boston’s most acclaimed pilot schools as well as the Executive Director with NFTE New England (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship), employing entrepreneurship education as a means to lead at-risk youth on a path to economic self-sufficiency.
She serves as an Overseer with the Boston Children’s Museum and is a Board Member of Friends of Seva Mandir, an organization supporting rural development in India. Helen holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge.
Alice Stein
Director, Digital Strategy and Partnerships
As Boston Rising’s Director for Digital Strategy and Partnerships, Alice brings more than 12 years of private sector marketing and online business strategy experience to our team. Alice was most recently the Director of Marketing for Randstad and served in similar roles at Oriental Unlimited Inc. and LendingTree. She is actively involved in the Boston community and serves on the board of the American Marketing Association as the President-Elect of the Boston Chapter. Most recently, Alice served as the Public Relations Chair of the American Staffing Association. She holds a Master’s Degree in Communications Management and Bachelor of Science in Biology and minor in Philosophy from Simmons College.
Cyndi Suarez
Director, Grants Management and Grantee Stewardship
Cyndi helps social change groups develop into high performing teams by building collaborative leadership capacities. These include creating collective vision, and clarifying purpose, roles, and decision making. Her specialty is addressing conflict and struggles for power.
She has over 20 years of experience in the social change field, beginning as a youth worker while she was herself a teenager. She moved on to work in the three different strategy areas: services, advocacy, and organizing. In the last ten years, her work has focused on philanthropic organizations, leadership management, and political organizing.
More recently, Cyndi was Executive Director at Northeast Action, the first regional political strategy center in the United States serving grassroots leaders in New England and New York. She also served as Chair of Team Building in Councilor Felix G. Arroyo’s first campaign for Boston City Councilor. She has worked as strategy consultant with social change donors and philanthropic organizations.
Chrismaldi Vasquez
Director, Capacity & Assessment
With over a decade of experience working in Boston’s neighborhoods, Chrismaldi is a passionate community organizer. She has a national reputation for her leadership in youth organizing campaigns including one that defeated a plan for a K-Mart in Jackson Square and one that sought to end sexual harassment on Boston’s streets and in its public schools. She also led a successful effort for a new civics curriculum in the Boston Public Schools. Chrismaldi joins Boston Rising from the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley; she began her career at the Hyde Square Task Force where she rose from a youth organizer to Manager of Organizing and Policy Initiatives. Chrismaldi graduated from Bentley University with a B.S. in Economics and Finance. She minored in International Studies.
