Our Leadership

Gary Bailey is a Professor of Practice at Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work and the Simmons School of Nursing and Health Sciences -at the School of Nursing and Health Sciences he is the Special Assistant to the Dean for Inter-professional Education .

At the School of Social Work, he is the Director of the Urban Leadership Program and coordinates the Dynamics of Racism and Oppression Sequence. He chairs the School of Social Work Awards Committee .He was the inaugural chair of the Health and Aging sequence.

He is chair of the Simmons College Black Administrators, Faculty and Staff Council (BAFAS); is a member of the Dotson Bridge and Mentoring Program Advisory board; the Center for Excellence and Teaching Advisory Committee; the Simmons Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council (DIAC); the Simmons College BIAS Response Team. He served on the Simmons College Leadership Council; on the Simmons College Faculty Senate; and co-Chaired the Simmons College Initiative on Human Rights and Social Justice.

He is the immediate past President of the International Federation of Social Workers- the first person of color to have held this post. He is a past President of National NASW having served as President from 2003 until 2005. He was President-elect from 2002-2003. He was the Chairperson of the National Social Work Public Education Campaign. His tenure at NASW National included serving as the NASW National 2nd Vice President from 2000-2002 and as the Associations Treasurer from 1995-1997. He was also the President of the Massachusetts Chapter of NASW from 1993-1995; and as a member of the NASW Foundation. He is a past president of the Massachusetts Chapter of NASW. He was a member of the Council on Social Work Educations Commission on Global Social Work Education and the Councils Committee on Human Rights. He also  serves on the board of the North American and Caribbean Association of Schools of Social Work representing CSWE.

Professor Bailey was appointed in 2009 to the board of directors of the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick ; and reappointed in 2013 for a term ending in 2019. To date, MEFA has issued approximately $5.1 billion and bonds and have assisted hundreds of thousands of families in financing a college education. At MEFA he chairs the Nominating Committee, and is a member of the Audit Committee.

In December 2016, he was appointed to the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. He is a member of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. Advisory Council; and is a member of the AIDS Action Committee’s Program Committee. He was a member of the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) Board of Ambassadors.

Professor Bailey is Vice Chair of the Board of Women of the Dream, Inc (WOD) a national nonprofit organization that enables socially and financially disadvantaged girls, ages 12-18, to achieve their fullest potential and lead purposeful, healthy lives with guidance and education which is based in Camden NJ. Whose  lead partner is the Campbell Soup Company.

Professor Bailey is the treasurer of the NASW-Assurance Services Inc.(ASI). ASI is headquartered in Frederick MD. In that capacity, there he serves on the Executive/Audit / and Compensation committees. He is member of the board of the Fenway High School; is a member of the board of the Friends of Harriet Tubman Park, and the Friends of Titus Sparrow Park; is a member of the board of the trustees of Boston’s Union United Methodist Church, and is a member of the Union United Methodist Church Leadership Team.

Professor Bailey has received numerous prestigious awards throughout his career: including the Boston University School of Social Work Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Social Work; the Wayne S Wright Advocacy Award from the Multicultural AIDS Coalition; the Congressman Gerry Studs’ Visibility Award from the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston and the Bayard Rustin Award for Courage from the AIDS Action Committee.He was named Social Worker of the Year by both the National and Massachusetts NASW in 1998 and in 2005 h e was made a Social Work Pioneer by NASW, at the time he was the youngest individual to receive this honor. In May 2013, he received the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, from the University of Connecticut.

Professor Bailey is a frequent contributor to national periodicals such as the Huffington Post.

Ms. Beckler served as President and CEO of St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children distinguishing the organization as a service and thought leader among human service providers for its quality programs, focus on social justice, and supporting multi-stressed children and families to achieve positive emotional, educational and economic outcomes.

She established a reputation as an innovative, achievement-oriented professional with extensive experience in child welfare and human services administration including outpatient mental health and substance abuse, adult education and employment training programs, home based treatment, prevention, residential, day treatment, transitional and affordable housing. Judy developed leading edge programs for children, pregnant and parenting teens and homeless families that led to improved family outcomes in key areas including healing from trauma, reduction of isolation, increased housing stability, improved education and employment outcomes. She has been recognized for strategically positioning St. Mary’s Center as a non-profit leader through presentations, trainings, awards, recognitions and legislative testimony before various public and private organizations as well as Massachusetts House and Senate committees.

Judy was instrumental in establishing corporate partnerships with industry leaders to provide workplace training programs to reduce income inequality that led to permanent jobs for women living in poverty. She spearheaded, with the Planning Office of Urban Affairs, the development of 80 affordable, family housing apartments at Uphams Crossing in Dorchester. Judy developed annual, multi-year and capital fundraising plans to ensure organization met or exceeded the goals.

Ms. Beckler currently is an independent practitioner providing consultation to non-profit organizations in multiple areas including fundraising, grant writing, grant prospect research, leadership coaching, program development, risk management, annual and strategic planning. Judy currently serves on the boards of Commonwealth of Massachusetts Labor and Workforce Development; Small Can Be Big, a non-profit philanthropic initiative to prevent family homelessness; and the Archdiocese of Boston Health Benefits Trust.

Jesse F. Hergert has 20 years of experience in development work for non-profit organizations.

She has worked in Washington, D.C., New York City, and greater Boston, raising tens of millions of dollars for social service, healthcare, and educational nonprofit organizations, including United Way of New  York City, the national office of youth service agency Girls Inc., public media producing station WGBH, and international healthcare NGO Partners In Health. She currently works at Harvard University, managing a team that works to identify and articulate academic priorities in the service of fundraising for the Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She holds a BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a MS in Nonprofit Management from the New School.

Ms. Stockard served as a Vice President and Director of Resident Services overseeing all resident services programming in properties managed by Maloney Properties, Inc. Ms. Stockard served on the Maloney Properties, Inc. Board of Directors and Chaired the Resident Services Committee.

Ms. Stockard is a leading expert in affordable housing and services. Prior to becoming the Director of Resident Services for the firm, Sue served as Regional Property Manager for an extensive portfolio of housing.  Ms. Stockard continued as Principal-in-Charge for the firm’s senior housing portfolio consulting with Regional Property Managers as needed on a wide range of topics including subsidy administration and development of HUD Section 202 elderly housing.  Ms. Stockard was instrumental in the redevelopment of Morville House in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston – assuring its long-term affordability, as well as adding 30 new apartments for low-income seniors and a fully equipped senior center.  In 2008, Ms. Stockard wrote the Massachusetts Resident Service Coordinators’ Handbook for the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency.

Ms. Stockard currently serves on the Board of Just-A-Start in Cambridge and chairs the Governance Committee. Ms. Stockard is a past member of the Elder Services Committee and the Elderly/Disabled Housing Committee of the Citizens Housing and Planning Association.  She is a past President and Vice President of the New England Elderly Housing Association.  Sue is a past board member and Vice President of the New England Resident Services Coordinators (NERSC). Ms. Stockard is past president and board member of Match-up Interfaith Volunteers serving the elders of greater Boston. Ms. Stockard volunteers with Partakers, a mentoring program for incarcerated persons who are enrolled in a degree program through Boston University. Additionally, Ms. Stockard is an active member of Common Place, a housing cooperative formed in 1973.

Brenda Torpy has 38 years of experience in affordable housing, starting with rural community development and advocacy in rural Vermont. As Burlington’s Housing Director when Bernie Sanders was mayor, Brenda led the development of the Burlington Community Land Trust, now Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), and served as founding Board President. In 1991, she joined the staff as Executive Director.

CHT is the nation’s largest community land trust with over 6,000 members, 90 employees and 2,900 affordable homes in northwest Vermont, including over 2,000 rentals, 585 in the shared appreciation homeownership portfolio and non-profit facilities, retail and commercial tenants. CHT’s most recent innovations are in health and housing have produced significant reductions in regional homelessness. CHT received the 2008 UN World Habitat Award and Brenda travels extensively as a speaker and to assist start-ups of CLTs both nationally and internationally. CHT does $90 million in development annually, has an operating budget of $11 million and over $300 million in assets under its stewardship.

Brenda also worked as Development Director for the Vermont Housing Finance Agency and led the buyout of Vermont’s largest rental community to preserve its affordability and give residents control through non-profit ownership; she was a Ford Foundation Leader for a Changing World 2002, completed the Achieving Excellence in Community Development program at the Kennedy School of Government in 2003, is past President of the National Community Land Trust Network and now board member for its successor, Grounded Solutions Network, and serves on the Governor’s Housing Council and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Affordable Housing Program Advisory Committee.

The child of two preacher-doctors, Rev. Mariama grew up with an understanding that God calls us all to serve our fellow man. Her activism began in high school and continued at Stanford University where she was involved in campus politics and in the arts. Rev. Mariama majored in International Relations, studied abroad in Chile, and focused on the political and economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean in the aftermath of dictatorships and/or civil wars.

In September 2001 Rev. Mariama became the Executive Director of Project HIP-HOP (Highways Into the Past – History, Organizing and Power), an organization she had been involved with since high school. At PHH, she used the arts as a tool to raise awareness about social issues and help young people to find their voice and share their ideas with the world. She taught young people to draw on the history of their ancestors for wisdom and strength. During her time there, PHH youth created artistic pieces on issues ranging from juvenile incarceration to funding for public transportation. They performed throughout Greater Boston in camps, homeless shelters, senior citizens homes and public transit stations as well as for leaders like Mayor Walsh and Governor Patrick.

For her work in the non-profit sector Rev. Mariama has received numerous awards including the Barr Fellowship, the Celtics Heroes Among Us, The Roxbury Founders Day Award and the Boston NAACP Image award. In June 2014, she stepped down as Executive Director to focus on her work within the church.

In 2006, Rev. Mariama accepted her call to ministry in the AME Church. In April 2016, she was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She serves on the ministerial staff at Bethel AME Church where she is the Minister for Ecological Justice and the Interim Youth Pastor. In May 2017, she graduated from Boston University School of Theology with a Masters of Divinity.

Rev. Mariama’s challenges the Christian church to embrace a more radical understanding of the life and mission of Jesus Christ. She believes that the church must be responsive to issues like street violence, mass incarceration, climate change, AIDS, food security, and human rights. She is actively engaged on social justice issues ranging from immigration policy to fair wage issues. She is a leader in the Massachusetts Moral Revival, the local branch a national faith-based intersectional movement for justice led by Rev. William Barber. She was the MC for both the Boston Women’s March and Boston People’s Climate Mobilization.

Rev. Mariama is very committed to engaging the faith community, and particularly Black church on climate change and ecological justice issues. She speaks throughout the country and serves on both local and national boards and committees like the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund, Clean Water Action and Green the Church. In addition to her work at Bethel AME Church, Rev. Mariama is also a fellow with the Green Justice Coalition, a collaborative of people-of-color-led environmental groups.