GLAD's Staff

Lee Swislow - Executive Director

Lee Swislow has served as GLAD's Executive Director since 2005. Since coming to GLAD, Lee has worked to deepen the organization's work throughout New England by building strong coalitions with state equality organizations to achieve shared goals. She is also strengthening GLAD's presence and impact on national work and strategy.

Lee has a long history of non-profit management, primarily in hospitals and healthcare. Before joining GLAD, she held a five-year position as Vice President of Health Services and the Executive Director for the Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center under the umbrella of The Justice Resource Institute. While at JRI she oversaw a broad array of services to underserved populations, with a focus on adolescents and young adults, and special services for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

Prior to JRI, Lee served as the chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at the Cambridge Health Alliance where she was responsible for clinical operations and support services, and oversaw a successful merger with Somerville Hospital in 1996.

As a registered nurse, she served on the frontlines during the early years of the AIDS crisis. "AIDS has always affected a diverse population and it has a devastating impact," says Lee, who was the head nurse of Boston City Hospital's AIDS Clinics (1985-1989). "It's a significant piece of my life's work. I am seeing ways that society and the community are trying to distance themselves from AIDS - distance themselves from the pain and pretend that it is no longer a threat. But, we need to be constantly vigilant."

Lee has an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master's degree from Northeastern University, as well as a Black Belt in Taekwondo.


Bay Windows April, 2005: A New Leader for GLAD

Gary Buseck - Legal Director

As Legal Director, Gary Buseck supervises GLAD's team of attorneys and sets legal strategy. He served as GLAD's Executive Director for six years, and also served as Legal Director for Lambda Legal from 2003-2004. Before coming to GLAD, Gary spent twenty years in private practice, and co-founded a Boston law firm focusing on the gay and lesbian community. He received both a Masters in Religious Education and a J.D. magna cum laude from Boston College. He has served as an Overseer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as a board member of Victory House, and a member of the Institutional Review board of the Fenway Community Health Center.

Bay Windows on Gary Buseck's temporary departure for Lambda Legal in 2003

Mary Bonauto, Esq. - Civil Rights Project Director

Mary Bonauto has been the Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) since 1990. Her practice concentrates on impact litigation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, as well as people living with HIV or AIDS. She has litigated widely in the state and federal courts and agencies of the six New England states since 1990 on issues of employment discrimination, custody, free speech and civil rights. In 1999, she and two Vermont co-counsel won a ruling that same-sex couples are entitled to all of the benefits and protections of civil marriage in the case of Baker v. State of Vermont. This ruling prompted the Vermont legislature to enact the nation’s first “civil union” law for same-sex couples. She was lead counsel in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, which resulted in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declaring that prohibiting civil marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional.

Mary is a graduate of Hamilton College and Northeastern University School of Law. She serves as a Vice Chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the IRR Section of the ABA.


New York Times Magazine May, 2004: Toward a More Perfect Union
Mary Bonauto featured in The Advocate, December 2004
The Boston Globe's People of the Year, December 2004

Bennett Klein, Esq. - AIDS Law Project Director

Ben Klein has been the AIDS Law Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) since 1994. He is a 1982 graduate of Oberlin College and a 1987 graduate of Boston University School of Law. Prior to joining GLAD, he was a litigation associate at the Boston law firms of Kotin, Crabtree & Strong (1990 - 1994) and Gaston & Snow (1987 - 1990). He has been involved in several Boston-area community organizations, including as a "buddy" for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, a Board member of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association and a founding member of the Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth (BAGLY).

Ben was lead counsel in Bragdon v. Abbott, the first HIV discrimination case to be heard by the United States Supreme Court. The case involved a Bangor, Maine dentist who had a written policy of refusing to treat any patient who had tested positive for HIV. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 1998 established nationwide protection against discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act for all people with HIV. More recently, Ben won a decision before the Division of Medical Assistance Board of Appeals ensuring equal access to liver transplants for HIV-positive individuals under the Commonwealth's MassHealth program.


Read about Ben Klein's Supreme Court Win in The New York Times, June, 1998
Ben Klein interviewed in Bay Windows on BAGLY's 25th anniversary

Jennifer Levi, Esq. - Transgender Rights Project Director

Jennifer L. Levi is one of our nation’s leading experts on transgender legal issues. During the ten years Jennifer has been with GLAD, she was lead counsel in a number of precedent setting cases establishing basic rights for transgender people. These cases include: Doe v. Yunits, in which Jennifer represented a transgender student denied the right to attend school because of the clothing she wore; Rosa v. Park West Bank, which established key protections for transgender people under federal law; Beger v. DMA, which resulted in a reversal of Division of Medical Assistance’s refusal to cover breast surgery for a transgender woman, among many others. Jennifer was also co-counsel in the case of Goodridge v. Dep’t Public Health which established the right of same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts.

Jennifer is a Professor of Law at Western New England College. She serves on the Legal Committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and is a founding member of both the Transgender Law & Policy Institute and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

Jennifer is a graduate of Wellesley College (1985) and the University of Chicago Law School (1992). She has also taught law at the Chicago-Kent Law School and is a former law clerk for Judge Michael Boudin at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.


Jennifer Levi interviewed in Tapestry magazine

Karen Loewy, Esq. - Staff Attorney

Karen L. Loewy joined the GLAD staff in 2001. She works on a broad variety of cases on GLAD's docket, from successfully resolving the first case under New Hampshire's prohibition against sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations, to helping secure parental rights for a lesbian co-parent in Maine, to assisting a group of Connecticut educators in obtaining insurance benefits for their partners. She was also co-counsel in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that prohibiting civil marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional.

Karen is a graduate of Brandeis University and Fordham University School of Law, where she was a Stein Scholar for Public Interest Law and Ethics.

Michele Granda, Esq. - Staff Attorney

Michele Granda joined the GLAD staff in 2003. She contributes to the wide range of lgbt civil rights impact litigation on GLAD's docket.

Before joining GLAD, Michele worked as a partner in the trial department of the Boston office of McDermott, Will & Emery, specializing in employment and discrimination law, contract law, leasing disputes, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and civil and criminal healthcare fraud and abuse. She has also worked as an associate with Palmer & Dodge in Boston, and as a volunteer staff attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services. Michele is a graduate of Stanford University and Georgetown University Law Center.


Michele Granda selected as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's "Diversity Heroes"

Janson Wu, Esq. - Staff Attorney

Janson Wu joined GLAD's legal staff in May 2006.

Before coming to GLAD, Janson worked as a coordinating attorney with Tri-City Community Action Program, a multi-service, anti-poverty organization, where he provided legal services to low-income individuals. Prior to that, Janson was an associate at the litigation law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges in San Francisco. In California, he volunteered on an LGBT anti-violence hotline, for the Lawyer's Committee of Civil Rights, and for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. He is a member of the bars of Massachusetts and California, and serves on the board of Coro Allegro, Boston's only LGBT chorus.

Janson is a graduate of both Harvard University and Harvard Law School.

Nima Eshghi, Esq. - Staff Attorney

Nima Eshghi joined GLAD's legal staff in 2006. Before GLAD, Nima worked at Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge, LLP, as director of professional development. Prior to that, she represented low-income families living with HIV/AIDS as staff attorney and clinical instructor at Harvard Law Schools Legal Services Center. Nima began her legal career as a law clerk to Chief Justice Herbert P. Wilkins of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and has also has worked as a litigation associate at Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP.

Nima served on GLAD's Board of Directors from 2004-2006. Prior to law school, she served on the Board of Seattle's Chicken Soup Brigade (an organization providing meals to people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses), and as a volunteer Community Educator with Seattle's People of Color Against AIDS Network.

She has a BA from Smith College, a Masters in political science from the University of Washington, and a JD from Northeastern University School of Law.

Amanda Hainsworth - Senior Legal Assistant & Special Projects Liaison

Amanda joined GLAD in 2006. She graduated with honors from Brown University in 2005 with a BA in Gender Studies. Amanda's senior honors thesis, "Policing Sexuality: The Historical Foundations of Abstinence-Only Sex Education" won the Joan W. Scott Award for outstanding thesis. Prior to coming to GLAD, Amanda was the Assistant Child Advocate at the Women's Center of Rhode Island where she worked on program and curriculum development and volunteer program coordination. Amanda also worked as a research assistant in Brown's Department of Sociology and served on the Rhode Island Food Stamp Advisory Committee. Amanda grew up in East Providence, Rhode Island and she enjoys longboarding and her pet coyote, Wiley.

Sarah Morton - Senior Legal Assistant & Special Projects Liaison

Sarah joined GLAD in 2006. She received her BA from Dartmouth College where she was a Senior Fellow, and has a Master's Degree in English Literature with a concentration in Sexual Dissidence and Cultural Change from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. She has previously worked at The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and for Dartmouth College's Center for Women and Gender. Sarah serves on the board of the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund and is their volunteer coordinator. Sarah grew up in Pepperell, Massachusetts, and after a stopover in New Hampshire to help found the Dartmouth Union of Bogglers, she became a proud resident of the People's Republic of Cambridge.

Eileen Rodriguez - Legal Assistant

Eileen joined GLAD in the summer of 2007. She graduated from Northeastern University with a BA in Sociology and a BA in Political Science with a concentration in Public Policy. Prior to GLAD she worked at AIDS Action Committee and helped on their successful Pharmacy Access campaign, as well as working with Planned Parenthood's grassroots department on their Buffer Zone campaign. Eileen grew up in Miami and misses the year-round sunshine. She enjoys reading, baking, and having family dinners with her friends every Thursday.

Carisa Cunningham - Director of Public Affairs and Education

Carisa Cunningham is a long-time non-profit communications professional specializing in AIDS, public health, and LGBT issues. She has been director of public relations for AIDS Action Council (Washington), Wheelock College, and AIDS Action Committee (Boston), and worked in public relations for Gay Mens Health Crisis in the 1980s. She most recently worked for the Harvard AIDS Institute in Botswana, handling communications surrounding the first HIV vaccine trial to take place in Southern Africa. She is a graduate of Oberlin College, and has taught non-profit public relations at Boston Universitys College of Communications.

Bruce Bell - InfoLine Manager

Bruce Bell oversees the Legal Information Hotline, which provides information and resources to people throughout New England regarding legal issues related to their sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity and expression. Before joining GLAD in 2004, Bruce spent 33 years at Cape Cod Community College-the first 11 as a mathematics professor and the last 22 as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. He is a graduate of both Clark University and Brown University. He is also a volunteer for the Gay History Project.

Alison Cashin - Manager of Public Education

As GLAD's Manager of Public Education, Alison finds, researches and writes the stories of people who are - or will be - affected by GLAD's work. GLAD uses these stories to raise public awareness about our issues, to educate our constituents, and generally to support our litigation and legislation.

Prior to GLAD, Alison worked in communications for Boston University and for YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities in New York, NY. She has worked as a freelance writer and editor, and as a civil rights advocate for prisoners.

Alison is an honors graduate of Boston University's master's program in Journalism. Her degree culminated in a fellowship with the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria, where she researched and wrote about post-Communist Eastern European journalism. She is a 1997 graduate of Vassar College.

Amanda Johnston - Web/Publications Manager

Prior to joining GLAD in March 2007, Amanda served for six years as the Managing Director of The Boston Jewish Film Festival, where she oversaw all print and electronic communications. She first discovered the power of the internet in the mid-90s through her work with the Austin, Texas-based grassroots media training center Women's Access to Electronic Resources, and through her work designing the first website for the Feminist Bookstore Network. Amanda is a performer and Board Member with the dance company Big Moves Boston, a former Board Member of Women in Film & Video/New England, and has coordinated the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts since 2005. She holds a Masters Degree in Media Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jayson Cooley - Public Affairs Associate

Jayson joined GLAD in October 2005. Jayson is a 2004 graduate of Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis where he studied Political Science. Before joining GLAD, he served as a Legislative Intern with the Indiana House of Representatives and as a Finance Intern with a gubernatorial campaign. He is currently working towards a master's degree in American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Noreen Giga - Bilingual Outreach Educator

Noreen joined GLAD in August 2007. As GLAD's Outreach Educator, she responds to InfoLine calls from Spanish speakers and those with HIV-related concerns and questions. Additionally, she participates in outreach programs with LGBT and HIV service organizations throughout Massachusetts and the surrounding area. Noreen graduated from Emory University with a BA in Spanish and International Studies.

Ruthie BenDor - Webmaster

Ruthie joined GLAD in 2007. As Webmaster, she updates, maintains, and extends the capabilities of GLAD's website. Prior to working at GLAD, Ruthie was the IT Manager at MassEquality. Ruthie is currently pursuing her B.S. in Computer Science from Boston University.

Denise Davick - Public Affairs and Administrative Assistant

Denise joined GLAD in 2007 after graduating with distinction from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Sociology. Before joining GLAD she worked as a research assistant for one of her professors in the Political Science Department where she studied the contours of constitutional law. She also interned in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in 2005.

Administration & Finance

Eva N. Boyce - Chief Financial Officer

Eva has worked part-time as GLAD's Chief Financial Officer since 2005. She has over 25 years of combined experience in public accounting and non-profit financial management, with organizations including Mass Housing Partnership Fund, Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and Touche Ross & Company (currently Delloite & Touche). Eva enjoys working with people from a variety of backgrounds, and is committed to sharing her financial and technical knowledge. She holds an Accounting degree from Boston College School of Management, 1977.

As President of ENB Financial Management, Eva provides financial services and training to small businesses and non-profits. Current & past clients include: Multicultural AIDS Coalition; AIDS Action Committee; JRI Health – Management Assistance Program, and U Mass Boston - Small Business Development Center.

Eva is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants and has served on the Boards of Elizabeth Stone House, Victory Programs, and Casa Myrna Vasquez. She loves music, art, and dancing and is an excellent cook, specializing in barbecue.

Marcos Carreño - Operations Manager

As GLAD's Operations Manager, Marcos manages information technology, human resources, and office administration for the organization.

Marcos joined GLAD as a volunteer in December 2003 and became a fulltime staff member in June 2004. He has both a Bachelors and Masters in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Carol Marton - Business Manager

Carol has been working as GLAD's part-time Bookkeeper for more years than she can keep track of, and came on part-time staff as the Business Manager in 2006. She handles payroll, benefits, accounts payable and manages GLAD's bank accounts, along with a variety of other work in the fiscal department.

In her other life, she is a musician.

Development

Janet Lawn - Director of Development

Janet Lawn joined the GLAD staff in February 2002 as Director of Development. Working from a vision of strengthening GLAD's capacity for success, Janet seeks to involve a broad array of GLAD's many donors and constituents in understanding and supporting our work. Janet oversees individual, corporate, foundation and special event fundraising, as well as publications and outreach and development of new supporters. Janet has a strong background in non-profit development and management including positions at The Horizons Initiative, Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, RESOLVE and the Office for Children. She holds a BA from Binghamton University and a Graduate Certificate from Tufts University.

Marie Longo - Associate Director of Development

Marie joined GLADs development team in 2005, bringing 20 years of revenue-generating experience from a variety of nonprofit and for-profit environments. As Associate Director, she is responsible for growing the number of mid-level donors, and for setting overall strategy for special events, direct mail and day-to-day operations. Prior to joining GLAD, she was Director of Annual Programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and before that, Deputy Director of the Federal Club at the Human Rights Campaign. She has also held marketing, sales and strategic planning positions within the hotel, technology and real estate industries. Marie earned her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and her masters degree in arts management from The American University.

Beth Grierson - Manager of Development Operations

As Manager of Development Operations, Beth is primarily responsible for direct mail, list and database management. She also oversees and coordinates information technology within the department. Ms. Grierson holds a Masters Degree from Boston College, and for the past eight years has been involved in running "Wilderness Heals," a fundraising hike for the Elizabeth Stone House. She joined GLAD in 1998.

Robbie Samuels - Special Events Manager

Working with the rest of the development department to keep our major donors invested in and informed about GLAD's work, Robbie utilizes his extensive event planning experience to improve upon GLAD's successful annual events. His background, prior to joining the staff in June 2005, includes organizing on the grassroots, regional and national levels with positions at OUT IN LI, Empire State Pride Agenda, Sustainable Long Island, Fenway Community Health, AIDS Action Committee, The Task Force and The Theater Offensive. His other passions include being a strong advocate for building an anti-racist LGBT movement, his work with the National Organization for Men Against Sexism's Boston chapter and educating about trans experiences as an openly trans staff member. He holds a BA and an MSW from SUNY Stony Brook.

Brianna Boggs - Development Officer, Equal Justice Council

Brianna graduated from The Ohio State University in 2002 with a BA in Women's Studies. In 2003, she completed a development internship with Opera Columbus. Brianna currently volunteers and sits on the board of directors for the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion (EMA) Fund.

Molly Shangraw - Database Coordinator

Molly graduated from St. Lawrence University with a BA in Anthropology and Global Studies in 2004. Prior to joining GLAD in 2007 she ran a successful campaign for a Massachusetts State Representative and organized for marriage equality in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Mark LaFrance - Leadership Gifts Officer

Mark joined the GLAD development team in 2008, after a successful 17 year career in development and alumni relations in higher education. As major gifts officer, he works closely with current leadership donors, primarily in New England, to further strengthen GLAD's fundraising efforts, and he also seeks to engage an expanded pool of leadership donors. Prior to joining GLAD, Mark served as director of alumni relations at Lesley University, director of development and alumni relations at Boston University Sargent College, and most recently, as associate director of major gifts at Wheaton College. Mark holds a BS in hotel administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Laura Hill - Development/Special Events Assistant

Laura joined GLAD in 2008 after graduating from Wellesley College where she studied English.

Melanie Larsen - Development Assistant