Our Board of Directors
The Breakthrough Greater Boston Board of Directors is comprised of highly motivated, talented, and dedicated professionals who are dedicated to Breakthrough’s work to create educational equity. The BTGB Board of Directors has approximately 20 members from a variety of backgrounds, all dedicated to shaping and supporting a highly successful organization by contributing individual skills and assets. Through membership on the Board of Directors, individuals provide leadership, governance, and management support to the organization. Board members have the opportunity to connect with other professionals and organizations in the community, support the academic achievement and college access of motivated middle school students, provide unique opportunities for young people to explore teaching as a profession, and contribute their individual skills, strengths, and creative thinking to further the impact of Breakthrough Greater Boston. To learn more about joining the BTGB Board of Directors, contact Andrew Jackson, Managing Director of Development, at ajackson@btgbmail.org.
Emily Newmann, Clerk
Bio coming soon!
Jonathan Piskorowski
Director, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst, Mellon
Jonathan is a Director, Senior Research Analyst in Financials, Fintech, and Payments and a Portfolio Manager of BNY Mellon Small Cap Value Fund. He has a decades-long career as an analyst and has previously worked at Commonfund Capital Inc. and UBS Investment Bank in investment banking, private equity, and venture capital investing.
Jonathan desires to improve educational outcomes through his service on Breakthrough’s Board of Directors. He received his B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and his MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Mohamed Abdi
Bio coming soon!
Jennifer Stange, President
Jennifer has been with Breakthrough Greater Boston since 2016, and serves as Co-Executive Director. Prior to joining Breakthrough, Jennifer was the Vice President of Shared Services at the EcoTarium (Worcester, MA) and the founding Director of Operations at Brooke Charter School East Boston. She earned her B.S. in Business Administration: Finance at Northeastern University and her M.Ed. in Education Policy and Management at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
When not at Breakthrough, Jennifer spends time with her family and dog enjoying the outdoors.
Jeff Davis, Treasurer
Partner, Ernst & Young LLP
Jeff has been a Partner in Ernst & Young LLP’s Financial Services Practice for 20 years. He is the Financial Services Office New England DEI Leader. Jeff’s passion for educational equity is driven by his belief that it is the best opportunity to drive systemic change.
He believes deeply in Breakthrough’s dual mission to prepare low-income students for success in college and train the next generation of urban teachers using a unique Students Teaching Students model. He joined the Board and chairs the Board’s finance committee to support Breakthrough in meeting those critically important goals. Jeff’s wife and his children Benjamin and Lucy live in Lexington and love to travel.
Kara Bixby, Co-Chair
Owner and Evaluation Director, WithInsight
Kara is the Owner and Evaluation Director at WithInsight working to develop strategic evaluation systems, create capacity-building structures, and provide instructional and facilitative support to nonprofits, foundations, and schools. Before joining WithInsight, Kara worked as the Director of Research & Evaluation at Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation and a Senior Evaluation Specialist with Minneapolis Public Schools. She received her B.A. in International Political Economy and German from Fordham University and completed a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Germany after graduation. She received her Master of Public Policy in Education Policy Analysis from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Kara is passionate about educational equity and ensuring all young people have opportunities and access to realize their dreams. She believes Breakthrough has an innovative, high-quality program model that helps young people access opportunities they would not otherwise have and realize those dreams.
Anne Goldenheim
Community Volunteer
Anne has a career in educational testing for learning and neurological issues in children and adults. She is also a dedicated community volunteer with a long history of service in schools and children-centered non-profits.
Over the years, Anne has seen first-hand the impact of Breakthrough’s mission to promote careers in education using a unique Students Teaching Students model. Two of Anne’s children and one of her nieces were Summerbridge/Breakthrough teachers; all have gone on to careers in education.
Imtiyaz Hossain
Bio coming soon!
Martin Hayes
Director and Chief of Staff, AbbVie Global Neuroscience Research
Martin is a Director and Chief of Staff for AbbVie’s Global Neuroscience Research organization based in Cambridge where he has worked for two decades as both a scientist and an organizational leader. He is passionate about the power of education to transform lives and erase opportunity gaps in our society. Martin grew up outside of St Louis in a multi-racial household, attended both public schools in Ferguson, MO and a private prep school in Exeter, NH. He is also married with two children and in his spare time is an avid cyclist.
Natasha Warikoo
Stern Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Tufts University
Natasha Warikoo is Lenore Stern Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology. A former Guggenheim Fellow and high school teacher, Warikoo studies beliefs about meritocracy, admissions, affirmative action, and racial equity, and the cultural processes that perpetuate inequality in education. She has studied high schools and selective colleges, in both the United States and Britain.
Warikoo was previously Associate Professor of Education at Harvard University. Prior to her academic career she was a teacher in New York City’s public schools, and also spent time working at the US Department of Education. Warikoo completed her PhD in sociology from Harvard University, and BSc and BA in mathematics and philosophy at Brown University. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Ramesh Kumar and their three children.
Yolanda Kodrzycki, Co-Chair
VP and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (retired)
Yolanda Kodrzycki is a retired vice president and senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Capping her extensive career at the Boston Fed, she served as the director of its New England Public Policy Center. The Center conducts research on key economic and policy issues in New England and engages with regional partners in advancing identified policy options. Among her past positions, Yolanda served as a resident representative of the U.S. Treasury Central and Eastern Europe Advisory Program in Warsaw, Poland. She has taught at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Training Center in Budapest, Hungary, and at Amherst College. While at the Boston Fed, Yolanda volunteered as president and board member of the New England Economic Partnership and as the Bank’s liaison to the American Economic Association Summer Training Program and Pipeline Conference.
Yolanda serves on the editorial board of MassBenchmarks, an economics magazine issued jointly by the University of Massachusetts and the Boston Fed. She received her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe College (Harvard University) and her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Yolanda is the daughter of political refugees, a naturalized U.S. citizen, a graduate of the Boston Public Schools, and a first-generation four-year college graduate.
Edwin Johnson
Rector-Elect, St. James Church
Rev. Edwin Johnson offers spiritual and missional leadership to his faith community in Dorchester as the Assistant Rector at St. James’s Episcopal Church in Cambridge where he coordinates and grows their efforts to improve the surrounding community through social justice and service. He seeks to improve the ways that schools, community centers, nonprofits, and places of worship collaborate to support the growth and safety of young people. His connection to Cambridge and its young people began the summer of 2001 when he began working for BTGB as a Teaching Fellow after his first year at Tufts University. Edwin went on to join the full-time staff as the Alumni coordinator in 2004 and worked through the summer of 2007 before leaving to enter the Priesthood.
As a first-generation college student himself, Edwin’s passion for creating paths to college keeps him involved in Breakthrough and he is overjoyed at how much the program has grown in its ability to support young people through college entry. A native of Dorchester, he has always loved children and deeply valued education. He is excited about the role he played in launching Breakthrough’s high school program as well as BTGB’s continued growth and looks forward to being part of BTGB’s continued success.
As a first-generation college student himself, Edwin’s passion for creating paths to college keeps him involved in Breakthrough and he is overjoyed at how much the program has grown in its ability to support young people through college entry. A native of Dorchester, he is excited about BTGB’s expansion into Boston and looks forward to being part of BTGB’s continued success.
Jennie McDonald Brown
Bio coming soon!
Margot Biggin
Strategic Fundraising Consultant
Margot Biggin has spent her career helping to advance the missions of a wide variety of non-profit organizations, with a deep and abiding interest in education and supporting low-income populations. She has held leadership positions in development at Tufts University; The Wayland Group, a consulting firm to non-profit organizations; the Harvard Graduate School of Education; the Big Brother Association of Greater Boston; and two United Ways, in Boston and White Plains, NY. Margot is a graduate of Smith College and earned an M.B.A. from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business’s Social Impact Program. Margot was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Fundraising Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Massachusetts Chapter in 2021. She enthusiastically joined the BTGB Board in 2024 and is eager to help advance its vital mission and produce remarkable outcomes for low-income students with high potential but limited opportunities.
Trudi Veldman
Executive Director Biologics, AbbVie Bioresearch Center
Trudi Veldman Ph.D. is Executive Director Biologics at AbbVie in Worcester, MA heading up a group of 30+ scientists responsible for the production of therapeutic antibodies and protein reagents in support of biologics drug discovery across all therapeutic areas of AbbVie. Prior to joining AbbVie/Abbott in 2003, Trudi worked for 20 years at Genetics Institute/Wyeth (now Pfizer) in Cambridge. At AbbVie and Genetics Institute she has coordinated science outreach programs for elementary and middle school students. Trudi was born and raised in The Netherlands and is a first-generation college student. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Free University in Amsterdam and moved to Boston in 1982 to join the biotechnology industry.
Trudi is passionate about education and hunger issues. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Boston Food Bank for many years and works with an organization that supports middle school science teachers in rural villages in Malawi. Trudi first learned about Breakthrough through her son Daniel (a Breakthrough Teaching Fellow alum) and joined the BTGB Board in 2014. She is proud to be part of a program that prepares students not only for academic success but also for life.