Our Board of Directors

Kate Armstrong is Senior Vice President of Operations at Neighborhood Villages. In her role, Kate directs organizational operations and other strategic priorities. Prior to joining Neighborhood Villages, she worked for 11 years in charter school operations in some of the highest performing charter schools in Boston. Most recently, she led operations for Uncommon Schools’ four Roxbury Prep schools in Boston as the Associate Chief Operating Officer for six years. Prior to that, she served in various school operations roles, including Director of Operations and Chief Operating Officer, at Boston Collegiate Charter School for five years. She began her career in other education non-profit roles, including serving as the Director of the Breakthrough Collaborative program in New Haven, CT, and supporting teacher and leader recruitment for Uncommon Schools. Kate holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard College and a Master’s in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children.

Jeff Davis has been a Partner in Ernst & Young LLP’s Financial Services Practice for 24 years. He is the Financial Services Office New England Location 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. He attended Villanova University and is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts and New York.

Karen Ferrer-Muñiz, PhD, is Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which is the third most diverse institution of higher education in the US and is the most diverse in New England.  She leads the university’s student affairs division, overseeing programs, services, and initiatives that support student success, engagement, retention, and belonging. With more than 25 years of experience in higher education, Karen has dedicated her career to advancing student development and creating equitable pathways to academic achievement. Prior to joining UMass Boston in 2022, she served as Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Utica University. She previously held leadership roles at Hudson Valley Community College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Union College, where she developed innovative programs that strengthened student success and promoted equity, diversity, inclusion, and community engagement. Karen earned a bachelor’s degree from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, a master’s degree from the University at Albany, SUNY, and a PhD in Multidisciplinary Studies from the University at Albany. In 2026, she was selected to participate in the AASCU Executive Leadership Academy, a national leadership development program for senior higher education administrators.

Vassar BA; Hunter College School of Social Work MSW; Lesley Art Therapy Post-Graduate Program

Board Roles: Clerk, Development Committee, Program Committee

“I believe strongly in the mission of Breakthrough. I have worked for years with the population we serve and feel our country needs to do a better job at providing education and support for first-generation and under-resourced college-bound youth. I love that we are helping to support future leaders in education.”

Deepika Sawhney brings a deep commitment to education, community engagement, and expanding opportunities for young people. She has extensive experience in public school and nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and education advocacy, including serving as Co-Chair of the Hestia Fund. She has also served as a grants officer for a family foundation focused on educational equity and has been actively involved in supporting public education through volunteer leadership, STEM programming, and community initiatives. Deepika brings professional experience in business strategy, product management, and design, along with a passion for civic engagement and public service. She holds an MBA and a master’s degree in Information Systems from Boston University and a master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Natasha Warikoo is Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, at Tufts University. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Warikoo studies racial and ethnic inequality in education, including the experiences of children of immigrants, beliefs about meritocracy and race, and the consequences of those beliefs. Her award-winning recent book Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools (University of Chicago Press), explores the growth of Asian Americans in suburban communities. In the book Is Affirmative Action Fair? The Myth of Equity in College Admissions (Polity), Warikoo argues that we should rethink college admissions, and walks readers through empirical evidence suggesting the important value of affirmative action. She is also the author of The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities (University of Chicago Press).  Warikoo earned her BSc/BA in mathematics and philosophy at Brown University, and her PhD in sociology at Harvard University. She is a former high school teacher and Breakthrough teacher (in Providence and Pittsburgh) and teacher trainer (in Massachusetts). 

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 serving 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.

Bio coming soon…

Richard Paik is the Head of Finance and Operations at Anvil Capture Systems, a carbon dioxide removal startup. Richard holds an MBA from McGill University and is a Senior Financial Planning & Analysis Leader with over 20 years of corporate experience. Throughout his career, he has specialized in maximizing organizational performance and long-term fiscal health through strategic financial planning and efficient resource deployment. Richard is inspired by Breakthrough’s mission to inspire excitement in low-income students for learning, create paths to and through college, and promote careers in education.

Trudi Veldman recently retired from Abbvie where she was Executive Director, Biologics Discovery and Head, Neglected Diseases R&D. She is a Biologics Drug Discovery expert spending 40+ years in the biotech and pharma industry. Trudi was born and raised in The Netherlands and was the only one in her family to attend university. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the Free University in Amsterdam after which she joined the budding biotech industry in Boston in the early 80’s. Trudi is passionate about education and hunger issues. While working in the biopharma industry, she coordinated science outreach programs for elementary and middle school students in Massachusetts and since 2016, she regularly visits Malawi in East Africa where she offers training and supplies for science teachers in remote villages. She joined the Breakthrough Board in 2014 and is proud to be part of a program that prepares students not only for academic success but also for life.