Our Leadership
Get to know Boston Builds Credit's leadership teamOur Leadership Structure
Boston Builds Credit’s leadership structure is made up of three core parts: The BBC Director / Leadership Team, the Board, and the committees. BBC has ambitious goals, but we can’t reach them alone, so both the Board and BBC’s committees are designed to share power with our cross-sector partners and Boston residents.
There are currently five committees within our leadership structure:
- Service Delivery
- Systems Change
- Safe Products (in partnership with Bank On Boston),
- Community Advisory Council
- BBC Backbone Committee
For more information on these committees or on BBC’s Board, please contact our Director, Allison Kroner Barron at akroner@supportunitedway.org
BBC Leadership Team
Get to know the team behind Boston Builds Credit.
Economic Inclusion & Wealth Building Team
Juan Pablo Bonilla Santiago
Vice President of Economic Inclusion and Wealth Building | United Way of Mass Bay & Merrimack Valley
Juan is Vice President of Economic Inclusion and Wealth Building at the United Way of Massachusetts Bay leading its economic mobility and wealth building work which includes Boston Builds Credit and its network of Financial Opportunity Centers. Prior to joining the United Way, Juan spent 18 years at Lawrence CommunityWorks, Inc., a UW community partner, as their Chief Operating Officer. Juan has an extensive background in nonprofit leadership in the areas of affordable housing, community building, financial empowerment, workforce development and housing counseling programming. He holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Spanish from Bowdoin College (Class of 1995), is a graduate of the Institute for Non-Profit Management and Leadership certificate program (Boston University) and received his master’s in public policy at Tufts University in August 2022. He served as a member of the Federal Reserve Bank’s Community Advisory Council (2017-2020) and is a past board member of the YMCA of Merrimack Valley, The Midas Collaborative, the Merrimack Valley Federal Credit Union, the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC) and Ahora, Inc., a non-profit start-up. Juan is a past recipient of the Bowdoin College Common Good Award and the Lawrence Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award for Community Service. Born in Puerto Rico, he came to Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1982 at age 9 and grew up in the city. He now lives in Haverhill, Massachusetts with his family.
Email: jbonilla@supportunitedway.org
Marie Elianor
Senior Director of Community Strategies | United Way of Mass Bay & Merrimack Valley
Marie is the Senior Director of Community Strategies at United Way of Mass. Bay. She is committed to building, fostering, and supporting community-based collaborations that promote financial empowerment, wealth building, and economic inclusion. Marie obtained her master’s degree in public administration and nonprofit management in 2021 from Seton Hall University and brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her role. Previously, she served as the Project Director of Rising to the Challenge at the United Way, leading a multi-partners effort to end youth homelessness in Boston. Marie is also the founder and director of the Haitian American Student Corporation, a non-profit working to empower Haitian students as agents of change. Marie is known for her strategic leadership and ability to foster collaboration across sectors. She is dedicated to creating equitable communities and believes in empowering individuals to thrive.
Email: melianor@supportunitedway.org
Christine Niccoli
Director, Economic Inclusion and Wealth Building, United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley
Christine’s focus at United Way is capacity building for financial empowerment partners. Christine manages United Way’s Financial Empowerment Learning Institute and financial and career coaches Community of Practice meetings. Christine comes to the United Way with several years of direct service experience in youth education and human services. Additionally, she led partnership engagement and program delivery at Rosie’s Place and Science Club for Girls. Christine is the Chair of the Boston Builds Credit Service Delivery Committee which brings together service delivery partners to improve credit access and credit building for Bostonians.
Email: cniccoli@supportunitedway.org
Paul Francois
Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications | Boston Builds Credit / United Way of Mass Bay & Merrimack Valley
Paul serves as the Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications for Boston Builds Credit. Before his time with BBC, Paul served as the Marketing & Project Manger for CLLCTV.US where he managed initiatives and projects for several notable organizations. His past work includes projects managed for Boston based clients that include the MFA Boston, Converse, Bodega, and Reebok. As a resident of the Roxbury area, Paul’s goal is to help members of the greater Boston community gain access to valuable information that can help them realize their economic goals
Email: pfrancois@supportunitedway.org
Bank On Boston
Michael D Andelman
Program Manager, Bank on Boston
Michael D. Andelman program manages the Bank On Boston Coalition within the Boston Mayor’s Office of Financial Empowerment. At 14, Michael started his first business, a direct mail and database management corporation sustainably employing youth and stay at home parents. His entrepreneurial successes in variegated industries, like cafes, entertainment, construction and hospitality has enabled non-business minded individuals, especially artists to quit their day jobs becoming fiscally responsible and solvent. As the chief creative officer of the Massachusetts Jump$tart Coalition, Michael created the Massachusetts Financial Regatta, a real-life sailing and personal finance competition for high schoolers. Michael has been an awarded, active member of the FDIC’s Money Smart Alliance since 2008.
Email: michael.andelman@boston.gov
Community Advisory Council
Cynthia Jones
Community Advisory Council, Network Leader
Roxbury resident Cynthia Jones had gotten to the point of dreading her mail. “When you don’t have money to pay off debt, you don’t want to look at it or touch anything related to it,” she said. “It feels like you’ll just get more discouraged.” Cynthia began her journey with Boston Builds Credit when she attended United Way’s Connect event at the Reggie Lewis Center. There she met Maddie Deeds, a financial coach with the Roxbury Center for Financial Empowerment. With help from Maddie, she enrolled in financial coaching as she was able to increase her credit score by 100 points in six months. She has now joined the Boston Builds Credit team as a network leader supporting public outreach and education for the Roxbury Center for Financial Empowerment.
BBC Board Members
Boston Builds Credit’s Boad is an essential component of our leadership structure. It is comprised of community and organizational partners
Board Members
- Karley Ausiello, Senior Vice President, United Way of MBMV
- Daniel Dodd-Ramirez, Director for the Office of Community Affairs, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Emilio Dorcely, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Edge
- Karen Kelleher, Executive Director, LISC Boston
- Carmina Lass, Chief Program Officer, Credit Builders Alliance
- Constance Martin, Deputy Director, Mayor’s Office of Financial Empowerment
- Gail Sokoloff, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Foundation Relations, United Way of MBMV
- Mimi Turchinetz, Assistant Deputy Director, Mayor’s Office of Financial Empowerment
BBC Committees
The committees of our leadership structure that help give external insights to BBC’s initiatives.
Service Delivery Committee
- Alan Gentle, Boston Center for Working Families
- Constance Martin, Boston Center for Working Families
- Jason Andrade, Compass Working Capital
- Morgan Spears, Working Credit
- Paola Liendo, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp.
- Marie Elianor, United Way Mass Bay
- Christine Niccoli, United Way Mass Bay
- Ronice Kimbrel, Boston Tax Help Coalition
- Nathalie Kallab Racimo, Neighborhood of Affordable Housing
- Adalberto Jaimes, Jewish Vocational Services
Systems Change Committee
- Molly Goodman, Midas Collaborative – Chair
- Mimi Turchinetz, City of Boston
- Michael Best, National Consumer Law Center
- Juan Bonilla, United Way of Mass Bay
- Jason Ewas, Commonwealth
- Shirley Fan-Chan, Heading Home
- Lopamudra Jhamb, Saheli
- Michael Rousseau, Urban Edge
- Will Lehrer, United Way of Mass Bay
- Marie Elianor, United Way of Mass Bay
- Ronice Kimbrel, City of Boston
- Ricki Lowitz, Working Credit
- Carolyn Brandes
Safe Products Committee
- Co-Chair: Jason Andrade, Compass Working Capital
- Co-Chair: Shawn Judge, Metro Housing Boston
- Staff: Michael D. Andelman, Bank On Boston
- Akwasi Agyemang, Massachusetts Division of Banks
- Silvana Bastante, Local Support Initiatives Corporation | LISC
- Charlene Bauer, Metro Credit Union
- Lauren Bringle, Self Financial
- Tom Callahan, Massachusetts Community & Banking Council.(MCBC)
- Susanne Cameron, JPMorgan Chase
- James Carden, City of Boston Credit Union
- Eric Dahl, M&T Bank
- Paul Francois, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley
- Tori L. Hamilton, Connecticut Association for Human Services, Bank On CT
- Tracy Harvard, Dedham Savings Bank
- Brit Johnson, Community Advisory Council (Advisor)
- Blanca Vespe, Dora Financial
- Kristi Kenworthy, Dora p/b USAlliance Financial
- Natalia Lima, Citizens Bank
- Robert “Bob” McLaughlin, Digital Equity and Bank On New Hampshire
- Peter Mosbacher, Webster Bank
- Brad S. Papalardo, Massachusetts Bankers Association
- Leneva Penton, Urban Edge
- Jennings McArthur Rainey, Bank of America
- Kristin Schell, Working Credit
- Shannon Tobin, USAlliance Financial
- Mimi Turchinetz, Mayor’s Office of Financial Empowerment
- Maureen “Mo” Wilkinson, Harbor One
- Peter J. Mullen, American Consumer Credit Counseling
Community Advisory Council
Boston Builds Credit’s Community Advisory Council is a community informing partnership with Union Capital Boston
- Cynthia Jones*
- Garret Thames
- Sharee Fairley
- Blanca Gomez
*Network leader
BBC Backbone Committee
- Christine Nicoli
- Brit Johnson
- Cynthia Jones
- Adalberto Jaimes
- Keri Nicole Dillman
- Michael Andelman
- Tina Petigny
- Paul Francois
- Ronice Kimbrel
- Gail Sokoloff
- Constance Martin
- Maureen Kenmeni
- Mimi Turchinetz
- Ricki Lowitz