Meet Our Team
Rita Lara, Ed.M.
Leadership and Operations
Rita has over 25 years of local and global nonprofit sector experience and in her nineth year, has managed Maverick Landing Community Services (MLCS) through a pandemic year, pivoting to distributing 50,000 lbs of food per month to East Boston and working with the Boston Housing Support Coalition to pilot the first housing support station in East Boston. She was recognized for her work in 2020 with a Boston Community Champion award from the city of Boston. Prior to coming to MLCS she served as Director of Philanthropic Partnerships for Corporate Accountability International, an advocacy organization that safeguards human rights and the environment. Locally, she has worked with several Boston organizations serving Latinx communities. Rita has an Ed.M. in Human Development & Psychology with a concentration in Risk and Prevention from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Tufts University.
William Wallace Patten
Operations & Content
Will is originally from western Massachusetts and moved to Boston in 2014 to further his education at Bay State College. He studied Entertainment Management, where he found interests in event production, talent booking, and radio hosting. While studying, he became president of the community service club, as well as an executive board member of student government – representing the entire student body. His leadership as a student prepped him for being a leader in the professional workforce, which reflects his passion for facilitating teams and modeling strong cultural values. After graduating from Bay State, Will was hired at MLCS as a volunteer & events coordinator. He led on developing new systems for our volunteer program infrastructure, as well as organizing multiple events throughout the year including our annual Maverick Community Connector. He now acts as our Operations & Content lead, managing tracks for communications/social media, volunteer program, events, food distribution, and team ops. He lives in Eastie and has been warmly connected to the neighborhood since serving his internship at ZUMIX back in 2015. Will is dedicated to making big impact with his work and is deeply committed to MLCS’s mission.
Antonio Lobo
Adult Education & Coaching
Antonio is the English Innovations Coach. He has taught English for over 17 years and has worked for several non profit institutions like ENB, JVS, and Catholic Charities in the Boston area. He was trained as an ESOL teacher by the Department of Defense at the Defense Language Institute in San Antonio, TX. Antonio likes his job and believes that English is an essential component that every immigrant needs achieve the American dream.
Elba Oliva
Resident Engagement
Elba was born in Guatemala and came to the U.S. when she was five years old. Elba have lived in East Boston ever since, so it brings me pleasure to be able to assist residents of East Boston. Elba have experienced first-hand how difficult it is to be undocumented in this country and face other challenges, so she always try her best to help the community as well as empower their voices. Elba went to UMass Boston where she got my bachelor's degree in Exercise and Health Science and have worked as a personal trainer, coach, and physical therapy aide.
Juan Ochoa
Makerspace Sales & Production
Juan P. started working with the youth program at MLCS and was involved in the Maverick Makers pro program, through the whole project development during Covid-19.
Juan stayed involved in other programs such as the food program, supporting the East Boston community during the first 4 months of COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Juan stayed focused mainly on Maverick Makers projects.
He graduated from Albert E. Diversified High School in 2018, where he had a focus on technical drawing for 4 years.
Laura Villafane
Housing Specialist
Laura has been living for Maverick Landing almost 15 years with her four children. She previously worked at Partners Health Care System as a Third Party Viewer, and graduated from Lincoln Tech in December 2020 as Medical Assistant. She now serves as MLCS’s Housing Specialist, supporting the community as the point person with Rental Relief applications, general housing support, and connecting folks with needed resources in the realm of housing and evictions. Her favorite part about working at MLCS is that she has the ability to work in a diverse environment. Laura loves that her position allows her to work with families in genuine need.
Narda Pena
Resident Services Assistant
Narda was born in Peru and immigrated to Boston in 1999 and has lived in East Boston ever since. She has an Associate Degree as Bilingual Administrative Assistant in her country, and also has an Associate Degree in General Studies and a Certificate as Clinical Research here in the US. She’s gained valuable experience working in different industries such as food, retail, education, and health services which has allowed her to be in deeper contact with diverse populations. During the pandemic, Narda spent a lot of her time volunteering for different organizations around the city, and even found herself working on a few political campaigns. Presently, she works here at Maverick Landing Community Services, as a Resident Service Assistant. She is very grateful to be here working and helping residents of this community.
Elizabeth Osinski
Parent Organizer
Elizabeth has lived in the Maverick neighborhood for 16 years, and is often known as the “Icy Lady” for giving out Icy pops to kids in the summer, or the “neighborhood mother” for her welcoming energy and hospitality over the years. She has a rich work history In nursing, and has worked many different health care jobs from CNA, to LPN, to Home Health Aid. After some careful consideration, she decided she needed a career change, and is now working at MLCS as a Parent Organizer and Kids Makerspace Coordinator. She’ll be working on a variety of events and community outreach to improve the social fabric of our neighborhood, and making sure all children, youth, and families have a smooth transition into our programming.
Melissa Verbeek
Grant Writing and Communications Consultant
Melissa (or Mel) first joined the MLCS in March 2023 as a New American Integration Program (NAIP) Americorp Member. As an Americorp, Mel helped design and teach ESOL and Digital Literacy classes, assisted with food distribution, and helped support volunteer coordination and event planning. After her service, Mel transitioned to be a part-time Grant Writing and Communications Consultant, where she helps source and obtain funding in collaboration with the Development Team. Simultaneously, Mel is a full-time PhD candidate studying Middle East Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter in England. Her research will focus on using photography and focus groups to capture the lived experiences of displaced Syrians living in Jordan. In her free time, Mel enjoys playing ultimate frisbee and bouldering.
Maxwell Chezem
Food operations and fundraising specialist
Max grew up in Indiana as the son of a professor of nutrition and a professor of chemistry. He moved to Boston in 2012 to study biology and has worked since then on issues of food and education in the Boston area. He holds a Bachelor of Science in both Biology and Computer Science. Max began working on food access in East Boston in 2021 through work with Eastie Farm, handling both grant applications and program operations. In 2023 he began working with MLCS to manage food distribution and expand food programming to respond to community needs.
Paige Thimmesch
Housing Specialist Assistant
Paige cares deeply about their neighbors, and they have volunteered and worked for multiple grassroots organizations throughout Boston. While working closely with community members in Eastie, they are proud to call this city their home. Graduating from Emerson College, they studied Journalism with focuses in Environmental Studies and Peace & Social Justice, applying the people and research skills from these studies to the housing advocate position they now hold at Maverick Landing Community Services. Although they still have much to experience in the advocacy sphere, they are honored to have such a supportive network of people to learn from. In their free time, you can find them walking their rescue dog or crocheting a new project.
Board of Directors
John Shoenberger
Chair
Principle Site Reliability Director, Oracle Cloud
John Shoenberger is an avid traveler and a tinkerer. He has visited 20+ countries if you count layovers, his favorite being a recent narrow boating trip to the UK. Originally he grew up in southern California, and moved to the Boston region 10 years ago. Presently, John lives in East Boston with his girlfriend, Matti, and cat Berkeley. He has been working with Linux since Slackware 9, somehow he persisted through that horrific experience and finds it quite enjoyable these days.
John has worked for Google, Fidelity Investments, SilverRail Technologies Inc., and as a systems engineer for Threat Stack.
Gloribel Rivas
Co-Chair
Chief of Staff for State Representative, Adrian Madaro
Gloribel is State Representative Adrian Madaro’s Legislative Aide. She manages constituent services for East Boston residents, assists with communications, and contributes to all other aspects of the Representative’s work. She was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States at a young age, where she grew up in East Boston and attended the Boston Public Schools. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and worked as a paralegal at an immigration law office before assuming her current role. She is passionate about strengthening our communities and committed to furthering racial and social justice
Joe Bamberg
Director
Director of Planning and Development at the Boston Housing Authority.
Joe Bamberg is Director of Planning and Development at the Boston Housing Authority, where he oversees strategic planning and real estate development initiatives aimed at preserving BHA’s portfolio of over 10,000 public housing units. Much of Joe’s work for over fifteen years has focused on the transformative redevelopment of physically distressed public housing communities across the City, including BHA’s HOPE VI program at Maverick Landing. Increasingly BHA is engaged in public-private partnerships to support its entire portfolio, while furthering its core mission to provide healthy and supportive housing to low-income Bostonians. Before coming to BHA, Joe worked at NOAH, a community development corporation in East Boston. He grew up nearby in Revere, Massachusetts, and has a master’s degree in regional planning from the University of North Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard.
Brigid K. Bowser
Director
Associate Attorney, Pierce Atwood LLP
Brigid is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, where she served as a student attorney with the Suffolk University Juvenile Defenders Clinic. While in law school, Ms. Bowser worked as a fellow with the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. Additionally, she served as a Judicial Intern to Retired Associate Justice Geraldine S. Hines, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and to Judge William G. Young, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Alex DeFronzo
Director
Executive Director, Piers Park Sailing Center
Alex leads Piers Park Sailing in East Boston, a community nonprofit that works to make Boston Harbor welcoming, accessible, and fun for everyone. He loves his work and getting to see kids from the community grow up in the program & enjoy the harbor. Alex lives in East Boston with his wife, Sara. He graduated from UMass Lowell (BS/BA) and Suffolk University (Master of Public Administration) and has been doing nonprofit work for 10 years. MLCS and Piers Park Sailing have partnered on several programs and Alex also loves seeing all of the awesome work going on at Maverick Landing.
Ruth Capone
Director
Appointed East Boston Community Development Corporation (EBCDC) Director
Over the past 30 years, Ruth Capone has dedicated her time to working within the Maverick Tenant’s Organization, Inc. as Tenant leader, Chairperson, Interim Director and Volunteer. She has an extensive history helping tenants to access resources through her tenure with formerly the Maverick Tenants Organization and currently with the Maverick Association of Residents (MAR).
Aaron Horne
Director
Appointed Trinity Financial Director & Assistant Project Manager, Trinity Financial.
Aaron Horne is an Assistant Project Manager with Trinity Financial, the Boston-based real estate development firm that redeveloped Maverick Landing in collaboration with East Boston Community Development Corporation. He works within the development staff conducting market research, financial analysis, due diligence, and community outreach for prospective and current projects. His portfolio includes the 200-unit Boston East property, another Trinity/EBCDC development in East Boston which includes a community art gallery that he works to curate. Aaron hold a Bachelor’s of Science in Management from Boston College, concentrating in Marketing.
Victoria Phillips
Director
Environmental Specialist, Center for EcoTechnology
Victoria Phillips is the Zero Waste Coordinator for the City of Boston Environment Department. As the Zero Waste Coordinator, Victoria is involved in the implementation of Zero Waste Boston, the City’s first-ever zero waste plan, which includes developing waste reduction public education and policy. Victoria has also worked as a city planner for the Boston Planning & Development Agency to support inclusive community engagement strategies. Victoria received her bachelor’s from Cornell University in City and Regional Planning concentrating in Environmental Sciences and Sustainability. Victoria lives in East Boston.
Robert Schmidt
Clerk
Resident, Maverick Landing Community
Robert Schmidt is a long-time East Boston resident whose actively involved on a number of board and community groups. In addition to serving on the board of MLCS, Robert is also a member of the board of trusteees of NOAH.
Instructional Superintendent / Office of the Superintendent | Boston Public Schools
Tommy Welch is the Instructional Superintendent for Boston Public Schools, serving schools in East Boston, Charlestown, the North End and Chinatown. His network of 16 schools includes nearly 8000 students, and all grade levels (pre-school through 12th grade). He transitioned to Boston Public Schools in 2015 after 16 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District. During his time in Los Angeles he taught and served as a school site leader at all levels, including elementary through adult school During his final years in Los Angeles, he worked within the pilot school network as the founding principal of a middle school from 2011-14, and later opening a high school in 2014. Mr. Welch has dedicated his career in public education, and by remaining student-focused he strives to continue to provide excellent service for the students and parents of traditionally underserved communities. Mr. Welch is a graduate of Occidental College (BA) and UCLA (MA), and recently began a doctorate program at Boston College. He lives in East Boston with his wife and two young children.
Tommy Welch
Director
Shawndy Pierre
Director
Growth Coordinator for IBIS Consulting Group.
Most recently serving as the executive Assistant for the Executive Director at Maverick Landing Community Services, he brings forward an extensive experience in marketing, event management & coordination, as well as youth services.
Shawndy graduated from Bentley University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing as well as a minor concentration in Informational Design and Corporate Communication. He is a former Student Director of the Bentley Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Center and a recipient of the Falcon Society Award.
Jo Ann Fitzgerald
Director
Jo Ann lives with her husband, Michael, as retired members of the East Boston community where she grew up. Prior to her retirement in 2018, she spent 25 years in her career with the Massachusetts Teachers Association as an advocate for the advancement of public education, public school employees and public school students. As the Director of MTA’s Grassroots
Campaign Division, she worked directly with MTA’s Senate District Coordinators to develop and implement Senate District plans for outreach, member recruitment, coalition building and political action for each election cycle.
Her work with MTA provided her with the opportunity to work in MTA’s Governmental Division as a registered lobbyist and as a retired members service specialist. She was responsible for the active engagement of active and retired members in the legislative process. In addition she developed and provided training for active and retired members. As a Field Consultant she was responsible for the delivery of the full services of MTA/NEA including collective bargaining, processing grievances and arbitrations.
Jo Ann also spent 16 years as a middle school reading and language arts teacher.