Kevin Fudge is the director of consumer advocacy and ombudsman at American Student Assistance. He works with policymakers, state agencies and non-profit organizations to increase college access, college completion, and successful education debt management. Kevin is a graduate of the University of Virginia and received his Master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University. 

Octavia Nixon is the Design Studio Project Lead Coordinator at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. Prior to joining Harvard, Octavia worked in the educational non-profit sector. Her work primarily involved supporting school, district, and state-level leaders in identifying the technical and adaptive enabling conditions necessary to deliver high-quality professional development focused on curriculum adoption and strategic implementation. Octavia holds a Bachelor’s degree from UMass Boston, Master’s degree from UMass Lowell, and certificate from Kean University.

Noel Samu is an Executive Director – Financial Reporting at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, NA. He has over 15 years of experience in the Investment Fund industry including financial statement, performance, regulatory and compliance reporting, talent management, audit, business analysis, change management, process optimization and automation. He is a CFA Charterholder and earned his Accounting degree from the University of South Africa. Noel who is a 2019 NICSA NOVA award winner in the Emerging Leaders category is a firm believer in the power of mentorship to broaden horizons. Noel serves as the Treasurer.

Jethro Trente et un has been an active member of the Alray Organization since 2013. After graduating from Charlestown High School, he earned his Bachelor’s degree from Bates College. He then went on to obtain his law degree from New England Law Boston. Jethro currently works as Intellectual Property Counsel at General Mills. He is passionate about recruiting new Alray Scholars and fueling the growth of the organization. 

Nancy White is a recently retired Tax Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where she advised private and public corporations on their tax planning and compliance obligations. Nancy is a strategic thinker and has more than 29 years of experience developing and mentoring staff. In addition, Nancy has served as a board member and held leadership roles on several other nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts. Nancy is a CPA and received her BA from Connecticut College, and her MBA from Columbia Business School. 

Lisa, an Alray founding board member, is a trauma specialist and Boston-based writer who has worked internationally, including in Ireland, Israel and Palestine. She is a special clinical consultant to the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, a Boston nonprofit serving survivors of victims of homicide. Following the Boston Marathon Bombing, she worked with the Israel Trauma Coalition to provide services to survivors and bystanders.

Lisa spent her formative young adult years living at Kibbutz Ketura, a farm collective on Israel’s southern tip, and she earned her undergraduate degree in Hebrew Literature from the Tel-Aviv Teacher’s Seminary.

In 1996, she founded the Arts Incentives Program, a Greater Boston nonprofit was recognized by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for its success in reducing disparities in minority contact in the juvenile justice system.

Lisa’s current book, Bulletproof Therapist, is drawn from her work dealing with trauma in Boston, Israel/Palestine, and Northern Ireland. Lisa leverages her deep expertise in counseling and mental health to provide pro bono guidance to the Alray program and our scholars.

Thaddeus Miles, an Alray founding board member and recipient of the Alray Community Leadership Award, is an author, award-winning photographer, and force for good in Greater Boston. He is the creator of the “BlackJoy Project,” which recently published To My Kin, an anthology of youth stories and poetry. The longtime director of Community Services at MassHousing, Thaddeus founded several nonprofits, including HoodFit, a cross-collaborative movement to amplify the positive attributes in communities of color. Hoodfit started Roxbury’s first 5k race, now an annual event in partnership with the Boston Athletic Association and the Dimmock Center.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Thaddeus has done work with Harvard Law School and MIT. He is co-chair of My Brother’s Keeper Boston and Chair of Becoming a Man (BAM), Boston and was named one of Boston’s Most Influential People of Color. He received the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Action Corp. and the Director’s Community Leadership Award from the FBI, among other honors. A devoted dad and grandfather, he remains a trusted and active senior advisor to the Alray team.

Jack O’Brien, an Alray founding board member and recipient of the Alray Community Leadership Award, is a longtime teacher, coach and mentor. In a decade of coaching basketball at Charlestown High School, he led his teams to a record-breaking five state championships in six years. More important, during his tenure, nearly every one of his players who stayed with the Charletown program through his senior year went on to college. A graduate of Salem State College and a longtime educator in Boston Public Schools, Jack previously coached in Salem and his hometown of Medford. Irish America Magazine named him one of its Top 100 Irish-Americans. A champion mentor, Jack helped lead the Alray mentoring program and remains an active and trusted senior advisor.