ACE Staff

• Eugene B. Benson, Legal Counsel and Program Director (Services Program)
• Celina Lee, Membership and Communications Coordinator
• Penn Loh, Executive Director
• Rene Mardones, Community Organizer
• Lee Matsueda, Community Organizer
• Maggie Merced, Bookkeeper/Office Manager
• Marléna Rose, Program Director (REEP)
• Khalida Smalls, Program Director (Member Organizing)
• Marina Spitkovskaya, Environmental Justice Services Coordinator
• Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, Program Director (Development)
• Holly Unger, Development Coordinator

ACE Board

• Kalila Barnett (Vice Chair) -- Organizer, Community Labor United
• Lisa Sadika Edwards -- activist, organizer
• Gary Gill-Austern, Esq. (Treasurer) -- Counsel, Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP
• Daniel Goodenough -- Professor, Harvard Medical School
• Trina Jackson -- activist, educator, organizer
• Neal-Dra Osgood -- Organizer, Boston Urban Asthma Coalition (BUAC)
• Robert Terrell (Chair) -- Coordinator, On the Move Coalition Coalition
• Tina Wu -- Counsel, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr LLP

Staff Profiles

Eugene B. Benson
Eugene Benson, Legal Counsel and Services Program Director, provides legal counsel and representation for community groups and coalitions and ACE member committees fighting for environmental justice. Before joining ACE in 2003, Gene was Associate General Counsel, Environmental Law, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. His earlier positions include Executive Director, Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services, Cambridge, MA; and Chief Attorney, Legal Aid Bureau, Frederick, MD. Gene co-wrote the chapter on Water Pollution Control in Massachusetts Environmental Law (MCLE 1999 and 2002), is a past president of the Mystic River Watershed Association, and is on the Board of Trustees of The Food Project. In September 2007, Gene completed a two-year term as co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Environmental Law Section, where he is now on its Public Policy Committee. Gene received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.
e-mail Eugene B. Benson

Penn Loh
Penn Loh, Executive Director, holds an M.S. in environmental science and policy from Energy and Resources Group of the University of California at Berkeley. Penn joined ACE in 1996 and has served previously as Research and Development Director and Associate Director. Before joining ACE, he was Research Associate at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California and a Research Analyst at the Tellus Institute for Resource and Environmental Strategies in Boston. He has published broadly on environmental and social justice issues and teaches environmental justice at the Tufts University. He served to a two-year term on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council's Health and Research Subcommittee and has served on the boards of the Environmental Support Center and the Environmental Leadership Program. He is currently a board member of the New World Foundation and Community Labor United. 
e-mail Penn Loh

 

Lee Matsueda
Lee Matsueda, Program Director of the T Riders Union (TRU), joined the staff in October 2005, after serving as an ACE Board member for one year. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and holds a MS degree in the Environmental Studies Advocacy and Organizing Program from Antioch New England Graduate School. Previous to ACE, Lee was a community organizer for almost three years with the Greater Four Corners Action Coalition (GFCAC) in Dorchester. While at the GFCAC, his efforts included campaign work to gain access to rapid transit along the Fairmount line commuter rail corridor, and Boston Schoolyard Initiative projects at the Sara Greenwood K-8 Middle School and the former William E. Endicott Elementary School. 
e-mail Lee Matsueda

Maggie Merced
Maggie Merced, Bookkeeper and Office Manager, has more than 15 years experience in bookkeeping and has extensive experience working with non-profits and as a community activist. She holds an Associates Degree in Accounting from the Banking Institute of Puerto Rico. Her most recent position was as Office Manager and Bookkeeper for Boston Urban Gardeners. She is also a professional translator from English to Spanish and has worked as a translator for a variety of Boston-area organizations. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation and is on the the board of the Forest Glen Cooperative.
e-mail Maggie Merced

Marléna Rose
Marléna Rose, Program Director of the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP), has been working with youth and youth-service agencies since 1988. She has worked collaboratively with ACE since 1998, co-creating Voices of Power, a youth-led group that addressed the importance of voting for youth. In 2000, she was awarded the Otto and Muriel Snowden Fellowship at Northeastern University’s Urban Law and Public Policy Institute to continue her work on youth leadership development and youth community activism.  Before joining the ACE staff, Marléna directed programs at the Bromley-Heath housing development in Jamaica Plain. 
e-mail Marlena Rose

   

Khalida Smalls
Khalida Smalls is a Program Director of Member Organizing. She is a 1996 graduate of Crittenton Hastings House. She has previously worked as Office Manager for Project LEEO, a non-profit educational and advocacy organization for young men of color. In 1997, she received one of 20 nationwide "American Dream Awards" in recognition of excellence in School-to-Work initiatives. Khalida grew up in Roxbury and Dorchester, is now a community activist, and brags often of her wonderful twelve-year-old son. 
e-mail Khalida Smalls


 

Marina Spitkovskaya

Marina Spitkovskaya joined ACE in July of 2007. In her role as Environmental Justice Services Coordinator, Marina helps connect neighborhood groups to legal and technical resources in order to assist them in addressing environmental justice issues in their communities. Marina immigrated to the U.S. from the Ukraine as a child. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Yale University, where she studied environmental justice and environmental health. In the past, Marina has worked to improve access to health care for undocumented immigrants and uninsured individuals. 
e-mail Marina Spitkovskaya


 

Jodi Sugerman-Brozan
Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, Program Director (Development), holds an M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University. She was previously the Policy Director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay in Boston. Jodi developed the successful youth program, Harbor Visions Crew, while at Save the Harbor and has extensive experience in Boston environmental issues. She has more than a dozen years of experience in a variety of environmental, women's, community, and social justice organizations. She previously served as Program Director of REEP. 
e-mail Jodi Sugerman-Brozan


 

Holly Unger
Before joining ACE in February 2007, Holly worked with the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ), in Seattle, Washington, as a Membership and Volunteer Coordinator and then as the Development Coordinator. She holds a B.A. in Sociology, with a minor in Environmental Studies, from Boston College. Holly is honored to be part of the ACE team and to serve as an ally to the environmental justice movement in her position as Development Coordinator. 
e-mail Holly Unger