Our Team

  • Staff
  • Board of Directors
  • Trainers
  • Advisory Board

Abbie Rosenberg

Founder, Executive Director

Abbie has over 30 years of experience as an advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner, including outpatient private practice, inpatient psychiatric care and on college campuses. She also has experience in the non-profit sector as the founder and executive director of an event raising money for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) for 16 years

Abbie lives in Hopkinton, MA with her husband and two sons. She enjoys hiking with her dog, volunteering in her community and spending time with family and friends.

Marisa Carty

Program Development & Marketing Manager

Marissa is a former MHC intern, the founder of MHC’s Young Adult Advisory Board, and an alumni from Boston University’s Class of 2022. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in psychology and was a Kilachand Honors College scholar. She has experience in social-emotional education, behavioral healthcare, graphic design, event management, and research. She is excited to use her skills to support MHC in bringing mental health literacy to all. 

In her free time, Marissa teaches dance, spends time outdoors, and loves to bake for her family and friends.

Ellie Winthrop

Board Chair

Ellie has worked in the nonprofit world for the past 18 years serving on various boards as secretary and treasurer. She has experience in fundraising as well. She currently volunteers as an ESL tutor at Literacy Unlimited in Framingham MA and as a mentor for Mazie Mentoring of Big Brother Big Sister in Framingham MA as well.

Ellie lives in Hopkinton with her husband and 3 children. In her free time she enjoys playing tennis, bike riding and plant based cooking.

Ali Balster

Vice Chair

Ali has over 20 years experience as a diverse business leader with expertise in supply chain management, financial analysis, engineering and operations. She is a trained industrial engineer having spent fifteen years in aerospace manufacturing worldwide. More recently, Ali founded a gourmet catering business and currently serves as an account analyst for a wealth management firm. 

Ali volunteers for various Hopkinton organizations including MOMs Group, the HPTA, the Sharon Timlin Memorial 5K and Mental Health Collaborative.

Ari Herman

Treasurer

Ari has spent over a decade leading various private equity firm’s finances and operations. Currently, Ari is the CFO at Franchise Equity Partners, a private equity firm who seeks to create long-term partnerships with best-in-class franchise operators by providing minority, passive, permanent and flexible capital solutions. Ari is a Class A firefighter, a member of the Hose 2 Company in the Woodmere Volunteer Fire Department, where he also serves as Treasurer.

Ari lives in Woodmere, NY with his wife Arielle and their 4 kids. When he’s not putting out literal and metaphorical fires, he spends much of his limited free time watching and playing sports, and running marathons and triathlons.

Brian Gross

Secretary

Brian Gross is a partner in the Boston office of the law firm Manning Gross + Massenburg, and has more than twenty years of experience finding client-oriented solutions to complex business and litigation issues.  His practice involves a broad spectrum of litigation, but is primarily concentrated in corporate litigation.

Brian lives in Hopkinton with his wife and two children, and has been active in Hopkinton youth sports for many years.  He enjoys travel, sports, and spending time with family.

Ellen Scordino

Ellen Scordino is a partner in the Boston office of DLA Piper, where her legal practice focuses on counseling life science clients in intellectual property matters and other business disputes. She also has a robust pro bono practice focusing on access to justice for children and women.  Ellen also has decades of volunteer experience including being on several boards, including Hopkinton School Committee, Hopkinton Country Club Charitable Foundation, and the College Axis Project.

Ellen lives in Hopkinton with her husband, two children, and two dogs.  She enjoys spending her free time with family, traveling, and watching bad tv.

Get in Touch with Us

Michele Bredice Craemer, M.Ed.

Gabrielle Giordano BS, EdM

Ali Gutermann, LICSW

Susan Hanly, MSN, RN

Elena List, LICSW

Arti Kumar-Jain, Ph.D Candidate, MCHC, M.Ed

Carrie Prisco, MEd in Special Education, MEd in Literacy

Karen Renaud, M.Ed., CiWPP, CiHS

Elizabeth Schuster,  M.A. in Counseling Psychology

Cara Tirrell, MA in Counseling Psychology

Phoenix Ward, M.S. in Curriculum, Instruction and Teaching

Gail Martinez Waters, Ph.D., LCPC, NCC

Kristy Willadsen, BS

Evan Bishop

Evan is the principal at Hopkinton High School. He has worked at HHS for the past 15 years. He started his career as a school counselor and coach and has spent the last 10 years as an administrator. He loves to spend time with his family & friends, coaching his daughter’s sports teams, traveling and exercising.

Dr. Sharon Burdulis

Sharon has been practicing pediatrics for close to 25 years in the community setting. She and her husband are blessed with 5 children and 2 dogs. In addition to spending time with her family, she loves to run and volunteer her time.

Dr. Kirk Lum

Kirk is a psychiatrist who has been in practice in the Boston area for over 20 years. He has enjoyed working in community mental health clinics and private practice. He has a love and appreciation for teaching and schools as both his wife and daughter are teachers and he did a student teaching internship himself at Brookline High School many moons ago.

Jon Nelson

Jon is a healthcare communications executive who is a passionate patient advocate focused on pulverizing the stigma of mental illness. Jon participated in a deep brain stimulation clinical trial out of Mt Sinai hospital in New York for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder. He has been in remission from depression since the moment the device was turned on. He is living a bonus life and is dedicated to saving as many lives as possible through his advocacy efforts and supporting organizations like Mental Health Collaborative. Jon lives in Newtown, PA with his wife and 3 children.

Dr. Jennifer Herring

Dr. Jennifer Herring is a graduate of Gordon College, Cambridge College and Lesley University. At Gordon College, Dr. Herring studied Theater and minored in communications. She was the recipient of the New City/Clarendon Scholars program which recognized urban leaders and their potential to make an impact in their communities or partnering urban communities with Gordon. Additionally, Dr. Herring has traveled to Ghana, W. Africa, Guatemala, London, Scotland for service learning and theater study abroad. In graduate school, Dr. Herring obtained a Master’s of Education in Psychological Studies as well as a PhD in Educational Leadership. Her research focus centers around supporting all students who have endured trauma in school. After the personal and professional experiences gained from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Herring was able to reimagine what a safe and supportive school requires with the lens of trauma-sensitivity and language learning.

Ilene Silver

Ilene is a former longtime principal of the Elmwood School in Hopkinton, MA. She lives in Framingham with her husband and loves to spend time with her grandchildren and travel. She is also an avid volunteer in her community.

Lisa Stevenson

Lisa is an award winning Creative Director/Art Director with more than 25 years of experience. She is VP, Creative Director at Merge, Boston—a marketing agency specializing in the healthcare and financial services industries. She is mom to two amazing daughters and when she isn’t driving the dance carpool, she loves to travel and ski with her kids.