TRUSTEES

Founder & Chairperson

Diane Christian was inspired by decades of volunteer work serving children and the community to found Someone Else’s Child in 1997 to work with underserved youth.

Diane began her career in 1985 as a Financial Internal Auditor with E.F. Hutton Company and, when they were acquired by Shearson Lehman Brothers, moved to the Investment Advisor Group where she worked as an Assistant Portfolio Manager. She later worked in the same capacity at Campbell Cowperthwait & Co., a boutique money manager firm, where she was promoted to Analyst and Portfolio Strategist. In 1990, she became a Certified Financial Analyst and, when Campbell Cowperthwait & Co. was acquired by U.S. Trust, was promoted to a Senior Portfolio Manager position. With U.S. Trust, she created an internal mutual fund called the U.S. Trust Optimum Growth Fund. In 1996, Diane started Optimum Growth Advisors in Marblehead, MA. The company was sold to Atlanta Capital Group in December 2012 and she continued to work in the same capacity in the ACG Optimum Growth Investment Strategy Product. Diane left in 2017 after completing her buy out contract and is currently a consultant, working to help and educate people in their personal financial management. She also gives financial literacy presentations to young people.

  • As a student in high school and college, she worked at a nursery school and day care center. She has served the greater Boston area as a Big Sister, a Sunday School teacher, and as a volunteer with Women in Community Service, Gregg House Preschool, Girl’s Inc., My Brother’s Table, and Lifebridge. In addition to her leadership of Someone Else’s Child, she also serves as a committee member for The Boch Center’s education program.

    Diane graduated from Boston College in 1985 with a double major in Economics and Psychology.

President & Managing Director

Mike Christian has served as President of Someone Else’s Child Foundation since 1998.

He was the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Risk Strategies, a leading national insurance brokerage firm. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Risk Strategies from 1997 to 2019 and then Chairman until the company was acquired by Brown & Brown in 2025. He led the private equity-backed company from its start-up beginnings into a top national risk advisor/broker with revenues of over $1.7 billion. Prior to Risk Strategies, Mike held leadership positions with Jardine Insurance Brokers, including serving on the U.S. Board of Directors, AON and Alexander & Alexander.

  • Mike is the Managing Partner for Community Impact Ventures (CIV), a venture capital impact fund that provides financial support to social entrepreneurs and for-profit companies that have missions focused on improving the lives of young people. CIV invests in early-stage firms creating meaningful social impact. He also acts as an advisor to many of the CIV portfolio companies and other start-up organizations.

    He is the Chairman of the Boch Center (Wang & Schubert Theaters) in Boston and serves on several non-profit boards including the Folk/Americana/Roots Hall of Fame (FARHOF), the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, Northeast Arc, the University of California Santa Barbara Foundation, and Point32 Health Foundation. Mike has also hosted the What’s @ Risk radio show on WBZ (iHeartRadio) in Boston.

    Mike majored in Philosophy at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Trustee

Jennifer Christian has more than 15 years of experience in national security, geopolitical risk management, complex investigations and threat assessment across the public and private sectors. Jenn has dedicated her career to service of country and community. She has advised C-Suite executives, board members, and business leaders on how to navigate geopolitical developments to reduce risk and maximize opportunities.

  • Currently a Managing Director at FTI Consulting, Jenn leads large investigations to support trial strategy in criminal and civil matters. She also heads international pre-deal diligence investigations to support clients’ evaluation of risk, drawing on her in-house corporate experience, leading new country entry processes and conducting geopolitical risk assessments.

    Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Jenn was a Senior Intelligence Manager at bp, where she evaluated geopolitical risks and performed investigations associated with project development and asset management in the oil, gas and renewable energies space. She has in-depth experience supporting market entry processes in Latin America by assessing and mitigating geopolitical, reputational, regulatory and security risks.

    Jenn spent a decade in the federal government, representing U.S. foreign policy and humanitarian objectives throughout sub-Saharan Africa. She leverages her significant experience with U.S. foreign policy formulation to advise clients and companies on how to mitigate exposure to increasingly complex regulatory environments and engage with key government stakeholders.

    Jenn began her career working for the non-profit organization the Public International Law and Policy Group, where she provided legal and policy advice to ministers and senior officials of the Government of then-Southern Sudan on governance, economic, and risk issues related to South Sudan’s 2011 independence from Sudan.

    A subject matter expert in sub-Saharan Africa, she has lived and worked in East and southern Africa. Jenn introduced Mike, Diane, and SEC to the continent she loves, and has actively supported SEC funding to Africa-based organizations. Also, a published author, Jenn’s commentary on geopolitical risk, governance and rule of law issues in East Africa has appeared in print media and has been featured on CNN, BBC and Voice of America.

    A dedicated mentor, Jenn volunteers with Empower, an organization whose mission is to support, connect and empower children and young adults up through age 24 who have experienced the death of a parent. She also volunteers her time as a mentor and DEI board committee member for Women in Security. A trained crisis responder, she formerly volunteered with the City of Alexandria, VA’s sexual assault crisis hotline.

    B.A., English, Boston College
    M.A., International Relations, American University
    J.D., International Law, Washington College of Law, American University

Julia Christian grew up in the Boston area. Keenly focused on the arts as a youth, she is a skilled musician and songwriter and danced at a high level throughout middle and high school. As a young person, Julia volunteered often with Mike and Diane on Someone Else’s Child projects, particularly with Kids-Helping-Kids events around the Boston area. She also volunteered at Girls’ Inc. in Lynn, MA and worked with young dancers at her studio. After attending NYU and then graduating from the University of Vermont, she chose to remain in Vermont and began her career in the nonprofit sector. She is particularly interested in finance-focused, mission-driven work.

  • “Growing up with strong philanthropic roots, I began volunteering at a young age with my family’s foundation, Someone Else’s Child. I now serve on its board as a trustee, supporting its mission to expand opportunities for young people and address systemic disparities.”

    Julia gained her initial professional, nonprofit experience as Operations Manager for the Make-A-Wish Vermont & Northeast New York chapter, where she developed a deep connection to the organization’s mission “to grant life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses to provide hope, strength, and joy to their healing journey.” She currently works as an Accountant for Make-A-Wish America, building on her chapter-level experience by supporting financial operations and reporting for multiple chapters across the country.

    She recently published a book on Amazon, Witch City: Salem in Love and is currently working on her second novel.

    B.A., Music, University of Vermont

Trustee

Kelly Christian-Lopes’ core memories of growing up outside of Boston includes putting together backpacks for kids who needed them through a Someone Else’s Child’s Kids-Helping-Kids project. Only twelve years old when she started volunteering for Someone Else’s Child, Kelly continually states that being influenced by her parents, Mike and Diane, to start volunteering and thinking about others’ needs and not just her own at a young age, truly instilled her inclination for working in a profession that involves giving back.

  • Kelly graduated with a master’s degree from Lesley University in 2014 in Expressive Arts Therapies and Mental Health Counseling. She is a huge supporter of mental health, arts, and youth empowerment. She has worked in the field for over a decade, supporting and advocating for children and families. Kelly currently works as a Clinical Child Team Manager at North Suffolk Community Services in Chelsea, and started a group therapy practice, called Wise Mind Wellness that promotes holistic healing and whole-hearted wellness support. Kelly strives to help individuals discover their personal strengths and build resiliency throughout their lives.

    "I spent decades observing my parents develop their small non-profit into an extraordinary and impactful foundation. Now, I couldn’t be happier to join as a Trustee and to support the enduring mission of building inclusive and supportive communities for every child to grow up and flourish in.”

Trustee

Thomas Christian is a Psychotherapist and a Registered Professional Archaeologist whose work bridges Clinical Social Work with Cultural Heritage to expand and articulate the deeper aspects of the human experience. An LCSW-S, (Texas State Behavioral Health Board–Approved Supervisor) and U.S. Navy Veteran, Tom brings together trauma-focused therapy, depth-oriented and psychodynamic perspectives, and animal-assisted interventions to help clients cultivate resilience, healing, and a deeper sense of meaning. His archaeological research focuses on rock art of the American Southwest and the intersections of mythology, history, and archeoastronomy.

  • Tom worked for many years in Texas’ public mental health system as a grant writer and program developer, bringing new innovative programming to the most vulnerable populations living in Central Texas.

    He has also published numerous academic articles in both clinical practice and archaeological topics, along with two books on a particular form of Native American rock art. Currently, Tom is experimenting with Virtual Reality in both archaeological and psychotherapeutic environments.

    Tom is the founder of De Chelly Archaeology and Preservation, PBC, a public benefit corporation dedicated to advancing understanding and academic knowledge of the history of the Southwest and its archaeological heritage. He is also the founder of Bosque Ridge Counseling, PLLC, a small private therapy practice that integrates multiple therapeutic modalities to support healing and transformation.

    Tom earned his BA from Gordon College in MA; a Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW), University of Texas at Arlington; a Master of Professional Studies (MPS), Cultural and Heritage Resource Management (CHRM), Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland; MA, Sophia Center, Holy Names College; He attained a PhD, and MA from Pacifica Graduate Institute. His PHD dissertation was entitled “Under the Navajo Stars: the intersection of mythic narratives, archaeology, and star ceilings.”

Trustee