BOARD MEMBERS

Diane Christian

Inspired by decades of volunteer work serving children and the community, Diane Christian founded Someone Else’s Child in 1997 to help kids in need.
Learn more about our history
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.
Inspired by decades of volunteer work serving children and the community, Diane founded Someone Else’s Child in 1997 to help kids in need. 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 Wang Theatre and Thompson Island Outward Bound Camp.
Diane graduated from Boston College in 1985 with a double major in Economics and Psychology.

Mike Christian

Mike is the Board President of Someone Else’s Child Foundation. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Risk Strategies, a leading national insurance brokerage firm. Mike was the Chief Executive Officer of Risk Strategies from 1997 to 2019. He led the company from its start-up beginnings into a prominent specialty risk advisor/broker with annual revenues of over $700M. He was responsible for the development and execution of the company’s business/growth strategy, recruiting, client service approach, and mergers & acquisitions. 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 also the Managing Partner at Community Impact Ventures, an impact venture capital fund focused on providing start-up funding for social entrepreneurs.
A long-time Boston-area resident, Mike is known for his community service with non-profits focused on children causes, arts & entertainment, and education. He is currently on the board of the Boch Center/Wang Theater, a leading arts, entertainment, and education center. He is the treasurer and a board member for Boston Explorers, a non-profit serving kids and teens in the Boston area. Mike is also on the board of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, the leading national advocate for property & casualty and health insurance issues.
Mike majored in Philosophy at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Cassandra Campbell

Cassandra is a nonprofit and technology consultant in the Greater Boston area. A long-time civic champion, she has dedicated much of her career to providing strategic leadership in program & policy development, project management, and meaningful engagement in African-American communities, emphasizing health and wellness through the lens of interagency collaboration. Murl’s Kitchen in Dorchester is Cassandra’s favorite spot in Boston, and singing is her favorite non-electronic activity.

Vetto Casado

Vetto Casado serves as Assistant Director, Programs at The Boston Foundation. In his role, Vetto oversees and co-leads existing elements of the Social Justice Ecology framework, which aims to support the conditions for social justice to thrive in Greater Boston by providing access to resources and support for people, movements and nonprofit organizations working to disrupt persistent structural and institutional inequity in our region. Vetto is a native of the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of six, settling with his family in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He served previously as Executive Director of Small Can Be Big Inc. During his tenure, SCBB grew its regional profile, provided vital flexible funding resources to over 600 families and averted hundreds of evictions throughout the Greater Boston Area via online crowd-funded initiatives. Vetto holds a B.A. in Political Science from UMass Boston, and is an alum of Harvard Kennedy School’s Latino Leadership Initiative, and Tufts University’s Institute of Nonprofit Practice. In the summer of 2017, Vetto was nominated to serve on Governor Baker’s Massachusetts Latino Advisory Commission for the remainder of his term.

Jason Cohen

Jason Cohen is Senior Manager of Account Management for Amazon Ads, focused on helping Amazon Ads' strategic customers grow their businesses using Amazon's advertising technology. Jason has a 25-year history in the marketing and technology industries in leadership roles at Amazon, Google, and Sony. In addition, Jason has worked in several start-ups resulting in two exists. Outside his leadership role at Amazon, Jason is currently a doctoral of business administration candidate, studying the self-directed career success factors of U.S. tech executives with high-functioning autism.

Jennie McDonald-Brown

Jeff Kaplan

Jeff Kaplan is a Senior Vice President at Risk Strategies Company, a national risk and specialty brokerage firm. He is an expert in personal property & casualty insurance for private client and family offices. He has keen expertise in the management and placement of complex property and liability exposures with a focus on minimizing a client’s total cost of risk. Jeff also provides advisory services to his clients that focus on risk mitigation and life safety. He graduated from Bryant University in 1997 and is one of only 39 agents to receive the CAPI designation through Wharton School/ Chubb.
Jeff is well known for his philanthropic work in the Boston area. In addition to being a board member for Someone Else’s Child, he served on the board and finance/audit committee for the Animal Rescue League of Boston from 2010 to 2018. Jeff also served on the Professional Advisors Network for The Boston Foundation from 2012 to 2014.

Kristina Sung Kepner

Szeman Lam

Szeman Lam (she/her/hers) is an Attorney at Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm. As a corporate lawyer, she represents leaders who provide financing to companies that are looking to grow their business. A longtime and dedicated runner, Szeman enjoys the views of the water along the Boston Harbor walk.

Kristina is Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Corporate & Strategic Transactions for United Natural Foods, Inc., the largest publicly-traded wholesale food distributor. Kristina is accountable for leading a legal team with global responsibility serving UNFI’s wholesale and retail businesses in Commercial Transactions, Ecommerce & Technology, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Marketing and Intellectual Property. Kristina has 25+ years of expertise in corporate transactions and mergers and acquisitions, having served in leadership roles with Johnson Controls International plc, and Cardinal Health, Inc.
Kristina is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and is a founding board member of the Central Ohio Asian Pacific American Bar Association and past President and a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Network, a Cardinal Health employee resource group. Kristina has also served on the board for the Vision Center, a United Way organization, and the Emerging Leaders Council of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County.

Jennie (she/her) transitioned into her current role as Executive Director of Development at Roxbury Community College in 2022 after serving as Managing Director of Major Gifts at Breakthrough Greater Boston. Previously, she served as the Managing Director of Student Services overseeing middle school programming in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville for 7 years. And, as Assistant Principal in Boston Public Schools in Roxbury and Mattapan. Jennie received her M.Ed from Harvard's Graduate School of Education and her MSW from Boston College. She lives with her wife and two sons in Roxbury.

Genesis Bautista grew up in the city of Boston and developed a passion for community work. Since high school she has participated in youth programs focused on creating safer and healthier communities. During her undergrad years at Holy Cross she participated in immigration work, which she pursued further after joining a Washington DC semester program. Genesis's passion and love for people continued through travel opportunities to countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Bolivia. After graduating from Holy Cross, Genesis worked as an Executive Assistant at POAH Communities, a national nonprofit organization working to not only make homes affordable but a place residents feel proud to live in.
After a few years Genesis transitioned to Mothers for Justice and Equality as a Youth Program Coordinator. In her role she coordinated activities for youth in four programs: STEM, Peer Leaders, Young Parents and Second Chance. The population Genesis served included first generation students, English as a Second Language learners, and homeless youth. After a short time at MJE Genesis moved into the Program Manager role, and soon after worked her way into the Director of Youth Development. In her role, Genesis sought out BPS partners to provide STEM programming for elementary and middle school students, supported the after-school program that provides high school students with leadership training and civic engagement, and also worked on developing internship and job placement opportunities for youth previously incarcerated.
Genesis also received her Masters in Public Administration from UMASS Boston and has been humbled to participate in various professional groups, like Latinos for Education.

STAFF

Christine Dixon is Someone Else’s Child’s first Executive Director and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the foundation and working with the Board to fulfill SEC’s mission and expand its scope and impact. Christine joined Someone Else’s Child with over 20 years of experience working with children and families experiencing poverty and homelessness in low-income communities of Boston. She is passionate about living and working in racially and culturally diverse neighborhoods of the city, growing emerging leaders from these communities, leading programs and organizations that are vital to the well-being of neighborhood residents, and connecting people and institutions that can do more together.
For close to 11 years, Christine worked at Project Hope Boston, a nonprofit organization committed to partnering with families in the Roxbury/North Dorchester community on a pathway out of poverty. She took on the role of Executive Director at Project Hope in November 2017, stepping in at a pivotal time for Project Hope, soon after the retirement of Project Hope’s iconic founder. While at Project Hope, Christine developed new programs and strategic partnerships, grew the agency with additional funding, contracts, and staff, and led the organization through a strategic planning process to commit its efforts to a place-based neighborhood strategy. Along with other Project Hope leaders, she worked collaboratively with community partners to create and grow the Family Led Stability Initiative and the Nubian Neighborhood Network, both critical coalitions focused on child and family homelessness, educational and employment success for residents of the Roxbury and Dorchester communities, and healthy families and communities.
Prior to her time at Project Hope, Christine worked directly with children and families experiencing homelessness and poverty through the Department of Public Health’s FOR Families program and at Dimock Community Health Center’s Head Start and Early Head Start Programs. As a licensed clinical social worker, she provided support, resources, and collaboratively developed solutions to family-level and systemic challenges.
Christine graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts, as an English major, she received her Master’s in Social Work from Boston University, and she completed a certificate program at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business in Nonprofit Leadership and Management. She lives in Roslindale with her husband Lee Roy and their teenage son, Nathan.

Christine Dixon

Genesis Bautista

Natasha Wright

Natasha is joining Someone Else’s Child with more than 15 years of experience working with children and families experiencing poverty, homelessness, and involvement with the Massachusetts legal system. She is passionate about equalizing outcomes for children who come from under resourced communities and providing equal access to opportunities for success and resources.
Natasha worked at Project Hope Boston, a nonprofit organization committed to partnering with families in the Roxbury/North Dorchester community on a pathway out of poverty for 13 years. Starting out as a Case Manager in 2008, and then advancing to the position of Coordinator before taking a two-year break and returning as the Director of Housing Services in 2018. While at Project Hope, Natasha supported families that were experiencing housing instability navigate the courts and various social systems in their efforts to create better futures for themselves and their children. In collaboration with her team, Natasha worked with other community partners in the fields of education, healthcare, and government to provide advocacy, resources, education, and other services to families in the Roxbury and Dorchester community.
In addition to homelessness prevention work with Project Hope, Natasha worked as a certified Children and Family Law Practitioner and Mental Health Law Practitioner in the Massachusetts’ court system and as a Professor at Quincy College and Bunker Hill Community College. As a legal practitioner and educator, Natasha has worked directly with families and youth, helping them navigate the juvenile justice and Family Court system as well as other social systems that both directly and indirectly impact social equality.
Natasha graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. She then went on to complete her Master of Arts Degree in Sociology from University of Massachusetts, Boston, and subsequently her Juris Doctor Degree at New England Law. She lives in Dedham with her three young adult children, Michael, Brianna, and Jemaih.