Board of Directors

Juan A. Figueroa
Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut
As its first president, Juan A. Figueroa has led Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut's strategic direction and growth since January 2003. During his tenure, the Foundation has made a major impact on health care policy in the state and solidified its position as a catalyst for universal health care. A former Connecticut legislator and Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Figueroa was also a staff attorney for the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Prior to assuming the helm at the Foundation, he was the president and general counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York City. Mr. Figueroa currently serves on the boards of the Connecticut Council of Philanthropy, the Progressive Latino Fund, the Connecticut Public Health Association, and Latinos for National Health Insurance. Mr. Figueroa received his Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University in California and his Bachelor of Arts from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received honorary doctorates from CUNY Law School in New York and Charter Oak College in Connecticut, and has taught at New York University Law School. Mr. Figueroa is a native of Ciales, Puerto Rico.

Meg Gage
Proteus Fund President and Executive Director
Meg founded the Peace Development Fund in 1981 and served as its Executive Director until 1992. She served as the Executive Director of the Ottinger Foundation from 1992 through 1999 and founded Proteus Fund in 1995. Meg was awarded the Inaugural Robert W. Scrivner Award in 1986 for Creativity by an Individual Grantmaker. In 1997 she wrote The Funders Handbook on Money in Politics.

Charles Knight
Commonwealth Institute
Charles is co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives and director of the Progressive Strategy Studies Project, both at the Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a partner at the Women's Theological Center and serves on the board of the Conservation Services Group. He has been active in progressive politics and social change philanthropy for forty years. In 2004, he and his wife Susan received the Gloria Steinem Philanthropic Vision Award.

C. LaRoy Brantley
Cambridge Associates LLC
LaRoy is a Managing Director at investment consulting firm, Cambridge Associates. Prior to this position he worked in corporate finance at an investment bank (Adams, Harkness & Hill) and as a Classics instructor at a private boys college preparatory school (Roxbury Latin School). He currently serves as a Board Trustee for and Investment Committee member of MassPRIM, and was a member of the Board of Directors for the Italian Home for Children.

Matt MacWilliams
MacWilliams Kirchner Sanders & Partners
Matt is a founding partner of MacWilliams Kirchner Sanders & Partners, a strategic media firm for progressive organizations, causes, initiatives and candidates in the United States that has won 101 national awards in the last seven years for television, radio, print, and internet communications. Prior to founding MKSP, Matt served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Walter Mondale for President, published The Polling Report, and wrote the original series of campaign manuals for the Democratic National Committee.

David Neal
Immediately after graduating from Oberlin College, David served in the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan where he started a computer education center and co-directed the Summer English Immersion Camp. He started the Fair Trial Initiative, where he served as executive director, while receiving his law degree from the University of North Carolina Law School, where he was inducted into the Law School's Davis Society. He is currently in private practice as an attorney. He serves on the Board of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Katherine Peck
Gill Foundation
Katherine is Chief Operating Officer of the Gill Foundation. Prior to this position, Katherine served as Vice President for Programs at the Denver-based Rose Community Foundation. She also served as partner at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP where she practiced law from 1984-2001 and was an openly gay partner in one of Denver's most prestigious law firms.

Byron Rushing, Chair
Massachusetts House of Representatives
Byron represents the 9th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He is a long-time South Africa activist, a leader in the campaign to end the military dictatorship in Burma and strong supporter of marriage equality for same-sex couples in Massachusetts. He is the former director of the Museum of Afro-American History where he began the restoration of the African Meeting House, the oldest black church building in the United States. Rep. Rushing also serves on the boards of Grassroots International, and of the CarEth Foundation and on the Advisory Committee for the Roxbury Heritage State Park. He chairs the Calvert Social Investment Fund Advisory Council.

Frank Sanchez, Vice Chair
The Needmor Fund
Frank has built a career as one of New Mexico's most active grassroots community organizers and activists. He co-founded the Chicano Youth Association in 1969, and was successful in confronting discriminatory educational practices, challenging voting rights abuses, and institutionalizing bi-lingual education. He now serves as a program officer for the Needmor Fund. A collection of his papers is held at the Zimmerman Library Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico.

Tracy Sturdivant
People for the American Way Foundation
Tracy is the Director of African American outreach and the Deputy Director of National Program and Outreach for People for the American Way Foundation. Prior to that position, she served as Vice President of The White House Project. Earlier in her career, she was Program Manager at the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Additionally, she served as the Senior Legislative and Outreach Associate at Public Campaign. She currently serves on the boards of Democratic GAIN, League of Young Voters and Democracy Matters.

Robert Zevin, Treasurer
Zevin Associates
Robert is an investment advisor who pioneered the field of socially responsible investing. He created and then led the Boston-based US Trust's socially responsible investment program for many years before establishing his own investment company. He was a founder or original board member of numerous social change organizations including Resist, the United States Servicemen's Fund, Affirmative Investments, the Childcare Resource Center, Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts, Thembani International Guarantee Fund and Shared Interest.