BIG's Board of Directors
Dan Saltzman
Board President & Town Government Committee
Attorney practicing in the areas of children & family law in state custody cases, and criminal law. He also has worked in education as a school administrator and consultant since 2004, and has been defending his neighborhood from various inappropriate development plans since 2005. In addition to serving as BIG’s Board President, Dan serves a Town Meeting Meeting, and Co-chair of the Brookline Neighborhood Alliance, keeping neighborhood issues on the forefront since 2011.
Lori Landay
Vice-President, Nominating & Fundraising Committees
Professor of cultural studies at Berklee College of Music and an interdisciplinary scholar. She is the author of two books, I Love Lucy and Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture. Landay has been awarded the Dean's Award for Excellence in the Professional Education Division at Berklee, a Newbury Comics Faculty Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Enduring Questions Grant. She has consulted on and appeared in Finding Lucy, an American Masters documentary airing nationally on PBS and internationally, in addition to serving as the Information Technology Officer for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies from 2002–2005.
Adena Walker
Member, Outreach & Fundraising Committee
Creator and host of Deanie’s Corner. She has B.A from Wagner College majoring in musical theatre and minoring in psychology. She has worked in both Massachusetts and New York, off Broadway and regional houses and well known concert venues. She also has worked in both states as an educator in both regular and special education grades pre k-12th, private, charter and public schools. While living in New York she taught in all 5 boroughs. She has also performed on ABC as well. Adena is also a professional model and influencer on Instagram and TikTok. You can follow her work as littledeanie_ and Deaniescorner on both platforms.
Amy Browning Emmert
Treasurer, People & Finance Committee
Executive Director, External Affairs, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. She is also a Board Member for ArtsBrookline, a Steering Committee Member for Brookline Open Studios, a program managed by the Brookline Arts Center, and a founding member of Station Street Studios, LLC, in Brookline Village.
Bonnie Bastien
Member, Town Government & Nominating, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees
A justice and equity activist in Brookline. Bastien began volunteering with the Massachusetts Bail Fund in 2018 which created motivation and empowerment to act on addressing racial justice and equity issues around the prison system and prison abolition. In 2019 she began to shift that focus to the injustices in Brookline as the Gerald Alston racial discrimination case became louder and louder. Bastien was elected to Brookline Town Meeting in 2020. In that same year she co-launched Brookline Mutual Aid to address unmet critical needs in Brookline as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She was also appointed to the Task Force to Reimagine Policing in Brookline to envision a path to a more equitable form of public safety. Today, Bastien continues to organize for Mutual Aid Brookline and in Brookline town government to write and pass progressive legislation addressing equity and justice issues.
Eric Hyett
Fundraising Chair & Nominating Committee
Poet and Japanese translator – Eric is a Brookline native and current Town Meeting Member who became involved with BIG through “Telling Your Story,” the memoir class he co-teaches that is sponsored by the Town of Brookline’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations. He is also host of “The Arc Of Justice” on BIG TV.
Ted Lewis
Member
A graduate of Daniel Webster College and Northeastern University. A veteran USMC '66 and a retired law enforcement officer. I took studies in production and social media promotion that earned me a job on Broadway-NYC. A commercial photographer since '61. Former member of WGBH (CAD), Bessie Coleman Foundation, who also serves on Roxbury Main Streets and the Center for Community Wellness Boards. My moto, 'Mark 9:23.
Ihssane Leckey
Member, Finance & People and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees
Progressive champion and former candidate for the U.S. Congress in Massachusetts’ 4th district where she organized for racial, social and economic justice for all. An immigrant from Morocco and a survivor, Ihssane devoted her life to public service. She worked to eliminate food deserts, save states and municipalities from bankruptcy, and battled the biggest wall street players as Wall Street regulator at the Federal Reserve, where she led federal inter-agency task forces to protect working families from national and global threats to our economy.
Joseph Urena
Member, Outreach, Fundraising, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees
In addition to serving on BIG’s Board, Joseph serves as the Co-Director of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion on the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) board. YNPN Boston serves the Greater Boston nonprofit community through a diverse, committed volunteer leadership team.
Malcolm Doldron
Member & People and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
Head Coach of Lightweight Rowing at Boston University, and a Head Coach for the United States Under 23 Lightweight National Rowing Team. He serves as Chair of the Community Engagement Committee of the Commission for Diversity Inclusion and Community Relations for the Town of Brookline.