Board of Directors

Board

Matt Hillard, Vice Chair

Matt speaks the language of program implementation and evaluation. He is an effective analyst and communicator who has experience assessing and implementing social sector interventions. In addition to serving as Chair of the Governance Committee at C4RJ, Matt works as a measurement, evaluation, and learning consultant with a firm called Project Evident. Prior to joining Project Evident, Matt was an analyst at Abt Associates where he specialized in analyses and primary data collection of extended learning time interventions in K-12 education. He earned an MPP from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and a BA in Economics from Bowdoin College.

Sarah Caputo, Secretary

Sarah is a nonprofit fundraising consultant who has worked for two decades to improve the capacity of educational and nonprofit organizations. She has done work for organizations ranging from Stanford University to Buckingham Brown & Nichols School and Common Impact. Most recently she worked for five years with Bridge Boston Charter School, a public charter school in Roxbury focused on serving the highest need student populations in Boston. Sarah’s engagement with C4RJ began with a consulting engagement where she developed a deep appreciation for C4RJ’s role in the criminal justice process. Sarah received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Harvard University. She and her husband Tom live in Belmont with their twin daughters.

Dusty Hecker, Treasurer

Dusty is a retired trial lawyer and now mediator and arbitrator who is excited about the opportunity to help C4RJ expand its footprint in Massachusetts.  He has three decades of experience as an arbitrator, deciding a wide range of business disputes, including matters involving high tech businesses, franchises, healthcare businesses, real estate transactions, financings, intellectual property, restaurants, even a large airplane for a professional sports team. He serves as a mediator to help resolve disputes outside of court.

Kristine Artello, Member

Dr. Artello has been teaching in higher education for over a decade. Before becoming a professor, she investigated child abuse and neglect cases. She worked extensively with sexually aggressive youth and children living with severe mental illnesses. She also worked in various legal areas. She has also worked in leadership roles with local organizations focusing on children and families, justice, and the arts. She also worked as a mediator in city prosecutor’s office. Dr. Artello earned the master’s in social work (MSW) and Juris Doctorate (Law) degrees at Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California Irvine. Generally, her scholarship broadly examines how certain behaviors or events become defined and responded to in law and policy. Her areas of expertise span diverse areas: youth, crime, and mental health; law, crimes of the powerful, governmental legitimacy, crime, public narrative, and policy. She has published many articles in the above areas including non-profit leadership. She has taught primarily law, sociology, social justice, and policy courses at UCI, Penn State New Kensington, Virginia Commonwealth University, Boston University, Fisher College, and Fitchburg State University to over 4,000 students. 

Bob Bordone, Member

Robert C. Bordone is the USA Today Bestselling author of Conflict Resilience: Negotiating Disagreement Without Giving Up or Giving In with Joel Salinas, MD (HarperBusiness 2025), a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School, founder of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, and founder of The Cambridge Negotiation Institute. He has also served as Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and as Senior Advisor to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai from 2021 to 2025. He is co-author of Designing Systems and Processes for Managing Disputes, and co-editor of The Handbook of Dispute Resolution. Bob was ranked as one of the World’s Top 30 Negotiation Professionals by Global Gurus in 2025.

Thomas Black, Member

Tom is a consultant and investor with years of experience in banking and real estate, including at First National Bank of Boston and Pacific Realty. He founded Easton Investment Company to invest in and help grow start-up companies. A graduate of Harvard College, Tom served in the Navy for 5 years. Tom has also served on several educational nonprofit boards as well as on town committees in Lincoln and Maynard, where he lives.

John Cratsley, Member

John Cratsley retired in September 2011 after 34 years as a judge in the District and Superior Courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He currently teaches at Boston College and Harvard Law Schools and is a mediator/arbitrator with JAMS, an international dispute resolution organization. He and his wife Holly live in Concord, and their two sons are graduates of Concord-Carlisle High School. After 9 years serving on the C4RJ board, he briefly served as one of the first members of our Board Advisory Committee and has now rejoined the board.

Danielle Drummond, Member

Danielle Drummond has been committed to fighting issues of social justice in the fields of education, community development and criminal justice for over 15 years. A native Bostonian, she has worked in senior managerial positions at nonprofits across the Commonwealth as well as in city and state government. She served as the Deputy Chief of Community Engagement for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office under Rachael Rollins. Currently she serves as the Vice President of Social Equity for Ascend Wellness Holdings (AWH) and attends Tufts University where she is receiving her mid-career Masters in Public Policy. Her work is centered in the core belief that lasting change takes policy adjustments as well as deep restorative healing work. 

Danielle has made a point to work in communities in a way that honors their knowledge, resources and resilience, working with individuals and organizations to create community based solutions. She is often called on in her community to do trainings in healing informed practices, racial bias and cultural responsive practice, and positive youth development. As the mother of a young son, she understands the importance of positive adults in the lives of young people and has mentored many young women and men in the community. 

Carol Fernandez, Member

Carol is a retired criminal defense attorney, graduating from the University of Arizona College of Law. She specialized in the juvenile courts, representing adolescents in both delinquency and family law matters. It was there that she saw how court involvement dramatically affected a child’s life, and strongly believes that restorative justice provides a more meaningful way to deal with first time offenders by not only keeping them out of the courts but teaching them about the ways their actions have affected their victims. Carol has three grown children and resides in Newton with her husband Roberto.

Rosalind Kabrhel, Member

Rosalind (Roz) Kabrhel is a lawyer and Associate Professor of the Practice at Brandeis University, where she chairs the Legal Studies Program and teaches about criminal justice, the prison system, and the litigation process.  She is also a founder and director of the Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative (BEJI), which provides education and support services to currently and formerly incarcerated people. She was a litigator in the Commonwealth for over 20 years before becoming a full time professor.

Jessica Pepple, Member

Dr. Jessica Pepple, Ed.D., is the inaugural Chief Diversity and Culture Officer at RFK Community Alliance, and she is a member of the executive leadership team. She uniquely combines data analysis skills with extensive experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Jessica holds a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Boston University, an Education Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership from National Louis University, an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management at DeVry University, and a BA in Risk Management and Insurance from Florida State University.

Before joining RFK Community Alliance in 2022, Jessica served as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the King Phillip School District. Prior to that, she held various school administrative and instructional coaching roles. She is a strategic thinker and thoughtful contributor, known for her intuitive and gregarious personality. Outside of work, Jessica enjoys spending time with her family, going to the movies, and visiting local museums and art exhibitions. Dr. Pepple received the 2023 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Award from the Massachusetts Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers. The Worcester Business Journal recognized Dr. Pepple as one of the Power 100 Most Influential Professionals in Central Massachusetts for her modeling of how to infuse diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into organizational culture.

Mark Robinson, Member

Mark Robinson is Co-Founder and Manager of Little Something Foods, LLC an ice cream novelty manufacturer and marketer to grocery stores nationwide of Mad Minis--bite-sized, ice cream cookie sandwiches made with no artificial ingredients which are only 60 calories each. Mark has spent his career in various leadership roles in small to middle market manufacturing companies. Outside of work, Mark has spent considerable time serving on not- for-profit boards including the Smaller Business Association of New England (SBANE) and the Tenacre Country Day School. Mark is married to Clare Robinson and they have two grown sons. Mark and Clare reside in Wellesley.

Laura Sabia, Member

Laura is a Law Clerk at the Massachusetts Appeals Court. In the fall of 2024, she will join McDermott Will & Emery LLP as an associate in the Boston office’s litigation practice group.  She recently graduated from New York University’s School of Law where she focused her studies on international human rights and environmental law. She was the Editor-In-Chief of the NYU Environmental Law Journal. She has contributed to several projects using international environmental and human rights legal frameworks to support the work of Caribbean stakeholders as they combat climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution. Laura’s graduate studies in interfaith conflict transformation at the Boston University School of Theology and her work with the Cambridge Negotiation Institute (CNI) inspired her interest in alternative dispute resolution as a human-centered alternative to litigation. She is passionate about methodological and cultural reform within the broader legal industry. Laura has earned a J.D. from the New York University School of Law, an M.Div from Boston University and a B.A. in English and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Tufts University. She lives in Arlington, MA with her husband and three pet rabbits. 

Kate Taylor, Member

Kate is Senior Executive Producer of Children’s Programming Emeritus at WGBH/Boston, where she spent many years developing and producing curriculum-based, public television series for children.  Currently she is an Executive and Life Coach and Media Consultant and volunteer in non-profit leadership. She is currently a trustee at the Huntington Theater Company, and serves on the Board of Directors of 826. She served many years on the Wheelock College Board of Trustees and is an Honorary Trustee of the Boston Children’s Museum.  She is on the Dean’s Council of Wheelock College of Education at Boston University and the Simmons University Council. She came to C4RJ as a volunteer and is currently a Case Coordinator in Suffolk County. Kate received a B.A. and M.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband, Ben, live in Brookline and  have three adult children and three grandchildren.

Pete Funkhouser, Board Advisor

Pete grew up in Concord, MA. He left to attend Princeton and the Harvard Business School, and then to travel the world for his career in the packaging business. His final position before retiring was Senior Vice President, International Operations at Sealed Air Corporation (the maker of bubble wrap). Pete retired to his hometown because he knew there would be plenty of non-profit work there to keep him busy.

Pete has been active on Concord’s Finance Committee, the Louisa May Alcott House board, the League of Women Voters, and Jericho Road. He also spearheaded the construction of the Beede Community Swim and Fitness Center, which was donated to the Town at no cost. Pete is married to Kate Stout and has three grown daughters. After serving as a key member on the C4RJ board, he is now serving as a member of C4RJ's Board Advisory Committee.

David Wilson, Board Advisor

Dave Wilson is a founding partner of Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, a boutique labor & employment and litigation law firm located in downtown Boston. Dave has spent nearly three decades defending and advising employers on employment matters including wrongful termination, sexual harassment, workplace violence, privacy, discrimination, noncompetition agreements, defamation, and wage and hour disputes. In 2015, Dave was recognized by his peers as Lawyer of the Year 2015 by Best Lawyers in America for his work in Litigation – Labor and Employment. He is a soccer enthusiast, past president of Acton–Boxborough Youth Soccer, and current president of the Friends of the Lower Fields. Dave and his family currently reside in Littleton. After 9 years serving on the C4RJ board, he is now serving as one of the first members of C4RJ's Board Advisory Committee.