The Equalizer Institute

Pedro Arce is a Senior Vice President at M&T Bank and has been at the bank since 2018. Pedro started his career with Bank of Boston in 1991 and has experience in Retail Banking, Community Development and Commercial lending. Currently, he is the Team Leader for the Central and Western Mass Business Banking Group at M&T.

He has severed in an advisory and board capacity for ACCION USA, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Mass Housing, Adelante Youth Center, Merrimack Valley YMCA, the Lower Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, Vamos Ventures, Cambridge College and Beyond Soccer. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies and Sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Management with a concentration on Multinational Commerce from Boston University.

Pedro encourages and promotes partnerships that help small business from start-ups, to the micro-business level to mature businesses. M&T was named SBA Minority Lender of the Year in 2023.

Claudia Augustin is a Boston attorney who holds a degree from the prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy with a focus on human rights. Earlier in her career, she was a Research Associate at NELF and coordinated our successful nomination for the Equalizer Institute to be recognized as a Gold Level winner in the non-profit DEI category.

 Brown brings 30 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, social entrepreneurship, and policy development to his leadership of Public Purpose Strategies, which advises nonprofit CEOs on achieving breakthroughs in impact, scale and policy. In 1988, Brown co-founded City Year, a leading national service organization that served as an inspiration for AmeriCorps, the federal initiative through which more than one million Americans have served their country. Michael dedicated three decades to building City Year into one of the most successful nonprofits in the country, with programs in 29 U.S. cities, affiliates in South Africa and the United Kingdom and a budget of more than $175 million, including support from more than 40% of The Fortune 100 companies.

Named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S News & World Report and Executive of the Year by The Nonprofit Times, Brown is a recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award and Independent Sector’s John W. Gardner Leadership Award, presented annually “to an individual whose leadership has been transformative and who has mobilized and unified people, institutions or causes that improve the quality of life on our planet.”  Brown is a recent past president of the Harvard Board of Overseers, co-chaired Harvard’s National Advisory Board on Public Service and served as a Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Brown is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review.

“The Equalizer Institute is a brilliant idea that will help level the playing field for startups in low-income and underserved communities,” said Brown. “When we were starting City Year, we benefited greatly from pro bono legal and corporate advisors, so I know firsthand the kind of difference this kind of advice and support makes – it is literally game changing. I am honored to serve as an advisor to The Equalizer Institute and support its important mission and work.”

Jane has devoted decades to fighting for civil rights in various positions in government, academia, and her own consulting firms. Jane has served as the first chair of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination under Gov. Michael Dukakis, and later as the Massachusetts Secretary of of Workforce Development under Gov. Mitt Romney. Edmonds excels in finding common ground to create cultures of diversity, equity, and belonging.

Having spent a lifetime uplifting people denied their fair rights and opportunities, she has been named to the board of directors of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Jane has taught leadership at Northeastern University and, now as a vice president at Babson, she performs outreach and develops programs with organizations throughout Greater Boston, addressing issues such as recidivism and diversity, including through Babson Executive Education’s Leadership program for Women and Allies. Jane also has served on her local School Board.

Damon brings decades of professional and community experience to EI. Before joining Liberty Mutual, Damon served as a partner at national law firms where he focused on litigation and employment matters. Damon is actively involved throughout the community. He is a founding member of The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund – a coalition of Black and Brown executives in Massachusetts working to address and eliminate systemic racism and racial inequity. In addition, Damon is on the Board of Directors of The Home for Little Wanderers and the New England Legal Foundation, coaches youth sports, and mentors rising professionals.

Dr. Natasha Holmes, PsyD is the Founder & CEO of And Still We Rise, LLC, a liberation-focused mental health and consulting practice based in Massachusetts that is dedicated to dismantling oppressive systems, liberating marginalized people, and providing culturally affirming services. Dr. Holmes is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist who has published and presented on the topics of race, class, gender, sexuality, intersectionality, intergenerational trauma, and engaging in difficult dialogues. Lastly, she serves on the Board of Directors of We Rise Collective, Inc. and Community Conversations: Sister to Sister.

Rachel has over six years of investment banking experience and over twenty years of managerial and financial experience. Prior to joining Pickwick, Rachel was the CEO at Arcova Technologies Inc., a consumer-focused predictive analytics company. Earlier in her career, Rachel served as the Assistant Secretary of Economic Affairs – Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Rachel also has held the position of Managing Principal of iparallex LLC., a privately-held company specializing in transforming distressed corporate assets into high-impact, high-profit companies.

As the daughter of Panamanian and Bahamian immigrants in the United States, Rachel was able to witness how her parents built their own business and will bring this experience, together with her professional experience, to bear. Rachel is a Boston resident, a cellist, an avid landscaper, and a member of the Museum of the National Center for African American Artists board.

Denzil brings over 40 years of experience in the areas of business litigation, probate administration, bankruptcy, tax appeals, and business, representing in particular family-owned businesses and non-profits. He often serves as outside counsel to small and mid-sized corporations and non-profit organizations, including health and human service providers and churches.

Denzil is Honorary Consul to Boston, an assignment that involves representing the interest of the Government and operating the Jamaican Consulate, which serves the over 125,000 Jamaicans residing in New England. He has received many awards and citations, including the U.S. Small Business Administration, and has been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers and featured attorney of the Massachusetts Family and Probate American Inn of Court.

Denzil is active in many community and volunteer organizations in Greater Boston, including being a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Urban Ministerial Education at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Vice President of the Executive Council of the Boston University School of Law Alumni Association. He is also an active member of Peoples Baptist Church, Boston, a 210-year-old congregation, where he serves as Legal Counsel and Vice Chair of the Renovation and the Business and Finance Committees.

Governor Deval Patrick was sworn in as governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on January 2, 2007, and was sworn in for a second term on January 6, 2011.

After earning his law degree, Patrick served as a law clerk to a federal appellate judge before joining the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as a staff attorney. In 1986, he joined the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow and was named partner in 1990, at the age of 34. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the nation’s top civil rights post. At the Justice Department, Patrick worked on a wide range of issues, including the prosecution of hate crimes, and the enforcement of employment discrimination fair lending, and disability rights laws.

In 1997, Patrick was appointed as the first chairperson of Texaco’s Equality and Fairness Task Force where he led a company-wide effort to create a more equitable workplace environment. Patrick later served as Texaco’s Vice President and General Counsel, leading the company’s global legal affairs, and as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of the Coca-Cola Company, a member of the company’s senior leadership team.

Patrick graduated from Harvard College in 1978 and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. Diane and Deval Patrick have been married for more than 25 years and have two adult daughters.

Vincent started his legal career many years ago working for Greater Boston Legal Services as a litigation attorney in the housing practice, working principally out of the Blue Hill Avenue office of GBLS. Today, he is on the Board of GBLS. Vincent feels that the work of the Equalizer Institute is, in some ways, coming full circle in his effort to engage in meaningful work and he is interested in continuing those efforts.

Tom brings decades of experience as a fast-growth ventures designer, operator, advisor, specialist in premium tech/educational services, and analytics-driven collaborator. He is a program concept innovator, with a record of building market-leading educational ventures, professional learning programs, media/technology companies, and membership organizations including best-in-class brand equity champions CAIA Association, CFA Institute, National Geographic Television, Discovery Channel, and National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance.

With broad experience in professional education, content, curriculum, and higher educational markets, he brings deep expertise in designing solutions and new programs to meet professional education needs. As a seasoned senior/corporate officer, Tom excels at leading efforts to set and accomplish strategic aims, serve and retain customers throughout the lifecycle, motivate and engage staff, and continually improve operating processes.

Lonnie brings more than 45 years of civil legal aid advocacy to the EI, devoting the majority of his career to establishing, building, sustaining, and revitalizing legal aid organizations. Lonnie served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation from its founding in 1983 through August 2018, when he launched his current consulting firm.

Lonnie currently focuses his work on increasing funding for civil legal aid; expanding public understanding of the legal needs of low-income people, and the value to society of providing legal assistance; enhancing partnerships with the bar, the legislature, the judiciary, and the public; and strengthening legal aid programs across the Commonwealth.

Among other community service, Lonnie has led Commonwealth of MA statewide legal needs studies, and the annual legislative campaign for civil legal aid funding from the Commonwealth, developed new funding sources for civil legal, including the Massachusetts Office of Victims Assistance, the Massachusetts Equal Justice Fund, and a consortium including the City of Boston and several private foundations to fund immigration legal assistance.

Susan brings more than 30 years of experience working with nonprofits and startups, from early-stage funding to acquisition, as counselor, litigator, trainer investigator, and mediator, both within law firm and in-house settings – including tech and manufacturing – and as a solo practitioner.

Susan thrives on building new businesses, giving them a toolkit, seeing them launch, staying out of the way, and being there downstream as a trusted advisor when next-level need for legal representation becomes just that.

Susan’s area of focus is employment and HR law and she has returned recently to her roots of working with nonprofits. Susan is an advocate for traumatized students in the educational system, including being a surrogate parent making special education and IEP choices for children in state custody. Susan has practiced before the Tax Court, Patent and Trademark Court, and state and federal courts and agencies, e.g. MCAD.