Our Staff
Dr. John D. Llyod
Dr. Lloyd is an accomplished executive with over two decades of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector. He is the principal of Agile Consulting Group, a management consulting practice that offers a wide range of strategic management services, including assessment and evaluation, financial management, fundraising, board development, and training/facilitation, all tailored to nonprofit organizations in the Northeast region. Additionally, through strategic partnerships, Dr. Lloyd provides interim executive director services, as well as executive search and transition services to nonprofit organizations.
Beyond his consulting work, Dr. Lloyd is an adjunct faculty member at Bentley University, where he teaches strategic management, human dynamics in organizations, and leads the capstone course for the undergraduate honors program. A Massachusetts native, Dr. Lloyd holds a Doctorate in Organizational Learning and Development from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Bentley University, and a Bachelor of Science from Plymouth State University.
Interim Executive Director 
Marcus P. Smith
History and Interpretative Fellow 2025-2026Dr. Smith is a historic preservationist, public historian, and Ph.D. candidate in Afro-American Studies and Public History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His work centers on preserving and interpreting historically African-American communities and heritage sites through community-driven approaches.
He is the founder of the Black Grassroots Heritage Preservation Network, a national platform that uplifts Black-led preservation projects. His scholarship and public history work have been recognized by leading organizations including the National Council on Public History and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. At the Du Bois Freedom Center, Marcus has supported programming and interpretation initiatives since 2023. He also served as a docent at the W. E. B. Du Bois National Historic Site and Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church. In 2024, he was named a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellow and a Graduate Research Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst, where he studies Du Bois’s role as a public historian.
Operations and Communication Coordinator Jesslyn Katherine
Jesslyn Katherine is a policy and institutional practitioner with cross-sector experience across government, higher education, industry, and civil society in Indonesia and the United States. She serves as Training Manager at KADIN Indonesia Institute and Chief Operating Officer of Indonesia Patisserie School.
Previously, she worked as a Policy Analyst at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs Indonesia, Researcher Associate at Golkar Institute, and Teaching Assistant at NYU Wagner. She also brings experience in political organizing, nonprofit communications, and fundraising through roles at ActBlue and Tri-State Maxed-Out Women's PAC. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Boston University and a dual M.P.A.–M.A. from New York University.
Jacqui Fishman
Jacqui Fishman is the owner of Start A Buzz! Marketing, a creative consulting firm focused on the power of storytelling to help small start-ups, not -for -profits and mission-driven organizations in education and children’s media grow their brands, funding, and impact. Jacqui serves as Director of Marketing and Communications for Partakers, a nonprofit fostering powerful mentoring relationships for incarcerated students and returning citizens as well as The Children's Media Research and Reform Lab focusing on smart screens from the start. Jacqui was formerly the Creative Director and Director of Marketing at Housman Institute/Housman Learning,helping guide and grow their brand and mission to place emotional, cognitive, and social early learning at the heart of the everyday early learning experience.
An Emmy-nominated children’s media creator, Jacqui also founded This Girl Can! Change the World, a mission-driven brand with the goal of helping all girls to have the confidence and sense of self to believe in their own power to realize their dreams. In 2020, This Girl Can! Vote was launched to inspire girls to know their right to use their voice and become involved in civic engagement. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Philanthropy Connectionand is an Advisor to many organizations including- Write the World, the Family Health Project and The Legacy Projectand The Children's Digital Well-Being Framework.
Communications & Public Relations Consultant 
Damion Scott
Damion Scott is a Ph.D. student in Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His scholarly work examines grassroots social movements and progressive politics emanating from the Black radical tradition.
Outside of the University, Damion focuses on public history, community outreach, and political education in non-traditional academic spaces. He considers his work in the service of all Black and working-class communities.
Fundraising and Events Coordinator -Our Board of Directors
Johnathan Speer
Johnathan is a doctoral student in Transformative Leadership at Northeastern University who has been teaching for 16 years, and is currently a Grade Level Chair at JCMS IB school in Montgomery, Alabama. The former Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at Berkshire School, where he was also a member of the English and History faculty, John specializes in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on social justice pedagogy and leadership frameworks. He has served as a curriculum specialist and coach in Asheville, Atlanta, and Seattle independent schools for many years.
Chair of the BoardBeth Carlson
Beth is the Executive Director of Berkshire Community Land Trust (BCLT). A former partner in Silo Media, a design firm specializing in graphics, websites, and video production, she has worked with multiple nonprofits on events, fundraising, and campaigns, including BCLT’s Farmsteads for Farmers Initiative. She served for several years as president of the board of Dewey Memorial Hall in Sheffield, and is credited with leading the team that brought about the revival of the historic space. Her music production credits include Warm Up the Winter (Construct), TapRoot Sessions, and the Oldtone Roots Music Festival.
TreasurerEx-Officio Dan Bolognani
Dan is the Executive Director of the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area, a system within the National Park Service. Housatonic Heritage’s initiatives include the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail, the W. E. B. Du Bois National Historic Site initiative, the Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center at Berkshire Community College, and Reclaiming Our Local Heritage.
Customer Service ManagerSharon Mathieu
Sharon is the Manager of Curriculum & Instruction, Commonwealth of Massachusetts - MADOC. Ms. Mathieu is a highly skilled education manager with a proven ability to execute projects that align with business goals and priorities, and has a successful background leading people, scheduling tasks, and exceeding expectations in fast-paced, progressive, deadline-driven environments. She has a deep knowledge of education and operation management acquired during 22 years of hands-on experience managing the full project cycle, including identifying risks, requirements, analyzing , stakeholder relations, collaboration, deliverables, quality, and reporting.
Board MemberDr. Justin F. Jackson
Dr. Justin F. Jackson is a lecturer and visiting scholar with the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, where he teaches US history. The author of numerous articles and The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines(University of North Carolina Press, 2025), he is currently writing a book on a historic Berkshire County home tied to Agrippa Hull, Elizabeth Freeman, and other founders of the region's African American community. He has a lifelong interest in WEB Du Bois and the history of civil rights and protest in the US and the world. As history faculty at Simon's Rock, in Great Barrington, he was pleased to teach a course on Du Bois and serve on the town's W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee. He's particularly interested in working with the Du Bois Freedom Center to educate visitors about Du Bois's extraordinary contributions to American and world history as a way to inspire them to pursue their own dreams for freedom, equality, and human dignity.
Board Member Dr. Camesha Scruggs
Dr. Camesha Scruggs is an Assistant Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University. She received her PhD in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include African American and public history. As a trained public historian, Dr. Scruggs operates under the belief that history belongs to the people. She is deeply involved in several initiatives that aim to make historical knowledge tangible and accessible to local communities. She has served with organizations devoted to protecting and preserving these histories including the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Board MemberDr. Angela T. Tate
Angela T. Tate is a historian and curator whose scholarship centers Black diasporic histories, with expertise in public history, African diaspora studies, and women’s history. Her research focuses on the creation, preservation, and interpretation of archives, highlighting the work of Black women as collectors, organizers, and cultural producers. She is particularly interested in material culture, sound, and performance as forms of historical expression. She has held curatorial and collections leadership roles at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and currently serves as Chief Curator and Director of Collections at the Museum of African American History in Boston. Her work bridges archival scholarship and exhibition practice, emphasizing access, equity, and narrative depth. She is especially committed to documenting and amplifying the legacies of Black women, including figures like Etta Moten Barnett and Sue Bailey Thurman, whose archival contributions continue to shape understanding of Black women’s cultural history. A published scholar whose work appears in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, her research has been supported by the Schomburg Center for Black Studies, the Schlesinger Library, the SSRC, Massachusetts Historical Society, and more. She also serves on boards and conference committees advancing equity, archival scholarship, and public engagement in the arts.
Board MemberDr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste
Whitney Battle-Baptiste, is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst. A native of the Bronx, New York, Dr. Battle-Baptiste is an activist-scholar who sees the classroom and campus as a space to engage contemporary issues with a sensibility of the past. Her academic training is in Black study, history and historical archaeology. Her research critically engages the interconnectedness of race, gender, class, and sexuality through an archaeological lens. Her research sites include Andrew Jackson's Hermitage Plantation, the Abiel Smith School on Beacon Hill in Boston, the W. E. B. Du Bois Homesite (or House of the Black Burghardts) in Great Barrington, MA, and a community-based heritage site at Millars Plantation, on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera. Her books include, Black Feminist Archaeology (2011), W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America (2018), co-edited with Britt Rusert. She is currently completing the second edition of Black Feminist Archaeology with Routledge and co-edited a volume on new directions in research about W. E. B. Du Bois with University of UMass Press. Dr. Battle-Baptiste serves as the Chair of the Black Advisory Council at UMass Amherst, President of the American Anthropological Association (2023-2025), and the 2024/2025 Charles Norton Memorial Lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America.
Our Board of Emeritus
Wray Gunn, Sr.
Director Emeritus Cora is a former teacher of the hearing impaired, was a longtime member of the Clinton A. M. E. Church, where she was involved in various church activities with the late Reverend Esther Dozier, the Church’s first female pastor. She has served on the board of the Olga Dunn Dance Company for more than 30 years and is a member of the W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site Working Committee.
Wray was a trustee of the Clinton A. M. E. Zion Church, which he attended for more than 70 years. A fifth-generation descendant of Agrippa Hull, his family roots in the Berkshires date back to the Revolutionary War. Wray retired from Pfizer Industrials after a 40-year career as an analytical chemist. He currently serves on the board of the Olga Dunn Dance Company and is a member of the W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site Working Committee, Friends of the W.E.B. Du Bois Homesite, and the advisory council of the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail.
Cora Portnoff
President Emeritus