BPI STEERING COMMITTEE
The Building Partnerships steering committee, co-chaired by Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel and DPPC Executive Director Nancy A. Alterio, was formed to facilitate the grant’s legislative and training activities. Through the efforts of the steering committee, state and local police, civil investigators, victim witness advocates, assistant district attorneys and human service providers have received training in recognizing, reporting, investigating and prosecuting crimes committed against persons with disabilities. Legislation has been filed and passed, providing for enhanced penalties for those who commit crimes against persons with disabilities.
Elizabeth D. Scheibel is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and Western New England College School of Law. Following law school, Ms. Scheibel worked
for eight years in the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office. During her tenure in Hampden County, much of her caseload involved the prosecution of child sexual
assault cases. In May 1993, Ms. Scheibel became the District Attorney for the Northwestern District.
Ms. Scheibel is the first woman District Attorney in the history of the Commonwealth.
As District Attorney, Ms. Scheibel continues to emphasize community education and outreach, particularly in the areas of elder abuse, domestic violence, child sexual
assault and crimes against persons with disabilities.
Ms. Scheibel is the President of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association and the State Director of the National District Attorneys Association.
She is an appointed member of the Massachusetts Victim-Assistance Board which oversees statewide victim services, and the Medico legal Investigation Commission.
Nancy A. Alterio was hired in May of 1999 as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC). She served as one of the three Commissioners to DPPC for a year prior to her appointment of Executive Director.
Before her employment at DPPC, Ms. Alterio spent over fifteen years in the private, not for profit sector assisting persons with disabilities in meeting their vocational, medical, financial, social and housing needs. Ms. Alterio's academic background includes a Bachelor's of Science degree in the legal aspects of human services. Ms. Alterio is a founding member of the Building Partnerships for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities initiative (BPI) and is co-chair of the steering committee. In conjunction with the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), Ms. Alterio and other members of BPI wrote Crimes Against Persons with Disabilities; A practical guide to the Reporting, Investigation and Prosecution.
In 2003 Ms. Alterio received the Innovations award from the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (MOVA) for her leadership in BPI. In 2005, along with other members of BPI, Ms. Alterio received the Tadini Bacigalupi Program of Distinction Award from the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). Ms. Alterio serves on the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence as a Commission member.
In addition, Ms. Alterio is a board member of the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program. Nationally, Ms. Alterio is the President of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA). Ms. Alterio has presented locally, statewide and nationally on matters relating to adult protective services (APS). Ms. Alterio has assisted in the development of national and state training videos and numerous training curricula. To enhance protection of victims with disabilities, Ms. Alterio has assisted with the drafting, filing and passage of legislation.
Gerald J. Morrissey, Jr. serves as Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation, a position he has
held since April 1997. In this role he is responsible for overseeing the delivery of state services and supports to individuals with mental retardation
and their families throughout the Commonwealth. He also serves as Assistant Secretary, Office of Disabilities and Community Services. In
collaboration with the Secretary of Elder Affairs he is responsible for developing the vision and policy direction for long-term care supports in the Commonwealth.
Commissioner Morrissey has worked in state government for both the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Mental Retardation over the past thirty years.
He was the 1993 recipient of the Bradford Fellowship from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Harvard University and holds a master's degree in public administration
from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also holds a master's degree in education from Antioch University and a bachelor's degree in
special education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Commissioner Morrissey is a board member and serves as Past President of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, Inc. He is also a board member of the Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Clubs in Dorchester where he served as president and chairman for 10 years.
Geline W. Williams, Esq. has served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association (MDAA) since January 2000.
Prior to the MDAA, Ms. Williams was an assistant district attorney in Plymouth County for 14 years, serving as Chief of the Child Abuse Unit, Chief of
the Family Protection Unit, Second Assistant District Attorney and Deputy First Assistant District Attorney. She has also served as a Special Assistant
United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and as a Special Assistant Massachusetts Attorney General.
Ms. Williams has an extensive training background, including training for the Massachusetts Bar Association, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education,
the MDAA and the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. She is active in policy and legislative matters relating to the criminal justice system
and serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the Governor’s Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence, the Massachusetts
Antiterrorism Task Force, the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission, and the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners’ (SANE) Program.
She also serves on the Board of Directors of The Gifford School in Weston, MA.
Prior to her career in prosecution, Ms. Williams was in private practice in Boston as a civil litigator. She is a graduate of Manhattanville College, Simmons School of
Library Science, and Suffolk University Law School, cum laude.
Lester Blumberg is General Counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Prior to assuming that role, he served for 2 years as the DMH Chief of Staff, and the previous 12 years as legal counsel to DMH, first as an assistant general counsel, then as deputy general counsel. He received his JD from Northeastern University School of Law in 1984, a Masters in Child Development from Tufts University in 1980, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Clark University in 1976.
Prior to joining DMH in 1992, he was in private practice. He has been a frequent presenter at DMH and Continuing Legal Education training programs dealing with mental health, civil commitment reform, guardianship, juvenile law and child custody issues.
Mary Ann Brennen currently works for the Massachusetts District Attorney’s Association (MDAA) as a trainer for the Building Partnerships for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities initiative. Prior to assuming the trainer position, Ms. Brennen was the initiative’s Project Director. Ms Brennen has extensive experience in Human Services with a 33 year career at the Department of Mental Retardation (DMR). During her career she served in such leadership positions Director of Staff Development and Training, Regional Director for Quality Enhancement, Chief of Staff, and Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Systems Integration. Ms. Brennen’s experience as Chief of Staff allowed her to work closely with the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission and the Massachusetts District Attorney’s Association. She was instrumental in the establishment of the DMR Complaint Resolution Teams and the design of the training curriculum, “Law Enforcement and Persons with Disabilities” currently being used in the Massachusetts Municipal Training Committee’s training program for municipal police recruits.
Ms. Brennen received her Bachelor’s in Human Services Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She maintains an interest in persons with disabilities and their families by working part time as a Family Support Coordinator at the Central/West office of the Department of Mental Retardation. She also volunteers her services at a local nursing and rehabilitation center.
John A. Chappell, Jr. is the Deputy Commissioner for Community Services for the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC), which is the rehabilitation agency for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. His responsibility with the Commission is to direct the many services that promote living in the community in the most integrated setting and includes twelve programs, which totaled over $50,000,000 in FY 05.
Mr. Chappell was recently selected as the Agency’s representative to the Waiver Task force that oversees all of the Secretariat’s initiatives with regard to developing additional community based services. He has been involved in the independent living and disability rights movement for over 30 years and has been involved both locally and nationally. He was a co-founder of the National Council of Independent Living (NCIL) and was the co-founder and President and Executive Director of Virginia’s Coalition of persons with disabilities. He was also a member of the Board for the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities.
Mr. Chappell’s original background was in Technology, specifically Electrical Engineering. He has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida Tech and was the Director of the Army’s Instrumentation Laboratory at Fort Eustis, VA for many years. During that time he received a patent for his work on an interface for combining signals from two separate digital instrumentation systems. He also received a commendation from the Army for his work on crash tests conducted regarding the redesign of the Army’s Helicopters. In addition, John was awarded the Meritorious Service Award, the highest civilian award that can be given by the US Army. He received this award as part of his recognition by the Federal Government as one of the Handicapped Employees of the year award winners in 1977.
Mr. Chappell has also been actively involved at the national level regarding many pieces of legislation including his work on the Rehabilitation Act with focus on the Independent Living Title and the American with Disabilities Act. As part of John’s advocacy work in Virginia the Virginian’s with Disabilities Act was passed in 1985. This piece of legislation was one of the first states disability rights legislation passed in the US. In addition, Mr. Chappell’s work at MRC has led to the development of a national model for community living for persons with cognitive/physical disabilities and a real time Database of all accessible housing that is now accessible via the Internet. Mr. Chappell has spoken at many state and national conferences on the need for equal access to the community for persons with disabilities and insuring that the rights of persons with disabilities are ensured.
Janet E. Fine, M.S. has a bachelors degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and a masters degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University. Throughout her career, she has been at the forefront of victim rights and services and innovative responses to child victims of abuse and violence. She has also participated in community crisis response efforts, most notably, as a member of the National Crisis Response Team from MA that responded to Ground Zero in New York in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
She is currently the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance, an independent state agency whose mission is to promote and advance victim rights and services through direct victim services, policy, legislation, funding and grants management, professional training, community outreach and education, and management of SAFEPLAN (the statewide domestic violence court advocacy program).
From 1992 to 2002, she served as the Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Program of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. In 1993, she spearheaded the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) Task Force to create a state-of-the-art comprehensive, interdisciplinary team response to abused children and their families. She was the Founding Executive Director of the Suffolk County CAC as well until 2002.
From 1983 to 1992, she worked in the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, first as a Victim Witness Advocate and then as Deputy Chief of the Victim Witness Service Bureau. In that capacity, she co-founded and co-directed the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit, a multi-disciplinary program for the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases.
Ms. Fine co-chairs the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance (MACA) Board, and serves on the Boards of Safe Havens (an interfaith family violence program), the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) and Pediatric SANE Program, the Building Partnerships for Persons with Disabilities Initiative, among others. She also served in various leadership roles on the MA Governor’s Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence. During her tenure on the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Board from 1993 to 2000, she co-chaired the Standards for Membership Committee which developed the national standards and accreditation process for CACs.
Ms. Fine is also a part-time faculty member at Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice and has lectured and provided consultation locally, nationally, and internationally.
Margaret Flanagan served as the deputy General Counsel of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) for 10 years and now acts as a legal consultant. She is a fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Ms. Flanagan is also a certified mediator and Trustee Emeritus of the “Help for Abused Women,” an organization and shelter for abused women and their children located in Salem, MA.
Gina M. Golash has served as the Executive Director of Sunshine Village since June 1996, and was previously employed as their Director of Marketing and Development for five years. Ms. Golash participates on several boards, including Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce for which she is the Chair Elect, Human Service Forum in Springfield, Western Massachusetts Association of Empployment Providers, and the Cathedral High School. In 2002, Ms. Golash was chosen as the “Woman of Achievement” by the Chicopee chapter of Business and Professional Women. Ms. Golash holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s of Business Administration from Western New England College.
Diane Meehan, M.Ed. has served as Project Director of the Building Partnerships initiative since December 2005. Prior to this, Diane held several positions at the Vocational Advancement Center (VAC), working with persons with disabilities focusing on employment. In her 8 years at VAC, Diane served as Director of Employment and Director of Rehabilitation, and was ultimately hired as the Executive Director. Diane has also provided individual clinical services for persons with mental health issues, children with behavioral and emotional concerns, and families through STRATTUS. Diane holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology/Psychology from Ithaca College and her Master’s Degree in Counseling Education from Boston University.
Bernie Murphy has been the Department of Mental Retardation's (DMR) Director of Investigations since June 2000. He is an attorney who practiced criminal law for nearly 15 years. Immediately prior to joining the DMR, he was an Assistant District Attorney for the Bristol District where he prosecuted cases in the District and Superior Courts for 11 years. His duties at the district attorney's office included being the Chief of the Elder Abuse Unit.
In addition to carrying out his responsibilities as Director of Investigations Mr. Murphy has played an integral role in the planning and implementation of the Building Partnerships Initiative (BPI) agenda and has sat on the BPI Steering Committee since 2002.
Detective Lieutenant Richard Nagle is a 26 year veteran of the Massachusetts State Police. He has a Master’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State College. He is currently the Unit Commander of the State Police assigned to the Disabled Persons Protection Commission.
Prior to being assigned to DPPC, DLT Nagle was the Unit Commander of the Cold Case Unit working on unsolved crimes throughout Massachusetts. Prior assignments included Norfolk and Plymouth District Attorney’s Office, Violent Fugitive Apprehension Unit, Narcotics Inspection and Communications. DLT Nagle has taught for MCJTC and various law enforcement agencies throughout his carrier.
Before joining the State Police, DLT Nagle worked for VISTA and Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (C.E.O.C.). He held the position of Director of Community Relations in the city of Cambridge and his duties included organizing programs to assist people with learning disabilities to obtain their G.E.D. DLT also organized Planning Teams throughout the city. These Planning Teams worked with low income residents and established Stabilization Committees which addressed concerns in each of the planning districts.
Michael A. Uhlarik, Esq. is an Assistant District Attorney for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Uhlarik has been a prosecutor since 1989 and is currently the Chief of the Elders & Persons with Disabilities Unit (EPDU). In 1997, he was appointed to create, implement and operate the EPDU, the first specialized unit in Massachusetts devoted to the protection of elders and persons with disabilities. Mr. Uhlarik specializes in the prosecution of sexual abuse, domestic violence and financial fraud cases. He has lectured at numerous national, state and local seminars about the abuse of elders and persons with disabilities. In addition to conducting the investigations and prosecutions of criminal cases, he coordinates the Suffolk County Elder Protection Roundtable and the Suffolk County Roundtable for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities.
Mr. Uhlarik is also a member of Building Partnerships, a statewide initiative designed to improve the protection of persons with disabilities by conducting training programs and drafting legislation. He is a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education faculty member and contributed to the publication Crimes Against Persons with Disabilities, A Practical Guide to the Reporting, Investigation and Prosecution.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Uhlarik was an Assistant District Attorney for the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office. He is a graduate of Marquette University and Boston College Law School.