Leadership

Communities Without Borders is a non-governmental organization established as a corporation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Not-for-profit 501c3 designation was established in December of 2004. You can reach us from our contact page.

Board of Directors

Richard Bail, M.D., M.P.H., Founder

RICHARD BAIL, MD, MPH founded Communities Without Borders in the year 2000 after extensive work as a consultant in Zambia for UNAIDS to estimate the costs of the Zambian National HIV/AIDS Programme. Dr. Bail has been an active member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Human Rights. In 1985 he was co-founder of Trust Through Health, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the purpose of Soviet-American co-operation to improve health in developing countries. From 1991-1993 Dr. Bail worked for the World Health Organization in the African Regional Office as Health Strategy Coordinator. During that time he traveled widely in Africa and consulted on health policy. He has served as consultant to UNICEF, the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development and the Rockefeller Foundation. He is also a founding member of the Watertown Youth Coalition.

Dr. Bail is board certified in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College, Dartmouth Medical School, and the Harvard Medical School. He received his MPH degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1989. He served as Chief Resident at the Boston City Hospital. He is a graduate of the Center for Community Responsive Care Program in preventive medicine. Subsequently he became a faculty member at the CCRC and taught applied epidemiology and community health. He has been a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention since 1970, teaching primary care, clinical epidemiology and community health. He has been an adjunct professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, teaching health policy of developing countries. From 1983-1987 he was Chairman of the Physicians Council at the Harvard Community Health Plan. He is currently practicing community oriented primary care at the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates health center in Watertown, Massachusetts and at the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.

Cherie Noe, President

CHERIE NOE, MD, MPH, joined the board of CWB in November of 2010. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Boston University, completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Boston City Hospital and then a fellowship in Geriatrics at Boston Medical Center. She currently works at Mount Auburn Hospital where she is the Assistant Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Director of the Geriatric Housecalls Program at Mount Auburn Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Both Dr. Noe and her husband have long had an interest in international health and she has been an active supporter of CWB for over 5 years, first through First Baptist Church in Lexington and more recently at First Parish Church. She first visited Zambia in 2005 with her husband and returned with her daughter in the summer of 2009. She lives in Lexington with her husband and three children.

Anne Gatewood, Clerk

ANNE GATEWOOD is the Clerk of Communities Without Borders. Anne received her undergraduate degree in sociology from Dickinson College and her master’s in social work from the Catholic University. She has over 10 years experience in program development and evaluation, community collaboration and outreach, and strategic planning. Anne has been an active supporter of CWB for several years through the Union Church in Waban. She traveled to Zambia with her 11 year old daughter in the summer of 2011. She lives in Newton with her husband and two daughters.

Alvin Jacobson

ALVIN JACOBSON is a member of board of Communities Without Borders and serves as our primary liaison to our host communities in Africa. He is an active member of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he chairs the Social Action Committee. He is also a long-time member of Amnesty International where he is actively involved in human rights issues.

Al is the founder of Hartwell Associates, Inc., a management consulting company located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hartwell specializes in assisting firms in business development, and knowledge economics, particularly in the financial services industry. Work recently completed by Hartwell Associates involved an engagement by the Corporacíon Andina de Fomento (CAF) in Latin America. Prior to founding Hartwell Associates, Al worked at Bank of Boston, Abt Associates, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a PhD. and MA in Sociology from Cornell University, and a MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His publications have appeared in a number of business, trade and academic journals.

Al lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife. He has three children and a grandson.

Alison Leuchtenburg

 ALISON LEUCHTENBURG is a member of the board of Communities Without Borders and serves on the fundraising committee. Alison has been involved with CWB since 2002 when she helped organize and participated in the first four years of the annual First Unitarian Society in Newton (FUSN) Youth Coffee House, a fundraiser for CWB. She recently coordinated the Zambian Cultural Night at FUSN, and traveled to Zambia with CWB in July 2012. Alison currently works for Development Guild/DDI, a management consulting firm serving regional, national and global nonprofits in education, health & science, the arts and human service.

Alison has a BS in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she founded the UMass Anti-Slavery Club and organized the Freedom Walk, a fundraiser for Free the Slaves. After college, she interned with Free the Slaves and Airline Ambassadors International in Washington DC. Alison is a Youth Advisor at FUSN, a member of the FUSN Council for Social Action, and volunteers with the FUSN annual fund drive. She is also a Leadership Circle walker in the annual Walk For Hunger. 

Rodney Lowe

RODNEY LOWE is a congregant of First Parish in Lexington and has contributed to the CWB programs since the congregation’s initial involvement. In 2005 he and his daughter Bethany joined 18 others to be the first CWB summer travel group. Rodney has been a very active member of First Parish having spent many years on the board and council, and was involved with the congregation’s youth programs for over a decade. He is currently a tenor in the choir and is a member of the Social Action Ministry.
 
Rodney is a software engineer and has worked for Fidelity Investments since 1987 and over the years has supported all of their Trading, Research, Compliance and most recently their Asset Management functions. He is currently is Director of Systems and Data Analysis and is working on a multimillion dollar, multi year project to replace the database he has supported for over two decades. As a board member, Rodney is enthusiastic about getting involved with CWB and its efforts to provide educational opportunities to Zambian orphans and vulnerable children.

Peter Smith

PETER  SMITH is on the board of Communities Without Borders. He has led two trips of service volunteers to Zambia for Communities Without Borders.  He is Co-chair of the Coalition for a Strong United Nations and a member of their board of directors.  He is on the Advisory Council of the United Nations Association of Greater Boston and served as a Delegate to the National Summit on Africa in Washington, D.C. 

Peter has been active with the First Unitarian Society in Newton having served for three years as Co-chair of the Social Action Committee and three years on the Board of Trustees.  He is the Massachusetts Bay District Envoy to the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office for the 55 churches in the Greater Boston area and served as Chair of the nominating committee for the UU UNO board of directors for three years. 

He was active in his neighborhood association and is the Past President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Green Decade Coalition/Newton, a grassroots environmental group.  He is a member of the national core group for 20/20 Vision in the Fourth Congressional District in Massachusetts, a national environmental and peace legislative lobbying organization. 

He has been active with the Architects for Social Responsibility Committee of the Boston Society of Architects.  He has attended the United Nations Habitat for Humanity Conference in Istanbul in 1996 representing the Boston Society of Architects.  He was active with Beyond War, and served on the Bioregional Council of the Foundation for Global Community and on the Administrative Team for Peace Child Boston.

Amy Archibald

 

AMY ARCHIBALD started traveling with Communities Without Borders during the summer of 2009. She is a first grade teacher in the Billerica Public Schools and has taught for six years. Amy received her undergraduate degree in early childhood education from Coastal Carolina University and her master's degree in special education from American International College. She has a passion for reading and is currently working towards a reading specialist degree from UMASS Lowell. In her free time, Amy enjoys playing in a co-ed soccer league and running. She is an active member of her church and serves as a member of the Board of Christian Education. As a board member, Amy is excited to advance the education of the orphans and vulnerable children that CWB supports.

Jane Ndulo, CWB Envoy To Zambia

JANE NDULO is Community Without Borders envoy in Zambia. In this role she is the principal liaison with our non-governmental organization partners, and, especially, with the children and women whom we support in the squatter compounds. She visits the family support homes regularly and has direct personal relationships with the leaders of these communities. She also acts as our financial agent in Zambia and represents us with larger international organizations such as USAID.

Jane is a career nurse with a passionate commitment to improving the education and well-being of the orphans and vulnerable children we support. Jane’s mother and father were committed to her education at a time in Zambian history when most girl children did not have educational opportunity. Jane succeeded eminently well. She graduated from the nursing program at the University of Zambia, and eventually, before she retired several years ago, became the head of the department of post basic nursing there. Many of her former students now hold important posts in Zambia. Jane also holds a Masters Degree in nursing from Boston University. She has carried out and published research on sexually transmitted diseases in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. A unique and inspiring part of Jane’s education was working with Mother Theresa in Calcutta with street children.

Jane has performed a vitally important role for CWB over the last five years. It has been critical that CWB have a reliable and committed leader in Zambia, who can oversee all of our programs and activities. She is well connected in the international community of Lusaka, as well as with the non-governmental community. Jane is one of the original founders of the Society of Women and AIDS for Zambia. Jane also has vital connections to the academic community of the University of Zambia.

 

 

Other Important People

Amy Breiting, Bookkeeper

AMY BREITING is our bookkeeper and was a librarian for about 35 years, first working with children and later with college students at Northeastern University. During that time she volunteered with a several nonprofits serving children and women. Most recently she was treasurer for Empower Dalit Women of Nepal, organizing their bookkeeping, financial reports, and compliance. She visited women’s groups in Nepal supported by EDWON and was inspired by their optimism and inventiveness. These low caste Nepali women understand the power of education for themselves and their children.

She is a member of First Parish UU in Lexington, MA, where she is actively involved, currently on the Space Planning Committee. There she has led the annual fall auction and annual spring fundraiser many times. She also makes benefit quilts with the Rising Star Quilters Guild.