Working together, we can end homelessness in Falmouth.
About BTEO
People can survive rough in the summer, but it’s another thing in the winter. Freezing temperatures, wet weather, snow, mud, and no place to get warm. Or cook a meal. Or take a bath or shave or do laundry. Or plug in anything. Or have any privacy.
By providing temporary housing, BTEO gives our neighbors experiencing homelessness access to basic amenities. And our housing supportive services in their transition to stable housing.
Put yourselves in the place of our less fortunate neighbors, and think how you can help.
Meet the Team
You know, and we know, everything depends on people. People helping people, people trust people, people with big hearts and strong hands. BTEO has been lucky to find leaders who realize our desire to make a difference for our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Our Board of Directors and Officers
Rev. Christina Williams
Chair
Rev. Christina Williams, Vice Chair
Pastor, North Falmouth Congregational Church. Christina was formerly a street chaplain with Chaplains on the Way in Waltham, Mass., which offers the ministry of companioning to those experiencing poverty and homelessness.
Lynn O’Neill
Board Chair
Lynn O’Neill, Board Chair
Broker-Associate at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Robert Paul Properties. A second-generation realtor with 20+ years of experience, Lynn grew up in Falmouth, attended Falmouth schools, and was a lifeguard at Falmouth beaches. Lynn started her real estate career in Maine after a successful career as a human resource executive.
Dan Persechini
Treasurer
Dan Persechini, Treasurer
A vast business background with 35 years in corporate finance at large financial institutions. Dan started his own successful coaching & consulting business and has strong ties to the Falmouth business and social community. A member of the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, a member of BNI (a local business networking group), a member of Falmouth Newcomers, a member of Cape Cod Curling, and also a member of Falmouth Country Club.
Current owner of Dan Persechini Coaching and Consulting a business that works with individuals and small businesses around financial wellness and financial literacy providing personal and business coaching.
• 13 years in Banking in various senior finance positions, auditor, controller, and Senior VP of financial reporting.
• 21 years at Fidelity Investments in various senior finance positions, planning, strategy, employee engagement, variable compensation modeling, education, project and meeting facilitation, and financial reporting, cost accounting, and regulatory reporting
• Taught a personal finance course that he developed at Stonehill College for 5 semesters, also taught corporate finance for 3 semesters.
• Became a certified professional coach and started his own business after retiring from Fidelity in 2017. He works with individuals, couples, and small businesses in helping them to achieve their financial vision.
BA from Stonehill College, MBA from Suffolk University, Certified Professional Coach from IPEC. Skills include strategic planning, financial reporting, auditing, cost accounting, learning and development, employee engagement and variable compensation planning.
Served on the board of Bishop Feehan High School for 5 years, 2 on the finance committee, 2 as board chair, and 1 as past chair serving on the executive committee.
Served as Vice President for BNI networking group for most recent term.
Merrill Blum
Board Member
Merrill Blum, Board Member
Merrill was the Former Executive Director Veterans Outreach Center Cape and Islands and is currently retired. In his free time, he volunteers for BTEO and serves on the Board of Directors.
Prior to his retirement, Merrill worked with homeless veterans for 15 years and served on numerous committees including Governor Patricks’ Advisory Board on Veteran Services, Congressman Keatings’ Advisory Board on Veteran Services, and the VA Advisory Board on Homeless Veterans.
Merrill was a member of the Cape Cod Homeless Committee and was the Chair Barnstable/Mashpee Disability Commissions.
Merrill attended Bryant University, where he received his BS/BA.
Christina Hepner Brodie
Board Member
Christina Hepner Brodie, Board Member
Principal, Christina Brodie + Associates
Past President, Newcomers Club of Falmouth
Co-President, Encore of Falmouth Newcomers
Christina Brodie is founder and principal of Christina Brodie + Associates, a Boston area consulting firm that specializes in delivering an accurate understanding of customer needs and turning that insight into action.
With over thirty years of experience facilitating the direct engagement of the right people within client organizations with the right sampling of their customers, Christina has consistently succeeded in helping companies and non-profits make optimal decisions and move forward to implementation. Her work throughout Asia-Pacific, EMEA, Latin America and North America includes developing customer-grounded strategies, new product platforms, service transformations and optimizing supply chain dynamics.
Christina spent fifteen years as a Principal with PRTM and its successor, PwC, where she was a Director. Prior to that, she headed CHB Consulting, working for several years in association with the Center for Quality of Management. While associated with CQM she evolved Voice of the Customer methodologies including Concept Engineering©, the FOCUS Method, and the Language Processing© method. In 1996 she received CQM’s Ray Stata Outstanding Contributor Award.
Christina is the author and co-author of multiple publications, including the widely acclaimed book, Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer. During the height of her career, she was a sought-after speaker and was frequently invited to deliver keynotes, presentations and workshops at professional conferences and events, both domestically and abroad.
Christina earned an MA from Ohio State University and a BA from Capital University where she received the 2005 Outstanding Achievement Alumni Award. She is a Past President and Board Chair of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and a certified New Product Development Professional (NPDP).
Christina may be contacted at cbrodie@christinabrodie.com.
Dana Mohler-Faria
Board Member
Dr. Dana Mohler-Faria, Board Member
Few people personify the spirit, mission, and character of Bridgewater State University more than its eleventh president, Dr. Dana Mohler-Faria.
Not unlike many of the students who attend Bridgewater State University, President Mohler-Faria was the first member of his family to attend college. Dr. Mohler-Faria was the first person of color to lead Bridgewater State University and, at the time of his inauguration, was the first Cape Verdean in the United States to be elected the president of a four-year institution of higher education.
Prior to becoming president, Dr. Mohler-Faria served for 11 years as Bridgewater State College’s vice president for administration and finance. He has also held numerous senior administrative positions at Mount Wachusett Community College, Bristol Community College and Cape Cod Community College.
Dr. Mohler-Faria holds a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in United States History from Boston University, and an associate degree from Cape Cod Community College. He has participated in the Oxford Roundtable, the Millennium Leadership Institute, The New England Resource Center for Higher Education and Harvard University’s Institute for Education Management and Senior Executives Program. He also served on the faculty at the Harvard University New Presidents Seminar for ten years.
In addition to his work as president of BSU, Dr. Mohler-Faria served concurrently for 18 months, from January, 2007 to June, 2008 as Governor Deval Patrick’s special advisor for education. He was instrumental in developing and establishing the Executive Office of Education, and served for three years as a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
President Mohler-Faria retired from his position in June of 2015. Following retirement Dr. Mohler-Faria served as the President-in-Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2015-16. He currently serves on numerous public and private boards. He has served as a consultant on numerous issues related to education, leadership, and diversity, in Massachusetts, throughout the country, and internationally.
Annie Polachi
Board Member
Annie Polachi, Board Member
Annie has spent several years participating in socially conscious nonprofits including Belonging to Each Other, The Greenlight Fund as well as a Private Charitable Foundation Trustee supporting the Nantucket Dreamland Performing Arts Center. She has also been involved in The Boch/Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, Nantucket Community Sailing, Friends of the Children-Boston, The Waquoit Congregational Church, the Literacy to Lift Lives (LLL) project at St. Clare’s Residential Home in Hyannis and St. Joseph’s Homeless Shelter in Hyannis.
Annie is currently employed with Bracebridge Capital LLC.
She is a childhood summer resident of Falmouth and has been a permanent resident since 2011.
Our Staff
Gina Torielli
Executive Director
Gina Torielli, Executive Director
Gina Torielli was appointed in 2020 by her peers on the Board of Directors to be Belonging to Each Other’s first administrator and then Executive Director. As such, she is the key management leader of BTEO, responsible for overseeing the administration, programs and strategic direction of BTEO.
Prior to joining BTEO’s board of directors in late 2017, Gina served on more than 18 nonprofit boards, including charitable, professional, political, and civic organizations (including city and gubernatorially appointed positions). She served as an officer many times, in all roles. She especially treasures her Board and volunteer work over 40 years with organizations in service to vulnerable populations, specifically battered women, abused children, low-income taxpayers and people experiencing homelessness. She was named volunteer of the year by the Washtenaw County United Way.
A resident of Falmouth, Gina serves as an elected representative town meeting member and an appointed member of Falmouth’s Affordable Housing Committee.
Professionally, Gina had a 30-year career in the law, most recently at Dykema, a leading national law national law firm with offices across the country, in the firm’s taxation and public finance groups. Her practice focused on advising nonprofit organizations and governmental entities on issues relating to tax exemption, tax-exempt financing, and state and federal tax issues. Gina’s capstone career projects include: serving as a consultant to the mediators in the court-ordered mediation of the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy negotiation; and advising on the creation of the Glacier Hills Legacy Fund – Golden Opportunities, a multimillion-dollar community foundation fund supporting vulnerable older adults in Washtenaw County that was the result of the acquisition of a stand-alone retirement community by a regional health care organization.
Gina’s executive experience includes running her family’s business, and becoming the first woman to serve as president of a major Michigan law firm when she became President and CEO of Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC, a regional business law firm with more than 75 attorneys. After Howard and Howard, she served more than 10 years as a tenured professor and Director of the Graduate Tax program at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where she taught courses about tax practice and procedure, standards and ethics of tax practice, and tax-exempt organizations. Teaching a diverse group of students who, like Gina, were the first in their family to go to college, was especially fulfilling.
Gina was designated one of the Top 10 Business Women of the Year by the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and was also named one of Corp! Magazine’s 95 most powerful women in Michigan.
Gina received a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and her B.S., with high honors, from Michigan State University.
Carol Greeley, LMHC
Program and Clinical Director
Carol Greeley, LMHC, Program Clinical Director
Carol came to BTEO in the Fall of 2022 from her private clinical practice in Falmouth, MA. She has a MA in Counseling Psychology and has been a Mental Health clinician for more than 20 years in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Prior to becoming a therapist, Carol worked in the field of housing and economic development at regional community action agencies developing housing and employment programs for adults living in shelters.
What Carol likes most about her work with BTEO is that she is able to bring both parts of her previous work experience together to support the guests as they work towards developing greater community connections and housing stability.
Elyse DeGroot, CFRE
Director of Development and Community Relations
Elyse DeGroot, CFRE, Director of Development and Community Relations
Elyse, a native of Massachusetts, has lived on Cape Cod since 1989. Elyse received her BS in Psychology from Union College in Schenectady, NY, an MSW from Boston University and an MBA from Simmons College.
Elyse has utilized both her Social Work background and her Business degree in the various non-profit positions she has held across the Cape including Elder Services of the Cape and Islands, The Barnstable Senior Center, Duffy Health Center and The Falmouth Service Center. Elyse is committed to working with the most vulnerable populations on Cape Cod and is dedicated to making her small part of the world better in any way she can.
Elyse is proud of her two (very) well launched adult children and their partners who live and work in San Francisco. She is married to Bob McGowen, a physician with SouthCoast Healthcare. In her free time Elyse races Sonars, skis and plays a mediocre game of golf.
Kristin M. Brown
Housing Case Manager
Kristin M. Brown, Housing Case Manager
Kristin came to BTEO as a Case Manager in 2022 after being home to care for medically fragile family members throughout the pandemic. She has worked in the field of public service for over 25 years since graduating with her Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Cape Cod Community College and obtaining her Paramedic License. Kristin held positions in public safety at both local and county levels for almost a decade before moving to a more social services-focused career. Most recently she has worked with families and individuals with mental health challenges and who have had involvement in various service systems. Her free time is spent with her family and dogs, honing her skills as an amateur photographer, and participating on the board of directors for several charitable organizations which benefit children. Kristin also enjoys her time on the ocean as an avid boater. What Kristin enjoys most about her work with BTEO is the ability to use her extensive knowledge of resources and programs, as well as her diverse lived and professional experience, to assist people in building their self-efficacy. By doing so it empowers them to achieve stable housing, employment, overall well-being, and a knowledgeable natural support system that will help sustain them after they have left the residences.
Brittnay Maley
Housing Case Manager
People can survive rough in the summer, but it’s another thing in the winter. Freezing temperatures, wet weather, snow, mud, and no place to get warm. Or cook a meal. Or take a bath or shave or do laundry. Or plug in anything. Or have any privacy.
By providing temporary housing, BTEO gives our neighbors experiencing homelessness access to basic amenities. And our housing supportive services in their transition to stable housing.
Put yourselves in the place of our less fortunate neighbors, and think how you can help.
Brittnay Maley, Housing Case Manager
Brittnay came to BTEO as a Case Manager in 2022 after graduating from Cape Cod Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Human Services. She is a Certified Drug and Alcohol Assistant Counselor and is currently working on becoming a Certified Recovery Coach. A lifetime learner, she would like to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and eventually a Ph.D. in the social sciences. Brittnay has worked extensively and directly with people with mental illness and has lived experience with trauma, addiction, and homelessness, and is currently in recovery. Brittnay, a Webelo’s 2 Den Leader for the Cub Scouts, is a mother of 4 young children with whom she shares her passions. Those include arts and crafts, science, collecting minerals, reading books, and most recently, learning how to garden. Brittnay enjoys helping people, and seeing them evolve to reach their full potential. Learning and growing from the people she helps is what Brittnay loves most about her work at BTEO. By focusing on their overall wellness, she strives to enable people to overcome the stigmas of substance abuse, mental illness and other societal issues that contribute to homelessness.
Brittnay Maley
Housing Case Manager
People can survive rough in the summer, but it’s another thing in the winter. Freezing temperatures, wet weather, snow, mud, and no place to get warm. Or cook a meal. Or take a bath or shave or do laundry. Or plug in anything. Or have any privacy.
By providing temporary housing, BTEO gives our neighbors experiencing homelessness access to basic amenities. And our housing supportive services in their transition to stable housing.
Put yourselves in the place of our less fortunate neighbors, and think how you can help.
Brittnay Maley, Housing Case Manager
Brittnay came to BTEO as a Case Manager in 2022 after graduating from Cape Cod Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Human Services. She is a Certified Drug and Alcohol Assistant Counselor and is currently working on becoming a Certified Recovery Coach. A lifetime learner, she would like to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and eventually a Ph.D. in the social sciences. Brittnay has worked extensively and directly with people with mental illness and has lived experience with trauma, addiction, and homelessness, and is currently in recovery. Brittnay, a Webelo’s 2 Den Leader for the Cub Scouts, is a mother of 4 young children with whom she shares her passions. Those include arts and crafts, science, collecting minerals, reading books, and most recently, learning how to garden. Brittnay enjoys helping people, and seeing them evolve to reach their full potential. Learning and growing from the people she helps is what Brittnay loves most about her work at BTEO. By focusing on their overall wellness, she strives to enable people to overcome the stigmas of substance abuse, mental illness and other societal issues that contribute to homelessness.
Advisory Board
- Troy Clarkson, CFO, the City of Brockton
- Edward A. Dunne, Falmouth Police Chief
- Rev. Nell Fields, Minister, Waquoit Congregational Church
- Beth Folcarelli, CEO, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services
- Michael Kasparian, Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, President & CEO
- Matt Rocheleau, Owner, The Clam Man Inc.
- David Vieira, Massachusetts State Representative and Falmouth Town Meeting Moderator
- Allan Wilson, President, and CEO, Wilson Consulting
- Jay Zavala