Board of Directors

Bob Agoglia, President

Mr. Agoglia is retired after a 45-year career of service in leadership positions. His early career spanned 25 years serving in government and non-profit sector leadership positions in mental health and developmental disabilities services. He was then a founding principal of Fazzi Associates, Inc., a national consulting and research firm that serves home health, hospice, and human services organizations. In the last seven years of his career he served as executive director of the Insight Meditation Society. He is currently a selectman for the town of Pelham MA, a member of the Insight Meditation Society’s board of directors and a member of the MA Attorney General’s Disabilities Advisory Committee. 

Nickie Chandler, Treasurer

Ms. Chandler is a retired nurse who formerly worked at the Belchertown State School and at state-operated community programs serving medically-challenged individuals with disabilities.  She was the long-term guardian of an individual with a disability who died in November 2016.  She is a member of the Advisory Council for CPR’s Supported Decision-Making Initiative.  She has been a board member for more than 10 years.

Sophia Johansson

Ms. Johansson has held a variety of positions throughout her work life. Most recently she is a small business owner caring for gardens, producing seeds, and providing customized work opportunities for nontraditional thinkers. She brings her experience as the daughter of a woman who was institutionalized in the state psychiatric hospital system and the parent of three children, two of whom have developmental disabilities and mental health support needs. She joined the Board in June 2019.

William Kellibrew

Mr.  Kellibrew is a global advocate for human, civil, children’s, and victims’ rights. Mr. Kellibrew works closely with top leaders and communities to address trauma and violence across multiple fields including local, state, and federal agencies, Native American Tribal reservations, and communities that impact children, youth, and families. He has extensive experience in strategic planning and has provided expert facilitation and subject matter expertise for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Center for Trauma Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint as well as served as a member of the Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategies Policy Academy National Steering Committee to support on-going recovery efforts with substance use, mental health challenges, and trauma. Mr. Kellibrew has also provided consulting services for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center. In 2007/8 Mr. Kellibrew appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his family tragedy to triumph when he witnessed the murders of his mother and brother in their family living room. In 2011, Mr. Kellibrew was recognized by the White House as a ‘Champion of Change’ and in 2013, he received the Voice Award from SAMHSA for his work across the country as a peer/consumer leader. In 2014, he accepted the Capitol Probe Award at the District of Columbia Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and in 2015 he received the U.S. Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus Eva Murillo Unsung Hero Award. Mr. Kellibrew credits his grandmother, family and those who created a safe space for him to heal and thrive. He joined the Board in October 2019.

Neal A. Rosen, Esq.

Mr. Rosen practiced law at a large Boston-based law firm for more than three decades, representing corporations and individuals in state and federal courts, chiefly in business dispute, intellectual property, and professional liability matters, prior to his retirement in 2015.  Over those years, he also represented pro bono clients in arts, education, immigration, prison, death penalty, and other matters.  In addition, he helped manage the firm’s nationwide pro bono legal services program for many years, served on a committee of lawyers assisting the federal court in Massachusetts in revising its plan for the appointment of counsel for indigent parties in certain civil cases, and was honored in 2015 by the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in Boston with its annual award for pro bono leadership.  Prior to his legal career, he taught secondary school for six years, including at The Roxbury Latin School.  He has been a board member for 9 years and also serves as Board Chair of People Making A Difference Through Community Service, Inc. and as a Trustee of the National Braille Press.

Wendy Sibbison, Esq.

Ms. Sibbison is a retired attorney who specialized in civil and criminal appeals.

She is noted for having represented the winning appellants in precedent-setting civil appeals; in her criminal practice, she has won reversals of 11 first-degree murder convictions as well as numerous other felony appeals.  She recently was awarded the prestigious Massachusetts Bar Foundation award for lifelong devotion to civil rights cases.  In 2017, with four other lawyers, she founded the Immigrant Protection Project of Western Massachusetts, now run by the ACLU of Massachusetts.  She has been a board member for nine years.

Robert V. Ward Jr., Esq.

Mr. Ward is a former law school dean and professor who has been a legal practitioner, educator, and administrator in Massachusetts for more than 30 years. He served as dean of University of Massachusetts Law School and Southern New England School of Law, and taught at Suffolk Law School and New England School of Law. In addition, he was the Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Enrichment Program, an academic achievement program designed to increase the number of minority students on campus and to ensure their success after admission.  He has been a board member for eight years.

Richard E. Dubois

Mr. Dubois is the Executive Director of National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). The NCLC is a national nonprofit organization that works on behalf of low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S., through policy analysis and advocacy, publications, litigation and training. Dubois began his career in the consumer movement and has over 20 years of wide-ranging experience in the field. He has been with NCLC since 1997, having served as Deputy Director, Director of Development and Project Planning, and as an attorney focusing on foreclosure prevention and sustainable homeownership issues. He has been a board member since July 2021. 

Clarence J. Sundram

Mr. Sundram is a nationally recognized expert on conditions in institutions and community programs for persons with mental disabilities. Currently, he serves as the Independent Monitor for the federal court overseeing the implementation of a Settlement Agreement class action which offers approximately 4000 persons with mental illness residing in adult homes in NYC the opportunity to move to supported housing with support services. Mr. Sundram’s reports to the Court have influenced numerous refinements in the implementation process including the creation of a peer bridger program to be implemented in 22 impacted adult homes. He has been a board member since July 2021.