The Alcove Welcomes New Board President and Five New Board Members
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - September 3, 2026 —The Alcove is thrilled to announce our new slate of board members and officers and to wish heartfelt thanks to our departing Founding Board members.
Organizations like ours flourish because of the generosity of those who dedicate their time, energy, and ideas through board service. We benefited from an incredible Founding Board who rolled up their sleeves and believed in the vision before The Alcove ever existed.
We are grateful to the four Founding Board members who are continuing their service as our officers and excited to welcome five new board members (listed alphabetically below).
We also want to give a special thanks to Anne Holland, Board President Emerita and Director of 189 Development; Touba Ghadessi, Provost, RISD; and Felicia Salinas-Moniz, Founding Board Secretary, whose service on the Founding Board is concluding.
Marisa Albanese, Treasurer
Executive Director, Ocean State Charities Trust
Bio forthcoming
Marcela Betancur, Vice President
Executive Director, Latino Policy Institute
Marcela Betancur, Latino Policy Institute’s executive director, brings to the position a wide range of experience in key areas of LPI research and advocacy – including housing, education, civil liberties and workforce development.
Marcela’s early professional career began at the Providence Housing Authority where she helped lead and coordinate special programs and policies for its residents. Later, she went on to serve as the director of homeownership for NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, where she focused on serving first time homebuyers — specifically Latinos, immigrants, and millennials. Marcela worked as a policy associate for the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island where she worked with local and statewide organizations to ensure that policies, laws, and regulations proposed or enacted protected civil and human rights for all Rhode Islanders.
Dana Borrelli-Murray, Board President
CEO, Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England
Dana is the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England, where she is laser-focused on ensuring that Girl Scouts is the most relevant, engaging, youth-centered, and inclusive leadership development program available. In this role, Dana leads all strategy, creates systems and structures necessary to meet council goals, and designs the ways in which youth discover their personal best and prepare for a positive future, connect with others in an increasingly diverse world, and take action to solve problems and improve their communities.
Previously, Dana spent nine years as the Executive Director for the Highlander Institute, an education nonprofit organization that partners with communities to imagine and create more equitable, relevant, and effective schools. Under her leadership, the Institute grew exponentially and is seen as a national leader in driving instructional equity.
An anthropologist by training and nerd by heart, Dana is driven by the power of community, music-making, and social justice. She serves on several city, state, and national boards and committees, including RI’s Commission for National and Community Service. As a foster parent, she facilitates the Foster Parent Advisory Council for the RI Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Dana served as Chair of the Board for Trinity Academy for Performing Arts (TAPA), a performing arts charter school in Providence, the Executive Committee for RI National Organization of Women (RINOW), and the Prudential Committee for First Unitarian Church of Providence. She plays saxophone with the Extraordinary Rendition Band, creating raucous noise for social causes. A native Rhode Islander, Dana holds graduate degrees from University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Brown University and lives in Cranston with her spouse and four young children.
Jeanne D'Agostino
Nonprofit Development and Education Administration
Jeanne D'Agostino is a dedicated Rhode Island professional with a diverse background in healthcare, nonprofit development, and education administration.
Growing up in Cumberland, Jeanne initially pursued a career in healthcare, working as a respiratory therapist at Rhode Island Hospital. After spending time in Michigan, she returned to Rhode Island, where her focus shifted toward specialized care and community advocacy when she joined a program supporting individuals living with HIV and AIDS. For the past 18 years, she served as Development Director for Highlander Charter School, where she developed lasting programs for students and staff to better the culture of the school and community.
Her community work includes serving on several nonprofit boards, most recently the East Bay Chamber of Commerce, where she sits on the Education and Events committees.
She lives in Cumberland with her husband of 41 years. Mark Braun, and her fur baby, Stella.
Rebecca Dupras
Owner, Dupras Law
Rebecca lives and works in Providence and is the owner of Dupras Law. She focuses her practice on estate planning and probate. She enjoys working with clients in RI and Massachusetts. In addition to law, Rebecca has also worked in the philanthropic space for organizations such as the RI Foundation and the Silicon Community Foundation and currently she is philanthropic consultant for Charitable Solutions.
Rebecca is committed to her community and currently serves on the board for the Lawyers Committee for RI, the Economic Progress Institute and the Community College of RI Foundation, in addition to her role with The Alcove.
Sara Gilkenson, Secretary
Diversity Director, Supreme Court of Rhode Island
Sara Gilkenson is a community-minded leader, educator, and self-described professional connector who has built her career around a simple idea: people do better when they have access to the right opportunities and someone willing to help them find their way to them.
A lifelong Rhode Islander, Sara attended Moses Brown School from kindergarten through 12th grade and has spent much of her professional life working across Rhode Island’s education, nonprofit, and public service communities.
Sara joined the Rhode Island Judiciary in 2022 as the Diversity Director for the Rhode Island Supreme Court. In February 2026, she expanded her work to support the Court’s Access to Justice Office, with a particular focus on data analytics. Her work with the Judiciary reflects a career-long interest in making institutions and opportunities more accessible to the people they serve.
Before joining the Judiciary, Sara was the inaugural Assistant Director for Academic Advising and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Providence College School of Business. She previously coordinated CCRI’s Access+ program, advising students with documented disabilities, and began her career as an AmeriCorps College Adviser through Brown University’s Swearer Center at Central Falls High School. Whether working with a high school student figuring out what comes next, a college student finding their footing, or a professional considering their next move, Sara has a knack for seeing potential in people and connecting them to possibilities.
Sara graduated from Bryant University, where she double majored in Business Administration and Spanish with a minor in Sociology and Service Learning, and later earned her Master of Arts in Justice Studies from Rhode Island College.
She is a former board member of the Rhode Island Black Business Association and a graduate of its Emerging Leaders Development Program. She has also completed the Institute for Nonprofit Practice’s Core Certificate Program and the Equity Leadership Initiative. Sara served as co-chair of her College Leadership Rhode Island cohort, affectionately known as the “Best Class Ever.” It also happened to be the program’s final cohort, so naturally, they maintain that Leadership Rhode Island saved the best for last.
At her core, Sara believes community is built through relationships. She loves bringing people together, opening doors, sharing opportunities, and being the person who says, “I know someone you should meet.” She brings that same spirit as a Board member of The Alcove and believes deeply in creating spaces where people can connect, belong, and find opportunities to grow.
Rebecca Henderson, CPA/ABV
Manager, Forensic & Valuation Services, Sansiveri, Kimball & Co.
Rebecca (she/they) is the manager of the forensic and valuation services department at Sansiveri, Kimball & Co. with experience across a wide variety of industries.
Before relocating to Rhode Island, Rebecca honed her skills at a firm in Atlanta, GA. Her love for accounting was sparked in high school and inspired by her grandmother, a bookkeeper. She pursued her calling at Georgia Southern University, one of the first schools in the country to offer a forensic accounting program. She earned both her BBA in Accounting and a Master of Accounting with a Forensic Accounting Certificate from Georgia Southern, graduating summa cum laude as an honors program scholar. Rebecca is both the first member and first woman of her family to attend university.
When she is not working or volunteering her time with her favorite local charity organizations, Rebecca is reading, crafting, or visiting her family in Maine.
Lisa Kresge
Co-Managing Partner, Brennan Scungio & Kresge LLP
Lisa M. Kresge is co-managing partner of Brennan Scungio & Kresge LLP, of Providence, Rhode Island.
With a focus on commercial finance, she represents businesses and financial institutions — including banks, credit unions, and mortgage servicers — in both transactional work and commercial litigation. She handles corporate restructuring and creditors’ rights matters, representing secured creditors, trade claimants and other parties-in-interest in Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy and receivership cases in jurisdictions across the US. She routinely counsels commercial lenders and borrowers in connection with secured and unsecured credit facilities, asset-based financing, loan workouts, commercial and residential foreclosures and other lending and business transactions.
Lisa is a frequent writer and speaker on bankruptcy, receivership and foreclosure law topics. A court-appointed receiver for the RI Superior Court, she is a member of the board of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys, the Business Section of the American Bar Association and the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation.
She was elected to the board of the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association in 2018 and served as the president of that organization for its 2024-2025 membership year. She is a member of the board of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations. She was long-time member of the board of the New England chapter of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and served as co-chair. She was recently recognized for 2023 Excellence in Law by Rhode Island Monthly in the practice area of Bankruptcy & Workout, in 2024 as Leader in the Law by Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly and as a Best Lawyer in the areas of Commercial Finance Law, Commercial Litigation and Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law in 2027.
Helena Moronta
Director, Community Engagement Initiatives, HopeHealth
Helena Moronta is an accomplished executive, community engagement strategist, and civic leader with three decades of experience spanning financial services, business development, philanthropy, community relations, and inclusive leadership.
She currently leads community engagement initiatives at HopeHealth, where she works to strengthen strategic partnerships, expand awareness and access to hospice, palliative care, grief support, and caregiver resources across Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.
Deeply committed to service, Helena has held numerous board, trustee, and committee leadership roles with organizations dedicated to education, youth development, economic opportunity, and community well-being. She is also a speaker, panelist, facilitator, and guest lecturer, contributing her perspective on leadership, community engagement, philanthropy, inclusion, and organizational impact.
Her professional development includes executive and leadership programs through Brown University, Cornell University, Babson College, and the Rhode Island Foundation.
At the heart of Helena’s leadership is a belief in the power of relationships bringing people, organizations, and communities together to create opportunity, strengthen belonging, and drive lasting impact.
About The Alcove The Alcove is a feminist cultural center celebrating women and gender-expansive people. Providing dedicated space for meaningful connection and community building, the two-story space features a publicly accessible Portrait Gallery and Biographical Library on the first floor, and a dedicated member haven on the second. Through The Alcove's programs, visitors can connect with the inspiring, and often unknown, histories of women and gender-expansive people.
For more information about The Alcove or to become a member, visit www.AlcoveRI.org or contact info@AlcoveRI.org.
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