Leadership
Barbara Salisbury
Chief Executive Officer
Prior to joining MAB, Barbara Salisbury had a long career in state government and higher education. She served as the state budget director for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Michael Dukakis and was the Administrative Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University for 12 years. She came to MAB in 2006.
Alison Abdu
Chief Human Resources Officer
Alison brings a wealth of Human Resources experience to MAB. She was a member of the HR leadership team at Partners HealthCare for more than twenty years, most recently as Vice President for HR Solutions. She is especially passionate about implementing programs to expand career opportunities for all staff and especially low-wage earners, recognize employee contributions, increase staff engagement and loyalty, and streamline and improve operations. Alison has worked with other organizations that provide services to adults with disabilities and vulnerable populations.
Laura Alpert
Chief Advancement Officer
Laura has 25 years of comprehensive fundraising, communications, and marketing experience in Greater Boston and in New York’s Capital Region. She has been a senior manager since 2007, has led teams of up to six professionals, has helped to vastly increase the visibility of leading nonprofit organizations, and raised more than $125 million throughout her career. Before joining MAB in February 2022, Laura was the Vice President of Philanthropy at Boston Arts Academy Foundation, which supports the city’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts. Laura earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Brandeis University and The Heller School at Brandeis. With a fierce commitment to expanding opportunity, she proudly serves on the Alumni Board for The Heller School, as an Advisory Member for the Women in Leadership program at the University of Vermont Grossman School of Business, on the Boston Arts Academy Foundation’s Advisory Council, and as a volunteer for The Trustees of Reservations.
Cynthia Canham
Interim Executive Director, Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI)
Interim Executive Director Cynthia Canham has been a critical member of MAB’s senior leadership team for more than 25 years. As Interim Director of MABVI, Cynthia manages several program departments, oversees MABVI’s intake/referral processes and data management systems. She currently manages MABVI’s team of three clinicians who provide individual mental health adjustment counseling. and leads special projects and initiatives including MABVI’s age-friendly and health equity initiatives. Cynthia is a member of the advisory committee of the Massachusetts Health Aging Collaborative (MHAC) which is a network of leaders in the community, health and wellness, government, advocacy, research, business, education, and philanthropy who work collectively to advance healthy aging that align with the World Health Organization’s definition of active aging. She also sits on the MA AARP Committee to End Elder Isolation and Loneliness. Cynthia received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
Francois Hostailler
Chief Financial Officer
Francois has been MAB’s CFO since May 2014. With over 20 years of accounting and finance experience, Francois has dedicated much of his career to the nonprofit and social service sectors, including Vinfen, Hearth, and YMCA positions. He oversees MAB’s accounting and IT professionals team and utilizes his expertise to support the organization’s overall process improvement and operational efficiency. Francois received his master’s degree in accounting and his DESCF from the University of Toulouse, France. He is bilingual, and fluent in both French and English.
Brooke Howard, MS, OTR/L
Executive Director, Ivy Street School
Brooke has a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Sargent College at Boston University and an undergraduate in neuroscience from Oberlin College. Brooke has worked as a licensed Occupational Therapist since 2005 and at Ivy Street School since 2009. Before coming to Ivy Street, she worked in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and supervised the outpatient program at Franciscan Hospital for Children. Brooke also worked as an adjunct faculty in the Occupational Therapy department at Sargent College from 2010-2014. Brooke was a founding member of the transition program at Ivy Street and has continued to grow, develop and support the program since. Most recently, Brooke was a founding partner of Ivy Street’s community-based program, Skills For Life, where she works with young adults seeking to gain more independence.
Shaun Kinsella
Director of Operations for New Business, MAB Adult Disability Services
Shaun Kinsella is a graduate of the University of Kent at Canterbury in the United Kingdom. He also holds a diploma in Social Administration from The University of Oxford and a Masters’s in Gerontology from UMass Boston. He first joined MAB in 2001 at Adult Disability Services, where he worked for ten years. After a stint working for UMass Medical School, Shaun returned to MAB in 2013 as the Executive Director of MABVI. He grew the Vision Rehabilitation Occupational Therapy program and introduced several new programs, such as Low Vision Assistive Technology Teaching. After several years Shaun returned to his roots in the Adult Disability Services program as the Executive Director, where he spearheaded the opening of 6 new residential programs in 2 years during a pandemic. This led nicely to his current role as the Director of Operations for New Business, where he is focused on developing and growing new residential programs, day programs, a mental health clinic, and community case management supports.
Heller Shoop
Executive Director, MAB Adult Disability Services
Heller Shoop has dedicated her 30-year career to supporting individuals with disabilities to live and thrive in their communities. Twenty of those years were spent at MAB Community Services, first as a Program Support Director and later as the Director of Adult Disability Services between 1995 – 2015. She returns to MAB from her most recent post as Director of Acquired Brain Injury Waivers for the Department of Developmental Service’s Metro Region. Heller holds a master’s in Human Services Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.