In the more than thirty-eight years of the Center's existence, we have grown from 5 to a group of almost 20 and then consolidated to a core of 9 plus an Adjunct Associate, several consultants, volunteers and interns. All together we represent a variety of cultural backgrounds and faith traditions. This strengthens the work of the Center. The following is a list of current staff organized by department. Clicking on the name will jump to the detailed bio and contact information below.

James E. Hug, SJ (Jhug@coc.org), President
Jim Hug came to the Center from the Woodstock Theological Center in 1985 and became Director/President in 1989. He focuses on research and education on issues of faith and economic justice and has lectured and directed workshops throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. He is the editor of the Center's best selling Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret, principal author of Social Revelation: Profound Challenge for Christian Spirituality, published by the Center of Concern, and the editor of Tracing the Spirit: Communities, Social Action, and Theological Reflection, published by Paulist Press. In addition, Jim has written three small books on economic justice: Scripture Sharing on the Bishop's Economic Pastoral and Christian Faith and the U.S. Economy (both from Sheed and Ward), and For All the People (the official summary of the U.S. Bishops' pastoral letter on the economy published by the United States Catholic Conference). He has served as member of the boards of the Religious Task Force on Central America and Mexico, the United States Catholic Mission Association, the Center for Mission Research and Study at Maryknoll and Maryknoll Lay Missioners. Currently he serves on the boards of CIDSE and the International Jesuit Network for Development, and on the Mission and Ethics Advisory Committee of Christus Health System. He has an M.A. in Philosophy from Springhill College, an M.A. in Christian Spirituality from St. Louis University and a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics from the University of Chicago.

Education for Justice

Sr. Katherine Feely, SND (Kfeely@coc.org), Director, Education For Justice Project
Sr. Katherine Feely, SND is a Sister of Notre Dame from Cleveland, Ohio. She joined the Center of Concern staff in the fall of 2006 as a Senior Program Associate. She is directing the Education for Justice Project as well as working with the Engendering Economic and Social Justice Project at the Center. In the early 1990's she served as an intern with the Global Women's Project at the Center of Concern, helping to prepare and take a group of grassroots women from across the U.S. to the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing. She recently completed a Masters Degree in Theology combining joint studies of Catholic Social Teaching and Economics from Boston College. Her background includes work in the field of social justice, advocacy, community organizing, programming, and teaching theology. She is currently consulting for the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) on a global solidarity project.

Jane Deren (Jderen@coc.org), Senior Advisor, Education for Justice
Jane Deren is currently part time with the Center, part time teaching social justice "in the field" at Georgetown Visitation High School. Jane is the author of best-selling Center of Concern workbooks Catholic Social Teaching and Human Rights and Celebrate Jubilee and Justice!, both of which have been cited as important catechetical resources by educators. Jane taught in Catholic schools in Philadelphia before she received her doctorate in 1977 from Temple University, where she also served as a faculty member. While working in Washington DC-based national non-profit organizations, she developed a variety of national popular educational programs for adults during the 1980's. Before joining Center of Concern, Jane was with the University of Maryland, where she taught and directed a state-wide graduate-level program for educators.

Global Women's Project

Kristin Sampson (Ksampson@coc.org), Coordinator, Global Women's Project
Kristin Sampson serves as the Coordinator for the Global Women's Project at the Center of Concern. She is currently the lead researcher in a collaborative study with the Delmarva Community Alliance on the impacts of the U.S. poultry industry in the U.S. and abroad. As chair of the U.S. Gender and Trade Network, Kristin has led community-level consultations on gender, trade and privatization throughout the United States. She has spearheaded women's activism around the Central America Free Trade Agreement and was involved in a project publication on the impacts of NAFTA from a gender perspective. She co-chairs the advocacy committee for the Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment where she has played a key role in organizing events on the Hill and preparing educational materials for use by people of faith. As a young leader in the Global Women's Movement, she is contributing to the critical, transformative change that is needed among U.S. activists today. She received her M.A. from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, where she specialized in International Trade and Development Economics and her B.A. from Eastern University in St. Davids, PA.

Maria Riley, OP (Mriley@coc.org), Senior Advisor, Global Women's Project
Maria Riley, an Adrian Dominican Sister, founded the Global Women's Project at the Center of Concern. She joined the staff in 1979 and has been active in global women's issues since 1975 attending the UN World Conferences on Women in Copenhagen, Nairobi and Beijing. Maria has taken leadership in founding several coalitions of women working to bring women's experience and women's perspectives to macro-economic issues, including Alt-WID (Alternative to Women in Development), Women's Economic Alliance which worked to influence the economic agenda of the Beijing World Conference, and U.S. Women Connect, a U.S. initiative to monitor the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. In the face of growing global economic integration, Maria, working with DAWN Caribbean sponsored a strategic planning seminar on gender and trade which launched the International Gender and Trade Network. She is also a recognized author and public speaker on women's human rights, spirituality, a feminist revision of Catholic Social Thought and other related topics. She is the author of Transforming Feminism , Wisdom Seeks Her Way: Liberating the Power of Women's Spirituality , In God's Image , Women Faithful for the Future and I Am Because We Are . She has a M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature and has taught at Florida State University and Barry University, Miami, Florida. She received the NETWORK "Woman of Justice" award in 1997 and is listed in Who's Who in the East, 23rd edition.

Rethinking Bretton Woods

Aldo Caliari (Acaliari@coc.org), Director, Rethinking Bretton Woods Project
Originally from Argentina, Aldo Caliari has a Master of International Policy and Practice from George Washington University (2007), with a focus on economics and finance. He also holds a Masters Degree from the Washington College of Law, American University, on International Legal Studies (2000), where he was honored with the Outstanding Graduate Award. He earned his first law degree in Argentina, at the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman Law School, in 1997. Before graduating, he represented his University at the II Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court competition, held at the Washington College of Law, American University (Washington DC, 1997), winning several awards. Since 2000 Aldo has been staff at the Center of Concern where he was at first responsible for advocacy and coalition-building activities around the International Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey, Mexico, 2002) and its follow-up, as well as bringing a human rights approach to the work of the Rethinking Bretton Woods Project. Aldo has done considerable writing and public speaking on issues of global economic governance, debt and international financial architecture. In the last few years he has focused on linkages between trade and finance and policy "coherence" between financial and trade Institutions. He routinely acts as a consultant on these topics for international organizations, foundations, media and civil society groups and networks.

Development and Communications

Donald G. Coates (Dcoates@coc.org), Director of Development and Communications

Donald G. Coates joined the Center of Concern in October 2009 as the Director of Development and Communications. Don comes to the Center with more than 19 years of Fund-Development experience with nonprofit organizations. Eight of those years were spent at Catholic Charities USA in Alexandria, VA, where he directed the national service center's Direct Marketing efforts. Prior to joining the the Center, Don oversaw the external funding relations and financial adminstration at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, also in Alexandria, VA. He has a degree in Businuess Administration from Virginia Union University and is a member of both the Direct Marketing Association and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. His volunteer work is as  a member of the Board of Directors for the Woodridge Warriors Youth Organization, a nonprofit community-based youth organization in Washington, DC. 

Administration

Mirian Barrios (mbarrios@coc.org), Finance and Business Manager
Mirian Barrios has an MBA in Business Administration from Aurora University, Aurora, Illinois. Prior to coming to the Center, Mirian was a  staff director at the  Education Organization for United Latin Americans, also known as the Hispanic Senior Center. She also works part-time as the Coordinator of Latino Affairs at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, DC.