In the more than thirty-six years of the Center's existence, we have grown from 5 to a group of almost 20 and then consolidated to a core of 10 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.

William Griffin, CFX Senior Project Associate, Education for Justice, a Xaverian Brother, joined the Center of Concern in February of 2008. Brother Bill spent the past three years as a missionary teaching in Kenya, East Africa and from 1993 till 2002 serving as Assistant Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. coordinating services and collaborative efforts among the 17 secondary schools, directing school leadership programs at The Catholic University of America, and helping formulate school policy. Prior to his Archdiocesan service, Brother Bill served for two years as Associate Director of the Christian Brothers Spiritual Center, Adamstown, MD, and as dean at Mt. St. Joseph College High School in Baltimore, MD. Brother was part of the team which initiated service learning projects in the Xaverian Brothers schools in Brooklyn, New York, in 1973 and in Baltimore in 1978. His academic background includes two years of study of the science of formative & foundational spirituality in 2002-2004, a certificate of theological studies from the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkley, CA, MAT in English from St. Mary's University, Winona, MN and a a BA degree from The Catholic University of America.

Ecology & Development Project

Theresa Polk (Tpolk@coc.org), Associate, Ecology & Development Project
Theresa Polk joined the Center of Concern in April 2008. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Carleton College in Northfield, MN. After completing her degree, Theresa taught for several years in a Head Start preschool program in Seattle serving primarily migrant children and families. Having studied abroad in Guatemala while at Carleton, Theresa returned in 2005 to accompany survivors of the civil war who are now seeking justice through legal channels for the genocide that took place. Prior to joining the Center of Concern, she worked with the Missionary Society of St. Columban in their Washington-based advocacy office on issues including economic justice, international migration, and ecological concerns.

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.

Abiosseh Davis (Adavis@coc.org), Project Associate
Abiosseh Davis serves as Project Associate for the Global Women's Project at the Center of Concern. She joined the Center in July of 2007 and will be conducting research on and advocating around issues of gender and international trade policy. Abiosseh recently received an M.A. in Gender and Development studies from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton, U.K. She holds a B.S. in International Studies from Georgetown University, where she focused on Trans-state Actors and African Studies. Prior to joining the Center of Concern, Abiosseh worked as an executive assistant to the Director of the Business Relations Group at the Department of Labor and as a Program Associate in the Africa/Western Hemisphere Unit at the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). As a native of The Gambia and having spent a year abroad studying in Dakar, Senegal, Abiosseh has a strong interest in the gendered impacts of trade liberalization and international trade policy on the African continent.

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.

Engaging Faith

Ed DeBerri (cflcenter@charterinternet.com), Adjunct Associate, Catholic Social Teaching
Ed co-authored Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret while working with the Center as an intern in 1984. He rejoined the Center to work on the 4th edition of that best seller. Ed has worked for the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Health, directed the San Francisco Council on Homelessness, given testimony on welfare reform, and was the founding director of the W.A.G.E. (Working to Achieve Gainful Employment) Center as well as working in other homelessness initiatives. Ed has served as assistant editor with National Jesuit News and as a chaplain for Hospice in upstate New York, where he also coordinated spirituality programs for the Diocese of Albany. Ed has a B.A. from Georgetown, a Masters of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a M.A. and Ph.L in philosophy from Gonzaga University.

Bob Stewart (bstewart@coc.org), Volunteer
Bob Stewart is an Ignatian Volunteer at the Center of Concern. He was a member and chairperson of the Justice and Peace Commission for the Diocese of Belleville, IL in the 1980s. He worked 10 years for the United Mine Workers of America Health and Retirement Funds, and recently retired as the director of retirement programs for one of the Fortune 100 companies, after 29 years of service with the company. He and his wife Charlene are the parents of four children, the grandparents of seven. They are members of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown (Washington, DC), where he serves on the stewardship committee.

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.

Administration

Maureen A. Herman (Mherman@coc.org), Chief Operating Officer
Maureen A. Herman came to the Center of Concern in July of 2008 as the Chief Operating Officer. Maureen has over 15 years of experience in organizational management, growth and change. Prior to her work at the Center of Concern, she founded and led the non-profit organization ProJOVEN (ForYOUTH) in order to pioneer the application of alternative measures to incarceration for youth in conflict with the law in Paraguay as well as educate community members about the practice of restorative justice. Maureen's dedication to promoting social justice was cemented during her service as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, where she worked with the urban youth development project from 1996-1998. She has extensive experience in fundraising, program development, capacity-building and strategic planning for non-profits. Maureen received a Bachelor’s degree from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and she earned a joint Master’s degree in Communications and International Relations from Boston University.

Stephanie Heishman (Sheishman@coc.org), Director of Development
Stephanie Heishman joined the Center of Concern in January 2008 as Director of Development. She has more than six years of development experience, working in an association and in non-profits. Her former posts ranged from education to healthcare, with Silver Marketing (direct mail and client relations), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) (membership acquisition and retention, tradeshow and subscription marketing), and The Center for Education Reform (CER). At CER she began the development office and served as associate director. She oversaw the Center's fundraising and donor management--from major gifts to foundation grants. Stephanie is from the town in Iowa that Maytag built and knows from her own family's experience the problems that come with corporate mergers, outsourcing and loss of healthcare coverage due to globalization. She attended Luther College (Decorah, IA), and has a Bachelor's degree in Communication with minors in English and Scandinavian Studies. Stephanie is also a member of the Direct Marketing Association of Washington's (DMAW) board of directors.

 

Ana Escobar (aescobar@coc.org), Administrative Specialist
Ana joined the Center of Concern in September 2008 as the Administrative Specialist. Ana has over 7 years experience in non-profit operations and is uniquely skilled in international activities. Prior to joining the Center of Concern, she managed the membership and finance operations for a non-profit medical society dedicated to preventing and treating obesity and improving the lives of those affected. Ana’s outstanding customer service, organizational and developmental skills-as well as her Spanish fluency-are fully utilized in her role as administrative specialist. In her free time, Ana enjoys drawing and painting portraits.