BUILD Boston

Angela Stokes joins BUILD with varied non-profit experience across education, mentoring and corporate engagement. She is also a proponent of National Service, having served two years in AmeriCorps, solidifying her desire to give back to the community. Moving to Boston over a decade ago, Angela hoped to connect better to the community by becoming a mentor and pursued being a Big Sister. This experience has now helped her call Boston home. She is excited to join the BUILD team to continue connecting with students, maximizing their potential and engaging awesome mentors to do so too. In her spare time, Angela enjoys music, cooking and exploring parks with her toddler.

Bethany Thomas is the Executive Operations Manager of BUILD Boston. Before coming to BUILD she worked as the Director of Sales of Taste Buds Kitchen which helped her strengthen the multi-tasking, calendar organizing, and team-leading skills she now brings to BUILD. Although she has over 10+ years of volunteer experience, working for BUILD Boston fulfills her lifelong dream of working professionally in the Nonprofit world. Bethany has a B.A in both Journalism and Philosophy from The University of Massachusetts Amherst. She enjoys spending time with her loved ones, traveling the world, and hiking with her rescue pup, Moose.

“I BUILD because I know firsthand the powerful effect the right help can make for under-resourced youth. I believe in the ability of one single, caring person to help change the course of multiple lives.”

Betsy Neptune comes to BUILD with over 15 years of experience in community economic development in Latin America and the U.S. She is passionate about creating a world in which everyone can have a job that they love and one through which they can grow and develop in order to have a positive impact. In her most recent role as the Chief of Economic Development for the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, she led economic recovery and resilience efforts for 101 cities and towns in Greater Boston. During her tenure, she expanded the work of the team beyond traditional economic development efforts, to include workforce development, digital access, and other strategies to advance wealth creation with a focus on reducing the racial wealth gap. Over the past year, her team played a key role in COVID response and recovery efforts throughout the Greater Boston region.

Prior to that role, she led the Small Business Technical Assistance program for the City of Boston, after serving as the Executive Director of Egleston Square Main Street, an organization in Jamaica Plain/Roxbury whose mission is to support small businesses. This work was shaped by her experiences working in community economic development for several years in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.

Betsy has a heart for teaching, coaching, and entrepreneurship, so BUILD is a perfect fit. She has taught high school and graduate-level classes and also coaches existing and emerging entrepreneurs through her coaching business. She is a graduate of Trinity College with a degree in Anthropology and has certificates in Nonprofit Management and Corporate Social Responsibility. She received her MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and lives in Boston.

Before joining BUILD, Emily worked as a Donor Relations Coordinator at Big Sister Association, where she managed their Young Professional Board and supported the VP of Development and CEO with individual donors. Before development, she was a recruitment specialist at Big Sister, building a pipeline of volunteers through corporate and community events. She graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Communications and has returned there part time to pursue her Master’s in Nonprofit Management.

“I BUILD because I believe in the transformative power of BUILD’s program. Not only do we build a space for students to learn real-life skills, we build a space where their ideas are heard, valued, celebrated, and where it’s okay to fail. I am an advocate for mentoring, opportunities, and access for all youth, and I have seen the difference our program can have in a student’s confidence and competence.”

John Morytko joins BUILD with a diverse background in the nonprofit industry. Previously he has operated in roles that include volunteer management, grant writing, and even program implementation in Ghana for Pencils of Promise. Most recently, John worked with Citizen Schools to raise funds around the country for programs focused on STEM education and increasing the representation of underserved populations in STEM career fields. John has a BSBA in Entrepreneurship from Xavier University, as well as his Masters in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University. John is excited to join BUILD and work to provide students with new educational opportunities and help them find the same passion for entrepreneurship that sparked his career.

In his free time, John is an advocate for educational nonprofit work across the globe. He serves as the UN youth representative for Caring for Cambodia and is always planning his next international trip. When not working or volunteering, he can be found cooking, at a baseball game, or with his family exploring New England.

Len joins the BUILD Boston team with nine years of experience in education and youth development work. He has most recently worked at the Pingree School outside of Boston, as the Dean of Students for six years. In addition to his role overseeing student life, Len has taught social studies and coached basketball at Pingree. He also serves as a workshop presenter and conference facilitator on the topics of social justice in education and student motivation. He offers professional development webinars for educators in school districts across the state through the Massachusetts Partnership for Youth and works alongside a diverse group of educators from around the country to deliver social justice curricula for high schoolers at the annual NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference.

As a volunteer, Len supports nonprofit organizations around Greater Boston, including serving on the board of directors of Aaron’s Presents, a service-learning program for kids in under-resourced communities on the north shore. His joy in working with young people was sparked after college, while playing pro basketball overseas and coaching local youth teams. Whether it’s on the court, in the classroom, or in life, Len is excited by the process of experiential learning and believes wholeheartedly in the power of a growth mindset. He earned a B.A. in Sociology from Amherst College and an M.Ed. in K-12 Learning and Instruction from Northeastern University.

Shannon Hayes joins the BUILD Boston team with years of experience in youth development and K-12 education in Boston. As former Interim Executive Director of Expanded Learning Opportunities & Partnerships and Director of Expanded Learning Opportunities at Boston Public Schools, Shannon worked with community-based organizations and school leaders to plan and execute summer and vacation week programs across the city that offered students academic support and enrichment opportunities. Prior to that, she was the Afterschool & Summer Learning Program Manager at Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), overseeing the implementation of arts-integrated, experiential learning programs for English Learners in Boston’s South End.

Shannon is excited to join the team at BUILD Boston to support and develop strong school partnerships and high quality teacher and volunteer training for our school partners in Boston. Shannon is a licensed educator and holds a master’s degree in Elementary Education and Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University and a bachelor’s in Critical Social Thought from Mount Holyoke College. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, yoga and cooking, and is currently learning ASL.