Leadership

Heart-to-Heart

Our team works together to bring programming to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

Nancy Samya, Co-President

Nancy is the assistant director of strategic engagement in University Advancement at Boston College.  In this role she supports the Board of Regents and the development of programs and events for high-level donor and volunteer engagement opportunities.  She has held various roles within the University for over forty years.  She joined Heart-to-Heart in March 2021 and serves as the board secretary.

Nancy earned a BA in English and MAT in secondary education at Boston College, and is now working toward a master’s degree in social work.  For many years she served on the board of the Dedham Food Pantry, has volunteered for several local organizations and events, and participated in the Pan-Mass Challenge.  She enjoys running (albeit very slowly), biking, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Amy Echeverria, Co-President

Amy joined Heart-to-Heart in March 2024 as a member of the Board of Directors. She currently serves as Co-Present. Amy has led national and international faith-based and nonprofit organizations, networks and movements for more than 25 years. She is passionate about social, environmental, and nonviolent transformation through dialogue, advocacy, and cross-cultural collaboration. Her work includes Co-coordinator of Vatican Ecology Taskforce, Co-Founder of the Multifaith Coalition for Biodiversity at the United Nations, and Guest Lecturer for the Pontifical Universities Joint Ecology Diploma. Amy is certified in a process-approach to
organizational leadership known as Theory U from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She is a Spiritual Director and holds a M.A. in Spirituality and Theology from the Oblate School of Theology.

Amy honors the unceded territory of the Piscataway Native Americans, the land we know today as Maryland.

Noreen Begley, Treasurer

After ten years in direct service in the area of addiction and recovery, Noreen became an administrator and organizational leader. First working with nonprofit recovery centers, Noreen has for more than fifteen years been working for the Veterans Administration. She now serves as the Privacy Officer with the VA Boston Healthcare System. Noreen joined the Board in 2019.

Deborah Diggs, Director

Deborah has been involved with Heart-to-Heart for over 10 years, first as a student, then in several leadership roles, including Operations Manager, Executive Director, and Director of Reentry and Reintegration. She has now joined our Board of Directors.

Steve Tumolo, Executive Director

Steve is an educator who specializes in accompanying learners through transitional and transformational moments of their lives. His unique approach brings together Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, Christian faith and the body’s natural capacity for healing. He is Somatic Experiencing

Practitioner, T’ai Chi Chih instructor, and certified trainer candidate with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. Steve has a master’s degree in theology from the Maryknoll School of Theology and is a PhD candidate in leadership at Gonzaga University.

Steve brings his healing presence to people incarcerated in jails and prisons, trauma survivors, students, faith communities, businesses and people in recovery. Through his leadership the nonprofits Comienzos and Heart-to-Heart emerged and grew.

Steve’s work with incarcerated men and women has been featured in NBC News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and New Jersey Monthly. He is the recipient of the Elizabeth Ann Bogert Memorial Award for the Study and Practice of Christian Mysticism, an OPUS Vision Award from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Environmental Achievement Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. His work in correctional facilities has been commended by the State of New Jersey Legislature.

Steve is committed to fostering a culture of relationship. This is a world, envisioned by many of us, in which we experience our interconnectedness with all of life and the sacredness of each moment.