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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 Piscataway Native Americans of the land we know today as Marland.

Noreen Begley, Treasurer

Kelly Gleason, Secretary

Kelly is a web design and marketing professional. She joined the Heart-to-Heart board in 2021.

Laundette Jones, PhD, MPH, Director

Laundette joined Heart-to-Heart in April 2024 as a board member. She is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) in the Departments of Epidemiology and Public Health & Dept. of Pharmacology and Co-Director of the Program in Health Equity and Population Health. She received her BS in Chemistry from Morgan State University, a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a MPH from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. This unique training and expertise in both the basic biomedical sciences and community and population health guides her transdisciplinary research efforts to address health disparities through understanding the interplay of biological, environmental, and social factors.  Using a participatory research approach, she combines the wisdom of both local communities and academic researchers with the goal of sharing and co-generating knowledge to produce comprehensive, context-specific strategies for eliminating health disparities. Passionate about training the next generation, she also creates novel experiential learning activities that foster social wellbeing, belonging, and connectedness for students/trainees. Dr. Jones’ also plays key leadership roles in many programs to promote the professional development of medical and graduate trainees, including serving as Association Director of the Science Training for Advancing Biomedical Research Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (STAR-PREP), Co-Director of the Social Justice Pre-clerkship elective, and serving as the Health Disparities Longitudinal Content Lead for the UMSOM Renaissance Curriculum Committee. Taken together, her passion, innovation, and energy also translates into acts of service both within her Community Association in Baltimore where she resides and at her multicultural church home where she partners to build bridges to the community.

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.