Meet Our Board of Directors
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Patricia Levitt
Chair Pat LevittBoard Chair Pat Levitt retired as an elementary educator with 29 years of service in the Newburyport School Department. She was a recipient of the Edward G. Molin Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020. Pat also served as the President of the Newburyport Teachers Association for several years. Pat earned a bachelor's degree with honors in Psychology from City College (CUNY) and a Master of Education degree from Cambridge College. She holds certification in Interest-based Negotiations from the Program on Negotiations at Harvard Law School. She has served on numerous non-profit community boards, including as Teacher Representative of the Newburyport Education Foundation, and Board President of both the YWCA Greater Newburyport, and Community Service of Newburyport. Originally from Wisconsin with a 13-year stop in New York City, Pat has five adult children scattered across the country and now lives in Newburyport. |
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Bradford W. Rich
Vice Chair Brad RichBoard Vice Chair Brad Rich served for more than 40 years in the property and casualty insurance industry including multiple assignments both as a CEO and as a General Counsel. For nearly a decade while Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Texas-based USAA, he led a legal department of more than 350 lawyers. His experience includes hundreds of Board and Board Committee meetings. Brad is an honors graduate of both Denison University and The George Washington University Law School. He is a member of the Massachusetts bar and is admitted to practice in a number of other states. His previous non-profit Board experience includes The Girl Scouts of South Texas and the YMCA of Southern Arizona. In 2021, Brad relocated from Tucson and now lives in Haverhill with his daughter. His son, daughter-in-law and three grandsons have lived in West Newbury for many years. |
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Julio Fuentes
Treasurer Julio FuentesTreasurer Julio Fuentes brings over 30 years of real estate, small business stewardship, and investing experience to ONT's Board of Directors. He is the founder of Exordium Capital, LLC and Waebak, LLC. He was a co-founder of Alternative Therapies Group. He has also served as an investment analyst and portfolio manager for global institutional money managers including Boston based State Street Global Advisors and Columbia Management. Julio began his career in investment research and management following his graduation from Bryant College in 1995. He worked first for Telekrus USA as a Senior Research Analyst, and then moved to Waltham, MA, to build specialized asset-backed securities platforms for Lewtan Technologies, where he served as the project's lead securities analyst. In 2001, Julio received his MBA from Boston College, specializing in Investments and Real Estate. Shortly after, he joined State Street Global Advisors where he executed portfolio management responsibilities for $2.6B of assets under management, including performing investment analysis on all real estate related investment opportunities. He was then recruited by Columbia Management to serve as a Senior Equity Portfolio Manager on Columbia's Real Estate Fund. Conducting both bottom-up and top-down research on targeted real estate companies, Julio was responsible for performing analysis and providing investment recommendations to senior executive team members. Julio is a member of the CFA Institute and the Boston Security Analysts Society. He has more than 20 years of nonprofit experience in various capacities. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he lives in Newburyport, MA, with his wife, Teresa, and their two daughters, Penelope and Camila. |
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Alease Hunt
Secretary Alease HuntBoard Secretary Alease Hunt is a dedicated board member who brings extensive expertise in content creation and community engagement to the team. Alease serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Institution for Savings. Her role involves developing impactful marketing content and managing key events that connect the bank with the community. She previously served as a dedicated board member for both the Groveland Recreation Committee and the Pentucket Athletic Association. |
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Michael Wendt
Board Member Mike WendtBoard Member Michael Wendt has served for over 45 years in Education and Human Resources including over 25 years of experience in Organizational Behavior, Leadership/Management Development and Human Resource Management both domestically and internationally. He was recognized as the Annual & Quarterly Recipient of the Excalibur Award for outstanding achievement in leadership and organizational development at Textron Systems, a 4,500 employee government contractor in the Engineering and Scientific area. Michael also owned a Business & Personal Coaching practice focusing in the areas of Leadership, Communication, Strategy, Performance & Success. He served as a teacher/coach for over 10 years including work in Special Education. Michael continues to coach two sports following his retirement from teaching. Michael is an honors graduate of Salem State College with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Education, along with an MBA in Human Resource Management & Employee Relations from Rivier College. He holds a certification from Resource Associates Coaching Academy and is a Certified Facilitator in the use of Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups and a Master certified instructor/facilitator for Achieve Global. His previous non-profit Board experience includes the Hudson Chamber of Commerce; Wilmington Family Counseling; Junior Achievement of Southern NH; Mass Amateur Sports Foundation/Bay State Games; Methuen Youth Basketball Association; Methuen West Little League; Methuen Life Teen; and Methuen Afterschool Program. Michael lives in Haverhill with his wife Patti and their youngest daughter. They have four adult children working professionally in the fields of Education, Finance & Sales as well as six grandchildren. |
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Shane Cough
Board Member Shane CoughBoard Member Shane runs sales for Boston-based AI governance start-up Monitaur, a company focused on helping organizations adopt the use of AI responsibly and in compliance with government regulations. He has over two decades of experience in rapid-growth start-up organizations. Shane brings a passion for social and economic justice to the board, along with extensive experience as a strategic leader in organizations undergoing rapid rates of change and growth. Shane lives in Newburyport with his wife Alissa and their two daughters. He chairs the Newburyport Human Rights Commission, a municipal organization appointed by the Mayor of Newburyport as a vanguard for human rights protections and programming in the community. Shane graduated with honors from the University of Maine with a BA in Psychology. |
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Jim Kraus
Board Member Jim KrausBoard Member Jim Kraus is a senior development officer with 45 years of experience as a fundraising professional. He served as Executive Director of Development at the Museum of Science, Boston where he helped formulate and implement the key strategies that drove the institution to complete its first comprehensive capital campaign in its 185-year existence, raising $288 million. Following that effort, Jim negotiated the largest gift in the Museum's history, a $50 million contribution from Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Jim's previous experience includes 10 years as Senior Vice President of Development at North Shore Medical Center (NSMC), Salem, MA, part of the Partners HealthCare System (Boston). During his tenure, Jim formed the NSMC Foundation and successfully completed three capital campaigns. Jim's experience also includes serving as Vice President of Development at the Central Maine Healthcare System (Lewiston, ME) and Director of Development at Saint Michael's College in Vermont. Jim's consulting experience includes resident campaign counsel roles at the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans (Boston), Children's Friend and Family Services (Salem, MA) and Fisher College (Boston). Prior to starting his own fundraising firm (Kraus and Associates), Jim served the Development Guild of Boston for two years as an Interim Resident Consultant and recruiter. He continues to bring deep industry knowledge and an ambitious vision for success to each of his client engagements. His current clients on the North Shore include: Boys and Girls Club of the Lower Merrimack Valley (Salisbury), Our Neighbors Table (Amesbury/Salisbury), Community Services of Newburyport, North Shore Education Consortium (Beverly) and Express Yourself (Beverly). Jim also has worked for the Cummings Foundation (Woburn) the past ten years performing site visits and coaching proposal writing as part of the organization's grant process. |
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Stefanie Tate
Board Member Stefanie TateBoard Member Stefanie Tate has been a college professor for more than 20 years teaching accounting to both undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to teaching, she is an active researcher, publishing papers in the areas of nonprofit financial reporting and audit quality. Prior to teaching, she worked at KPMG auditing governmental and nonprofit organizations. She left as an Audit Manager in the Public Services practice after six years to pursue her PhD. Stefanie earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Wake Forest University and her PhD from Michigan State University. She is a licensed CPA in Virginia. Her previous board experience includes the Northeast Ice Skating Club, serving as Treasurer, and the Dover, NH chapter of the American Red Cross. Stefanie is originally from New York and came to reside in Merrimac in 2007 after living in North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, and New Hampshire. She is the stepmother to three now-adult children and has five grandchildren (and counting!). |
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Edith Onderick-Harvey
Board Member Edith Onderick-HarveyBoard Member Edith Onderick-Harvey is managing partner of NextBridge, an organizational change and talent development consulting company. She is a widely recognized consultant, speaker, and author. Edith and NextBridge partner with clients at key inflection points — strategy shifts, market changes, rapid growth, post M&A — to build the organizations, cultures, and leadership teams they need for what's next. Throughout her career, she has worked in a wide range of industries including energy, tech, life sciences, entertainment, and financial services. She previously served as a Partner in charge of marketing with Bridge Avenue Partners, Senior Consultant with Accenture, and in leadership roles at BankBoston (Bank of America) as well as Fidelity Investments. She is the author of three Harvard Business Review Digital Articles — "Does Your Family Business Encourage Dissent?", "5 Behaviors of Leaders Who Embrace Change" and "5 Ways to Help Your Team Be Open to Change" — as well as the Marshall Goldsmith endorsed book "Getting Real: Strategies for Leadership in Today's Innovation-Hungry, Time-Strapped, Multi-Tasking World of Work." With a reputation for best-in-class, cutting edge solutions, Edith has been quoted in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Human Resource Executive, CNN.com and other media outlets. |
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Mark Brandon
Board Member Mark BrandonBoard Member Mark Brandon is a retired senior corporate executive and entrepreneur. Mark held general management positions with several multinational corporations in the engineered materials and consumer products industries. Later, Mark was owner and President of DMT in Marlborough, MA, a leading US manufacturer of sharpening tools supplied worldwide to consumers, retailers and industry. Mark's many years of municipal government experience include terms as Selectman and Finance Committee Chairman. He was also active as a Boy Scout leader, Deacon in his church and participated as a mentor in Boston University's Partakers program, helping prison inmates to attain their college degrees. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the Central Congregational Church of Newburyport, MA and the Boards of Directors of The Italian Home, Jamaica Plain, MA and Community Service of Newburyport. |
