About the Conference
Each year, the MCN Annual Conference convenes one of the largest gatherings of nonprofit professionals in the state. The day-long event includes an engaging keynote session, a wide selection of workshops and expert roundtables, networking opportunities, and the presentation of our Lifetime Achievement Awards.
2025 Event
The 2025 Conference, titled “Stronger Together” took place at the DCU Center in Worcester on October 22. In a time of unprecedented challenges and change, it is important for nonprofits to come together. The 2025 Conference provided nonprofits with great opportunities to find strength through unity, connectivity, and learning.
Keynote Speaker
Attorney General Andrea Campbell
Commonwealth of MassachusettsAttorney General Andrea Campbell was a featured speaker at the 2025 Conference. She outlined the work her office is doing to help nonprofits in a changing and evolving landscape.
From the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: On January 18, 2023, Andrea Joy Campbell was sworn in to be the 45th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, becoming the first woman of color to win statewide office in Massachusetts. She, along with her incredible team, are committed to ensuring their work is responsive to the needs of residents and businesses. They pledge to build economic prosperity for all residents, prioritize the mental health and well-being of children, and break cycles of poverty, incarceration and mediocrity while ensuring that people across the state have access to the AG’s Office regardless of their zip code, language or ability.
Keynote Panel
The Conference keynote panel, titled “Rising with Resilience“, covered the ways in which nonprofits are responding to the immense new challenges presented this year.
Wyona Lynch-McWhite
Executive Director, Social Innovation Forum- Moderator
- Greater Boston
Wyona Lynch-McWhite (she/her/hers) joined the Social Innovation Forum in January 2024 as the organization’s Executive Director – only the second person to hold this role in SIF’s history. An experienced nonprofit executive, management consultant, and community advocate, she previously worked as Senior Vice President at Arts Consulting Group (ACG) leading their Leadership Transition and IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Success) practice areas. Prior to joining ACG she was the Executive Director of two Massachusetts museums: Fruitlands Museum (Harvard, MA) and Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton, MA).
Peter Dunn
President & CEO, Greater Worcester Community Foundation- Panelist
- Central Massachusetts
Pete Dunn has supported the growth and impact of the philanthropic sector for more than 30 years. He joined the Greater Worcester Community Foundation as President/CEO in 2023 after serving as CEO of the Central New York Community Foundation in Syracuse from 2008 to 2023. He previously served as Chief Development Officer for the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles, and provided community foundation legal resources at the Council on Foundations in Washington, DC. Pete is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University at Buffalo School of Law.
Shavel'le Olivier
Executive Director, Mattapan Food & Fitness Coalition- Panelist
- Greater Boston
As an advocate for positive change, Shavel’le creates and implements visions that strengthen communities for the better. Shavel’le is deeply committed to serving the communities she lives, works, and travels in. Her passions are educating and motivating young leaders, uplifting community voices, and driving awareness to a people-centered approach to transportation. A successful day for her is when she can use her resourcefulness and creativity to make a genuine difference for a single individual, a community, or an organization.
Elka Sachs
Co-Managing Partner, Krokidas & Bluestein LLP- Panelist
- Greater Boston
Elka Sachs heads Krokidas & Bluestein’s Nonprofit and Education practice areas, representing a broad spectrum of nonprofit and public entities, including health and human service providers, charter schools and other educational institutions, and financial institutions which lend to nonprofits and public entities. She creates appropriate organizational structures for clients, and advises them on tax planning and tax-exemption compliance. She negotiates and implements joint ventures, other corporate affiliations, and asset purchases and sales, and assists clients with their employment and executive compensation arrangements.
Workshops and Expert Roundtables
The MCN team received over 140 outstanding proposal submissions from a diverse group of experienced professionals. Click here to view the 2025 list of workshops, as well as expert roundtables, where presenters share their expertise in an interactive small-group format.
Lifetime Achievement Awards
As part of the Annual Conference, MCN presents Lifetime Achievement Awards to individuals who have rendered outstanding service to Massachusetts nonprofits and the people they serve. This ceremony is always a highlight of our event.
We were honored to recognize our 2025 award recipients: Janis Martinson, Executive Director of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, and Clark Ziegler, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.
Janis Martinson
Executive Director, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center- Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
- Great Barrington, MA
Janis Martinson is Executive Director of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, stewarding a historic-register theater that brings national headliners to its small town. In addition to expanding programming and breaking records for sold-out shows, a hallmark of her leadership has been community collaboration, working with local social service agencies to bring Spanish-language speakers and people living with disabilities to the theater, advocating for fair compensation in the sector through the Pay Equity Coalition of Berkshire & Columbia Counties, and bringing the Berkshire Opera Festival in residence as long-term partner. This year, the Mahaiwe launches a second venue, expanding the capacity for presenting community events, emerging artists, and a wider range of genres.
Before joining the Mahaiwe, Martinson was VP of Advancement at Lesley University, having previously served in leadership fundraising positions in independent schools and performing arts organizations, completing capital campaigns, and raising over $100 million over those years. She has a BA in English from Princeton University and an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass-Amherst. She was a founding member and past president of the Berkshire County Development Alliance, and her past board service includes Berkshire South Regional Community Center, Town of Egremont Planning Board, Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, and National Coalition of Girls Schools.
Clark Ziegler
Executive Director, Massachusetts Housing Partnership- Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
- Boston, MA
Clark Ziegler is Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a quasi-public state agency that finances affordable rental housing, provides mortgage financing for first-time home buyers, provides technical assistance for housing and neighborhood development, and is a major contributor to state housing policy. He has been with MHP since its inception in 1985 and has been chief executive since 1990. During his tenure MHP has delivered financing or technical assistance in nearly every city and town in the Commonwealth, including financing for more than 33,500 affordable rental housing units and more than 25,700 affordable homes for low-income first-time buyers. In total MHP has delivered $6.5 billion in below-market financing either directly or through participating banks.
Between 1976 and 1981, Clark was in Washington, DC as an LBJ Intern, legislative assistant and then administrative assistant (chief of staff) to Massachusetts Congressman Robert Drinan, where he specialized in energy, environmental, budget and tax policy. From 1983 to 1985 he was Deputy Director of Development and Public Affairs at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Between 1976 and 1981, Clark was in Washington, DC as an LBJ Intern, legislative assistant and then administrative assistant (chief of staff) to Massachusetts Congressman Robert Drinan, where he specialized in energy, environmental, budget and tax policy. From 1983 to 1985 he was Deputy Director of Development and Public Affairs at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Clark serves as a governor’s appointee on the board of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, which provides financing and technical assistance to community-based nonprofits across Massachusetts. Additionally, he chairs the board of the Housing Partnership Fund, a federally certified community development financial institution and a lending affiliate of the Housing Partnership Network, an organization that brings together the nation’s leading housing and community development nonprofits.
See Photos and Videos From Last Year's Event
