Dr. Breegi formerly served as director of preclinical veterinary services, Toxikon, Bedford, Mass.; clinical veterinarian and consultant, Charles River Laboratories in Boston and Worcester, Mass.; and associate director, comparative medicine and pharmacology, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Lexington, Mass. 

He holds a degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq, and has completed numerous courses at such institutions as the Massachusetts Institue of Technology, Department of Comparative Medicine, Cambridge, Mass. He has several patents pending. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, as well as a number of other professional medical organizations.

Gail Phillips Bucher – Retired professional after more than 30 years with The Gillette Company, as a cosmetic chemist, corporate quality analyst and technical database administrator. She is currently a trustee with the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She holds a bachelor of science in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and a master of science in pharmacology from Northeastern University. She volunteers with the Harvard Square homeless shelter.
 
Heather L. Feltman (ex-officio, voting) – President and chief executive officer of Lutheran Social Services, leads one of New England’s largest faith-based human service organizations, with 65-plus programs throughout the six states. She has extensive nonprofit executive leadership experience, with a record of success in operational expansion of NGOs, strategic visioning, and fundraising, having raised more than $15 million for the organizations she has led. Prior to assuming the leadership of Lutheran Social Services, Feltman was executive director of Lutheran Disaster Response, a tenure that included her leadership of the national network’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Feltman, a fellow of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, has earned three master’s degrees.  She is a consecrated diaconal minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  She is a member of the board of directors of the Alliance for Children and Families.   

David P. Forsberg – President, Worcester Business Development Corporation, a non-profit economic development organization. He has held several high profile positions including: chief development officer with the Mass. Port Authority; chief development officer for the City of Worcester; secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; regional administrator/federal housing commissioner for HUD. He received a bachelor of arts from Bowdoin College, and a master of urban affairs from Boston University. He served as chair of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, city councilor of the City of Worcester, as well as many other area boards and committees.

Karen L. Gaylin– Karen has been an HR professional for 15 years in the financial services, high tech and healthcare industries. She received a bachelor of arts in economics and art history from Wellesley College. She currently works as an HR Business Partner with Lifeline Systems Company, a division of Philips Electronics NA. She previously served on the LSSNE governing board from 1993 to 2000 and was president of the board from 1997-2000. In addition to serving on the LSSNE board, she is an Overseer of Boston Baroque. Karen has been active as a volunteer/board member for various cultural and social services organizations in Massachusetts, Virginia and California over the past 20 years. She and her husband, David, reside in Concord, MA. 

Ralph F. Gerenz – Gerenz, who has extensive experience in business, strategic planning and systems analysis, sits on the board’s Performance and Quality Improvement Committee. He has served on the governing board of the Greater Nashua (N.H.) Habitat for Humanity. Gerenz received his B.S. from West Point, (Distinguished Graduate), his M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and his M.B.A. from Western New England University. Committed to the mission of LSS and knowledgeable about its programs, Gerenz is eager to present the LSS story to community and church groups.

Barbara L. Giger – A Lutheran member engagement specialist with Thrivent Financial for Lutheran, Giger was formerly the VP for Family Life of New England with the LCMS and the Mission-Ministry Vision Consultant for Lutheran Women’s Missionary League nationally.

Garth H. Greimann – A leader in the Boston business and financial community, Greimann is immediate past chair of the LSS board of directors.  Currently he is the chief administrative officer of Berkshire Partners. Prior to joining Berkshire, he spent 12 years in domestic and international commercial banking, primarily with The First National Bank of Boston. He received a bachelor of arts from Dartmouth College.

Sonja Hegymegi – A retired certified public accountant, Hegymegi received an associate in science of accounting from Bentley University, a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of New Haven, and a master of business administration from the University of Bridgeport. Sonja is a member of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia’s board of trustees and finance committee.

Juliana Badaro Langille, who emigrated from Brazil in 2001, has a background in community organizing. She is the executive director of Community Connections of Brockton, Mass., a not-for-profit that seeks to actively partner with parents, residents, community groups, service agencies, businesses and others who want to strengthen Brockton's families, neighborhoods and community. She also is a consultant for an international anti-drug coalition. She previously worked with families of victims of homicide, survivors of domestic violence and in the substance abuse recovery and prevention field. A former LSS client, Langille lived at the Ruth House, an LSS program in Brockton offering transitional housing for homeless teenage mothers and their children. At Ruth House, she learned to be self-sufficient in her new country, while attending Brockton High School.