Our Staff

Edward M. Lambert, Jr.

Executive Director

Before joining MBAE in January of 2019, Ed served as vice chancellor for university relations at UMass Boston, where he was responsible for government and community relations, corporate relations and communications.

Ed was founding director of the Urban Initiative of UMass Dartmouth, a research center focusing on urban policy and leadership issues. There, he helped organize the state’s Gateway Cities Coalition and assisted in designing and implementing state programs and legislation to support them, and led the Initiative’s work in urban schools assessing practices and serving as the regional satellite of the National Dropout Prevention Center. He also taught Public Policy and Public Management and served as the Chair of the Education Policy Committee of the Kaput Center for STEM Education and Research.

Ed’s record of service also includes seven years as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where, as a member of the Education Committee, he assisted in the creation and passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act. He co-chaired the legislature’s Literacy Caucus in support of increased funding for Adult Basic Education and literacy programs. He also served twelve years as the mayor of Fall River, initiating a comprehensive school building campaign and creating a series of community education summits. He served 22 years on the Fall River School Committee, earning himself the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ed served 8 years as a mentor to at-risk youth in the SMILES Mentoring program. He also served on a national task force for the development of the 21st Century Workforce of the Urban Serving Universities.

He was appointed Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation by Governor Patrick and, earlier in his career, served as the director of social services at Saint Vincent's Home in Fall River. He earned his BA in psychology at UMass Dartmouth and his MEd in counseling at Bridgewater State College.

Tricia Lederer

Director of Communications and Advocacy

Before joining MBAE in 2010, Tricia worked in public relations representing regional and national companies, industry organizations, associations, and nonprofit agencies. At Slowey/McManus Communications, she worked on media relations campaigns for Walmart, a national nonprofit child advocacy organization, and the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association. At The Hubbell Group, she managed strategic communications programs for Merrill Lynch and ISO New England, the independent system operator of the region’s bulk power grid. Tricia was director at BSMG Worldwide (now Weber Shandwick), an international communications consulting firm, working on corporate, crisis and issues management assignments. Before moving to Boston, she worked in communications for Phoenix House Foundation and the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Tricia holds a B.A. in Communications from Fordham University.

James Mikolowsky

Director of Policy

James Mikolowsky is Director of Policy. Before joining MBAE, James served as Director of Higher Education at The Hunt Institute in North Carolina where he partnered with a wide variety of stakeholders across the country to develop education policy strategies that are focused on equity and supported by evidence. Previously, James worked at the Washington, D.C.-based Data Quality Campaign, a leading national voice on education data policy and use, where he advocated for improvements to federal education data policies and highlighted the importance of student data privacy and security. Before that, James was a Legislative Aide for United States Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut where he helped student veterans get a high-quality postsecondary education, ensured that student borrowers had access to reasonable repayment options, and established protections around the use of student data.

Pam O’Donnell

Director of Membership

As Director of Membership, Pam will be responsible for growing and developing MBAE’s membership network to support and engage in the organization’s work to improve educational opportunities and college and career readiness for all students. Before joining MBAE, Pam was the Vice President of Member Experience and Development at IHRSA, The Global Health & Fitness Association focused on advocacy, research, education, events, and programs for health clubs and fitness industry suppliers worldwide. At IHRSA, Pam’s focus was recruitment, engagement, and retention of members as well as program and education development. She also led efforts to develop the curriculum for the IHRSA Institute, an annual executive leadership program, and launched and managed the State Alliance Network created to align the industry to speak with one voice during the pandemic. Pam currently serves on the Alumni Board for Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody and is a Camp Group Guide for Camp Erin Boston, a bereavement camp for children, teens, and their families. Pam received a BS in Marketing from Providence College.

Elizabeth Anderson

Project Manager, Learner Pathway Campaign

Elizabeth Anderson is the Project Manager for MBAE’s Learner Pathway Campaign. Elizabeth will coordinate all aspects of the campaign in order to achieve its mission of creating pathways to post-secondary success for all students. Elizabeth is a recent graduate of Suffolk University where she studied Political Science. During her time at Suffolk, Elizabeth organized BIPOC residents in Boston’s predominately of-color neighborhoods to fight for access to quality jobs with the non-profit Action for Equity. Elizabeth also led a team as a Research Associate for the Alliance for Citizen Engagement, a non-partisan think-tank, producing policy briefs on issues pertaining to human rights and equality in the U.S.

Michelle Harrington

Director of Operations

Before joining MBAE, Michelle served as the Executive and Special Projects Administrator at YW Boston. She also worked at Friends of the Children-Boston serving the roles of Development Director, Deputy Director, Executive Director and Director of Administration and Community Partnerships. She has held leadership roles at Strong Women, Strong Girls, Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses (now College Bound Dorchester), Gate of Heaven and St. Brigid Parishes and Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts. Michelle currently serves on the Patient and Family Advisory Council and the Patient Experience Committee at Tufts Medical Center. She is a member of the Development Committee of Strong Women, Strong Girls. Michelle received a BA in history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.