Maine Women's Policy Center

Board of Directors

Brianna Twofoot, Westbrook, Board Chair  
Brianna is the Senior Director of Organizing and Advocacy for Leadership for Educational Equity, a partner to Teach For America. In her role, she supports Teach For America alumni to become organizers and advocates in the fight to end educational inequity.  Brianna was previously the Field Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine.  Prior to her advocacy roles, Brianna worked in education first as a teacher through Teach For America in the Mississippi Delta and then as a school leader at a charter school in Indianapolis. She holds a bachelor's of political science from Bryn Mawr College and she is a member of the Emerge Maine Class of 2012.

Rebekah Smith, Union, Board Vice Chair

Rebekah is an attorney who has a neutral-focused practice, serving as a hearing officer for the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, an arbitrator for the Maine Labor Relations Board, and a mediator.  She is also a policy fellow at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, where she co-directs a residential political and civic leadership training program for college women.  After graduating from law school, Rebekah clerked for the Maine Supreme Judicial Court as well as the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals, and then served a two-year fellowship as a Skadden Fellow at Maine Equal Justice Partners, where she represented low-income families in legislative and administrative arenas.  She has served on the boards of Maine Initiatives, the Maine Women's Fund, the Maine Law School Alumni Association, and the Union Vose Library Capital Campaign.

Peaches Bass, Augusta, Board Treasurer
Peaches specializes in women in the workforce for the Maine Department of Labor. She is a program specialist for the Maine Jobs Council. Peaches has received several honors and awards, including the Presidential Award from the Maine Lesbian-Gay Political Alliance, the Mabel Sine Wadsworth Women's Health Achievement Award, and a Social Landscape Artist Award from Maine Initiatives. She has served on the Maine Women's Lobby and Maine Women's Policy Center Boards since 2007, including stints as the Secretary and Vice-Chair. Peaches was born and raised in Chicago, where she was first introduced to feminism and women’s reproductive rights in the late 60s and early 70s.  She worked for a feminist health clinic in Chicago, and after moving to Maine, she worked for MidCoast Family Planning for seven years.  In 1984, Peaches founded and coordinated the Lesbian Health Project at the Mabel Wadsworth Center and later served as the Executive Director of the Maine AIDS Alliance for eight years, before taking a brief leave of absence from Maine to work as a development coordinator for the Larimer County TANF Program in Fort Collins Colorado.

Karla Black, Portland, Board Secretary
Karla is General Counsel at the Department of Administrative and Financial Services.  She was previously Deputy Legal Counsel and then Legal Counsel for Governor Baldacci.  After law school, Karla served two terms as a clerk for the New Hampshire Superior Court, where she was appointed Chief Clerk in her second year.  She is a graduate of the University of Maine and the University of Maine School of Law.

Leah Coplon, Portland

Elizabeth Johns, Orono  

Elizabeth has a longstanding interest in older women's economic security and in social welfare policy. Currently she is involved in a local campaign to protect and strengthen Social Security. Elizabeth organizes and directs many outreach opportunities in the Orono/Bangor area. She is a Ph.D. candidate in gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Sheila Nelson, Topsham

Sheila is the Director of the Coordinated School Health Programs with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.  She is a graduate of Smith College and she holds a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan. 

Vivian Mikhail, Topsham
Vivian Mikhail (2010-2013).  Vivian is a Washington, D.C. native who has called Maine home since 2003.  She completed her undergraduate studies at George Washington University, and earned her JD at Catholic University.  After law school, Vivian litigated employment, domestic relations and commercial law cases.  Her legal career since then has included consulting and publishing work, and now most recently serving the State of Maine as the Assistant Attorney General for Tobacco Enforcement.  Vivian also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Maine Hands & Voices, the state chapter of a national non-profit that works to support and advocate for families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She lives in Topsham with her husband, Peter Rosenberg, and daughter, Nadia.

Jill Rosenthal, Portland
Jill is a Program Director at the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), where she directs projects that focus on health systems performance, quality and patient safety, and child health and development. She provides policy analysis and technical assistance to states on these and other issues, including health promotion/disease prevention and health disparities. She currently directs the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) III program. Jill Rosenthal joined NASHP in 2000 after moving to Maine from West Virginia where she served as program manager in that state’s Center for Rural Health Development. Previously, she worked as a field director for the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health’s Tobacco Control Program. Jill is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colgate University, and holds an MPH from the University of North Carolina.

Shondra Robbins, Harpswell