Our Team

Craig Norberg-Bohm - Operations and Program Manager

Craig Norberg-Bohm, is a senior member of our field, starting off in 1977, when he first attended the 3rd National Conference on Men and Masculinity. Life changed. And Craig has been an inventor, mentor and leader in our field ever since. Craig recently retired from 15 years working with Jane Doe Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. where he was founder and past director of Jane Doe Inc.’s Massachusetts White Ribbon Day Campaign. In 1978, Craig was one of the founders of RAVEN (Rape and Violence End Now) in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the earliest men's centers in the U.S. established to engage men to end men's violence against women. Craig is a founder and past co-chairperson for the North American MenEngage Network, a chapter of The Global MenEngage Alliance.

Steven Botkin, Senior Trainer

Steven Botkin founded the Men’s Resource Center of Western Massachusetts in 1982 and received his doctoral degree in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts several years later. He guided the MRC from a grass-roots group of volunteers into a successful non-profit community-based organization, whose programs became a model for men’s organizing in communities around the world. In 2004 Steven founded Men’s Resources International to support the development of masculinity awareness and men’s engagement as allies and partners with women within a global network.

Since then, Dr. Steven Botkin has been instrumental in the formation of many local, national and global men’s groups, organizations and networks, including the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, the Congo Men’s Network and the MenEngage Network. He has developed a toolkit for organizing “Masculinity Reflection Groups” for men and women with CARE International in Mali and Niger, a Partnership Model for women and men in family and community peace building in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, a Healthy Manhood curriculum for the YMCA in the United States, a National Action Plan for engaging men and boys in domestic violence prevention and gender equality for UN Women in Albania, and a Change-Maker Training curriculum for engaging men and women as community change agents for violence prevention and gender equality for Concern Liberia and CARE Myanmar. Consultations to other organizations include International Planned Parenthood Federation, Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, RutgersWPF, the YWCA and the Women's Peacemakers Program. Steven currently serves on the Steering Committee of the North American MenEngage Network and the Board of Safe Passage (his local domestic violence organization).

James Arana, Senior Trainer

James Arana is a social worker, facilitator, mediator, and community organizer with 35 years experience working with people of all ages and diverse cultural background. James inspires and challenges individuals, youth programs, community organizations, and international NGO's to strengthen their work in transforming masculinity, domestic violence prevention, gender equality, organizational visioning and program development, and cultural competence.

As a MERGE Senior Trainer, James supports the development of men’s initiatives to reduce gender-based violence and promote a healthy, compassionate, and responsible model of masculinity. James facilitates a consciousness-raising process, using a popular education methodology, to assess and analyze the privileges and challenges of traditional masculinity with communities all around the world. James served as the Co-Founder and Associate Director of the former Men’s Resources International (MRI), where he worked with organizations such as CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, the YMCA and the Women’s Peacemakers Program in Zambia, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger.

As director of the Dragon’s Den School Of Martial Arts, James Arana, 4^th Degree Blackbelt, has been mentoring youth and adults through the martial arts since 1976.

Megan Dowd Lambert, Guest Speaker, Author and Children's Literature Consultant.

Megan earned her MA in Children's Literature at Simmons College, where she is now a Senior Lecturer in Children's Literature. She is the author of Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking About What They See, which introduces the Whole Book Approach to storytime, a model developed in association with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. In 2009 she was named a Literacy Champion by Mass Literacy, and she has served on the 2009 Geisel, 2011 Caldecott, and the 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Committees

Thomas. Weiner - Senior Trainer

Tom Weiner retired 7 years ago from teaching after 40 years at the Smith College Campus School in Northampton, MA. He has taught grades 3-12 over his career including 19 summers teaching high school students in an Upward Bound program at the University of Connecticut and 15 summers teaching Smith-Northampton Summer School. Throughout his career he has been a mentor of student teachers. He has also been a parent educator. He has written 3 non-fiction books, CALLED TO SERVE: Stories of Men and Women Confronted by the Vietnam War Draft (adapted into the play entitled “The Draft”), PHOTOGRAPHED LETTERS ON WINGS: How Microfilmed V-Mail Helped Win World War II and CHOSEN FAMILY: Men’s and Women’s Support Groups an Inside Look. His latest book project is entitled, IN DEFIANCE: Little Known Seekers of Racial Justice and Equality Since 1688 and his co-author is Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, African American Studies professor at the University of Massachusetts. Tom is the father of 4 and the grandfather of 4. He is using his retirement to lead “Developing Healthy Boys'' workshops, supervise student teachers, serve on the boards of several social justice organizations, participate in 2 different multi-racial anti-racism groups, join a men’s book group, play the piano, travel and ride his bike. Most recently he co-founded a reparations committee seeking reparative justice for Northampton’s Black citizens.

Keira Durrett, M.Ed. - Senior Trainer

Director, The Williston Northampton Children’s Center

Adjunct Faculty Greenfield Community College

Trainer for Preschool Enrichment Team and independent consultingKeira Durrett has been in working in the field of Early Childhood Education since 1988.  She has worked in a variety of settings with infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Keira got her B.A. from Wheaton College and her M.Ed. from University of Massachusetts.  She is currently the Director at The Williston Northampton Children’s Center where she has been leading since 2000.

John Engel - Consultant (Past Executive Director)

John Engel has supported students, non-profit leaders, teams, organizations, networks and coalitions who serve as important agents of social change, enhancing the lives of individuals, families and communities, for more than 25 years.

John promotes social change by designing and facilitating processes that create a shared sense of history, current reality, desired future and strategic action.

John’s experience includes founding roles for two non-profit organizations, facilitation of the merging of the Men’s Resource Center and Men’s Resources International to create MERGE for Equality, strategic planning for community building and education initiatives, facilitation of leadership trainings for graduate students and corporate leaders, and teaching and advising for graduate student leadership programs at both Prescott College and Naropa University.

John also serves as Director of the Fatherhood Journey with a mission of promoting private and public conversations about fatherhood, through his column, ‘The Fatherhood Journey,’ which appears monthly in the Daily Hampshire Gazette and on his blog at fatherhoodjourney.com.