GLAD is thrilled to announce the appointment of two new board members: Ray Cheng and Rev. Irene Monroe. Cheng and Monroe have each served the LGBTQ community in and outside of Boston for many years. Cheng brings to the Board robust experience in the area of financial management, while Monroe brings an abundance of experience in communication and intersectional public ministry.

“We are excited to welcome our new board members that bring such varied professional backgrounds and passion for LGBTQ equality, and racial and economic justice,” said Executive Director Janson Wu. “Irene and Ray will further deepen the Board’s skillset, and provide insight into the issues GLAD will face in the coming months.”

Ray Cheng is a Senior Manager at Deloitte Tax, LLP and assists clients with state and local tax matters. He earned his Bachelors in Business Administration and his Masters in Professional Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin, and is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts and Texas. The son of immigrants from Hong Kong, Ray grew up in Texas and lives in Boston with his husband Jeff and their three children adopted through foster care. Ray is passionate about social and racial justice that directly and indirectly impacts the LGBTQ community. He has served on the boards of SMART Team and COLAGE and currently serves on the Executive Board of Deloitte’s LGBTQ employee resource group and as a Board Advisor of COLAGE.

Rev. Irene Monroe can be heard on the podcast and standing Boston Public Radio segment ALL REV’D UP on WGBH 89.7 FM. Monroe is the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and History UnErased. Her syndicated religion columns appear in Bay Windows, Cambridge Chronicle, Dig Boston, Curve, and in several city papers across the U.S., the U.K, and Canada. Monroe’s anti-oppression activist public ministry highlights how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, classism, homo/transphobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and more. She is a founder and now member emeritus of several national LGBTQ+ black and religious organizations.

 

GLAD’s full list of board members can be found here.