GLAD welcomes the newest members of its Board of Directors: DEI Expert and Scholar Mark Brimhall-Vargas, Transhealth Northampton CEO Dallas Ducar, and Employment Attorney Beth R. Myers.

“GLAD is thrilled to expand its Board at this time to broaden the diversity of experience and perspective brought to the organization’s fight for justice for LGBTQ+ people, people living with HIV, and everyone in our community facing discrimination,” said Darian Butcher, President of the Board.

Mark Brimhall-Vargas, Ph.D. (he/him/él) is Fenway Health’s first Executive Vice President of Racial Equity and Social Justice. He has over 25 years of experience in change management, organizational development, and training and programming around systemic inequities. Prior to joining Fenway Health, Mark served as Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Brandeis University and as Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Provost at Tufts University. He is a contributing editor to Occupying the Academy: Just How Important Is Diversity Work in Higher Education? He has consulted as a mediator in conflict resolution for the US Institute of Peace in Medellin, Colombia; Yangon, Myanmar; and Ramallah, West Bank. Mark holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Maryland where he worked from 1997 through 2015 in the university’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Dallas Ducar MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC, CNL (she/her/ella) is the Chief Executive Officer of Transhealth Northampton. In addition, Dallas is on faculty at Northeastern University, University of Virginia School of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Nursing, Columbia University, and the MGH Institute for Health Professions. She serves as the Vice-Chair of the Primary Care Alliance, is on the LGBTQI Federal Policy Roundtable, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Healing Our Community Collaborative. She has advised international research groups on best practices, carried out community-based participatory action research programs, and advocates for gender-affirming care nationally. Dallas seeks to revolutionize healthcare, building novel systems to provide holistic, empowering, gender-affirming care.

Beth R. Myers (she/her/hers) is a partner in Burns & Levinson, LLP’s Business Litigation & Employment Group. Beth represents individuals in every aspect of the employment relationship, with a particular concentration on litigation in state and federal court in cases involving discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation, as well as wage and hour laws, contract and common law. Beth highly values her role to affect real change in individual’s lives by advocating on their behalf in situations where they have been mistreated in the workplace due to their gender, age, sexual orientation, race, disability status, etc. As an open lesbian and mother, the causes that GLAD fights for align with Beth’s personal and professional values. She is honored to serve as a member of the board of an organization that does for New England and the country what she tries to accomplish on an individual level.

“To achieve justice for our entire LGBTQ+ community requires hope, resiliency, and a broad scope of experiences and perspectives,” said Executive Director Janson Wu. “As we begin a new year, I am delighted that these passionate individuals who have already achieved so much are willing and ready to join us, our supporters, and allies in the fight for equality for all. Their commitment to serve our larger community as part of GLAD’s Board is truly inspirational.”

Learn more about our new members, and the rest of the Board of Directors here.