Board of Directors

Jaime Contois

VT

Jaime worked as a community organizer in NH and VT for over  fifteen years, leading campaigns for living wages, health care reform, affordable housing, labor and LGBTQ rights, and addressing systemic racism. She has worked in NH as Director for Working Families Win, been a campaign organizer for MoveOn.org and EDF Action. 

In VT, Jaime has served on the school board, and helped create and served on the Equity Committee for the Town of Putney.  Jaimeis exploring how we can use non-violence, communication, democratic process, personal empowerment and community practice across political and ideological divisions to restore or create communities that are healthy and just for all of their members.

Joanna Grossman

VT

Joanna Grossman is a digital & political strategist based in Burlington, Vermont where she lives with her husband, daughter, six 6 chickens. She has managed 9 campaigns in Vermont and run national digital organizing operations for progressive PACs over multiple election cycles. She is passionate about leveraging messaging, digital tools, and team-building to help amazing candidates and organizations reach their goals.

Joanna is a graduate of the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, as well as Emerge Vermont and Arena’s national campaign leadership training program.

DANA HACKETT

NH

Dana Hackett joins the board with a wealth of experience as a longtime New Hampshire resident, low income single working parent, and fierce advocate for intersectional justice. In the summer of 2020, Dana was one of the five activists arrested at the New Hampshire State House in protest of the passage of the divisive state budget. She looks forward to stepping into this new role within Rights & Democracy to help further the mission for collective liberation, justice, and equity for all.

MK KILCOYNE

NH

After beating cancer in 2015, MK was heavily impacted by our healthcare system and wanted to see change. They started working for Bernie and then Hillary out of Ohio for the general election. At that time, they got to organize with queer young people and they found the vocabulary to come out. Since then, MK has been dedicated to queer rights and healthcare organizing in New Hampshire.

Mary Osborne

NH

Mary Osborne, residing in the Seacoast region, is a committed community organizer and advocate actively involved with diverse groups, including Mom’s Rising, NAMI NH, and Housing First of Strafford County. Her advocacy extends to representing a delegation of RAD tenants on the Homes Guarantee national campaign. 

Her dedication revolves around championing the rights of those directly impacted by the housing crisis; advocating for improved access to mental health care; promoting disability justice, and fighting for the rights of mothers and caregivers. As a parent of a neurodivergent child, Mary passionately advocates for inclusive special education rights, striving for a more inclusive and supportive educational system for all. 

Mary’s unwavering commitment to social causes is deeply rooted in her personal experiences and her relentless dedication to creating a more equitable and inclusive society.

ED TAYLOR

NH (Co-Chair)

Ed is a South Florida native who has been in the Granite State for several years working to build people power in young and marginalized communities. Ed is fiercely passionate about empowering, educating, and mobilizing marginalized people to redesign the structures that were created to exclude them. Previously, he worked as Organizing Director with the ACLU of NH. Ed graduated from Florida A&M University, a Historically Black College & University, in 2018 with a Political Science and Economics degree.

BARBARA WILSON

VT (Treasurer)

Barb grew up on a small dairy farm in Michigan and graduated with a B.S. in Secondary Education and Mathematics from Michigan State University. She spent 38 years working for a large telecommunications software development company in New Jersey, where she designed, implemented, and deployed engineering support software.  Upon moving to Shoreham in 2008, she started a small fruit farm where she grows berries, peaches, and other fruits to make value added specialty products, such as jam and sorbet.

Barb has been a member of Rights & Democracy since 2016 and was first elected to the RAD C4 board in 2020.  She has been active on many fronts, where those most impacted are often unable to fight back, including litigating on behalf of an elderly neighbor, fighting the expansion of the VT gas pipeline and exposing Vermont Gas’ deceptive marketing practices, advocating for healthcare reform, and fighting to keep rural schools opened.