About Us
Nonprofit Net promotes a thriving Greater Boston nonprofit community through free expert-led management seminars and networking forums. Our programming supports local nonprofit teams in building expertise and fostering valuable connections.
We understand that most nonprofits have limited budgets and management teams that must wear many hats. By making it easy to connect with each other and with industry experts, they can tap into the knowledge of the broader community and help each other succeed.
Nonprofit Net provides resources for a wide-range of nonprofits in the greater Boston area, with a focus on small to mid-sized organizations.
Our Team
Dennis Boyer
Dennis has played an active role in directing programing and outreach for Nonprofit Net for the last eight years, and currently serves as board president.
A retired development professional, Dennis has over 23 years of experience in senior development roles for both national and international nonprofit organizations. His past lives have also included roles as a public radio broadcaster and an opera singer.
Kedar Chaware
Kedar joined the board of Nonprofit Net in 2020.
A professional in the software industry, Kedar currently serves as a systems architect. His nonprofit experience includes volunteer work with Jersey STEM and Human Health Project.
Laura Cook
Laura is a product management and marketing professional in the software industry. She has served on the board of Nonprofit Net for the last year, assisting with communications.
Laura’s experience serving non-profit organizations also includes communications and development for the Arlington, Cambridge and Somerville chapter of a refugee services group.
Sirarpi Heghinian-Walzer
Sirarpi, has played an active role in directing communications, marketing and
governance committees for Nonprofit Net, currently serves as vice president of the
board.
An artist whose work is in many collections nationally and internationally, Sirarpi has
received awards and exhibited her work in galleries throughout Europe and the United
States. In addition to her role at Nonprofit Net, Sirarpi is currently principal of Consult
and Design.
Her past lives included working as Biomedical System Engineer, designing state of the art pacemakers at Biotroniks, as project design engineer of Infrared imaging systems at Honeywell and telecommunication systems in Germany.
Margo Kelly
Margo currently serves as Lead Executive Coach at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in the Achieving Excellence Program, an annual sixteen month program for CEOs and senior leaders of nonprofit organizations. Prior to her work at the Kennedy School she was the Chief Operating Officer for NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit community development organization based in Washington, DC. Margo has also done extensive executive search work and served as a coach/consultant for a host of clients in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.
Stephen Mongeau
Steve has a history of strong leadership with nonprofits and businesses, as well as experience in nonprofit board positions.
He retired in 2019, after leading Samaritans as Executive Director and President, in their life saving suicide prevention work. He had also volunteered and served on their board for many years. Formerly, his career included senior level sales and marketing leadership of large national teams. He developed strategic growth plans and scaled emerging businesses.
Steve actively volunteers with The Wish Project in North Chelmsford and Community Consulting Teams of Boston, serving multiple nonprofit organizations.
Laura Parrow
Laura recently joined the board of Nonprofit Net, where she assists with development.
Laura has over 25 years of experience in the banking sector, including IT system management, project management and product management, with an emphasis on customer experience.
Laura’s nonprofit experience also includes a volunteer role with Heading Home.
Rachael Schauer
Rachael is a behavioral health clinician with over 15 years experience in education and human services in the nonprofit sector. She currently works as a clinician for children and adults with disabilities.
Rachael is passionate about equity and justice for neurodivergent groups and serves as founder and chair of her agency’s Anti-Ableism Task Force, as well as sitting on both the Human Rights and Peer Review Committees. In her free time she volunteers at Strongwater Farm in Tewksbury and cooks for locals in need through the volunteer organization Community Cooks, based out of Somerville.
Stephanie
Schaffhausen
Stephanie serves as treasurer on the board of Nonprofit Net.
Stephanie had a long time affiliation with the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra, where she served on the board as president for 20 years and became the executive director from 2015 to 2021. She volunteers with other nonprofits in Waltham and occasionally coaches attendees of NPN seminars.
In 2015 she was given a Waltham Hero Award. Currently retired from paid work, Stephanie previously held roles as an elementary school teacher, computer graphics and IT temp, music teacher, lab technician, and day care provider.
N. Paul TonThat
N. Paul began his nonprofit career at BayCove Human Services, opening a bi-lingual, bi-cultural residential program for homeless and mentally ill Asians. At FBC Property Management, he developed supportive housing and created a nonprofit home health aide organization.
He went on to provide interim leadership for a variety of organizations, such as VietAID, the Connecticut chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, the Brain Tumor Society, Steps to Success, New Sector Alliance, and Kennedy-Donovan Center.
N. Paul is currently Managing Member of TCF Collaborative.
Christy Waller
Christy is a marketing and communications professional in the cultural exchange and international education sector.
In addition to serving as clerk and director for Nonprofit Net, she’s also secretary of the Lexington SEPAC/SEPTA board, a member of the Lexington chapter of Mothers Out Front and volunteers for Rescuing Leftover Cuisine.
Christy is passionate about promoting inclusion and acceptance in our community and working toward a sustainable future for our planet.
Dora Wang
Dora has extensive experience in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including governance, strategic planning, business development, fundraising, and event planning. She is most passionate about leveraging her for-profit business background to help strengthen nonprofit organizations.