The Essex County Learning Community (ECLC) is guided by an Executive Planning Team and a Project Management Team comprised of experienced non-profit leaders, educators, communications professionals, change leadership experts, and public health professionals.
Jane Feinberg, M.S., M.A.
Founder/Principal, Full Frame Communications, LLC
Jane Feinberg is the founder and principal of Full Frame Communications, LLC, a Boston area-based consulting practice that supports mission-driven organizations in developing their communications, engagement, and leadership capacities as a foundation for driving meaningful and sustained social change. She provides key leadership and strategic overall project direction for the ECLC, and leads the Executive Planning Team. Feinberg is an award-winning communications and community engagement professional with several decades of experience in television broadcasting, as well as the non-profit, education, and public sectors. Feinberg has consulted to numerous non-profits, K-12 school districts, and governmental organizations.
Feinberg began her career as a journalist and produced high-profile documentaries for national television. Her communications experience includes her past work with WGBH (Boston's local National Public Radio station) and PBS, as a developer, writer, and producer of public and commercial television programs and series, including the “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” “The American Experience,” “Frontline,” and PBS specials on Amelia Earhart and the Honorable Thomas P. O’Neil, Jr. At PBS, Feinberg's work on a special about global economics was nominated for a national Emmy Award. She was also a writer/producer for the award-winning ABC affiliate nightly newsmagazine “Chronicle," where she covered social issues. Feinberg's last project in television was as director of a two-year, statewide public service campaign for Boston's ABC affiliate in partnership with the United Way in Massachusetts, which focused on lifting up youth development and after-school programs to the public as essential for the future of the Commonwealth. The campaign won the national Service to America Award.
In addition to her previous work in television communications, Feinberg also served as the Director of Communications for the Boston Public Schools as a member of former Superintendent Thomas Payzant’s cabinet, and as a teacher and curriculum developer for the FrameWorks Institute in Washington, D.C. At FrameWorks, she helped to translate social science research into products and tools for senior leaders engaged in policy and program change, and launched a body of research on Americans' understanding of public education. Feinberg went on to lead school district-level projects in Massachusetts as Strategic Advisor and Regional Partnership Lead for New Profit, a venture philanthropy firm based in Boston. This work led to the creation of the ECLC, which launched in 2018 with generous funding from the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation.
Feinberg is a Summa Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Minnesota, holds an M.S. in journalism from Boston University, and an M.A. in leadership and change management from Antioch University, where she is also expected to earn her Ph.D. in 2020. Feinberg has served on the boards of directors of several non-profit organizations in Boston, as well as in the town of Belmont, Massachusetts, where she lives with her family.
Founder/Principal, Full Frame Communications, LLC
Jane Feinberg is the founder and principal of Full Frame Communications, LLC, a Boston area-based consulting practice that supports mission-driven organizations in developing their communications, engagement, and leadership capacities as a foundation for driving meaningful and sustained social change. She provides key leadership and strategic overall project direction for the ECLC, and leads the Executive Planning Team. Feinberg is an award-winning communications and community engagement professional with several decades of experience in television broadcasting, as well as the non-profit, education, and public sectors. Feinberg has consulted to numerous non-profits, K-12 school districts, and governmental organizations.
Feinberg began her career as a journalist and produced high-profile documentaries for national television. Her communications experience includes her past work with WGBH (Boston's local National Public Radio station) and PBS, as a developer, writer, and producer of public and commercial television programs and series, including the “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” “The American Experience,” “Frontline,” and PBS specials on Amelia Earhart and the Honorable Thomas P. O’Neil, Jr. At PBS, Feinberg's work on a special about global economics was nominated for a national Emmy Award. She was also a writer/producer for the award-winning ABC affiliate nightly newsmagazine “Chronicle," where she covered social issues. Feinberg's last project in television was as director of a two-year, statewide public service campaign for Boston's ABC affiliate in partnership with the United Way in Massachusetts, which focused on lifting up youth development and after-school programs to the public as essential for the future of the Commonwealth. The campaign won the national Service to America Award.
In addition to her previous work in television communications, Feinberg also served as the Director of Communications for the Boston Public Schools as a member of former Superintendent Thomas Payzant’s cabinet, and as a teacher and curriculum developer for the FrameWorks Institute in Washington, D.C. At FrameWorks, she helped to translate social science research into products and tools for senior leaders engaged in policy and program change, and launched a body of research on Americans' understanding of public education. Feinberg went on to lead school district-level projects in Massachusetts as Strategic Advisor and Regional Partnership Lead for New Profit, a venture philanthropy firm based in Boston. This work led to the creation of the ECLC, which launched in 2018 with generous funding from the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation.
Feinberg is a Summa Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Minnesota, holds an M.S. in journalism from Boston University, and an M.A. in leadership and change management from Antioch University, where she is also expected to earn her Ph.D. in 2020. Feinberg has served on the boards of directors of several non-profit organizations in Boston, as well as in the town of Belmont, Massachusetts, where she lives with her family.
Emily J. Wilson, Ph.D., MPH., M.S., CHES
ECLC Project Manager
Dr. Emily J. Wilson is a public health practitioner, trainer, researcher, and certified health education specialist (CHES) with over ten years of experience working at the intersection of trauma, resilience, health, and learning. As ECLC Project Manager, her portfolio includes professional development (PD) planning and design, communications, operations/logistics, development, and strategic planning; she helps to lead the Executive Planning and the Project Management Teams. Dr. Wilson completed her Ph.D. in Health Professions Education at Simmons University, where she was a Hazel Dick Leonard Interdisciplinary Research Fellow on Gender and conducted her dissertation on trauma-informed teaching in Massachusetts. In recognition of this research, Dr. Wilson received a grant from the Northern New England Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NNETESOL) to develop a trauma-informed ESOL teacher PD curriculum.
Before coming aboard as the ECLC Project Manager, Dr. Wilson worked as a learning collaborative manager and consultant to various non-profit organizations on projects focused on social determinants of health/learning, school health improvement, and capacity-building, including Trust for America’s Health and the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School. She also taught full-time as an Instructor of Public Health and the Pre-Health Science Program Coordinator at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, where she was recognized with the Provost's 2015 Teaching Innovation Award, and as an Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Simmons University.
Prior to teaching, Dr. Wilson completed a predoctoral fellowship on the applications of trauma-informed care protocols and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) science in child and family-serving systems. Dr. Wilson holds an M.P.H. in Community Health from West Chester University, an M.S. in Urban Affairs from Hunter College, and professional certificates in Trauma Treatment from Boston University, and Developmental Disability Studies and Non-Profit/Public Management from Rutgers University. Dr. Wilson is also an activist on issues of health, human rights, social justice, and housing in Boston, where she lives with her husband, and has served as an elected member of the Regional Health Equity Council for New England.
ECLC Project Manager
Dr. Emily J. Wilson is a public health practitioner, trainer, researcher, and certified health education specialist (CHES) with over ten years of experience working at the intersection of trauma, resilience, health, and learning. As ECLC Project Manager, her portfolio includes professional development (PD) planning and design, communications, operations/logistics, development, and strategic planning; she helps to lead the Executive Planning and the Project Management Teams. Dr. Wilson completed her Ph.D. in Health Professions Education at Simmons University, where she was a Hazel Dick Leonard Interdisciplinary Research Fellow on Gender and conducted her dissertation on trauma-informed teaching in Massachusetts. In recognition of this research, Dr. Wilson received a grant from the Northern New England Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NNETESOL) to develop a trauma-informed ESOL teacher PD curriculum.
Before coming aboard as the ECLC Project Manager, Dr. Wilson worked as a learning collaborative manager and consultant to various non-profit organizations on projects focused on social determinants of health/learning, school health improvement, and capacity-building, including Trust for America’s Health and the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School. She also taught full-time as an Instructor of Public Health and the Pre-Health Science Program Coordinator at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, where she was recognized with the Provost's 2015 Teaching Innovation Award, and as an Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Simmons University.
Prior to teaching, Dr. Wilson completed a predoctoral fellowship on the applications of trauma-informed care protocols and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) science in child and family-serving systems. Dr. Wilson holds an M.P.H. in Community Health from West Chester University, an M.S. in Urban Affairs from Hunter College, and professional certificates in Trauma Treatment from Boston University, and Developmental Disability Studies and Non-Profit/Public Management from Rutgers University. Dr. Wilson is also an activist on issues of health, human rights, social justice, and housing in Boston, where she lives with her husband, and has served as an elected member of the Regional Health Equity Council for New England.
Heidi Guarino
Senior Strategist & Storyteller
Heidi brings an extensive background in state education agency leadership, policy development, engagement and communications. She helps local, state and national education leaders, foundations and advocacy organizations to make bold decisions, strengthen policies and ensure the right stakeholders are heard and engaged along the way. Her past and current portfolio includes the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Data Quality Campaign, the PIE Network and Teach Plus.
Heidi is the child of public school teachers and grew up in a family where working hard was never a choice—it was expected. Her parents modeled that by working multiple jobs to put her through college, and she has spent her professional career working to build that culture of high expectations in communities around the country. Heidi previously served as chief of staff and communications director for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Earlier in her career she spent a decade covering national, state and local education news for The Associated Press in Boston and for several regional newspapers in eastern Massachusetts. Originally from Rhode Island, Heidi attended Emerson College in Boston, where she studied professional writing and began her career in journalism.
Senior Strategist & Storyteller
Heidi brings an extensive background in state education agency leadership, policy development, engagement and communications. She helps local, state and national education leaders, foundations and advocacy organizations to make bold decisions, strengthen policies and ensure the right stakeholders are heard and engaged along the way. Her past and current portfolio includes the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Data Quality Campaign, the PIE Network and Teach Plus.
Heidi is the child of public school teachers and grew up in a family where working hard was never a choice—it was expected. Her parents modeled that by working multiple jobs to put her through college, and she has spent her professional career working to build that culture of high expectations in communities around the country. Heidi previously served as chief of staff and communications director for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Earlier in her career she spent a decade covering national, state and local education news for The Associated Press in Boston and for several regional newspapers in eastern Massachusetts. Originally from Rhode Island, Heidi attended Emerson College in Boston, where she studied professional writing and began her career in journalism.
Laura Tota
Senior Program Manager
Laura Tota, Senior Program Manager, is the newest addition to the ECLC Team. Before joining ECLC, Laura was, for many years, a Senior Design Associate at the Center for Collaborative Education—where she was also a key ECLC collaborator. Laura’s new role at ECLC will focus on coaching and programmatic offerings--and as many in the community will attest, her presence is both grounding and energizing. Laura is an education consultant who partners with schools that are seeking to increase educational equity. She is passionate about curating personalized, professional learning experiences driven by educators’ own articulation of their vision for schools and learning.
As the Essex County Learning Community Senior Program Manager, Laura oversees the design and implementation of the annual curriculum map and the learning community’s coaching model. Laura entered the field of education from a background in sociology where she developed a passion around the intersections between schools and other social institutions. Laura believes that schools and educators have the power to positively impact social change, and that they thrive in doing so when they have a partner who encourages their internal capacity and connects them to the necessary resources. Before joining the ECLC, Laura served as a Senior Associate in District and School Design with the Center for Collaborative Education where she supported schools through the visioning, design, and implementation processes of a variety of pursuits including personalized (student-centered) learning, professional learning communities, performance assessment, internships, and vision of the graduate/whole school (re)design. Previously, Laura worked with the Harvard Family Research Project where she supported schools in strengthening partnerships with families and communities, and with the Worcester Youth Opportunities Office where she bridged connections between schools and community organizations to create meaningful out-of-school learning opportunities for students. Laura holds a Master of Education in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Senior Program Manager
Laura Tota, Senior Program Manager, is the newest addition to the ECLC Team. Before joining ECLC, Laura was, for many years, a Senior Design Associate at the Center for Collaborative Education—where she was also a key ECLC collaborator. Laura’s new role at ECLC will focus on coaching and programmatic offerings--and as many in the community will attest, her presence is both grounding and energizing. Laura is an education consultant who partners with schools that are seeking to increase educational equity. She is passionate about curating personalized, professional learning experiences driven by educators’ own articulation of their vision for schools and learning.
As the Essex County Learning Community Senior Program Manager, Laura oversees the design and implementation of the annual curriculum map and the learning community’s coaching model. Laura entered the field of education from a background in sociology where she developed a passion around the intersections between schools and other social institutions. Laura believes that schools and educators have the power to positively impact social change, and that they thrive in doing so when they have a partner who encourages their internal capacity and connects them to the necessary resources. Before joining the ECLC, Laura served as a Senior Associate in District and School Design with the Center for Collaborative Education where she supported schools through the visioning, design, and implementation processes of a variety of pursuits including personalized (student-centered) learning, professional learning communities, performance assessment, internships, and vision of the graduate/whole school (re)design. Previously, Laura worked with the Harvard Family Research Project where she supported schools in strengthening partnerships with families and communities, and with the Worcester Youth Opportunities Office where she bridged connections between schools and community organizations to create meaningful out-of-school learning opportunities for students. Laura holds a Master of Education in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
