GEORGE BACHRACH Program Director
George is an attorney, former state Senator and co-founder of CAP. Prior to CAP, he spent ten years as the President of the Environmental League of MA working on climate change and environmental protection, and prior to that he spent ten years as a partner in the Boston law firm of Brown, Rudnick. Earlier in his career he chaired the state boards of the Office for Children and Mass Handgun Control, and co-founded the Commonwealth Summit. Bachrach is the author of numerous Op Ed pieces in the Boston Globe and elsewhere, and spent twenty years as an adjunct professor of journalism at Boston University. Bachrach also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County and as campaign manager for US Senator Ed Markey’s first campaign for Congress in 1976. He’s a graduate of Trinity College and Boston University’s School of Law.
REBECCA GORDAN Executive Director
Rebecca has a passion for creating spaces that allow for meaningful engagement across difference. As CAP’s Executive Director, Rebecca is responsible for keeping strategic priorities and programs on track. Prior to joining CAP, Rebecca was Program Director of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs at Wellesley College, where she supported an active community of undergraduate Fellows to apply their diverse skills to global problem solving. She came to this role from a background in international development and exchange, focused on the Central Asia region. In addition to her role at CAP, Rebecca serves on the board of IVO, an organization supporting veterinarian professionals abroad. Rebecca is a graduate of Wellesley College and Indiana University’s Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
STEVE CROSBY Program Director
Steve served most recently as the Founding Chair of the Mass Gaming Commission, and was before that the Founding Dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston. His public sector career has included serving as Chief of Staff to Governor Jane Swift and as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governor Paul Cellucci. His private sector career was distinguished by serving as CEO of innovative, entrepreneurial companies in publishing and high tech, including The Crosby Vandenbergh Group, SmartRoute Systems and Interactive Radio Corp. An earlier career in politics included serving as Campaign Manager for Massachusetts Governor Frank Sargent and Boston Mayor Kevin H. White. In addition to The Civic Action Project, Steve remains active in the responsible gaming world as recent Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Council on Problem Gambling and Board member of the Mass Council on Gaming and Health, and is active in other non-profits and political campaigns. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University Law School.
AFSHA KASAM Asst. Director of Comms. & Alumni Engagement
Afsha Kasam is the Assistant Director of Communications and Alumni Engagement at Civic Action Project. Along with her nonprofit experience, she’s worked in corporate communications, the start-up environment, government, public affairs, academia, and journalism. Afsha has her master’s degree in Advertising from Boston University and her bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Quinnipiac University.
IRA JACKSON Program Director
Ira has served in a wide range of leadership positions in the public, the private, academic and nonprofit sectors. He has extensive experience in a variety of roles in higher education at four private and two public universities (Harvard, Claremont, Brandeis, MIT, Arizona State and the University of Massachusetts Boston). Ira served as a top aide to two big city mayors (Newark and Boston), and created the training program for big city mayors at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. He has been dean of both a school of business (Peter Drucker School of Management at the Claremont Colleges) and a school of public policy (McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston) and was director of Harvard’s Center for Business and Government. As Massachusetts Commissioner of Revenue and as executive vice president of a global commercial bank, he earned a reputation as an innovator and creative problem solver. Ira continues to play an active role in civic affairs and philanthropy. He co-founder, with Steve, George and others, the Commonwealth Summit, a strategic planning retreat for leaders in Massachusetts, and the Civic Action Project, that trains a diverse group of next generation leaders to be successful change agents. He teaches, writes and consults on strategy, leadership and social change, with a focus on corporate purpose and issues of race, class and social justice. With Jane Nelson, he is author of Profits with Principles: Seven Strategies for Managing for Value with Values.
ANNE LOUGEE Bookkeeping