The BSCB Constitution stipulates that the Board is composed of six officers and four Board members. Officer positions are: a president, a first vice president, a second vice president, a secretary, a treasurer, and the immediate past president. A majority of board members, including the president and vice presidents, must be blind.
The Constitution also stipulates that the chairperson of the Legislative Committee, the webmaster, and the editor of the newsletter serve as non-voting members of the Board.
Short bios of current officers, voting and non-voting Board members appear below.
Officers
David Kingsbury, President
Stoughton
(781) 974-2001
David Kingsbury is an assistive technology trainer at the Carroll Center for the Blind. He has worked in this capacity full-time since January 2015 and did similar work part time for several years before that. He is also the author of three books about using assistive technology. In early 2007, David graduated from the Carroll Center’s Independent Living Program.
Prior to becoming blind in 2004, David worked in international development as an agricultural economist, with a geographic focus on Sub Saharan Africa. He lived in Rome where he worked for the United Nations from 1996 to 2006. He previously worked for the US Agency for International Development in Zaire. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and Chad.
Sharon Strzalkowski, First Vice President
Worcester
(508) 363-3866
Sharon Strzalkowski retired as a vocational rehabilitation counselor from the Mass. Commission for the Blind, and is also retired from her position as an Information Coordinator at UMass Chan Medical School. She has been involved in Bay State Council of the Blind as the Publications (now called Communications) committee Chair, has served on auction and convention committees, and is the chapter president for the central Mass. Chapter.
Myra Ross, Second Vice President
Amherst
(413) 253-2668
Myra Ross worked in a Massachusetts public high school for twenty years, as the school-to-career coordinator and later the college counselor. Initially legally blind, she is now almost totally blind.
A BSCB member for several decades, Myra has become an active member since her retirement. She is the articles editor for BayLines Express. She serves on the BSCB Communication, Advocacy, and Transportation committees and on the ACB Transportation Committee.
Myra was an elected town meeting member in Amherst for eleven years before being elected to the School Committee, which she chaired for five years in the 1990s. She now chairs Amherst’s Disability Access Advisory Committee and is a member of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority Paratransit Riders Council.
Married with three adult children (two legally blind), Myra is a violinist in the Pioneer Valley Symphony and a violist in a string quartet. She has always memorized her music.
Nick Corbett, Treasurer
Mansfield
(401) 633-4883
Jennifer Harnish, Secretary
Natick
(774) 286-1873
Jennifer Harnish is the Adjustment Psychologist at the Carroll Center for the Blind where she formerly was the Director of Rehabilitation Services. She has been active in BSCB ever since being introduced to the organization. She is also Secretary of the MCB Rehabilitation Council.
Jennifer is the mom of three young adult children and when they were little, she facilitated a blind parent support group. She is also a long-time guide dog handler and serves as Secretary of Guide Dog Users of Massachusetts. In her spare time, she likes to read, cook, garden, ski, and hike.
Brian Charlson, Immediate Past President
Watertown
(617) 831-3272
Brian Charlson is the retired Director of Technology at the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton Massachusetts where he worked for 34 years. As part of his employment, Brian spoke at numerous conferences, both in the U.S. and around the world as well as serving on the accessibility advisory committees of major technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Google and Comcast.
Brian has served in a number of capacities in the American Council of the Blind including as 1st Vice President and as Treasurer of the national organization; as President and as a Board member of Library Users of America; President and as a Board member of the Bay State Council of the Blind as well as on many ACB committees including the Information Access Committee, the ACB Radio Management Committee and the Resolutions Committee.
Married to Kim Charlson, ACB Immediate Past President and Director of the Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library, Brian is a resident of Watertown, a fan of the Boston Red Sox, loves to cook, and plays the ukulele.
Directors
Pam Loch, Director
Hopkinton
(508) 435-6545
Pam Loch is a retired special education teacher and department coordinator in the public schools in New York state. She has been involved in BSCB for over 20 years after moving to Massachusetts. She now lives in Hopkinton with her husband and guide dog. She has been a guide dog user since 1996, and is a member of the Guide Dog Users of Massachusetts (GDUM) affiliate. She currently teaches weaving to adults with special needs at a program for persons with developmental disabilities in Hopkinton. Pam is also the Chair of BSCB’s Membership Committee.
Dianna Leonard, Director & Webmaster
Virginia Beach, VA
Dianna grew up in North Reading, Massachusetts prior to moving to Virginia Beach, Virginia in late 2020. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in English and Communications from Framingham State University.
Dianna has been the editor of BayLines Express, BSCB’s monthly newsletter, since 2021. Prior to this, she was co-editor of our former, quarterly newsletter, BayLines. She also serves on BSCB’s Membership Committee. In addition, she manages BSCB’s social media accounts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). She has held several professional consulting positions as a content writer, social media manager, and marketing & outreach contact.
Dianna loves animals, and in her spare time she likes to read sci-fi and fantasy novels, as well as write creative pieces. She also enjoys swimming and playing video games. She is also a content creator for two personal YouTube channels, one which focuses on blindness and other “real life” content, and a second channel for gaming.
Jim Badger, Director
Swampscott
(781) 799-2428
Jim Badger-Aguilar is a Rehabilitation Teacher working at the Massachusetts Commission For The Blind. He is a Vice President of the MCB/MCDHH chapter of the Service Employees International Union Local 509, which represents the majority of direct service workers at MCB. He is also A statewide officer, and chair of SEIU Local 509’s Disability Justice Committee.
Jim has been blind since birth and has been an MCB client since childhood. Jim has been a BSCB member for over a decade. Raised in a bicultural family, he is bilingual in Spanish and English. He is married, has two adult children who are twins, two stepchildren, and two grandchildren, plus an adorable Havanese dog. He is a guitarist and singer.
Ken Chernack, Director
Natick, MA
(508) 561-8577
Ken Chernack graduated from college in 1968 and enlisted in the US Army Reserve for the next six years. In 1978 he earned an MBA, and later a Program Management Professional (PMP) certification.
He discovered that he had Retinitis Pigmentosa during the 1970s. In 1990, he was declared legally blind. By 2010, he had completely lost his vision. He served on the Natick Commission on Disability for six years.
In 1976, Ken joined Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard. He worked at DEC for the next 26 years at many locations throughout the greater Boston area where he supported financial, sales, field service logistics, marketing and internal USA and international Information Technology projects and programs as a project leader and middle manager. He retired from Hewlett-Packard in 2002.
Ken has been active in the Massachusetts chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, now called the Mass Retinal Support Group and was on their local board many years ago, along with his wife, Cheryl.
Ken has also been a member of ACB and BSCB, in both the Boston and Charles River chapters for many years. He is ecstatic to be on the board and help keep BSCB a strong, vibrant organization; continuation of quality services is his primary goal for all members, as well as good communication.