Staff

James DeWolf Perry, Executive Director
Juanita Brown, Education Program Officer
Katrina Browne, Ideas and External Affairs Director
Kristin Gallas, Director of Interpretation Projects
Marga Varea, Events and Development Director

Lead Consultants
Tulaine Shabazz Marshall
Madeline McNeely

James DeWolf Perry, Executive Director, was nominated for an Emmy award for his role as the principal historical consultant for Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, a 2008 PBS documentary about the legacy of the northern U.S. role in slavery and the slave trade. James also appears throughout the film, as a descendant of U.S. senator James DeWolf of Bristol, R.I. (1764-1837), the leading slave trader in U.S. history. Since the film’s premiere, James has spoken across the nation and abroad about his family’s, and the nation’s, historic role in slavery, and has facilitated discussions about the legacy of slavery and race at high schools and universities and with corporate, educational, religious and community groups. James attended law school at Columbia University and has done graduate work at Harvard University, researching international institutions and the evolution of international norms, including the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition. His private-sector experience includes legal and financial analysis and consulting on information management and organizational development. James has worked on the Traces of the Trade project since 1999, serving previously as the Tracing Center’s founding board chair and president and, later, its managing director.

Juanita Brown, Education Program Officer, was a co-producer of Traces of the Trade, specializing in designing and facilitating the film’s dialogues on race, and has extensive experience speaking at, and facilitating, programs on the nation’s legacy of slavery and race. Over the past eighteen years, Juanita has facilitated schools, school districts, nonprofits, government agencies and communities through conversations and processes aimed at cultivating restorative systems, relationships, and personal narratives. She has developed policy and organizational analyses for the Oakland Unified School District, Oakland Small Schools Foundation, and Bay Area International Development Organizations, and has raised funds for schools in underserved communities as assistant director for development at the Coalition of Essential Schools. Juanita holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Goldman School at the University of California at Berkeley. She has a B.A. from Stanford and studied at the University of Ghana at Legon. A Chicago native, Juanita lives in Oakland, Calif.

Katrina Browne, Ideas and External Affairs Director, was the producer/director of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, a first-person documentary film about her slave-trading ancestors from Rhode Island, the hidden history of New England’s complicity in slavery, and questions of repair and reconciliation today. With Katrina’s leadership over the course of nine years, over 500 people and institutions were involved in the making of the film and the dialogue process surrounding it. While it was still in rough-cut form, the film contributed to the Episcopal Church’s decision to atone for its role in slavery. Traces of the Trade premiered in 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival, and aired on PBS later that year, reaching over 1.5 million Americans. The film’s awards include a 2009 Emmy nomination for original historical research, the Henry Hampton Award of the Council on Foundations, and honors from the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society and the Women Film Critics Association. In 1991 , Katrina co-founded Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program, which operates in twenty-one cities to recruit more young people and people of color into the public interest sector. She has an M.A. in theology from the Pacific School of Religion, where she wrote a thesis comparing the role that Greek tragedies played in civic life in ancient Greece to the untapped potential of film to catalyze civic dialogue. Katrina was the founding executive director of the Tracing Center, and today, her work focuses on public programming, content development, and fundraising.

Kristin L. Gallas, Director of Interpretation Projects. With a bachelor’s in secondary history education (University of Vermont) and a master of arts in teaching in museum education (George Washington University), Kristin brings knowledge of both formal and informal learning environments to the Tracing Center staff. Her professional experience includes six years as the education officer at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Mont. and three years at the USS Constitution Museum in Boston. Kristin has also worked for Boston Ballet, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Shelburne Museum. While in Montana Kristin conceived and developed the documentary film series Montana Mosaic, a teaching resource on 20th century Montana history (funded by an NEH grant). She also worked with Montana PBS on the production of the documentary History Camp, which aired on KUFM- TV. A contributing author to Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Montana History Volume 2, she also writes theatrical scripts based on historical documents. Outside of work, Kristin is a choreographer for musical theatre productions and teaches figure skating.

Marga Varea, Events and Development Director, was born in southern Spain and holds a master’s in Journalism and Media Studies from Complutense University (Madrid). Marga worked in the film and television industry in Spain for seven years as a screenwriter, script supervisor, and producer and was the founding partner of a thriving production company in Madrid (Great Ways), and the co-founder of a film festival (Cortogenia). She was the line producer of a student category Emmy Award winner “Dos Mas” (2001) and the writer of the feature film “Proyecto Dos” (2008). After relocating to the U.S. in 2003, Marga joined Junta for Progressive Action, a social justice organization working with the Latino community in New Haven, Conn., gaining experience as a fundraiser and events organizer. From 2004 to 2007, she worked with the Boston Latino International Film Festival as a production and special events coordinator. In 2006, she became development director at Centro Presente, a Boston-based immigrant rights organization where she dedicated three years to raise the visibility of the organization and generate financial sustainability for its mission.

Lead consultants

Tulaine Shabazz Marshall consults with the Tracing Center on evaluation and teacher training, and was the lead consultant on our 2010 Caribbean Heritage partnership with the Amistad. Tulaine has sixteen years of management and organizational development experience and has worked on advocacy and public policy for low-income youth and families, alternative education systems, teacher training, and youth and adult education. She has worked at the United Way of Massachusetts, YouthBuild USA, Citizen Schools, and the International House of Blues Foundation. Tulaine is the author of several articles and essays on organizational development and school management, including “Staff Management” and “Family Engagement Strategies.”

Madeline McNeely consults with the Tracing Center on special projects. Madeline is a leadership coach, consultant, trainer and facilitator for executive leaders and organizations in the non-profit and corporate sectors, having worked with over fifty organizations from community-based non-profits to large international corporations. At the heart of Madeline’s coaching and consulting is an expertise and passion for racial justice and anti-racist organizing, and she helps organizations develop anti-racist principles, practices and accountability structures through organizational development, strategic planning, individual and team coaching. She is a former president of the Rutland Corner Foundation and is a member of Trinity Church Boston’s Anti-Racism Team, leading a multi-year anti-racism institutional change process. She has a B.A. in Development Studies from Lewis and Clark College and an M.Ed. from the Temple University Dance Department, where she studied dance, cultural studies and social justice education.