Gerry Weiss, Board
President
Gerry Weiss is a retired psychotherapist/social worker and has lived in Amherst for 42 years while raising two sons with his wife, Jennie. He has served on Town Meeting, the Amherst Select Board, the Disability Access Advisory Board and was a founding member of Craig's Doors. He enjoys hiking, biking, snow shoeing, kayaking, golfing and gardening.
Matthew Berube, Secretary
Matthew Berube is the Head of Information Services at the Jones Library. He has lived and worked in Amherst since 2011, and has been a member of the Craig's Doors Board since 2020. He enjoys reading, biking, swimming in ponds, and hiking with family and friends.
Jim Lumley, Treasurer
Jim is well-known as a lifelong real estate professional, artist, public servant, and author of nearly a dozen books on a variety of business topics. His paintings have been displayed in dozens of East Coast galleries and he taught at the Cape Cod School of Art for several years. Locally, Jim has served on Pelham’s Planning Board, and is currently a member of the Community Preservation Committee and Housing Committee. He is also a founder of Craig’s Doors homeless shelter, a Board Member and Treasurer of the Interfaith Housing Corp., and a former member of Amherst’s Historic District Commission.
Shaundell Diaz
Shaundell Diaz, is a Latina and Person with Lived Experience who works as the Coordinated Entry Specialist for the Three County Continuum of Care/Community Action Pioneer Valley. She serves as a co-chair for the Communities that Cares Coalition's Racial Justice Workgroup, co-founder of the Hampden County Resource Network, a consultant for the National Coalition for the Homeless and serves as a Board Member for FCRHRA Rural Development Inc.
Michael Giles
Mike Giles is a software entrepreneur and executive at Sungage Financial in Boston. He is a 20+ year resident of Amherst where he raised his four children and served on Town Meeting and the Committee on Homelessness. In his free time Mike enjoys cooking, running and walking in the beautiful Valley, and devouring stacks of library books about the human and societal condition.
Jane Mairs
Jane is a linguist and editor, retired from a career in teaching and educational publishing. She is currently studying American Sign Language and volunteering two days a week at a human services organization in Holyoke that serves Deaf individuals. Jane was formerly on the board of the Hospice of the Fisher Home and was a "neighborhood food collector" for the food bank at the Amherst Survival Center. She is an enthusiastic hiker, gardener, and cook.
Ray Kinoshita Mann
Professor, architect and developer Ray Kinoshita Mann teaches at the University of Massachusetts and brings the experience of over 30 years in practice to innovative residential and cultural projects in the region. She is working on a book on sustainable approaches to the moderate-income home, and is co-leading a study on overcoming barriers that inhibit Accessory Dwelling Unit construction. Since 2021 she has assisted the non-profit Craig’s Doors by providing code analysis and reports for permitting purposes.
Stuart Bicknell
Stuart came to Amherst in 1971 to begin graduate work in counseling psychology at UMass. He and his wife Nan and their three children have all gone on to work in the field of education. Stuart founded and directed the counseling program at Deerfield Academy and consulted at secondary schools from New England to Hawaii. He was a founder and president of the Independent School Health Association. A Vietnam veteran, he was on the board of the Veteran’s Education Project, a local program that helped veterans tell their stories from a critical thinking perspective. Stuart is an avid racket sports fan who will walk/jog when there’s no game to play.
Aretha Simmons
Aretha joined the Board of Craig’s Doors in 2023, and brings many years of experience in community work and fundraising. In 2010, Aretha founded the Strong U resource program in 2010, and is also the founder of the Home at Heart after-school program for children with disabilities. She is a housing specialist for Stavros Independent Living Center, and is a certified Christian Counselor in Trauma and Response through Saint Francis Hospital.