Staff
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Ellen A. Bruce, JD
Director, Pension Action Center -
Louise M. Cataldo
Development and Community Education Coordinator, Illinois Pension Assistance Project -
Caputo Chang
Legal Intern, New England Pension Assistance Project -
Jeanne M. Medeiros, JD
Managing Attorney, Pension Action Center -
Mia Midenjak, JD
Staff Attorney, Illinois Pension Assistance Project -
Betty Pasley
Development and Community Education Coordinator, New England Pension Assistance Project -
Michele Tolson
Administrative Assistant, Pension Action Center
Coordinator, National Pension Lawyers Network
Pension Counselors
Ellen A. Bruce, JD
Director, Pension Action Center
Director, Gerontology Institute
Associate Professor, Gerontology PhD Program
617-287-7315 ; Ellen.Bruce@umb.edu
Ellen A. Bruce directs the Pension Action Center and is an associate professor in the Gerontology Department, teaching law and public policy courses in the Gerontology Graduate Program. Her primary areas of interest are income security for older adults, pensions and retirement income, older women, and elder law.
In 1993 she founded the Pension Action Center, which houses the New England Pension Assistance Project and the National Pension Lawyers Network, as well as serves as a base for pension and retirement income research. The center brings together services for participants, retirement income research, and policy work. Professor Bruce's work focuses on participant-related problems, including lost pensions, diminishing plan participation and survivor benefits as well as more general research on income security for older adults.
To read complete bio, please visit her faculty listing.
Louise Cataldo
Development and Community Education Coordinator, Illinois Pension Assistance Project
617-287-7311 ; louise.cataldo@umb.edu
Louise Cataldo serves as the development and community education coordinator for the new Illinois Pension Assistance Project (IPAP). She began working with the Pension Action Center upon the founding of the Illinois project, in July 2012. She is currently conducting outreach to this new service area, by establishing relationships in the elder, legal, and employment networks.
Ms. Cataldo has extensive experience in a variety of fields relevant to her position at the center. In the past, she has assisted the vice president of development and alumnae relations at Emmanuel College and the director of planned giving at Boston College. She is also an accomplished human resources professional, with over ten years experience managing the human resources department at Direct Federal Credit Union. In addition to her experience in the fields of fundraising, development, and human resources, Louise also spent five years in the legal services field, as an intake worker for the Boston College Legal Assistance Bureau. She holds a BA in Business and English from Westfield State College.
Caputo Chang
Legal Intern, New England Pension Assistance Project
617-287-7335 ; caputo.chang@umb.edu
Caputo Chang, a law student at Boston University, started working as a legal intern for the New England Pension Assistance Project (NEPAP) in June, 2012. She previously worked as a legal intern for a Massachusetts state senator and for the presiding judge of the Harlem Community Justice Center in New York City.
Jeanne M. Medeiros, JD
Managing Attorney, Pension Action Center
617-287-7332 ; Jeanne.Medeiros@umb.edu
Attorney Medeiros manages the operations of the Pension Action Center, including supervising the case handling staff . Jeanne has been with the center since 1998, working exclusively in the area of private and public pension law, and is an expert on ERISA and retirement benefit issues. She develops and presents trainings on pension law and policy for project staff, as well as outreach presentations to attorneys, elder service groups and community organizations.
For over twenty years Jeanne has worked as an advocate for low-income clients. Her previous experience includes her work as deputy counsel for Cambridge Rent Control Board, staff attorney for Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services and for Rhode Island Legal Services. She completed her JD at Boston College and holds a BA in History from Brown University.
Mia Midenjak, JD
Staff Attorney, Illinois Pension Assistance Project
617-287-7309; Mia.Midenjak@umb.edu
Ms. Midenjak is currently serving as the staff attorney for the Illinois Pension Assistance Project. She handles cases from Illinois and supervises two volunteer pension counselors. Mia, a 2011 graduate of the Boston University School of Law, was previously awarded a fellowship from her law school to work at the Pension Action Center through June 2012. In this role, Mia helped clients of the New England Pension Assistance Project, where she had served as a legal intern prior to her fellowship.
During law school, Mia worked as a research assistant to Professor Maria Hylton, conducting research on pension benefit plans and wrote legal memoranda on pension plan terminations and discretionary clauses in ERISA-governed employee benefit plans. She also taught law students to conduct legal research on LexisNexis. Mia graduated from Harvard College in 2007 and is fluent in four languages.
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Betty Pasley
Development and Community Education Coordinator, New England Pension Assistance Project
617-287-7319 ; betty.pasley@umb.edu
Betty Pasley started in June, 2012, as the development and community education coordinator for the New England Pension Assistance Project (NEPAP). She is primarily responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships in the elder, legal, and employment networks in the service area through planning and conducting outreach activities and community education.
Ms. Pasley has extensive experience in the financial services and non-profit arena. In the past, she has served as a pension counselor for NEPAP and as the Pension Action Center's pension initiative coordinator. Her prior work at the center included many duties relevant to her current role. In addition to her past work at the Pension Action Center, she has over ten years experience at Fidelity Investments. She also attended Simmons College, where she earned an MA in Business Administration and a BA in Finance/Retail Management.
Betty is dedicated to promoting financial literacy through her community service work. She has served at as a workshop assistant at Consumer Credit Counseling Services, as a volunteer tax preparer at the RSVP Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and the Boston EITC Campaign, and as a financial coach at the Boston EITC Campaign. Currently, she is a bill payer volunteer at the Boston Money Management Program.
Michele Tolson
Administrative Assistant, Pension Action Center
Coordinator, National Pension Lawyers Network
617-287-7305 ; michele.tolson@umb.edu
Michele Tolson joined the Pension Action Center in December, 2011. As the coordinator for the National Pension Lawyers Network, Ms. Tolson helps workers and retirees connect with attorneys who have an expertise in pension law. She also acts as an administrative assistant for the Pension Action Center, providing a wide range of support for the center and its pension counseling projects. She received her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she double majored in Ethics, Social, and Political Philosophy and Economics and received an award of Distinction from both departments.
Before joining the Pension Action Center, Ms. Tolson was a research assistant intern for the Gerontology Institute. Her past experience also includes internships with the Massachusetts Recovery and Reinvestment Office and the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group.
