Current ACLU of Massachusetts members who have paid their dues within the past 15 months are eligible to vote for the organization’s Board of Directors.
Rules and Guidelines
To vote in the 2025 election for ACLU of Massachusetts Board of Directors, please access our digital ballot.
Select up to 7 candidates for election to the ACLU of Massachusetts Board of Directors. Each elected representative will serve a three-year term, ending in 2028.
The deadline for casting ballots is June 2, 2025.
If you have questions about voting in the board election or the Annual Meeting, please contact the ACLU of Massachusetts Board Administrator at sspencer@aclum.org.
Notice to all Class A Members: The ACLU of Massachusetts will have its Annual Meeting of Members on June 4, 2025.
Please email boardelections@aclum.org 21 days in advance if you would like to attend.
Candidates' Statements
The Nominating Committee offers the following slate for election to a three-year term on the ACLU of Massachusetts Board of Directors.
- Howard M. Cooper
- Andrew Manuel Crespo
- Chris Escobedo Hart
- J.B. Kittredge
- María Belén Power
- Madeleine “Maddy” Rodriguez
- Daryl Wiesen
Howard M. Cooper (2nd term) brings four decades of experience litigating complex civil and criminal disputes as well as significant civil rights and First Amendment cases for clients across New England and around the country. His record of success in obtaining favorable results in the courtroom and in alternative dispute resolution forums has earned him the reputation as a “go to” attorney for high-stakes, high-profile matters. A tireless advocate for his clients, he prides himself on providing hands-on attention to every matter and on being relentlessly responsive and thoroughly prepared.
Since forming Todd & Weld in 1992, Howard has represented a diverse cross-section of businesses, organizations and individuals ranging from health care, religious, retail, education and tribal entities to judges, politicians, physicians, executives, and public figures. He regularly represents plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state trial and appeal courts, in arbitration proceedings and before licensure boards. His approach, which combines practicality, creativity and integrity, always begins with preparing every case for the potential of trial.
Andrew Manuel Crespo (1st term) is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he directs the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, an advocacy center that partners with and supports organizer-led decarceral campaigns across the country. He is a leading expert of criminal law and procedure and author of Criminal Law and the American Penal System, a field defining textbook.
Crespo writes regularly for national outlets and is coeditor-in-chief of Inquest magazine, a finalist for the 2025 National Magazine Awards. He is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Leading Change Network, an international nonprofit that trains and supports organizers working to build more just and democratic societies. Previously, Crespo was a Commissioner on President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. After clerking for two years at the U.S. Supreme Court, Crespo began his career as a public defender in Washington, D.C.
Chris Escobedo Hart (1st term) is a litigation partner at Foley Hoag, where he co-chairs three practice groups: Privacy and Data Security; Reproductive Healthcare; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. As an experienced civil litigator and human rights lawyer with a particular focus on cybersecurity and global data protection, Chris has counseled on data privacy and cybersecurity matters, and provided human rights counseling to global technology companies relating to their data processing and artificial intelligence practices. Chris has also successfully represented clients in products liability, complex tort, and class action matters.
Chris maintains an extensive and diverse pro bono practice, including having assisted ACLUM with numerous matters during his time at Foley Hoag.
In addition to his legal practice, Chris is deeply involved in the community. Among other activities, he serves as an officer at the Boston Bar Association, is completing his term as regional governor of the Hispanic National Bar Association, and chairs his town’s Equity & Justice committee.
Chris and his wife live in Milton. They have four children, are active in the community, and are deeply committed to supporting ACLUM’s mission.
J.B. Kittredge (1st term) was elected to the Board in 2024 and prior to that was Union Board President from 2018 to 2020. Currently retired, J.B. was General Counsel from 2005-2018 for Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC, an asset management firm that provides investment advice to institutional clients.
Previously he was a partner at Ropes & Gray, where he practiced from 1979 through 2005. Other board memberships included a six-year stint as Director and Treasurer of The Center for Reproductive Rights. J.B. came to the MA ACLU through the Gay & Lesbian Rights project of the National ACLU. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review.
María Belén Power (2nd term) grew up in Nicaragua in the aftermath of the revolution. She currently serves as the inaugural Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs with the Healey-Driscoll Administration. She previously served as the Associate Executive Director of GreenRoots, a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea. Power co-founded GreenRoots and oversaw the environmental justice campaigns of the organization. She was appointed by President Biden to serve on the newly established White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, in which she served for four years. She holds an undergraduate degree in sociology from Augsburg University, a Master of Public Policy from Tufts University, and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management and Leadership from the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. María Belén lives in Chelsea, MA with her husband and two daughters.
Madeleine “Maddy” Rodriguez (2nd term) is an experienced litigator whose practice is built on a strong foundation of state, federal, and international trial and arbitration experience. As Co-Chair of the firm's Education practice, Maddy represents colleges and universities in civil cases and investigations and provides schools with day-to-day counseling and training. This work includes regularly advising university clients regarding employment, research compliance and integrity, and civil rights issues, including Title VI and IX trainings, investigations, and mitigation measures, admissions policies, use of race-neutral alternatives, and overarching diversity statements and goals. She also represents foreign States, State-controlled entities, and multinational corporations in U.S. federal courts and investment treaty disputes before international arbitral tribunals.
Daryl Wiesen (1st term) is a partner and former co-chair of Goodwin’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice and focuses his practice on life sciences litigation, including patent litigation. He has more than 25 years of experience advising clients and participating in all phases of patent litigation, from initial counseling up through trial and appeal. Daryl has developed an expertise in pharmaceutical patent litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He also has experience in other technologies, including biotechnology and medical devices. In addition, Daryl has dedicated substantial time to pro bono work, including helping to obtain the freedom of a wrongfully convicted death row inmate in Ohio, representing adults and children in seeking asylum in the United States, challenging ICE policies to detain individuals during appearances in courthouses, and drafting various amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court. He has previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the ACLUM.