Priti Rao, Executive Director

Priti currently serves as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus, a multi-partisan, non-profit organization committed to maximizing the participation of women of all ages in the political process and to increasing the number of women appointed and elected to public office and public policy positions. Rao previously served as the organization's Associate Director and most recently as Acting Executive Director. Rao is a Cum Laude graduate of Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in Politics and Spanish. She has coordinated field activities for Congressional and City Council races in New York. Here in Massachusetts she worked in the successful campaign of Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, the first woman elected to Congress in 25 years. As Acting Executive Director and Associate Director, Rao worked to design and execute strategic political and field support that helped fuel the successful election of 5 MWPC endorsed women to the MA House of Representatives in 2008, and the 2009 election of Ayanna Pressley to the Boston City Council, the first woman of color ever to serve on the Council in its 100 year history. Originally from upstate New York, Rao currently lives in Boston.
priti@mwpc.org

                                      Jessica Gibbons, Office Manager

Jessica graduated from Westfield State College in January, 2010 with a Bachelor Degree in Communications and a minor in Women's Studies. She began her career with MWPC as a full-time intern last Fall, and was quickly promoted to interim staff in January. In May the MWPC Board voted to hire her on to the permanent position of Office Manager. As Office Manager, Jessica's role is varied and critical to keeping the organization moving forward. She assists the Executive Director, Priti Rao, in managing scheduling, event planning, day-to-day operations, as well as coordinating the activities and projects of MWPC's intern staff.

Born and raised in Littleton, MA, Jessica is a graduate of Littleton High School. She is the product of two large Irish Catholic families who hail from Dorchester. She is very family orientated, with two sisters and two brothers—each of whom she calls her closest friends. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys reading and taking nature walks.
jessica@mwpc.org

                                         Marissa Szabo, Associate Director

The newest addition to the MWPC staff team, Marissa graduated from Smith College with a Bachelor's Degree in Government and a minor is Sociology. She comes to MWPC most recently having worked as a legal advocate for homelessness prevention at a nonprofit on the North Shore. In her time there, she assisted over one hundred clients both in and out of court with various housing issues. Prior to that, she worked as a qualitative research assistant at the Smith College Office of Institutional Research for three years, having initially started as a student interviewer.

As Associate Director Marissa is integral to all MWPC operations including coordinating educational programs, events, and MWPC PAC initiatives. Marissa handles all of the Caucus' external communications and social media, oversees and facilitates the Caucus's Young Professionals program and other committees, and assists with daily administrative work.

Born and raised in Wakefield, MA, politics has always been Marissa's prime passion, particularly around issues impacting the low-income population. She currently lives in the Brighton area and in her spare time, she enjoys hiking, camping, reading and attending comedy shows.
marissa@mwpc.org