Our Board

Kate Auspitz - Director

Kate Auspitz is a political historian who taught at Harvard and Wellesley College before leaving academia for public service. She worked for Michael Capuano for thirty years, as Personnel Director when he served as Mayor of Somerville and as Issues Director during his ten terms in Congress. She continues her work with immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers as a volunteer.

Vladimir Benoit - Director

Vladimir grew up in Somerville and has deep roots in the community. He has dedicated numerous years to volunteer work. He actively contributed as an assistant varsity basketball coach at the local high school and served as a mentor to a young brother in Somerville through the esteemed Big Brothers Big Sisters Program. In addition to his community involvement, Vladimir is the CEO at a local nonprofit organization that has a strong focus on youth development. In his spare time, he finds joy in spending quality time with his spouse and their two children.

Mary Cassesso - Director

Mary Cassesso is a lifelong resident of Somerville with a personal commitment and professional dedication to advancing social justice and to making the community a better place to live.

Mary has worked since she was 14 years old. As a teenager, she worked in the Somerville library. She was a social worker in the Somerville school system. She directed the Somerville Council on Aging and 60+ Health Center and was the City Auditor in the Brune administration.

Mary served in the Dukakis administration as financial head of the Executive Office of Housing and Community Development and later in the Patrick administration as an Assistant Secretary in the Executive Office of Health and Human services. Between those positions, she was the Administrative Dean at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and co-chaired the Joint Commission on the Status of Women at Harvard Medical School. She served as the Chief Community Officer and President of the Cambridge Health Alliance’s (CHA) Foundation enterprise.

Mary serves on numerous boards dedicated to safety net services including the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Food for Free, CHA Foundation Board, Massachusetts Association of Mental Health and Preservation of Affordable Housing’s community board. In addition she is a champion of the art community and small local businesses. She is committed to mentoring and networking to advance folks professional development.

Maren Chiu - President

Maren joined the SPL Board of Trustees in late 2016 and has enjoyed having a 'behind the scene' look at the tremendous amount of care and consideration that goes into running a public library.   A Somerville Resident since 1995, Maren volunteers with several organizations in the city while raising 3 children.  She is excited to see what new and innovative programs and services the library can offer with the support of the Foundation.

Ruth Faris - Director

Ruth is a clinical social worker who grew up in Fall River and has lived and worked in Somerville since 1983.  The library has been an invaluable resource to her over the years, highlights including toddler story time as she raised a family here.  She is glad to give back by service on the Foundation Board.

Chris Ludlow - Treasurer

Having lived in many parts of the country in his life, Chris has always found his local library to be a source of both information and community.  Libraries have recently become even more of a focus in his life with his wife recently receiving her Masters of Library & Information Science from Simmons University, for which he is very proud.  Chris has spent a career in the research and development field in both technical and business roles and loves finding ways to apply what he has learned to help the SPLF realize its vision.

Emily Miyares - Ex Officio, Friends of the Somerville Public Library

Emily serves as the President of the Friends of the Somerville Public Library, which works in partnership with the Foundation to support the Library and its enrichment programs. Emily’s passion for libraries as essential community spaces was animated by becoming a parent, and trips to the SPL have become a weekly routine with her two young sons. Emily works as an Architect focusing on academic research and higher education buildings, and uses her (limited) free time to taste test as many pizzas as she can.

Andrea Paulson - Clerk

Andrea Paulson has been a Somerville resident since 2003. Professionally, she is a pharmaceutical research scientist. From 2008 to 2016, she was a Board members of the Friends of the Somerville Public Library, and continues to be a supporter. She joined her fellow library lovers in 2019 to found the Somerville Public Library Foundation, and has served as Clerk since then. In her free time, she enjoys crossword puzzles, genealogy, gardening, and kayaking on the Mystic and the Charles. The West Branch is her home library, and she enjoys programs at all branches. She is a frequent user of the digital options available on Libby and Hoopla.

Cathy Piantigini - Ex Officio, Somerville Public Library Director

A lifelong resident of Somerville, Cathy began her career as a children’s librarian at Somerville’s East Branch Library in 1993. She has held many positions since then, including supervising library services to children for 15 years. Catherine served as Deputy Director of Libraries in 2016, and became Library Director in 2018.

Kate Van Sleet - Ex Officio, Somerville Public Library Board of Trustees

Kate was appointed to the Library Board of Trustees in 2007 and has served on the Board in various capacities, including as President, Secretary, and Chair of numerous working committees. She is a passionate advocate for literacy both in her professional life as a librarian for public media and in her volunteer work for the Library Trustees, Library Foundation, and the Somerville Public Schools. Kate, her husband, and her three daughters have happily called Somerville home for over 20 years.

Former Foundation Board Directors

Christina Heinrich - Former Ex Officio Member, Friends of the Somerville Public Library

Christina served as the President of the Friends of the Somerville Public Library, liasing with the Friends to the Foundation and enthusiastically working to strengthen the partnership of the two organizations. She is a medical librarian at Tufts University and believes in the value of libraries as free and equitable spaces. She has a proven track record of bike riding and book reading--ask her for a nuanced description of tres leches cakes of Union Square!

Mark Howland

After serving on the Somerville Public Library Board of Trustees for fifteen years, Mark served as a founding Director and the first President of the Foundation, welcoming the opportunity to enhance support for continued library innovation. A resident of Somerville for over thirty-five years, Mark is a professional architect and a firm believer that all good book discussions depend on good food.

Will Mbah

A native of Cameroon, Will immigrated to the United States in 2010, eventually settling in Somerville with his young family. He is a passionate advocate and supporter of public libraries, often reflecting on the pivotal role that the Somerville Public Library played in his life as he and his family made this city their home. Will currently serves the City of Somerville as an At-Large City Councilor.

Bill Taylor

As an early teen, when mom and dad worked on Saturdays, the local public library was my morning go-to place to experience the world, then afternoons at the movies.  Libraries, and reading, still  top the movies, for me.  Whether visiting in my rural library in Virginia, the Folger Shakespeare, or the Library of Congress nearby in DC, the same sensation occurs. The wealth of human experience and knowledge is there.  As information grows, access to this resource should continue to grow for all in our city.