A devout Christian, faithful husband and loving father, Andrew Beckwith deeply shares our family values, most especially the sanctity of life and the definition of marriage. Andrew led MFI as President from 2014 to 2023, overseeing tremendous growth of the organization and its mission. He continues to serve on MFI’s board as President Emeritus.
Andrew is a graduate of Gordon College and the University of Minnesota Law School and serves as an allied attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom focusing on religious liberty cases. He also serves as a judge advocate in the United States Marine Corps Reserve where he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Prior to coming to MFI, he litigated immigration cases for the Boston office of the Department of Homeland Security. In June of 2023, Andrew accepted the role of Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff at Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina. He, his wife Karen, and their four children live in Anderson, SC.
Michael King, a devoted follower of Jesus, believes that being salt and light as a Christian involves both spreading the Gospel and upholding Biblical principles in both private and public spheres. He aligns with the founding fathers on the necessity of Bible-based morality for a civil democracy’s survival.
Currently, Michael serves as the Acting Chief Executive Officer and Director of Community Alliances at MFI. He actively collaborates with local pastors and leaders to educate and encourage citizens to advocate for righteousness in the public square. Michael has spoken at over 200 different churches in Massachusetts in the past 8 years. Committed to fostering strategic relationships with state and national groups, Michael advances MFI’s initiatives to protect children in education. He and his team aim to inspire Christians to engage with local government and influence decisions on key societal pillars like marriage, life, and religious liberty.
Michael is married to his cherished wife, Ashley, and is a father to five children. His background includes roles as Family Ministries Director at a local church and Principal of a K-12 Christian school. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Messiah College and a master’s degree in Christian leadership from Liberty University. Outside of work, Michael enjoys family time, basketball, and fishing.
Kent Scott is driven by his commitment to serve Jesus Christ, whether in his family life, church, or professional spheres. Known for his dedication to gospel truth, Kent actively seeks to grow in his faith and inspire others. Over the years, he and his wife, Kathy, have taken on various leadership roles within their local church.
As the Acting Chief Operating Officer and Director of Advancement at Massachusetts Family Institute, Kent brings over 30 years of private sector experience in business development, specializing in client relations, new business ventures, and marketing. His prior roles in municipal government and volunteer organizations have honed his leadership and operational skills. Deeply committed to sanctity of life, traditional family values, parental rights, and religious liberty, Kent is dedicated to using his expertise to enhance MFI’s mission. His aim is to support initiatives that promote deep engagement and meaningful collaboration with like-minded supporters, helping MFI’s programs and events make a significant community impact.
Kent and his wife Kathy enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking and taking short rides on their Harley. They also love visiting their adult children and exploring new places together.
Mary Ellen Siegler is a committed follower of Jesus, devoted wife to her husband Bill, and the mother of three wonderful children. She is a passionate advocate for the traditional family, the sanctity of life, and parental rights, especially in regard to directing the education of their children. Understanding the importance of passing the gospel baton to the next generation, Mary Ellen loves to encourage and empower parents to raise their children with a biblical worldview.
As a home educator, Mary Ellen served in leadership in the local homeschooling community on various boards, as a tutor in a classical educational community and as a speech and debate coach. Her writing has been featured on Homeschool Compass. She holds a professional certification as a Sexual Risk Avoidance Specialist, which enables her to promote an educational approach based on the public health model of primary prevention, empowering youth to avoid all the risks of pre-marital sexual activity. Through the Massachusetts Informed Parents initiative, she equips parents to protect their children from the harmful sexual ideological content being taught in public schools through Comprehensive Sexuality Education curriculum.
Mary Ellen has served alongside her husband Bill in various church ministries and holds a bachelor’s degree in Missions and Bible. In her leisure time, she enjoys spending time with her family, photography, relaxing by the ocean, reading, and watching British drama.
Sam Whiting is a committed Christian who shares MFI’s mission of advocating for life, marriage, and our fundamental freedoms. Sam serves as a staff attorney at MFI, handling all legal matters that come through the door.
Before joining MFI, Sam graduated from Grove City College with a degree in history. He then went on to attend George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. During law school, Sam served on the George Mason Law Review, competed as part of the GMU Moot Court team, and became an Alliance Defending Freedom Blackstone Fellow. Upon graduation, Sam worked at a regional law firm in Maine doing civil litigation before starting at MFI.
Sam and his wife Erin live with their dog and two cats. In their spare time, they enjoy hiking, traveling to new places, and spending time with friends and family. Sam is grateful to God for the opportunity to work for an organization that shares his deeply held values and hopes to help MFI become an even more effective advocate for families in the Bay State.
Luz Burgos-Ortiz is an earnest Christian with a strong love and passion for helping marriages and families stay united and healthy. Before joining MFI, Luz spent the past fifteen years of her life assisting individuals and families by providing job readiness training as well as job placement.
Luz and her husband Rafael currently serve as pastors for Arise City Church in Lowell where they tend to the overall needs of their community. In doing so, they support the vision of the church to empower people to seek God, discover freedom and arise to their God-given purpose. Her commitment to the institution of family is therefore reinforced and strengthened through her service at Arise City Church as well as Massachusetts Family Institute.
Mariah Newell is a committed follower of Christ with a passion for family policy. Originally from Colorado, Mariah graduated from Colorado Christian University with degrees in Politics and Strategic Communications. During her time at CCU, she served on the leadership team of the Students for Life club and worked to influence Colorado policy at the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. Mariah also interned in Washington DC with Family Research Council, an experience that solidified her desire to be in family policy long term. Mariah specializes in digital media communications including digital marketing, social media content creation, and public relations.
Mariah and her husband are avid lovers of the outdoors and can be found hiking, biking, snowshoeing, and skiing whenever possible. Both notoriously competitive, Luke and Mariah are big sports fans and extremely loyal to their Colorado home teams. New to the New England area, they look forward to investing in their community and eventually raising a family in their new home.
Marci Anthony, a committed Christian, has been involved in education for her entire adult life. She earned her teaching certification at Carnegie-Mellon University, and went on to earn a Masters Degree in Education (Secondary Counseling) at Northeastern University. She has worked as an Instructional Aide for special needs students, and then homeschooled her own seven children through high school. She helped establish and lead the North Shore Home School Support Group, as well as serving on the board of Mass HOPE, the state-wide Christian Homeschool Organization. She has since worked as a private tutor, and at New Hope Courses, a school serving homeschool families.
As an active member in her church, Marci has served as a VBS teacher on several mission trips, a Bible Study leader, Sunday School teacher, and Welcome Team member. Marci is a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. In her spare time, she loves taking long walks, biking and kayaking. She is very concerned about the direction of education in our country and is eager to assist Massachusetts parents in accessing the information they need to make wise decisions about their children’s education.
Jess Richardson is a devoted Christian with a passion for advocacy and public policy, especially as it relates to the sanctity of human life and the protection of children in our public educational system. She believes that being salt and light in today’s culture means not being afraid to speak up, and as Robert Sirico once said, “…we must be ruthless with ideas and gentle with people.”
Over the last 20+ years Jess has been a full-time homemaker, a private school classroom aide, a church ministry leader, a municipal school board member, and an employee of her local library. Each of these roles have given her a unique perspective on the challenges faced by families today and the importance of parental involvement, both in public life and in the home. She believes that equipping busy parents with the resources they need to advocate for their own children is of paramount importance. She is thrilled to join with MFI on this critical mission.
Jess is married to a public-school teacher/pastor and is the mother to two adult children. In addition to spending time with her family and friends, she enjoys reading (mostly non-fiction), dusty antiques, spirited debates, spicy food, being outdoors, and creative writing.
Bill is a man of deep Christian faith dedicated to living out his faith to the fullest every day. He views the Bible as the final authority on all things. Bill believes that God has called him to be a missionary in the public square.
He currently serves MFI by directing MFI legislative efforts in the State House in Boston. He also provides campaign trainings, Advocate Leadership Trainings for local grassroots initiatives, and MFI’s School Committee Academy.
He has over 25 years’ experience driving public policy in local, state, and federal government while working as the Chief Economist for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, Finance and Policy Director for the Coalition for Marriage and Family, and the Executive Director for Renew Massachusetts Coalition as well as serving for 15 years on his local school committee.
In his position with Renew Massachusetts Coalition, he has lead grassroots education and mobilization efforts to engage elected officials to act and vote consistently with policy objectives and to remove them from office if they don’t. To that end Bill has recruited, worked for, and consulted with many candidates running for state representative, state senate, and school committees.
Bill is a professional parliamentarian and has a PhD in agricultural economics. He has been married to his wife, Sue, for 35 years, and he and Sue have raised 6 children.
A devoted disciple of Jesus Christ, Adam cherishes his loving wife, Joni, and is a grateful father of four. His passion lies in generational discipleship, a calling he has pursued for over two decades as a pastor and Christian educator in Massachusetts.
Adam was the principal/director of ViewPoint Christian Academy in Southbridge, MA, and has been an adjunct professor of the Bible since 2019. Now serving as a pastor in Agawam, he is at the forefront of developing innovative Christian education options, mentoring numerous schools, church-based learning centers, and homeschool cooperatives in Massachusetts and nationwide. Adam is MFI’s senior education consultant equipping and empowering pastors and parents to reclaim the education of the next generation.
Adam holds a B.A. in Christian education, an M.A. in theology, and a Ph.D. in executive Christian leadership. He is currently pursuing a D.Min. in discipleship, focusing on coaching Massachusetts churches in the development of Christian education discipleship programs.
Michele is a devoted follower of Jesus Christ who believes in prioritizing her faith and serving her family. Passionate about Christian education, she has spent the last 15 years working in education as a home educator, at a private school library, leading a parent association at a private University Model school, and as the founder and leader of multiple homeschool cooperatives. She has also assisted in the establishment of two church-based learning centers. Michele is particularly interested in helping students understand the richness of history, worldview, critical thinking, apologetics, financial literacy, and the Constitution. Michele assists MFI in its efforts to empower more parents to take charge of their children’s education.
Married to her husband Phil for over 20 years, they serve together in local church ministry. Michele and her husband have two grown children. She enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, early mornings at the beach, Christian concerts, and outdoor activities. Michele is intentional to live in the moment and set and achieve purposeful goals to make a difference in her relationships, church, and community.
