WITNESS STONES PROJECT - Key Persons
Brayton Price received a Bachelors of Science in History from Portland State University and is a Public History graduate student at Central Connecticut State University. Researching and bringing history to light for everyone is what makes history his passion. Working with the Witness Stones Project is a great opportunity to do just that.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of Global Impact Citizenship at BNY Mellon
Courtney King Murphy is the Director of Global Impact Citizenship at BNY Mellon.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
- Member of the Executives Team
Dennis Culliton, M.A.T., C.A.G.S., is the Founder and Executive Director of the Witness Stones Project. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps before attending college at the University of Massachusetts, where he received degrees in anthropology and economics. After a decade working for the federal government, he went on to Quinnipiac University, graduating with a Master of Arts in Teaching in history. While in his third decade of teaching, he started the Witness Stones Project with his students in Guilford, Connecticut.
Culliton is the recipient of the Guilford Preservation Alliance's Charles Hubbard Award for his research and public education on local slavery and the Connecticut Council for Social Studies' Special Project Award for developing the innovative curriculum that prepares students to tell the story of the enslaved in their own communities. Culliton was awarded the Shoreline Newspapers' Beacon Award for his work on the Witness Stones Project and for his volunteer service. Dennis is devoted to his wife, Linda, his three adult children, and his grandchildren, Frankie and Joseph.
Donna Dufresne is an educator, teacher, writer, and historian from the "Quiet Corner" of Connecticut. She is a member of the Windham/Willimantic NAACP and currently involved in several historical research projects to educate students and adults about the rich and diverse understory of local history. Her research and writing has helped to shed light on the soldiers of the Connecticut 29 th Colored Regiment in Windham County who were of African and Nipmuc descent, and some of their ancestors who were enslaved in the region during the 18 th century. Ms. Dufresne has worked with the Wyndham Land Trust to install a memorial stone for the enslaved Africans buried in the Randall/Higginbotham Cemetery in Pomfret and is writing a book about how we can interpret American History through a local lens.
Ms. Dufresne is a retired teacher with over 35 years of teaching experience and a master's in Gifted Education. She is currently the owner of Out of the Box Learning, offering enrichment programs to the home school community, and after school programs in theater and songwriting based on historical, social justice, and civil rights content.
Grace Farrell Zimmer is a former editor and publisher and President Emerita of the Hyland House Museum.
Contact Grace Zimmer.
John Sanzo is a Public History graduate student at Central Connecticut State University. He is also a Long-Term Social Studies Substitute Teacher and Para-educator for West Hartford Public Schools.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executives Team
- Director of Outreach
Joy Burns, PA, MMSc, is a Physician Assistant at the Yale Cancer Center. She is a member of the Amistad Committee and the Yale and Slavery Working Group.
Julie Hughes earned her PhD in South Asian history from the University of Texas at Austin. She has published with Harvard University Press, in various academic journals, and in the popular press on topics ranging from tiger hunting in colonial India through Black history in Wilton, Connecticut. She is archivist at the Wilton History Room and the Dave Brubeck Collection, and volunteer archivist at the Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co. Collection in Redding and at the Lyme Local History Archives. Originally from Seattle, she now lives in Newtown with her husband and slightly too many cats.
Kate Klein is a political science and sociology undergraduate student at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Kate has had "change the world" on her to-do list since she was in fourth grade, and working with the Witness Stones Project is a first step.
Kevin Brett Jennings is an American educator, author, and administrator. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS through impact litigation, societal education, and public policy work. He was the assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education from July 6, 2009 - June 2011.
Lauren Cutuli is an educational and non-profit consultant.
Job Titles:
- Director of Operations
- Member of the Executives Team
Liz Lightfoot serves as Director of Operations for the Witness Stones Project. A former journalist, she has worked in education for the last 15 years, holding a variety of roles, including overseeing communications and alumni relations, serving as a history teacher, and facilitating the Witness Stones Project. She also works as a freelance writer. A graduate of Harvard (AB, English and American Literature) and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (MS), Liz lives in Lyme, Connecticut, with her family.
Job Titles:
- Founder and President & CEO of NEGRON Consulting
Michael J. Negrón is the Founder and President & CEO of NEGRON Consulting, focused on leadership development, coaching, diversity initiatives, workshop facilitation, an international Speakers Group and select services to the nonprofit sector. Consulting has included projects with The Travelers Companies, Priceline.com, Aetna, Fortune 50 Telecom & Consumer firms, McGraw-Hill Companies, Urban League, Habitat for Humanity, GE, Hispanics in Philanthropy, Pitney Bowes, Fortune Pharma & Energy firms, Cartus, Otis Elevator, and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.
Nicole Thomas took on an interest in local history almost 20 years ago, after her mother purchased a historic home with an 1895 plaque. In her spare time, she can be found digging through historic archives aiming to find out more about New London's most fascinating stories. A native of New London, Nicole also works for the Hempsted Houses, a set of historic homes from 1678 and 1759 respectively. Both homes are owned and operated by Connecticut Landmarks. In addition, Nicole serves as the Personnel Manager and Administrative Assistant for the New London Homeless Hospitality Center in New London.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Secretary
- MLS, Is a Retired Teacher and Librarian
Ruth Mercedes is a rising senior at Haverford College double majoring in History and Spanish. A Ridgefield, Connecticut, local, she first began working with the Project through volunteering at the Ridgefield Historical Society. Ruth's research interests include redefining archives as a space of pedagogical promise, rather than inaccessibility. She is particularly excited to explore the intersections between archival work and education.
Sylvia Gafford-Alexander is retired from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, Organizational and Skill Development (DSS) where she served as the Executive Program Director.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income
Ted Ruddock is a Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Private Wealth, Fixed Income Capital Markets (FICM) with Raymond James. He is a municipal bond expert with experience spanning five decades. He was a member of the firm's Investment Strategy Committee.
Ted is a frequent speaker at financial advisory conferences with a focus on current developments in the municipal bond market. Prior to joining Raymond James in 2011, he was in management consulting and spent 20 years at MBIA Insurance Corporation, as credit risk officer and later as the firm's Chief Learning Officer responsible for executive development. He began his career in political risk forecasting.
Ted and his wife Susan have been committed to their communities and instilled in their now adult children a responsibility for sharing their "time, talents, treasure" to serve others. They created a donor advised fund through the Fairfield County Community Foundation to support various local, regional and national philanthropic organizations, including the Witness Stones Project and Slave Dwelling Project. In additional to various volunteer activities, Ted was previously a board member and President of the Volunteer Center of Westchester. He served on the MBIA Corporate Foundation and helped establish the firm's philanthropic priorities. At Raymond James, he is an advisor to the firm's FICM Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.
Ted received a BA in Policy Studies from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Management at Syracuse. Ted and Susan reside in Suffield, CT-home to four Witness Stones!
Teresa A. Vega is a genealogist, family historian, and blogger (www.radiantrootsboricuabranches.com). Teresa has been able to trace several family lines back to colonial New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Her research specialties include both African-American and Puerto Rican Genealogy in general, Free Blacks in the Northeast, The Afro-Dutch Cultural Legacy in NY/NJ, and the NY-Madagascar Slave Trade. She is a member of both the NJ and NY Chapters of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAGHS), sits on the Board of the Rye (NY) Historical Society, and is affiliated with Rutgers University Public History Project. In addition. she is also the co-administrator of FamilyTree DNA's Malagasy Roots Project. She holds Bachelor's Degrees in both Anthropology and Asian Studies from Bowdoin College.