Leaders

Mary Ellen O’Loughlin, Executive Director, is a strategic leader with more than 30 years of management experience in both for- and non-profit environments. Her unique ability to conceptualize and execute multi-dimensional initiatives is of particular value as she brings diverse groups together to collectively accomplish broad-based change. Mary Ellen artfully generates strategic vision while simultaneously deconstructing concept into action resulting in successful execution. Her cross-functional strengths span marketing, communications, fundraising, arts management, technology implementation, quality assurance, operations, and compliance. Mary Ellen has overseen the implementation of a diverse portfolio of initiatives and has served on numerous non-profit boards and, as she herself is a survivor, is deeply committed to the Foundation for Survivors of Abuse’s mission.  

Marci A. Hamilton is one of the United States’ leading church/state scholars and holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, and a tireless national advocate for the protection of children from sex abuse, abuse, medical neglect, pornography and trafficking. She specializes in religious organizations and individuals who violate the law; the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses; the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and its state counterparts; and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

Marci clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Judge Edward R. Becker. She successfully challenged the constitutionality of RFRA at the Supreme Court in Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), and is considered the leading national scholar and advocate for the victims of the RFRAs and RLUIPA.

Marci is the author of God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty; Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children; God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law; and the co-editor of Fundamentalism, Politics and the Law. She is a bi-monthly columnist for www.justia.com/verdict and hosts www.RFRAperils.com, which tracks free exercise statutes in all 50 states and the federal government as well as www.sol-reform.com, which tracks the movement for legislative reform of statutes of limitation for child sex abuse survivors in all 50 states.

Marci has been honored with the National Crime Victim Bar Association’s Frank Carrington Champion of Civil Justice Award, 2012; the Freethought Heroine Award, 2014; the E. Nathaniel Gates Award for outstanding public advocacy and scholarship, 2008; and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Pro Bono Legal Service to veterans groups, 2001. She also was honored as one of the 2012 Pennsylvania Women of the Year. She received the American Humanist Association 2015 Religious Liberty Award in May 2015.

Tera Brown is a digital marketing and social media specialist. She has worked with a wide variety of clients including Microsoft, Canon Business Process Services, and is currently employed by WeddingWire. She holds a degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology, which drives her ongoing interest in understanding the influence of growing digital cultures. She uses this background and interest to create a safe and informative community for the supporters of the Foundation for Survivors of Abuse within social media.