2026 Conference Program
Revolutionary Valley RTC Annual Conference
“The Current of Change”
Wednesday, April 30 · 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Billerica, Massachusetts
7:00 – 8:00 AM
Registration & Networking – LIVE BAND
Check in, grab coffee, and connect with fellow partners before we kick things off.
Act 1 — The Current Behind Us
8:00 AM — Welcome & Opening Remarks
Town of Billerica & Brian Bradbury, Executive Director
8:05 AM — Opening Video
8:07 AM — iREV: Step Into History, Stay for More
Lexington
Act 2 — The Current Around Us
8:15 AM — Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism
Kate Fox
8:30 AM — Legislative Guests
8:40 AM — Beth Williams, Board Chair
8:45 AM — Haunted Lowell
8:50 AM — Year in Review
9:05 AM — Inclusivity & Accessibility Tourism Panel
Moderator: Charles G. Baldwin, Mass Cultural Council
Diego Leonardo, Executive Director, LatinX Center for Empowerment · Elizabeth M. Cannon, Executive Director, Lowell Association for the Blind · Alexandria Eberhardt, Executive Director, MA LGBT Chamber of Commerce · Jake Haendel, Founder of Ahoi & Host of Podcast Blink
Midpoint — Music & Live Performance
A celebration of the region’s musical roots
9:30 AM — Music Revolution & Guitar Museum
9:36 AM — Evan Goodrow — Live Performance
9:55 AM — What’s Happening: Town & City Festival & Points of Light
Act 3 — The Current We Build Together
9:59 AM — FIFA World Cup Watch Parties
Watch parties happening across the region, bringing communities together.
10:04 AM — Hidden Treasures Festival
Over 100 free events across 45 communities — partnership at scale.
10:06 AM — Ahoi Partnership: Accessibility in Action
10:20 AM — Abigail Adams & Revolutionary Women
10:35 AM — Kinetic Sculpture Race
10:45 AM — Community Connection Panel
Moderator: Jessica O’Hearn, Director, Mosaic Lowell
Lee Viliesis, Executive Director, Lowell Folk Festival · Chris Hayes, Founder, DIY Lowell · Stephanie Cronin, Executive Director, Middlesex 3 Coalition
Act 4 — The Current Ahead
11:20 AM — Lowell Folk Festival
11:24 AM — Jazz & Blues Festival
11:50 AM — Closing Remarks
Let’s keep the current moving.
Revolutionary Valley Regional Tourism Council
Representing 21 cities and towns in northeastern Massachusetts
revolutionaryvalley.org
Kate Fox, Executive Director of Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism
Kate Fox is the executive director at the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism in the Healey-Driscoll Administration. A seasoned tourism professional with 25 years of experience, Kate was previously the executive director of Destination Salem, the city’s Office of Tourism & Cultural Affairs, where she oversaw year-round destination marketing efforts for nearly two decades.
Beth Williams, Board Chair of Revolutionary Valley RTC
Beth Williams is the Board Chair of Revolutionary Valley RTC and is the Tourism Manager for the Town of Concord.
Charles G. Baldwin, Mass Cultural Council
Charles Baldwin is the Program Officer for Access and Inclusion at the Mass Cultural Council. He leads the Agency’s Universal Participation Initiative (UP), a community of practice in inclusive design; hosts monthly Access Office Hours with artists, activists, and peer leaders; contributes to the development of the Agency’s d/Deaf and Disability Equity Plan in response to the Open Door Arts’ reports: Towards a Culture of Access I & II; and is an instigator for the Arts Access Hub. Charles serves on the advisory board at Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education; the executive committee of ADA/504 coordinators at the National Assembly of State Art Agencies; the VSA International LEAD Conference (Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability); and Boston’s Wicked Queer Film Festival. Out of the office, Charles is an illustrator, stage designer, and puppeteer.
Diego Leonardo, Latinx Center
Diego Leonardo is a social and biotech entrepreneur, community leader, and educator based in Greater Lowell, Massachusetts. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Latinx Community Center for Empowerment (LCCE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to elevating the socioeconomic status of Latinx communities through education, workforce development, civic participation, and arts and culture. Under his leadership, LCCE has secured over $1 million in funding and served more than 300 families annually across the Greater Merrimack Valley.
Diego is also the Co-Founder and President of The Lab Hubs, a Boston-based concierge lab operations company supporting early-stage biotech and biopharma startups. He holds an MBA in Health Care Sector from Boston University and brings over a decade of experience spanning life sciences, nonprofit leadership, and entrepreneurship.
A passionate educator, Diego teaches Introduction to Entrepreneurship at Middlesex Community College and Operations Management at Stonehill College’s Meehan School of Business. He is also the host of Latineando, a podcast exploring the Latino experience in the United States.
Diego’s work is rooted in a core belief: that access to opportunity should never depend on the language you speak or the country you were born in. He is committed to building a more inclusive economy — one entrepreneur, one family, and one community at a time.
Alexandria Eberhardt, Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce
Alexandria Eberhardt brings a wealth of experience in economic development and community leadership to her role at the MA LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Her career journey showcases a commitment to fostering growth and collaboration across various sectors. Alexandria most recently served as President & CEO of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, where she honed her skills in business advocacy and community engagement across 14 communities. Prior to her chamber role, Alexandria worked as a Director of Industry Partnerships in Rhode Island. In this role, she focused on building workforce development pipelines for growing industries, both at the state and national levels. With over 15 years of experience as an educator, Alexandria firmly believes in creating opportunities that strengthen the synergy between economic and workforce development. Active within the community, she is a part of both the Boston Women’s Flag Football League and Providence Gay Flag Football League, US Ambassador and board member for the International Women’s Flag Football Association, season ticket holder to the Providence Performing Arts Center, sits on the Massachusetts 1st Middlesex Small Towns Collaborative, and is a board member of the Merrimack Valley Workforce Board and the North of Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Jake Haendel, Ahoi
ft him in a coma-like state known as locked-in syndrome. Though he appeared unconscious, Jake was fully aware—unable to move, speak, or breathe on his own. Since beginning his extraordinary recovery in 2021, Jake has become a sought-after speaker, writer, and advocate for disability and mental health. He is the inspiration behind Ahoi, a startup dedicated to making the world more accessible, and the voice behind the viral podcast Blink , named Apple Podcasts Best of 2025. Jake speaks candidly about trauma, resilience, and the power of the human spirit to overcome the impossible—offering a message of hope that resonates with anyone facing adversity. Learn more at www.jakehaendel.com or follow him on Instagram and YouTube.
Elizabeth Cannon, Lowell Association for the Blind
Elizabeth Cannon has been the Executive Director at the Lowell Association for the Blind (LAB) for twenty five years. She holds a Master of Business Administration in Leadership from Franklin Pierce College and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in Public Administration. She previously worked at Community Teamwork, Inc and Merrimack Valley Catholic Charities as a program director. She is a member of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind Regional Advisory Board and is currently the President of the Non Profit Alliance of Greater Lowell.
She and her husband Glenn reside in Lowell and are both lifelong Lowell residents.
Evan Goodrow, Songwriter
New England based Songwriter Evan Goodrow has written and produced 18 Recordings, played shows in Europe and Asia and maintained a 10 year residency in the island of St Barths. He’s been nominated for various music awards, even won a few, and been in the Amazon.com’s top 10 digital download charts, and has maintained a populated resume of support positions, playing with and next to various greats like B.B. King, Jimmy Buffett, Buddy Guy, Los Lonely Boys, G.E. Smith (a personal guitar hero), Peter Frampton, Robert Cray, Rusted Root as well as guesting on a tour with the Yardbirds.
“Pretty fly for a white guy” -The Philadelphia Times.
“Exceptional!” -B.B. King
“Sings and grooves with the likes of Curtis Mayfield”
-The Noise Magazine (Boston, MA)
Jessica O’Hearn, Director, Mosaic Lowell
Before joining Mosaic, O’Hearn served as the Executive Director of the Brookline Arts Center. Prior to that, she served as Artistic Director and Curator of the Juliet Art Museum in Charlestown, West Virginia. O’Hearn earned her MFA at MassArt, BFA at Lesley University, and a certificate in nonprofit leadership from the University of Notre Dame.
Lee Viliesis, Executive Director, Lowell Folk Festival
Chris Hayes, Founder, DIY Lowell
Christopher Glenn Hayes is a Lowell, Massachusetts–based urban planner, community organizer, and co‑founder of DIY Lowell, a grassroots group dedicated to empowering residents to create community projects and events
Stephanie Cronin, Executive Director, Middlesex 3 Coalition
Stephanie Cronin is the Executive Director of the Middlesex 3 Coalition, a regional partnership of nine Middlesex County communities — Bedford, Billerica, Burlington, Chelmsford, Lexington, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, and Westford — focused on fostering economic development, job growth, and community quality of life