Board of Directors

Sam Ades, Board President

Sam serves as The Right to Immigration Institute's Board President and has been part of the organization since 2017. He was trained as part of TRII’s inaugural class of advocates, representing clients in asylum proceedings as TRII’s Case Manager, and directed TRII’s Legal Immigration Training until 2020. His passion for advocacy comes from his family, who were resettled as Egyptian refugees before Sam was born. He has been on TRII’s Board since 2019 and most recently served as the Board’s Treasurer. Sam graduated from Brandeis University in 2021 and is currently the Paralegal to the State Solicitor in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

Matthew Phelan, Board Vice President

Matthew is an experienced attorney who has worked in private practice in Massachusetts as well as having served as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Budget and Management in St. Thomas, an Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice, and as a staff attorney in various roles for the Federated States of Micronesia. He received his Bachelors of Science degree from Boston University and his J.D. from New England School of Law. Matthew joined TRII's team in September 2021 as an Immigration Attorney through the AmeriCorps New American Integration Program and recently joined the Board in 2022.

Lauren Davis, Board Secretary

Lauren recently graduated from Brandeis University with majors in Politics and Hispanic Studies. She has worked with TRII since her freshman year doing casework and translation and was, most recently, President of the Brandeis Student Association for TRII. Lauren has completed the TRII Intensive Training and has applied to become a DOJ Accredited Representative.

Nevan Amer, Board Treasurer

Bio to come!

Genoveva Tavera

Genoveva Tavera is the Community Organizer for WATCH CDC and an active member of the Waltham Latino community with experience in community outreach work. She has educated families on accessing community resources, developed an after-school program for 47 low-income families, created a library to promote bilingual literacy, and coordinated a community crisis response for a missing person. She has international experience in managing multi-cultural events. Genoveva graduated from TRII’s Immigration Legal Training Program in 2022 and has been a member of the board since 2019.

Kalkidan Baweke