Our Staff

Noah Berger is President of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, an independent research organization that provides timely, trusted and accessible analysis of how state tax, budget and economic policies effect low and moderate income people in Massachusetts.

Prior to joining MassBudget, Noah served as Counsel and Policy Director for the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means from 1993 to 1996 and as Policy Director for Senate President Tom Birmingham from 1996 to 2002.

Noah writes and speaks on state tax, budget, and economic policies, and is frequently quoted in news stories on those topics.

Noah graduated from Harvard College and has a JD from Harvard Law School.

Jessie Colbert is the Assistant Development Director for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Prior to working for MassBudget, Jessie was the Foundation and Corporate Relations Officer at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where she managed the Museum's Corporate Membership Program and assisted with foundation, corporate, and government grants.

Prior to that, Jessie was the Legislative Aide to State Representative Ellen Story of Amherst, where she worked on a variety of issues of importance to low- and moderate-income people, including public higher education and human services.

Jessie received her Bachelor of Arts from UMass Amherst.

Evan Horowitz is the Director of Communications & Technology for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Before joining MassBudget, Evan taught at Princeton, Brandeis, Stanford, and the University of North Texas. He has also worked as a research director, web designer, systems administrator, and policy analyst. In 2010-11, he was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.

Evan holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University, a B.A. from Brown University, and a certificate in cuisine from the Cordon Bleu.

Katrina McCarty is Director of Development & Finance for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Katrina has worked as a policy analyst for Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and as Staff Director to former State Senator Cheryl Jacques. In these roles she worked with diverse constituencies to further budget, policy, and organizational priorities and conducted presentations and trainings on related issues.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Drew University and a Master's in Public Administration from Northeastern University.

Sarah Nolan is a Senior Policy Analyst focusing on health care financing, along with other state fiscal and economic issues.

As an analyst at MassBudget during 1999-2003 she helped launch MassBudget’s Budget Monitor series. Since then she has served as Senior Researcher and Research Director for the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing in the Massachusetts legislature, where she was part of the team that wrote the Massachusetts health reform law and was responsible for a variety of health financing issues; most recently she worked on implementation of national health reform at the Service Employees International Union in Washington, DC and on federal tax policy at Pew Charitable Trusts.

Sarah holds an A.B. from Smith College, a Ph.D in Classics from Harvard University, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Luc Schuster is a Policy Analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Prior to joining MassBudget, Luc served for two terms as a member of the Cambridge School Committee, helping set district policy, monitor and approve the annual budget, and supervise the superintendent.

While serving on the School Committee, he taught young adults at GED Plus in Roxbury and then worked as a Public Policy Organizer with the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education. Luc has also done research for the Strategy Center at Oregon Metro, the directly-elected regional government representing the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region, and worked with the American Friends Service Committee in Concord, New Hampshire.

Luc holds a Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College and a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Mary Tittmann is Director of Outreach at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

She focuses on environmental affairs and Housing and Community Development.

Before joining MBPC Mary worked with State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios first as his legislative director and more recently as chief of staff. Mary came to Beacon Hill through her work in local politics when she moved to Cambridge 15 years ago.

She has volunteered on numerous state and local political campaigns, helped found a parent's group for the city's public schools Cambridge United for Education, and served as Executive Director of the Cambridge Civic Association.

Mary has a B.A. from Connecticut College and an M.A. in International Political Economy from the University of Chicago.

Nancy Wagman is Kids Count Project Director at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Nancy produces the MassBudget Brief series on Budget Transparency and Balance, and is a regular contributor to MassBudget's Budget Monitors.

Nancy's previous experience includes running WIC programs in Boston, working as a policy and program analyst at the state Department of Public Health, and serving as the planning director of an elder homecare agency where she was responsible for assessing community service needs, planning service delivery, granting funds to local agencies, and legislative grassroots advocacy.

Nancy was the Senior Editor and Assistant Director of the Massachusetts Senate Post Audit and Oversight Bureau, where she worked on reports evaluating a variety of state agencies and programs.

Nancy holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, and an M.C.P. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Owen Walker is MassBudget's Office Manager and Bookkeeper.

Owen is a retired lawyer. From 1980 to 2005, he was Federal Public Defender for the District of Massachusetts.

He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Kurt Wise is a Policy Analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Prior to joining MassBudget, Kurt worked at the Maine Center for Economic Policy as the State Fiscal Analyst. In Maine, Kurt focused on state tax policy and the ongoing revenue shortfalls in the state budget. Kurt also analyzed the economic impacts of state environmental and energy policy, issues surrounding health care coverage for health care workers, and workforce development issues.

Prior to his work in Maine, Kurt worked at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analyzing the state budget.

Kurt holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy Analysis from Duke University, and a B.A. in Anthropology from UMass, Amherst.