Ian came to MFI after serving as the Head of Litigation for Cornerstone, MFI’s counterpart in New Hampshire. A prolific independent scholar, Ian has written law review articles and other academic work on law and religion. As Cornerstone’s Head of Litigation, he successfully represented churches and individuals in religious liberty, free speech, and religious discrimination cases. Working with New Hampshire legislators, Ian also drafted and successfully lobbied for multiple bills, including legislation to protect religious and civil liberties.
Ian is a 2018 graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he was an avid competitor in moot court competitions. He completed a trial court clerkship in Staunton, Virginia before working in general civil litigation with a regional law firm in New Hampshire. As a law student, he interned with the General Counsel’s Office for Cru and with the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office in Manchester, New Hampshire. Ian enjoys reading about history, theology, and technology and is a fitness fanatic, practicing boxing and saber fencing.
A devout Christian, faithful husband and loving father, Andrew Beckwith deeply shares our family values, most especially the sanctity of life and the definition of marriage. Andrew led MFI as President from 2014 to 2023, overseeing tremendous growth of the organization and its mission. He continues to serve on MFI’s board as President Emeritus.
Andrew is a graduate of Gordon College and the University of Minnesota Law School and serves as an allied attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom focusing on religious liberty cases. He also serves as a judge advocate in the United States Marine Corps Reserve where he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Prior to coming to MFI, he litigated immigration cases for the Boston office of the Department of Homeland Security. In June of 2023, Andrew accepted the role of Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff at Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina. He, his wife Karen, and their four children live in Anderson, SC.
Michael King is a committed follower of Jesus and recognizes that the Christian’s exhortation to be salt and light includes both extending the gospel of Jesus as well as standing up for the righteous precepts of the Bible in the private and public square. He agrees with the founding fathers that for a civil democracy to survive, it must have at its foundation a morality based on the Bible. Michael is husband to his treasured wife, Ashley and father to five wonderful children. Previously, before coming to MFI as their Director of Community Alliances, Michael served as Family Ministries Director at a local church and Principal of a K – 12 Christian school. Michael has his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Messiah College and Master’s degree in Christian Leadership from Liberty University.
Michael looks forward to continue to network with local pastors and leaders in the church to educate and motivate people to stand up for righteousness in the public square. The main focus to accomplish this task will be to promote MFI’s groundbreaking book, Engage the Bay State, which clearly defines the culture war we find ourselves in today between the precepts of the Bible and secular human thinking. Michael and the team at MFI hope to inspire Christians to engage with their local government leaders and inspire Biblical decisions to be made in regard to such foundational cultural institutions like marriage, life and religious liberty. On a side note, Michael enjoys spending time with his family, a competitive game of basketball and fishing.
Mary Ellen Siegler is a committed follower of Jesus, devoted wife to her husband Bill, and the mother of three wonderful children. She is a passionate advocate for the traditional family, the sanctity of life, and parental rights, especially in regard to directing the education of their children. Understanding the importance of passing the gospel baton to the next generation, Mary Ellen loves to encourage and empower parents to raise their children with a biblical worldview.
As a home educator, Mary Ellen served in leadership in the local homeschooling community on various boards, as a tutor in a classical educational community and as a speech and debate coach. Her writing has been featured on Homeschool Compass. She holds a professional certification as a Sexual Risk Avoidance Specialist, which enables her to promote an educational approach based on the public health model of primary prevention, empowering youth to avoid all the risks of pre-marital sexual activity. Through the Massachusetts Informed Parents initiative, she equips parents to protect their children from the harmful sexual ideological content being taught in public schools through Comprehensive Sexuality Education curriculum.
Mary Ellen has served alongside her husband Bill in various church ministries and holds a bachelor’s degree in Missions and Bible. In her leisure time, she enjoys spending time with her family, photography, relaxing by the ocean, reading, and watching British drama.
Kent is passionate about the call on his life to serve Jesus Christ wherever he is led, whether it be to his family, church, or in the marketplace of ideas and business relationships. Anyone who knows him recognizes his passion for gospel truth and the desire to grow, proclaim, and encourage others to live it. Through the years both he and his wife, Kathy, have faithfully served in various leadership roles in the local church.
Prior to Kent becoming the Director of Advancement at MFI, he worked in the private sector for over 30 years in business development. This has provided him with broad experience in client relations management, new business creation and marketing. Along with his professional career, he has also held significant roles in municipal government and volunteer organizations. It is his desire to use these gifts and abilities to expand the mission of MFI in supporting programs and events that deepen engagement and meaningful collaboration between MFI and like-minded supporters who are passionate about the sanctity of life, traditional family, parental rights, and religious liberty.
Both Kent and Kathy enjoy hiking, short rides on the Harley, visiting their adult children and novel places to experience.
Sam Whiting is a committed Christian who shares MFI’s mission of advocating for life, marriage, and our fundamental freedoms. Sam serves as a staff attorney at MFI, assisting MFI president Andrew Beckwith with all legal matters that come through the door.
Before joining MFI, Sam graduated from Grove City College with a degree in history. He then went on to attend George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. During law school, Sam served on the George Mason Law Review, competed as part of the GMU Moot Court team, and became an Alliance Defending Freedom Blackstone Fellow. Upon graduation, Sam worked at a regional law firm in Maine doing civil litigation before starting at MFI.
Sam and his wife Erin live with their dog and two cats. In their spare time, they enjoy hiking, traveling to new places, and spending time with friends and family. Sam is grateful to God for the opportunity to work for an organization that shares his deeply held values and hopes to help MFI become an even more effective advocate for families in the Bay State.
Luz Burgos-Ortiz is an earnest Christian with a strong love and passion for helping marriages and families stay united and healthy. Before joining MFI, Luz spent the past fifteen years of her life assisting individuals and families by providing job readiness training as well as job placement.
Luz and her husband Rafael currently serve as pastors for Arise City Church in Lowell where they tend to the overall needs of their community. In doing so, they support the vision of the church to empower people to seek God, discover freedom and arise to their God-given purpose. Her commitment to the institution of family is therefore reinforced and strengthened through her service at Arise City Church as well as Massachusetts Family Institute.
Mariah Newell is a committed follower of Christ with a passion for family policy. Originally from Colorado, Mariah graduated from Colorado Christian University with degrees in Politics and Strategic Communications. During her time at CCU, she served on the leadership team of the Students for Life club and worked to influence Colorado policy at the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. Mariah also interned in Washington DC with Family Research Council, an experience that solidified her desire to be in family policy long term. Mariah specializes in digital media communications including digital marketing, social media content creation, and public relations.
Mariah and her husband Luke are avid lovers of the outdoors and can be found hiking, biking, snowshoeing, and skiing whenever possible. Both notoriously competitive, Luke and Mariah are big sports fans and extremely loyal to their Colorado home teams. New to the New England area, they look forward to investing in their community and eventually raising a family in their new home.
Marci Anthony, a committed Christian, has been involved in education for her entire adult life. She earned her teaching certification at Carnegie-Mellon University, and went on to earn a Masters Degree in Education (Secondary Counseling) at Northeastern University. She has worked as an Instructional Aide for special needs students, and then homeschooled her own seven children through high school. She helped establish and lead the North Shore Home School Support Group, as well as serving on the board of Mass HOPE, the state-wide Christian Homeschool Organization. She has since worked as a private tutor, and at New Hope Courses, a school serving homeschool families.
As an active member in her church, Marci has served as a VBS teacher on several mission trips, a Bible Study leader, Sunday School teacher, and Welcome Team member. Marci is a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. In her spare time, she loves taking long walks, biking and kayaking. She is very concerned about the direction of education in our country and is eager to assist Massachusetts parents in accessing the information they need to make wise decisions about their children’s education.
Amanda Garcia has a deep love for the Lord and His people. She is a devoted wife to her husband Jonathan and a mother of two young children. She has experience working in Christian education (Pre-K – 1st grade) and has ventured into missionary work and travel through different parts of the world. Amanda currently serves at Family Life Church in Stoneham and has been involved in women and children’s ministries for many years. Professionally, she has experience in business, marketing and sales.
Her most enjoyable time in service is alongside her husband as they enjoy the creative arts and ministering to the youth. Having a testimony of her own healing and freedom, she desires to fulfill the Lord’s call in bringing His Good News to the broken hearted. Amanda’s deep conviction is to see the Gospel be a Light unto the nations, not hidden from the most important fabrics of society. A foundational scripture she has clung to throughout her journey is found in Isaiah 60:1-2 “Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” She is excited to work with MFI to help connect people and bring communities together for the purpose of strengthening faith, family, and bringing glory to God.
Jess Richardson is a devoted Christian with a passion for advocacy and public policy, especially as it relates to the sanctity of human life and the protection of children in our public educational system. She believes that being salt and light in today’s culture means not being afraid to speak up, and as Robert Sirico once said, “…we must be ruthless with ideas and gentle with people.”
Over the last 20+ years Jess has been a full-time homemaker, a private school classroom aide, a church ministry leader, a municipal school board member, and an employee of her local library. Each of these roles have given her a unique perspective on the challenges faced by families today and the importance of parental involvement, both in public life and in the home. She believes that equipping busy parents with the resources they need to advocate for their own children is of paramount importance. She is thrilled to join with MFI on this critical mission.
Jess is married to a public-school teacher/pastor and is the mother to two adult children. In addition to spending time with her family and friends, she enjoys reading (mostly non-fiction), dusty antiques, spirited debates, spicy food, being outdoors, and creative writing.
Bill is a man of deep Christian faith dedicated to living out his faith to the fullest every day. He views the Bible as the final authority on all things. Bill believes that God has called him to be a missionary in the public square.
He currently serves MFI by directing MFI legislative efforts in the State House in Boston. He also provides campaign trainings, Advocate Leadership Trainings for local grassroots initiatives, and MFI’s School Committee Academy.
He has over 25 years’ experience driving public policy in local, state, and federal government while working as the Chief Economist for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, Finance and Policy Director for the Coalition for Marriage and Family, and the Executive Director for Renew Massachusetts Coalition as well as serving for 15 years on his local school committee.
In his position with Renew Massachusetts Coalition, he has lead grassroots education and mobilization efforts to engage elected officials to act and vote consistently with policy objectives and to remove them from office if they don’t. To that end Bill has recruited, worked for, and consulted with many candidates running for state representative, state senate, and school committees.
Bill is a professional parliamentarian and has a PhD in agricultural economics. He has been married to his wife, Sue, for 35 years, and he and Sue have raised 6 children.
