Board of Directors

Mary Hunter, President
Throughout her career, Mary has worked to increase opportunities for low- to moderate-income families through projects including protecting the rights of migrant workers through her work for Southern Migrant Legal Services to advocating for low-income tenants for New York City's Legal Aid Society. Today, Mary directs the Housing Counseling Program for the Housing Initiative Partnership/HIP Services, Inc. In that role, she has overseen the expansion of HIP's Counseling Program to Montgomery County and worked to double its certified counselors providing bilingual assistance to distressed homeowners. She founded the Hispanic Homeownership Outreach Task Force and is on the steering committee of the Capital Area Foreclosure Network. A licensed Maryland attorney, Mary holds a J.D. from Northeastern University and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Kat Hyland, Vice President
Kat is an attorney at the Hyland Law Firm, LLC where she litigates consumer protection cases and works on auto fraud, debt collection, and student loan issues on behalf of consumers. She graduated cum laude from Fordham University with a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy before earning her Master's in Public Policy from The Johns Hopkins University, Institute for Policy Studies.  In 2011, Kat graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law, winning the Community Scholar Award for her work. Kat has also worked as a budget policy analyst for the Maryland State Department of Budget and Management and as a legal fellow for the Baltimore City Law Department and has interned for the New York State Supreme Court, New York State AFL-CIO, Transport Workers Union, AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, Legal Momentum, and the Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Helene Raynaud, Treasurer
Helene Raynaud is Guidewell Financial Solution’s President and CEO. Prior to joining Guidewell Financial, Helene worked at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) for 10 years, most recently as their Chief Operating Officer. During her tenure, Helene was responsible for strategic planning, program and partnership development, and fundraising. Helene also held the position of Senior VP of Business Development where she focused on federal and non-federal grants and programs in the areas of housing counseling, financial counseling, and financial coaching. Prior to the NFCC, Helene worked with Fannie Mae where she developed foreclosure prevention programs with nonprofits, and at American Express in the United Kingdom.

Steve Klitsch, Secretary
Steve is president and owner of Hire Me, LLC (MD HIC 88329) providing home improvement services in Montgomery and Fredrick counties. He is very active with the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). Currently, he is the NARI Mid-Maryland Chapter President. Steve has represented Maryland homeowners, as an expert witness, in cases involving home improvement fraud and breach of contract. His passion is to lower consumer complaints against home improvement contractors and raise consumer awareness about home improvement fraud. Steve has been in the home improvement field for over forty years. Steve has Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and a Master of Distance Education and E-learning both from the University of Maryland University College.

Sandy Comenetz
Sandy Comenetz is a financial services attorney.  She has worked at federal banking agencies, where she held a variety of leadership positions, and in private practice.  She has served on the board of the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau, worked with two state consumer protection divisions, and provided pro bono assistance to numerous individuals. She is committed to consumer protection and to making financial education available to everyone.  In 2018, she co-founded the Anne Arundel Financial Education Coalition.  She received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was Articles Editor of the Maryland Law Review, and was a law clerk to the Hon. Joseph C. Howard, U.S. District Court for Maryland.

Cathy Feingold
Cathy Feingold is a leading advocate on global worker rights issues. As International Director of the AFL-CIO, Cathy is a committed and passionate advocate, strategic campaigner and policy expert. Cathy brings more than twenty years of experience in global worker and human rights issues and economic policy with a focus on trade union rights, women rights, trade and worker rights and global economic justice. She has appeared on numerous television and radio shows and has testified before several committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate on various policy topics. Her work in both global and grassroots arenas reflect her commitment to strengthening the voice of working people in the workplace, communities and global policy debates.

Richard S. Gordon
Richard is a principal partner at Gordon, Wolf & Carney, a prominent class action law firm in Towson. He has more than 20 years of experience as a litigation and trial lawyer representing consumers, the poor and the underrepresented. Since the beginning of his legal career in 1989, Mr. Gordon has taken on the causes of underdogs, against the government and corporations throughout the United States. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Gordon has served as Lead Counsel in dozens of complex and class action cases on behalf of consumers, minorities, disable children, migrant workers and businesses. He has obtained multi-million dollar verdicts on behalf of his clients and, in all, has recovered and returned several hundred million dollars to those in society who have been wronged, harmed or taken advantage of.

Nicole McConlogue
As the Clinical Fellow for the University of Baltimore School of Law's Civil Advocacy Clinic, Nicole supervises law students representing real-life clients in a poverty-focused clinical course. Prior to joining the faculty, she worked with Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland (PBRC), the pro bono arm of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA), and the statewide clearinghouse of volunteer legal services. As PBRC’s Consumer Protection Project Manager, she provided training and supervision for attorneys representing low- and moderate-income clients at no cost. McConlogue is committed to serving low-income clients and being an engaged and active member of the legal services community.

Vicki King Taitano
Vicki works at the Legal Services Corporation in Washington D.C. where she provides technical assistance and consultation for non-profit Legal Services programs throughout the U.S.  She spent nine years at Maryland Legal Aid, where she represented low-income senior citizens in consumer and public benefits cases, before taking on the position of director of the statewide Foreclosure Legal Assistance Project. She also spent four years as a staff attorney at Micronesian Legal Services, where she represented clients in consumer law and debt collection cases. She has represented HIV- positive clients at the Whitman Walker Clinic in Washington D.C. and volunteered with the D.C. Legal Clinic for the Homeless. She is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Hawaii Law School, and lives in Silver Spring.

Jesse Van Tol
Jesse Van Tol is NCRC’s Chief Executive Officer. Jesse has been with NCRC since 2006 and has held a variety of leadership positions, most recently as Chief Operating Officer. His leadership experience at NCRC also includes senior positions in the organizing and membership, communications, policy and research departments. He is also responsible for the NCRC annual conference, which has experienced 40 percent growth under his leadership. He was the lead negotiator in the organization’s successful community reinvestment campaigns, resulting in more than $85 billion in investments in low- and moderate-income communities. He has also been integral to NCRC’s ongoing efforts for housing finance reform. Jesse received his B.A. in History and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Note: Organizational affiliations are shown for reference only; members serve as individuals, not as representatives of their employers.