Gwen Holden Kelly

Gwen began her association with the Fishermen’s Alliance handing out mussels and steamers at the Hookers Ball. She served for two years on the Hookers Ball Committee before being appointed to the Finance Committee in February 2011 and to the Board of Directors in August 2014.

Gwen is the former executive vice president of the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA), a Washington, D. C.-based special interest group that represents the states on crime control and public safety issues. In her 22-year association with that organization, she specialized in carrying out policy research to inform state initiatives to address criminal and juvenile justice problems and monitoring the development and analyzing the potential effects of federal legislative, programmatic, and administrative actions on the management of federal criminal justice grant-in-aid programs. After her move to the Cape with her husband, Paul Kelly, in 1997, she consulted extensively for public and private agencies, organizations, audiences, and constituencies on legislative, policy, and administrative issues in the fields of criminal and juvenile justice. She still consults occasionally as a researcher, writer, editor, facilitator, or adviser on justice- and public safety-related projects.

Gwen holds a B.A. degree in political science and history from Tufts University. She currently is in her fourth term as chair of the Town of Orleans Finance Committee on which she has served since 2009.