BKA Board 2026
Co-President: Sarah O’Neill
Sarah was born in Busan, South Korea and was adopted when she was 4 months old. She has lived in New England her entire life. Sarah received her MBA in Information and Process Management & Business Ethics and Corporate and Social Responsibility from Bentley University and her B.A. from Smith College in East Asian Languages and Literatures, where she spent a semester studying at Yonsei University in Seoul her junior year. She currently works in IT.
Sarah been a member of the BKA board for about 2 decades, and has served as president/co-president for 10. In addition to serving on the Board, Sarah has also been involved in the BKA website, workshop and scholarship review committees, event planning, curriculum development and has spoken on panels and co-facilitated workshops. She was also part of the planning committee for #BKA14, BKA's anniversary conference in 2014.
Co-President: Jacquelyn Wells
Jacquelyn Wells is an artist, musician and entrepreneur adopted at 4 months to a suburb of Boston, MA. In 2015 she found BKA through a Google search and discovered the global adoptee community which changed her life. She later moved to NYC and worked for non-profit Women Cross DMZ and served on the board of NY based international adoptee non-profit organization, Also Known As Inc., as Vice President and Board Member for several years. She currently serves on AKA’s Advisory Board. She lives with her husband, son, and runs her Boston based design company, Oohjacquelina Jewelry, amongst other endeavors. She loves giving back to the community that helped her so much in finding herself and hopes to expand more adoptee and DOKAD (Descendent of Korean Adoptee) programming to the NH/ Southern Maine Seacoast where she resides. Reach out: www.instagram.com/oohjacquelina
Treasurer: Rebecca Schumacher
Rebecca was born in Incheon, South Korea and adopted at 14 months. She grew up on Long Island, NY, with her parents, and younger brother, who is also adopted from Korea. She received her B.A. in mathematics. Post college she has lived in NY, Charlotte, NC, and in 2001 moved to mid-Coast Maine where she currently resides.
Since college, Rebecca has worked in the fields of accounting, risk management, and taught high school math for 20 years. She currently works with her husband renovating and managing their rental properties. She took a new and deep dive into her cultural and adoptive identity within the last three years during which time she found BKA and joined the Board in 2023.
Clerk: Laura Knuttunen
Laura was born in Chuncheon, South Korea, and adopted when she was four and a half months old. She grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts, with her younger sister who is also adopted from Korea. Laura studied Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She then lived in Korea for two years, teaching English at an elementary school in Gimcheon and Cheongju. Laura returned to Boston and received a M.Ed. in Elementary and ESL Education through Lesley University. She currently teaches a 4th and 5th grade SEI class in Boston.
Laura joined BKA when she returned from Korea in 2010 and joined the Board in 2013. She is interested in collaborating with other adoptee and Asian Pacific Islander organizations.
In addition to serving on the Board, Laura volunteers with the Tufts University Korean Student Association as a mentor for Korean adoptee kids. She helps organize monthly events with BKA members, local Korean college students, young Korean adoptees and their families.
Secretary: Tracy Harrison
Tracy was born in Cheonan, South Korea and adopted at five months old by a lovely family in Rochester, New York. She moved to New England right before her freshman year of high school and attended UConn for her undergraduate studies.
She moved to Boston in 2011 and received her JD at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. She joined BKA in 2019 and has attended many BKA events, including her favorite, the cooking classes! Tracy has never been back to South Korea but hopes to go back within the next year. She has enjoyed learning about her culture and growing her Korean community.
Tracy currently lives in Southern New Hampshire with her boyfriend and dog. She works in the greater Boston area as a Human Resources Director. In her free time, she enjoys working out, cooking, and reading. Tracy is looking forward to bringing her energy and experience to the BKA board where she is serving as the secretary.
Research Coordinator: Kimberly Goulart
Kimberly was adopted at age three from Seoul, Korea and moved to Stoneham, MA. Three years later, she and her adopted family relocated to a suburb of Atlanta, GA, where she grew up.
Kimberly earned her MA and Ph.D. in sociology at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. She currently works as a senior research analyst in Boston, MA and enjoys running, cooking, and eating Korean food.
In 2019, Kimberly attended a statistics conference in Seoul, Korea, which happened to be at the same time as the IKAA Conference. There, she met Korean adoptees from all over the world and was excited to join the community. As the Research Coordinator she hopes to expand our community’s knowledge base and support research that amplifies adoptee voices and experiences.