Press Release: 7/9/2025

Welcoming a new board member: Cody Belland

Cody Belland is a new member of Strategies for Children’s board of directors, and he loves change. 

As a tax manager at Wolf & Company and as an adjunct professor at Bentley University, Belland tells students and clients the same thing: be aware of the speed of change.

“What’s great about working with businesses is that they’re usually at the cutting edge of change,” he says. “Whether it’s new technologies or new markets, the world is constantly changing. The political landscape is changing at both the state and federal level. There are new elections, new legislative sessions.

“And as a teacher, I’m asking, What is the younger generation thinking? What technologies are they using? What’s important to them?” 

There’s also, Belland says, the speeding train of artificial intelligence which is a constant source of unexpected change that ultimately has to be understood and used as a tool. 

Belland is starting a three-year term on the Board and serving as the board’s treasurer. 

“We are so grateful to Zach Donah and Molly Sullivan at the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants [MassCPAS] for connecting us to Cody,” Amy O’Leary, Strategies executive director, says. “The treasurer role is so critical for non-profit boards, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Cody. He brings financial and nonprofit expertise and an interest in policy and advocacy—a perfect combination!”

Belland went to college at UMass Amherst and earned a business degree. He has a law degree from Michigan State University and an LLM in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. Some of his volunteer experience includes serving as a firm ambassador for MassCPAs, where he formerly served as chair of the Tax Committee. He has also served as a Big Brother for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachuetts and currently serves as a Judge Advocate in the United State Army Reserves. 

“Part of my role as a professional is to be on the forefront of change,” Belland says, “advocating for what I deem to be good policy. There’s also education: whether that’s educating clients, advisors, legislators or taxpayers. And that’s a lot of what Strategies for Children does, educate policymakers so that they have the information to make good, sound decisions.”

It’s a matter, Belland explains, of sharing information that informs both what policies are enacted and how these policies are implemented.

Belland also has a love of education that comes, in part, from his mother, who was a public school teacher in Pittsfield, Mass., and understood the value of education and relationships. 

“She wasn’t only teaching students, she was helping them. One Christmas Eve, there was a student she had who didn’t have a great home life, so she invited the student over to our home for Christmas Eve. Little things like that go such a long way.”

It’s critical, Belland adds, to investing in early childhood education, and all education, in ways that build strong human relationships. 

“We can all look back and point to a certain professor or a certain teacher who had a great impact on our trajectory, and that’s my goal as a professor at Bentley. Any teacher can read the tax code to students. I want to provide insight and inspire them. I want to show them that accounting is a great career and why tax law can be exciting.”

We asked Belland what issues nonprofit organizations should be paying attention to, and he had pointed to the need for nonprofits to have diversified funding streams, especially given the ongoing changes in state and federal funding. 

He also recommends using technology to maximize outreach and statewide participation, pointing to the good examples of MassCPA’s Covid-inspired Zoom meetings and to Strategies 9:30 Call. And Belland is excited about the potential that Strategies and other nonprofits have to share their stories and advocacy with wider and wider circles of people.

What are Belland’s plans as a new board member?

“I’m going in with a clean slate and learning as much as possible and then I’m sure I’ll develop a ton of questions.”