When Howard Trachtman, CPS’94, set foot on Northeastern University Burlington, he felt a reinvigoration and a fresh start in his academic career. After a short stint at MIT and a break from academics due to illness, Trachtman enrolled at Northeastern in search of a program that struck a balance between the classroom and real-world experience.
“I always liked working with people,” Trachtman recalls with a smile. “Northeastern gave me the business and organizational skills I needed to turn that into something.”
Balancing part-time work with evening business classes at what is now known as the College of Professional Studies, Trachtman recalls commuting using the bus and train. This experience stuck with him—teaching him both the resilience and discipline needed to create the foundations of a career in business. “I was coming from work often and carrying dinner on the train,” he says. “But the professors were always understanding and accommodating. The coursework in accounting and computers during those classes always stuck with me.”
After graduating and working in the corporate world, Trachtman transitioned into the nonprofit advocacy space. Realizing that he could combine his passion for working with people with helping others navigate new technologies, he started the Virtual Art Educational Foundation in Boston. Through this organization, he was able to teach computer literacy to low-income and disabled individuals.
His work with the Virtual Art Educational Foundation did not go unnoticed, as he was recruited to join Empower, a Massachusetts-based wellness and rights organization. Transitioning into mental health advocacy turned out to be a strength for him, and within a few years of joining Empower, he was elected to be the president of the board of directors. “They mentored me,” he recalls warmly. “And I’ve been mentoring others ever since.”
Using his leadership experience with the Virtual Art Educational Foundation and combining it with his skills in mental health advocacy, Trachtman founded his current operation—Warmline.org, a national directory of support hotlines. “We’re creating ways for people to reach out before a crisis,” he says. “That’s what peer support is all about:listening, understanding, and helping people stay connected.”
Even with all his success in the nonprofit space and mental health advocacy, Trachtman credits his Northeastern experience with providing him with the tools to build these organizations. “My business degree taught me how to read a balance sheet, manage a project, and think strategically,” he says. “But more than that, it taught me how to keep going—how to make ideas real.”
In the spirit of spreading advocacy and helping others, Trachtman has advice for the next generation of Huskies—”Do the extracurriculars, make friends, and be sure to take care of your academics,” he says firmly. “You never know which experiences will shape the rest of your life.”
