A member of the Ashburnham-Westminster School Committee since 1998, Ellen Holmes has been in the forefront of MASC's drive to advocate for regional school issues, including concerns around transportation, funding and governance. As Secretary-Treasurer of Division IV (2004) and Vice President (2005-present), Ms. Holmes has also been a forceful advocate on a number of MASC committees, including Student Assessment; Legislative; Special Education; Advocacy; MIAA-Lacrosse; and Regional Schools, for which she has served as Chair since 2004. She has also been a strong proponent for MASC positions on a number of Department of Education working groups, including Adolescent Literacy Task Force (2006) and Education Stakeholders Working Group (2007), and lobbied the legislature as a member of the Regional Schools Caucus.

A frequent participant at MASC events, Holmes has contributed on a number of Joint Conference panels: Superintendent Search (2004, 2005); and Autism (2006). She has also helped to coordinate several Division/special topic meetings, including a program on Special Education Issues (2004) and a program on Charter School Funding, which she moderated.
On her local committee, she has served as Secretary; as the representative to the MASC Delegate Assembly, and as Chair of the Technology Committee; the Superintendent Evaluation Committee; the Superintendent Search Committee; and the Legal Services Committee. She has also been a member of the Policy; Transportation; Sick Leave Bank; Legislative Liaison; and Interscholastic Committees. She has also coached Youth Soccer; Little League; and the Basketball League, and has been Assistant Den Leader for Boy Scouts of America; a member of the Steering Committee of the Autism Resource Center and of the Central Mass. Families Organizing for Change Leadership Series. Other town activities include Infrastructure Committee and the Public Safety Building Committee.

A graduate of Seekonk High School, Wheaton College (BA) and Providence College (MA), Ms. Holmes and her husband, Roger, are parents to three young children, two whom are on the autism spectrum.