From the Forum’s earliest years, our speakers have brought remarkable stories, expertise, and perspectives to our community. Explore our Speaker Hall of Fame from 2013–2017, featuring the accomplished women who informed, inspired, and connected Beacon Hill Women’s Forum members during these formative seasons.
Tackling the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis with Laurence Rahme and Amy Tsurumi
Laurence G. Rahme is a Professor in the Departments of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Microbiology/Immunology at Harvard Medical School. At Massachusetts General Hospital, she is also Director of the Molecular Surgical Laboratory and furthermore, Scientific Staff at Shriners Hospitals for Children. In the industry setting, she is the Scientific Founder of Spero Therapeutics that focuses on therapeutic alternatives to antibiotics.
With over two decades of experience in host-pathogen interactions research, she is recognized internationally among the scientific community for having pioneered the study of the problematic Pseudomonas bacteria in the laboratory setting, and identifying the multiple virulence factor regulator (MvFR), a critical factor that regulates pathogenesis. Following her findings, she developed interventions targeting this key pathway. Her methods are appreciated as viable options to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections and to limit further development of antibiotic resistant strains.
Laurence’s work has led to an extensive number of seminal scientific journal article publications and relevant patents. Moreover, she has served on various Advisory and Editorial Boards of many high impact scientific journals, as well as on panels of the National Institutes of Health. She has won numerous prizes and honors, including being elected as an American Academy of Microbiology Fellow. Laurence received her B.Sc and M.Sc from the University of Naples and her Ph.D. from the UC Berkeley.
Amy Tsurumi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Shriners Hospitals for Children. Her research in the Rahme Lab focuses on host susceptibility and response to bacterial infections using a combination of model systems and human population data. She has published numerous scientific articles and has presented her work at various international conferences. In addition to her role in research, she designs and teaches courses in epigenetics, genetics and epidemiology at Harvard and Beacon Hill Seminars.
Born and raised in Tokyo, she moved to the US to attend Scripps College in Claremont, CA as an international scholarship recipient where she double majored in Biology and French Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, then subsequently moved to Boston to complete her Master’s in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. She has lived in Beacon Hill for the past five years and enjoys every moment of being a part of the vibrant community.
Global Dental Crusade with Brittany Seymour
Brittany Seymour is an Assistant Professor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, where she teaches about global and oral health to students across the university. After graduating from dental school in Colorado in 2005, she started a private practice in downtown Denver. Five years later, she found herself ready to grow in her career and returned to school at the Harvard School of Public Health for her Masters in Public Health. She sold her practice and accepted a full-time teaching position at Harvard.
Today, she is working toward the eradication of oral diseases globally, particularly in resource-poor communities. Her projects include the launch of the first dental school in Rwanda, the addition of a dental clinic in a major hospital in Haiti after the earthquake, disease prevention programs in arctic Alaska, and new ways of teaching dentistry in Vietnam. She adores coffee, wine, traveling (good thing because she does it a lot!), and especially her husband of 13 years and her 4 year old daughter.
Social Entrepreneurship with Namrita Kapur-Dewinter
As Managing Director of EDF’s EDF+Business, Namrita and her team develop strategies to accelerate innovation in the corporate sector. Drawing from her background in strategy, finance, and international development, she has designed and executed initiatives for leveraging capital markets in the United States and abroad. She is currently leading EDF’s efforts on sustainable finance, ranging from evaluating financial institution commitments in this area to clearing barriers so as attract private capital to support sustainable managed fisheries, endangered species habitat, ecosystem resiliency, zero deforestation and energy efficiency.
Prior to joining Environmental Defense Fund, Namrita played in integral role in establishing the strategy and developing the infrastructure of Root Capital-a social investment fund pioneering finance in rural communities in the developing world. During her tenure at Root Capital, she helped grow the organization from 5 people and barely $5 million in assets to almost 40 people and $40 million in assets. She has previously directed programs for the Environmental League of Massachusetts and worked as a consultant for United Nations Development Program. She currently serves on the Finance Committee for the Board of the Environmental League of Massachusetts; and on the Advisory Board of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Namrita possesses an MBA and an MA of Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton.
Restoring History with Ann Beha
Ann Beha is founder and Principal of Ann Beha Architects, a Boston firm known for its exploration of heritage in dialogue with contemporary design. In Boston, they have designed projects for Mass Historical Society, the BSO, the Mary Baker Eddy Library, the Liberty Hotel, and most recently, the New Student Life and Performance Center at the New England Conservatory of Music, where the firm also designed the renovation of Jordan Hall.
Marked by strong educational, cultural, and historical content, Ann Beha’s design work captures the sense of place and history, responding in fresh, modern, and innovative ways. She incorporates craft with technology, creating collaborative, innovative, and flexible spaces for emerging and traditional programs and audiences.
She has been Design Principal for academic projects at the University of Chicago, Princeton University, Cornell University Law School, Yale University, and MIT. Her civic projects include the US Embassy in Athens Greece and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
Ann Beha is a graduate of Wellesley College, and holds a Master of Architecture Degree from MIT, was a Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Design at the City College of New York.
Charles River Esplanade with Margo Newman
Margo served as Board Chair of the Esplanade Association, friends’ group for Boston’s iconic Charles River Esplanade, from 2010-2016. She joined the board of the organization in 2009 and is now a Director Emeritus. She is also currently a member of the board of the Associates of the Boston Public Library, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the Boston Public Library’s special collections of rare books, manuscripts, and other items of significant historic interest. Her prior non-profit experience includes serving as President of the Kingsley Montessori School Parents’ Association, President of The Winsor School Parents’ Association and as a Board Member of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. She was also Co-chair of the Boston Jewish Community Women’s Fund, a grant-making organization focused on funding programs that benefit women and girls, for three years. Margo also has over 18 years of experience in environmental policy consulting, largely to the federal government. She is a former partner at Mercer Management Consulting and Clayton Environmental Consultants.
Margo received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For the past 35 years she has lived in the Back Bay where she and her husband Fred Newman raised their 2 daughters.
Artist on the Rise with Julia S. Powell
Julia S. Powell is a Cambridge-based painter represented by Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston, MA. Her work has been featured in exhibitions throughout New England, and was included in the Museum of Fine Arts Summer Auction in 2016, where her piece broke auction records. In 2017, the Museum of Fine Arts chose her as the VIP Benefit Print Artist for the Summer Auction. Her work was also featured in the television show, The Mindy Project. In October, Powell is headed down to Houston for the Texas Contemporary Art Fair where her work was recently accepted.
Powell is a quintessential New England painter, her work contemporizing landscape painting to bring the subject of nature into modern appreciation. Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she has spent a lifetime intimate with New England landscapes. Powell lives in Maine for one month every year, enveloped in New England’s rich wilderness. She passes her time exploring, taking pictures, and absorbing the imagery around her. The elements that are essential to her work are also essential to the Northeastern landscape: wood and water. Powell paints many iterations of her chosen subjects, experimenting with composition and colors each time. Birch, Ironbound and Cloudgate are examples of such work and each series is comprised of ten or more approaches to the focal theme. Rather than trying to create realistic renditions of these subjects, Powell is more concerned about conveying the feelings she experiences when surrounded by nature. She paints imagined landscapes based on real-life locations, but transformed by her unique composition, brush strokes, and color palette. Her style navigates the line between realism, abstraction, and impressionism in order to transport the viewer.
Vivian Spiro, Chairwoman of the Associates, The Boston Public Library
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
For the past sixteen years, Vivian has served as Chairman of the Board of the Associates of the Boston Public Library, transforming a small, independent 501c3 with a literary focus into a significant source of financial support for the cataloguing, conservation and digitization of the BPL’s Special Collections. Under her leadership, the Associates established the David McCullough Conservation Fund, William O. Taylor Art Preservation Fund, and an endowment for conservation; a writer-in-residence program for an emerging children’s author; three annual “signature” programs designed to spark public awareness of the BPL as a provider of top quality, free educational resources; and series of presentations by scholars aimed at generating interest in and support for conservation of the Special Collections. The Associates’ annual “Literary Lights” dinner, which honors outstanding writers from the Northeast and raises money for the McCullough Conservation Fund, is considered one of Boston’s most successful fundraisers.
Prior to joining the Associates Board in 1998, Vivian served as an Overseer of the Museum of Fine Arts, a member of the Events Committee of the Boston Athenaeum and Chairman of the President’s Circle at Beth Israel Hospital. A former journalist and then owner-operator of a public relations firm specializing in medical and technical accounts, Vivian later worked for Blackside Productions on “Eyes on the Prize,” the award winning Civil Rights documentary. She is a graduate of Tufts University.
Lucy Grogan, Fine Art and Jewelry Auctioneer at Grogan Auction Company
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Lucy P. Grogan is the Vice President and Gallery Director of Grogan & Company, Fine Art and Jewelry Auctioneers, a firm specializing in fine art and jewelry auctions and appraisals. The company is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and was established in June of 1987.
Ms. Grogan holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut as well as numerous gemology certifications from the Gemological Institute of America. She is a recognized specialist in the auction and appraisal business and is frequently invited to lecture on the subject for various audiences including museums and educational groups. Ms. Grogan also appears on PBS’s award-winning television show Antiques Roadshow as a jewelry appraiser.
As the daughter of Grogan & Company’s founder and President Michael B. Grogan, Ms. Grogan grew up deeply immersed in the fine art and auction world, accompanying her father on business trips and working for Grogan & Company consistently throughout her childhood.
Before joining Grogan & Company, Ms. Grogan worked as a Curatorial Assistant in Arts of the Americas at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, a Fine Art Consultant at Trailside Galleries in Jackson, Wyoming, and the Auction Coordinator for the Jackson Hole Art Auction.
Cathy Minehan, Dean, Simmons School of Management,
former President/CEO, The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Please note: This event will be held on Monday. 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Cathy E. Minehan is the retired Dean of the School of Management at Simmons College having served from August 2011 to June 30, 2016. The Simmons MBA program has been rated #1 in opportunities for women by the Princeton Review, #5 “Green” MBA and ranked in the top 20 MBA programs internationally for integrating social responsibility and sustainability by the Aspen Institute, Business and Society Program. In 2016, the MBA program transitioned to a fully virtual format, (MBA@Simmons) the first AACSB accredited MBA program to do so.
Ms. Minehan retired from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in July 2007 after 39 years with the Federal Reserve System, having served as the President and Chief Executive of the Boston Bank and a member of the Federal Open Market Committee from July 1994 on. She is considered an expert in the U.S. payment system and was a key figure in the operation of and policy setting for the key payment and securities systems operated and regulated by the Federal Reserve System. Ms. Minehan is a graduate of the University of Rochester and is an Emeritus member of the University’s Board of Trustees. She holds an MBA from New York University and was named a distinguished Alumna from New York University in 1995. She also serves as Managing Director of Arlington Advisory Partners LLC, an entity she uses to house her various profit and non-profit positions.
Ms. Minehan is a director of VISA Inc., the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and Bright Horizons Family Solutions LLC. She is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, a Board Member of Partners Healthcare System, and she is co-chair of the Boston Women’s Workforce Council. She serves on a number of other non-profit boards in the areas of health care, education and public broadcasting. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was named the Public Company Director of the Year (New England NACD 2012); NACD Top 100 Directors in 2013; 2015 Shattuck City Champion (Boston) and is a recipient of many other honors and distinctions.
Kathy Hull, National Ball Room Dancing Gold Medal winner and Beacon Hill neighbor takes us through the journey. Complete with a fashion show of her extensive collection of Swarovski crystal-covered gowns!
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
After ten years competing as an amateur on the pro-am ballroom circuit, Kathy Hull won the 2011 World Pro-Am International Standard Championship (Open Gold) in her age group (50 and above). In 2012, she and her then partner, Thomas Papkala, went on to become finalists in Moscow and were interviewed on Russian TV. Later that year, Hull retired from dancing and moved with her husband from NJ to the Bay Village Historic District of Boston, where they live today.
Kathy’s journey from a life of the mind, through motherhood, to the fully embodied world of dance and back again was an emotional one, full of exciting challenges and fascinating people. Hull taught for over a decade at New York University and was a leader in the successful effort to found a labor union for part-time faculty at NYU. At Rutgers University, she was founding director of the Byrne Seminars and Project Civility at Rutgers and taught American Philosophy.
A graduate of McGill University (B.A., The History and Philosophy of Science), Johns Hopkins University (M.A., Philosophy) and Drew University (Ph.D., Theological and Religious Studies), she has won awards for teaching excellence (NYU), creative thought (Drew), and inspiring students with a love of learning (National Education Association).
Most recently, in 2016, Kathy delivered a paper on the work of philosopher Charles S. Peirce at the International Symmetry Society Conference in Santorini, GR. Her first book (as co-editor and contributor) will be published in 2017 by Routledge, entitled Peirce on Perception and Reasoning: From Icons to Logic. Chairman of the Parks and Public Spaces Committee in Bay Village, her main hobby these days is gardening in Truro with her husband, Ernie Jacob, and their dog, Lucy. Daughter Allison is engaged to be married in 2017 and lives in VT where she practices acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
Sara Campbell, Designer & Founder of Sara Campbell Ltd.
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
In 1985 Sara Campbell founded Sara Campbell LTD, where she designs, manufactures, and retails the brand of woman’s clothing, aptly called Sara Campbell. The collection features dresses along with novelty and playful sportswear.
In 2009 she completed the Harvard Business School Executive Education program, as a tool to help facilitate in the reinvention of the company. Today she delivers her unique, limited–production offerings through fourteen free-standing Sara Campbell retail boutiques.
Blending luxurious fabrics with both timeless and on-trend silhouettes, Sara Campbell is the premier destination for women’s clothing and accessories. Sara Campbell styles, including the well-known Magic Dress, are celebrated by many women around the country. Along with surprise detail and trims, her goal is to design with a genuine feeling of integrity in all her garments.
The company is built on a philosophy of giving back to the community, while creating and delivering not only a unique and beautiful product, but a transformational shopping experience in her boutiques.
She delights in the fact that the majority of her product is Made in the USA.
Azita Bina Seibel, Executive Chef/ Restauranteur;
Proprietor: Bin 26 Enoteca & Lala Rokh Beacon Hill
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Azita Bina-Seibel, ‘born to run a restaurant’ and described as a ‘firebrand and a cook with a fire in her soul….’ is the Executive Chef and Co-Owner of two Beacon Hill culinary mainstays: LaLa Rokh, a Persian restaurant, which opened in 1995, and Bin 26 Enoteca, an Italian restaurant, which opened in 2006.
Growing up in northwest Iran, Azerbaijani, Azita achieved her love of cooking by being around the kitchen table. Like most Persian families, meals prepared and served were at the core of family (Azita, her mother and grandmother, aunt and sister often competed to create the tastiest, most inventive dishes. It was in this environment that Azita cultivated her passion for exceptional homestyle cuisine.)
Moving to the United States in the mid 1970’s, Azita’s first foray into the restaurant business came shortly after her graduation from Boston University with the opening of Ristorante Toscano -in 1983- Boston’s first authentic Northern Italian restaurant. There along- side her partner, an Italian of Florentine heritage, she was able to express her passion for food through Italian cooking-where she discovered the enormous similarities between Northern Italian and Azerbaijani cooking. Followed by opening Toscano in Providence, Rhode Island, and Azita Ristorante in the South End, Azita and her brother, Babak Bina, opened LaLa Rokh which celebrated Persian cooking and drew on their family and cultural heritage.
Though not formally trained in the culinary arts, Azita is recognized as one of Boston’s top female chefs and has garnered both national and local recognition from Food and Wine Magazine, (as one of top five young chefs in 1992), Boston Magazine and Esquire Magazine. Esquire Magazine included her in their ‘Female Universe of Culinary Bostonians’, feting Boston’s notable women chefs including Lydia Shire, Jody Adams, Barbara Lynch, Michela Larson and Rachel Klein. Azita has appeared on the Television Food Network, Channel 5’s ‘Chronicle’ and has lectured on food and Persian culture both at the Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard University.
An avid collector of Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings and drawings as well as Persian art, Azita has served as an Advisor and Visitor to the Department of Asiatic Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. An impassioned women’s rights activist, Azita spearheaded MFA’s recent exhibition: ‘She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World.’ The 2014 exhibit promoted the work of pioneering and groundbreaking female artists from Iran.
Azita lives in Back Bay with her husband, Elmar Seibel, a dealer in rare books on art and architecture. They have a son, Kian, a senior at Trinity College.
Emily Rooney, Journalist & Host, “Beat the Press”
Jadiann Thompson, Channel 7 Evening News Anchor
Margery Eagan, Co-Host of 89.7 WGBH’s Boston Public Radio and Boston Globe journalist
Please note: This event will be held at the UMass Club at One Beacon St. 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Emily Rooney was host and executive editor of Greater Boston with Emily Rooney, WGBH’s local issues and public affairs program, for 18 years before reducing her schedule to do the current Friday night “Beat the Press” program at 7pm. Under her stewardship, Greater Boston was honored with numerous New England Emmys, Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow Awards for Best Public Affairs Program, and excellence in writing and commentary. Rooney has also received the Dennis Kauff Award for Excellence in Reporting, the Yankee Quill Award from the American Newspaper Society, Reporter of the Year Award from the Mass Bar Association, and has been inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Rooney came to WGBH from the Fox Network in New York, where she oversaw political coverage, including the 1996 presidential primaries, national conventions, and presidential election. When she joined Fox in 1994, she was senior producer of Fox news productions, developing news programming for Fox and producing specials. Prior to Fox, Rooney was executive producer of ABC ‘s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
Rooney worked at WCVB-TV in Boston for 15 years, from 1979–93, first as assistant news director, then as news director. During her tenure, the station’s news department was honored with numerous top broadcasting awards, including two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, several George Foster Peabody Awards, and the Radio/Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) Edward R. Murrow Award for “Best News Operation in the Nation.” Under her direction, the station’s coverage of the 1988 presidential campaign was recognized as the “Best in the Country” by both the RTNDA and the National Headliner Awards.
Throughout her career, Rooney has been a frequent participant in journalism roundtables, sought after for her views on ethics and standards in broadcast journalism and media accountability. Each Friday she hosts “Beat the Press”, a discussion of what the media covered during the week, and why. These lively, critical, and sometimes controversial panel discussions earned the program the prestigious National Press Club’s Author Rowse Award for Press Criticism five times. In spring 2014 the show was honored with Penn State’s national Bart Richards award for media criticism.
Rooney is a graduate of American University in Washington, DC. and has honorary doctorates from UMass Boston and Westfield State. A native of Connecticut, she lives in Boston.
Jadiann Thompson is an Emmy award winning journalist who anchors the 7NEWS 4pm, 4:30pm and 5:30pm weekday newscasts in Boston. She joined 7NEWS in June of 2015. Prior to that, Jadiann was the 6pm weekday anchor for the NBC affiliate in Kansas City – KSHB TV. While in Kansas, Jadiann served as multimedia journalist: on same days, the newscast she was anchoring started with a story she had pitched, shot with her camera, written, and edited. Jadiann received two Emmy awards during this time: for best anchor in the region and for her piece on FCC restrictions on in-flight cell phone use.
Before KSHB, Jadiann was multimedia journalist and fill-in anchor at KPHO-TV in Phoenix, AZ. She won her first Emmy award for a report on WiFi hacking. During her time in Phoenix, Jadiann covered law enforcement, trials, immigration reform, and spent nearly two weeks on the front lines covering the Wallow Fire, Arizona’s largest wildfire in state history.
Jadiann got her start in television news in Casper, WY. She joined KTWO-TV as a multimedia journalist, and was quickly promoted to executive producer and main anchor of the station’s evening newscasts. She also spent time as the assistant news director at the station.
A 2007 graduate of the University of Arkansas, where she studied broadcast journalism, Jadiann interned on Capitol Hill for Congressman (now US Senator) John Boozman. She loves riding horses and being involved in the community, and serves as emcee for charity events, including the ALS Association.
Margery Eagan is the co-host of 89.7 WGBH’s midday program Boston Public Radio. She has worked with co-host Jim Braude for 18 years, first doing a TV show together at NECN then a radio show at WTKK. The duo came to WGBH in 2013.
Eagan was the Catholic spirituality columnist for the Boston Globe’s website, Cruxnow. In 2015 Margery Eagan won first place for excellence in religion commentary at the Religion Newswriters Association’s annual conference in Philadelphia.
She has written for her hometown paper, The Fall River Herald News, as well as the Standard Times of New Bedford, Boston Globe, Burlington Vermont Free Press, Boston Magazine, and the Boston Herald, where she wrote a column for 27 years. Eagan grew up in Fall River and attended Durfee High school. She attended Smith College and graduated from Stanford University. She has three kids and lives in Brookline.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Kimberly Todd, Executive Director of Dress for Success Boston
Kim Todd has been involved in development for over 20 years. As Executive Director of Dress for Success Boston, Kim is responsible for running day-to-day operations and fundraising. She oversees a staff of four, and over 100 volunteers. Kim also serves as spokesperson for the organization, and has appeared on WCVB-TV’s Chronicle, FOX 25 News, and has been a guest on several radio shows. Previously, as Grant Writer/Assistant Director of Development at The New England Center for Children, Kim was responsible for researching and writing grant proposals to secure funding for general operations and special programs. In this position, Kim brought in over $400,000 in grants and in-kind technology. Initially, she worked as Assistant Director of Development and raised over $900,000 annually with the Director of Development. Before that, she worked as Chief Development Officer at The Magic Theatre where she was responsible for creating and implementing a comprehensive fundraising program.
Kim earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English/Theatre from Emerson College. She is a member of Women in Development of Greater Boston, and she serves on the Leadership Council of Dress for Success Worldwide.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speakers: Myra Biblowit and Dr. Nadine Tung
Myra Biblowit is the president and chief executive officer of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the nation’s highest rated breast cancer organization, with a mission focused exclusively on funding research around the globe.
Myra was appointed to BCRF in 2001, a year when BCRF raised $10.6 million and committed $8.5 million to funding 50 researchers in the United States. This year, BCRF has awarded $48.5 million in annual grants to over 240 scientists from top universities and medical institutions around the globe. In addition, $5.4 million has been committed to the international Founder’s Fund project focused on metastasis. This makes BCRF the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. During Myra’s tenure, BCRF funding has enabled many of the most important breakthroughs in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, metastasis and survivorship. Myra has been widely recognized for running one the most financially efficient and transparent non-profits in the country. Under her leadership, BCRF is the only breast cancer organization rated A+ by CharityWatch and has been awarded Charity Navigator’s highest rating of four stars 13 times since 2002.
Prior to joining BCRF, Myra led successful capital campaigns for many of New York City’s premier institutions, including the NYU Langone Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Central Park Conservancy.
Myra serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Wyndham Worldwide, the Housewares Charity Foundation and the Historic House Trust of New York City. She is a member of the New York Women’s Forum. Myra also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Project Hope for Ovarian Cancer Research & Education. Myra was honored by Women in Development New York, with its 2012 Woman of Achievement Award. She is also a recipient of New York SmartCEO Magazine’s 2013 Brava! Award, which recognizes distinguished women leaders. In 2015, Myra received the “Leadership in Health Award” from the Kelly Cares Foundation. Myra holds a BA from Tufts University and a Master’s Degree from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speakers: Myra Biblowit and Dr. Nadine Tung
Myra Biblowit is the president and chief executive officer of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the nation’s highest rated breast cancer organization, with a mission focused exclusively on funding research around the globe.
Myra was appointed to BCRF in 2001, a year when BCRF raised $10.6 million and committed $8.5 million to funding 50 researchers in the United States. This year, BCRF has awarded $48.5 million in annual grants to over 240 scientists from top universities and medical institutions around the globe. In addition, $5.4 million has been committed to the international Founder’s Fund project focused on metastasis. This makes BCRF the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. During Myra’s tenure, BCRF funding has enabled many of the most important breakthroughs in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, metastasis and survivorship. Myra has been widely recognized for running one the most financially efficient and transparent non-profits in the country. Under her leadership, BCRF is the only breast cancer organization rated A+ by CharityWatch and has been awarded Charity Navigator’s highest rating of four stars 13 times since 2002.
Prior to joining BCRF, Myra led successful capital campaigns for many of New York City’s premier institutions, including the NYU Langone Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Central Park Conservancy.
Myra serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Wyndham Worldwide, the Housewares Charity Foundation and the Historic House Trust of New York City. She is a member of the New York Women’s Forum. Myra also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Project Hope for Ovarian Cancer Research & Education. Myra was honored by Women in Development New York, with its 2012 Woman of Achievement Award. She is also a recipient of New York SmartCEO Magazine’s 2013 Brava! Award, which recognizes distinguished women leaders. In 2015, Myra received the “Leadership in Health Award” from the Kelly Cares Foundation. Myra holds a BA from Tufts University and a Master’s Degree from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Susie Kitchens
Susie Kitchens arrived in Boston to become Britain’s Consul General in August 2012. She is here with her US-born husband, Michael, and their two children, living on historic Beacon Hill.
Prior to this assignment, Susie was the Deputy High Commissioner at the British High Commission in Tanzania. Susie’s diplomatic career has also included postings in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London (on bilateral relations with Latin America, Consular policy and on the United Nations Security Council) and also as Political Officer at the British Embassy in Guatemala.
Susie’s academic record includes an MA in Human Sciences from Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall), and an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Before becoming a diplomat, Susie worked in international development promoting children’s health via school improvement through the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan and then with CARE International in El Salvador.
Susie and her dual nationality family are delighted to have this opportunity to live in the United States, particularly in New England with its historical and contemporary links to the UK. Susie’s paternal grandfather served as vice-consul in both New York and San Francisco during World War II, initiating the family’s diplomatic ties with the USA.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Nancy Parker Wilson, Owner/Vintner Grennvale Winery, Portsmouth RI
Nancy Parker Wilson, of Portsmouth, RI has been General Manager for Greenvale Vineyards since she, her husband and parents embarked on this enterprise in 1992 on a farm that has been in her family since 1863. A 1981 graduate of Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, she moved to Boston after graduation and became the Director of Public Information for the two Boston area Zoos, Stone Zoo and Franklin Park Zoo. After five years she became an Account Executive at a Boston area public relations company, Clarke and Company, where she led the Community Relations program for the Prudential Property Company, Coors Beer and helped to develop the opening of Domain Home Furnishings.
With the onset of children, she started her own community relations company which included accounts such as the Zoos, Prudential, the Boston Foundation/Greenspace Alliance and other Boston based organizations. An avid preservationist, Nancy served as a Landmarks Commissioner for her neighborhood, the South End for eight years. She presently serves on the board of the Newport Historical Society, the Portsmouth Arts Guild, Portsmouth Free Library, the South End Historical Society (Boston). Most recently she has been appointed to the Board of Discover Newport as the Town of Portsmouth representative and is a Director for the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District. She is is a member of the Book Committtee for the Redwood Library, on the Visiting Committee for the American Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Collections Committee for the Preservation Society of Newport County.
Nancy also served on the Steering Committee for Portsmouth ‘s 375th Celebration in 2013. She has a daughter and two sons. Her daughter Bennett is a recent graduate of George Washington’s Business School in Washington, DC; Billy is a recent graduate of Northeastern University, Boston and Parker is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Nancy has two step daughters, Emily of New York City and Jessica of San Francisco and two grandchildren, Noam and Lucas. Nancy and her husband Bill, an architect at Wilson Architects, Boston split their time between Portsmouth and Boston.
Nancy has received recognition recently from the Newport County Chamber of Commerce from whom she received a 2012 “Execellence in Business Award” for a woman owned business. The RI Small Buisiness Journal cited her as one of seven “Woman Entrepreneurs to Watch” 2014.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speakers: Dr. Antonia Stephens, Dr. Laura DeGirolami, Dr. Elizabeth Trehu.
A fireside chat with your neighborhood physicians featuring Dr. Antonia Stephens, Dr. Laura DeGirolami, Dr. Elizabeth Trehu.
Recognize these ladies? They reside right here in your neighborhood! They are wives, mothers and leaders in the health care field.
Come and enjoy the opportunity to hear first hand the challenges they tackle every day and their perspicuous* prescription for a healthy happy life.
Google it!
Dr. Antonia Stephen received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and subsequently completed her general surgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an endocrine surgical fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. She then joined the surgical staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Division of Surgical Oncology.
Her clinical practice is focused on the surgical management of patients with endocrine tumors and she is a member of the MGH Endocrine Surgery Unit, the highest volume center in the country focused on surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. Her particular areas of clinical expertise are in minimally-invasive parathyroid surgery, the treatment of thyroid cancer, and laparoscopic adrenal surgery.
Elizabeth G. Trehu, M.D, is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Promedior, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel biologic therapeutics for the treatment of fibrosis. As CMO, Dr. Trehu oversees all clinical development, medical affairs, regulatory and quality assurance activities for the company, as Promedior advances its product candidates in human clinical trials for diseases involving fibrosis, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and myelofibrosis. She reports directly to Promedior’s CEO and serves as a member of the company’s executive management team.
A veteran of the Boston biotech industry and medical community, Dr. Trehu’s professional career has spanned the corporate biopharmaceutical, academic, and private medical practice worlds.
Prior to joining Promedior, Dr. Trehu was Vice President of Product Development and Medical Affairs at Infinity Pharmaceuticals where, starting in 2010, she was integral in the company’s advancement of three clinical programs for product candidates in inflammation and oncology. Prior to Infinity, Dr. Trehu spent four years at Genzyme Corporation, where she began as Vice President of Oncology Global Medical Affairs and ultimately held the position of Vice President and General Manager, Hematology, with global responsibility for Clolar® (clofarabine), Campath® and Fludara® (fludarabine). From 2002 to 2006, she held positions of increasing responsibility in medical affairs functions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, principally in support of Velcade® (bortezomib). Dr. Trehu’s career prior to industry included laboratory and clinical research in immune-oncology as an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and several years in private practice as a hematologist-oncologist at the Jordan Hospital Club Cancer Center.
Dr. Trehu was recognized as a ‘2012 Woman to Watch’ by Mass High Tech. She holds an M.D. from New York University School of Medicine and an A.B. cum laude from Princeton.
Laura De Girolami, MD graduated from Columbia College with a B.A. in Art History and then received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She completed her pediatric training at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and is a board certified pediatrician. She is s primary care pediatrician and partner at Centre Pediatrics in Brookline, MA. She is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School and holds appointments at Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.
Her clinical interests include food allergy, asthma, eczema and breastfeeding. She is originally from the Boston area and grew up in Wellesley and attended Milton Academy. Her son, Lucas, was born during her residency in 2006 and her daughter, Isabella, was born in 2010. She enjoys cooking, international travel and spending time with her husband, Marc and her children. She is fluent in Spanish, Italian and French.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Brigid Williams, M. Arch
A presentation by Brigid Williams, an architect who over the years has studied and contributed to the spirit of Boston’s architectural history.
A 35-year Beacon Hill resident, Brigid Williams is a prominent architect, talented artist, involved community member and a mom who raised her family in the city.
A graduate of Harvard College and Yale University School of Architecture, she founded Hickox Williams Architects with her husband in 1983. Their much-lauded work began with restaurants, retail spaces and a large health club. Their work has since expanded to the creation or transformation of many residential homes that are, according to Design Magazine, some of the most beautiful places to live in the Boston area and beyond.
Her architectural talents spill over into her paintings, according to gallery owner Stephen Score. “She can also dream and invert and simplify people and things into lines, shapes and colors while retaining the magical properties and personalities that matter to the viewer.”
Please join us for what is sure to be a rapturous compendium of Boston architecture through the years.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Prof. Liana De Girolami Cheney
Prof. Cheney is an art historian, Beacon Hill neighbor and presently a Professor and Visiting Scholar in Art History at the University of Bari, Italy and Universidad de Coruna, Spain, and is an emerita Professor of Art History, Chairperson of the Department of Cultural Studies at UMass Lowell. She is the author and coauthor of numerous articles and books relating to Renaissance, Mannerism Pre-Raphaelite art.
Prof Cheney will captivate audience members on the topic of female self portrait painting, including a brief and general introduction on the nature of female’s self-portraiture in painting from the sixteenth century to the present day, and a focus on the specific comparison between American and European female’s self-portraits in the 20th century. The presentation will touch on some of these artistic issues, viewing self-portraits by Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Rolinda Sharpless Suzanne Valadon, Remedios Varo, Leonora Fini, Frida Khalo, Paola Rego, Anna Medieta, Audrey Flack and Julie Heffernan.
Her forthcoming books are on Readings in Italian Mannerism II: Architecture and Sculpture and Lavinia Fontana’s Mythological Paintings.
Don’t miss what is sure to be an enlightening evening at the Forum!
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:00 – 8:00pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Traci Walker Griffith
Traci Walker Griffith has been the principal of Eliot K-8 Innovation School since 2007. Traci has worked in the Boston Public Schools since 1992 as a teacher and assistant principal. Her effort to create a supportive professional learning community that embraces high expectations for both adults and students has resulted in academic excellence. Under Traci’s leadership, the Eliot has progressed from a state identified under-performing school (Commonwealth Priority School) in 2007 to being named by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as a Commendation School in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and an Expanded Learning Time site in 2014! Over Traci’s time at the Eliot, the school’s popularity has grown so much that parents, neighbors, and community members began to campaign for its expansion. The school has grown from 150 students in 2007 to 470 this year with a plan to grow to over 1,000 students in three buildings by 2024. Even with this expansion, the wait list for enrollment in early childhood programs is double the number of spots available. Traci is committed continue to leading a thriving organization where everyone is committed to developing as lifelong learners. Educational Background: Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Educational Administration, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, Lesley University; Bachelor of Education in Elementary Education, Plymouth State University.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:30 – 8:30pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Lynn Dunphy
Five hidden gems of Beacon Hill that inspire our sense of history and curiosity in learning will take the stage at the March 10 meeting of the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum.
Want to hear about the neighborhood’s memorable moments, such as the battles to save the bricks that never seem to end? Or, where you can take a course on ‘Triumphant Women: How opera divas changed the world?”
What’s inside the Congregational building on Beacon Street? Who is behind the transformation of the Brewer Fountain into a vibrant urban gathering spot, complete with food trucks and all? Did you know there are two historic farms in Rhode Island open to visitors?
Questions like these and more will be answered by representatives from five hidden gems much treasured by the neighborhood. The spotlight will shine on leaders of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, Beacon Hill Seminars, Congregational Library and Archives, Friends of the Public Garden and Historic New England.
And the dazzling Lynn Dunphy, a BHWF member, will moderate the question and answer session. “This program raises the profile of the institutions around us,” she said. “It will be really inspiring to hear what they are doing. Showcasing these jewels gives us an opportunity to connect, participate and cherish the wealth of rich and unique culture right here in our neighborhood.” The nonprofits will also talk about how BHWF members can join, support and participate in their organizations.
And, if you’re ever in the market for new and interesting places to take visiting guests, you won’t want to miss this program!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:30 – 8:30pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Lorna Lowe
LORNA LOWE is a filmmaker and lawyer based in Boston. She began her career in television and film in the early 1990’s, first in series development at MTV Networks, in publicity at E! Entertainment Television, then as a special-effects production coordinator at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Lorna left Sony in 1997 for law school at the University of Southern California. While at USC, she became judicial extern for the Hon. Consuelo Marshall, represented incarcerated adults through the Post Conviction Justice Project and completed an International Law Programme at the Sorbonne in Paris. As law clerk for the Alliance for Children’s Rights, Lorna represented American children seeking emancipation, and Immigrant minors seeking asylum in the United States. Herself having been in the foster care system for nearly a year before being adopted through Boston Children’s Services in the early 1970’s, the rights of children became a particular interest and eventually a professional focus, joining the Committee for Public Counsel Children and Family Law Trial Panel as a private attorney in 2003. In 2012, Lorna’s law practice expanded to include her passion for history and art. Inspired by the landmark case, United States v. Portrait of Wally, Lorna began partnering with a private New York based firm in representing organizations initiating policy change in Washington around cultural property losses during wartime and heirs seeking restitution of art looted during the Nazi-era.
While at the Alliance, Lorna formed Lorna Lowe|Documentary Films (formerly, Lowe Road), a production company focused on social issue documentaries and produced Shelter, a personal documentary on the after-effects of her search and reunion with her biological family as an adult. Shelter, premiered at the Boston International Festival for Women’s Cinema, was named Best Discovery by the Boston Society of Film Critics and was released theatrically. While producing her second film, Romeo, a film about a Cambridge man dedicated to rehabilitating batterers, Lorna became a Filmmaker-in-Residence at WGBH/ Boston and became the first recipient of the Accelerating the Creative production grant from Women in Film and General Motors.
In the fall of 2011, Lorna was elected to the board of trustees of The Flaherty, a non-profit media arts institution dedicated to the support and exhibition of documentary and independent film. In the fall of 2012, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national not-for-profit organization devoted to improving adoption policy and practice and in 2013, to the Board of Trustees of the Chestnut Hill School.
Lorna is a member of the Massachusetts and New York Bar Associations.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street
6:30 – 8:30pm, Cash Bar
Speaker: Karen Cord Taylor
Karen Cord Taylor founded The Beacon Hill Times in 1995 and later The Charlestown Bridge and The Back Bay Sun weekly newspapers, serving as the editor and publisher of these entities through 2007. Prior to that she was a teacher and a professional writer, creating newsletters, corporate materials, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on topics as varied as banking, business, real estate, travel and design.
She is the author of Blue Laws, Brahmins and Breakdown Lanes: An Alphabetic Guide to Boston and Bostonians, published by the Globe Pequot Press, and, with Doris Cole, The Lady Architects, published by Midmarch Arts Press. She was the chair of the committee that produced the Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill: Creating Green Spaces in Urban Places for the Beacon Hill Garden Club in 2013. She authored Legendary Locals of Beacon Hill, which appeared through Arcadia Publishing in the fall of 2014. Her book, Getting to Grand Prairie, 100 Londoners and their Quest for Land in Frontier Illinois, is due for publication in the winter of 2015 by Weathergage Press.
She writes a weekly column, “Downtown View,” for the newspapers she founded and the Regional Review, as well as the websites www.NorthEndWaterfront.com and www.bostoncolumn.com.
She has lived with her husband, Dan, on Beacon Hill for more than 40 years and raised their two daughters in the neighborhood.
Speaker: Diane Darling
Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur, Darling Institute
The Networking Success of Diane Darling
Diane Darling knows the value of relationships and how to build them. The author of McGraw-Hill’s definitive book on networking, The Networking Survival Guide. Diane speaks and trains thousands of people each year on ways to build relationships, leading to opportunities and growth. She believes that now, more than ever, in today’s fast-paced competitive world, anyone can leapfrog their way to successful relationships once they master the art of networking.
Diane’s first book went into a 2nd printing just 90 days after the book hit the shelves. The book has been translated into Korean and Taiwanese. Two years later, McGraw-Hill published her 2nd book, Networking for Career Success which has since been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Portuguese, and Thai. More recently, The Networking Survival Guide was released in 2nd edition and Kindle format.
Hitting Bottom and Rising to Success
Diane lost an important business investor in the 9/11 disaster. In addition, her previous business went into serious debt after new security measures in the travel industry became commonplace. Reluctant to declare bankruptcy, Diane moved out of her home and began the difficult task of rebuilding her life and paying off the debt.
On March 6, 2009 she shared her story with the world about how she crawled out of serious debt through hard work and great networking relationships. What a shock when she found her life story on the front page of the Boston Globe. The President of the United States was above the fold and her story of challenges and resilience was below the fold!
A Media Magnet
Diane has appeared on NBC Nightly News, in The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe. A former columnist for the Boston Business Journal, Diane is currently a random columnist for a variety of publications. She taught in the MBA program at Boston University and is a member of the CEO Club in Boston.
Helping People Everywhere Cultivate Better Relationships
Diane is in high demand by corporate clients because effective relationships, both internally and externally, are key to every business, for every employee. She coaches executives, junior managers and volunteers. She has worked with academic institutions, non-profits, large corporates, small associations, medium and small businesses, too. Networking doesn’t happen at events, but it happens with every interaction you or your employee experiences. Internal, external, creating joint ventures, closing the deal, managing conflict, and even chatting about sports over lunch or the office water cooler.
Diane’s travels include all seven continents and approximately 60 countries. Having lived overseas for several years and domestically, in several regions of the USA, Diane has acquired a keen appreciation and awareness of international cultures. She is able to support the complexities of cultural, gender and racial relationships.
Elizabeth E. Barker
Stanford Calderwood Director, The Boston Athenaeum
Elizabeth E. Barker is the newly appointed Stanford Calderwood Director of the Boston Athenæum, the storied independent library and cultural institution located at 10 ½ Beacon Street. Before coming to Boston in October 2014, Dr. Barker (who goes by Lizzie) served as Director of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Director of Colgate University’s Picker Art Gallery, and Associate Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While in New York, Lizzie also held a visiting curatorship at the British Museum, and organized an exhibition for the Yale Center for British Art. Since moving to Massachusetts, she has volunteered for Labs4Rescue, the non-profit organization through which she adopted her own dog.
A native of Maine, Lizzie received her B.A. from Yale College and her Ph.D. from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, where her research focused on British art of the 18th and 19th centuries. As an art historian, Lizzie has participated in organizing exhibitions on a range of topics, including Filippino Lippi (1997, Metropolitan Museum of Art), William Blake (2000, Tate Britain), Childe Hassam (2004, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Samuel Palmer (2005, British Museum), Joseph Wright of Derby (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2006), and Chuck Close (2007, Amherst College). As an administrator, Lizzie is known for leading successful initiatives to enliven programs, raise funds, deepen community engagement, digitize collections, and spur research. Here on Beacon Hill, Lizzie is working to ensure that the Boston Athenæum’s future is as brilliant as its past—inviting to all, intellectually and creatively engaged with the world, distinguished by its curious, committed, and diverse members, nationally prominent, fiscally sound, in step with the times, and respectful of its glorious traditions.
Dr. Annekathryn Goodman
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School
In Bangla, There is no word for Vagina: Reflections on Language, Gender Violence, and Women’s Health
Global Health expert Dr. AK Goodman, an obstetrician and gynecologist, will discuss sexual and gender violence around the world at the October 14 meeting of the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum, an organization formed last year to connect and inspire neighborhood women.
A West Cedar Street resident, Goodman’s presentation, ‘In Bangla there is no word for vagina: Reflections on language, gender violence and women’s health,’ stems from her extensive work in third world countries. She is a member of the national disaster team, IMSuRT (International Medical Surgical Response team), a branch of the US department of Health and Human Services, and has deployed to various international disasters including Bam, Iran 2004, Banda Aceh 2005, Haiti 2010 and the Philippines 2014.
She received the 2012 ACOG International Service Award for service to pregnant women after the Haiti earthquake. Since 2008, she has been consulting in Bangladesh on cervical cancer prevention and the development of medical infrastructure to care for women with gynecologic cancers.
Vivien Li | President, The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA)
“Take a Walk on the Harborside”
Vivien Li is President of The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA), where for more than 20 years she has been working on making Boston Harbor clean and swimmable, and has also been a major force behind completion of the 40-mile HarborWalk public access system. Vivien and TBHA convened the first-ever “Boston Harbor Sea Level Rise Forum” in 2010, and Vivien was named by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh to co-chair the City’s Climate Action Plan Steering Committee.
Vivien also chairs MassDevelopment’s Brownfields Advisory Committee, and is an overseer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a trustee of Eastern Bank Corporation, a trustee of the Boston Foundation for Architecture, and a member of the national Sierra Club’s Finance Committee. Earlier this year, she completed a three-year term on Princeton University’s Committee to Nominate Alumni Trustees.
Vivien has degrees from Barnard College and from Princeton University. She has been recognized by a number of organizations, including by the Women’s Lunch Place’s as its 2014 recipient of the “Women Who Give” Award. Vivien and her family live in Boston’s Back Bay.
Martha McNamara | Beacon Hill Women’s Forum
“’Sisters of the brush and palette’: Women Artists of Beacon Hill, 1870-1920”
Martha McNamara is an art and architectural historian who specializes in eighteenth and nineteenth-century New England. She is Director of the New England Arts and Architecture Program in the Department of Art at Wellesley College where she teaches courses in American architectural history, the history of cities and material culture studies. McNamara is the author of From Tavern to Courthouse: Architecture and Ritual in American Law, 1658-1860 (Johns Hopkins, 2004) and co-editor (with Gigi Barnhill) of New Views of New England: Studies in Material and Visual Culture, 1680-1830 (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2012). She lives with her husband, Jim Bordewick, and their two children on Pinckney Street.
Allison Byrne | Marathon Runner & Bombing Survivor
April 15th marks the upcoming anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing. As the city remembers the devastating events that occurred almost a year ago, come hear what it was like to be affected first hand by marathon runner and bomb victim, Allison Byrne. Allison had been running the 2013 Boston Marathon as a way of grieving the recent loss of her only sibling, her younger sister, who had recently passed after a difficult battle with breast cancer. Compounding the grief of losing her only sibling, Allison’s 3 year old dog was run over less than one month after her sister’s passing. Allison decided to run her first marathon to honor them both. While the training and race were intended to help in the processing of this grief, no one could have foreseen the unlikely end to her quest to make the finish line. Just roughly 200 yards away from the Boston Marathon finish line, while sprinting down Boylston Street, one of the bombs got in the way of her achieving this goal. Suddenly this active young marathoner found herself unable to move, facing multiple surgeries and uncertain of her future.
Despite the tragic events that spanned 10 months of her life, her spirit is bright and she continues to thrive and enjoy life. If you are dealing with difficulties in your life, or are trying to make sense of the Boston Marathon bombings, come to learn some coping skills and hear a fresh perspective!
Michelle Karol, author of Ripped, an award-winning Jack the Ripper time travel mystery, will thrill and inspire Beacon Hill Women’s Forum members at their February 4th meeting.
Ripped is Karol’s first novel, a young adult thriller published last year under the pen name of Shelley Dickson Carr. Ever since as a child she first read He Wouldn’t Kill Patience, the classic mystery written by her grandfather John Dickson Carr, Karol’s been hooked on the genre and dreaming of the mystery she’d someday write.
Now that she has, she’ll share with her audience ways they, too, can write and publish the book they’ve have always dreamed of.
Randi Lathrop has been appointed to be the first Director of Business Development at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which is the planning and economic development agency for the City of Boston. Randi was the former Deputy Director of Community Planning at the BRA for 10 years. She managed the planning staff for the department which oversees planning initiatives, and rezoning for the neighborhoods of Boston. She personally have been focused on the redevelopment of Washington Street in Boston’s South End/Lower Roxburyfor the last 20 years. Currently she is leading team of professionals at the BRA on the identity and branding strategy for Boston‘s Downtown Boston BID area and also worked closely with the property owners on creating the first businesses improvement district for Boston; adopted the new zoning and the planning the Fenway neighborhood; adopted the new zoning and the planning for the Harrison/ Albany area in the South End, City of Boston Food Truck Initiative and the Christian Science Plaza Revitalization Project. Lathrop was also the co-director of the award-winning master plan for the Massachusetts Turnpike Air Rights, paving the way for Fenway Center – the first air rights project built in the last two decades.
Lathrop, a former teacher and arts gallery manager, moved to Boston’s South End in 1985 and took on an active role in her neighborhood’s revitalization efforts. She was past president of the Blackstone Franklin Square Neighborhood Association and a founding member of the Washington Street Neighborhood Association. She later chaired Mayor Thomas Menino’s Washington Street Task Force and was named the first president of Washington Gateway Main Street Inc., a business development and neighborhood improvement organization dedicated to developing and sustaining the economic vitality of the 1.4-mile district along Washington Street in the South End and Lower Roxbury.
Lathrop served as president from 1997 to 2007. Since the organization’s formation, more than $650 million has been invested in Washington Street from public/private partnerships. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and its National Trust Main Street Center awarded Washington Gateway Main Street with its 2005 Great American Main Street Award for its successful revitalization efforts. American Planning Association also named Washington Street one of its Great Places in America in 2008.
She has been named the Boston Municipal Research Bureau’s 2011 Henry L. Shattuck Public Service Award in recognition for her outstanding contributions to the City of Boston and the Fenway Alliance Exceptional Spirit Award 2011. Randi is on the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District board representing the Mayor of Boston and was past President for 10 years of Washington Gateway Main Street in the South End of Boston.
Links from Randi’s Presentation:
New Retail in Downtown Crossing
Downtown Business Improvement District Development FACT SHEET
Amy E. Ryan, who became the first female president of the Boston Public Library in 2008, will headline the December 3 meeting of the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum.
With unwavering dedication and a commitment to all citizens, Amy’s vision for the BPL is twofold: to set the course that will keep it at the forefront in both research and service delivery at the neighborhood levels; and to advance a premier library system that welcomes people from all over the world by responding to the changing needs of library users. She values partnerships and collaborates with the schools, universities, youth organizations, senior centers, literacy groups and others to leverage tax dollars to expand the input of library services.
Amy has over 35 years of public library management experience. Before being named to lead the Boston Public Library, she was the director of the nationally recognized Hennepin County Library in Minnesota for 3 years. Prior to that, she served in leadership positions for over 28 years with Minneapolis Public Library.
She is on the national Steering Committee of the Digital Public Library of America, a groundbreaking project that seeks to digitize and bring together the contents of American libraries and archives, and make them freely available online.
Amy, who serves on several boards, has received numerous awards and recognitions, as has the Boston Public Library under her tenure. A former resident of Beacon Hill, she now lives in Brookline. She has two grown daughters.
Heather Liddell is the Head of Industry for Google’s Banking & Lending Sector where she oversees the sales and account management teams for banks, lending, and investment firms. During our discussion, Heather will share thoughts on how digital technology continues to change our lives, what it is like to work for Google, and what innovative “Moonshot” ideas Google is launching in the market. She will also offer thoughtful perspective on diversity in the workplace and work-life balance – two very important values at Google.
Previous to current role, Heather headed Google’s mid-market sales teams for the financial services, healthcare, and agency sectors with responsibility for over $400M in annual revenues. Heather has been in the technology industry for 14 years in operational as well as consultative roles. She has held leadership roles at various technology companies which will add to her depth of discussion and succeed in this industry.
Heather is a graduate of Colgate University and holds a MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. In addition to her leadership role and demands at work, Heather is a Boston native, and currently resides in downtown Boston with her husband and two daughters. She will share her insights on balancing all of her important roles while raising her children in the city.
Come and be inspired by the energy, enthusiasm, smarts and focus of this dynamic tech executive, mom, wife and neighbor.
Kristen Gresh was appointed Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) in January 2012. She first discovered the work of many contemporary photographers from the Middle East while working as a curator in both Paris and Cairo, and has brought her expertise to the MFA as curator for the exhibition She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World.
During her presentation, she will share the process of discovering much of the work she chose for the exhibition as well as discussing the preparation the exhibition, interviewing the artists, etc.
A contributor to the auction book and catalog The Photo Diary of John G. Morris (2010), she has also contributed to the books On Display: Visual Politics, Material Culture, and Public Education (forthcoming), and Getting the Picture: The History & Visual Culture of the News (forthcoming). She has taught history of photography at the Ecole du Louvre, Wells College in Paris and the American University of Cairo. Her Ph.D. dissertation from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales was titled, “The Family of Man: A Critical History of an American Photographic Exhibition,” parts of which have been published in the academic journals Etudes Photographiques and History of Photography.
Kristen grew up in Andover and went the University of New Hampshire and Sarah Lawrence College in Paris. Her graduate degrees are from Paris where she lived for almost fifteen years. She now lives in Davis Square with her husband and two small children.
Please join us to hear about her exhibition and work at the MFA as well as her experience living and working abroad, and homecoming with family in tow.
DENISE L FAUSTMAN, MD, Ph.D.
Women’s Work in Wonderdrugs
Dr. Denise Faustman, Director of Immunobiology Laboratories at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School will kick off the Beacon Hill Women’s Forum with a broad look at healthcare and medical research, and why it takes so long to introduce a new drug to the market for type 1 diabetes. In addition, Dr. Faustman will share interesting stories around her personal life as she raised two thriving children on her own, moved from the suburbs to our great city all while balancing an impressive career. She will share her secrets for trying to be great Mom and great scientist
Dr. Faustman is currently Director of the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. After completing her internship, residency, and fellowships in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at the MGH, Dr. Faustman became an independent investigator at the MGH and Harvard Medical School in 1987. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and serves as a frequent member of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC. And also serves for National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC on the Department of Defense committees. Dr. Faustman’s honors in recent years include news stories about her scientific achievements and discoveries in the last 6 years in the WSJ, NYT and The London Times. Her honors include:
2006: Women in Science Award, American Medical Women’s Association and Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company. Given to a woman physician who has made exceptional contributions to medical science through basic science publications and through leadership in the field.
2005: Oprah Achievement Award, Top Health Breakthrough by a Female Scientist
2003: National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine, “Changing the Face of Medicine” award. One of 300 American physicians honored for achievement in medicine, past and present, Washington, DC.
Mother of two children that are just heading to college, James and Morgan.
Please join us for what promises to be an informative evening!
