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Board of Trustees

 

Melony Swasey (Chair) is a residential realtor, affiliated with Unlimited Sotheby’s International Realty, based in Brookline and Boston. She initially settled in Boston to work for a small non-profit that funds social-movement organizations of small farmers, women and youth in economically and environmentally fragile parts of the world. With a degree in urban planning from Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Melony is passionate about environmental sustainability. Her interests in practical design and community development lend well to the Eliot School's commitment to the applied arts and racial equity, and to its growth as a Boston institution.

 

Ling Luo (Treasurer) works in the financial services industry and has been employed by Fidelity Investments since 2006, primarily supporting  institutional clients and corporate functions. Ling moved here in 2000 for school and graduated from Boston College's Master of Science in Finance program.

 

 

 

 

Photo by Gretjen Helene

Edward Forte (Secretary) is principal and founder of Forte Architecture + Design, a professional architectural and design services firm serving commercial, retail, government and residential clients in the northeastern United States and beyond. An architect with over 30 years of professional experience, he is a graduate of the Boston Architectural College and has studied urban design, planning and restoration architecture at L'Universita' della Sapienza, in Rome. He is active with Boston Centre/South Main Streets, which named him Volunteer of the Year in 2014.

 

Jamie Day is Head of Global Art Direction for IDEXX. Previously a consultant on marketing, Creative Director at LiteBoxer and Associate Creative Director at MullenLowe, throughout his career, he has created award-winning work for a wide variety of national and global clients across many forms of media, including broadcast, digital, outdoor, brand experience and social content. He is passionate about art, design and the creative process. Jamie lives on Holbrook Street, across the street from the Eliot schoolhouse, and his wife, Deirdre, sits on the Eliot School’s Advisory Council and Marketing Committee. Their young children attend classes at the Eliot School.

 

Betty Herschman is a major donor advisor with Movement Voter Project (MVP). Over the course of her 20+ year career as a policy advocate, development and communications specialist, and educator, she has directed international advocacy for an Israeli activist NGO focused on the city’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; helped build the organizational capacity of seminal Boston-based organizations responding to domestic violence and disparities in health care access; and taught in the Boston Public Schools. Betty holds an MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and an MAT from Boston University. Her involvement in the Eliot School is rooted in her belief in the personal, political, and healing power of art for young people and the need for racial equity in access to art and craft education, making, and markets.

 

Carolyn Brunis Luc is a highly creative collaborative leader with 17 years of progressive experience developing and growing equitable programs that drive positive outcomes for historically excluded populations. She is passionate about people and has spearheaded community and corporate-wide engagement to advance inclusive communities and work environments. Prior to joining Suffolk, Carolyn worked over 13 years fundraising and engaging business leaders, companies, and individuals in social issues such as food insecurity, child abuse prevention and urgent needs for non-profit organizations in the Greater Boston area. Currently, Carolyn is the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Suffolk Construction. She is responsible for strengthening internal diversity and inclusion efforts by working with key stakeholders and executives across the organization to drive sustainable DEI strategies and outcomes. Carolyn has been with Suffolk Construction for nearly five years and currently serves as a committee member on the organization’s 501c3 non-profit, the Giving Circle. She holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from Regis College in Weston, MA.

 

Photo by Beowulf Sheehan

Kris Manjapra is Stearns Trustee Professor of History and Global Studies at Northeastern University and writes books on empire and anticolonialism. He fosters collaborations that cross divides between campuses and communities, engaging the arts and humanities for social action. He directs the Humanities Action Lab at Northeastern, as well as Black History in Action, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and reactivation of Black-owned community space. Kris and his partner, Saugato, are neighbors of the Eliot School.

 

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Fifile Nguyen is a strategy consultant with expertise in business & service design, branding & marketing, and product strategy & development. She’s helped design digital and physical experiences from employee training websites to medical devices to space station modules for clients like Intel, Galvanize Therapeutics, Sierra Space, and Live Nation. Born in Texas to Vietnamese war refugees, Fifile holds a BBA in International Business and BS in Textile & Apparel Design from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA in Business Design from the University of Toronto. Fifile has supported the Eliot School in several ways for over ten years. Before joining the board, she served on its Advisory Council, creating a Community Insights Study to help with strategic planning. She has been a member of our sewing faculty from 2013-17, and 2023 to present. And, in her spare time, Fifile teaches undergraduate courses on business analysis and research at Endicott College. 

 

Meredith Wallace has worked at Brigham and Women's Hospital for over a decade and is the Executive Administrator for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology overseeing all operational, financial, academic and research affairs for the department and leading the Women's Health Service Line. Previously, she worked in healthcare strategy consulting and clinical research, and interned at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Meredith has a Masters in Public Health focused on Healthcare Administration and Policy from Boston University School of Public Health and a BA in Biology and Neuroscience from Williams College. Aside from work, Meredith enjoys being outside and active - spending time in mid-coast Maine in the summer, skiing in Vermont in the winter, or hiking around Boston with her husband and children. She has served on the Eliot School's Advisory Council from 2019 to 2022 and as a member of the Governance Committee before joining the Board.

 

Photo by Gretjen Helene

Eric Warasta is Principal and Portfolio Manager at Moody, Lynn & Lieberson, LLC, where he manages client portfolios and provides research coverage of the industrial and consumer cyclical sectors. He is a member of CFA Society Boston, through which he serves as a mentor to Suffolk University in the annual CFA Institute Research Challenge. Earlier positions include Cambridge Trust Company, where he was portfolio manager for the Equity Income Strategy, and the Macroeconomic Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

 

Advisory Council

Henry Allen, Discount Foundation (retired)

Drew Bagdasarian, DRB Associates

Barbara Berns

Lev Breydo

Soul Brown, Rhode Island School of Design

Geoff Chasin, Cardinal Logistics Management

Estefania Ciliotta, Northeastern University Center for Design

Cornell Coley, Coley Communications

Katie Connolly, Newton Wellesley Hospital

Deirdre Day, Channel Maven Consulting

Luiza de Camargo, Junior Achievement of Northern New England

Anuradha Desai, EdVestors (retired)

Lee Englert, Steppingstone Foundation

Kathryn Fenneman, Grub Street

Greg Frank, Eversource

Julio Fuentes

Melissa Gallin

Meryl Glassman, Dignity Matters

Devin Hill, JP Morgan Securities

Andrés Holder, Boston Children's Chorus

Andrea Howard, West End House

Alex Jacobson, Jameson & Thompson Picture Framers

Jesse Johnson

Janet Kawada, Massachusetts College of Art & Design (retired)

Toni Loiacano, TMLW, LLC

Marisa Luse

Michelle Madera, Cambridge Public Schools

George Mallett, Artists for Humanity (retired)

Matt McArthur, The Record Co.

Michelle Millar Fisher, Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Anita Morson-Matra, Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture

Nicole Murray

Michael Reiskind, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council; Jamaica Pond Association

Teresa Rodriguez, Somerville Public Schools

Antoinette Russell, Eaton Vance Investment Counsel

Abigail Satinsky, Wagner Foundation

Paul Spinale, Islington Capital Partners

Jan Spitz, Norman B. Leventhal Map Center (retired)

Corey Stallings, South Street Youth Center

Sandra Storey, Jamaica Plain & Mission Hill Gazettes (retired)

Robert Tuchmann, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LP (retired)

Norman Yu, IMB Partners

 

Board Emeriti

Bridgit Brown

Neema Chaiban, Goulston & Storrs, LLC

Bob Cunha

Joanna Damp, Liberty Mutual

Braulio Felipe, Dept of Property & Construction Management, City of Boston

Charles Fox, Charles Fox Architect

Karen Haas, Museum of Fine Arts Boston

David Hodes Friedman, Dept of Architecture, MIT (emeritus)

Curdina Hill, Clearways to Freedom

John Iappini, Marathon Associates

Carolyn Ingles, Shattuck Hospital (retired)

Aaron Krakow, Krakow & Souris, LLC

Ramón Martin, Brigham & Women’s Hospital

Marilyn Mase, Artist; Wentworth Institute of Technology

Bonnie McBride, Sportsmen's Tennis & Enrichment Center (retired)

Kevin Moloney, Barron & Stadfeld, PC (retired)

Terry Murray, Eliot Street Capital

Margaret Patterson

Dana Rashti, AllWays Health Partners

Martha Rizzoli, Citigroup (retired)

Onur Sergici, Hancock Whitney Bank

Terry Power, The Power Company

Joy Silverstein, Fresh Hair Salon (retired)

Mary Smoyer, Boston Public Schools (retired)

Melvin Tutiven, Rockland Trust Bank

Jessica Welch, Lowell, Blake & Associates


Organizational affiliations for identification only