Steering Committee Biographies

Grace K. Fey

Chairman, University of Massachusetts, member of the Board of Higher Education (State and Community Colleges).

Email: gfey@frontiercap.com

Grace Keeney Fey is an Executive Vice President and Director of Frontier Capital Management Company, a $5 billion investment management firm located in Boston, Massachusetts.  Ms. Fey began her career at Alliance Capital Management in 1970, working as an assistant to two senior oil analysts.  After leaving Alliance, she worked as an analyst and writer for Babson United, publisher of the United Business Review.  In 1978 she joined Keystone Investment Management Corporation as a portfolio manager, working with both institutional and individual clients.  From 1980 through 1988, Ms. Fey helped build two small, independent investment management firms in the Boston area.  Her activities included portfolio management, equity and fixed income analysis, and marketing.  In 1988 she joined Frontier Capital to spearhead the firm’s efforts in the wealthy individual and Endowment and Foundation areas.  She currently manages this division for Frontier.  Local clients include Society of Jesus, New England, MSPCA, Raytheon, Boston College, Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, Rutland Corner House, Visiting Nurses Association, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Hampshire College, Hampshire Regional YMCA, Nashoba Community Hospital, First Church of Christ Scientist, Goddard Homestead.  Other firm clients include Bowdoin College, National Wildlife Federation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Bristol Myers, and LL Bean.

Ms. Fey is a chartered Financial Analyst and she is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) and the Boston Security Analysts Society.   She is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA), and a member of the Social Investment Forum.  Ms. Fey has been featured in Business Week, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wall Street Transcript, Financial Planning on Wall Street, and she is a frequent guest on CNBC and CNN/FN.  She teaches seminars on topics such as “Managing Money for Endowments and Foundations.”

Ms. Fey currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts, and President of the University of Massachusetts Foundation, and is on the Board of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education which oversees State and Community colleges.  She is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zoo New England (Franklin Park and Stone Zoos).  She is an Overseer of the Huntington Theatre, having Chaired the Development Committee for several years and is Director of The Commonwealth Institute and an Overseer of the Boston Center for Adult Education and a Director of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  She is a member of the Massachusetts Women’s Forum, the Boston Club, and the St. Botolph club.  Her public board experience includes Tucker Anthony where she served on the Finance Committee, and Bioject Medical Technologies, where she served on the Audit Committee.

 

Thomas M. Finneran

Speaker, Massachusetts House of Representatives

House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, a Democrat from Boston, represents the 12th Suffolk District, which includes sections of Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Milton. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1979. From 1991 to 1996, Speaker Finneran served as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He was elected Speaker of the House in April 1996 and has since been re-elected in January of 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003.

A graduate of Boston Latin School, Speaker Finneran attended Northeastern University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Finance. In 1978, he received his Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School and was then admitted to the Massachusetts Bar that same year.

During his tenure as Speaker, Tom Finneran has continued his strong advocacy of government accountability and oversight of taxpayer expenditures during the budget process. He has insisted on budgets which are honestly and prudently balanced with regard to reliable and recurring revenues, which are intelligent as to policy choices. Speaker Finneran has also established a Speaker's Lyceum lecture series, where distinguished leaders from all walks of life, including government, academic, business, cultural and literary circles have been invited to address the Massachusetts House of Representatives during a full formal session.

Speaker Finneran has insisted on a House of Representatives that operates with integrity, civility, truthfulness and candor. He is a staunch believer in the ideal that public employment is an honorable profession, which carries with it a responsibility to the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Speaker Finneran lives in Mattapan with his wife Donna and has two daughters, Kelley and Shannon. The Speaker is a recreational gardener, and enjoys running, fishing, reading, and spending time with his family.

 

Richard M. Freeland

President, Northeastern University

Email: r.freeland@neu.edu

Richard M. Freeland has been President of Northeastern University since September, 1996.  Under his leadership, Northeastern has focused on achieving excellence as a national research university that is student-centered, practice-oriented and urban.  President Freeland has emphasized Northeastern’s leadership in practice-oriented education by enhancing the University’s flagship program of cooperative education and strengthening links between co-op and classroom in both professional fields and the arts and sciences.  President Freeland has announced Northeastern’s intention to be recognized among the top 100 national universities within the first decade of the 21^st century.

Dr. Freeland has spent his entire academic career in urban higher education.  As Assistant to the President of the University of Massachusetts in 1970, he focused on the development of a new campus in Boston.  For the next twenty-two years, he was associated with UMass/Boston, serving consecutively as Assistant to the Chancellor, Director of the Office of Educational Planning, founding Dean of the College of Professional Studies, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  In 1992 Freeland became Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the City University of New York, the country’s largest urban system of public higher education.  In addition to his role as Vice Chancellor, Freeland served as President of the CUNY Research Foundation, managing grants and contracts totaling approximately $150 million annually.

An American historian, Freeland is the author of two books, Academia’s Golden Age, a post World War II history of universities in Massachusetts, published in 1992, and The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism, published in 1972.  He has received research support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation’s scholar in residence in Bellagio, Italy.  He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Visitor at the Harvard Business School.

Freeland is Chairman of the Commission on Governmental Relations of the American Council on Education.  He is a Director of Citizens Bank, The Boston Globe, and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, as well as Vice Chair of the Board of the Boston Plan for Excellence and a Trustee of the Private Industry Council.  He has received honorary degrees from Amherst College and from the American College of Greece.

Born and raised in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, Freeland received a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Amherst College in 1963 and a doctorate in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968.  From 1963 to 1964, he studied at the University of Bristol, England, on an Amherst Memorial Fellowship.

Freeland’s wife, Elsa Nuñez, is Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University of Maine System.  She received a doctorate in linguistics from Rutgers University in 1979, and is widely published in the areas of language acquisition and the retention of disadvantaged students.  The couple has two children, Antony, a graduate of Lesley University, and Maria, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, who is attending medical school at George Washington University.

 

Thomas P. Glynn

Chief Operating Officer, Partners HealthCare

Thomas P. Glynn has been the Chief Operating Officer of Partners HealthCare, a network of hospitals and physicians, since 1996 where he is responsible for oversight of finance, information systems, human resources, real estate, marketing, and community benefits.

Previously, Glynn served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Labor, as Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration at Brown University, and as General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from 1989 to 1991.  From 1983 to 1988, he served as Deputy Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare.

Mr. Glynn is Chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Heller School at Brandeis University and a Brandeis Trustee.  He also serves on the boards of John Hancock Financial Services and the Pine Street Inn, and as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Mr. Glynn has a BA in Economics from Tufts University and a Ph.D. from Brandeis' Heller School.

 

Robert M. Hollister
Dean
John DiBiaggio Professor
University College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University

Email: Robert.hollister@tufts.edu

Robert M. Hollister is the Dean of the University College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, and he holds the John DiBiaggio Chair of Citizenship and Public Service. Dr. Hollister led the design of the University College, whose mission is to prepare Tufts students in all fields of study for lifetimes of active citizenship and service to society. His work focuses on elevating the civic education and public service roles of higher education. A specialist in community leadership, voluntary action and nonprofit organizations, he has taught graduate and undergraduate students, practicing professionals, and citizens for over 30 years. He served as Dean of the Tufts Graduate School of Arts & Sciences from 1996-2001, and as the Director of the Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affairs from 1990-1996. He chairs the Carol R. Goldberg Seminars, an action planning process co-sponsored by the Boston Foundation that convenes leaders from business, nonprofits and government to address community problems in the Boston area. Dr. Hollister is co-editor and contributing author of Governing, Leading and Managing Nonprofit Organizations; Cities of the Mind; Neighborhood Policy and Planning; and Neighborhood Health Centers; he is co-author of Development Politics.

 

Dr. Theodore Landsmark

President, Boston Architectural Center

Email: ted.landsmark@the-bac.edu

Website: www.the-bac.edu

 

James Davitt Rooney
Consultant
CEOs for Cities

Email: jamesdrooney@yahoo.com

James Davitt Rooney is a consultant and former Director of Policy and Associate Director at CEOs for Cities, a national alliance of mayors, corporate executives,
university presidents and other civic leaders that strengthens urban
economies through an exchange and application of best practices, ideas,
and advocacy. CEOs was founded by Paul Grogan and is based in Chicago.
Jim was a contributing author of "Leveraging Colleges and Universities
for Urban Economic Growth: An Action Agenda," a 2002 study CEOs
co-sponsored with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. Jim has
conducted related outreach to strengthen higher ed-civic partnerships in
cities across the country and has spoken on the topic in various venues
and media. Prior to CEOs, Jim was Director of Community and Government
Relations at Brown University, his alma mater. Jim also holds a Master
in Public Administration degree from the Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard. A native of Palmer, Jim lives with his wife Tara and son Josh
in Brookline.

Alan D. Solomont

Chairman and CEO, Solomont Bailis Ventures

Email: charris@sb-ventures.com   

Alan Solomont is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and political activist. For many years, he was a leading provider of eldercare in New England. As founder and CEO of the A•D•S Group, he helped to build a broad and innovative network of post-acute, eldercare services. In 1996, the A•D•S Group was sold to the Multicare Companies, which is now a part of Genesis Health Ventures. Today, Mr. Solomont is Chairman and CEO of Solomont Bailis Ventures, whose mission is to launch new and innovative health and eldercare ventures. He also serves as a Director of the Boston Private Bank & Trust Company and as a Managing Member of Angel Healthcare Investors, LLC.

Active for many years in the Democratic Party, Mr. Solomont was chosen by President Clinton and Vice President Gore to serve as National Finance Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 1997. Under his leadership, the DNC raised over $40 million. Mr. Solomont has held many other volunteer positions in the Democratic Party including delegate to the 1996 and 2000 Democratic National Conventions, National Chairman of the Democratic Business Council, Treasurer of the Massachusetts Democratic Party and Chairman of the DNC’s Leadership 2000 Board.  Mr. Solomont is currently involved with Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

In 2000, Mr. Solomont was named by President Clinton to serve on the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Corporation oversees three national service initiatives: AmeriCorps, the National Senior Service Corps and Learn & Serve America.

Deeply committed to peace in the Middle East and a democratic Israel, Mr. Solomont has advised a number of US government officials on matters relating to Israel and the peace process. He was a guest of President Clinton in Jordan and Israel for the signing of the peace treaty between these countries in 1994, and he accompanied House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt to Israel in 1998 on the occasion of Israel’s 50th Anniversary.  In January, 2001, Mr. Solomont was honored by the Israel Policy Forum for his commitment to peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

In addition to his business and political pursuits, Mr. Solomont is a volunteer and supporter of many community institutions and charitable organizations. He is Chairman of the Board of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, the Vice Chairman of Boston Medical Center and chairs Boston Medical Center’s Development Committee. Mr. Solomont is also a member of the Boards of the Jewish Fund for Justice, the New Israel Fund, Israel Policy Forum, Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly, the Heller School at Brandeis University and the WGBH Educational Foundation. He is a Trustee of his alma mater, Tufts University, where he chairs the Board of Overseers of the University College of Citizenship and Public Service.

Mr. Solomont received a B.A. from Tufts University in 1970 in Political Science and Urban Studies.  He pursued independent studies abroad as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and later earned a B.S. in Nursing from the University of Lowell.  He is married to Susan Lewis, who is a Senior Advisor at The Philanthropic Initiative where she advises individuals, foundations and corporations on strategic philanthropy. They live in Weston, Massachusetts with their two daughters, Stephanie, age 12, and Becca, age 17.