Board of Directors | Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEMA)
Deb is CEO and co-owner of Lindauer, a global search and talent firm serving the education, health and science, arts and culture, policy and advocacy, and civic and social justice arenas. Known as an innovative leader in nonprofit and professional services arenas, Deb was previously Senior EVP and Managing Director for Grenzebach Glier and Associates (GG+A) in Chicago, overseeing all domestic and global philanthropic consulting practices. She also served as Chief Development Officer and Interim Chief Strategy Officer for Girl Scouts of the USA, where she led the launch of the $1 billion ToGetHerThere fundraising campaign, shaped the initiative to engage 50 million Girl Scouts, and served as executive sponsor of the 2014 National Council Session and Convention. Deb held prior executive roles at Simmons University, Tufts Medical Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund, and Concord Academy. A seasoned volunteer leader, she serves on the Board of The Giving Institute, the Editorial Board of Giving USA, and ex-officio on the Board of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in her role as Chair of the CASE Industry Advisory Council. Deb was former Chair of the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in Washington, DC and still serves on the HRC Board Emeritus Council. She continues to advance inclusion and equity as Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Giving Institute and through her work with Women of Color in Philanthropy (WŌC), the CASE Opportunity and Inclusion Center, the Executive Search Roundtable, and various appointed roles. Deb was a founding team member of City Year, which today has youth service teams in more than 31 regions across the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. She was honored as a Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts Leading Woman in 2019 and as a 2021 member of the YW Boston Academy of Women Achievers. Her expertise includes governance and strategic planning; organizational growth and talent; equity, inclusion and diversity; and fundraising, marketing and communications. A respected speaker and facilitator, Deb holds a AB from Harvard University and an MBA from Simmons University. Deb joined the Board of Directors in 2020 and became Board Chair and President in 2022.
Kelly is a Senior Vice President with State Street’s Client division. Kelly has over 25 years of experience supporting world class asset management firms. Before joining State Street in 2007, Kelly held the position of Director of Global Client Service for MFS Investment Management. She also worked at Putnam Investments as a Senior Vice President overseeing the Global Client Service teams and at MDT Advisers (now Federated Investors) in various operational and marketing roles. Kelly started her career at State Street Research and Management (now BlackRock) in the Portfolio Administration department. Throughout her career, Kelly has focused on ensuring that client needs are known and expectations exceeded by leading large- scale projects to enhance the overall client experience, address regulatory changes, and improve operating effectiveness. She is a member of the Villanova Finance Department Advisory Committee. Kelly earned a BS in finance from Villanova University. Kelly joined the Board of Directors in 2017.
Elizabeth is a partner in PwC’s Assurance practice. She has over 18 years of experience in public accounting, focused primarily on providing audit and accounting advisory services to privately held clients. Elizabeth co-leads PwC’s northeast women’s initiatives, which focus on developing PwC women as leaders within PwC and in their community. Beyond her experience in public accounting, Elizabeth served as controller for AMR Research, a Boston-based company. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. Elizabeth graduated with honors from Babson College and is a certified public accountant. Elizabeth joined the Board of Directors in 2016.
Jane retired in August 2016 as the Executive Vice President, Director of Consumer and Small Business Banking at Rockland Trust. She has more than 28 years of experience in marketing and general management in banking. Having joined Rockland Trust as Executive Vice President in July 2004, Jane was responsible for the branch network, call center, deposit operations, business banking sales, home equity, and mortgage lending departments. She also served as President of the Rockland Trust Foundation. Previously, Jane was President and Chief Operating Officer of Cambridgeport Bank until its sale to Citizens Bank in 2003. She was also President of Port Financial Corp (NASDAQ: PORT),the holding company for the bank. Her board service includes the Board of Directors of the Franciscan Children’s where she chairs the Audit and Compliance committee. Jane serves as chair of GSEMA’s Finance and Investment Committees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from the University of Virginia. In 2006, GSEMA honored Jane with a Leading Women Award for her commitment to the advancement of women in leadership. Jane joined the Board of Directors in 2016.
Diane is Director of Program Management at FundGuard. Prior to joining FundGuard, Diane served as Head of Global Delivery at Clearwater Analytics and Chief Client Officer at Eagle Investments Systems, a BNY Mellon company. She received the BNY Mellon STAR award in 2004. Prior to that, Diane worked in the Financial Services practice at Deloitte Consulting and at Fidelity Investments. She brings a valuable combination of experience in software implementations, relationship management, client service, and business consulting. In 2018, Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts honored Diane with a Leading Women Award for her commitment to the advancement of women in leadership. She earned a dual Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and computer science from Boston College and a Master of Science in computer information systems from Bentley College. Diane joined the Board of Directors in 2019.
As chief executive officer, Barbara Fortier brings her proven operations expertise and dedication to championing female leadership development to the youth and adult members of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEMA). Prior to this role and for over 20 years, Barbara served as the chief operations officer for GSEMA, and was responsible for overseeing several key functional areas of the council including product program, facilities management, membership, girl and outdoor program, and information technology. She also provides leadership for key initiatives including strategic planning, information security program management, and GSUSA governance requirements. Barbara has over 35 years of experience in information technology, telecommunications, networking, facilities management, strategic planning, product sales, business process re-engineering, and complex project management methodologies in for-profit and non-profit environments. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and earned a Master of Business Administration from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire.
Michael serves as the Chief Legal Officer of Immuneering Corporation (Nasdaq: IMRX), a clinical-stage oncology company, a position he has served in since July 2021. Prior to joining Immuneering, Michael served as General Counsel and Secretary of Frequency Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FREQ) from September 2019 to July 2021. In this role, he served as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and established and led Frequency’s Legal Department as its first in-house attorney. He also played a key role in Frequency’s initial public offering in October 2019. Prior to his time at Frequency, Michael was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP, a leading international law firm where he worked on corporate transactional, securities and general business and governance matters, with an emphasis on representing high-growth technology and life sciences companies. Michael holds a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BBA, summa cum laude, from the University of Miami.
Jeannette serves as Assistant Vice President of Engagement and Diversity, Student Affairs at Curry College. She has spent her 20+ year career immersed in the industries of higher education, management, and non-profit. She has done consulting, training and advocacy work in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, campus/community development, and student services development. Jeannette has served in a variety of management roles for such organizations as Boston University, Suffolk University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Bentley University, and Mount Ida College. She is a founding member and past board member of the African American Women in Higher Education Association New England. She currently holds professional memberships with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, the National Association of Black Accountants, the Massachusetts Association of Women in Education, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Jeannette has been a member of the National Black MBA Association for over ten years, holding positions in the Boston Chapter on its leadership board. She is an active mentor with the National Black MBA Leaders of Tomorrow Program, and is a Trustee to the Mission Grammar School located in Boston's historic South End. Jeanette earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Southeastern Massachusetts University and a master’s degree in education with a concentration in student personnel development and counseling from Northeastern University. She is a graduate Fellow of The Partnership, Inc. Leadership Development Program. Jeannette joined the Board of Directors in 2021.
Julie is a Managing Director and Senior Trust officer with Bank of America Private Bank in Boston, Massachusetts. In this role, Julie is involved with advising individuals and families on a broad spectrum of wealth planning topics with a focus on estate planning and fiduciary administration. Julie joined Bank of AmericaPrivate Bank (formerly U.S. Trust) in 2009 and has spent time in both at the Fiduciary Division as a Trust Officerand the WealthStrategies Division as an analyst. In both capacities, Julie has provided technical advice in relation to estate planning and taxation, sophisticated gifting strategies, income tax projections and financial modeling. She holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification, the Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor (CTFA) designation, and is a member of the Boston Estate Planning Council. Julie received her bachelor’s degree in trust and wealth management, with a minor in financial planning. She received her MBA from Campbell University with a concentration in investments. She joined the Board of Directors in 2022.
Susan is a Retail Market Manager for TD Bank. Susan is responsible for managing the eastern New Hampshire region, and has been in the banking industry for over 16 years. Susan's region consists of 18 locations from North Conway to the Seacoast of NH. Her primary role is working with the stores and supporting sales goals and initiatives. Susan has worked in several capacities during her career, and financial literacy and education is a passion that she supports. Through connections with multiple troops, Susan has had the pleasure to lead banking virtual tours, and online financial literacy classes with Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. Susan also serves on the board of Birthday Wishes and the GAB for Minuteman High School. Susan graduated from Framingham State College with a BA in applied microeconomics, an MBA from New England College of Business and Finance, as well as The Wharton School of Business Leadership Program and UPenn Graduate School of Banking.
Allison has over 20 years of experience working in higher education and non-profits. She has held several leadership roles throughout her career at Curry College, Colleges of the Fenway, Inc., and Boston University. Allison has spent most of her career in Student Affairs, where she gained experience with strategic planning and oversight of initiatives that promoted the personal, social, cultural, and educational growth of students focusing on retention, persistence, and graduation. She then moved to work for a non-profit focused on collaboration between colleges and universities in the Fenway area of Boston, where her work was primarily focused on faculty and staff professional development and shared academic programs. In early 2022, Allison took her experience with project management and collaboration and pivoted to a role in finance, returning to Curry College where she currently serves as the Director of Procurement. Allison is a past board member of the Massachusetts Association of Women in Education, the Association of College Unions International (Region VIII), and most recently served as the co- chair for the Association for Collaborative Leadership Annual Conference. She currently holds professional memberships in the Project Management Institute Mass Bay and the National Association of Educational Procurement. Allison serves her community as a Year Up mentor and a Girl Scout troop leader. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Assumption University and a Master of Arts in higher education administration from Boston College. She joined the Board of Directors in 2022.
Karan is the Global Grooming Process & Engineering Vice President at Procter & Gamble - Gillette in South Boston. She is an accomplished engineering executive with vision and leadership insights in strategic planning, managing global programs, engineering innovation, technology master planning and new site construction. A champion for diversity and inclusion, her mission is to inspire and develop talent at all levels. She also serves as the P&G Director of Campus Recruiting at Tuskegee University, where she has personally recruited hundreds of diverse students for both full time and summer intern positions across Procter and Gamble. She is a strong supporter and member of SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and an advocate for girls and women in STEM. She is a co-sponsor of P&G’s Global Women in Engineering and co-founder of the African Ancestry Executive Women Leaders Team. She is a member of The Partnership C-Suite Program in Boston MA, the Massachusetts Business Round Table Board, and Cincinnati American Red Cross Board. In 2022 Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts honored Karan with a Leading Women Award for her commitment to the advancement of women in leadership. She received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tuskegee University.
Teresa is formerly a partner in the Financial Services Practice of A.T. Kearney Inc., currently on hiatus from consulting to focus on family, real estate investing, and women’s entrepreneurship. With over two decades in the financial services industry, as both a consultant and senior manager at major retail financial services institutions, Teresa is known for her strategic visioning and ability to assist her clients with navigating the rapidly evolving digital financial services, data privacy, and consumer shopping landscape. Through her multi-year groundbreaking consumer research in digital financial services, and industry experience working with major banks, brokerage firms, payments companies, and digital fintech providers, she is able to develop and deliver impactful strategies to clients seeking to compete and win in the rapidly-evolving digital marketplace. In addition to her industry and consulting experience, Teresa has also been an entrepreneur. Co-founding and leading a boutique strategy consulting firm, Mercatus, she focused on developing revenue growth and new product innovation strategies for major banks, wealth management, and payments companies. Mercatus was acquired by AlixPartners in 2011. Teresa has an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business Administration, and earned her undergraduate degree from Cornell University. Teresa has been widely quoted in the press including The American Banker, The New York Times, Bank Investment Consultant News, Businessweek Online, BAI Banking Strategies Magazine, and others. In addition, she is a member of the University of Virginia Darden School’s Diversity Advisory Council. Teresa joined the Board of Directors in 2019.
Trevor is a Research Analyst and Sleeve Manager at Boston Partners Global Investors, where he conducts fundamental analysis on international healthcare equities. Prior to joining Boston Partners in 2015, Trevor did fundamental equity research on a variety of industries for Highfields Capital, and he started his career doing quantitative equity research for MDT Advisers (now a subsidiary of Federated Investors). He is a CFA® charter holder. He has served as a Non-Resident Tutor in Economics for Pforzheimer House at Harvard College and has regularly guest lectured on emerging markets investing for a graduate investment class at MIT Sloan. Trevor holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and graduated from Harvard College with an AB (magna cum laude) in economics with a secondary field in mathematical sciences. Trevor joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Guilda is an award-winning digital marketing thought leader and the Director of Product Marketing at Salesforce. She brings more than 20+ years’ experience in marketing technology, including roles within digital marketing operations, training, platform migration/ implementation, and consulting. In her current role, she is responsible for leading global community programs, such as the 500+ Members Global Marketing Program, which rewards and recognizes top community experts and advocates for their ongoing contributions back to the marketing community. She is also responsible for building global community programs that make learning soft skills and hard skills accessible to everyone; from the business executive striving for success, to the job seeker looking for a tech job, to the student fresh from graduation. She is also passionate about diversity and inclusion in digital marketing. Her passion is to mentor and coach the younger generations towards careers in digital technology. She is an active mentor and speaker at Bentley University. Guilda believes in giving back to the community and is active in many organizations and a mentor. She serves on the ANA Email Experience Board and Bentley Global Alumni Board. She has volunteered for many local organizations, including The Greater Boston Food Bank, Pine Street Inn and WGBH. Guilda earned her BS from Bentley University and completed the Women’s Executive Leadership Program. She is a graduate Fellow of The Partnership, Inc. Leadership Development Program. She joined the Board of Directors in 2022.
David is Chief Information Officer for Sprinklr, the industry-leading customer experience management (CXM) platform. He has 20 years’ experience managing business and IT transformations for global technology and financial services companies, including athenahealth, Fidelity, State Street, and Citigroup. David has a strong connection to charitable organizations that support the health and well-being of at-risk children, such as Boston Children’s Hospital, St. Jude Research Hospital, and Massachusetts Department of Children & Families. David received a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Connecticut. He holds a Master of Science in electrical engineering (robotics concentration) from the California Institute of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He joined the Board of Directors in 2022.
Lan serves as General Counsel and Secretary of connectRN, Inc., where she oversees all legal and compliance matters for the nurse staffing community that provides clinicians with flexible scheduling opportunities and resources. Lan has 17 years of experience providing strategic legal advice in both private practice and in-house settings. Prior to joining connectRN, she served as Assistant General Counsel and Secretary of HubSpot, Inc., where she oversaw public company compliance, SEC reporting, board and corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), venture investments, and international expansion. She also established HubSpot’s internal environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiative to help drive progress on the company’s sustainability goals and served as a member of HubSpot’s internal committee focused on diversity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. Prior to this, Lan served as Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of athenahealth, Inc., where she led corporate matters for the legal team. She helped to take ConforMIS, Inc., a medical device company, public in 2015 and also focused on corporate and M&A matters at Sapient Corporation. Lan began her legal career in the corporate department of Brown Rudnick LLP, where she served as chair of the summer intern program and was involved with the firm’s hiring and diversity committees. Prior to attending law school, Lan was an auditor at Deloitte. Lan is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, TechGC, the Women's General Counsel Network, and the Association of Corporate Counsel. She received her Bachelor of Science, cum laude, in accounting and finance at The University of Arizona and her Juris Doctor at Boston College Law School. Lan joined the Board of Directors in 2022.
Kim serves as an audit partner and leader of the commercial audit practice with Ernst &Young in Boston with over 25 years of experience serving multi-national, high-growth companies, including life sciences, technology, and professional services companies. Kim began her career in the Boston office of Arthur Andersen and joined Ernst & Young’s Boston office in 2002. She has extensive experience working with companies on their revenue models (including multiple element arrangements), financing and acquisition plans, and involvement with numerous IPOs and secondary financings. Kim is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA) and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA). Within her community, Kim has served as Vice Chair of the United Way Women United Leadership Council and a member of the United Way Global Women United Leadership Council. She earned her BS in accounting from Boston College. Kim joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Kristen is a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Boston Financial Services Office, with 20 years of experience in providing assurance and advisory services to a variety of financial services clients, with a focus on health, life and property and casualty insurance companies. In addition to conducting audits, Kristen has worked on a number of special projects at insurance companies, including initial public offerings, business process improvement projects, SOX/404 implementations, transaction advisory engagements, and support with examinations on behalf of state insurance departments. Kristen has developed and led educational trainings, is an active participant in the firm’s recruiting efforts, has served on the Corporate Social Responsibility Sub-Committee, and is a member of the firm’s Professional Women’s Network. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. Kristen graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a BA in accounting and economics. She joined the Board of Directors in 2022.
Gena is a Partner in PwC’s Trust solutions practice and lead on the firms ESG & Sustainability efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as well as human capital assurance nationally. Gena has more than 14 years of experience advising companies on data, operational and technology controls and performing reporting audits and assessments. She is a leading specialist in SOC 1, 2 and 3, and other third party assurance and internal controls reporting, providing services to our largest financial services clients designed to identify, assess, and manage complex risk and control issues across the enterprise – whether they are strategic, financial, systems, or operational in nature. In addition, Gena advises global clients on their ESG and Sustainability strategies, including how to navigate their sustainability reporting journey, with a specific focus on evolving and leading ESG frameworks. She is an inclusive, empathetic leader driving diversity, equity and inclusion with passion and dedication. She is the Purpose & Inclusion Co-Champion of the Boston, Hartford, and Albany offices of PwC. In this leadership role, Gena is responsible for driving the culture of inclusion for more than 3,500 professionals. Gena graduated cum laude from Bryant University with a Concentration in Accounting and a Minor in Psychology. Gena also is a licensed CPA in Massachusetts as well as a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). She joined the Board of Directors in 2022.