On Monday, May 5, a new era was ushered in at Big Sister Association of Greater Boston’s Annual Meeting. After three years as president of Big Sister’s Board of Directors, Dolores Mitchell, Executive Director of the Group Insurance Commission, passed the presidential torch to Timothy J. O’Brien, Senior Vice President at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Joining O’Brien as the newly elected vice president was Maxwell Bardeen, Jr., Managing Director at UBS Financial.
“Dolores Mitchell has served as an exemplary leader of the Big Sister Board during a critical time in our history,” said Deborah Re, Chief Executive Officer of Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. “Tim and Max’s experience in business, paired with their deep understanding of Big Sister’s mission, will launch Big Sister further into the forefront of mentoring organizations in Greater Boston.”
O’Brien and Bardeen are joined by 27 fellow Board Members who are charged with fiscal and strategic oversight of the agency, and play an instrumental role in raising the funds needed to serve more than 3,000 girls in 2008. Collectively they bring a range of professional and philanthropic experience to Big Sister, including the four new Board Members who were also welcomed to Big Sister at Monday’s Annual Meeting. They include: Hilary Marshall, former Director of Development and Communications at Big Sister, who is now Director of Annual Giving at Massachusetts General Hospital; Carol McKean, President of Carol McKean Events; Janet Porter, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and Karen Voci, Executive Director at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation.
The Annual Meeting also marked the election of the first officers to Big Sister’s Young Professional Board. This Board was put in place in 2007 in order to reach out to a younger generation of philanthropists and get them involved with the integral work of Big Sister. The 14-person Young Professional Board elected Claudia Silva, Account Manager at Argus, as its president, and Sven Meier, Technical Lead of Engineering and Technology services at IBM, as its vice president. They also welcomed a diverse group of four new members, including: C. Allen Bargfrede, Assistant Professor of Music Business at Berklee College of Music; Karen Carmody, Director of Corporate Development at Circles; David Howse, Director of Operations and Programs at Boston Children’s Chorus; and Natalie King, Event Manager at Tourism Cares.
“With this dynamic group of enthusiastic Board and Young Professional Board members, I have no doubt that Big Sister will be able to deepen our impact in Greater Boston and create even more opportunities for the girls,” said Re.
