#Wellesley College Alumnae Achievement Award

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Wellesley Writes It: Dr. Kwan Kew Lai

Wellesley Writes It: Dr. Kwan Kew Lai

In my second interview since I started back editing for Wellesley Underground as their Wellesley Writes It editor, I corresponded with Dr. Kwan Kew Lai, Wellesley ’74 and author of Lest We Forget: One Doctor’s Experience with Life and Death During the Ebola Outbreak.

Here’s the beginning of the interview:

Kwan Kew Lai ’74, M.D., D.M.D., is an infectious disease specialist who has volunteered her…

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Wellesley Writes It: Interview with Kwan Kew Lai ’74 (@KwanKew), infectious disease physician & author of LEST WE FORGET: A DOCTOR’S EXPERIENCE WITH LIFE AND DEATH DURING THE EBOLA OUTBREAK

Kwan Kew Lai ’74, M.D., D.M.D., is an infectious disease specialist who has volunteered her medical services all over the world and the author of Lest We Forget: A Doctor’s Experience with Life and Death During the Ebola Outbreak. In 2004, after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, she spent three weeks in India, caring for survivors. She soon left her position as a full-time Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center and created a half-time position as a clinician, dedicating the other half of her time to humanitarian work. 

Since 2005, Lai has volunteered as a mentor to health workers addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Vietnam, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Malawi and has provided earthquake relief in Haiti and Nepal, hurricane relief in the Philippines and drought and famine relief in Kenya and the Somalian border. She has also worked with refugees of the Democratic Republic of Congo and internally displaced people in Libya during the Arab Spring and South Sudan after the civil war and treated Ebola patients in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Most recently, she served as a medical volunteer in the Syrian refugee camps in mainland Greece and in Moria refugee camp on Lesvos, Greece for refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and the countries of the Sub-Saharan Africa and in the world’s biggest refugee camps for the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Lai has blogged extensively about her experiences.

Originally from Penang, Malaysia, Lai came to the United States after receiving a scholarship to attend Wellesley, where she studied molecular biology. “Without that open door I would not have gone on to become a doctor,” Lai wrote in her Doctors Without Borders bio. 

Lai has received numerous awards for her work, which include being a three-time recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award. In 2017, she was awarded Wellesley College Alumnae Achievement Award. In addition, Lai is the lead author of many publications and presentations. Her research has included HIV studies, infection control, hospital epidemiology, and antibiotic trials. She has served on many committees, task forces, and boards, including the Governor’s Advisory Board for the Elimination of Tuberculosis in Massachusetts. She is also an avid marathon runner and paints when she is inspired.

Wellesley Underground’s Wellesley Writes it Series Editor, E.B. Bartels ’10, had the chance to converse with Lai via email about Lest We Forget and about her experiences at Wellesley and beyond. E.B. would also like to make note that Lai made time to answer these questions even while busy with her 45th Wellesley Reunion! 

EB: How did Lest We Forget come about? What inspired you to write the book?

KKL: I first became aware of the Ebola outbreak in March of 2014, I began to follow it very closely. I read about Ebola when I was in my training as an infectious disease specialist. It is a deadly viral infection but it usually occurs in Africa and I knew that it would be unlikely for me to see a patient with this infection. In the summer of 2014 when WHO finally acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, the nightly TV images of people desperate to get into a hospital and bodies lying in the streets because they were too infectious to be touched, moved me. I knew I had to be in West Africa to volunteer. 

I started blogging a few years ago when I went to volunteer to enable my family and close friends to keep abreast of my situation and so I did the same when I started volunteering in the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU). Deeper into my volunteering I was very moved by the courage and resilience of the patients and the dedication and dogged determination of the people who worked alongside me and who risked their lives working in the frontline. After my first stint in West Africa, I was interviewed by NPR international health correspondent, Nurith Aizenman, about my experience and she had urged me to write a book. I had thought about that as well before she brought it up but I was too taken up into my second stint of Ebola volunteer by then. When I was in Sierra Leone doing my second Ebola volunteering, I was also contacted by an agency who wanted to represent me with either writing a book or making a documentary. However just before I left for Sierra Leone, I signed with my first agent about my book on Africa which is about my experiences as a volunteered doctor in HIV/AIDS and my work in the refugee camps. I did not feel it was ethically right to deal with another agency. Nevertheless, writing a book about Ebola became more urgent, I wanted to write this in honor and memory of the people afflicted by Ebola and the frontline bola fighters who put their lives on the line. It took me awhile for me to convince my agent to present my book on Ebola first before my book on Africa. 

EB: Lest We Forget is a work of nonfiction and, not only that, a book about a very intense topic. What was challenging about writing about that subject? What kept you wanting to write the book, even if it was difficult? And how did you handle writing about people's personal experiences, especially when dealing with sensitive medical information?

KKL: Keeping a daily blog helped to lighten the burden of writing about the trauma of the people all at once. The blog became my fact book that I could go back to if I did forget an event or a person. As I stated before, the book was written as a tribute to the people I wanted to honor and remember, that helped the process a great deal. I changed the names of the people as much as I could to preserve confidentiality. Keeping a blog daily also provided me an emotional catharsis while volunteering in the ETU. I also wanted to rejoice with the people who recovered from this grave illness.

EB: Is Lest We Forget is your first book? What was challenging about writing it, and what was rewarding about the process?

KKL: No, it is not my first book. In February 2014, I signed with an agent for my Africa book which I had been writing for a couple of years before Lest We Forget, which is about my volunteering experiences in Africa. Before then I attempted to write a book, a sort of coming-of-age story for my children, this has not been presented to anyone. My years of writing on my own have taught me that I still have a lot of work on that book and it would have to go through many more draughts. Keeping a blog or diary helps with one’s writing. Reading a lot and writing, both help with my writing.

I also learned a lot through trying to find an agent or publisher for my book, if there is no market for the topic of one’s book, it will not likely to be accepted by either. My book on Africa, tentatively titled, Into Africa: A Journey from Academic Medicine to Bush Medicine has been accepted a few months ago for publication next year, I found a publisher without the help of my agent. It will now go through many months of work with the editors, etc. before the actual date of publication.  I was told nine to fifteen months from May. 

EB: What advice would you give to someone writing a book? Perhaps someone also writing a nonfiction book about an intense topic?

KKL: Writing and rewriting many times over. Keep a blog on your experiences, despite the intensity, you would be surprised how your mind works to block the painful parts of the experiences. If you have some willing readers, it may be helpful to let others read your draughts.

EB: In addition to your work as an infectious disease specialist, have you always enjoyed writing? Did you write at all before this book? Did you study writing while you were at Wellesley?

KKL: As a professor of medicine, I presented in national and international conferences, wrote and published many scientific papers, and a few medical essays.  As foreign students, we were all required to take a course in English as second language during our first year, I did not find this very helpful but it was required. In my junior year, I took a writing course in which we were required to write and critique each other’s writings. We met once a week at the professor’s home. I did not find this helpful either. It seemed quite subjective and I think it was an easy course for the professor who I think did not offer helpful advice on our writing. I find scientific writings tend to be precise, cut and dry, very different from creative writing and as my background is in science, I have a great deal to learn.

EB: How did your time at Wellesley influence you and your career path, if at all?

KKL: I was more influenced by what I read during my teenage years. Wellesley provided a safe and secure place for me to grow. Coming from an Asian background, we are not taught to seek guidance and friendship from the professors, they are often put on the pedestal to revere and not as someone you could seek advice, reveal your vulnerabilities, or share your ambitions with. In my later years, I’m often jealous of Wellesley classmates who kept up friendship with their professors after they left college. My foreign student advisor at Wellesley advised me not to apply to medical schools because many excellent foreign students in the past did not get admitted and that I should apply to other allied health professions instead. I was accepted at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine after my junior year but I realized that Medicine was still my first love and after my dental degree I went back to medical school.

EB: Who at Wellesley made the biggest impact on you and your career? Faculty, staff, fellow students? Which particular individuals?

KKL: As I expressed above, I wished I was freer in finding advisors in my professors. Jeanette McPherrin, who became the Dean of Foreign Students during my last years at Wellesley, will always be remembered by me as a friend who kept up a correspondence with me until she passed. I found her to be non-judgmental, genuinely kind, and interested in all foreign students as individuals. 

The biggest impact for me was when Wellesley College offered me a full scholarship, this gave me the opportunity to get an education and fulfil my ambition to be a doctor. I remember being inspired by Dr. Tom Dooley and Dr. Albert Schweitzer who went to underdeveloped countries to provide medical care and Wellesley College’s motto of non ministrari sed ministare also spur me on to pay it forward. 

EB: What else would you like our readers to know about you and/or your work?

KKL: I currently live in Belmont, MA and have three children. Last week, I received a letter from the Dean of my medical school that they have selected me to receive their Distinguished Alumnus Service Award in October 2019.

EB: That’s wonderful! Congratulations!

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Happy birthday Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (December 11, 1892 - March 27, 1982), a woman everyone who has ever read a Nancy Drew mystery novel should know. From the Wellesley Alumnae Achievement Awards (1978) Archive... "Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was an accomplished writer and business manager of the Stratemeyer Writing Syndicate. Harriet’s father, Edward Stratemeyer, founded the syndicate in 1915, and under his leadership, the company published over 150 popular series for young readers under 100 different pseudonyms. Stratemeyer hired ghostwriters to expand and develop stories from plot outlines he had written for series such as The Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift,and Nancy Drew, while maintaining full editorial control and authorship over the stories. "Harriet entered Wellesley College in 1910, and as an undergraduate, she distinguished herself as an accomplished writer, pianist, and journalist. She worked as a college press correspondent, selling articles to larger newspapers, such as the Boston Globe. After graduating with a B.A., Harriet worked for her father’s company, editing the ghostwritten stories. "When Edward Stratemeyer died in 1930, the legal responsibility of maintaining the syndicate fell to Harriet and her sister, Edna. Even after his death, the Stratemeyer sisters continued to publish books for the numerous series that their father had created. In 1942, Harriet assumed senior partnership of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and for the next 40 years, she completed book outlines and editorial responsibilities until her death in 1982. "Harriet’s accomplishments were unheard of for a woman of her time; she maintained a thriving business in spite of national economic difficulties during the Great Depression and World War II. Under her guidance, series such as Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys remained popular over generations, reflecting the changing stereotypes, ideas, politics, and language of the twentieth century." Source: http://web.wellesley.edu/Alum/Awards/AAA/winners/adams.html Did you know? Mildred Wirt Benson was Nancy Drew's first ghostwriter. She wrote 23 of the 30 original books under the name 'Carolyn Keene'. https://www.instagram.com/p/CIzNoCql6pE/?igshid=4mo419ha86xt

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Business briefs on Paul W. Carey, Abbie Jackman-Tallent and Camila Wendorff

Paul W. Carey of Upton, a associate within the Collectors’ Rights, Chapter and Reorganization Group at Mirick O’Connell, has been chosen to the 2020 Massachusetts Tremendous Attorneys listing.

Annually, not more than 5% of the attorneys within the state are chosen by the analysis crew at Tremendous Attorneys to obtain this honor.

 Carey concentrates his apply on collectors’ rights, chapter and enterprise reorganization issues. He has intensive expertise with chapter and insolvency proceedings and litigation, representing collectors, debtors, collectors’ committees, trustees and receivers.

Tremendous Attorneys, a Thomson Reuters enterprise, is a ranking service of excellent attorneys from greater than 70 apply areas who’ve attained a excessive diploma of peer recognition {and professional} achievement. The annual picks are made utilizing a patented multiphase course of that features a statewide survey of attorneys, an unbiased analysis analysis of candidates and peer opinions by apply space.

The Tremendous Attorneys lists are printed nationwide in Tremendous Attorneys Magazines and in metropolis and regional magazines and newspapers throughout the nation.

Mirick O’Connell is a full-service legislation agency with places of work in Worcester, Westborough and Boston.

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Abbie C. Jackman-Tallent has joined the workers of the Carr Funeral House, Whitinsville. 

A 3rd technology funeral director, Jackman-Tallent is the daughter of Joe and Jeanne Jackman and an Uxbridge native.  She is a graduate of Holy Title Excessive College, Salve Regina College and the Funeral Institute of New England. She has been a licensed funeral director for greater than 15 years.

Jackman and her household reside in Northbridge.  

Carr Funeral House has been serving households all through the Blackstone Valley since 1850. 

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MassBay Neighborhood Faculty lately introduced that alumna, Camila Wendorff of Belmont, has been awarded the Massachusetts Biotechnology Training Basis (MassBioEd) inaugural Henri A. Termeer Pupil Scholarship.

The scholarship was introduced nearly at MassBioEd’s fifth annual Champions for Biotechnology Training Award Reception on Nov.18, celebrated excellent advocacy for and assist of biotechnology instructional applications in Massachusetts.

In celebration of Henri A. Termeer’s dedication to scientific discovery and mentorship of aspiring and achieved scientists, the MassBioEd Henri A. Termeer Pupil Scholarship program presents one excellent pupil who plans to enroll in an eligible two- or four-year life sciences undergraduate program with $2,500 for his or her faculty tuition. The chair and co-founder of the Termeer Basis, Belinda Termeer, introduced the Henri A. Termeer Pupil Scholarship Award.

Wendorff, a global pupil from Brazil, is at the moment pursuing a bachelor’s diploma in biotechnology with a give attention to epidemiology at Framingham State College. She was impressed to return to the US by her grandmother, who struggled with most cancers and whose sickness motivated Wendorff to review most cancers analysis.

MassBay has campuses in Wellesley, Framingham and Ashland.

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Riverside Neighborhood Care, a Dedham-based supplier of behavioral healthcare and human companies, has promoted Satya R. Montgomery of Upton vice chairman/chief working officer.

On this newly created place, Montgomery will oversee Riverside’s companies, in addition to key tasks and initiatives. Dr. Montgomery has been a valued contributor to Riverside in her function as vice chairman for Behavioral Well being Providers, overseeing Riverside’s Outpatient Behavioral Well being Facilities and Emergency Providers, amongst others, in keeping with the corporate.

She has distinguished herself in main the transition to using telehealth throughout many alternative applications and furthering Riverside’s integration of psychological well being and dependancy companies, the corporate added.

The brand new place of chief working officer was created in response to Riverside’s speedy progress and growth of companies. Montgomery was chosen after a nationwide search. Scott M. Bock will stay founder and CEO whereas Marsha Medalie will proceed as president.

Montgomery has a formidable 25-year profession in community-based behavioral well being care, a lot of it in senior administration positions, in keeping with Riverside. She is a Licensed Impartial Medical Social Employee and holds a Ph.D. from Boston Faculty Graduate College of Social Work and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how.

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Milford Regional Medical Middle lately welcomed UMass neurosurgeon Dr. Ziev Moses to the lively medical workers.

He’s accepting new sufferers at UMass Memorial Surgical procedure at Milford at 91 Water St.

Moses graduated from Dartmouth Medical College, Hanover, New Hampshire, with a level in medication in 2012.  He accomplished a neurosurgery coaching program at Brigham and Girls’s Hospital and Boston Kids’s Hospital by way of Harvard Medical College.

He continued his coaching with a fellowship in neurophysiology at Massachusetts Common Hospital/Harvard Medical College and a second fellowship in neurosurgery – backbone at Rush College Medical Middle, Chicago.

 Moses’ medical pursuits embody degenerative backbone issues, minimally invasive backbone surgical procedure and spinal reconstruction.

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Colantonio Inc. lately welcomed Undertaking Supervisor Jacob Robitaille, Assistant Superintendent Daniel Sampson and Assistant Superintendent Cory Madore to the agency.

Robitaille joined the agency with 15 years of expertise as a challenge engineer, superintendent, estimator, challenge supervisor and director of development for multimillion-dollar tasks, specializing within the senior dwelling and multifamily residential markets. He’ll handle the development of the Haywood Home challenge for the Newton Housing Authority.

Sampson has labored as an assistant challenge supervisor, lead carpenter and carpenter in his 15 years of development expertise. He additionally served as a corporal within the U.S. Marine Corps Infantry, finishing two deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s at the moment assigned to the modernization of Morse Residences, an occupied renovation for the Brookline Housing Authority.

Madore has six years of development expertise on Massachusetts private and non-private tasks, specializing within the development and renovation of reasonably priced housing developments, together with the adaptive/reuse of historic mills. He works on the McCormack Constructing Rapid Wants crew, renovating DCAMM’s headquarters at One Ashburton Place in Boston.

Colantonio Inc. is a Holliston-based development administration and basic contracting agency with self-performance capabilities.

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Milford Regional Medical Middle has appointed Dr. Jeffrey Brooks chairman of radiology.

Brooks graduated with a level in medication from the College of Vermont Faculty of Medication in Burlington in 2006. He accomplished a diagnostic radiology residency program at Boston College Medical Middle. He continued his coaching with a breast imaging fellowship program at Boston College Medical Middle. He’s board licensed in radiology.

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ORAM Company Advisors, a Newton-based firm that helps small- to medium-sized companies handle their networks by planning, implementing and sustaining their enterprise IT infrastructure, was introduced as one of many high two cybersecurity corporations within the commonwealth by the Massachusetts Attorneys Weekly 2020 Reader Rating Awards. Along with this rating for greatest cybersecurity enterprise in Massachusetts, CEO and Founder Ryan O’Ramsay Barrett of Ashland was chosen as a top-three winner for the Knowledge Safety award.

Annually, the Attorneys Weekly readers are requested to weigh in on their favourite Massachusetts companies throughout 67 classes. The survey acquired over 12,000 respondents for this 12 months’s awards. ORAM Company Advisors was chosen as a high winner within the cybersecurity class for its capabilities, safety measures, customer support, and established belief.

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Mirick O’Connell lately introduced that 28 attorneys have been named to the 2020 Massachusetts Tremendous Attorneys and Rising Stars listing as acknowledged by Boston journal and Regulation & Politics.

Tremendous Attorneys makes use of a patented, multi-phase choice course of, combining peer nominations and evaluations with unbiased analysis. Candidates are evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition {and professional} achievement, and picks are made on an annual, state-by-state foundation.

The next companions are included within the 2020 Tremendous Attorneys itemizing: Nicholas Anastasopoulos, Joseph H. Baldiga, Edward C. Bassett Jr., Paul W. Carey, Thomas J. Conte, Tracy A. Craig, Patricia L. Davidson, Christine E. Devine, James C. Donnelly Jr., David L. Positive, Matthew R. Fisher, Fern L. Frolin, Robert B. Gibbons, Elizabeth Greene, Joseph M. Hamilton, Robert L. Kilroy, John O. Mirick, D. M. Moschos, Lisa M. Neeley, Kimberly A. Rozak, Jonathan R. Sigel, David E. Surprenant, Richard C. Van Nostrand and Joan O. Vorster.

The next associates are included within the 2020 Massachusetts Rising Stars itemizing: Amanda M. Baer, Emily L. Crim, Spencer B. Holland and Grace C. Roessler.

Tremendous Attorneys, a Thomson Reuters enterprise, is a ranking service of excellent attorneys from greater than 70 apply areas who’ve attained a excessive diploma of peer recognition {and professional} achievement. The annual picks are made utilizing a patented multiphase course of that features a statewide survey of attorneys, an unbiased analysis analysis of candidates and peer opinions by apply space.

The Tremendous Attorneys lists are printed nationwide in Tremendous Attorneys Magazines and in metropolis and regional magazines and newspapers throughout the nation.

Mirick O’Connell is a full-service legislation agency with places of work in Worcester, Westborough and Boston.

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AMAG Prescription drugs Inc. lately introduced that its Board of Administrators has appointed Scott Myers as AMAG’s president and CEO, and member of the board.

Myers succeeds William Heiden, who’s stepping down from such roles in mild of Myers’ appointment.

Myers brings practically three a long time of world pharmaceutical and medical know-how expertise to AMAG. He most lately served as chairman and CEO of Rainier Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology firm targeted on metastatic bladder most cancers.

Previous to becoming a member of Rainier, Myers served as CEO, president and director of Cascadian Therapeutics Inc. He additionally served as CEO of Aerocrine AB, a medical system firm, from 2011 to 2015. 

Myers is at the moment an unbiased director of Selecta Biosciences the place he serves as chairman of the Compensation and Advantages Committee, in addition to a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. He additionally serves as an unbiased director for Harpoon Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology firm the place he serves on the Audit Committee.

Myers started his profession in administration consulting after which moved into the pharmaceutical business by way of senior management roles at Johnson & Johnson, DOV Prescription drugs and UCB.

He holds a bachelor of arts diploma in biology from Northwestern College in Evanston, Illinois, and an MBA from the College of Chicago Graduate College of Enterprise.

Board of Administrators of AMAG permitted an inducement award to Myers of an choice to buy 1,000,000 shares of frequent inventory. The choice can have an train worth equal to the closing worth of AMAG’s frequent inventory on the grant date and will likely be exercisable in 4 equal annual installments starting on the primary anniversary of April 28,2020 (the grant date). The choice can have a ten-year time period and be topic to the phrases and situations of the inventory possibility settlement pursuant to which the choice will likely be granted. This fairness award will likely be granted with out stockholder approval as inducements materials to the worker getting into into employment with AMAG in accordance with NASDAQ Itemizing Rule 5635(c)(4).

Primarily based in Waltham, AMAG is a pharmaceutical firm targeted on bringing revolutionary merchandise to sufferers with unmet medical wants.

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ERA Key Realty Providers of Northbridge lately introduced that Renata Ferrarez of Milford has joined ERA Key as a Realtor within the Milford workplace.

Ferrarez  acquired her actual property coaching by way of the Lee Institute for Actual Property in Brookline.

She was beforehand an authorized nurse assistant at Blaire Home of Milford. She was skilled by way of the American Pink Cross and have become licensed after finishing a program at Quinsigamond Neighborhood Faculty in Worcester.

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Brookline Financial institution has promoted Leslie Joannides-Burgos to govt vice chairman, division govt of the financial institution’s Retail & Enterprise Banking Division.

Beforehand she was a senior vice chairman. In her function as govt president, Joannides-Burgos oversees a crew of 220 colleagues throughout the financial institution’s retail banking supply channel. Below her administration are the financial institution’s department community, its customer support middle, in addition to all enterprise banking officers, monetary advisers and mortgage originators.

Joannides-Burgos has greater than 30 years of progressive banking administration expertise within the areas of gross sales, service, operations, colleague engagement and growth. Her profession contains positions the place she managed a number of groups and direct stories, grew deposits, generated shopper and enterprise loans and developed and maintained consumer relationships.

Joannides-Burgos has a bachelor of science diploma from the College of Central Florida and accomplished the Graduate College of Banking program at ABA Stonier in Philadelphia. She is a board member of Operation In a position, a nonprofit group whose mission is to offer employment and coaching alternatives to job seekers from economically, racially and occupationally numerous backgrounds.

She resides in Franklin.

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ERA Key Realty Providers of Northbridge lately introduced that Michael J. O’Brien, a veteran sports activities broadcaster and communications skilled, has joined ERA Key as a Realtor within the Framingham workplace.

O’Brien, who has over 15 years of broadcast expertise, has supplied play-by-play for quite a few schools and universities all through New England, together with Bentley College in Waltham, Boston College, Merrimack Faculty and Yale College. Previous to his return to Massachusetts, he was the radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Pennsylvania in addition to the crew’s director of Crew Providers and Media Relations.

He additionally served in the identical roles for the Lowell Devils of the American Hockey League and their ECHL-affiliate, the Trenton Devils in New jersey. He started his profession as govt assistant on the Nationwide Hockey League in New York Metropolis.

He earned his bachelor’s diploma from Boston Faculty. He at the moment serves as vice chairman of the Boston Chapter of Younger Professionals of the American Most cancers Society.

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Virtusa Corp., a Southborough-based international supplier of digital technique, digital engineering, and IT companies and options that assist shoppers change and disrupt markets by way of innovation engineering, lately introduced Ashish Devalekar has joined Virtusa because the managing director for Europe and the Center East.

Devalekar lately served as head of economic companies at Capgemini, UK and member of UK Nation Board. Previous to that, he held management positions at Polaris, HCL and IBM International Providers. Over the previous 20 years, he has helped organizations develop, innovate and rework by constructing numerous enterprise and digital know-how groups paired along with his deep data within the monetary companies and European market, together with managing Capgemini’s largest monetary companies consumer, in keeping with Virtusa.

In his function at Virtusa, Devalekar will oversee a high-performing crew throughout Europe and the Center East that delivers enterprise transformation, digital innovation, consulting, and IT companies to strategic shoppers throughout banking, insurance coverage, telecommunications, well being care and life sciences, the corporate added in a press launch.

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Milford Regional Doctor Group (MRPG) lately welcomed Dr. Geoffrey Stoker to its new orthopedics apply.

Stoker, a Massachusetts native, involves MRPG from New England Baptist Hospital, the place he accomplished a fellowship in hip and knee substitute. After finishing his undergraduate research at Boston Faculty, he earned his medical diploma from Washington College in St. Louis and accomplished his orthopedic residency at Tufts Medical Middle, the place he acquired the Henry Banks Excellent Orthopedic Resident Award.

Stoker’s apply focuses on partial and whole knee and hip substitute, together with revision procedures. He evaluates and treats sufferers with a wide range of hip and knee issues, reminiscent of arthritis, avascular necrosis, and different joint situations. He has a particular curiosity in preoperative optimization for medically sophisticated sufferers and enhanced restoration after surgical procedure, together with same-day, outpatient joint substitute.

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North Easton Financial savings Financial institution has appointed Paul R. Little of Shrewsbury senior vice chairman, chief credit score officer.

On this function, Little oversees business credit score and assortment insurance policies, procedures and processes to measure and handle inherent dangers within the Financial institution’s mortgage portfolio.

Little joins North Easton Financial savings Financial institution with 37 years of expertise within the banking and business actual property industries, most lately as senior vice chairman, chief credit score officer with the Financial savings Institute Financial institution & Belief Firm/Berkshire Financial institution in Willimantic, Connecticut.

Little earned his bachelor’s diploma in enterprise administration from New England Faculty and is a graduate of the American Neighborhood Bankers Senior Management Institute. He’s a member of the Mortgage Bankers Affiliation and the Society of Actual Property Appraisers.

North Easton Financial savings Financial institution has 18 eighteen native branches and over $1.1 billion in belongings.

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Reliant Medical Group, the regionally based mostly multi-specialty medical group, lately announce that Dr. Alexander Connaughton has joined the group’s Division of Orthopedic Surgical procedure.

Connaughton grew up in Wayland. He acquired his medical diploma at Michigan State College in East Lansing, Michigan. He then accomplished his residency at Western Michigan College Homer Stryker M.D. College of Medication in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He additionally accomplished a fellowship at The College of Buffalo Jacobs College of Medication And Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, New York, the place he labored on the medical workers for the Buffalo Payments.

Connaughton is welcoming new sufferers on the Worcester Medical Middle workplace at 123 Summer season St. in Worcester in addition to at 101 Cedar St. in Milford and 24 Newton St. in Southborough.

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Affinia Therapeutics, a Waltham-based gene remedy firm with a platform for rationally designed adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors and gene therapies, has appointed Dr. Elliott Sigal to the corporate’s Board of Administrators.

Sigal has greater than 25 years of management expertise within the biopharmaceutical business and is the previous chief scientific officer and president of R&D for Bristol Myers Squibb.

Sigal is a former member of the Board of Administrators of Spark Therapeutics. Throughout his tenure from 2014 to 2019, the corporate’s lead product, LUXTURNA, was permitted as the primary AAV gene remedy in the US. The corporate was acquired by Roche in 2019.

Previous to Spark Therapeutics, Sigal was an govt vice chairman and director of Bristol Myers Squibb. Whereas at BMS, he led the crew that established BMS on the forefront of immuno-oncology which is revolutionizing the therapy of most cancers and introduced 14 new medicines to marketplace for sufferers with devastating illnesses in areas together with oncology, hematology, heart problems, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis and neuropsychiatry. Sigal was instrumental in rising R&D productiveness and growing the corporate’s technique in biologics. In 2012, he was named the very best R&D chief within the pharmaceutical business by Scrip Intelligence.

Sigal acquired his medical diploma from the College of Chicago in 1981 and skilled in inside medication and pulmonary medication on the College of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He additionally holds a bachelor of science, grasp of science and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue College. He at the moment serves as a senior adviser to the well being care crew of New Enterprise Associates and consults for choose biotechnology corporations together with Amgen. He’s co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Amgen and is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Sean Parker Institute for Most cancers Immunotherapy. He’s additionally a member of the Board of Administrators for the biotechnology corporations Adaptimmune and Floor Oncology.

Sigal joined BMS in 1997 and held roles in each discovery and growth earlier than ascending to chief scientific officer and president of R&D. Positions previous to BMS included a school appointment at UCSF, senior govt roles at Syntex/Roche and CEO of the genomics agency, Mercator Genetics.

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Paytronix Programs Inc., a Newton-based developer of digital visitor expertise platforms, lately introduced that Amy Porter, founder and govt chairman of Affinipay, a funds know-how platform, has been appointed to the its Board of Administrators.

Porter joins the board as Paytronix rolls out improvements in loyalty, order and supply and saved worth, geared toward serving to the nation’s restaurant and comfort retailer manufacturers discover the extra worth hidden inside their very own buyer relationships.

Porter based Affinipay in 2005 to construct the preeminent funds know-how firm serving skilled companies companies, in keeping with Paytronix. As CEO, she spearheaded the Affinipay’s growth of market-leading instruments reminiscent of LawPay and CPACharge, which in the present day are trusted to course of over $6 billion yearly on behalf of 150,000 professionals.

After bootstrapping Affinipay for its first 10 years, Porter selected Nice Hill Companions as her first funding associate in 2015. By executing on Porter’s category-defining imaginative and prescient and prioritizing customer support, superior product and transaction safety, Affinipay’s annual income grew by greater than 4 instances over the course of Nice Hill Companions’ funding interval, Paytronix added.

Affinipay is persistently ranked among the many quickest rising corporations in America by organizations, together with Austin Enterprise Journal and the Inc. 5000 listing. Porter acquired the 2016 EY Entrepreneur Of The Yr Award within the Monetary Know-how class for the Central Texas area. In 2019, she transitioned to turn out to be govt chairman of Affinipay. TA Associates acquired a majority of Affinipay in February 2020 with Nice Hill exiting its funding.

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AMAG Prescription drugs Inc. lately introduced that Edward (Ted) Myles,  chief monetary and chief working officer, is leaving the corporate.

Brian Piekos, senior vice chairman of finance, has been appointed interim chief monetary officer and can turn out to be a member of the corporate’s Govt Management Crew. Anthony (Tony) Casciano has been appointed chief working officer and can add vital operational duties to his function along with main business operations.

Piekos joined AMAG in 2015 and has held a variety of senior administration positions with the corporate. In his most up-to-date function as senior vice chairman of finance, Piekos has supplied oversight of AMAG’s monetary planning and reporting, tax, treasury and strategic sourcing processes. He has greater than 20 years of company finance expertise, together with strategic planning, monetary reporting and capital market actions. Previous to AMAG, he held positions of accelerating duty at Cubist Prescription drugs. Piekos started his profession in funding banking having served as vice chairman at Leerink Companions and as an analyst at Needham & Firm.

Casciano brings greater than 20 years of business expertise throughout the pharmaceutical business. He joined AMAG in September 2016 and has since held positions of accelerating duty with the corporate. In his function as chief working officer, he’ll proceed overseeing business actions, in addition to technical operations, international provide chain and knowledge know-how for the corporate. Previous to AMAG, Casciano spent 16 years profession at Sanofi, the place he held a number of business management roles throughout a variety of departments and therapeutic areas.

AMAG is a Waltham-based pharmaceutical firm targeted on bringing revolutionary merchandise to sufferers with unmet medical wants.

***

Repligen Corp. has appointed healthcare business govt Carrie Eglinton Method to its Board of Administrators.

Eglinton Method brings to the director function greater than 23 years of management expertise throughout a number of disciplines. She at the moment serves as senior vice chairman of superior diagnostics at Quest Diagnostics, a supplier of diagnostic info companies, which she joined in 2017. Previous to Quest, Eglinton Method held varied roles of accelerating scope and duty over a interval of 20 years at GE Healthcare. From 2009 by way of 2016, she served as president and CEO of 4 distinct GE Healthcare international companies within the areas of diagnostic imaging, lab companies and medical gadgets, ranging in measurement from roughly $150 million to $3 billion in income.

In her function at Quest Diagnostics, Eglinton Method is liable for rising the corporate’s practically $2 billion genetic and molecular diagnostics portfolio. Below her management, the superior diagnostics portfolio has grown income and margin by way of innovation in specialty genetic choices and companies, productiveness applications, key strategic alliances, and acquisitions. At GE Healthcare, Eglinton Method additionally led enhancements in monetary efficiency and expanded the business presence as president and CEO of Maternal Toddler Care, Clarient Diagnostic Providers Inc., Surgical procedure, and Detection & Steerage Options.

Along with becoming a member of the Repligen board, Eglinton Method serves as board director for the not-for-profit Thrive Networks, the place she retains a private {and professional} dedication to advancing ladies and reworking well being in underserved communities with dependable sanitation, water, and schooling. She holds a bachelor of science diploma in mechanical engineering from the College of Notre Dame.

Repligen is a worldwide life sciences firm that develops and commercializes bioprocessing applied sciences and techniques designed to extend efficiencies within the course of of producing organic medicine. We’re inspiring advances in bioprocessing for the purchasers we serve; primarily biopharmaceutical drug builders and contract growth and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) worldwide.

With its company headquarters in Waltham, the corporate has further administrative and manufacturing operations in Marlborough, Bridgewater, New Jersey,; Rancho Dominguez, California; Lund, Sweden; Breda, The Netherlands and Ravensburg, Germany.

***

Jewish Household Service (JFS) of Metrowest, a nonprofit, community-based group that gives very important social, well being and group companies to alleviate struggling, improve lives and assist folks in want, put in 5 new board members with three-year phrases on the 2020 JFS Annual Assembly.

They’re Stephanie Elkind of Newton, Elana Margolis of Sharon, Neil Ross of Wayland, Andrew Troop of Sudbury and Marissa Wainwright of Waltham.

The assembly additionally featured  the set up of officers and and the re-installation of board members with new phrases.

The next officers had been put in for two-year phrases: New President Josef Volman of Newton, Vice-President Sari Rapkin of Needham, Treasurer John Herrera of Westport, Connecticut, New Vice-President Ian Rubin of Wayland, New Vice-President Jeffrey Swartz of Weston and New Secretary Ashley DePaolo of Ashland.

The next board members had been reinstalled with the next phrases: Chase Carpenter of Cambridge, time period expiring 2023; Ari Freisinger of San Francisco, California, time period expiring 2023; and Deborah Merkin of Wellesley, time period expiring 2021.

As well as, attendees shared their appreciation for departing board members Chester Black of Wayland, Kevin Foley of Framingham, Penny Glassman, of Ashland, Robin Welch of Framingham and Michelle Wilen of Ashland. The assembly additionally supplied a chance for the board to specific its particular due to departing president, David Milowe of Canton.

JFS relies in Framingham.

***

The Bar Technique Wellesley barre studio has introduced three new house owners, two of them with long-established connections to Wellesley.

Below the authorized title Studio Be-Wellesley, Courtney Sawicki, Neely Dodge and Rachel Stoff now personal and function the six-year-old health studio providing a wide range of full-body train courses to shoppers of all ranges. Dodge, Sawicki and Stoff are licensed Bar Technique instructors who’ve been employed on the Wellesley location and actively engaged with the clientele and workers in a wide range of methods for a number of years.

Sawicki is without doubt one of the unique instructors of The Bar Technique Wellesley studio when it opened in 2014. She had found The Bar Technique (TBM) in San Francisco in 2008 and cherished its give attention to small, focused actions, security and give attention to kind. Sawicki has been a French trainer for greater than 20 years. She grew up in Wellesley, the place she and her husband reside with their two sons.

Hailing from South Carolina by means of New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey, Dodge started her love of TBM in Summit, New Jersey, the place she was a consumer for greater than a decade. TBM was the train that she was cleared to take part in after her third baby was born. She turned a Wellesley consumer in 2013 and an teacher since 2015. She has an IT and company background. Dodge has dealt with the retail administration for the studio since 2018. She and her barre-practicing husband are lively mother and father residing in Newton.

Rising up in Wellesley, Stoff was a devoted ice skater and gymnast by way of highschool. She launched aerobics courses to her faculty campus, turned skilled in American Ninjutsu, taught kickboxing, spinning and mat Pilates on the aspect of demanding full-time careers in music and advertising over 20 years in Los Angeles. She was a consumer of TBM West Hollywood, California. Shortly after relocating to her residence state, she gravitated to the Wellesley studio (and reunited with childhood pal Sawicki). There, she immersed herself as a consumer, advertising marketing consultant and teacher.

***

The Massachusetts Bankers Affiliation (MBA) has elected new officers and members to its board of administrators, together with Patrick J. Murray, president and CEO of Bristol County Financial savings Financial institution in Taunton, as board chair.

The brand new officers and at-large MBA board positions embody Mark R. O’Connell, president and CEO of Avidia Financial institution in Hudson, as treasurer.  The rest of the Massachusetts Bankers Affiliation Board of Administrators contains Michael G. McAuliffe, president and CEO of Middlesex Financial savings Financial institution in Natick (re-appointment)

***

The Blackstone Valley Training Hub (BV Ed Hub) in Whitinsville has named Karen Ares govt administrator.

Ares will likely be liable for each day administrative operations and social media administration of the varsity of superior manufacturing.

Ares is a former highschool science trainer who’s keen about STEM schooling. She holds a bachelor of science diploma in biology from Eckerd Faculty in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a grasp of science diploma in occupational and environmental well being and security from Anna Maria Faculty in Paxton.

Most lately, she was the assistant superintendent of instructing and studying and STEAM director for the Dudley Charlton Regional College District. Throughout her time there, she acquired greater than $600,000 in grant funding for varied applications, most notably the Undertaking Lead the Manner STEM pathway for grades 6-12 in engineering and biomedical science. She additionally led the cost for Shepherd Hill Regional Excessive College to turn out to be one among 11 excessive colleges in Massachusetts to accumulate Innovation Pathway designation in 2019.

She resides in Northborough.

The Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce (BVCC) developed the BV Ed Hub as a partnership between native secondary and post-secondary schooling suppliers and producers to create sustainable work-based studying and vocational coaching in superior manufacturing to fulfill work place calls for.

***

Benefit Truck Group vice chairman of fleet gross sales Steve Gustafson has been named by Freightliner Vans as a Leland James Elite award recipient as one of many high 32 gross sales professionals in North America for 2019 acknowledged for gross sales excellence, customer support and business management.

Gustafson, who has labored at Benefit Truck Group’s Shrewsbury location for greater than 20 years, has earned this distinction 14 instances since Freightliner first introduced its gross sales achievement award in 2004.

Established in 2003 and named in honor of Freightliner Vans’ founder, the Leland James Elite Gross sales Achievement program acknowledges and rewards excellent gross sales representatives and managers within the Freightliner supplier community all through the US and Canada.

***

Ryan Gagne, proprietor of Enterprise X, a boutique, hotel-style co-working and versatile workplace area in Marlborough, was lately honored by the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce as its 2020 “Enterprise Particular person of the Yr.”

The annual award is introduced to a person who has made an affect within the area’s enterprise group and acknowledges him/her for giving again by way of management by instance.

***

Danforth Advisors LLC, a life science business’s useful resource for operational accounting, finance assist and strategic CFO advisory, has appointed Dr. Stephen J. Hoffman to its board of administrators and to a senior advisory function for the agency’s shoppers.

An achieved life science entrepreneur, govt and investor, he brings three a long time of data and influential relationships to his place as a strategic thought associate to scientific founders and CEOs navigating all phases of company evolution, in keeping with Danforth. His preliminary focus will likely be help with fundraising for earlier stage corporations.

Hoffman’s experience lies in constructing life science corporations and main entrepreneurial groups to create shareholder worth. He helped discovered two public corporations, Somatogen Inc. and Allos Therapeutics Inc. – the place he spent practically 9 years as CEO and one other ten as chairman till the corporate’s acquisition by Spectrum Prescription drugs, Inc.

He has served on the boards of 18 life science corporations, each private and non-private, with 4 posts as chairman and intensive committee expertise. On the enterprise capital aspect, he has over 15 years of expertise main personal fairness investments totaling greater than $140 million. As managing director at Skyline Ventures and basic associate at TVM Capital, he performed a serious function in portfolio firm growth, guiding company technique and enterprise growth, personal and public financings, and medical and regulatory methods. He was twice named among the many High Advisors in US Healthcare/Enterprise Capital by Day & Associates.

He holds an M.D. from the College of Colorado College of Medication and Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern College. He accomplished a fellowship in medical oncology and a residency and fellowship in dermatology on the College of Colorado.

Danforth Advisors in based mostly in Waltham.

****

John A. LeBlanc, of Milford, workers vice chairman and senior engineering technical specialist at FM International, a Johnston, Rhode Island-based business property insurer, has acquired the 2020 Particular Achievement Award from the Nationwide Fireplace Safety Affiliation. The award acknowledges LeBlanc for his a few years of service to the group in contributing to the event of nationwide fireplace codes and requirements designed to guard business and industrial properties.

LeBlanc, a world acknowledged fireplace safety knowledgeable, has labored for FM International for 35 years in all kinds of loss-prevention engineering and consulting roles. He serves on ten NFPA technical committees associated to explosion safety techniques, aerosol merchandise and flammable liquids, to call a couple of.

LeBlanc is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Society of Fireplace Safety Engineers. He holds a bachelor’s diploma in chemical engineering from Case Western Reserve College in Cleveland, Ohio, and a grasp’s diploma in fireplace safety engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

***

Eloxx Prescription drugs Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm devoted to the invention and growth of novel therapeutics to deal with cystic fibrosis and different illnesses brought on by nonsense mutations limiting manufacturing of purposeful proteins, lately introduced that Professor Eitan Kerem, M.D. has joined the corporate as a senior marketing consultant.

Kerem will proceed to advise on Eloxx’s cystic fibrosis program specializing in strategic management, cystic fibrosis medical security overview, and medical communications, in addition to liaising with affected person advocacy teams and regulatory authorities.

Kerem joined Eloxx on Sept. 1 upon his retirement from Hadassah Medical Middle the place he most lately served as head of pediatrics and professor of pediatrics at Hebrew College Hadassah Medical College. He was a board member of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society the place he contributed to the event of the European Cystic Fibrosis Registry and was the president of CIPP, the annual Worldwide Congress on Pediatric Pulmonology. Kerem was beforehand a member of the editorial boards of the main journals within the subject of pulmonology, “Pediatric Pulmonology,” “Chest” and the “American Journal of Respiratory and Crucial Care Medication.”

Kerem has been intimately concerned with ELX-02 and the Eloxx crew since 2015, initially working with Professor Timor Baasov on the Technion Institute to optimize ELX-02 within the early phases of its growth. He’s a globally famend cystic fibrosis Key Opinion Chief and has helped information Eloxx by way of the event of the corporate’s medical trial program. He serves on the corporate’s Cystic Fibrosis Medical Advisory Board, has been the International Lead Investigator for our Part 2 cystic fibrosis medical trial program and had served as chairman of the Security Evaluation Committee.

Eloxx relies in Waltham.

***

Radius Well being Inc. lately introduced that Jose (Pepe) Carmona will likely be stepping down as its chief monetary officer.

Dan Dolan, who has served as head of Monetary Planning and Evaluation since he joined the corporate in 2017, will turn out to be the principal monetary and accounting officer. Dolan was instrumental within the launch of TYMLOS and works intently with all the enterprise capabilities throughout the firm. On this function, he’ll report on to Radius CEO Kelly Martin.

Jim Chopas, at the moment the corporate’s controller, will proceed in that function with oversight of all finance capabilities together with accounting, audit, tax, and treasury. Chopas has been with Radius since 2018 and also will report on to Martin.

Primarily based in Waltham, Radius is a science-driven totally built-in biopharmaceutical firm dedicated to growing and commercializing revolutionary endocrine therapeutics.

***

Matthew Maher lately joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Web page Realty as assistant advertising director.

The announcement was made by Ellen Rao, dealer/proprietor of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Web page Realty.

Maher will likely be liable for offering impactful advertising help and assist to the brokerage and brokers. Previous to becoming a member of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Web page Realty, he was advertising director for ERA Cape Cod Actual Property for five years.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Web page Realty is a full-service actual property firm specializing in residential gross sales since 1963. The corporate has places of work in Medway and Medfield.

***

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Web page Realty lately introduced that Laurie Henighan has accomplished the true property business’s most complete new residence gross sales course to earn her nationwide certification as a Licensed New House Specialist.

With this certification, Henighan  joins a bunch devoted to offering the very best degree of professionalism and repair to builders and new residence patrons.

Neighan is lively in actual property gross sales and is licensed in each Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She additionally holds the Residential Development Licensed designation.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Web page Realty is a full-service actual property firm specializing in residential gross sales since 1963. The corporate has places of work in Medway and Medfield.

***

Mirick O’Connell lately introduced that Brian R. Falk of Milford has been admitted to the partnership.

Falk is a member of the agency’s Public and Municipal Regulation Group and the Actual Property and Environmental Regulation Group. He additionally leads Mirick O’Connell’s Hashish Trade Group.

Falk counsels cities, cities and districts in all areas of municipal legislation, together with zoning, actual property, city assembly process, elections, procurement, open conferences, ethics and basic governance. He additionally represents personal shoppers in native land use allowing issues. He commonly seems earlier than municipal boards searching for particular permits, variances, licenses, zoning amendments and different approvals for big tasks and difficult websites.

Falk shares within the agency’s dedication to the group and is at the moment serving on the board of the Milford Space Chamber of Commerce. He’s an lively member of the Worcester County Bar Affiliation and serves on its Authorities Relations Committee. As well as, Falk has been named a Massachusetts “Rising Star” by Boston journal and Regulation & Politics.

Mirick O’Connell is a full-service enterprise legislation agency with places of work in Worcester, Westborough and Boston.

***

Kristen Berger of Marlborough lately acquired the 2020 Dexter Brackett Memorial Award from the New England Water Works Affiliation (NEWWA), the area’s largest and oldest not-for-profit group of water works professionals.

The Dexter Brackett Award was established in 1916 in honor of an early outstanding member of NEWWA. The award is introduced yearly to the member of the affiliation who authored essentially the most meritorious paper printed within the Journal of the New England Water Works Affiliation in the course of the earlier 12 months.

Berger acquired this award for her paper “Dynamic Hydraulic Modelling for Water Programs,” which was printed within the Journal of the New England Water Works Affiliation Vol. CXXXIII, No. 1, March 2019. She has beforehand authored a number of different papers for the Journal.

Berger is a civil engineer with roughly 20 years of expertise specializing in municipal infrastructure with a give attention to ingesting water provide, therapy and distribution. She based Resilient Civil Engineering P.C. in 2019 with the objective to offer responsive, genuine, personalized service with a give attention to consumer satisfaction.

Berger is a present member of the NEWWA Program Committee. She can also be a member of the American Water Works Affiliation, the Massachusetts Water Works Affiliation, and the Barnstable County Water Utilities Affiliation. She is a previous recipient of the NEWWA Previous Presidents Award for the second most meritorious authored paper that appeared within the Journal of the New England Water Works Affiliation, a previous recipient of the NEWWA Youthful Member of the Yr Award and a earlier winner of the Recent Concepts Competitors for the Connecticut Part of the American Water Works Affiliation.

She holds a bachelor of science diploma in civil engineering and a grasp of science diploma in environmental engineering from the College of Massachusetts Amherst.

The New England Water Works Affiliation relies in Holliston.

***

Allena Prescription drugs Inc., a late-stage, biopharmaceutical firm devoted to growing and commercializing first-in-class, oral enzyme therapeutics to deal with sufferers with uncommon and extreme metabolic and kidney issues, has appointed Dr. Ann Miller to its board of administrators.

Miller has launched and grown a number of blockbuster merchandise and constructed main franchises over the course of her profession. Most lately, she spent six years at Sanofi, in the end serving as vice chairman of promoting, the place she was chosen to guide a corporate-wide initiative on advertising excellence.

Previous to Sanofi, Miller spent two years as senior vice chairman at Eisai, the place she led the Pharmaceutical Providers and Major Care and Specialty Enterprise models, together with the blockbuster franchises Aricept and Aciphex. Earlier in her profession, she labored at Amgen, the place she contributed to constructing the worldwide advertising operate, together with serving as govt director of North American business operations and govt director of world advertising, and supplied commercialization and life cycle administration oversight for key merchandise, together with Neulasta and Vectibix.

Earlier than that, Miller spent 16 years at Merck & Co., the place she held a collection of roles of accelerating duty, together with model management for Fosamax, Mevacor and Zocor. She at the moment serves on the board of Inovio Prescription drugs and Puma Biotechnology. She holds each her B.A., with honors, and her M.D. from Duke College.

Along side Miller’s appointment, Allena introduced that founding board member Dr. Bob Tepper, a associate at Third Rock Ventures and founding member of the corporate’s board of administrators since 2011, has resigned from the Allena noard.

Allena relies in Newton.

***

Radius Well being Inc. lately introduced that Peter A. Schwartzman is becoming a member of the corporate as vice chairman within the newly shaped Capital, Technique and Transactions (CST) Group.

Schwartzman, as a part of the group, will report back to Kelly Martin, CEO of Radius.

The CST group is liable for the evaluation and due diligence required for all enterprise growth actions and acts as the corporate’s level of contact for capital suppliers, funding banks and analysts. The CST group can also be liable for constructing the monetary mannequin framework the corporate will use to evaluate present and future efficiency.

Schwartzman joins Radius from Piney Lake Capital Administration LP the place he was a senior member of the funding crew. At Piney Lake, he targeted on opportunistic debt and fairness investments in small to medium-sized corporations within the well being care, life sciences and industrial sectors.

For 20 years prior, Schwartzman was a managing director within the Leveraged Finance Group at BlackRock Inc. On this function, he led the group’s investments within the well being care, life sciences, media and gaming industries. He has additionally labored at Alliance Capital in its Company Bond Analysis Group in addition to the HealthCare Group at Moody’s Investor Providers.

Schwartzman earned his B.A. diploma from Trinity Faculty in Hartford, Connecticut, and his MBA from the Stern College at New York College.

Primarily based in Waltham, Radius is a science-driven totally built-in biopharmaceutical firm that’s dedicated to growing and commercializing revolutionary endocrine therapeutics.

***

Digital Guardian, a Waltham-based supplier of knowledge loss prevention and managed detection and response, lately introduced that Tim Bandos will turn out to be its chief info safety officer (CISO).

Bandos will convey greater than 15 years of expertise to the place, together with his 5 years as vice chairman of cybersecurity at Digital Guardian. Previous to becoming a member of Digital Guardian, Bandos was director of cybersecurity for Dupont the place he was liable for overseeing inside controls, incident response and menace intelligence. In his new function, he’ll lead Digital Guardian’s international cybersecurity technique, leveraging the newest know-how and menace intelligence out there.

Bandos joined Digital Guardian 5 years in the past with the objective of efficiently constructing the corporate’s Managed Detection & Response Service from the bottom up. That service now manages and displays a couple of million endpoints and delivers best-of-breed menace searching and incident response. His different accomplishments whereas at Digital Guardian embody:

    Constructing the Superior Risk & Evaluation Middle Crew (ATAC Crew), a premier group of specialised safety analysts, menace hunters and incident responders that concentrate on breach detection and response.

    Guiding the event of the DG Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) know-how throughout the Digital Guardian Knowledge Safety Platform.

    Directing the corporate’s efforts on adopting the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to repeatedly enhance the corporate’s safety posture and applications.

    Spearheading Digital Guardian’s SOC 2 and different certification initiatives.

    Selling safety greatest practices to CISOs and different safety executives at main safety conferences world wide, together with RSA, Black Hat and Infosecurity Europe.

***

ReWalk Robotics Ltd. has appointed Randel Richner to its board of administrators.

Richner’s intensive historical past expertise in well being coverage, reimbursement, economics and knowledge analytics contains serving because the business consultant on the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers’  Medicare Protection Advisory Committee; service on the Govt Dean’s Advisory Board on the College of Michigan’s College of Public Well being; establishing the worldwide reimbursement and economics operate at Boston Scientific as that group’s vice chairman of International Authorities Affairs and Reimbursement and in founding Neocure, a agency that suggested business on well being care coverage.

Richner acquired a grasp of public well being diploma in well being coverage and administration and a bachelor of science diploma in nursing from the College of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

ReWalk Robotics develops, manufactures and markets wearable robotic exoskeletons for people with decrease limb disabilities because of spinal twine harm or stroke. ReWalk has headquarters within the Marlborough, Israel and Germany.

***

Synspira Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm devoted to enhancing the lives of individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) and different uncommon illnesses, has appointed Dr. Drucy Borowitz to its board of administrators.

Borowitz is a worldwide chief in medical analysis and affected person take care of cystic fibrosis (CF) with specific experience in gastrointestinal illness and vitamin. The corporate additionally introduced that present board member, Alexey Margolin, will tackle an expanded function as chairperson of the board of administrators.

Borowitz is the previous senior vice chairman of group partnerships on the Cystic Fibrosis Basis the place she led quite a few initiatives to enhance affected person care and advance new Remedies.

She was the CF middle director on the Girls and Kids’s Hospital of Buffalo for nearly 20 years. In 2013, she acquired the Richard C. Talamo Distinguished Medical Achievement Award introduced by the Cystic Fibrosis Basis to people devoted to the analysis and care of sufferers with cystic fibrosis and whose contributions have had appreciable affect on the course of the illness.

Borowitz is an emeritus professor of medical pediatrics on the Jacobs College of Medication and Biomedical Sciences of the College at Buffalo. She acquired the Stockton Kimball Award, bestowed on college members who’ve achieved worldwide recognition as researchers and have been acknowledged for vital tutorial accomplishment and repair to the college. She attended Cornell Medical College, interned at Kids’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and did her residency at College of California-San Francisco. She was board licensed in pediatric gastroenterology and vitamin.

Margolin, who joined the corporate’s board in October 2019, is chair of the board of Allena Prescription drugs, a public medical stage pharmaceutical firm he co-founded, and beforehand served as CEO (2011-2019). Prior, he co-founded Alcresta Therapeutics, a medical system firm targeted on growing merchandise for CF and different uncommon illnesses; he served as CEO (2011-2014) and is at the moment on the board of administrators. In 2008, Margolin co-founded Alnara Prescription drugs, and served as president and CEO till 2010, when the corporate was acquired by Eli Lilly. As chief scientific officer for Altus Prescription drugs, he helped construct a portfolio of merchandise for uncommon illnesses. Margolin is the writer of greater than 60 publications and an inventor on quite a few patents.

Synspira is a privately held firm headquartered in Framingham.

***

Doc Wayne Youth Providers, a Boston nonprofit that fuses sport and remedy to heal and strengthen at-risk youth, lately introduced that Dr. Sadé Callwood, Katherine Grover and Dushawne “Doc” Simpson have lately joined its board. Their appointments additional improve the board’s expertise, variety and abilities, and convey the variety of members to 13.

Callwood is a post-doctoral fellow and psychotherapist at Commonwealth Psychology in Boston. Her medical work with traditionally marginalized and oppressed people is influenced by her Caribbean-American upbringing. She earned her physician of psychology in medical psychology diploma with an emphasis in African and Caribbean psychological well being from William James Faculty and accomplished her doctoral challenge on Younger Black Males’s Experiences of Aggressive Policing. She has intensive coaching in counseling facilities inside small personal schools, Ivy League and Massive Ten universities.

A Framingham resident, Grover is a director within the Northeast Well being Industries Assurance apply at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston, working with greater schooling, well being care and different not-for-profit organizations. She is a Uniform Steerage knowledgeable and speaker, and a contributing writer to Views in Larger Training. She earned her bachelor’s diploma in enterprise administration from Babson Faculty in Wellesley and her grasp in enterprise administration diploma with a focus in not-for-profit administration from Suffolk College.

Simpson is at the moment the top coach of The Pingree College’s ladies varsity soccer crew and the director of teaching at NEFC North Shore, and the previous assistant coach of the Boston Breakers skilled crew. He started teaching for Pingree in 2011, and led them to New England championships in each 2013 and 2014. Dushawne was not solely a standout soccer participant rising up in Connecticut, he was chosen to the 1990 CT All-State crew in soccer, basketball and observe. Following his distinctive taking part in at Southern Connecticut State College and Salem State Faculty, he went on to play professionally for a number of groups, together with the New Hampshire Phantoms, Connecticut Wolves and Boston Bulldogs.

***

RE/MAX LLC has acknowledged Gary Kelley with its RE/MAX Corridor of Fame Award.

This recognition is bestowed on solely 20% of brokers, and acknowledges the very best ranges of experience and a dedication to exemplary consumer service. With a give attention to guiding shoppers by way of main life transformations, and supporting them at each step of the method, Kelley and his crew have developed a loyal following and an unmatched community of word-of-mouth referrals, in keeping with RE/MAX. The Corridor of Fame award builds upon and acknowledges his crew’s laborious work and deep data.

Kelley and his colleague Sue Gordon work with patrons and sellers all through the Marlborough, Westborough and Southborough areas.

RE/MAX Govt Realty is without doubt one of the largest actual property corporations in Metrowest and the biggest RE/MAX franchise in New England. It has places of work in Framingham, Franklin, Holliston, Hopkinton, Marlborough, Medfield and Grafton.

***

Household legislation agency Barach Regulation Group LLC lately introduced that attorneys Matthew Barach and Jennifer Salerno had been chosen for inclusion on the listing of 2020 Massachusetts Tremendous Attorneys.

Barach was named to the Tremendous Attorneys listing and Salerno was acknowledged as a Rising Star, a distinction for candidates who’re both 40 years outdated or youthful or who’ve been in apply for 10 years or fewer. The outcomes had been printed in Boston Journal and in New England Tremendous Attorneys, which is printed by Thomson Reuters.

Barach is the founder and principal of Barach Regulation Group and writer of “The Household Regulation Information to Appellate Observe.” With over 20 years of household legislation expertise, Barach commonly seems earlier than Middlesex, Norfolk, Worcester, Suffolk and Essex County Household Regulation Courts. He additionally seems earlier than the Massachusetts Appeals Courtroom, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Courtroom and the First Circuit of Appeals.

Salerno is a senior affiliate at Barach Regulation Group focusing her apply on all areas of household legislation, together with excessive battle divorce and extremely contentious baby custody issues. She has efficiently litigated baby elimination requests and worldwide baby abduction circumstances within the Probate and Household Courts and U.S. District Courtroom in Boston. Previous to her becoming a member of Barach Regulation Group, Salerno was related to a Boston-based agency the place she specialised in household legislation.

Tremendous Attorneys is a ranking service of excellent attorneys from greater than 70 apply areas, who’ve attained a excessive diploma of peer recognition {and professional} achievement. The patented multiphase choice course of is designed to create a reputable, complete and numerous itemizing of excellent attorneys that can be utilized as a useful resource for attorneys and shoppers looking for authorized counsel.

Barach Regulation Group LLC relies in Framingham.

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PART 1: Wellesley in Tech: Liz Klinger ('06 - 08'), Co-Founder and CEO of Lioness - The First Smart Vibrator for Self-Experimentation

Interview by Camylle Fleming ‘14

(Anna Lee, Co-Founder, VP of Engineering (left) + Liz Klinger, Co, Founder, CEO (right))

Liz Klinger is CEO and co-founder of Lioness. She has worked in marketing and UX design in diverse areas from finance to automotive to non-profits. She is also an award-winning artist with work featured in a number of publications and independent shows. Her passion is around products that improve the lives of women around the world. Klinger started her undergraduate education at Wellesley College from 2006 to 2008 when she co-founded and served as President of the Philosophy Club. She later transferred and completed the second half of her education at Dartmouth with a B.A. in Studio Art and Philosophy.

She has been featured in the New York Times's Women of the World and was named a Ladies We Love at Ravishly. She has also been interviewed on Huffington Post Live's morning show and has spoken at TEDx and top universities about entrepreneurship and product development.

Wellesley Underground (WU): A quick glance at your Linkedin shows an incredible range of professional experiences, from “finance to automotive to non-profits” and of course your work as an artist. In what ways does the work you do now with Lioness allow you to access this cumulative knowledge base?

Liz Klinger (LK): A lot! It sounds so grand, but really, a lot of the experience was fumbling and trying to figure things out early on.

I don’t think there’s really a specific thing from my non-art professional experiences that is directly applicable to Lioness — I don’t think my knowledge of Dodd-Frank in the early 2010s is really that helpful, for instance, but the work experience, first working in teams at a large investment bank and then working semi-independently helped me grow up a bit and temper being creative with also organizing my time to get things done.

My initial work in art (sculpture especially) led me to explore engineering and product design. I got interested in 3D printing around 2009 when I wanted to find ways to make copies of my sculptures, just like how you can make copies of photographs. That led me to learning about product design, which led me to the idea of starting a company… which definitely led me to eventually starting Lioness.

After leaving finance to go back into something more hands-on where I could build/design things, I ended up taking some 3D modeling and engineering classes at a local community college along with doing my freelance jobs and Passion Parties gigs. At first, it felt like taking a step backwards since I was with a bunch of 18/19 year olds for most of it taking classes like Physics 101, while most of my friends had better paid/more esteemed/”regular” jobs (whatever that means), but that work ended up putting me in a good place for when I learned how to use more modern 3D printers and started to prototype on them regularly.

WU: You studied Studio Art in college and have built a portfolio as an award-winning artist. I was intrigued by an incident you’ve referenced where you presented a “giant photograph of a vagina” at an art show and were met with utter confusion and a complete lack of recognition from the crowd (which included Wellesley alumnae). What was that experience like?

LK: Making and presenting that artwork felt pretty vulnerable and scary at the time. I took a photograph of my own vagina (technically, my vulva, clitoris, and some pubic hair), and then magnified it into a person-sized photograph. I hadn’t done anything that explicit before — everything before that was either top nudity or “tastefully covered”, so to speak — but there was something about showing that part of the body in such an upfront way that I decided to go with my hunch and make it despite my reservations, and then include it in a show that was open to the public.

Looking back, I was still quite young and I’m sure I could execute it better now, but basically, I was trying to go for an “elephant in the room” effect. Even though about half of the people in the world have a vagina, this part of our body is still taboo, ignored, and shunned in most parts of the world. Transforming it into something person-sized in a public space was a way to try and bring the topic to light, but I never would have thought that the reaction would be the way it turned out.

When the show came around, I was so freaking nervous about everybody being able to see one of the most intimate parts of me (talk about those nightmares of being naked in front of everyone in class... this has been about as close as I’ve gotten to that)… but many people at the show didn’t even know what they were looking at. To be fair, some people, especially the photographers/artists, definitely knew, but as the show went on, I realized that most people had no idea there was a giant “vagina” in the room. Among the people who weren’t quite sure, the most common interpretation was “two figures dancing”. I remember eavesdropping on two sweet old ladies looking at the picture saying something along the lines of “Oh Bev… What a beautiful picture.” “Yes... it’s looks like two figures dancing”.

Most memorably, Dartmouth College’s Art Fund wanted to buy the piece. They pushed really hard for it, even though I had listed it as not for sale. They asked my professor to ask me, and that I could basically name any price. The professor asked, “do you know what it is?”. They said, “...two figures dancing?” … Needless to say, once they knew what it was they decided not to buy it. The art department found this hilarious.

Looking back, I kind of wish I could have listed it for sale so it’d be on display somewhere on that campus. At the very least, “two figures dancing” is not a bad nickname for a vulva!

WU: In your TEDx talk, you speak to the physiological and experiential diversity of experiences that people have. You make the case against a “one-size fits all for pleasure.” What everyday practices do you think contribute to our inability to accept our body on its personalistic terms?

LK: This is a tough one to answer since there are so many things that can affect our ability to explore our own personal pleasure better. I’ll name a few common themes I’ve seen:

1. Lack of/poor sex education for adolescents

This is something most of us know and agree on. Most places don’t prepare adolescents well for sex education, especially when it comes to communication, consent, and LGBTQ-specific topics. Because sex is something that usually comes up in our lives in some way or another, the information void is often filled by media and pornography, which aren’t bad on their own, but at the end of the day their job is to provide entertainment and fantasy, not so much education. If there is no education or context to set these things in, people can take away the wrong impression of what sex and pleasure are, and that can cause a lot of problems later if it’s not addressed early on.

2. Pretty much non-existent sex education for adults

There are a few places here and there that do this, but the idea that adults need continuing education for sex is practically non-existent in most circles. It’s pretty much essential though, because our bodies change as we age and various experiences will change what we like and what works. Plus, people can get bored with routine over time and need new things to explore. But sex is seen as simple and basic, and if you don’t know something? There’s something wrong with you or you “need to catch up.” We (collectively and individually) need to instill an “always learning/always curious” attitude more widely when it comes to the topics of sex and pleasure.

3. Being goal-oriented

I’ve heard this also from various sex shop employees and other folks who work as coaches or product developers — some people see pleasure as a checklist of things to accomplish. If they haven’t been able to “achieve” something, sometimes they think that something is wrong with them or that they’re not “normal”.

The truth is, some things come easier for some people, and there are so many different possible sets of experiences that there is no one universal “normal”. For instance, some people may have a very easy time having an orgasm through penetration. They might even enjoy it more than orgasms via external or clitoral stimulation even. Others might never get there or enjoy it the same way they enjoy external stimulation. Some might orgasm from stimulating other parts of the body. Some people might orgasm very quickly and others take their time. Some have one orgasm, some have multiple. And there’s all sorts of overlaps with these experiences. Is there anything wrong with any of these or are any of these experiences “abnormal”? No. There isn’t any specific thing you should do or be able to do, except whatever feels good for you and your partner.

4. Seeing our bodies as obstacles (body negativity)

Something we’re more aware of, but it can be hard to squash for ourselves. I’ve found that how we think of our bodies and ourselves often affects our ability to enjoy pleasure to the fullest potential. It’s not just what we think of our appearance, but also our health and capabilities, especially as we get older and may more likely experience health problems.

Something that really made an impression on me was what the creators of the Archer Bowchair told me, and what inspired them to make their own sex chair: “The problems that her pelvic floor disorder and our aging bodies presented, weren’t viewed by us as problems, rather just something we had to work around.” I thought it was a wonderful way to address an obstacle. We’re all imperfect in our various ways, it’s inevitable. Instead of trying to craft the “perfect” experience or the “perfect” body, we can learn to work with and enjoy what we have right now.

5. Having few ways to create a baseline of what’s your normal

There hasn’t been a lot of significant physiological research on sexual pleasure for people with vaginas since the 1980s. It’s not for a lack of interest from researchers and certain parts of the medical/healthcare field, but unfortunately, there has been an enormous cut on federal-funded research since the 1960s for basic, academic research. Some of that funding has been replaced by large, private companies like Procter & Gamble/etc (which presents its own problems, like promoting certain results while quietly shutting down “undesirable” results), but there isn’t really a P&G equivalent for sex and pleasure. With a bunch of universities also not wanting to be known as the “sex school” (Indiana University, home to the Kinsey Institute, has had a fraught relationship with the center for quite some time now) and seeing high risk and little reward for conducting research of and relating to pleasure (even if it’s related to health in some way), basically, pleasure-focused research gets very little funding. It’s hard to get the resources to do it.

What does that mean for you and me? A lot of the information available is pretty old or outdated.

Some of the initial work we based the creation of Lioness on was from papers published by Bohlen in the 1980s on some of the different ways to distinguish orgasm based on pelvic floor patterns from the vagina and anus. That’s still pretty state of the art today, which tells you how (not) far we’ve come and how far we have to go in really understanding our own bodies.

(Co-founder and VP of Engineering Anna Lee inspecting the mold before injection molding the first Lionesses)

WU: When it comes to the physical manufacturing of prototypes and end products, what has the experience taught you?

LK: I’ve learned just how incredibly difficult it is to design a great product. You’d be surprised how many hours can go into discussing even something small like a button layout. Plus, no matter how hard you try, no product is going to work for everybody, but you can try to make a product that can work well for a lot of people.

(Above is a depiction of an orgasm (a pattern of pelvic floor movements relaxing and contracting) as captured by Lioness technology)

Prototyping a vibrator can be especially difficult. Unlike prototypes for other products, for vibrators, if you want to iterate on the design and technology, you need to create a prototype per user testing it for product safety. When we were at the stage of building our prototypes by hand, that meant that at the peak, we spent about 80 hours per unit built because the plastic molding, silicone, hardware, sensors, and programming were all custom built by us, by hand. It was insane and honestly, I don’t even know how we did it without completely losing our minds. But we did it, sanity intact enough.

It was the best feeling in the world to be able to hold some of the first products ever built that you’ve spent years thinking about and working on. All those nights casting silicone and soldering components made everything else worthwhile.

Website: lioness.io

Twitter: @lionesshealth

Facebook: @lionesshealth

Instagram: @lionesshealth

[wellesleyunderground]

#ThisIsLeadership: Recognizing Everyday Wellesley Warriors

Since 2009, Wellesley Underground has been dedicated to highlighting alumnae stories of success and struggle to both complement and counter the pervasive and singular narrative of what is viewed as successful in the culture of Wellesley.  As a group of alums stated last year in an open letter to President Paula Johnson, Wellesley alums “are activists, leaders, volunteers, educators, caregivers, storytellers, whistle-blowers, and innovators. Some of us are parents, some of us are partners, and some of us construct our lives in other ways. Despite these myriad roles, the one thread that connects us is our time at Wellesley and the principles that we carry together.”

One of the first series we started here at Wellesley Underground was the Wellesley Alum of the Month (#WAOTM) series. While the college officially gives accolades to those who garner national and international attention for politics, business, finance, or academia via the Alumnae Achievement Awards, we wanted to create a space to highlight amazingly accomplished alumnae who would not traditionally garner the attention of the College. The #WAOTM are everyday Wellesley Warriors like Shayla Adams ‘08, who started a nonprofit that helps girls of color find a path to college as first generation college students. Or Amita Rao ‘05, an HR specialist, who has served the Wellesley Community online by providing alumnae with advice on job applications and a toolkit for asking for raises. And then there are alumnae like Jenny Ross ‘00, a physics professor at UMass Amherst who is dedicated to encouraging women to enter the sciences, and Tuck Rosebrock ‘10, a transgender alum who wrote this beautiful essay on his experience at Wellesley as a transman while the College was reconsidering its gender admission policy. These alumnae represent only a fraction of Wellesley College graduates making a difference in the world today.

You can therefore imagine how THRILLED we were here at Wellesley Underground when the college reached out to collaborate on the #ThisIsLeadership campaign (and we loved the shout out in last weeks’ email from the college! Thank you, Dr. Johnson!). One of the reasons we started WU was to see the College and the Wellesley alumnae community challenge the notion that we all need to fit under a certain mode of success to be making a difference.

To that end, Wellesley Underground and the Wellesley Alumnae Association want you to nominate an alum who you think is a leader in their community, in their career, in their family, or wherever they are. By nominating an alum of your choice, you will be helping the overall Wellesley community redefine and expand the the definition of what it means to be a leader. To nominate a Wellesley alum for the #ThisIsLeadership initiative, simply go to this form and put in the name of your nominee and why you think they are a leader. While you are at it, go ahead and nominate the same alum for the #WAOTM series by using this form! At every level, there is a leader that paves and guides the way. We're excited to learn more about and share our alums!