Shields Center for Innovation

Virtual Events

Latest Event

AI Summit:
Artificial Intelligence in Secondary Schools

Monday, November 6

Three Components of
The Shields Center for Innovation

Innovation curriculum that forms action-oriented problem solvers who are courageous, reflective, and committed to addressing society’s most pressing challenges

Student and alumni network programming, including influential guest speakers, entrepreneurship workshops, innovation challenges with other schools, and opportunities for students & alumni to develop & grow personal and professional connections

A Center that offers opportunities for BC High students and students in our community to build their innovation mindsets, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and a bias toward action through hands-on experiences with real-world, real-time challenges in our local and global innovation ecosystem

“The BC High of today isn’t the BC High I attended in the 1970s. It’s stronger, more flexible and more diverse. I’m looking forward to helping my alma mater carry on the Jesuit tradition of building community and educational foundation inside and outside the classroom. I’m reminded of what Jonas Salk, who brought us one of the first successful polio vaccines, once said: ‘Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.’ That’s what this Center is all about – getting our young men to be intuitive and to think of where to look next.”

AI Summit:

Artificial Intelligence Summit for Secondary Schools

Innovation in generative artificial intelligence presents students and educators with choice, uncertainty, and possibility.

BC High’s Shields Center for Innovation recognizes this transformative technology and its impact on teaching and learning. Many secondary schools are focusing on student compliance as they familiarize themselves with ever-evolving developments in AI. We are convening secondary schools and AI & education experts so we may move from fearing these changes to embracing them. AI will empower both educators and students to advance learning for depth, create individualized and contextualized learning, and enable students’ entrepreneurial and digital self-efficacy.

 

What does this mean for creativity and originality? How will this change the agency of students and educators? Where are thoughtfulness, responsibility, and ethics present?

 

On Monday, November 6, we will be hosting a summit for the public, our stakeholders, and schools around the nation to discuss the power of AI to transform secondary education.

 

Join us for a live conversation moderated by Jane Swift, Former Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Operating Partner, The Vistria Group as she is joined by a panel of distinguished experts. We will discuss where thoughtful use of AI and authentic education intersect to best prepare our students for their future.

Moderator

Moderator Jane Swift President and Executive Director LearnLaunch

Jane Swift

Former Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, President of Education at Work, and Member of the National Assessment Governing Board

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift is an accomplished leader in both the public and private sectors and a recognized national voice on education policy, women’s leadership and work/family integration. Today, she serves as a Senior Advisor to Whiteboard Advisors and as an Operating Partner to the Vistria Group as well as founding Cobble Hill Farm Education & Rescue Center. Swift served for fifteen years in state government, including holding the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and State Senator. Since leaving public office, Swift has held roles as a chief executive officer; a board chair, member and committee chair to public, private and not-for-profit institutions; an adviser to entrepreneurial education companies; and as a partner in a venture capital fund. She serves on a number of boards, including Suburban Propane (SPH), a publicly traded propane distribution company; and of Climb Credit, an alternative student lender. She brings to each new challenge a transformational leadership style, a passion for educational excellence and innovation and deep experience and success in leading mission-focused organizations.

Speakers

Shields AI speaker

Soundararajan Srinivasan

Head & Director, AI Program (including Generative AI/LLMs), Microsoft New England

Soundar Srinivasan is the Director of the Microsoft’s AI Development and Acceleration Program (https://www.microsoftnewengland.com/maidap/) in the Office of Microsoft’s CTO. The program’s mission is to increase the AI capabilities of Product Groups and develop the next generation of AI leaders at Microsoft. The team works on a variety of AI topics, with a recent focus on Generative AI, including Large Language Models such as GPT. Soundar drew from his experience as the Director of AI Product Challenges at Robert Bosch while he built out the team, including establishing a strong culture of Learning, Diversity, and Inclusion. Soundar obtained a PhD in noise robust speech recognition from the Ohio State University in 2006. Before joining Microsoft, he worked for Robert Bosch LLC in various aspects of machine learning and AI, including leading a central team of experts that provided AI as a service to internal business unit partners and incubating new AI products. On the personal front, he is an avid sports fan and hiker and enjoys the offerings in the New England area with his family.

Drew Calcagno '11 AI speaker

Drew Calcagno '11

Principal, Product Operations at Google Research & AI at Google

Drew Calcagno ’11 is a principal at Google Research, focusing on product operations and strategic narratives for the company’s R&D efforts in various forms of artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and more.  He’s a former government official and naval officer, having served non-politically at the White House, at the Pentagon, and on a forward-deployed warship. At those posts, he wrote artificial intelligence policy for the Chief Technology Officer of the United States and managed machine learning programs for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. Calcagno graduated from the University of Oxford as a Rotary Scholar, the University of London – SOAS as a Fulbright Scholar, the US Naval Academy with distinction.

Shields AI speaker

Naomi Caselli

Director of AI and Education Initiative at Boston University

Naomi Caselli is the director of AI and Education Initiative at Boston University, where she is working to build research capacity at the university at the intersection of artificial intelligence and education. She also directs the Deaf Center at Boston University, where she does research on deaf education and the development of sign language computing technology.

Registration

Climate Crisis:

“The BC High of today isn’t the BC High I attended in the 1970s. It’s stronger, more flexible and more diverse. I’m looking forward to helping my alma mater carry on the Jesuit tradition of building community and educational foundation inside and outside the classroom. I’m reminded of what Jonas Salk, who brought us one of the first successful polio vaccines, once said: ‘Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.’ That’s what this Center is all about – getting our young men to be intuitive and to think of where to look next.”

How Innovation Can

Save Our Planet

An online conversation to discuss how innovation can help solve this existential challenge to our planet.

There is no place where innovation is more important than in problem solving.   And there are few problems greater than climate change.   An October 2022 report from the United Nations called climate change “the greatest threat the world has ever faced.”    

With that as the backdrop, the Shields Center for Innovation is pleased to present its latest event:  “Climate Change:  How Innovation Can Help Our Planet.”   This online event will feature two leaders that embrace innovative thinking around this issue—Douglas Foy, longtime environmental advocate, former President of the Conservation Law Foundation and current President of Serrafix as well as Brian Keane, Founder and President of SmartPower, a non-profit organization heralded as one of the most innovative firms engaging consumers in energy efficiency and clean energy actions.

Join us for a conversation moderated by WBUR’s Assistant Managing Editor, Climate and Environment, Kathleen Masterson to discuss how innovation can help solve this existential challenge to our planet

Moderator

Kathleen Masterson, WBUR speaker for BC High Shields Innovation Series

Kathleen Masterson

Assistant Managing Editor, Climate and Environment, WBUR

Kathleen Masterson is a multimedia journalist who has reported on science, environment and agriculture for more than a decade.

Kathleen began her journalism career working at NPR as a producer for the science desk. She edited science and health news and reported on topics including human evolution, air pollution, psychiatric diagnoses and health care policy. In addition, Kathleen produced an NPR series covering universities’ failure to provide justice for campus rapes, which won a Peabody Award.

Kathleen went on to work as an agriculture reporter for Harvest Public Media, a public radio project in the Midwest, and later as an energy/environment reporter for the New England News Collaborative. While working for Vermont Public Radio, she won a national Edward R. Murrow award for her story covering the wave of immigrants fleeing the U.S. to seek asylum in Canada by walking through the woods.

She is driven to tell stories that embrace the intersection of humanity, environment, health and community.

Speakers

Doug Foy, speaker for BC HIgh Shields Innovation event

Doug Foy

CEO, Serrafix Corporation

Douglas I. Foy is a founder and CEO of Serrafix Corpora:on, a strategic consul:ng firm and business incubator focused on energy, the environment, transporta:on, and climate change. Prior to launching Serrafix, Doug served as the first Secretary of Commonwealth Development in the administra:on of MassachuseEs Governor MiE Romney. In leading this “super-Secretariat”, he oversaw the agencies of Transporta:on, Housing, Environment, and Energy. Before his service in the Rom-ney administra:on, Doug served for 25 years as the President and CEO of the Con-serva:on Law Founda:on, New England’s premier environmental advocacy orga-niza:on. Doug serves on numerous corporate and non-profit boards, including Ameresco, Inc., Renew Energy Partners, the Environmental League of MassachuseEs, and the Center for Large Landscape Conserva:on. Among many awards recognizing his public interest work, Doug has received the President’s Environmental and Con-serva:on Challenge Award (the na:on’s highest conserva:on award), the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University (its highest honor bestowed on a graduate), and the Order of the Bri:sh Empire (OBE) from the Queen of England. He was a member of the 1968 USA Olympic Rowing Team and the 1969 USA Na-:onal Rowing Team. Doug graduated from Princeton University as a University Scholar in engineering and physics, aEended Cambridge University in England as a Churchill Scholar in geophysics, and graduated from Harvard Law School. 

Brian Keane speaker

Brian Keane

Founder & President, SmartPower

Brian F. Keane is an environment and executive leader, strategic private equity advisor, acclaimed author and engaging public speaker with extensive experience in grassroots and digital organizing. He is an unrivaled expert in clean energy and energy efficiency marketing.

 

Since 2002 Brian F. Keane has served as the founder and President of SmartPower, a Washington, DC-based renewable energy and energy efficiency outreach and marketing organization. In 2016 Keane co-founded and was named CEO of WeeGreen (www.wee.green), a for-profit, on-line platform that helps sell solar faster, easier, and cheaper. Keane is also a Strategic Advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors, a leading global private markets impact investment manager. Pegasus Capital is accredited by the Green Climate Fund and dedicated to fostering sustainable growth while providing attractive returns to investors.

He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Green Is Good: Save Money, Make Money, and Help Your Community Profit from Clean Energy (Lyons Press, 2012). Keane is a former Presidential Campaign advisor to the late US Senator Paul Tsongas (DMA). He has extensive Capitol Hill experience, having served as a Legislative Assistant to Congressman Les Aspin (D-WI) and as an aide to Congressman Joe Moakley (D-MA).

In 2017, The John Merck Fund, one of the leading environmental foundations in the US, awarded Keane its highest honor, the “Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service”. SmartPower and Keane have been recognized with numerous awards, including a 2016 and 2010 Clean Air Excellence Award from the Environmental Protection Agency, the coveted Green Power Pilot Award presented by the EPA and the US Department of Energy, four Gold Awards from the Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA), and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Circle Award. And for the past two years, The Wealth & Money Management Awards named SmartPower “The Best Non-Profit Marketing Firm in the US”.

 

Brian F. Keane is a graduate of The American University in Washington, DC, where he earned a BA in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science. Keane is a past-president of the American University Alumni Association and in 2011 was the recipient of the American University “American Eagle Award”. In 2022 Keane was awarded a Certificate in Sustainable Investing from Harvard Business School Online. Keane serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vermont-based Clean Energy Group and is a recognized “Business Leader Partner” at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. Keane serves as Co-Chair of the ESG Pillar of the Denton’s Law Firm’s Global Smart Cities & Connected Communities Think Tank. He also serves on the Advisor Board of the National Postdoctoral Association and is a member of theSustainability Advisory Council at the Kogod School of Business at American University. In 2000 Brian F. Keane was Honorably Discharged from the United States Navy Reserve.

Registration

Solutions to Homelessness

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Solutions to Homelessness:

Finding Innovative Ways

to Address a Growing Crisis

An online conversation with national leaders addressing the homelessness crisis in Boston and beyond.

The intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard is only a few miles from our campus at Boston College High School, and yet a world away. This intersection has become emblematic of the health and social challenges of homelessness in Boston. Throughout the world, other cities have had similar challenges—from Market Street in San Francisco to tent cities in Berlin.  

A problem as pervasive as homelessness requires innovative solutions. Whether it’s developing low-cost housing, repurposing existing structures, or creating new resources, cities around the United States and around the world have found new solutions to tackle this critical challenge.

Join us for a discussion of how innovation can help ease the homelessness crisis in Boston and beyond.

Moderator

L.Jolicoeur headshot for BC High Shields Innovation event

Lynn Jolicoeur

Producer, Reporter, Editor, WBUR

Lynn Jolicoeur is a field producer, reporter and editor at WBUR. As field producer, she researches, writes and edits host interview segments and feature stories on a vast array of topics for the signature early-evening news program, All Things Considered. Lynn also reports for the station’s local broadcasts (with some stories airing nationally on NPR, as well). She has developed beats covering mental illness and homelessness. She has reported in depth on efforts to end chronic homelessness, the weaknesses in the system for sheltering and housing people experiencing homelessness, and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the homeless population. Lynn is passionate about reporting on the issue of suicide. In 2015 she produced and reported a 15-part, yearlong series on the suicide crisis. Prior to working at WBUR, Lynn was a television reporter for 18 years – most recently at Boston’s WCVB-TV Channel 5. She covered areas from crime and the justice system to politics, medicine, and social issues.

Speakers

Lyndia Downie Headshot for BC HIgh Shields Event

Lyndia Downie

President & Executive Director, Pine Street Inn

 Lyndia Downie has served as Pine Street Inn’s President & Executive Director since 2000, and on Pine Street’s staff for over 35 years, working in roles throughout the organization. As a result of her leadership and vision, Pine Street is now the largest provider of permanent supportive housing for men and women moving out of homelessness in New England, with 850 units of housing and a major housing expansion underway. 

Her collaboration with other key agencies, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the City of Boston has brought the population of unsheltered homeless individuals in Boston to under 4 percent. To place that in context, in San Francisco, a city of similar size and high housing costs, the unsheltered homeless rate is over 50 percent. 

A recipient of many leadership awards and recognition, Lyndia is often called upon, both locally and nationally, to offer her insights and expertise into homelessness, its causes and solutions. Lyndia was one of the recipients of the University of Vermont’s 2020 Alumni Association Awards. Lyndia holds an Honorary Doctor of Social Science Degree from Boston College, an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree from Framingham State University, an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree from New England Law Boston, and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from William James College. Lyndia is a graduate of the University of Vermont. 

Rosanne Haggerty headshot for BC High Shields Event

Rosanne Haggerty

President & Chief Executive Officer, Community Solutions

Rosanne Haggerty is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Solutions. She is an internationally recognized leader in developing innovative
strategies to end homelessness and strengthen communities. Community Solutions assists communities throughout the U.S and internationally in solving the complex housing problems facing their most vulnerable residents. Their large-scale change initiatives include the 100,000 Homes and Built for Zero Campaigns to end chronic and veteran homelessness, and neighborhood partnerships that bring together local residents and institutions to change the conditions that produce homelessness. Earlier, she founded Common Ground Community, a pioneer in the design and development of supportive housing and research-based practices that end homelessness.

Ms. Haggerty was a Japan Society Public Policy Fellow, and is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Ashoka Senior Fellow, Hunt Alternative Fund Prime Mover and the recipient of honors including the Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism from the Rockefeller Foundation, Social Entrepreneur of the year from the Schwab Foundation, Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award and Independent Sector’s John W. Gardner Leadership Award. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Marc Eichenbaum speaker for BC High Shields Center

Marc Eichenbaum

Special Assistant to the Mayor of Houston for Homeless Initiatives

Marc Eichenbaum serves as the Special Assistant to the Mayor for Homeless Initiatives.  Marc is a licensed attorney who specializes in public policy, strategic communications, and governmental affairs, leading programs to counter racial inequities and drive social impact.

First appointed by Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and subsequently by Mayor Sylvester Turner, Marc manages the City’s involvement in The Way Home, Houston’s globally recognized homeless housing initiative.  Since 2012, The Way Home has housed more than 25,000 individuals experiencing homelessness, effectively ending veteran homelessness and reducing overall homelessness by 63%.  Marc created the city’s innovative Public Intoxication Team, is at the forefront of developing holistic and effective strategies to reduce encampments and handles a variety of behavioral health issues for the Mayor.  Named by Bloomberg Cities as one of “10 Innovators Who are Raising the Bar in the Fight Against COVID-19,” Marc has advised more than 70 cities, from London, England, Perth, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Orlando, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver, on how to create collective-impact, transformative systems to reduce homelessness.

Previously, Marc oversaw external affairs for the City’s Housing and Community Development Department. In addition to successfully advocating for the passage of over 200 pieces of local legislation, Marc worked on a variety of transformational community revitalization and economic development initiatives, creating thousands of jobs and affordable homes.

 

Marc served on the boards of the Holocaust Museum Houston and Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, as well as leadership committees for the Alley Theatre, Discovery Green, and the Jewish Federation of Houston.  From the Texas Senate to the Houston Grand Opera, Marc has received numerous awards and frequently speaks at events across the country.  He is a Leadership Houston and New Leaders Council Fellow and is a member of The University of Texas Friars Society.

Previous Events

How Innovation Can Drive Public Transportation

Healthcare in the Hub

Innovation and Leadership

Creating the Next Generation of Innovators

Why Innovation Matters in Boston and Beyond

Past

The Right Track

Thursday, October 25, 2022

The Right Track:

How Innovation

Can Drive Public Transportation

An online conversation with the leaders of public transport systems around the world on how innovative solutions can change the face of public transportation in Boston and beyond.

The Boston subway was itself the product of extraordinary innovation. As the nation’s first subway system, more than 100,000 people took the short ride from Park Street to Arlington Station on its first day of operation in 1897. Back then, the system was viewed as a technology marvel. Today, after many years beset with challenges, the time has come for the next innovations in public transport.

Join us for a discussion with the leaders of public transport systems around the world as we embark on a discussion of innovation in public transportation. New solutions from blockchain to renewable resources to big data are helping make transportation systems more resilient and better equipped to serve the needs of tomorrow. Our panelists will focus on how those solutions can change the face of public transportation in Boston and beyond.

Moderator & Speakers

Born in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Simón Ríos is an award-winning bilingual reporter in WBUR’s newsroom. The son of an Uruguayan father and an American mother, he is a proud father and an amateur classical guitarist.

Simón joined the station after two years at The Standard-Times in New Bedford, where he cut his teeth covering immigration and business as well a stint reporting on the nation’s top fishing port.

He graduated from Emerson College in 2005 with a BA in writing, literature and journalism. After college, Simón spent 17 months traveling through Latin America, documenting his stories as he hitchhiked through Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and 14 other countries.

At WBUR he covers the wave of development that’s changing the face of Boston, with an eye on demographics and inequality. He has also traveled to Puerto Rico several times since Hurricane Maria, bring back stories about the bridges between the island and the more than 300,000 Boricuas who call Massachusetts home.

Simón’s work experience includes jobs as a musician, a carpenter’s helper and a cab driver. He is a native Spanish speaker and is conversational in Brazilian Portuguese.

A man in a dark suit jacket, white shirt, and blue tile smiles at the camera. He has brown hair.

Richard Davey is responsible for managing the largest transit agency in North America with historically over 7 million daily customers. Davey has over 20 years of leadership experience in leading and advising high profile, publicly accountable organizations in state government.

Previously, he served as a Partner and Director at the Boston Consulting Group in their Public Sector and Industrial Goods practice areas. In that role, he was the State and Local Public Sector practice leader for the firm in North America, and he advised public transportation and transit systems, ports, railroads, highway operators, aerospace, and private transportation companies.

In 2015, Davey was CEO of Boston 2024, the organization that sought to bring the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to Boston.

From 2011 to 2014, he served in the governor’s cabinet as secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. He had direct operational responsibility for and oversight of the state’s 15 regional transit agencies including the MBTA, highways, bridges, and tunnels (including the Big Dig), freight and passenger rail, 36 general use airports, and the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles. He also served as the Chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Davey also served in a variety of capacities, including as General Manager, for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad from 2003 to 2010 and as General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from 2010 to 2011, where he oversaw the fifth largest public transit system in the United Stated with over 1.3 million daily customers. In 2013, Davey was honored by Construction Management Association of America with their Person of the Year award.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Holy Cross and a Juris Doctorate summa cum laude from Gonzaga University. Davey is a Massachusetts native, but with roots in New York City, having previously worked and lived in Manhattan, including on September 11, 2001.

Effective January 1, 2019, Steve Poftak joined the MBTA as General Manager. General Manager Poftak, who previously served as the Vice Chair of the Fiscal and Management Control Board and as a Director of the MassDOT Board since 2015, comes to the T from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was Executive Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Previously, Poftak was Research Director and Director of the Center for Better Government at the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. Prior to that, he worked at the Commonwealth’s Executive Office for Administration and Finance, where he managed the $1.3 billion capital budget, prepared the state’s quarterly cash flow reporting, and monitored non-tax revenue receipts. Other experience includes service on the Commonwealth’s Finance Advisory Board and Zero-Based Budget Commission.

Poftak holds an MBA from the Olin School at Babson College and a BA in Political Science from Middlebury College. He is a Boston resident and has children who attend the Boston Public Schools.​​

Silvester Prakasam has been heading the Fare System for Public Transport for Singapore from 1989 to 2017 and subsequently appointed as Senior Advisor.

The Fare System team under Silvester has undertaken several ticketing initiatives, including the Integrated Ticketing System which provided a common fare structure for the entire public transport network in Singapore.

In 1998, he was appointed Project Director for the Enhanced Integrated Fare System project to implement a common smart card system across the public transport network at a total cost of US$200m and completed in 2002. 10 million cards were issued.

Subsequently he led a team that implemented an open system to merge payments for Public Transport and congestion pricing. A new standard for e-purse, called CEPAS, based on microprocessor cards was developed in partnership with leading card suppliers.  The system known as SeP (Symphony for e-Payments) was launched in January 2009 and successfully cut-over on 1st October 2009.

His team then went on to introduce a new fare structure called Distance Fares (DF) which was launched in July 2010 and 5.7m trips are made daily on the system.

He continued to be involved in new initiatives and, specifically, Account-Based Ticketing which was launched in April 2019.

Currently he is engaged in implementing ticketing projects in Qatar, India, Manila and Bangkok.

Past

Health Care in the Hub

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Health Care

in the

Hub

An online conversation about health care innovation in Boston and Beyond.

From the first use of anesthesia, to the creation of the smallpox vaccine, to the first major organ transplant, to the creation of one of the first vaccines available to COVID, Boston has a long history of being on the forefront of innovation in health care.  This spring, the Shields Center for Innovation will be focusing on this critical area with panel discussions, student workshops, and our annual Innovation Challenge all delving into various aspects of health care innovation.

Moderator & Speakers

Jack Connors, Jr. is a founding partner of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., a full-service marketing communications company. Under his leadership, Hill Holliday evolved from a one-room shop, founded in 1968, to one of the top 20 advertising firms in the United States.

Early in his career, he became interested and active in the philanthropic life of the city of Boston, serving on boards and leading civic campaigns. In fact, throughout Greater Boston, Jack Connors is known for these efforts as well as for his business acumen.  Boston Magazine named him one of the most powerful people in Boston, and he’s been a major force behind initiatives such as The Campaign for Catholic Schools, and The Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

As an articulate advocate for Boston’s world-class hospitals, Jack served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Partners HealthCare System (now Mass General Brigham) for 16 years and became Chairman Emeritus in July 2012.  He served on the Boston College Board of Trustees for over 30 years and was Chair of that board on two occasions. He is a member of the HomeBase Program for wounded warriors at the MGH, the Board of Fellows at Harvard Medical School, and Board of Dean’s Advisors for the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Camp Harbor View is arguably the charity that is closest to Jack’s heart.  When the late Mayor Thomas Menino asked for his help in identifying a safe and enjoyable alternative for inner city boys and girls during summer, Jack proposed that he would raise enough money to build a summer camp on Long Island in Boston Harbor, and Camp Harbor View was born.

Born in Boston, Jack is a graduate of Boston College and resides in Brookline, Massachusetts.  He and his wife, Eileen, have four children and thirteen grandchildren.

Michael is the Director of the Health Care Initiative at Harvard Business School (HBS).  In his role, Michael partners with MBA faculty to promote their research in health care, engages with alums to strengthen their connection to the health care community across HBS, and supports students with their career direction.

Prior to HBS, Michael built a 25-year career in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry in commercial leadership roles developing commercial strategies that launched numerous products at such firms as Merck & Co., CSL Behring, and Sage Therapeutics.  Michael received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.  

Robbie founded Waterline Ventures in 2014. Robbie has also spent time as the Vice President of Business Development at Shields Health Solutions, a hospital services company in the specialty pharmacy space. Prior to founding Waterline, Robbie was an investor at Highland Capital Partners, and helped launch Causeway Media Partners, a sports technology investment fund. Prior to Highland, Robbie was an investment banker in the Healthcare Group at Oppenheimer & Co. and CIBC World Markets. Robbie received a B.A. from Brown University and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Kate Walsh is president and CEO of the Boston Medical Center (BMC) health system, with annual operating revenue of $4.9 billion. BMC is a private, not-for-profit, 514 bed, academic medical center dedicated to meeting all the needs of its patients, needs that often transcend the scope of traditional medicine like food and housing insecurity, and advancing health equity within the communities it serves. The primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center has nearly 6000 employees and 755 physicians who are affiliated with Boston University Medical Group. BMC Health System also includes the BMC HealthNet Plan, a Medicaid Managed Care Organization with more than 400,000 members in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and Boston HealthNet, a network affiliation of 14 community health centers throughout Boston.

Prior to her appointment at Boston Medical Center, Ms. Walsh served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She served previously as the chief operating officer for Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and at Massachusetts General Hospital in positions including senior vice president of medical services and the MGH Cancer Center. Prior to her tenure at Mass General, she held positions in a number of New York City hospitals including Montefiore, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Saint Luke’s – Roosevelt Hospital Center and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Ms. Walsh received her bachelor of arts degree and a master’s degree in public health from Yale University. She has served as a member of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and currently serves on the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, Pine Street Inn, and Yale University.    

Past

Innovation and Leadership

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Innovation

and

Leadership

Live Online Conversation with
Grace Cotter Regan and Carly Fiorina

Problem-solving, leadership, and innovation are skills that must be taught to students. That’s why we created the Shields Center for Innovation. Join us for our kick-off event with someone who embodies the spirit of innovation—former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard, and the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 Company, Carly Fiorina. Under her leadership at HP, innovation tripled, and the company became the 11th largest business in the United States.

Speakers

Grace Cotter Regan is inextricably linked to the Boston College High School community as the daughter of legendary coach, teacher, and counselor Jim Cotter ’55 and the mother of Bartley Regan ’12. Though the Cotter family moved to Weymouth after Grace was born, her roots remained firmly planted in Dorchester. She grew up on the sidelines of BC High football games and cheered for a Super Bowl-winning team her senior year at Notre Dame Academy in 1978. Grace went on to Boston College where she deepened her devotion to Ignatian Spirituality and experienced a formative period as a Jesuit International Volunteer in Belize. She discovered her personal leadership style as a force of change from within the community which carried Grace well in a career spent working to advance the mission of Jesuit institutions from Holy Cross, to Boston College, and finally as the Executive Director of Advancement for the New England Province of Jesuits. She spearheaded programs that dramatically increased the strength and profile of the Province, including the Jesuit Gala and Ignatian Conversations with Women. After years of service forging relationships with Jesuit constituencies across the region, country, and globe, Grace was named Head of School for St. Mary’s of Lynn. There she was a transformative leader, completing a $20 million fundraising campaign and enhancing the school’s curriculum. Now, Grace considers BC High the capstone of her vocation – her lifetime of service and experience in Catholic institutions, and her abiding faith in God’s plan has led her full circle to Morrissey Boulevard. After more than two years of spirited leadership at BC High, Grace was appointed to the Board of Directors of America Media, “the leading provider of editorial content that leads the conversation about faith and culture,” recognizing her lifetime as a leader in Jesuit ministries.

Carly Fiorina is a true leader and a seasoned problem‐solver. She is a passionate, articulate advocate for problem-solving, innovation, and effective leadership. Her mission is to inspire, equip and connect individuals and teams to seize opportunities, face challenges, and accelerate impact in their communities and places of work. She knows that everyone has more potential than they realize, that those closest to the problem understand the problem best, and that leading to unlock the potential in others and actually solve problems can result in both progress and joy.

Carly shares her leadership experience and approach to problem-solving in a variety of ways. In addition to her regular speeches to students, businesses and non-profits, she is the founder and Chairman of Carly Fiorina Enterprises, and of Unlocking Potential, a non-profit organization that invests in human potential by supporting local leaders who are solving problems in their communities and places of work; equipping them with the behaviors, characteristics, disciplines and tools to increase their leadership and problem-solving capacity. On By Example, a leadership podcast, Carly and her team use the experiences, stories and lessons from innovators and problem-solvers to teach practical, real-world solutions to challenges many listeners face.

Carly’s experience spans from secretary to CEO, from public to private, and from for-profit to non-profit. She started out as a secretary for a nine-person real-estate business and eventually became the first woman ever to lead a Fortune 50 company. When Carly was recruited to lead Hewlett Packard (HP) in 1999, the industry was facing the worst technology recession in 25 years. Under Carly’s leadership, revenue grew, innovation tripled, growth quadrupled, and HP became the 11th largest company in the U.S.

During her tenure at HP, the company received numerous civic recognitions, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Business Ethics Magazine, one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers by Working Mother Magazine, receiving a 100% rating by The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, and being named one of the World’s Most Respected Companies by The Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

After leaving HP, Carly focused her efforts on giving back. Prior to Unlocking Potential, she served as the Chairman of Good360, the world’s largest product philanthropy organization, and as Chairman of Opportunity International, a Christian-based organization that lifts millions out of poverty around the globe through micro-finance. She also founded the One Woman Initiative in partnership with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to engage and empower women in Pakistan, Egypt, India and the Philippines through increased access to economic opportunity.

Carly was appointed by President Bush and CIA Director Michael Hayden to serve as the Chairman of the External Advisory Board of the CIA after 9/11. In this capacity, she held the highest clearances available to a civilian, and focused her efforts on CIA recruitment policies, information technology capabilities and organizational integration.

In 2015, Carly launched a campaign for President. Running as a political outsider, Carly spoke about empowering and engaging citizens to take back government from a political ruling class that has failed to deliver results. There, many more Americans came to know her as a clear-eyed, direct leader capable of actually solving problems.

Carly is also a best-selling author. Her titles include Tough Choices and Rising to the Challenge. Her third book Find Your Way is out now.

In February 2019, Carly and The Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America began an academic partnership. Carly was appointed the Distinguished Clinical Professor in Leadership and together they are integrating Carly’s leadership and problem-solving curriculum into the business student experience. 

She and her husband, Frank, have been happily married for 34 years. They reside in northern Virginia near their daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters.

Past

Creating the Next Generation of Innovators

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Creating the Next Generation of

Innovators

This event will bring together the leadership of innovation centers around the Greater Boston area to discuss how innovation is a skill that can—and must—be taught to students today. Center representatives will describe how they are leveraging curriculums and partnerships to create the next generation of innovators in Boston and how the Shields Center for Innovation can begin applying those lessons at the middle and high school levels.

Moderator & Speakers

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift is an accomplished leader in both the public and private sectors and a recognized national voice on education policy, women’s leadership and work/family integration. Today, she leads LearnLaunch as its President and Executive Director. Swift served for fifteen years in state government, including holding the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and State Senator. Since leaving public office, Swift has held roles as a chief executive officer; a board chair, member and committee chair to public, private and not for profit institutions; an adviser to entrepreneurial education companies; and as a partner in a venture capital fund. She serves on a number of boards, including Suburban Propane (SPH), a publicly-traded propane distribution company; and Climb Credit, an alternative student lender. This winter she began an appointment as the Visiting Leader in Practice at the Women in Public Policy (WAPP) at the Kennedy School of Government. She brings to each new challenge a transformational leadership style, a passion for educational excellence and innovation and deep experience and success in leading mission-focused organizations. She and her husband Chuck are the proud parents of three daughters, Elizabeth, Lauren and Sarah.

A life long serial entrepreneur, Jere Doyle is now one of the most active early stage Seed investors in the US. Jere has been an adviser and Investor to many start-ups and a passionate mentor and coach to many CEO’s through The Oyster Funds, Sigma Prime Ventures, and Doyle Enterprises over the past decade. He is known for his energy and enthusiasm for “all things entrepreneurship” and helps Founders and CEO’s grow their companies and nurture success – with a focus on how to build world class teams, launch disruptive products and drive customer acquisition at the right price while maximizing lifetime value of your customers.

As an entrepreneur, Doyle has built two startup companies—Prospectiv and Global Marketing—into recognized industry leaders. Now he is helping other CEO’s to build winning teams, launch innovative products, and spearhead effective customer acquisition and sales strategies.

He is also inspiring the folks he works with stories of how those five personal qualities can drive success in any project, career, or venture. His basic message is that successful entrepreneurs must learn how to leverage five personal assets, five ingredients of a truly successful entrepreneurial life. He calls these the “Five Ps”—Passion, Patience, Persistence, Principles, and Pride.

Doyle is also very active at Boston College, helping the University by leading the Edmund H. Shea Center for Entrepreneurship at The Carroll School of Management, where he serves as the Popolo Family Executive Director. Teaching and inspiring young people about careers in start-ups and small businesses is something he is very passionate about.

Raj Echambadi is the Dunton Family Dean of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. Prior to joining D’Amore-McKim, Echambadi served as the Alan J. and Joyce D. Baltz Professor and the Senior Associate Dean of Strategic Innovation in the College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With over 200 faculty members serving more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the D’Amore-McKim School of Business is known for its thought leadership across all business domains, as well as its teaching excellence. The essence of Northeastern and D’Amore-McKim is experiential learning–rigorous academic classroom content is blended with meaningful business experience through our signature global cooperative programs. It is a unique model of business education–one that inspires students and molds them into impactful business leaders. Echambadi’s charge is to collaborate with the talented D’Amore-McKim faculty and staff to execute this vision.

Echambadi’s major research interests in strategic innovation focus on how firms balance the importance of exploring opportunities found in nascent markets with exploiting opportunities in current markets. His research articles have been published in some of the top business and statistics journals. In 2004, his paper on employee entrepreneurship–describing how senior employees from incumbent companies founded new ventures that then directly competed with those incumbents themselves–won the Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award. Utilizing principles from his work on innovation, he helped launch the online MBA program at Illinois. This program, known as the iMBA and launched in partnership with Coursera, has been hailed by the media as a breakthrough innovation in graduate education. He has also obtained several research grants, including one from the Kauffman Foundation, to study technology entrepreneurship and innovation issues.

Echambadi is also an accomplished teacher. He has taught a wide range of courses at the undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and Ph.D. levels, and he received numerous accolades at the University of Illinois for his teaching achievements, including the Campus Excellence Award in Professional and Graduate Teaching and the College of Business Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence. Echambadi received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Anna University in India and his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Houston. He also serves on the board of trustees of Carle Hospitals.

Matt Segneri is the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director of the Harvard Innovation Labs, which includes the Harvard i-lab, Launch Lab X GEO for alumni, and the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab. He oversees the i-lab’s strategy and operations and acts as the primary liaison to the i-lab’s key stakeholders and the local, national, and global innovation community.

He has more than 15 years of leadership experience in organizations of different sizes and stages of development across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the i-lab, he was the Director of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. During that time, he served as co-lead of the HBS New Venture Competition and as a judge for the President’s Innovation Challenge, MassChallenge, and the MIT $100K. He also played a lead role in developing the proposal that established the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

Previously, he was a senior leader on the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies. He co-led the inaugural Mayors Challenge, a $9 million competition to inspire American cities to develop bold solutions to common challenges and oversaw initiatives on cross-sector collaboration and innovation teams around the world. In addition, he served as a senior advisor to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. In the Mayor’s Office, he focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, service and civic engagement, and safety and security. He also led projects at the Monitor Group and worked in the Special Advisor Program at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He holds an A.B. in Psychology from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He was recognized by the Boston Business Journal as one of Boston’s “40 Under 40” and by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of Boston’s “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders.” He lives in Newton with his wife and three children.

Stephen Spinelli Jr., PhD, MBA’92 is the 14th president of Babson College. A successful entrepreneur, academic leader, and scholar, Dr. Spinelli assumed the role of president in July 2019, guiding the College through its centennial year and into its second century.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Dr. Spinelli has spent his career at the intersection of academia, business, and philanthropy. He co-founded Jiffy Lube International and was chairman and CEO of the American Oil Change Corporation, helping to pioneer the quick-lube industry nationwide and turning Jiffy Lube into the nation’s dominant competitor with more than 1,000 service centers.

As a long-standing member of the Babson community, Dr. Spinelli spent 14 years of his career as a member of the College’s faculty, vice provost for entrepreneurship and global management, and director of The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship. During his tenure at Babson, Dr. Spinelli played a number of critical and influential roles. He was an influential member of both the President’s Cabinet and the Academic Council, as well as chair of the entrepreneurship task force that contributed significantly to the College’s strategic plan. He led the charge to maintain Babson’s No. 1 ranking for entrepreneurship in U.S. News & World Report and to achieve, for the first time, the No. 1 ranking for entrepreneurship in Financial Times in 2006 (repeating in 2007). In 2011, Dr. Spinelli was inducted into Babson’s Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.

As vice provost, Dr. Spinelli was instrumental in strengthening and growing important initiatives including the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the world’s largest collaborative research project studying entrepreneurship; the Entrepreneurship Intensity Track curriculum; Rocket Pitch and in doubling the entrepreneurship faculty. He also was responsible for expanding the Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators (SEE) to an international program.

In September 2007, he became president of Philadelphia University, which later merged with Thomas Jefferson University to form the new Jefferson, where he was named chancellor in July 2017. As president of Philadelphia University, he established the unique Kanbar College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce: one of America’s first transdisciplinary colleges. He championed the Master of Science in Sustainable Design, an award-winning, transdisciplinary, collaborative degree program that is among the most recognized Sustainable Design graduate degrees in the world. Under his leadership, Philadelphia University enjoyed record enrollment and retention, with particular growth in graduate enrollment, continuing and professional studies enrollment, and online enrollment.

Dr. Spinelli’s work has appeared in journals such as The Journal of the Society for College and University Planning, Journal of Business Venturing, the British Management Journal, and Frontiers of Entrepreneurship. He also has been featured in such popular press as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Boston Globe, Entrepreneur, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Economist, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Bloomberg Business Week. He has authored numerous business cases, book chapters, and co-authored Disrupt Together: How Teams Consistently Innovate; Business Plans That Work; Franchising: Pathway to Wealth Creation; How to Raise Capital; Never Bet the Farm; The Casebook for Young Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship: The Engine of Growth; and New Venture Creation for the 21st Century, now in its 10th edition.

He has consulted for or led executive education programs for corporations such as Intel Corporation, IBM Corporation, Allied Domecq, and Planet Fitness. He has served on a number of corporate boards and in leadership roles for community, business, and professional associations.

Currently, he serves on the board of advisors for the Berwind Corporation and the board of directors for Planet Fitness. He also has served on the boards of trustees of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Episcopal Academy, Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Congress, and Ben Franklin Technology Partnership of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

He has been invited to speak and lecture at numerous conferences and universities around the world, including Georgetown University, Villanova University, Ulster University, the Brazil Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators, INMAX Annual Meeting, American Cities Foundation, Planet Fitness National Convention, the Union League of Philadelphia, New Jersey Technology Council, Young Presidents’ Organization, and The London Business School.

Dr. Spinelli earned his PhD in economics from The Management School, Imperial College, University of London, his MBA from Babson College, and his BA in economics from McDaniel College. In 2016, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Ulster University in Northern Ireland.

Past

Why Innovation Matters

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Why

Innovation

Matters

in Boston and Beyond

Business in Boston is changing dramatically. Innovation is the driving force. Join us for a dynamic discussion with a panel of visionaries who will address the unique systems and collaborations that fuel our people, our city and the new economy – in Boston and beyond.

Opening Remarks, Moderator & Speakers

Governor Charlie Baker was sworn in for a second term as the 72nd Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on January 3, 2019, after a first term focused on moving Massachusetts forward through bipartisan, results-driven leadership.

Since taking office, Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito have assembled a diverse team and put forth a ‘get stuff done’ approach to build a state government that is as thrifty, hard-working and creative as the people of Massachusetts.

Governor Baker has used public private partnerships to spur downtown and regional economic development, allowed small businesses to become more competitive in a dynamic economy through regulatory reform, and delivered critical tax relief to more than 400,000 hardworking individuals and their families through a doubling of the Earned Income Tax Credit. These efforts have helped the Massachusetts economy create more than 200,000 jobs since 2015 and led to more people working now than at any time in state history. 

Also under Governor Baker’s leadership, Massachusetts’ structural budget deficit has been eliminated without raising taxes, and significant deposits have been made into the Commonwealth’s Stabilization Fund.

Ensuring Massachusetts continues to be a national leader in education, Governor Baker has signed four budgets featuring historic investments in K-12 education, increasing local Chapter 70 education aid by over $500 million, added 4,000 seats and supported $50 million in equipment upgrades to the state’s vocational and technical schools, and expanded early college opportunities for high school students. Governor Baker also recognizes the difficulties the high costs of college create for students and families, and has taken steps to make it more affordable to attend the state’s public colleges and universities including the Commonwealth Commitment program and expanded community college scholarship funding.

Working with partners in the Legislature and in local communities, Governor Baker has put Massachusetts at the forefront of finding solutions to the opioid and heroin epidemic. Two major bills signed into law by Governor Baker have helped serve as models for other states fighting the epidemic and other important updates to drug laws have been made to help police officers crack down on fentanyl traffickers. While there is still much work left to do, Governor Baker has doubled spending on prevention, education, treatment, and recovery, and since 2017, the Commonwealth has seen overdose deaths drop and families given hope.

Confronted with the challenges of rising energy costs and a changing climate, Governor Baker has taken critical and nation-leading steps to diversify the Commonwealth’s energy portfolio, safeguard residents, municipalities and businesses from the impacts of climate change, and secure progress toward greenhouse gas reduction targets. State procurements of offshore wind and hydroelectric power will lead to half of Massachusetts’ electricity being generated by clean resources, while the first ever State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan stands as a blueprint to prepare for natural hazards and adapt to the impacts of climate change over the next five years.

Governor Baker signed the largest housing bond bill in state history, enhanced the Housing Development Incentive Program to boost housing production in Gateway Cities and put forth proposals to improve zoning and generate more housing production by equipping municipalities with a technical assistance toolbox.

Governor Baker has spearheaded long overdue reforms at the MBTA that have led to significant improvements to operations and finances, and put the T on track to spend more than $8 billion on infrastructure over the next five years to improve riders’ experience. Recommendations from a commission created by Governor Baker to study the future of transportation in Massachusetts will help inform future investments to achieve the goals of moving more people while reducing emissions in the Commonwealth’s transportation system.

From day one, Governor Baker has implemented essential reforms and continues to tackle difficult and persistent challenges in agencies across state government to streamline government, protect the vulnerable, and respect taxpayers’ time and money. Working with frontline social workers, Governor Baker has made tremendous progress at the Department of Children and Families to better serve some of the Commonwealth’s most at risk children and families by focusing on lower caseloads and increased oversight. In the last four years, Governor Baker has reduced the number of homeless families being housed in hotels and motels by ninety-five percent. As a result of improvements to customer service operations at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, more than 90% of customers are being served in under 30 minutes. 

Over the course of his career, Governor Baker has been a highly successful leader of complex business and government organizations. As a cabinet secretary under Governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci, Governor Baker helped lead efforts to reform and modernize state government, turn a billion-dollar deficit into a surplus, create a half million jobs, and enact an ambitious education reform agenda.

During his time as Chief Executive Officer of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Governor Baker turned a company on the brink of bankruptcy into the nation’s highest ranked health care provider for member satisfaction and clinical effectiveness for six straight years.

Raised in Needham, Governor Baker attended Massachusetts public schools and is a graduate of Harvard College. He went on to earn a Master’s of Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he met his wife Lauren.  The Bakers reside in Swampscott, have been heavily involved in numerous civic and charitable endeavors, and are the proud parents of their three children, Charlie, AJ, and Caroline.

Lauren Baker has dedicated her tenure as First Lady to her passion for children by expanding the impact of the Wonderfund, a nonprofit supporting positive experiences for the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable kids under the care of the state’s Department of Children and Families.

Grace Cotter Regan is inextricably linked to the Boston College High School community as the daughter of legendary coach, teacher, and counselor Jim Cotter ’55 and the mother of Bartley Regan ’12. Though the Cotter family moved to Weymouth after Grace was born, her roots remained firmly planted in Dorchester. She grew up on the sidelines of BC High football games and cheered for a Super Bowl-winning team her senior year at Notre Dame Academy in 1978. Grace went on to Boston College where she deepened her devotion to Ignatian Spirituality and experienced a formative period as a Jesuit International Volunteer in Belize. She discovered her personal leadership style as a force of change from within the community which carried Grace well in a career spent working to advance the mission of Jesuit institutions from Holy Cross, to Boston College, and finally as the Executive Director of Advancement for the New England Province of Jesuits. She spearheaded programs that dramatically increased the strength and profile of the Province, including the Jesuit Gala and Ignatian Conversations with Women. After years of service forging relationships with Jesuit constituencies across the region, country, and globe, Grace was named Head of School for St. Mary’s of Lynn. There she was a transformative leader, completing a $20 million fundraising campaign and enhancing the school’s curriculum. Now, Grace considers BC High the capstone of her vocation – her lifetime of service and experience in Catholic institutions, and her abiding faith in God’s plan has led her full circle to Morrissey Boulevard. After more than two years of spirited leadership at BC High, Grace was appointed to the Board of Directors of America Media, “the leading provider of editorial content that leads the conversation about faith and culture,” recognizing her lifetime as a leader in Jesuit ministries.

Jack Shields is Founder and Chairman of Shields Health Solutions, one of the fastest growing private companies in America. Before starting the company in 2012, Jack was President of Shields MRI for 20 years. Under Jack’s leadership, Shields MRI formed more than 30 hospital partnerships with health care systems throughout the North East, growing the company into the largest outpatient imaging provider in New England, and making it nationally recognized as one of the preeminent companies in the radiology industry.

Over his 30 years as a national leader in healthcare entrepreneurship, Jack has overseen the creation of four highly successful companies in the fields of dialysis, oncology, radiology and pharmacy. Each company was founded with care and service at its core, providing more affordable healthcare and better access to healthcare for more kinds of people.

In 2015, Jack was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his work starting Shields Health Solutions. Jack was also selected from dozens of entrepreneurs as a national spokesperson for Verizon, appearing in television campaigns speaking on the importance of technology and innovation in healthcare. As part of Jack’s work branding Shields MRI he created partnerships with all of the new England sports teams including the New England Patriots, Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics, more recently working on direct-to-consumer ad campaign with Tom Brady as spokesperson for Shields MRI.

Jack currently serves as Founder and Co-Chairman of Shields Capital, venture capital firm focused on innovation in the health care sector. He is also on the advisory board of Riverside Partners, a healthcare private equity firm, and on the board of Allied Dental.
His civic responsibilities have included co-founding the Brockton Boys and Girls Club, being a candidate for U.S. Congress in 1992, and serving as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Boston College High School.
Jack earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, where he played middle linebacker on the 1981 Sugar Bowl team. He holds a J.D. from Catholic University School of Law.

Charbel Haber joined Moderna in April 2020 as a Senior Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs. In this role, Charbel is responsible for building a global regulatory organization, comprising Regulatory Operations, Regulatory CMC, and Regulatory Strategy, to support Moderna’s pipeline including the development and registration of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine worldwide.

Before Moderna, Charbel was a VP in Global Safety and Regulatory Sciences at Biogen. He has an extensive and diverse global regulatory background having worked at EMD Serono, Novartis (both in the US and in Switzerland), PTC Therapeutics, MedImmune and Merck. His experiences include the development of both large and small molecules including gene therapy, vaccines, biologics, Anti-Sense Oligonucleotides, across a number of therapeutic areas including infectious, neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, and auto-immune diseases. Of particular note, Charbel also led the regulatory development and registration of the Fluvirin-H1N1 vaccine at Novartis during the H1N1 Flu pandemic in 2009.

Charbel holds a PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, a Masters’ degree in Public Health from Thomas Jefferson University, and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Mr. John Barros ’92 has served as Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s Chief of Economic Development since 2014, and brings with him a passion for sustainable community development while fostering economic inclusion and equity for all Bostonians. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Barros served 13 years as Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), the largest urban community land trust in the country. He successfully led neighborhood revitalization efforts, focusing on community wealth creation, and producing permanent affordable housing.

Mr. Barros earned a Master of Public Policy from Tufts University and a B.A in Economics and African/African-American Studies from Dartmouth College. Mr. Barros is also the recipient of a Honorary Doctor of Commerce from Suffolk University. Mr. Barros is a leader in Boston’s community development, and has served as a member of the Boston School Committee, the Aspen Institute’s Roundtable on Community Change, and Co-Chairperson of the Center for Community Builders. John is a member of the 2005 Fellows class in the South African-United States Center for Leadership and Public Values, and in 2007 was named a Barr Foundation Fellow.

For questions, please contact Colleen Carter, Vice President for External Relations at [email protected]. You will receive an email reminder and link to access this event.

Jack Shields ’79, P’06 Center for Innovation150 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
617-436-3900