Board of Directors

Barbara Boxer served as California’s United States Senator from 1993 to 2017. She previously
served in the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms after serving as a Marin County
Supervisor for six years. She is also known as a consistent advocate for women, children, families, workers, the environment, and equal rights for all. 

Former Senator Saxby Chambliss served in the U.S. Senate for two terms and, before that, served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1982-1988) and Co-Chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates (1987-Present).

Former State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry is a widely respected leader in government, business and philanthropy. The Boston-born daughter of Haitian immigrants, Forry served from 2005 until 2018 with several terms in the House of Representatives and five years in the Massachusetts State Senate.

Forry assumed leadership posts in the Senate and was appointed Assistant Majority Whip and Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing. She also served as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs & Export Development, and as member of the Joint Committees on Transportation, Marijuana Policy, and Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. In the House of Representatives, Forry led and served on numerous legislative committees including: Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy; Vice Chair of Public Service, and Chair of the Joint Committee on Small Business and Community Development. As Chair, Forry led a statewide listening tour that generated new legislation and laws to support and elevate entrepreneurs and small businesses across the Commonwealth.

Forry won acclaim for her bipartisan approach to lawmaking and problem solving. As the Senator representing the 1st Suffolk District, Forry organized and hosted South Boston’s traditional St. Patrick’s Breakfast. She co-produced the television broadcast of the special event which reached millions of viewers across New England.

After leaving public office, Forry ascended into senior business roles including becoming a trustee of Eversource Energy and serving on committees for Finance and GESRC (Governance, Environmental and Social Responsibility Committee). As a former executive at Suffolk Construction, Forry led and created the company’s first Diversity and Inclusion department and developed company strategy and programming for employees, managed finances and the implementation.

Forry is the Principal of LDF Holdings LLC, a Massachusetts company, community development consultancy firm that offers multi-tier services from real estate consulting, DEI strategy and community relations. Forry is co-publisher of the Dorchester Reporter, an award-winning, family-owned community news organization. She is a trustee of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate and a founding member of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF). Linda lives in Dorchester, MA with her husband and four children.

Senator Cory Gardner is a fifth-generation Coloradan, who was born and raised in Yuma where his family owned a farm equipment dealership for more than a century. He began serving in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2005 where he spent time as the Minority Whip. Cory was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014.

A former Congressman, legal aid volunteer, and assistant district attorney, Joe Kennedy founded Groundwork Project to address pervasive disparities in the American political system and to help build a Democratic Party that is more inclusive, representative, and fair.

In addition to Groundwork Project, Kennedy now serves as a senior advisor to the Emerson Collective, the Poor People’s Campaign and the National Association of Community Health Centers and appears on CNN as a political commentator. He also serves on the boards of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health and the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps.

Prior to serving in Congress, Kennedy was an Assistant District Attorney in Massachusetts. He attended Stanford University and Harvard Law School, where he was an active member of the Legal Aid Bureau, and spent two years in the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. The grandson of former U.S. Attorney General and Senator Robert Kennedy and great-nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy, he and his wife live in Newton, Massachusetts with their two young children.

During his time in Congress, Patrick J. Kennedy co-authored the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Law), which requires insurers to cover treatment for mental health and substance use disorders no more restrictively than treatment for illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer. In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a nonprofit that unites advocates, business leaders, and government agencies to advance evidence-based practices, policies, and programming in mental health and addiction. In 2015, Kennedy co-authored the New York Times Bestseller, “A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction,” which details a bold plan for the future of
mental health care in America. In 2017, he was appointed to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Kennedy is also the founder of DontDenyMe.org, an educational campaign that empowers consumers and providers to understand parity rights and connects them to essential appeals
guidance and resources; co-founder of One Mind, an organization that pushes for greater global investment in brain research; co-founder of Psych Hub, the most comprehensive online learning platform on mental health, substance use, and suicide prevention topics in the world; co-chair of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Mental Health & Suicide Prevention National Response to COVID-19 (National Response); and co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Behavioral Health Integration Task Force.

Senator Mel Martinez practiced law until 1998, when he was elected as the Mayor of Orange County, Florida. He served until 2001 when he was confirmed as the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in the George W. Bush Administration.  In 2004, at the request of President Bush, he returned to Florida to run for an open seat in the United States Senate. In 2005, Martinez was confirmed as the first Cuban American to be elected to the United States Senate.

Marty Meehan, the first undergraduate alumnus to lead the five-campus
University of Massachusetts system, has served as president
since 2015, following eight years as Chancellor of UMass
Lowell. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2007.

With an abiding belief in public higher education’s power to
transform lives, President Meehan has called the University of Massachusetts
“the most important institution in Massachusetts in the critical areas of social
mobility and economic growth.” Under his leadership, every campus has
achieved national rankings, the university’s enrollment has grown to nearly
75,000 students, institutional financial aid has grown by 67 percent to $395
million per year, and the research enterprise has grown to $813 million in
annual investment. A system-wide efficiency and effectiveness initiative has
generated more than $100 million in savings over the last two years. The
university recently received its three largest philanthropic gifts in its history,
totaling nearly $250 million.

Representing the 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House, President
Meehan served on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees and
established a national reputation for his legislative leadership. He earned
recognition for efforts to protect the public from the health risks of tobacco
and pass the 2002 bi-partisan campaign reform law, known as the McCain-
Feingold Bill in the Senate and the Shays-Meehan Bill in the House.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, President Meehan was one of seven children in
a family where the importance of education was emphasized. A first-
generation college student, he attended Lowell public schools and graduated
cum laude from UMass Lowell in 1978 with a degree in education and political
science. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from Suffolk
University in 1981 and a juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School in
1986.

Robert Shrum is the Director of the Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at USC Dornsife. A legendary political strategist, he was once described as “the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party,” by The Atlantic Monthly. After a storied career working for clients like Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Senator Barbara Mikulski, and the presidential campaigns of Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry, Shrum was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) in 2015. As a journalist, Shrum’s work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Time, Newsweek, and The Huffington Post. Now he enjoys instructing the next generation of leaders at USC, with a prior academic career that includes teaching at New York University, time as a Silliman Fellow at Yale, and serving as a Kennedy Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard. Shrum is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Harvard Law School.

Senator John Sununu served for three terms in the House of Representatives (1997-2003) and for six years as the youngest member of the United States Senate (2003-2009). Before entering public service, Sununu worked for emerging high-tech firms as an engineer, strategy consultant, and a Chief Financial Officer. 

Andrew H. Card, Jr. served as Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world, from January 2018 to January 2021. Card has also held numerous senior government positions under three Presidents, including Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, Deputy Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush, and U.S. Secretary of Transportation. He also served in President Ronald Reagan’s Administration.

Card was President of Franklin Pierce University (2015 – 2016), served as Executive Director of the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas A&M (2013 – 2014), and was Acting Dean of The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M. Card serves on the Board of Directors of Union Pacific, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, the Board of Directors of Draganfly, the Business Advisory Board of BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, Energy Security Partners, and Go Electric. He and his wife, The Reverend Kathleene Card, are from Holbrook, MA, have three children and six grandchildren.

John M. Connors is a founding partner and Chairman Emeritus of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., a full-service marketing communications company. Under his leadership, Hill, Holliday evolved from a one-room shop in 1968 to one of the nation’s top 20 advertising firms, and counts some of the most well-known brands in the world – including Dunkin’ Donuts, Bank of America, CVS/Pharmacy and Liberty Mutual – among its clients. A Trustee of Boston College, Mr. Connors is known for his extensive involvement in Boston’s civic life and deep commitment to philanthropy, including his support of Camp Harbor View, The Campaign for Catholic Schools and dozens of other charitable organizations. He served for 16 years as Chairman of the Partners HealthCare System Board and currently serves on the Board of Fellows at Harvard Medical School.

Ranny Cooper is President of Weber Shandwick’s public affairs practice and oversees the firm’s research and advocacy advertising divisions. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, she served as Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s Chief of Staff with responsibility for the Senator’s legislative and political activities. A frequent speaker on political issues, Ranny is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Partnership for Women & Families, EMILY’s List, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She also serves as a member of the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was honored with the prestigious Women in Communications Matrix Award in 2000.

Lee Fentress coordinated Senator Kennedy’s Oral History Project with the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. A Louisiana native who came to know Robert F. Kennedy while serving as an Assistant United States Attorney, Fentress served on the staff of RFK’s historic 1968 Presidential campaign. Following Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s death, Fentress and his law partners formed ProServ, which is often credited with pioneering the modern sports marketing and management industry and led to the creation of Octagon, a global leader in sports, music, and entertainment marketing that recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Judd Gregg served as a United States Senator from 1993 to 2011. He was Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and also Chairman and ranking member of the Help, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee. Gregg chaired or was the ranking member of the Appropriation’s subcommittees on Foreign Operations; Homeland Security; and Commerce, State and Justice. He was also a member of the Senate Banking Committee. Prior to his tenure in the Senate, Judd Gregg served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and as U.S. Representative from 1981 to 1989. Senator Gregg was appointed as Dartmouth College’s first Distinguished Fellow and where he lectures on national governance and history issues. Gregg serves as a director of Honeywell Corporation.

James Karam is president and founder of First Bristol Corporation and provides the leadership and direction of this 38-year-old New England Real Estate Development and Management Company. Founded in 1975, First Bristol’s focus has been the development of major retail shopping centers, first-class office buildings, and hotels throughout Southern New England. Mr. Karam’s commitment to excellence is evidenced by the broad scope of the company’s varied developments and his recognition for being in the forefront of this ever-changing industry. He also is co-owner of WSAR and WHTB radio stations, serving the Massachusetts Southcoast region. Mr. Karam’s current and past professional and civic affiliations are extensive, including as former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the largest New England community health care system, Caritas Christi Health Care System, 10 years as a Trustee and former Chair of the Board for the University of Massachusetts five (5) campus system, and currently as a Board member of the Boston-based Steward Health Care System.

As the oldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III serves as an ambassador of his parent’s legacy of nonviolent social change. A graduate of his father’s Alma mater, Morehouse College, Mr. King has devoted his life to working in the non-profit sector to promote civil rights and global human rights and to eradicate the “triple evils” of racism, militarism and poverty his father identified as the scourges of humankind. As a high school student, he served as a Page to Senator Edward Kennedy, and continued his public service, supporting social change movements through speaking engagements, appearances and his writing

As the elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization co-founded by his father, Mr. King reinvigorated SCLC by stabilizing the governance, program and development components. A former President and CEO of the Atlanta-based King Center, Mr. King remains a member of its Board of Directors. In addition, Mr. King has conducted nearly 40 Poverty Study Tours in a groundbreaking initiative, which has sparked public debate and law enforcement advocacy on the issue of poverty. In conjunction with Ambassador Andrew Young and other partners, Mr. King co-founded Bounce TV, the first independently owned and operated TV network featuring African-Americans. The network’s content includes movies, sports, documentaries and original programming. The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Mr. King is married to Arndrea Waters King and the father of a daughter, Yolanda Rene named in honor of his late sister Yolanda Denise King.

Senator Trent Lott represented the people of Mississippi in Congress for 35 years and is one of the very few elected officials in our nation’s history to have held elected leadership posts in both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Lott served as the House Minority Whip, the 2nd ranking Republican in the House, from 1981 to 1989 and as Senate Majority Leader from 1996 to 2002. He was also elected by his colleagues to serve as Senate Republican Whip in 2006, and is the only person to have held that position in both the House and Senate. Senator Lott currently serves as Senior Counsel at Patton Boggs LLP. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and the author of Herding Cats: A Life in Politics.

A highly accomplished trial attorney and civic leader with more than 30 years of private and public sector experience, Ralph Martin currently serves as a Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Northeastern University. Martin made history while serving as the first African American District Attorney in Suffolk County, where his prosecutorial work won acclaim from former President Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Janet Reno. He is the previous chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on a number of boards, including the Board of Directors of Boston Children’s Hospital and BlueCross and BlueShield of Massachusetts.

Barry Mills has served as interim chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston since July 1, 2017. He previously was president of Bowdoin College, from 2001-2015, and was deputy presiding partner of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, one of the nation’s preeminent international law firms. He joined the firm in 1979 and became a partner in 1986. His work at Debevoise concentrated on corporate law, real estate, and corporate finance.

J. Keith Motley served as the 8th Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston, an institution with nearly 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students, a faculty of more than 1,000, and a $323 million annual budget. With more than 20 years of experience in higher education administration, Dr. Motley is also a founder of the Roxbury Preparatory Charter School, Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts, and the Paul Robeson Institute for Positive Self-Development. Dr. Motley serves on numerous boards of community organizations with local, regional, and national reach, and he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northeastern University and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Boston College.

Louis B. Susman was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s on July 29, 2009 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He took up his duties in London on August 17, 2009 and retired on April 3, 2013. A banker and a lawyer with extensive experience, Ambassador Susman was the Vice Chairman of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking. He is also a former member of the Citigroup International Advisory Board. Prior to joining Salomon Brothers, Inc. in June 1989, Mr. Susman practiced law in the City of St. Louis for 27 years and was a senior partner at the St. Louis based law firm of Thompson & Mitchell. Ambassador Susman is presently the Non-Executive Chairman of Edelman, Special Advisor to BDT Capital Partners and Special Advisor to Henry Crown & Co. In addition, Ambassador Susman is a member of the Board of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Fred Seigel is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Beacon Capital Partners, a Boston-based private real estate investment firm with offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, DC, London, Luxembourg, and Paris. Prior to joining Beacon Capital, Mr. Seigel served as Managing Director of Latona Associates, a private merchant bank, and as Founder, President & Director of Energy Capital Partners, which specialized in financing energy projects across the United States. Mr. Seigel is a member of The Real Estate Roundtable and also serves on the Board of Directors for the Greenprint Foundation and the Citi Performing Arts Center.

Barbara Souliotis is the only staff person to work for Senator Edward M. Kennedy for the entirety of his nearly 47-year Senate career. She first began working with Senator Kennedy while he served in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in the early 1960’s. For the last 23 years of Senator Kennedy’s Senate service, Barbara ran his Boston office as Senator Kennedy’s State Director, a role she would reprise for his successor, interim U.S. Senator Paul G. Kirk, Jr. Barbara currently serves on the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s New Frontier Award Committee, and was honored with the 2003 Congressman John Joseph Moakley Exemplary Public Service Award.

Henry M. Thomas III serves as President Emeritus of the Urban League of Springfield, Inc / Camp Atwater which is the oldest African American overnight youth camp in the United States. Mr. Thomas has served in the Urban League movement for fifity-two years and co-founded New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, Massachusetts, served as previous past Vice President for Youth Development of the National Urban League in New York and is a former chair of the Springfield Fire Commission and Springfield Police Commission. Mr. Thomas has been recognized with several awards and honors including honorary degrees from UMAS Medical School,Westfield State University and Bath Path University, Distinguished Service Awards from the University of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus, and the President’s Medallion from one of his alma maters Western New England University.

From 1989 through 1997, Nick Littlefield served as Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where he worked under Senator Kennedy’s direction to pass landmark legislation including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Ryan White AIDS Care Act, the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, the Family & Medical Leave Act, and the Safe Medical Devices Act. As a partner at Foley Hoag, LLP, Nick chaired the firm’s Government Strategies Group starting in 1998, and taught frequently at Harvard Law School, Northeastern University, and The Heller School for Social Policy and Management. From 1972 to 1976, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

David W. Burke was an American news executive and political administrator. He was Vice President ABC News, where he worked with Peter Jennings and Barbara Walters, among others. President of CBS News (1988–90).  He was the executive secretary of the Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy under President Kennedy. In 1965, Mr. Burke joined Senator Kennedy’s staff as a legislative assistant. Within three weeks he was shepherding legislation to abolish the poll tax and liberalize immigration. The next year, he became administrative assistant, the top job in a Senate office.  Mr. Burke served as a Founding Director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

Kara Kennedy gave her time to Sibley Hospital, and to the women of the N Street Village in Washington, D.C. She served as a board member of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate where she co-produced a film about the Institute that was shown at its inaugural groundbreaking event. Kennedy was a reading tutor and was preparing to join the Board of Reading Partners at the time of her death.

Kennedy was on the National Advisory Board of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS)