Antoniya Marinova, Chair of the Board
Antoniya Marinova is an Associate Vice President at the Boston Foundation, where she leads the Foundation’s early childhood, education, and health & wellness strategies, including special initiatives, partnerships, civic leadership, and grantmaking. In 2022, she also served as the interim executive director of the Boston Opportunity Agenda, the city’s principal cradle-to-career public-private partnership. She joined the Boston Foundation in 2016 after serving in multiple research roles at Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research, Mathematica Policy Research, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where her research work covered a broad span of topics in education and economic policy. Antoniya has a B.A. in economics from Mount Holyoke College and an M.P.P. in social and urban policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Amanda Hartigan, Treasurer
Amanda Hartigan serves as Senior Director of Programs, Strategy, and Culture at CFLeads, a national network for community foundations committed to community leadership. In that capacity, she oversees learning, program delivery, cross-team coordination, metrics and evaluation, and strategic alignment. Having worked in the nonprofit sector for nearly 20 years, Amanda began her career in youth work, serving as both a teacher in Washington D.C., and as director of a youth program in Somerville, MA. More recently, she has focused on philanthropy with roles at both the Boston Foundation and the United Way. Originally from Boston, Amanda now lives on the South Shore with her husband and three children.
Jessica Boston Davis
Dr. Jessica Boston Davis currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Academics for the Somerville Public Schools in Somerville, Massachusetts. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University, where she teaches Culturally Responsive Teaching with the Lesley University and Somerville Public Schools partnership. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Spelman College, Dr. Davis obtained her Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and M.S. in Teaching from Hunter College. Dr. Davis graduated from the Doctor of Education Leadership (EdLD) program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2019, where she also served as the president of the Black Student Union. She received the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for her work as a teaching fellow at Harvard College and the Torch Bearer Award for Excellence in Leadership within the Black community at Harvard. Dr. Davis was the founding principal of Life Academy, a turnaround school in Newark, New Jersey. While Dr. Davis served as principal, Life Academy was recognized as a “proof-point for an effective restart” and profiled by the Wall Street Journal for the academic growth made by students. Prior to her principalship, Dr. Davis taught in Newark, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York.
Chad d’Entremont (Ex Officio)
Chad d’Entremont is the Executive Director of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy. He is responsible for shepherding the organization’s mission to improve public education through deep knowledge and evidence of effective policymaking and practice. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, and reports on education improvement strategies ranging from early childhood education to early college designs and launched multiple, community-based initiatives to support the implementation of evidence-based practices. In 2012, Dr. d’Entremont helped found the Massachusetts Education Partnership, a coalition of labor and management leaders committed to sustainable school improvement. Success and lessons learned were captured in his book Improving Education Together: A Guide to Labor-Management-Community Collaboration. Dr. d’Entremont has supported over 100 school districts drive improvements through network-based initiatives, including the Excellence in Social-Emotional Learning (exSEL) Network and the Massachusetts Institute for College and Career Readiness. He is the former 8th grade global studies teacher and holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Social Analysis from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Roger Krakoff
Roger Krakoff an early-stage enterprise venture capitalist and founding member of Cloud Capital Partners. For over twenty years he has invested in a wide range of leading technology-enabled solutions focused on improving the productivity and efficiency of businesses. Mr. Krakoff is also a co-founder of IoT Capital Partners. Previously, he served as Venture Partner at Sigma Partners and was a partner with JEGI Capital. He has also worked as a Managing Director in Veronis Suhler Stevenson's Business & Professional Information Group and held senior executive positions in corporate development, marketing, and product management. He began his career at IBM. Mr. Krakoff is a frequent speaker and a writer on the venture capital industry. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Bachelor of Arts with High Honors in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University. Mr. Krakoff is a mentor at TechStars Boston and Accelprise. He is on the Board of the Tisch School at Tufts University and the Greenlight Fund Boston and serves as a Trustee for the Boys and Girls Club of Boston.
Kimberly Lucas
Kim is a Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Economic Justice at Northeastern University who is committed to community-driven civic research, innovation in city-university collaborations, and leveraging our collective expertise for the social good. Kim previously served as Interim Executive Director at Metrolab Network and Director of Civic Research for the City of Boston. Kim’s research focuses on early childhood policy and the child care market, and their practical experience includes over a decade of innovation in community-engaged research. Kim has a Ph.D. in Social Policy and Sociology with a Concentration in Children, Youth, and Families from Brandeis University.
Joan Wasser Gish
Joan Wasser Gish is a Director at the Boston College Center for Thriving Children. The Center focuses on the effective integration of comprehensive “wraparound” services and opportunities to transform child outcomes. Working with policymakers at the federal and state levels, Joan translates lessons from research and implementation into a roadmap for action. She has helped to shape federal guidance on $190b stimulus funds for education, worked with states – red and blue – to invest about $3b in student wellbeing, and co-developed a statewide district learning network in Massachusetts. Joan also led the co-development of the first National Guidelines for Integrated Student Support. Joan serves on numerous national and state-level advisory boards and was twice appointed by the Governor to the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, where she served for 11 years. Joan has extensive experience related to educational and social policies focused on low-income children and families. She grew up in a low-income community and worked to expand opportunity as an attorney, in a Presidential campaign, and in the United States Senate. She has been published by the Washington Post, Brookings Institute, Education Week, 74Million, K12 Dive, Boston Herald, and Commonwealth Magazine. She holds a JD from Columbia University’s School of Law, an MA in Education Policy from Columbia’s Teachers’ College, and a BA from Brown University.
Tom Weber
Tom is a Foundation Fellow for Early Childhood at Eastern Bank Foundation and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education. Prior to joining Eastern Bank Foundation, Tom was the longest-serving Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. Previously, Tom served as Undersecretary at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education and Chief of Staff, starting with then-Education Secretary and Rennie Center founder Paul Reville. Tom also has served as Legislative Director at Strategies for Children, Director of Community Partnerships at the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, Deputy Research Director at the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), Assistant Director of Government Affairs at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and Senior Issues Manager at the Office of United State Senator John F. Kerry. Tom is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Suffolk University Law School.