Theme: Lighting the Way for the Future

A collaboration of thought leadership from city, business, community, and faculty/student leaders covering a multi-disciplinary range of subjects to foster learning, inspiration and wonder -- and to provoke conversations that matter.

***First come, first served seating!!! DOORS OPEN @ 8:30am and will be closed at 9:00 when program starts.

University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Campus Center Ballrooms
Boston, Massachusetts, 02125
United States

Matthew Malone

As Secretary of Education, Matthew Malone directs the Executive Office of Education and works closely with the Commonwealth’s education agencies – Department of Early Education and Care, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Higher Education and the University of Massachusetts system - while serving as a voting member of the governing board of all four education agencies. He is the Governor’s top adviser on education and helps shape the Commonwealth’s continuous education reform agenda. Prior to his appointment as Secretary, Dr. Malone served as the Superintendent of the Brockton Public Schools, and has also previously served as the Superintendent of the Swampscott Public Schools, the Headmaster of Monument High School in South Boston, a middle school assistant principal in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and taught social studies at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Boston. Dr. Malone began his career as both a Paraprofessional and long-term substitute teacher in Boston Public Schools at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. Before beginning his career in education, Malone served as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He is a Combat Veteran of the Persian Gulf War having served in the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti Theatres of Operations with the First Marine Division.

Jacob Kariuki

Jacob Kigo Kariuki, RN/MSN holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from University of Eastern Africa, Baraton in Kenya, and a Masters degree in Nursing from University of Massachusetts Boston. Before joining UMass Boston in 2011, he worked as a staff nurse and educator at Coast General Provincial Hospital and Tumutumu Hospital School of Nursing in Kenya. During his tenure at Tumutumu he started working with the Kenya Heart and Sole project, an initiative that brings together US/Kenyan clinicians and students with primary focus on cardiovascular disease prevention in low income settings. He is currently a PhD student in the Population Health track, and a Predoctoral fellow with the American Heart Association. His program of research is on primordial and primary prevention of cardiometabolic diseases in resource constrained settings, and is currently exploring valid risk reduction strategies that can be feasible in such settings.

Darren Kew

Darren Kew studies the relationship between conflict resolution methods and democratic development in Africa. He is the Executive Director of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development. Much of his work focuses on the role of civil society groups in democratic development. He monitored the last three Nigerian elections and the 2007 elections in Sierra Leone. Associate Professor Kew has worked with the Council on Foreign Relations' Center for Preventive Action to provide analysis and blueprints for preventing conflicts in numerous areas around the world, including Nigeria, Central Africa, and Kosovo. He has also been a consultant on democracy and peace initiatives to the United Nations, USAID, and the US State Department. Policymakers in Washington and academics here and in Nigeria recognize Professor Kew for his deep, firsthand knowledge of Nigerian politics and society. His work on how conflict resolution methods promote democratization of national political cultures is among the first of its kind linking these important fields. Currently, Prof. Kew is working closely with Nigeria’s Interfaith Mediation Centre of Kaduna to expand the impacts of their inter-religious dialogue work and to learn from their unique conflict resolution model.

Mary Still

Mary C. Still joined the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Massachusetts Boston in the fall of 2011. She completed her doctorate in sociology at Cornell University in 2007, and returned to Cornell for a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at its Institute for the Social Sciences, where she worked with an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, sociologists, economists, psychologists and other social scientists funded by the National Science Foundation. A former award-winning investigative reporter, Still also previously worked in marketing and public relations for a Fortune 500-owned hospital, where her publications and campaigns won awards from numerous professional associations. Still studies social and organizational change, and in particular how social networks foster and impede the emergence of new institutions. Her research focuses on elite U.S. companies and their adoption of disparate practices such as the Internet and work/family programs.

Alethea Harney

Alethea has over a decade of public affairs experience specializing in strategic communications, media relations, and crisis communications. She most recently served as Press Secretary to Senator Elizabeth Warren on the nation’s most high profile senate race in 2012. In addition to serving as Senator Warren’s traveling campaign advisor, Alethea was often quoted in the Boston Globe and the New York Times amongst others. As a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts State Treasurer’s Office, Alethea played a leading role in crafting the communications strategy for the Treasurer. Prior to joining the Treasurer’s Office, Alethea served as the Director of Communications and Public Affairs in the Governor’s Recovery and Reinvestment Office. In this position, Alethea developed a successful marketing campaign for the MA stimulus program, which became a national model for communicating the impact of stimulus funding and was replicated in several other states. Alethea began her career serving as a fiscal policy analyst for the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means. She then joined Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications as Associate Vice President, where she played a significant role in the success of several business issue campaigns. An avid campaigner, Alethea has held various roles on political campaigns from the local to the national level. In 2009, she served in Iowa as a senior advisor to Vice President Joseph Biden’s Presidential campaign. Alethea graduated from Tufts University with a major in Political Science and a minor in Communications and Media Studies. Alethea currently serves as the Senior Director of Communications at Consumer United.

Edward J. Benz, Jr., M.D.

Edward Benz, Jr., MD, became the president and chief executive officer of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in 2000 and also serves as chief executive officer of Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare, director of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and as a trustee of Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Care. Dr. Benz is presently the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine, professor of Pediatrics, and professor of Genetics. He received a bachelor's degree, cum laude, from Princeton University, a medical degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Medical School, and a master's degree (privatum) from Yale University. Immediately prior to assuming the presidency of the Institute, Dr. Benz was chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Sir William Osler Professor of Medicine. Author of more than 300 articles, books, chapters, reviews, and abstracts, Dr. Benz is a past president of both the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Association of American Cancer Institutes, the American Clinical and Climatological Association and is currently an associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Tony DeBlois - Featured Entertainment

Born weighing 1 lb.. 3/4 oz. was only the first obstacle that Tony DeBlois had to overcome. This 37-year-old pianist from Randolph, MA is blind, autistic and has Savant Syndrome. He has been playing the piano since age two. He was the subject of the 1997 CBS made for TV, Movie of the week “Journey of the Heart” which was inspired by actual events in Tony’s life. Additionally, he has appeared on 2 Catholic Global Showcase Specials (2001), The Learning Channel’s “Uncommon Genius”, Strange Science “Unusual People”, and “Understanding the Mysteries of Memory.” He is the recipient of numerous awards, among them are Boston Celtics “Hero Among Us”(2003), Chou, Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundations Global “Love of Life Award”(2002), the Faith and Family Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award 2000, the coveted Reynolds Society Achievement Award (1996), the Foundation for Exceptional Children’s prestigious “Yes, I can” Award for 1993 and the Panasonic Sponsored, VSAarts Itzhak Perlman Award (1992).

Chef Barbara Lynch

James Beard Award-winner and Relais & Châteaux Grand Chef Barbara Lynch is regarded as one of Boston’s—and the country’s—leading chefs and restaurateurs. While growing up in South Boston, Barbara, at the age of 13, got her first kitchen job cooking at a local rectory. It was in high school, however, that an influential home economics teacher and a job working with Chef Mario Bonello at Boston’s esteemed St. Botolph Club piqued her interest in one day becoming a professional chef. During her early twenties, Barbara worked under some of Boston’s greatest culinary talents. After working with Todd English for several years at Michaela’s and Olives, Barbara traveled to Italy where she learned about the country’s cuisine firsthand from local women. She returned to Boston and became the executive chef at Galleria Italiana, bringing national acclaim to the tiny trattoria when she captured Food & Wine’s “Ten Best New Chefs in America” award. As CEO of Barbara Lynch Gruppo, Barbara oversees the operations of eight concepts and employs over 200 people. In addition to running her company, Barbara has always recognized the importance of giving back to the community and has been involved in a number of philanthropic programs over the years. In 2012, in an effort to make a more direct impact, she established the Barbara Lynch Foundation. The BLF is a charitable organization dedicated to helping Boston’s communities create healthy and inspired futures for its youth by providing leadership and support to build life skills, to improve access to nutritious foods, and to empower families.

Meghan Duggan

Meghan Duggan, the captain of the U.S. women's national team since November, 2013, is a 26-year-old forward who won silver medals at the 2010 and 2014 Olympic games. She's also won four gold medals with the U.S. at the IIHF World Championships, and playing at the University of Wisconsin, she won the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Award, which is the award presented annually to the top female collegiate hockey player in the U.S.

Kieth Motley

Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Boston