Board of Trustees
Jonathan Ponds, Chair
Jonathan is the Principal at the Salemwood School in Malden. Previously, Jonathan was the Dean of the Lower School at the Neighborhood House Charter School in Boston and has extensive experience working Boston Public School students with social and emotional special needs. Jonathan received his BA in Political Science from Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, his M.Ed. from Cambridge College in Moderate Special Needs and he completing this doctoral degree at Johnson & Wales University in Educational Leadership.
Gretchen Manning, Vice Chair
Gretchen Manning is the Vice President of Advancement and Admissions at Marian Court College in Swampscott, Massachusetts and overseas the areas of fundraising, alumni relations, media/press relations, community relations, special events, marketing and enrollment. Prior to joining Marian Court College, she served as both Dean of the Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) Foundation and the Chief Policy Advisor to President Mary L. Fifield at BHCC in Boston, Massachusetts. In her dual role at BHCC, she advised the President on external affairs, internal policy, and government affairs. Under Gretchen’s tenure and in collaboration with the Foundation Board, the college set a record amount for fundraising efforts, generating more than $100,000 per year for the past two years at the college’s annual fundraising event.
Prior to joining BHCC, Gretchen held several positions at the University at Albany (SUNY) in upstate New York including, Assistant Dean for the nationally ranked Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. In that role, Gretchen oversaw the areas of Advancement, Marketing, Alumni Relations, Special Events, and the Graduate Career Center & Internship Program for the college. As assistant dean, Gretchen worked with nationally recognized scholar and Dean, Frank J. Thompson to advance Rockefeller College in moving from a top 12 spot with US News & World Report to a top ten college of Public Affairs and Policy in the country (with several program areas advancing to the top three ranking – placing higher than Harvard’s Kennedy School of Public Policy).
Joe Carpineto, Treasurer
Joe Carpineto founded the Log School Settlement House in 1974 and served as Director until his retirement in 1999. Joe has dedicated his career to developing innovative programming for disadvantaged Boston youth. He founded and served as Principal for the Log School Settlement House Alternative Middle School Program, a first-of-its -kind program for Boston Public School students who were unsuccessful in their mainstream schools. Joe also developed and implemented the Big Diner Project—a culinary arts program for Dorchester youth that provided them training, education and paid internships at three and four star restaurants.
Robert Gaudet
Dr. Gaudet is the Senior Research Analyst at the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy. He has spent fifteen years working as a parent activist in the Boston public schools that his daughters attended since kindergarten and is a founder the Boston Renaissance Charter School. Dr. Gaudet has been involved in several non-profit education reform organizations, including Senior Research Analyst at the Donahue Institute of the University of Massachusetts. In that capacity, he helped develop two reports: A Study of MCAS Achievement and Urban Special Education: The Impact of K to 8 School Configuration on Achievement (July 2005); and A Study of MCAS Achievement and Promising Practices in Urban Special Education (October 2004)
Dr. Gaudet was part of a research team that recently completed Gaining Traction: Urban Educators’ Perspectives on the Critical Factors Influencing Student Achievement in Comparatively High and Low Performing Urban Public Schools (April 2007). This project utilized a case study research method to engage educators in pairs of schools from within the same district. Each pair included one school that performed well in comparison to district averages for ELA and Math MCAS achievement and another that performed at or below district averages. By the study’s end, the researchers interviewed over 600 educators from 30 public schools in 10 urban districts. This study is the most comprehensive analysis of Massachusetts public education since the 1960s.
Dr. Gaudet has authored many articles and reports on education achievement. His doctoral dissertation work, which analyzed the impact of demographic factors on standardized test outcomes, has been widely reported throughout Massachusetts and New England. This work evaluates MCAS scores with reference to community characteristics and identifies those systems whose students achieve MCAS scores higher than their demography would predict.
Virginia Kapinos
Virginia Kapinos is a Vice President at Boston Private Bank in the area of private banking. Prior to joining Boston Private Bank, Virginia worked as the Director of Civil Defense for the City of Chicopee, MA, as a Field Manager for the American Heart Association, and taught elementary and middle school. Ms. Kapinos received her B.A. in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College.
Andrew J. Dean
Andrew is a principal architect at Margulies Perruzzi Architects and has worked in and led Boston-area design firms for over 30 years. Prior to the merger of Margulies & Associates and Dean Architectural Alliance, Andrew was the President of Dean Architectural Alliance. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, and Chairman of the Board Emeritus of the Massachusetts College of Art Foundation. Andrew received his BA from Brown University and his MA in Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Robert Regan
Robert is the Director of Corporate & School Relations at Northeastern University, where he leads the effort to develop a Foundations College for recent high school graduates needing a rigorous but supportive first year program to ensure college and career readiness. Prior to Northeastern University, Robert was President & CEO of the New England College of Finance for over 20 years. Robert received his BS in Political Science and Economics from the University of Massachusetts Boston (formerly Boston State College) and his MA in English from the University of New Hampshire. He also holds a Certificate in Accounting and Finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Robert Flynn, Headmaster
Robert Flynn is currently the Headmaster of Dorchester Collegiate Academy. Prior to joining Dorchester Collegiate Academy, Robert worked as Dean of Academic Support and College Pathway Programs at Bunker Hill Community College, where he designed and oversaw several program for Boston Public School students, including the Pathways to Success MCAS preparatory program and a Dual Enrollment program for high school students taking classes at BHCC.
Robert was the first director of Bunker Hill Community College’s Offender Reentry Program (ORP) at the Suffolk County House of Correction, which provided intensive educational programming during incarceration combined with follow-up services in the community. A formal evaluation by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government showed that graduates had a 13% recidivism rate compared to 43% for a control group. Robert also worked at the Log School Settlement House, where he designed innovative curriculum for educational programs serving Boston Public School elementary and middle-school students in his capacity as Youth Education Coordinator. He holds a B.A in English Education and an Ed.M. in Reading Education from Boston University.
