Advisory Board

Jennifer Tour Chayes, is Distinguished Scientist and Managing Director of Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which she co-founded in July 2008. Before this, she was Research Area Manager for Mathematics, Theoretical Computer Science and Cryptography at Microsoft Research Redmond. Chayes joined Microsoft Research in 1997, when she co-founded the Theory Group. Her research areas include phase transitions in discrete mathematics and computer science, structural and dynamical properties of self-engineered networks, and algorithmic game theory. She is the co-author of over 100 scientific papers and the co-inventor of more than 25 patents.

Chayes has many ties to the academic community. She is Affiliate Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Washington, and was for many years Professor of Mathematics at UCLA. She serves on numerous institute boards, advisory committees and editorial boards, including the Turing Award Selection Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Board of Trustees of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, the Advisory Boards of the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science, the U.S. National Committee for Mathematics, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farms Research Campus, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the Selection Committee for the Anita Borg Award for Technical Leadership. Chayes is a past Chair of the Mathematics Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a past Vice-President of the American Mathematical Society.

Chayes received her B.A. in biology and physics at Wesleyan University, where she graduated first in her class, and her Ph.D. in mathematical physics at Princeton. She did her postdoctoral work in the mathematics and physics departments at Harvard and Cornell. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Sloan Fellowship, and the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. She has twice been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Chayes is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Fields Institute, and a National Associate of the National Academies.

Chayes is well known for her work on phase transitions, in particular for laying the foundation for the study of phase transitions in problems in discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science; this study is now giving rise to some of the fastest known algorithms for fundamental problems in combinatorial optimization. She is also one of the world’s experts in the modeling and analysis of random, dynamically growing graphs — which are used to model the Internet, the World Wide Web and a host of other technological and social networks. Among Chayes’ contributions to Microsoft technologies are the development of methods to analyze the structure and behavior of various networks, the design of auction algorithms, and the design and analysis of various business models for the online world.

Chayes lives with her husband, Christian Borgs, who also happens to be her principal scientific collaborator. In her spare time, she enjoys overworking.

To read our conversation with Jennifer Tour Chayes, click HERE

James Cundiff (Jim) With more than 25 years of experience leading public/private ventures, start-ups, and international organizations, James Cundiff (Jim) has had the privilege of helping many worthwhile corporations and organizations reach their goals and objectives. As a businessman and entrepreneur, Jim has divided his professional life between the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He has been involved in the successful start-up of four for-profit and three non-profit organizations.

Jim is a co-owner and principal of BigVisible Solutions, a premier provider of Agile coaching, training, and consulting services. It is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in California and a worldwide network of Agile coaches and consultants. BigVisible focuses on transformation—not just in IT, but throughout large-scale enterprises. BigVisible helps companies become more responsive to market changes and, as a result, deliver more value to customers and shareholders. Jim is focused on making a difference, getting results, and inspiring people to reach their professional goals. He provides vision and leadership to BigVisible and is a driving force for their growth.

Prior to joining BigVisible Solutions, Jim served as the Managing Director of the Scrum Alliance. Under his leadership, this start-up organization grew to more than 125,000 members in over 120 countries. Jim has held various executive-level staff, advisory, and board positions. He has served as a speaker on management and business development frameworks, methods, and processes in both the United States and internationally. He has co-authored training manuals on nonprofit management and fund development.

In addition to Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (WEST) Jim serves on an advisory board for the Project Management Institute (PMI), past advisory positions include the Federal Home Loan Bank, Chicago Housing Authority, Midwest Capital Fund,  Sheltering Wings Center for Women and various other public and private nonprofit and community development organizations.
 

 Irene Greif, IBM Fellow, is Director of the IBM Center for Social Software and head of the Collaborative User Experience Group (CUE), a team of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) researchers based in Cambridge, MA.  The group has historically worked most closely with Lotus product teams on collaboration software and is now extending its impact to other parts of Software Group -- to support collaboration among software developers -- and to IBM's service businesses.

 
Irene is a former faculty member of Computer Science at University of Washington and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. She headed a research group in the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science which developed shared calendar, co-authoring, and real-time collaboration systems. She is a fellow of both the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Association of Computing Machinery (ACM.) Irene was inducted into the Women In Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame in 2000 and awarded the Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology Leadership award in 2008. In 2010, Irene was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
 
Irene joined Lotus in 1987, formed Lotus Research in 1992, and merged that group into the IBM Research Division in 2000. Recent product innovations from her group include the core features now shipping in Lotus Connections: social bookmarking (dogear); business activities.
 
Irene received her S.B. in Mathematics, her S.M. and her PhD. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, all from MIT.

Kip Hollister As Founder and CEO, Kip Hollister opened the doors of Hollister, Inc. in 1988 at age 26 with the dream of eliminating the transactional nature of the staffing industry. Her goal was to build an organization driven by values and relationships while guiding both candidates and clients through the real challenges associated with a continuously evolving job market. In 2009, those values and relationships are precisely what have shaped Hollister into one of the premier staffing firms in Massachusetts.

Kip’s focus on innovation and expansion of the firm’s ability to remain competitive and ahead of rivals, speaks directly to her entrepreneurial spirit and her commitment to meet and exceed both clients’ and candidates’ needs.

As a steadfast supporter of business-community partnerships, Kip recognizes that Hollister is only as strong as the community it serves. Her passion, high energy, commitment and leadership have served in raising the bar for small businesses throughout Massachusetts as well as sparking a fire within her own firm by celebrating social cause through extensive volunteerism. She serves on the boards of YMCA, Training Inc. and Cristo Rey Boston High School, Everybody Wins!! Metro Boston, as well as also being actively involved with City Year and Year Up.

Kip earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the Susquehanna University in 1984. She resides with her husband Warren Hyde and four children in Dover, MA.

Hollister employs 60 talented staffing consultants and provides direct hire, contract and temp-to-hire solutions within the following specialty areas: Accounting & Finance, Administrative, Creative & Marketing, Sales, and Technology.

lene H. Lang is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst, the leading research and advisory organization working to change workplaces and improve lives through advancing women into business leadership. She was appointed President in August 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in September 2008. Her blog, Catalyzing, was called “insightful” by Forbes; she also blogs on The Huffington Post.

Ms. Lang brings energy and corporate savvy to the advancement of women in every sector of the global marketplace. Her expertise on the advancement of women in corporations and professional firms, corporate boards and governance, workforce demographic trends, the business case for women’s career development, innovative strategies for retaining and advancing women, and work-life effectiveness is often called upon by the media, member companies and firms, and other organizations. She regularly addresses national and international groups of senior leaders in a variety of business, academic, and public policy venues.

Having broken barriers in her own career, Ms. Lang is broadly recognized as a pioneering female high-tech/Internet executive. She was the founding CEO of AltaVista Internet Software Inc., a subsidiary of Digital Equipment Corporation. Prior to that work, Ms. Lang was Senior Vice President of the Desktop Business Group at Lotus Development Corporation, responsible for a $500 million business. She has also advised CEOs and entrepreneurs as a board member, coach, and investor in women-led technology companies.

Ms. Lang was named to the Global Agenda Council on Women's Empowerment at the World Economic Forum, and she is a member of the National Board Development Committee of the Girl Scouts of the USA. She has served on numerous other corporate, private, and nonprofit boards in the past, most recently Art Technology Group, Inc.

Ms. Lang earned an A.B. degree in history and literature from Radcliffe College and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

James Beard Award-winner 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 Italian 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.

In 1998, Barbara opened a restaurant of her own, No. 9 Park, in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The restaurant immediately received rave reviews from publications around the country and was named one of the “Top 25 New Restaurants in America” by Bon Appétit and “Best New Restaurant” by Food & Wine.

Barbara expanded her presence in Boston by opening two restaurants in the South End in 2003: B&G Oysters, serving exquisitely fresh oysters and New England classics, and The Butcher Shop, a wine bar and full service butcher shop. Barbara continued to grow her culinary empire by opening three unique concepts in succession: in 2005, Niche Catour, a catering company; Plum Produce in September 2006; and next door, Stir, a demonstration kitchen and cookbook store in 2007.

In fall 2008 Barbara launched two concepts in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood: Drink, a bar dedicated to the craft of the cocktail, and Sportello (Italian for counter service), Barbara’s modern interpretation of a diner. Her catering company, 9 at Home (formerly Niche Catour), relocated to Fort Point in 2008 as well. In spring 2010 Barbara and her team opened an eagerly anticipated third concept in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, Menton, a fine dining restaurant. Menton has received several accolades, including being named one of both Bon Appétit and Esquire magazine’s best new restaurants in 2010, being nominated as a James Beard Foundation Awards 2011 finalist for Best New Restaurant, and a 4 star review from The Boston Globe.

Barbara’s talents have continued to garner numerous accolades over the years, both locally and nationally. In 2003, The James Beard Foundation named her “Best Chef Northeast” and Travel & Leisure proclaimed No. 9 Park one of the “Top 50 Restaurants in America.” For two consecutive years, No. 9 Park was named “Best Restaurant, General Excellence” by Boston Magazine and Gourmet included it as one of “America’s Top 50 Restaurants” in 2006. In 2007, Boston Magazine named Barbara “Best Chef.”

Barbara and her recipes have been featured in many publications including Saveur, Boston Common, Bon Appétit, The New York Times, and Inc. magazine. She was one of a handful of Bostonians to be profiled in the ABC-TV documentary series “Boston 24/7” and is the subject of a documentary film entitled “Amuse Bouche—A Chef’s Tale.” In 2009, Barbara was honored to join Doris Kearns Goodwin and Julia Child as a recipient of the Crittenton Women's Union's Amelia Earhart Award. She is also a member of distinguished industry organizations including the Bocuse d’Or USA’s Culinary Council, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, and Les Maîtres Cuisiniers.

Barbara's first cookbook, Stir: Mixing It Up in The Italian Tradition, was published by Houghton Mifflin in fall 2009 and immediately earned praise from both the media and home cooks and received a prestigious Gourmand award for “Best Chef Cookbook” for the US.

As the CEO of Barbara Lynch Gruppo, Barbara oversees the operations of eight concepts and employs over 200 people. In addition to running her company, each year she dedicates time and resources to several neighborhood organizations around Boston as well as a number of local and national philanthropic missions. In 2011, she and the Gruppo team launched an initiative dedicated to cultivating healthy, sustainable eating habits through hands-on learning in gardens and classrooms at Boston's at-risk schools.

Adelene Q. Perkins has served as Infinity's president and chief executive officer since 2009. Ms. Perkins first joined Infinity as chief business officer in 2002 and then served as president and chief business officer of Infinity from 2008-2009. Since joining Infinity, she has played an integral role in developing Infinity's business strategy, leading the company in its transition from a platform- to a product-based organization. She has also been the principal figure in structuring, executing, and managing all of Infinity's innovative strategic relationships, including its global alliance with Mundipharma International Corporation Ltd. and Purdue Pharmaceutical Products L.P.

Ms. Perkins has more than 25 years of international business and corporate strategy experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, focused on licensing and business development, strategic finance, product life cycle management, and leading high-caliber, cross-functional teams. Ms. Perkins joined Infinity from TransForm Pharmaceuticals where she served as vice president of business and corporate development and as an early member of the management team that built the company prior to its acquisition by J&J. From 1992-1999, she was vice president of emerging businesses and the co-founder and general manager of the DiscoverEaseT business unit at Genetics Institute, now part of Pfizer. She also formed and served as chief executive officer of MetaMorphix, a joint venture between Genetics Institute and Johns Hopkins University. From 1985-1992, Ms. Perkins worked at Bain & Company, an international strategy consulting firm, where she provided strategic and operational advice to clients in the healthcare industry.

Ms. Perkins received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.S. in chemical engineering from Villanova University. She is on the Board of Project Hope and the Villanova University College of Engineering Advisory Board.

Lise Poulos has been Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Monster Worldwide since January 2008. Previously, she had served as Executive Vice President since September 2007.

Prior to joining Monster Worldwide, Ms. Poulos served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources of Motorola, Inc.’s Enterprise Mobility business from January 2007 to July 2007. From 1997 to January 2007, Ms. Poulos held variou Symbol Technologies, Inc., including Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources and Corporate Communications from August 2006 to January 2007, Vice President, Human Resources from s roles atNovember 2005 to August 2006 and Director, Human Resources from 2002 to November 2005. Prior to joining Symbol, Ms. Poulos worked at a major energy company where she was responsible for corporate talent acquisition, succession planning and talent management, and in the financial services industry. Ms. Poulos holds a Master of Business Administration from Adelphi University, concentrating in Human Resource Management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Laura Ramanis is the Managing partner for Mercer's New England region and is based in the Boston office. Her experience includes over 15 years of consulting to complex, global organizations looking to protect and enhance their vital human capital and investment assets. As part of the US Leadership team for Mercer, her responsibilities include leading the New England region and setting go-to-market strategy for Mercer in the US. Before joining Mercer, Laura spent several years as a client relationship manager with Towers Watson in Chicago and also led a division at an international executive search firm where she consulted with clients in the areas of recruitment strategy and executive compensation. Laura has served on several non-profit boards and is currently an Honorary Consul for the Republic of Latvia.

June Rokoff is a Founding Member and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of The Commonwealth Institute, an organization dedicated to helping women CEO’s, entrepreneurs and senior corporate executives build successful companies. She has recently been a consultant specializing in coaching high technology management. As Senior Vice President of Lotus' Worldwide Services Group until December 1995, Ms. Rokoff had worldwide responsibility for the company's service businesses, including consulting services, education and training, and the Lotus Institute. She held several executive positions at Lotus, including General Manager of Lotus' Workstation Products Group and General Manager of Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3. She was promoted to Vice President of the Graphics and Information Management Division in 1989 and to Senior Vice President in 1991. In 1993, she became Senior Vice President of the Software Business Group, and co-managed all product development at Lotus. Ms. Rokoff was profiled in a NY Times article in 1994 which referred to her as ‘The Iron Lady’ and ‘St June.’ She was identified in the June 8, 1992 edition of Business Week as one of the top women executives in the United States. She was the 1992 New England Women’s Leadership Award Recipient for achievement in business. In 1998, Ms. Rokoff was inducted into the Academy of Women Achievers by the YWCA. She was recently on the board of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors and co-chaired the Commission on Jewish Continuity. In 1994 and 1995, she chaired The New England Women’s Leadership Awards, which benefits the Boys and Girls Club and focuses public attention on the achievements of women, and has served as Honorary Chair of this event for a number of years. Ms. Rokoff earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from State University of New York in Albany. In 1994 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science from Bentley College.

Dr. J. Janelle (Jan) Shubert has more than thirty years’ experience in management and executive education at the university level. Her particular areas of expertise are organizational communication and change, leadership development for women and, more recently, a growing involvement with social entrepreneurship.

 Shubert has been at Babson College since 2004, affiliated with the Center for Women’s Leadership and serving as the Director for the past three years. Prior to joining Babson College in 2004, she was at The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (1992-2004).  While at the Kennedy School, she served as Faculty Chair for the School’s two programs for women (the IWF Leadership Fellows program and the National Hispania Leadership Program) as well as two programs designed specifically for public and private sector participants in Northern Ireland.

She has also been a visiting faculty member at London Business School (1990-1992), on the faculty at Harvard Business School (1986-1990), a visiting fellow at The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (1985) and both a faculty member and senior administrator at The University of Michigan (1975-1985).

In addition to her academic experience, Dr. Shubert has also been an active consultant for more than thirty years, working with public and private, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations globally.  For four years she served as a senior member of a consulting group dedicated to helping organizations enhance the leadership development of their most talented senior women.

She earned her Ph.D., at the University of Michigan, holds a master’s degree from Michigan State University and a B.A. from Southwest Missouri State University.

Elizabeth N. Spar, Ph.D., J.D.
Elizabeth has extensive experience as a technology specialist, with a focus on intellectual property and patent law, including drafting patent applications, preparing responses to office actions, and contributing to infringement, validity and patentability analyses.

With more than 13 years of technical experience in diversified academic research environments, she has drafted patent applications in the fields of molecular and cellular biology, immunology, antibodies, RNAi, biologics, biosimilars, protein expression, genetically transformed plants for use as vaccines and immunogens, genomics, drug discoveries, gene therapy, antitumor therapies, screening assays and protease assays.

Dr. Spar’s prior positions include post-doctoral fellowships at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and pre-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University. Dr. Spar’s awards include the Women’s Cancers Program Fellowship, Dana Farber Cancer Institute; and the Ryan Fellowship at Harvard University. She received her B.A. in Biology from Oberlin College, her Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard University and her J.D. from New England School of Law. Dr. Spar is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Kimberley Zeoli is a senior Partner in Deloitte & Touche LLP’s national Business Risk Advisory practice. She has over 20 years of experience serving clients in the health care provider, life sciences and federal health industry sectors. Having served over 100 publicly-traded companies and private (for profit and non-profit) organizations, Kim is known nationally for her industry expertise related to corporate governance, risk and compliance issues. She also has significant experience in assisting clients and their legal counsel with responding to audits and investigations by government agencies.

Kim also serves as the regional health sciences industry champion for Deloitte’s women’s initiative network called “WIN”. Since Deloitte’s WIN program was founded 18 years ago, the firm has received recognition and awards from many organizations for its dedication to women's advancement, diversity and inclusion, professional development and workplace flexibility.

In addition to recently joining the advisory board of WEST in Boston, Kim is also actively involved in other professional women’s associations. Since 2008, Kim has served as an advisory board of a national organization called-WBL: Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry which focuses on increasing the number of women executives on corporate boards. Since 2010, she has served on the national advisory board of Women Leaders in Health.