P’27

Over her 25 year career in global drug development, Alka has advanced life-changing products, from early drug discovery through regulatory approvals, covering a range of therapeutic areas including addiction, cancer, diabetes, Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel diseases. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Landos Biopharmaceuticals and works with other private startups. She is a strong advocate for STEM, women in science, and having a critical mind to understand and appreciate the world around us.

Max is a serial entrepreneur.  Max is working on an early-stage venture in the home finance space that is set to launch in late 2023. Previously, Max has co-founded Pickleball4America, Hometap, and BriefMe.  Max is also an avid golfer and stays in touch with BVR alumni in the Boston area and beyond through his leadership of Beaver’s Alumni Association.

Favorite class in school: History

P’22, ’26
Heather Coughlin is currently part of the US leadership team of Aptia, a new benefits technology and administration company recently spun out of Mercer’s Health & Benefits business. Prior to joining Mercer as a Partner leading the product team, Heather spent many years working with early-stage companies in the digital health and fin-tech start-up community in various Business Development and Advisory positions including three years as CEO of a national health education & retail company. Prior to her start-up work, Heather spent nine years at Goldman Sachs in the institutional equities business in Boston and New York.

Favorite class in school: Creative Writing

P’25

Wendy joined the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1995. Since then, she has directed various research initiatives focused on the meaning of work in the lives of young children, adolescents, and novice professionals. In 2012, she launched a large-scale national study of higher education, involving 2000 interviews across 10 campuses. Wendy writes about education and human development in scholarly and popular publications for audiences in both the K-12 and higher education sectors. Two publications of note are Making Good: How Young People Cope with Moral Dilemmas at Work  (2004) and The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be (2022), both of which are co-authored with Howard Gardner.

Favorite class in school: History

P’21, ’24, ’25

Raymonde is from Port au Prince, Haiti, and has lived in Massachusetts for more than three decades. She is currently the Admissions and Operations Manager at Mother Caroline Academy (MCA). Prior to accepting the position at MCA, she served as a Senior Business Coordinator for Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester for over 11 years. In addition to her role as a trustee, Raymonde is a very active member of the Beaver Parent Association and its efforts to engage parents.

Favorite class in school: History

P’26, ’31

Tamarra is an Associate Professor and epidemiologist at Harvard Chan School of Public Health, where she directs the Environmental Reproductive Justice Lab, serves as Deputy Director for the Harvard Chan NIEHS Center, and is Director of the Superfund Research Center’s Community Engagement Core. Tamarra’s work focuses on environmental justice and community-engaged research with the goal of identifying health equity solutions. Her research in this area extends to designing environmental justice and health educational curricula for middle school, high school, and graduate school students using interactive learning tools and technologies.

P’22
Heidi was appointed Wellesley College’s Director of Civic Engagement in 2022 and will be part of the team launching the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Citizenship, Leadership and Democracy in April 2024 serving as the Program Director.  Trained as an educator and architect, Heidi has devoted her career to advancing organizations and initiatives focused on civic leadership and cross-cultural understanding. She served for nearly two decades as Founding Creative Director at City Year, a national youth service program that served as the model for AmeriCorps. In 2008, Heidi launched Purple Suitcase, founded on the principle that learning about diverse people and cultures – within one’s own neighborhood and communities across the globe – enables individuals to embrace our commonalities and differences as we navigate in an increasingly complex and connected global community.

Favorite class in school: Meteorology and American Sign Language

P’21, ’23, President

Heeten is a Senior Program Officer & Director of Democracy and Climate Programs at the New World Foundation. Having grown up under apartheid South Africa, Heeten has partnered with many South African environmental justice organizations to build awareness of the links between the environment and all aspects of health, and the broader socio-economic consequences of unjust environmental policies. He enjoys roasting coffee and practicing his guiding skills in the Kruger National Park.

Favorite class in school: Accounting

P’26

Prior to starting her family, Kristin was VP of Operations for Columbia Mutual Funds. She has served as a committed volunteer and leader in organizations supporting education and children. In recent years she has served in leadership roles at the Home for Little Wanderers,  Riverbend School, Tenacre Country Day School, and the Carroll School. She values being actively involved in efforts that support students, families, and teachers including in roles ranging from room parent to leading Annual Fund initiatives. She is also a co-founder of the casual lifestyle brand BUG&RABBIT.

Favorite class in school: Expatriate Literary Paris

In addition to serving on the Student Council Executive Board, Neal co-leads the South Asian Affinity Group and is currently on the advisory board of the BVRConnects program. He’s also a member of the DECA club at Beaver and is involved with the SDLC program, which travels to Denver this fall. This will also be Neal’s second year playing tennis and basketball for Beaver. Outside of school, Neal’s interests include philosophy, economics, and political science, sparked by multiple internships this past year.

P’22, ’25, ’28

Specializing in strategic communications, Julie has more than 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector. She worked at City Year, a national youth service organization, for nearly a decade overseeing major events and serving as Director of Communications. In 2003, still with City Year, Julie also served as Director of the Save AmeriCorps initiative that resulted in the creation of the advocacy organization Voices for National Service. Since leaving City Year to raise her three children, Julie has served her community in leadership roles as President of the Brookline Community Foundation (BCF) and Co-Chair of Beaver’s Parent Association.

Favorite class in school: American Civil War and Reconstruction

P’20, ’23

Jess is an experienced angel investor and advisor to multiple early-stage companies throughout North America.  She is a partner at Moodoos LP investment fund and a member of Boston-based angel group Launchpad Venture Group.  Her portfolio companies fall into many sectors including manufacturing, biotech, IT, medical devices, and consumer goods.  She is currently acting COO for Agtech/BioTech startup KnipBio and serves on the board for portfolio companies such as KnipBio, Hilltop Biosciences, and CPL.  She is a mentor/advisor for local Boston organizations such as MassChallenge and The Enterprise Forum and frequently serves as an in-house expert for Upper School courses around Entrepreneurship.

Favorite class in school: Drawing 101

P’22, ’28, ’28
Steve is a portfolio manager and Partner at Wellington Management Company, a large Boston based asset manager that he joined in 2001. He oversees a US growth equity team managing both mid-cap and large-cap mutual funds and separate accounts for firm clients. Prior to joining Wellington, Steve was an analyst with Vinik Asset Management and Colonial Funds. He also has volunteered on the board of Needham Baseball & Softball for nine years from 2013 to 2022, holding several positions including Secretary, Director of Special Events, and Director of their club baseball travel teams.

Kate has been a teacher for 10 years and serves as a member of the Beaver Math Department. When not at Beaver, you can find her scoping out new cafes with her two children or watching the Celtics.

P’26
Michelle is the Principal of the Epiphany School, an independent, tuition-free school for children from economically disadvantaged families located in Dorchester. Outside of Epiphany, Michelle has served as an adjunct professor at Boston College, and for the Urban Catholic Teacher Corp. She is currently a board member at Fessenden School, ABCD, The Possible Zone, Neighborhood Villages, Squashbusters, BU CEED Advisory Board, and Boston College AHANA Alumni Council. She was a founding board member of Bridge Boston Charter School and was a member of 2020 of The Partnership’s NGE Program.

Favorite class in school: Biology

Conor brings over 15 years of experience working on issues at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy and global development. He currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor at USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development). Prior to USAID, he was a senior fellow with the Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. In addition to his work at CSIS, he has frequently consulted with U.S. government agencies, NGOs, other implementing partners, and the private sector on evolving trends in global development and other issues related to U.S. foreign assistance.

Favorite class in school: History

P’23 ‘26
Parent Association Co-Chair

Lori served as a marketing communications consultant in the energy sector, where she advised companies and consulting firms on their marketing strategies in the retail energy industry in the NYC area. After moving to Boston, Lori embraced non-profit work for a variety of organizations, which included Board positions at the  JCC of Greater Boston, CJP, MSPCA-Angell, Boston Children’s Hospital, The Esplanade Association, and Cradles to Crayons.

Favorite class in school: Influential Thinkers of the Enlightenment

P’27
Eric is co-founder and Managing Partner of Broder, a Boston-based real estate firm with diverse investments across the commercial, life sciences, residential, and hospitality sectors. Prior to founding Broder, Eric was a Principal at The Abbey Group, and held roles at Accenture Consulting and Suffolk Construction. Beyond the realm of real estate, Broder is an investor in the Boston Celtics (NBA) and the Boston Unity (NWSL) and proudly supports numerous education focused organizations alongside his wife Sarah. Eric has served in trustee roles on several education and youth-focused organizations, including The Boys and Girls Club of Boston, The KIPP School of Massachusetts, and The Hawk Foundation.

Favorite class in school: Creative Writing

P’23

Prior to starting her family, Joanna was a trial attorney serving as a prosecutor, city attorney, and also in private practice with a focus on commercial, municipal, and family law litigation in both Michigan and Texas. She is deeply passionate about non-profits and has served in many leadership roles. Most recently, she served as Chair of the Greater Boston Food Bank Board of Directors and currently serves on that board, as well as serving on the Charles River School Board of Trustees where she chairs the Committee on Trustees (Governance) and serves on the Executive and Community Equity & Belonging Committees.  Joanna is also a member of the Summer Search Board of Overseers.

Favorite class in school: English Literature

P’18, ’20, ’23

Andre is an architect and Senior Project Manager for Moody Nolan, the largest black-owned architectural firm in the United States. Prior to this role, Andre was the Director of Capital Projects and Construction for Suffolk University in Boston, where he oversaw and managed all the built assets of the campus which consisted of 10 buildings in downtown Boston and the athletic facilities in East Boston. Andre also served as an Adjunct Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology teaching a freshman design course for the architecture program.

Favorite class(es) in school: gym, chorus, and architectural drafting -(“It’s a three- way tie!”)

Faculty Representative
Rachel serves as an Upper School French Teacher, Head of the Modern Languages Department, and Assistant Coach with the Varsity Volleyball team. She has established a new international partnership for Beaver students with the Lycée Jean XXIII School in Les Herbiers, France (launched in 2023). When not at Beaver, you can find Rachel playing volleyball, singing with the Metropolitan Chorale, or working backstage as a Stage Manager at the Footlight Club in Jamaica Plain.

Favorite class in school: Comparative Religion and AP French Literature

P’22, ’24
Clerk

Jodi Walker practiced as a District Attorney in Middlesex County for over 12 years, prosecuting a variety of crimes in the district and superior courts, advocating for victims, and working with schools and police on preventive justice. Since leaving that role, Jodi has been able to share her expertise with BVR students as a regular guest lecturer about criminal justice in two of Beaver’s US courses: Theories of Justice and Theories of Punishment. She is also a Trustee at Dana-Farber Cancer Center and a member of the Development Committee at New Roads Catholic Community. Jodi has been riding the Pan-Mass Challenge since 2012, and she is the founder and captain of the PMC team Walker’s Wings.

Favorite class in school: English and Constitutional Law

P’28, ’31
Parent Association Co-Chair

Kristi is the Stanton Professor of Finance at Bentley University and has taught there for 18 years. Her research focuses on corporate finance/governance, executive compensation, director compensation, and banking. She has taught at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland and held roles as a business analyst at Fidelity Investments and a visiting scholar at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She is a trustee at Charles River School and serves as a Co-Chair of Beaver’s Parent Association.

Favorite subject in school: Math

P’23, ’25

Scott has spent his career in investment management with a focus on private equity opportunities in the healthcare, technology, and business services sectors. He serves on several corporate and philanthropic boards and is a frequent speaker on investment trends and strategies at industry conferences and universities.

Favorite subject in school: History