Board of Directors
Uche Amaechi (Chair), a graduate of Harvard College (BA), University of Phoenix (MBA), and doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is the director of the Fletcher Maynard Extended Day after school program at the Fletcher Maynard Academy. His extensive experience with at-risk children includes work with the Summerbridge program and the Phillips Brooks House. He joined the Board in 2003.
Shirby Best (President Emeritus) is a Cambridge Rindge and Latin parent and former alternate chairperson for the Parent Council at the M.L. King School. She has been a Patriot Girl Scout Leader since 1998. Ms. Best is a juvenile criminal justice and social service professional for the City of Cambridge. She has been on the Board since 1999. Ms. Best is a resident of Cambridge, MA.
Joseph X. Donovan joined the state and local tax practice of Sullivan & Worcester LLP in 2006. In 2007, Mr. Donovan was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to a special commission charged with studying Massachusetts corporate taxation. He was formerly the Deputy General Counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and has held various positions in the state tax consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, including leader of its Northeast Region state tax practice. From 1979-1984 he was an attorney for the Department of Revenue, last serving as Deputy Bureau Chief in the Legal Bureau. Mr. Donovan joined the SCFG board in 2011.
Kimberly Dwyer has over 20 years of experience in trust and investment management and is currently the Managing Director of Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management. Before she joined the Science Club for Girls board, she was a member of the Ambassador group. Dwyer serves on the membership committee of the Boston Estate Planning Council, and is the director of scholarships for the Boston Chapter of the BYU Management Society. She is also a member of the Boston Women in Finance and Leading Women Massachusetts. Ms Dwyer joined the SCFG board in 2011.
Roberta James is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Boston College's Graduate Program for Women in Politics and Government and American University. Ms. James serves on the steering committee for the Science Club for Girls program at the Myrtle Baptist Church in Newton, MA, where she is a member. Her focus has been on curriculum development and enhancing the junior mentor program. Her daughter is an avid member of SCFG Newton. Ms. James served on the executive board for Communities United Inc. in Watertown and the DSS advisory board in Newton for several years. She currently works as a consultant for the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Ms. James joined the SCFG board in 2009.
Sadaf Kazmi, MBA, JD, is currently the Director of Online Office Technology at Staples. Previously, she was Director of Multi-Channel Commerce Practice at Sapient. Her extensive experience in strategy design and execution. She has also served as the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Boston, MA and founded the Nonprofit Board Leadership program at Wharton. She joined the board in 2011 and is a resident of Cambridge.
Laura Major is currently leading the Human-System Collaboration Group at C.S. Draper Laboratory. She is a Senior Member of Technical staff, specializing in cognitive engineering, human factors and human-computer interaction. She is leading the design of the next generation navigation and decision support system for Air Force Special Operations Forces and the design and evaluation of future cockpit concepts for lunar landing. Laura has an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech. She has served as a mentor for 4th and 5th graders in Science Club for Girls from 2007-2010 and was a member of the Ambassador program in 2010-2011. She joined the board in 2011. Ms. Major resides in Cambridge, MA.
Beth O'Sullivan is a former King Open School parent and co-founder of Science Club for Girls. She is also the founder and president of The Mathemagics Workshop and a novelist. She has been on the Board since 1994. Ms. O'Sullivan resides in Cambridge, MA.
MaryAnne Poole-Piechocki, MBA, has 20 plus years of leadership experience as a highly accomplished strategy executive serving for profit and nonprofit companies, their boards, and investors, from strategy consulting, investor, board and operations perspectives, including Leerink Swann and Fletcher Spaght Ventures. She joined the SCFG board in 2011 and is a resident of Salem, MA.
Lauren Silverman is a Managing Director of the Novartis Option Fund in Cambridge, MA, USA. Prior to joining the Option Fund she was Global Head of Oncology Research Operations for Novartis. Lauren was a Director of Strategic Alliances and Head of Cell Biology where she led multiple research teams after having been a founding scientist of Cadus Pharmaceuticals. Lauren was a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Princeton University and earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Utah. Lauren currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Novartis Venture Funds portfolio companies: Ascent Therapeutics, Proteostasis Therapeutics, Cequent Pharmaceuticals, Viamet Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Pulmatrix Inc. and Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She joined the Board in 2010.
Connie Chow, executive director of Science Club for Girls, is also a member of the board.
Click here for past board members
© 2012 Science Club for Girls