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CEN Boston: Being Entrepreneurial in the Nonprofit Sector Speaker Bios
Itai Dinour '01, Executive Director of City Year
As the Executive Director of City Year New York, Itai is leading the organization through its strategic growth plan with the goal of providing more young people high value-added opportunities to impact the lives of New York City's students, schools and communities. Prior to this role, Itai served as the site's founding Chief of Staff focusing on strategic partnerships and external affairs. Itai discovered his passion for public service, and in particular youth civic action, during his time at Cornell University through his involvement with On Site Volunteer Services and the Cornell Tradition Fellowship. In New York City, Itai's civic activities include the Coro Leadership New York program, the American Jewish Committee's Taskforce on National Service, and the Citizen Schools New York Start-Up Advisory Board. In addition, Itai recently received his MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business.
Sylvia Ferrell-Jones '79, President & CEO of YWCA of Greater Boston
Sylvia Ferrell-Jones joined YWCA Boston in late January 2007, after 25 years in the fields of real-estate investment management and non-profit governance and executive leadership.
At YWCA Boston, she has shepherded a dramatic shift in the organization's focus, leading towards greater financial stability and enhanced programmatic outcomes.
For twenty years, Ferrell-Jones focused on management of real-estate based assets, serving as a director at AEW Capital Management, headquartered in Boston, and as a principal investment officer with the state of Connecticut Trust Funds, with portfolios ranging up to $2 billion.
Subsequently, Sylvia served as Director of Agency Development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where she provided governance, management and fundraising consultations to a $26 million not-for-profit affiliate portfolio.
Ferrell-Jones earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her juris doctor from Yale Law School. She has held leadership roles with numerous community and professional organizations, including local, regional and national real estate organizations; the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ; Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay;
LeadBoston; and The Partnership.
Sylvia currently serves on the board of directors for United Church Funds; Andover Newton Theological School; and the Wellesley Centers for Women, and sits on an advisory board for Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network, and the corporate advisory board for Women of ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting).
Wendy A. Foster '85, President and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay
In her role as the agency’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Wendy Foster brings more than two decades of executive leadership and a deep passion for youth development to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay. Wendy joined the agency four years ago as Vice President for Program Services and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer. She brought to the agency top-level management experience as well as project, systems and technology development skills.
Prior to her move to the Boston area and a consulting role to PBS, Wendy served as a long-time senior executive with AOL, most recently serving as Vice President for Advertising Business Development. Additionally, she was a senior director with Time-Life Kids publishing.
As a volunteer, she helped found the steering committee of the Washington D.C. chapter of Girls, Inc. and volunteered with the Girls Coalition of Greater Boston. She served on the Brookline Community Taskforce on Teen Behavior as a parent representative. Prior to moving to Boston she was involved for many years in the adult/child literacy pen pal program In2Books and volunteered for Meals on Wheels.
Wendy is also involved in a high-profile volunteer role with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America serving on the National Leadership Council for the Northeast region. She is a United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Bay Campaign Cabinet Member and a member of the LeadBoston Class of 2010.
Wendy holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell University with a concentration in psychology and sociology and an M.B.A from The George Washington University. She resides in Brookline with her spouse and daughter.
Linda M. Noonan '76, Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education
Linda M. Noonan is Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. MBAE is committed to a high quality public education system that will prepare all students to engage successfully in a global economy and society. The organization brings together business and education leaders to promote education policies and practices based on measurable standards of achievement, accountability for performance, and equitable educational opportunities for all students.
MBAE was acknowledged as the voice of the business community in developing the state’s Race to the Top proposal that secured $250 million in federal grant money for Massachusetts. MBAE has a record of advocacy for results driven reform, recently providing the only independent analysis of how the Common Core State Standards compared to the state’s own English and Math standards, injecting key evidence into the debate that led to business support for the decision to adopt these standards in Massachusetts. MBAE is also playing a leadership role in the development of new educator evaluation systems statewide.
Prior to joining MBAE in July 2005, Linda served as Executive Director of The Alliance for the Commonwealth (now the International Business Council of AIM), a nonpartisan research and educational foundation established by Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) to help companies increase their global competitiveness in order to create and maintain jobs locally. Linda has also served as State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business in Massachusetts; as Assistant Secretary of Economic Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a policy analyst at the U.S. Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Linda’s civic and volunteer activities include serving on the Westwood School Committee, and on the town’s Permanent Building Committee, during which time three schools were renovated and expanded, and a new high school was approved and designed. She has been a member of the Westwood Finance Committee and the town’s Economic Development Advisory Board.
Linda is currently a member of the Teachers21 Board of Directors; Accountability and Assistance Advisory Council for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE); the DESE Task Force on Educator Evaluation; Steering Committee of Global Education Massachusetts, the Early Education and Care Advisory Team, and other task forces and advisory committees. Ms. Noonan holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Chicago.
Al Van Rast '74, MBA '76, CFO, The Boston Foundation
Al Van Ranst became the CFO of the Boston Foundation in February 2010. The Foundation manages $700 million for over 900 donor funds. Mr. Van Ranst has been tasked with improving the processes and internal controls of the Foundation.
Van Ranst was previously a partner with KPMG LLP where he led the information technology audit practice in the Boston office for eight years. He focused on the evaluation of internal controls and developing staff. As a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Trust Services Task Force, Al led the development of the auditing standard for certificate authorities. Van Ranst also served on the American National Standards Institute’s Accredited Standards Committee that developed the technology standards for certification authorities. From 1994 to 1996 he led the banking and finance practice in New England. During his career, Al also audited many nonprofit organizations and other for profit companies and partnerships.
Mr. Van Ranst received a M.B.A and a B.S in Economics from Cornell University where he served in the Development Office for two years while attending classes. He has been on a Cornell alumni advisory council for 12 years and a volunteer Treasurer of various non-profit organizations for many years.
