Daniel R. Bonnette
Partner, Assurance Services, RSM US LLP
Dan is a partner at RSM and is a firm-designated government, nonprofit and higher education specialist with more than 26 years of experience. Dan leads the Boston government, non-profit and higher
education industry team. He has managed the audits of numerous public sector, nonprofit and higher education organizations, both locally and internationally, and has provided technical assistance on accounting and financial reporting issues to these organizations. Dan is an expert on audits of federally funded grant programs and the requirements of the Uniform Grant Guidance. Dan is a frequent speaker on industry related topics.
Prior to joining RSM, Dan spent 18 years at a Big Four firm where, in addition to his client service responsibilities, he served as the National Public Sector Learning Leader. In that role, Dan was responsible for developing the Yellow Book training curriculum for all professionals serving government, not-for- profit and higher education clients.
Sylvia Ferrell-Jones
President & CEO, YWCA Boston
Sylvia Ferrell-Jones joined YWCA Boston in 2007 and is the President and CEO. She joined YWCA after 25 years in the fields of real-estate investment management. Sylvia 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.
She has held leadership roles, including local, regional and national real estate organizations; the Massa-chusetts 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 di-rectors for United Church Funds; Andover Newton Theological School; and the Wellesley Centers for Women, and on the 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 Ac-counting). Sylvia earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her juris doctor from Yale Law School.
Jeff Habib
CEO, Causemo
Jeff Habib became CEO of Causemo in May 2016. Jeff has a 25+ year background in marketing tech-nology and nonprofit fundraising. He most recently co-founded and grew one of the top 3rd party inde-pendent nonprofit fundraising companies in the United State (http://www.thdinc.com/), raising an estimat-ed $500 million per year for many of the top nonprofit organizations in the nation.
Emily McCann
CEO, Citizen Schools
Emily McCann was named CEO of Citizen Schools in February 2016. Prior to joining Citizen Schools, Emily worked as an Associate in Business Planning and Development for the Walt Disney Corporation. Emily also held positions as a social enterprise fellow with the YMCA and McKinsey Consulting Group and as an As-sociate in J.P. Morgan’s North American Mergers & Acquisitions Department. She serves on several nation-al nonprofit boards including Teach Plus and Good Sports. Emily graduated cum laude with a degree in English Language and Literature from Harvard University in 1994 and earned a Master’s in Business Ad-ministration from Harvard Business School in 1999.
Lara Metcalf
Managing Director, Social Finance
Lara Metcalf is a Managing Director at Social Finance. Lara has deep experience in the public and pri-vate sectors, including 18 years on Wall Street at world-class financial institutions such as Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Prior to joining Social Finance, Lara was the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer and Senior Associate Dean for Operations at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. As a Managing Director at Credit Suisse, Lara structured complex transactions and served as advisor to institutional clients. Lara is a graduate of Boston College and earned her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Shirley Mills
Director, The Boston Company
Shirley joined The Boston Company in 2007 and is a director. Earlier investment experience included broad research responsibilities for a large-cap core equity portfolio at Goldman Sachs Asset Manage-ment. She was also a small- and mid-cap equity analyst and a member of the Investment Committee at Steinberg Asset Management. Shirley received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in economics.
Saskia Epstein
Co-Founder & CEO, Power Launch
Saskia Epstein is the Co-founder and CEO of Power Launch and in 2014 IdeaLift, a boutique strategy con-sulting firm and past CEO of Room to Grow.
Saskia and her husband Paul cofounded the Brookline Teen Center, a state of the art facility and program that opened in Fall 2013. Another family venture, the Foundation To Be Named Later, was launched in 2005 under the umbrella of the Red Sox Foundation, after the team won its first world series in 86 years. To date, the foundation has distributed $9 million to youth-serving organizations in Boston and Chicago.
In 2014 she was appointed to Governor-elect Charlie Baker's transition committee for stronger, safer communities. The prior year, Saskia was honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders. For seven years, she served as a trustee and President of the Children's Advocacy Center of Suffolk County and overseer, Boston Children’s Museum.
