Role of the Board of Trustees

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society Board of Trustees currently has 16 members. The Board actively seeks to maintain a good mix of professional backgrounds and experiences, and a healthy balance of gender and age. Trustees are elected for terms of 3 years, up to a maximum of 3 terms (except when serving as President of the Board). Trustees and Overseers are elected at the Annual Meeting in September.

• To act collectively to support and govern the organization
• To ensure that the mission is fulfilled
• To select, support and review the Executive Director
• To insure that there are guiding policies and principles
• To insure effective organizational planning
• To insure that there are adequate resources to support board approved plans
• To support, individually and collectively, all board decisions and keep confidential the internal discussions
• To manage resources effectively
• To determine and monitor programs and services to ensure that they reflect the mission and the strategic priorities
• To serve as a court of appeal
• To assess its own performance
• To be a member of MHS and support MHS financially to the best of member’s ability

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Fiscal Year 2013

Jeanne Leszczynski , Board Chair - elected 2005 current term ends 2015

Katherine K. Macdonald, President & Executive Director

Gretel Anspach - elected 2008 current term ends 2014

Alicia Cleary - elected 2010 current term ends 2013

Daniel Daly - elected 2010 current term ends 2013

Lisa Haddad - elected 2011 current term ends 2014

Betsy Ridge Madsen - elected 2005 current term ends 2015

Marisa McCoy - elected 2011 current term ends 2013

Wayne Mezitt - elected 2012 current term ends 2015

Paul Miskovsky - elected 2008 current term ends 2014

Julia O’Brien – elected 2010 current team end 2013

Hollis Perry - elected 2007 current term ends 2013

Michael Schnitman - elected 2010 current term ends 2013

Noel Swartz, elected 2010 current term ends 2013

Leslie Will, elected 2012 current term ends 2015

Trustee Biographies

Gretel Anspach has been very involved with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society as a Master Gardener. She is active in the New England Wildflower Society and has lead tours for the Garden in the Woods. She studied Math at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the NCS Northeast Engineering Raytheon 6 Sigma Lead Expert at Raytheon. This is her first position on a Board.

Daniel Daly is currently the President of Daniel Roberts, one of Boston’s most established recruiting and staffing firms and has been with the company for the last 18 years. He has served as President of the Business Associates Club and has been involved in fundraising and alumni relations for St. Sebastian’s School since 1988. Dan is a graduate of Villanova University, and lives in Medfield with his wife, Liz, and their sons.

Lisa Haddad is a partner in Goodwin Procter's Business Law Department. Ms. Haddad has extensive experience in representing buyers and sellers in merger and acquisition transactions involving both public and private companies. In this area, she has a special focus on public company mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Haddad also advises public companies on a wide variety of corporate and securities matters, including offerings of equity and debt securities. Her corporate finance experience includes IPOs, public “shelf” offerings and private placements of securities. Ms. Haddad also represents public companies as general corporate and securities law counsel, providing advice in all aspects of corporate governance and securities law compliance.

Jeanne Leszczynski, Ph.D., Retired from her position as the Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratory and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in January 2006. Jeanne received her Doctorate in Public Health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill having done research at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. She is a co-inventor on two patents for a drug used to prevent respiratory disease in premature neonates. She is a Major Donor to the New Rep Theater , the Human Rights Campaign, the Freedom to Marry Coalition and GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders). Jeanne and her partner Diane DiCarlo are sponsors of the Goddess Garden at Elm Bank and continually in the process of creating an Italianate Garden in their backyard in Needham.

Betsy Ridge Madsen is active in many horticultural and environmental groups. She is an Overseer for the New England Wildflower Society and a Corporate Trustee of the Trustees of Reservations. She is an active member of the Beacon Hill Garden Club, the Chestnut Hill Garden Club and the North Shore Garden Club, having recently served as President of BHGC. She serves as a GCA Judge for Horticulture and Photography. Betsy has taught in a variety of public school, college, and non-profit settings. Currently, she does high school placement for eighth graders at the Epiphany School in Dorchester, MA. Betsy holds a BA from the College of Wooster and an EdM from Harvard University. She and her husband Peter have three grown children, all of whom reside in California.

Marisa McCoy, a Wellesley resident for forty-four years, has been on the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Executive Board for fourteen years, serving in many elected and appointed positions, and currently as 1st Vice President for 2011-2013. A Nationally Accredited Master Flower Show Judge with awards for design and horticulture at local, state and national levels, she holds certificates through Grade Three, Sogetsu school of Ikebana. She has chaired Boston’s Trinity Church Flower Committee and served as head gardener for its Cloister Garden. A retired English teacher and Academic Decathlon coach at Wellesley High School, she was a Wellesley Town Meeting Member for twenty years. Currently, Marisa is a floral design instructor, garden club speaker, active member of the MFA Senior Associates, and a custom wedding and special occasion floral designer.

Paul Miskovsky is the owner of Falmouth, MA-based Miskovsky Landscaping, Inc. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Floriculture Program, Paul is a long-time exhibitor at flower shows in Boston and Providence. He was instrumental in the building of the gardens on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston and both the construction and continuing development of the Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank. He is a driving force behind MassHort's involvement with the Boston Flower & Garden Show.

Julia B. O'Brien grew up in a family that raised orchids and cranberries. She holds an AB in biology from Brown University and a MCP from MIT. Her planning career focussed on regional planning and environmental issues with particular attention to park and open space opportunities. She was Director of Planning at the Metropolitan District Commission from 1970 until its merger and subsequently Chief Planner at the Department of Conservation and Recreation until her retirement in 2010. She has served on the boards of the Conservation Law Foundation, The Trustees of Reservations and the Winsor School. MHS honored her with a Gold Medal and the American Society of Landscape Architects LaGasse Medal recognized her contributions to landscape architecture.

Holly Perry has been an incredibly active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society since her retirement from teaching. During the last ten years of her teaching career she chaired Westwood High School’s Foreign Language Department. She studied Education at Northwestern University and received her Masters in Spanish from Middlebury. Since completing her certification as a Master Gardener, Holly has facilitated many training classes. She is also a board member of the Dedham Exchange.

Michael W. Schnitman was named Senior Vice President and Director of Product Strategy and Development at Putnam Investments in January 2009. Since joining Putnam in 1997 as an equity research analyst, Mr. Schnitman has led the innovation of new mutual funds, the creation a defined contribution investment business, the acquisition and integration of a $13 billion quantitative investment firm, and the turnaround of a non-proprietary funds retirement business. Mr. Schnitman earned a BA with honors in economics from Trinity College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He holds Series 7 and 24 licenses with FINRA. He enjoys skiing, tennis, foreign travel, and socially responsible entrepreneurship. He is a Member of the Corporation at the Perkins School for the Blind, where he serves on the audit committee. Mr. Schnitman has served as Chairman of the Alumni Council at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, as well as a member of the Alumni Council at Dexter School. He and his family reside in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Noel Swartz, CPA is a partner in the Boston office of Marcum LLP, a national accounting and advisory firm. With more than 18 years of experience working in public accounting and private industry, he provides auditing and assurance services to public and privately-held clients in various industries‚ including high technology‚ life sciences‚ biotech‚ software‚ and financial services. In addition‚ Noel has extensive experience serving a variety of manufacturing clients including medical devices‚ green energy‚ musical instruments, machine tools and others. He is also active in Marcum’s continuing education and mentorship programs. An Ohio native, Noel served on the Bell Board of the Carillon Historical Park, a “living history” museum which highlights the Dayton, Ohio, birthplace of the Wright brothers. He is also an avid automobile racing enthusiast and has chaired numerous committees in local auto club chapters. Noel and his wife Julie live in Westborough.

Leslie R. Will holds a B.A. from Oberlin College in Communications and Environmental Studies and previously worked for the Department of Environmental Management (as the Metropolitan District Commission), in Water Conservation, Wastewater Management and Parks Management roles. After earning a MBA from Simmons College she worked as a Risk Management Officer in commercial lending and custody banking with State Street Bank. She has been a member of the Milton Garden Club since 1989, where she has been President, as well as Treasurer and Flower Arranging Chairman. She is currently Vice Chairman of the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America.