Nativity Preparatory School

Board of Trustees

2009-2010 Board of Trustees

Maureen Armstrong, CIC
Philip Beauregard, Esq.
Tom Bastoni
Ann Bruno
Ronald Clement
Paul Daoust
Sandra Dawson
Dr. Henry Fanning
Martha Gonzales
Mike Herlihy, Chairman of the Board
Barry Hynes
Peter Kavanaugh
John Kelleher
Brendan Kennealey
Robert Long
Dr. Jean MacCormack
John Markey, Jr., Esq.
David McGrath, DVM
Sean McGrath
Charlotte Oliveira
Frank Perrine
Martha Rooney
Patty Sweriduk
Carl Taber
William N. Whelan
Mark White

Maureen Sylvia Armstrong
Governance Committee
Maureen is the President and CEO of Sylvia & Company Insurance Agency, Inc. which has been recognized by the Independent Insurance Agencies of America as one of the top thirty insurance agencies of its size in the United States. Maureen was born and raised in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Boston College with a degree in Marketing and Finance. Maureen has served in leadership positions in many of Greater New Bedford’s well-respected organizations, including: the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce, New Bedford Oceanarium, New Bedford Industrial Foundation, and the Waterfront Historic Area League. Maureen lives in Dartmouth with her husband Ray and their sons Andrew and Charlie.

Philip Beauregard
Vice Chair
Governance Committee Co-Chair
Development Committee
Executive Committee
Phil is a civil trial attorney and the founder of the New Bedford law firm of Beauregard, Burke & Franco with offices located in the Andrew Robeson House in New Bedford’s Downtown Historic District. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown University Law Center. Phil was born and raised in New Bedford. Phil’s involvement with Nativity Prep directly relates to his long time roots in New Bedford and his interest in encouraging maximum educational opportunity for all of the City’s youth. Phil currently lives in Westport, Massachusetts with his wife Kate, and he enjoys regular visits from his three adult children: Pierre, Philip Paul and Adrienne Catherine.

Tom Bastoni
Development Committee
A Dartmouth resident, Tom is Vice President General Manager for American Pride Seafood’s Scallop Division. His responsibilities and contacts, both nationally and internationally have positioned him as one of the leaders in the Atlantic Sea Scallop Industry. Born and raised in New Bedford, Tom has been on the waterfront for 25 years and has served on and chaired numerous committees that have contributed to the success of the Industry.

Ann Bruno
Ann has been a Nativity Prep library volunteer for nine years and a charter member of the Friends of Nativity. She and her husband Will and their five children summered in Mattapoisett for thirty two years. After all of the children were educated and married, Will and Ann decided to spend their retirement years in Mattapoisett. In her earlier life, Ann worked in the Foxboro School System as an elementary teacher and as a reference librarian at Foxboro High School. Later in her career, she worked as the Asia Pacific liaison for an International Library Subscription Company in Westwood. She closed out her work career as an administrative assistant to the director of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools in Newton. Ann is a graduate of Emmanuel College and did her graduate work at Bridgewater State College in Library Science. Ann and Will are kept busy with their volunteer work on the South Coast. They thoroughly enjoy their life as grandparents of their nine grandchildren who all live within an hour’s drive of Mattapoisett.

Ron Clement
Finance Committee
Ron is a local business person with many years at the VP or President level. He has a strong desire to help those who want to be helped. Along with being a Board Member for Nativity, Ron also sits on the Board for The United Way. Ron was educated at Southeastern Massachusetts University (Now UMASS Dartmouth), and holds a degree in Marketing and Accounting. He is a native of the Southcoast, and lives in Dartmouth with his wife, Rhonda, and two children. He enjoys coaching baseball, basketball, and soccer, and is a past member of both the DYAA and DYSA, youth baseball, basketball, and soccer organizations. Ron also spent 6 years in the Air National Guard, from 1981 to 1987.

Paul Daoust
Executive Committee
Development Committee
Paul is Chairman and CEO of HighRoads, Inc., a technology enabled services company that serves the HR space. Most recently, Paul served as Chairman and CEO of GRX Technologies, Inc., a software company focused on supply chain management for the commercial insurance industry. Before that, he spent 30 years with Watson Wyatt Worldwide, one of the world’s leading human resource consulting firms, in a variety of consulting and management roles including Chief Operating Officer. Paul’s involvement in the not for profit world has centered on education. Besides serving on the Board of Nativity Prep of New Bedford, he also served as the initial co-chair of the Development Committee. He served for 6 years as a Trustee of Nativity Prep in Boston, chaired the Nativity Challenge Capital Campaign, and is in his ninth year of service on the Development Committee. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Xaverian Brothers High School, where he chairs the Diversity Committee. Paul was Jesuit-educated in high school and college; Paul’s continuing interest in Boston College revolves around the rugby program (which he co-founded in 1968) and the Alumni Rugby Board which he chairs. Paul lives in Boston with his wife Pat, who is serving as Co-Chair of Nativity’s first Gala Event.

Sandra Dawson
Development Committee
Governance Committee
Sandra is the founder and principal of the successful and well-respected Dawson Real Estate Inc. in Mattapoisett. She is a member of the Greater New Bedford, Massachusetts and National Association of Realtors. She has earned the prestigious CRS & GRI designations from the National Association of Realtors. In 2006, she received the coveted Diamond Individual Award for documented professional excellence. In addition to her service at Nativity Prep, Sandra has served as a Board Member and Officer for the Mattapoisett Public Library, Mattapoisett Women’s Club, Old Rochester Regional Parents Advisory Council, and the Greater New Bedford Board of Realtors. Sandra lives in Mattapoisett with her husband Kevin. Two of their children, after successful careers in finance and education, have joined Sandra in the agency. She is privileged to work with them and see the continuation of this family-owned business.

Henry Fanning
Academic Advisory Committee
Henry, Dean Emeritus, Bridgewater State College, held academic dean positions during his tenure of 38 years. He was born on Nantucket and lived in New Bedford for several years before moving to South Dartmouth. He is a graduate of Boston College, Bridgewater State, Boston University and Clark University where he received an Ed.D. He had many professional affiliations and served on several academic committees. Henry resides with his wife Julie; they have two sons, Peter and Christopher.

Martha Gonzalez
Community Development Committee
Martha has been working at the New Bedford Community Health Center as the Maternal Child Health Community Health Worker for 12 years. In this position she has acquired a proven record of success in working with individuals of diverse backgrounds. She is fluent in the Spanish language and also worked as an ESL Teacher for Catholic Social Services. Prior to this she also worked for Coastline Elderly Services, Department of Social Services, and Southeastern Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. Martha was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She immigrated to the United States at a very young age and grew up in New York. She went to St. Theresa of Avila School and graduated from Richmond Hill High School. Martha has also received a certificate from the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and Suffolk University, in Community Health and Community Health Center Management. Martha relocated to New Bedford 24 years ago with her older son, Luis, looking for a better life. Her youngest son, Armando, who graduated from Nativity Prep, is now attending Bishop Stang. Her daughter Adriana, a 2007 Bishop Stang graduate, currently attends Johnson and Wales, studying Criminal Justice. Martha looks forward to seeing her grandson enter Nativity Preparatory School in one more year. Martha and her husband Fernando now enjoy sharing traditions with their children, family, and friends at the different holidays.

Mike Herlihy
Board Chair
Governance Committee Co-Chair
Executive Committee
Mike’s career has focused on marketing, client relationship, and sales management, first with IBM and later for twenty years with State Street. During his time with State Street, Mike held a series of leadership roles, including management of State Street’s credit card operation. Mike is a graduate of Williams College and the Defense League Institute of Monterey where he studied Chinese. Mike served in the United States Navy in California and Japan. Since leaving State Street, Mike has focused on Nativity and some related educational projects in Rwanda. Mike lives with his wife Penny in Duxbury. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Barry Hynes
Academic Advisory Committee
Barry was raised as one of five children in a traditional Irish Catholic working-class family in Dorchester. He graduated from Boston College High School and Notre Dame before moving on to a career in business and politics in Boston, where his father was mayor in the 1950s. Barry himself served on the Boston City Council and as City Clerk. In his early fifties, Barry left Boston to teach at the Jesuit-run Nativity Mission Center middle school in New York City with Father Jack Podsiadlo. He followed that school’s model when, in 1990, he opened Nativity Preparatory School in Boston, focusing on academic challenge, a strict code of conduct, and service to others. In 1997 with Sister Ann Fox he co-founded the Paraclete Center, an after-school enrichment program in South Boston. In 2000, Barry opened a Nativity-model school in New Bedford, where he served as Executive Director for seven years. Barry is now focusing his efforts on the Maranyundo School for girls in Rwanda and a potential Nativity School in Haiti.

Peter Kavanaugh
Vice Chair
Development Committee Co-Chair
Executive Committee
Peter was born and raised in Greater New Bedford. After graduating from the University of Rhode Island, Peter returned to the area and joined the family retail furniture business. He has been involved in numerous civic organizations over the years including: Downtown New Bedford, Inc., The Waterfront Historic Area League, and the Community Foundation, among many others. The idealism of the volunteer teachers and the hopefulness of the students have made Peter’s work at Nativity Prep the most rewarding of his many community service experiences. Peter lives in Dartmouth with his wife Mary and his four children.

John Kelleher
Development Committee
John is a retired banker. John served in leadership roles at New Bedford Five Cents Savings Bank and Compass Bank. For more than a dozen years John served as the Executive Vice President of the Compass Bank Lending Division. John was born and raised in New Bedford. A graduate of Boston College and a United States Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam, John was discharged from the Marines with the rank of Captain. John has served on the Board of the Schwartz Center and for over twenty years as a Trustee of St. Luke’s Hospital and it’s parent, Southcoast Health System. He is a former System Board Chair. John lives in South Dartmouth with his wife Viki and his son Declan.

Brendan Kennealey
Finance Committee
Governance Committee
Brendan grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and is the founder and president of Mission Schools International (MSI), a non-profit focused on building a network of secondary schools in Sub-Saharan Africa that combines education with basic healthcare and proper nutrition. MSI plans to open its first two schools in Rwanda in January 2010. Kennealey started his career as a volunteer teacher at Nativity Preparatory School in Boston before becoming the founding principal of a Nativity Prep School in New Bedford. He then moved on to co-found a Nativity school in his hometown of Wilmington, DE. In 2004 he founded the Benebikira Sisters Foundation, which raises awareness and funding for the Benebikira Sisters’ schools and health clinics in Rwanda. Kennealey also serves as an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Management at Boston College. He holds a BA from Boston College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Robert Long
First Vice Chair
Buildings Committee Chair
Executive Committee
Governance Committee
Bob is the CEO of Long Built Homes, the largest residential development company in Southeastern Massachusetts. Bob was born and raised in Dartmouth. In addition to his involvement with Nativity Prep, Bob has been a strong supporter of many youth programs in the greater New Bedford area, including the Dartmouth Youth Soccer Association and the New Bedford Bears Football program. Bob lives in Dartmouth with his wife Christine and he can often be found coaching his three daughters, Shannon, Jillian, and Courtlyn.

Dr. Jean MacCormack
Jean has led the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth as its Chancellor since 1999. Dr. MacCormack is highly regarded as an innovative and strategic manager whose leadership has helped the UMass Dartmouth campus grow and flourish despite significant fiscal challenges. During her tenure, the student population has grown from 6,900 to 8,800 and research funding has grown from $7 million to $21 million. Dr. MacCormack received her undergraduate degree from Emmanuel College and her Masters Degree and Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In addition to her service with Nativity Prep, Dr. MacCormack serves on numerous community boards and is a Director of Slades Ferry Bank.

John A. Markey, Jr.
Community Development Committee Chair
Executive Committee
John is a civil litigator and co-founder of the New Bedford waterfront law firm of Moses Smith & Markey. John also serves as an Assistant Solicitor for the City of New Bedford and an Adjunct Instructor at the Southern New England School of Law. John is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Connecticut School of Law. John was raised in New Bedford. He was inspired to join the Board by the energy and optimism of Nativity’s teachers and the innocence and work ethic of the school’s students. John lives in New Bedford with his wife Lynne and their four children: Jennifer, Mckenna, Jackson, and Xavier.

David McGrath
David is a veterinarian in private practice. He owns and operates seven veterinary hospitals in Massachusetts specializing in the care of small animals. David is a member of the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association. He is also a Trustee of Tufts University, Highland Street Foundation, and Bellesini Academy of Lawrence. David received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University. David lives in Andover with his wife Donna and their four sons.

Sean McGrath
Buildings and Grounds Committee
Finance Committee
Sean is the CEO of Stonegate, LLC, a development firm with various projects in Eastern, Massachusetts. He is a Trustee of the Highland Street Foundation which founded the school in 2000.

Charlotte Oliveira
Development Committee
Charlotte Oliveira was a teacher in the New Bedford Public Schools for many years. Then, after raising her children she became a pre-school teacher at a private school in Mattapoisett. She is an alumnus of UMass and did her graduate  work at Bridgewater State College. For the past four years, Charlotte has been volunteering in the library at Nativity and is a member of the Friends of Nativity. She has co-chaired the Nativity golf event and is a member of the development committee. Over the years, Charlotte has volunteered as a driver for FISH, a CCD teacher, and other various school activities. She and her husband, Larry, have three sons and four grandsons who all reside in the area and are the light of their lives, keeping them busy and happy.

Frank Perrine
Executive Director
Academic Committee Chair
Executive Committee
Governance Committee
Frank retired from the active school business in 2002, after over 40 years as teacher and headmaster in the junior school world. He served as headmaster of the Foote School in New Haven, Connecticut for 25 years, and later in that capacity at the Fessenden School in West Newton, Massachusetts for 8 years. From 1960-67, he worked at the Harvey School in Katonah, New York, as teacher, assistant headmaster, and head of school. All three of his children are teachers in the elementary and junior school field. Frank and his wife Laura moved to Fairhaven in 2002 where they live an active life and enjoy seeing a lot of their son Bill (at Friends Academy), his wife Anne, and 3 of their grandchildren. Frank has served on many school, civic, and professional boards over the years. He and Laura also enjoy Vermont, travel, hiking, family, friends, music, and the wonderful quality of life in this terrific area.

Martha Rooney
Development Committee Co-Chair
Executive Committee
Martha is a retired executive from Clairol, a division of Procter & Gamble. Her career at Clairol spanned over 25 years in Regulatory Affairs, where she oversaw compliance with governmental agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. Upon retirement and moving to this area, Martha has been an industry consultant. Since 2005 Martha has volunteered on a weekly basis in the Nativity Prep library as well as being a charter member of the Friends of Nativity. Martha, a graduate of Simmons College in Education, lives in South Dartmouth with her husband Tom.

Carl Taber
Prior to joining Citizens Union Savings Bank in November 2004, Mr. Taber served nearly 30 years in the Lending Division at Compass Bank, and was in charge of their Real Estate Mortgage Department. As Executive Vice President, he is responsible for managing all aspects of Citizens Union’s Lending Division, including Consumer, Residential, and Commercial Lending. Mr. Taber resides in Mattapoisett, MA, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Bankers Supervisory School and the National Association of Savings Banks Graduate School. Mr. Taber is a strong community advocate as is evident by his involvement in numerous non-profit organizations. Mr. Taber is currently involved with several organizations including: Southcoast Hospitals Group, St. Mary’s Education Fund, Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association, New Bedford Ocean Explorium, and Child & Family Services. His previous community involvement also includes affiliations with the United Way of New Bedford, Junior Achievement, Waterfront Historic Area League (WHALE), and Coastline Elderly Services.

William Whelan
Treasurer
Finance Committee Co-Chair
Buildings and Grounds Committee
Executive Committee
Governance Committee
Bill is the founder and Managing Member of the real estate development firm Whelan Associates. He is also the President of Sandpiper Air, a full service fixed base operator, located at New Bedford Regional Airport. Prior to forming Whelan Associates, Bill served as Chairman of Spaulding and Slye, a National Real Estate Services firm with headquarters in Boston. In that capacity, Bill oversaw the development of projects such as the 1,500,000 square foot office tower in downtown Boston at 125 High Street. Bill was born and raised in New Bedford. He is a graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He has served as a guest lecturer on real estate development at MIT, Harvard University, and Dartmouth College. Bill has lived at the same address for thirty six years with his wife Jean. They enjoy spending time with their three children and five grandchildren.

Mark White
Buildings and Grounds Committee
Mark is the President of D.W. White Construction. For 18 years D.W. White has been one of the largest heavy and highway contractors in Massachusetts. They have developed over 500 residential units and 150,000 square feet of retail and commercial property for clients such as Oracle, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Mass Highway Department, Wrentham Village Premium Outlet Mall, S R Wiener, New England Development, Simon Properties, Shaw’s Supermarkets, and the City of New Bedford. Mark has been married for 18 years, and is the father of three daughters. He is a graduate of Fairhaven High School. He enjoys golf, skiing, and coaching two girls’ softball teams. He is a past member of the Acushnet School Building Committee. He is a board member and past president of the Country Club of New Bedford, and board member and past chairman of the Construction Industries of Massachusetts, a group representing over 700 firms.