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Board of Directors


Patricia Byrne

Newton, MA
VP, Administration & Planning, Wellesley College

Pat Byrne was born and raised in Westbury, Long Island, NY and currently lives in Newton, MA with her husband, Robert Burns, where they raised their two children. After attending Newton College of the Sacred Heart, Pat earned a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has spent her professional life in the administration of educational organizations and held positions at the University of Massachusetts, Lesley University, the Cambridge Partnership for Public Education, and the Massachusetts Governor’s Office. Pat is an active member of St. Ignatius of Loyola parish in Chestnut Hill, MA, serving in a variety of ministries. She is a member of the Ethics Committee for the New England Province of Jesuits and is a trustee of the Fontbonne Academy in Milton, MA and the Crittenton Women’s Union in Boston.


Daniel Cronin

New Rochelle, NY
Former VP & General Counsel, Pfizer International

A graduate of Fordham College in Biology, Daniel Cronin completed his studies at the Brooklyn Law School, earning his J.D. in 1972. Subsequently he held a series of legal management positions for Pfizer, Inc., including Associate General Counsel for Pfizer, Inc., Vice-President and General Counsel of Pfizer International, Inc., Vice-President and General Counsel of Pfizer Medical Products Group, and General Counsel of Pfizer Global Research and Development, serving also on the Pfizer Corporate Management Council, a senior governance committee. He has global experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has a proven record of managing the legal function for large and small business firms. He has served on the Board of Directors of a number of publicly traded companies, and is a member of the Finance Committee of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus and of the Board of Governors of the Shenorock Shore Club, Rye, N.Y.


Daniel Denihan

Manhasset, NY
Denihan Capital, LLC

Dan Denihan is a life long parishioner of St. Mary’s Church in Manhasset, NY. He is married to Kathleen Tuohey and they are the proud parents of five children. Dan graduated from Xavier H.S. where he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame, and Boston College where he received the Philip Callan Award for Volunteerism. Prior to Denihan Capital, he was the co-owner of Affina Hospitality, where he served in multiple capacities including operations, sales and marketing, food and beverage, and held the position of Marketing Director. Dan currently serves on several boards and committees including: St. Francis Hospital (chair), Capital Campaign Committee for St. Aloysius School in Harlem (co-chair), National Development Board for Boston College, Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters (advisory), Steering Committee for Boy’s Town New York Development (advisory), and Tomorrow’s Hope Foundation. He is a recipient of the Catholic Big Brothers Dwight Darcy Lifetime Achievement Award and is a member of the Manhasset Lacrosse Hall of Fame.


Richard Smith Kelly, Jr.

Greenwich, CT
Senior Managing Director, The Bridgeford Group

Richard Smith Kelly, Jr. was born in Chicago, IL and currently lives in Greenwich, CT with his wife, Ginna Boyle Kelly. They are the parents of four children. Richard graduated from Harvard College and obtained an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has worked in finance and investment for over 20 years both in the US and the UK, with various corporations including Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan Chase. He is on the Board of Directors of the Jesuit Refugee Services, Washington, DC and the Harvard Club of NYC. He serves as advisor to the executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT and is on the President’s Committee of the Asia Society, NY, NY. Richard has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, West Africa and is a parishioner of St. Mary’s Parish in Greenwich, CT. He is a member of several clubs and organizations including the National Peace Corps Association, The Wild Geese, and Stanford Club of NYC.


Madeline E. Lacovara

New Canaan, CT
Developmental Psychologist

Madeline Lacovara lives in New Canaan, CT with her husband of 45 years. They have seven children and 14 grandchildren. She is a developmental psychologist by training and has worked as a therapist and management consultant. In 1991 Madeline co-founded Classroom, Inc., a non-profit education and technology company which gives inner-city children an opportunity to experience technology as a problem-solving tool. After retiring, she worked with Bishop Lori to form the Cathedral Education Cluster involving six inner-city Bridgeport schools and is the President of the Cluster board. Madeline is also the Director of Pastoral Care for three nursing homes, is Chair of the Cristo Rey H.S. board in East Harlem, and sits on the Cristo Rey Network and Holy Family Hospital Foundation boards as well. She has done work in hospitals and schools in developing countries.


John Lively

Washington, D.C.
VP Finance & CFO, Salzburg Seminar in American Studies

John Lively and his wife, Jean, have three grown children and seven grandchildren. He received his Bachelor’s degree (A.B.) from Fordham and graduate degree (M.Sc.) from the London School of Economics. His professional career includes being named the first Director of Administration and Finance at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, working in the Government Services offices of Deloitte & Touche, and the U.S. Treasury Department. He serves on the Boards of Associated Universities, Loyola Retreat House and the Highland County Medical Center Foundation. He is also an appointed representative of Highland County, VA to the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission’s projects dealing with disasters. He is also a member of the University Club in Washington, DC.


Christopher Lowney

Riverdale, NY
President, Pilgrimage for Our Children’s Future

Chris Lowney, formerly a Jesuit seminarian in the New York Province, worked at JP Morgan & Co for seventeen years, serving as a Managing Director and management committee member during postings in Tokyo, Singapore, London, and New York. He left JP Morgan in 2001, and has since authored Heroic Leadership and A Vanished World. He is also President of Pilgrimage for Our Children’s Future, which funds education and healthcare projects in the developing world.


Paul Macke, S.J.

Washington, D.C.
Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Jesuit Life, Jesuit Conference

Rev. Paul Macke, S.J. is a professional pastoral psychotherapist with over thirty years of clinical experience. A Chicago Province Jesuit priest born in Cincinnati, OH, he has worked eighteen years in Alaska and most recently for nine years as Executive Director of Holy Spirit Center in Anchorage. Since August of 2005 he has been Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Jesuit Life for the Jesuit Conference of the United States in Washington, DC.


Kevin O’Brien, S.J.

Washington, D.C.
Associate Pastor, Holy Trinity Parish

Prior to joining the Jesuits, Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J. taught high school for three years and practiced corporate law in south Florida for two years. His degrees include a J.D. from the University of Florida, an MA in Philosophy from Fordham University, and Master of Divinity and STL from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. He is trained in spiritual direction and gave the 30 day Spiritual Exercises at the Jesuit retreat center in Milford, OH. Kevin assisted in a 19th annotation retreat program for students and faculty at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia where he taught philosophy and ethics for two years. He directed the Jesuit Family Retreat program, an 18th annotation retreat for mostly immigrant and inner city families at Blue Ridge Summit, PA. His recent publications include “Consolation in Action: The Jesuit Refugee Service and the Ministry of Accompaniment” in Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, and “The Classroom as Holy Ground” in America magazine. Currently, as associate pastor of a Jesuit parish, he directs RCIA and the Spiritual Exercises program for parishioners and teachers at the parish school.


Marianna Pierce

Cambridge, MA
Director, Labor & Employee Relations, MIT

Marianna Pierce grew up in Maine and currently lives in Cambridge. A lawyer by training, she obtained both her undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard. Her career has focused on higher education and other nonprofit organizations, and in particular on employee and student issues, nonprofit governance, and tax issues. She has served as the chief education counsel for Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Before that, she was the General Counsel for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and prior to that, she was a university attorney in Harvard University’s Office of the General Counsel. She has also worked at the Boston law firms of Palmer & Dodge and Ropes & Gray.


Deborah A. Robbins

Lincoln, MA
Executive Service Corps of New England

Deborah Robbins was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX and came to Boston upon completion of her undergraduate education. She spent the majority of her career at State Street Corporation in a variety of management and investment professional positions. Most recently she was Vice President and Product Manager of Family Office Services in the Wealth Manager Services Division. After retiring from the corporate sector, Deborah spent almost a year in Honduras as a volunteer kindergarten teacher in a home for abused and abandoned girls. Deborah has been a director and member of several nonprofit boards, including the Boston Center for Adult Education, Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts, the Community Music Center of Boston and the United Way of Massachusetts Allocations Coordinating Committee. She has been a volunteer consultant with the Executive Service Corps of New England since October 2005, where she provides consultant and facilitator services in board governance and development, fund raising and planned giving strategy and strategic planning for non-profit organizations.


Walter Smith, S.J.

New York, NY
President & CEO, The HealthCare Chaplaincy

Rev. Walter J. Smith, S.J., a native of Boston and a member of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, has a rich educational background. Besides studies in French at Boston College and Université Laval, Québec, P.Q., he pursued studies in philosophy and theology as part of his Jesuit formation. He received a M. Ed. in counseling and a Ph.D. in psychology from Boston University. He taught at Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, Rivier College, the Gregorian University and Fairfield University where he also served as chairperson of the Department of Psychology. In 1988 he became Dean of Weston Jesuit School of Theology and was a professor in the Department of Pastoral Studies. In 1991, he was named Executive Vice-President of The HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City, becoming its President and CEO in 1993, a post he still holds. In this post he has helped craft a new model for providing well trained and supported chaplains to hospitals in the Greater New York area, creating as well a center for research and publication in chaplaincy. He has used these gifts to great effect for the benefit of The Jesuit Collaborative; he shepherded the initial strategic process launched by the Jesuit Provincials of Maryland, New England, and New York, and provided a guiding hand in envisioning the structure, mission, and identity of this new initiative. He has served as Chair of the Interim.


Rudy Vargas, IV

New York, NY
Executive Director, Northeast Hispanic Catholic Center

Rudy Vargas, IV has worked extensively in the area of leadership formation. He has been the Executive Director of the Center for Catholic Lay Leadership Formation, Archdiocese of New York, Associate Director of Hispanic Ministry, Diocese of Brooklyn, and Director of Citywide Youth Leadership Program, Aspira of New York. He served as President of the National Catholic Network de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana and National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors for Hispanic Ministry. He is also a member of the following boards: Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University; EPNE, a New York Province Jesuit Hispanic Program; and, National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors for Hispanic Ministry.


Martin Walsh

Alexandria, VA
Society for Human Resource Management

Martin Walsh thinks outside the lines and has been known to sometimes see around corners as well. He has a natural talent for marketing and promotion, describing his career as resembling that of a vaudeville performer in all its creativity and variety. He has done special projects for three cabinet level secretaries, created and directed the bicentennial parade (the largest attended parade in the nation’s capital), raised millions of dollars for United Way, and helped make the academy award nominated documentary film on the Holocaust (Courage to Care). He is an expert on Japanese corporations and on philanthropy in America. As an executive, he made the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation into a national leader by creating the annual Thought Leaders Conference and producing a DVD series on innovative HR management strategies (now used in over 300 university in the US and around the world; is translated into Chinese, Japanese and Spanish).