Dr. Mary K. Grant, President, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Dr. Mary K. Grant became President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) in July 2021. As President of MassArt, Dr. Grant is leading a campaign to raise the College’s institutional profile within the celebration of the 150th anniversary of MassArt’s founding and to forge and strengthen bonds with community and neighborhood partners. Serving as the public ambassador for the College, Dr. Grant is committed to amplifying MassArt’s legacy of providing equitable access to world class art and design education, and to elevating the critical role of the arts as a driver of a thriving economy. Dr. Grant brings to MassArt nearly 30 years of experience in public higher education, including serving as President of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and Chancellor of the University of North Carolina Asheville. She has also served as the President of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and as Senior Fellow for Civic and Social Justice at Bridgewater State University, leading the Martin Richard Institute for Social Justice. President Grant is Chair of the National Board of Directors of Campus Compact as well as Vice Chair of the Board for the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Susan Hackley, Former Managing Director of the Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School

The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School is a world-renowned interdisciplinary research center dedicated to improving the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution. As Managing Director, Susan Hackley oversaw all of PON’s activities, which include research projects, conferences, special events, and educational programs. She also managed the publication of a variety of books and teaching materials, including the monthly Negotiation newsletter and the quarterly Negotiation Journal. Susan has taught negotiation seminars in China, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain and Italy. Before joining PON, she worked in politics as a policy analyst and served as communications director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. As a writer/photographer, she has had work published in National Geographic Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications. She also co-founded an Internet company, an e-philanthropy site dedicated to helping people connect to causes they care about. Susan has a Masters Degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School and served three years as chair of the board of directors of the Alliance for Peacebuilding.

Deion Hawkins, PH.D., Assistant Professor, Argumentation and Advocacy; Director, Forensics, Emerson College, Boston, MA USA

Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Hawkins, currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy and the Director of Debate at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. As a first generation college graduate, Deion has always been passionate about the power of education and equipping all with the tools of advocacy, empathy, and dialogue. As a critical health scholar, Deion remains committed to advancing equity and fighting racism and other systems of oppression in public health. His recent research can be found in Frontiers in Health Communication and Health Communication. Outside of the classroom, with over 10+ years of experience, Deion has coached multiple national finalists and champions in various debate events. Lastly, Dr. Hawkins is proud to humbly serve his community. He currently serves as board Co-Chair for the Emerging Leaders Board at Boston Health Care For the Homeless Program and is the Coalition Manager HIV Racial Justice Now coalition! (HRJN).

Marjee-Anne Levine, Visting Assistant Professor, MassArt

Marjee-Anne Levine is a modern-day alchemist; for 20+ years she has sought personal refinement through the practice of working with metals. She received her BFA (2000) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA (2004) from Georgia State University. Marjee is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art & Design (MassArt) where she has taught for the past 14 years. Before taking on this role, she spent most of her career working in and running professional fine-art bronze foundries, and is an internationally recognized expert in the field of metal casting. Marjee has conducted lectures, workshops, and demonstrations at various institutions including: Harvard University, Penland School of Crafts, the International Sculpture Conference, and the International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art. Additionally, she proudly served as the 2015 and 2017 co-chair of the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art & Practices. In 2019 Marjee co-founded Eutectic Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and mental health based organization, using metal casting as an innovative form of learning. As a technician, educator, and mentor, Marjee’s focus is always to share information in order to promote access and facilitate creative exploration.

Stacy Malone, Esq., Executive Director, Victim Rights Law Center

Stacy Malone, Esq. is the Executive Director of the Victim Rights Law Center and works out of the VRLC’s Boston, MA office. She joined the VRLC in 2004 as a volunteer attorney, where she provided free legal services to sexual assault survivors on employment, safety, privacy and legal needs. After serving five years on the Board of Directors in various leadership positions, she served as the Co-Administrator and was subsequently appointed Executive Director in 2010. Stacy oversees the organization’s strategic direction, four national programs, as well as the VRLC’s three offices in Massachusetts and Oregon. She also oversees the VRLC’s bicoastal management team, finance, fundraising, media relations, human resources, and new project development. Stacy partners with the Office on Violence Against Women, the Office for Victims of Crime, and other local and national organizations to train a wide range of audiences to improve the response to sexual violence. Stacy serves on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council to Address Sexual and Domestic Violence and the Advisory Board for the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Program. She has worked in the private sector and at both federal and state agencies. Her legal career has focused on working with young women, victims of violence, and those who have faced discrimination. Stacy is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Boston University School of Law. She is a recipient of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s Top Women of Law Award, Massachusetts Lawyer’s Weekly’s Circle of Excellence, Boston University School Public Interest Alumni Award and the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance Leadership Award. Stacy has been featured in a number of local and national media outlets and has an essay in the anthology “Believe Me” released in January 2020.

Gregory Payne, PhD, Chair, Department of Communication Studies, Emerson College

Dr. J. Gregory Payne is also the Co-Director of the Emerson Blanquerna Center for Global Communication and received an “Honoris Causa” from the University of Ramon Llull in Barcelona in the fall of 2019 for his distinguished academic and professional career. He has taught at Yale and Tufts University. Dr. Payne received his B.A, M.A. and Ph.D at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and also earned an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has authored books, chapters, articles and proceedings and has lectured internationally on topics related to political communication, public diplomacy, health communication, media, ethics, leadership, negotiation, crisis and risk communication. He is on the Advisory board of the Journal of Health Communication, Tripidos, American Behavioral Scientist, Media Ethics, Journal of Promotion Management, among others. He has been the invited editor for American Behavioral Scientist’s special edition on the U.S. presidential campaign for every election since l988. He is past President of the International Academy of Business Disciplines, past chair of the Political Communication Division of the National Communication Association, and Advisory Board member of the Global Public Relations Project.

John Rendon, CEO and President, The Rendon Group, Inc.

John Rendon is CEO and President of The Rendon Group, Inc. (TRG) a global strategic communications consultancy. Mr. Rendon has served as Executive Director and Political Director of the Democratic Party of the United States and has worked and led numerous campaigns at the federal, state and local level. To date, TRG has worked in or on 127 countries. John Rendon is one of the world’s leading pioneers in the use of strategic communications as an element of national power and one of the first thought-leaders to harness the power of emerging technologies in support of real time information management. He has served as an executive communications consultant to the White House, U.S. Department of Defense, the National Security community and to the leadership of Fortune 500 companies, among others. Mr. Rendon, a graduate of Northeastern University, hails from Boston, where he served as an Assistant Secretary of Public Safety and later as a Special Assistant to the Governor. He has also served as an analyst for CBS News and has appeared as an analyst on BBC World Service television, BBC World Service radio, SKY Television and CNN, among others. Follow John @JohnWRendon.

Keri Thompson, Senior Lecturer, Emerson College; Chair, Cohasset Select Board

Keri Thompson is a Senior Lecturer at Emerson College and specializes in public speaking, politics and social media. She has extensive public speaking experience and has taught, coached and lectured on the subject at various schools and organizations across the country. She specializes in coaching and training political candidates. Her research specialties include nonverbal communication and image, political communication, social media, rhetoric and language. Specifically, her interests are in social media and politics, presidential rhetoric and campaign communication. She has been busy pioneering ways to use Snapchat in both the classroom and the political arena.

Keri was born in Boston and grew up in the suburbs of Acton. After attending Acton-Boxborough public schools, she graduated with a BS in Speech Communication from Bradley University in Peoria, IL. While there she met an obscure State Senator named Barack Obama who convinced her to ditch her Republican roots and become a political activist. She continued her graduate education at Pepperdine University and the University of Texas at Austin, finishing with MAs in Strategic Communication & Rhetoric and Political Communication respectively. Keri lives on the South Shore (in Cohasset) and can often be found near the ocean wearing a Red Sox hat and a “Free Brady Again” hoodie.

Emily Weiner, Chief of Staff, Greenlight for Girls

Emily is a systems thinking entrepreneur, business advisor, and mentor who has spent more than 25 years connecting people and ideas to activate change. She is an enthusiastic advocate for bringing purpose to life and creating a difference in the world around us.

For more than a decade, Emily has advised thousands of leaders on their pathway to creating economic and social value simultaneously. She models how to bring intentionality to relationships and partnerships; and leaders at all ages and stages of their careers rely on her uncanny knack to connect the dots, especially between people. They quickly learn how transformative a simple conversation can be when you bring together both the usual and unusual partners.

In addition to her work with established changemakers, Emily has helped more than 1,000 youth connect to their passions, cultivate new skills, and embrace societal problems as entrepreneurial opportunities to become the next generation of leaders. She helps leaders from teenagers to people in their 60s think about how they can better activate change in any organization, any role, any sector, and any community.

Emily currently serves as Chief of Staff at greenlight for girls, an organization that encourages girls of any age and background to consider STEM-related careers by introducing them to the world of math and science in fun and exciting ways. Previously, she helped launch The Lewis Institute at Babson College, serving as its Associate Director for 11 years and growing this startup inside the College to a multimillion-dollar portfolio of business focused on using an entrepreneurial mindset to solve problems differently. Emily also developed the Green Events practice for Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship to help link environmental sustainability efforts with corporate social responsibility initiatives. As an entrepreneur, she has started her own businesses and worked for a variety of organizations in the private, public, and social sectors. Emily is an alumna of Wellesley College and is currently an RSA Fellow, a Global Advisor to Orora Global, and an Advisory Board member of Community Dispute Settlement Center.