Board of Directors

Secretary Michael J. Heffernan

Co-Chair, Secretary of Executive Office for Administration and Finance

Michael J. Heffernan joined Governor Charlie Baker’s cabinet as Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance in August 2017. In his role, Secretary Heffernan is in charge of formulating the governor’s budget plan, providing guidance on the economy, and implementing the state government’s $40 billion operating and $2 billion capital budgets. Secretary Heffernan also manages numerous state administrative agencies including the Department of Revenue (tax administration and economic forecasting), the Human Resources Division (talent recruitment and management), the Group Insurance Commission (employee and retiree health insurance), the Operational Services Division (procurement), and the Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (state facilities).

Mike previously served as Commissioner of the Department of Revenue for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where he was responsible for administrating tax, revenue collection, child support, and municipal finance laws.

Following his campaign for Massachusetts state treasurer in 2014, Mike served on Governor Charlie Baker’s transition team and was appointed to the boards of Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (PRIM) and the MBTA Retirement Fund in early 2015.

In the private sector, Mike spent nearly two decades in increasingly senior roles at Citigroup and its predecessor firm, Salomon Brothers, as a managing director in its markets and banking division. He previously served as a Vice President in capital markets at NatWest Markets and EF Hutton & Co. Most recently, he co-founded the Massachusetts tech startup Mobiquity in 2011.

Mike has been involved with a number of non-profits focused primarily on education and healthcare. He holds an MBA in finance from New York University, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University where he sits on the Georgetown College Board of Advisors and chairs the Georgetown Library Board.

Secretary Mike Kennealy

Co-Chair, Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

As Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Mike Kennealy is responsible for advancing the Baker-Polito Administration’s agenda to create economic opportunity for residents, collaborative leadership in communities, an environment that supports job creation and business growth, and new housing for residents through targeted investments.

In early 2015, Kennealy joined the Administration as Assistant Secretary for Business Growth. As Assistant Secretary, Kennealy played an integral role in advancing the administration’s strategy for job creation and business development across the entire Commonwealth and provided leadership in key sectors, including serving as co-chair of the board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

Kennealy combines a successful track record in the private sector with a strong commitment to the public good. He began his career in private equity at TA Associates, a Boston-based firm. In 1997, he joined Spectrum Equity, a private equity firm founded in 1994 with offices in Boston and San Francisco. During his more than 15 years at Spectrum, he helped grow the firm to become an established market leader with nearly $5 billion in assets under management and investments in over 100 high-growth internet, software and information services companies. After his career in private equity, Kennealy spent two years as Special Advisor to the Receiver at Lawrence Public Schools, where he worked with the state-appointed superintendent/receiver on strategic and financial initiatives to support the school district’s turnaround plan.

Kennealy and his family live in Lexington, Massachusetts, where they have been highly involved in town government, education and youth sports. He has served on the Board of Trustees of St. John’s Prep in Danvers since 2009 and currently serves as Chairman, and he serves on the Board of Visitors for The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College.

Kennealy received an A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Stuart Abelson

President and CEO, Ora

Stuart Abelson is President and CEO at Ora. In the 10 years that he has been CEO, Stuart’s acumen in science and business has helped grow Ora from a small family business to a multinational CRO. Stuart’s knowledge of and passion for the ophthalmic product space has translated into great opportunities for Ora’s clients. His energy ensures Ora is always at the leading edge of ophthalmic innovation. Stuart has 20 years of broad experience in business and marketing strategy, international operations, M&A, licensing, product innovation and R&D management, and business model innovation. He also serves on multiple nonprofit and corporate boards.

Stuart holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Neuroscience from Bates College.

Jackie Grant, PhD

Principal, Abingworth

Jackie has more than 10 years of scientific, research and business development experience. She joined Abingworth in November 2018 and will work with the team in the Boston, London, and Menlo Park offices to evaluate new opportunities and support existing venture investments.

Previously, Jackie was a Senior Associate at SV Health Investors. She was formerly in the Business Development Group at Genentech with primary responsibility for partnering activities in neuroscience. Her transactions span a broad spectrum of deal structures and therapeutic areas, including technology and platform in-licenses and research collaborations. Jackie has a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford School of Medicine and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Gary Paul Kearney, M.D.

President, Longwood Urological Associates

Gary Kearney is a native of Piedmont, California. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree with honors from Northwestern University in 1961 and his Doctor of Medicine Degree in 1965 at the University of California, San Francisco. On completion of active duty in the United States Navy during the Vietnam conflict, he trained as a Urological Surgeon at the Harvard Program of Urology, Longwood area. Since 1973 he has been on the staff of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical, and New England Baptist Hospital where he was President of the Medical Staff, Chief of Urology, and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Surgery. Dr. Kearney currently serves as President of Longwood Urological Associates in Boston.

In 1999 Dr. Kearney retired as a Captain of the United States Naval Reserve, having served since 1961.
He served as Treasurer of the Theodore Roosevelt Association and currently serves on the Executive Committee. Gary Kearney is also a Trustee of Rogerson Communities, Past Chairman of the Development Committee, a nonprofit organization devoted to affordable housing and services for elders. He is also Vice Chairman and Trustee of the USS Constitution Museum.

Dr. Kearney is an avid aviation enthusiast with an airline pilot rating who enjoys swimming, photography and traveling. His wife, Susan can be found lovingly restoring our “final resting place “to its original historic appearance when she is not out in the garden pulling weeds. They currently reside on weekends in Duxbury and have four adult children, Michael, Alison, Shanon and Christian and six grandchildren, Anders, Niall, Owen, Laurel, Thea and Sam.

Marty Meehan

President, University of Massachusetts

Marty Meehan, the 27th president of the University of Massachusetts, is the first undergraduate alumnus to lead the system. He was named to the presidency after eight successful years as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he propelled that institution forward by every important measure of higher education. During his tenure, UMass Lowell achieved record growth in enrollment, student retention and funding for research and scholarships. The campus underwent a stunning physical transformation with new academic buildings and residence halls, upgraded academic and research facilities, and enhanced student activity spaces.

While chancellor, he was honored by the Lura Smith Fund with the Living the Dream Award in 2015 for embracing the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through his faith and commitment to social justice. In 2014, he received the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) President of the Year Award at the organization’s 100th anniversary celebration and the Robert H. (Tex) McClain, Jr. Distinguished Public Administrator Award from the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration. He received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) at the annual District I program in 2012.

A former congressman, President Meehan represented the 5th Congressional District of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2007, where he served on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees. Widely respected as a reformer, he established a national reputation for his legislative leadership in transforming campaign finance laws and protecting the public from the health risks of tobacco use. Previously, he served as Massachusetts’ deputy secretary of state for securities and corporations and he was the first assistant district attorney of Middlesex County.

President Meehan graduated cum laude from UMass Lowell in 1978 with a degree in education and political science. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from Suffolk University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1986. He holds honorary degrees from Suffolk University, Green Mountain College in Vermont and Shenkar College of Engineering & Design in Israel.

Pam Randhawa

CEO and Founder, Empiriko

Pam Randhawa is Founder and CEO of Empiriko, an integrated precision medicine company focused on early disease detection, prognosis, prediction, and ongoing therapeutic monitoring.

Pam has 20 years of experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries with expertise ranging from policy, corporate strategy, product development, analytics and marketing for Fortune 500 companies, startups and government. Prior to founding Empiriko, Pam co-founded AgroGreen Biofuels, an alternative biofuels technology company from plant waste. The company’s patented synthetic liver technology (Biomimiks™) provides a platform for analyzing the liver’s metabolic reactions to drugs, food, and other chemical compounds – serving as a foundation for the company’s diagnostic device, Personalized Metabolic Fingerprint™ (PMF).

Previously, Pam served as VP of Strategic Development at Sermo, the largest Physician Online Community in the US, where she was responsible for identifying and developing new markets in the areas of clinical development, analytics and international expansion. Before joining Sermo, she served as VP of Global Marketing at Phase Forward (acquired by Oracle), a leader in Electronic Data Capture (EDC), management and drug safety for clinical trials, where she was responsible for the planning and execution of the company’s global marketing and product strategy. Previously, Pam was Director of Analytical Development at McKesson Corporation, where she effectively developed healthcare products that leveraged healthcare longitudinal data to assess the effectiveness of various therapies, disease severity, healthcare costs, and quality of care provided to healthcare plan members. She also served as an independent consultant to the State of Ohio, Department of Health, where she led a statewide task force focusing on the Health Status of Ohioans for the State Health Plan and developed a 5-point plan to improve public health in Ohio.

Ms. Randhawa holds a Bachelors Degree in economics from the University of Rajasthan, India, and received a Masters Degree from the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie-Mellon University.

Julie Chen, Ph.D

Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, UMASS Lowell. (Board designee for President Marty Meehan)

Dr. Julie Chen is the Vice Chancellor for Research & Economic Development and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (www.uml.edu). As the Chief Research Officer, Dr. Chen also oversees industry partnerships, technology transfer, startups & innovation, core research facilities, centers & institutes, and economic development programs. She has fostered and supported many collaboration models including unique co-location partnerships with Raytheon and the Natick Soldier RDE Center (HEROES), and 3 NSF Industry-University centers in wind energy, biomanufacturing, and 3D Printing. With support from the Commonwealth (M2I2), UMass Lowell established the first center in the nation to integrate three Manufacturing USA institutes (AFFOA – smart textiles, NextFlex – flexible electronics, and ARM – robotics) under the Fabric Discovery Center (FDC) umbrella. The FDC, in cooperation with the University’s Medical Device incubator (M2D2) and Innovation Hub, will work with industry to create new technologies in areas such as wearable electronics, medical textiles, performance clothing, robotics & automation, physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Dr. Chen is also one of the co-PIs on a $3.5M NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant to help advance women faculty in STEM at UMass Lowell and was a leader of the University’s successful effort to be one of the first three institutions in the US to receive the AAAS SEA Change (STEM Equity Achievement) Award.
Dr. Chen served as the Program Director of the Materials Processing and Manufacturing and the Nanomanufacturing Programs in the Division of Design, Manufacture, and Industrial Innovation at the National Science Foundation from 2002-2004. Dr. Chen has also served as the 2010 Technical Program Chair for the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition and has served on editorial boards, advisory committees, and review panels for several journals and federal agencies, including NSF, NIH, the National Academies, DOE, ARL, and AFOSR.

Dr. Chen received her PhD, MS, and BS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering and recently was awarded an honorary degree from Queens University Belfast.

Mark D. Fuller

Undersecretary for Business Growth, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (Board designee for Secretary Kennealy)

As Undersecretary of Business Growth at the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, Mark is responsible for advancing the administration’s strategy for job creation and business development across the Commonwealth. Mark coordinates state-funded incentive, capital, and operating budget driven programs, leads departments that offer support and resources for businesses of all sizes, and fosters relationships with the state’s diverse business owners. Mark most recently served as the Chief of Staff at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), and previously worked in the Office of the Governor of Massachusetts as Director of Performance Management.