FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2022
Media Contact:
Matt Porter
617-514-1574
press@jfklfoundation.org
www.jfklibrary.org
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Announces New Board Members
BOSTON, MA – Ronald L. Sargent, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, announced that the Board of Directors unanimously elected the following new members:
B. Marc Allen, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at The Boeing Company; Vlad Barbalat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Liberty Mutual Investments; Chris Cassidy, President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation; Christine Heenan, Executive Partner and Chief Communications Officer, Flagship Pioneering; Jack Leslie, strategic communications executive, political consultant and international development activist; Scott Schuster, the Founder and CEO of Wingate Healthcare; and Michael Steed, Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Capital Group.
“I am very pleased to add such distinguished individuals to help guide the Kennedy Library Foundation as we embark on new challenges this year and beyond,” said Sargent, former chairman and CEO of Staples, Inc. “This year, we will celebrate President Kennedy’s moonshot call to reach for the Moon no matter the difficulty. Each of our newly elected Board Members is committed to the difficult but rewarding task of ensuring that the legacy of President Kennedy endures and inspires future generations. We are honored that this diverse, thoughtful, and respected group of individuals will be joining our leadership team.”
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a federal institution under the National Archives.
About our New Board Members:
B. Marc Allen is Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at The Boeing Company. Before joining Boeing in 2007, Marc practiced law in Washington, D.C. and served as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s law clerk. Marc serves on the boards of directors of Procter & Gamble and numerous global organizations, including as chairman of the International Justice Mission, trustee of the Trilateral Commission, and director of the U.S.-China Business Council and U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum. Marc Allen received his law degree from Yale Law School and his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Princeton University.
Vlad Barbalat is President and Chief Investment Officer of Liberty Mutual Investments. Vlad joined Liberty Mutual in 2017 as Head of Investment Strategy and was later promoted to Co-Head of Strategy and Asset Allocation for LMI. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in New York, where he spent 13 years and held several leadership positions, then went on to Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo (GMO) where he served as the Head Portfolio Manager for the firm’s flagship hedge fund, and as a senior member of the Asset Allocation team. Vlad earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Information Systems, graduating summa cum laude from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business in 2003. He completed his CFA designation in 2006.
Chris Cassidy is President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation where he leads the project to build the iconic Museum, Leadership Institute, and Monument. Captain Cassidy is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL who was awarded two Bronze Stars. Chris was selected as an astronaut in 2004 and is a veteran of three space fights and ten spacewalks accumulating 377 days in space. In 2015, he became NASA's 14th Chief Astronaut, serving for two years. Chris received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy, and a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also has Honorary PhD's from Husson University and the University of Maine at Augusta.
Christine Heenan is Executive Partner and Chief Communications Officer, Flagship Pioneering. She is the founder and former president of Clarendon Group, served as Senior Vice President for Global Policy & Advocacy at The Rockefeller Foundation, and from 2008 to 2015, Christine was Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Harvard University. She served in the Clinton White House as a Senior Policy Analyst and speechwriter, and taught policy, advocacy and communications at Harvard and Brown Universities. She serves on the boards of the David Rockefeller Fund and the University of Rhode Island.
Jack Leslie is a strategic communications executive, political consultant and international development activist. He retired as Chairman of Weber Shandwick in 2022. Jack was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Board of Directors of the U.S. African Development Foundation. He was named Chairman of the USADF Board by President Barack Obama. Jack was appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa in 2016. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member and former Chairman of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid, member of Duke Global Health Institute’s Board of Advisors and of the Ron Brown Scholar Program. Jack is Chairman of the board of directors for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation, a member of the Water.org Board, and a trustee of the Circumnavigators Foundation. Jack began his career as an aide to Senator Edward Kennedy. Jack is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Scott Schuster is the Founder and CEO of Wingate Healthcare, a developer, owner and operator of residential senior living communities in the Northeast. He is also Principal and Partner of Continental Wingate Company, an owner and developer of a national multifamily portfolio. He has served on numerous boards including the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, the Brigham & Women’s Hospital Physicians Organization, The Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, and The Center for Blood Research, among others. Mr. Schuster is a graduate of Tufts University. He is married with three children and resides in Boston, MA.
Michael Steed is the Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Capital Group and serves as Chairman of multiple Funds and Investment Committees. Prior to Paladin, he was Senior Vice President of Investments of a major financial services company and President of its investment advisory firm. From 1981 to 1985, Michael served as Special Counsel to the Chairman and as the National Director of the Democratic Party of the United States of America (DNC). He serves on the Board of Trustees of Loyola Marymount University, the Board of Visitors for Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, the Board of Directors of Harvard University’s Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the Board of National Alliance to End Homelessness. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and his JD from Loyola Law School.
About the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The private financial support provided by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation enables the federal government to expand the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s research and archival capacity, to undertake marketing and public information projects, to offer intern and research fellowship programs, to enhance its museum and exhibits, and to offer nationally recognized educational and public programming.
By sponsoring and administering programs such as the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, the New Frontier Award, and the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students, the Foundation is united with the Library in a common mission to perpetuate President Kennedy's ideal that political and public service be conducted and exemplified as an honorable and patriotic profession.