Board of Directors

Gita Iyer, President
Curt Burmeister, Treasurer
Kathy Parent, Secretary

Elizabeth Freeman
Joelle Gamere
Aline Gery
Rachel Gwaltney
Jackie Kankainen
Ali Nuger
Shannon O'Leary
Rob Ruffin

Gita Iyer, President

Gita Iyer is a certified Leadership and Executive coach who partners with corporate executives, entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders to help them be more effective and fulfilled in their professional and personal lives. Prior to this, she was in Information Technology Consulting with Accenture, for over 25 years. Gita has an MS in Information Systems from Boston University and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She has served on the boards of Dedham Country Day school and Noble and Greenough School.  Gita was the founding Board Chair of the Horizons at DCD program for 12 years and is the founding Board President of Horizons Greater Boston. She is also a member of the Horizons National Board of Directors.

Curt Burmeister, Treasurer

Curt is the Chief Technology Officer at SS&C Algorithmics.  His team is responsible for the design and development of quantitative risk management solutions that are used by banks and other financial institutions to meet both regulatory and internal reporting requirements.  He is also a Board member and Treasurer for Horizons at Dedham Country Day. Curt holds an MBA in Financial Engineering from MIT and a BA with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics from Cornell University. 

Kathy Parent, Secretary

Kathy Parent currently serves on the Education and Training Branch Board of the Greater Boston Y and is a mentor at YMCA Training, Inc., a non-profit community based workforce development program in Boston. She is a past member and Vice President of the Board of Trustees at Dedham Country Day School. She currently serves on the Horizons at Dedham Country Day Board. She earned a BS in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University.

Elizabeth Freeman

Elizabeth Freeman is currently serving as an Access to Justice Fellow with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), an organization that provides legal representation for children who have entered the US immigration system alone. Previously, Elizabeth worked as a Managing Director and Senior Counsel at BNY Mellon where she specialized in investment company and securities law relating to the operation of mutual funds. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and law degree from Boston College and currently serves as a member of the Boston College Law School Alumni Board.

Joelle Gamere

Joelle Gamere is the Assistant Principal of the Mattahunt Elementary School and also serves as Director of the school’s Toussaint L'Ouverture Academy; the first in the nation early elementary Haitian Creole dual language program. She was instrumental in the redesign of the school by leading a team of stakeholders to address closing the opportunity and achievement gap while meeting the cultural, linguistic, and social emotional learning needs of the students. Prior to joining the Mattahunt in 2016, she was the Director of EL Instructional Support and Professional Learning for Boston Public Schools’ Office of English Learners. She has been serving the youth of Boston for over 20 years. Joelle is a graduate of Boston’s John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. She earned a B.A. from Merrimack College and a M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Aline Gery

Head of Lexington Montessori School (LMS) since 2006, Aline Gery led a group of teachers and administrators at LMS to establish the first Montessori Horizons program in 2014 (as Head of School, she is a member of the Horizons @ LMS Board). Aline has worked in independent and public schools for 35 years, with shorts stints in advertising and the international education business. She has served on the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE) Board and is currently on the Board of the Montessori Schools of Massachusetts (MSM). She earned a masters degree in teaching and curriculum from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA from Amherst College.

Rachel Gwaltney

Rachel Gwaltney is currently Executive Director of the Children’s League of Massachusetts, promoting the well-being of children and families through public awareness and advocacy. Previously she served as Vice President of Policy & Research at the National Summer Learning Association, leading efforts to improve and sustain policy conditions for summer learning and enrichment programs. Prior to joining NSLA in 2015, Rachel held various roles at District of Columbia Public Schools, Data Quality Campaign, and Horizons National, and Higher Achievement. Rachel earned a Master of Public Policy and Administration degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Johns Hopkins University. She completed the Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) at IEL in 2012.

Jackie Kankainen

Jackie holds her  MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BS in Economics from Trinity College in Hartford CT. Jackie is currently a Senior Director of Talent at Bain & Company, a consulting firm based in Boston, MA. Jackie oversees professional development within the private equity practice. She lives in Dover and has two children in elementary school.

Ali Nuger

Ali is currently the Head of Boston Operations and Strategic Initiatives at Bain & Company. Previously, she was a Senior Manager at The Bridgespan Group, and prior to that position, was at Bain & Company as a consultant. Ali also serves on the Board of the Boston Collegiate Charter School where she is Co-Chair of the Development Committee. Ali has a B.A., magna cum laude, in Chinese Language and Literature from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in Wellesley with her husband Jon and her two children, Andrew (5) and Charlotte (3). 

Shannon O'Leary

Rob Ruffin

Rob is a Supply Chain Partner with Bain & Company, where he supports global clients on strategic operations initiatives.  In addition to client-facing work, Rob also leads Bain Boston's DEI Community pillar focused on establishing the office as a visibility leader in RESJ issues in Massachusetts.  Rob has a long history of serving as a mentor within Bain, his alma mater Swarthmore, and the Minority Engineering Regional Incentive Training (MERIT) organization - of which he is an alum.  Rob is passionate about "giving back" and is particularly motivated to help level the playing field and increase the odds of individuals reaching their full potential.  Rob is originally from Delaware and earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Swarthmore College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He and his family currently live outside of Boston and on Cape Cod.