Linda Mason elevated to Board Chair of the Boston Foundation; T.J. Rose to Vice Chair

Boston – The Boston Foundation today announced that Linda Mason has been chosen to succeed Sandra Edgerley as the Chair of the Boston Foundation Board of Directors, effective June 30. Mason, the current Vice Chair of the Board, will assume the role as Edgerley rotates off the Board of Directors after two five-year terms.

“Sandy Edgerley has provided a steady hand leading our Board since 2016, and as a valued Director since 2010,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “She will be sorely missed for her kind, thoughtful leadership, her interest in the Foundation’s Civic Leadership model, and her strong understanding of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. But we are fortunate that she can turn over leadership to leaders with the talent of Linda Mason and T.J. Rose as we enter one of the most critical times in the history of both the Foundation and Greater Boston as a region.”

Mason is the co-founder of Bright Horizons, the largest worldwide provider of worksite childcare and early education. Bright Horizons has been selected by the Boston Globe as “One of the Great Places to Work” every year since 2005. A respected author, she also co-founded Horizons for Homeless Children, a Boston-based non-profit providing child care and related services for homeless children and their parents.  Mason was a founding member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.  Mason was the recipient of the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Social Responsibility and one of Working Mother Magazine’s “25 Most Influential Working Mothers in America”.

Mason has recently retired as Chair of Mercy Corps, an international relief and development agency serving in crisis areas in 43 countries.  Mason traveled frequently, on behalf of Mercy Corps, to the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Mason managed large-scale refugee relief operations overseas, serving as Co-Country director in the Sudan for Save the Children during the famine and war of the mid-80’s and running refugee programs on the border of Cambodia.  She served as Leader-in-Residence at the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School.  Ms. Mason currently serves on the board of the Packard Foundation and has served on the Boston Foundation Board of Directors since 2014. She was selected as Vice Chair in 2016 when Edgerley assumed the role of Chair.

“Serving on the Boston Foundation Board of Directors, and my four years as Chair, have been rewarding beyond words,” said Edgerley. “The Foundation has continued to redefine and modernize its civic leadership role in recent years, and I have been especially proud to lead the Foundation during its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In grantmaking, fundraising, and in its research and policy work, the Foundation has continued to innovate and redefine how community foundations can have impact in these changing times.”

Replacing Mason as Vice Chair will be T.J. Rose. Rose, who joined the Boston Foundation Board of the Directors last year, is a Partner at Abry Partners, an information and business services private equity firm which currently manages over $12 billion of capital in its active funds. Mr. Rose has extensive experience in private equity, having held positions at Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area (Goldman Sachs’ leverage buyout group), Audax Group, and his current role at Abry Partners. Previously, Mr. Rose was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in Atlanta and Johannesburg.

He currently sits on the board of several companies within the Abry Partners portfolio, including Aduro, Aegis Sciences, Dr. Dental, Sentry Data Systems, and U.S. Dermatology Partners. Previously, Mr. Rose sat on the boards of HealthSCOPE Benefits, North American Dental Group, Source Medical and Trover Solutions. In addition to these company boards, Mr. Rose also serves on various community boards, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Board of Trustees, Florida A&M University’s Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Chestnut Hill School.

Born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, Mr. Rose graduated with honors in Civil Engineering from Florida A&M University and received his M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

June 30 will also mark the end of the. Board tenure of Rev. Gregory Groover, who joins Edgerley in rotating off the Board after serving the maximum of two five-year terms. Both Edgerley and Groover joined the Boston Foundation Board of Directors in 2010.