Award Winners: The annual award, given to those who demonstrate outstanding efforts to build strong, healthy communities, is presented at Rogerson's Welcome Home! event, traditionally scheduled in the fall.

Learn more about past winners of the award below

2007 |2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999

2007
Marian L. Heard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oxen Hill Partners and former President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and United Ways of New England.

Marian L. Heard
Marian Heard is renowned both locally and nationally. She served as President and CEO of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay for over 12 years. In 1997 she accepted an appointment to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Steering Committee of the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future, an event with participation by all living Presidents led by the effort of former President Clinton and Bush and chaired by General Colin Powell. It was the largest gathering for a domestic issue in the country’s history.

In addition, Marian Heard is the founding President and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation which addressed President George H. Bush’s call for social volunteerism nationwide. She continues as a board member and served two terms as National Board Chair.

2006
Ron Logue, Chairman and CEO of State Street Corporation

Ronald E. Logue
Ronald E. Logue is chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Corporation. He joined the company in 1990 as senior vice president and head of the investment servicing for U.S. mutual funds. He was named chief operating officer in 2000 and president in 2001. As president and chief operating officer, he was responsible for overseeing State Street's investment servicing, securities finance and investment research and trading activities, as well as information technology. During his presidency, Mr. Logue led the highly successful integration of the Deutsche Bank's Global Securities Services business, acquired in January 2003.

Ron Logue serves on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, a nonprofit, low-income housing organization. Mr. Logue has served as chairman of the board of directors of State Street Bank Europe Limited and State Street Cayman Trust Company, Ltd.

2005
Mary J. Kakas, President Emeritus and CEO of Edward F. Kakas & Sons and Rogerson Communities Board Member

Mary J. Kakas
Mary Kakas is President Emeritus and CEO of Edward F. Kakas & Sons, a family-owned business founded in 1858 in Boston. She is a dedicated community service volunteer and mentor who encourages others to pursue their dreams.

As a member of the Rogerson Board of Directors, Mary spearheaded one of the organization's most successful fundraising efforts. She also devotes much of her time to serving as Vice President of the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund.

She works hand-in-hand with numerous organizations dedicated to health care including the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, the Friends of the Mass Eye & Ear Infirmary and the Boston Medical Center Foundation. Mary also strives to provide opportunities for women and children through her involvement with the Epiphany School in Dorchester, which provides free private education to inner-city children; the Kids Clothes Club; the Police Activities League; Rosie's Place; Tenacity, which provides tennis lessons to inner-city children; and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union.

She encourages community and economic growth by actively working with the Friends of Copley Square; New England Women's Business Owners Organization; Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, Inc; Volunteers of America; and the Asian American Foundation.

 

2004
Rev. Drs. Ray & Gloria Hammond, community leaders and founders of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church

REV. DR. RAY HAMMOND, M.D., M.A.
Pastor Ray Hammond is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He completed his surgical residency at the New England Deaconess Hospital (Boston, MA) and joined the Emergency Medicine staff at the Cape Cod Hospital (Hyannis, MA).

Pastor Hammond accepted the call to the preaching ministry in 1976 and completed his Master of Arts degree in the Study of Religion (Christian and Medical Ethics) at Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1982. In 1988 he was called to be the founder and pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston.

Pastor Hammond is Chairman and Co-Founder of the Ten Point Coalition—an ecumenical group of Christian clergy and lay leaders working to mobilize the greater Boston community around issues affecting black youth; Executive Director, Bethel's Generation Excel program; Chairman, The Boston Foundation; Vice President for Membership, Boy Scouts Minuteman Council (Boston, MA); Executive Committee Member, Black Ministerial Alliance; trustee of Catholic Charities of Boston, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, the Yawkey Foundation, and other religious, community, academic and policy organizations. He is also a Director for the Boston Globe and Citizens Bank of MA. He continues to work in local and district youth activities in the AME Church.

REV. DR. GLORIA ELAINE WHITE-HAMMOND, M.D.
Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond, M.D. is Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Boston and a pediatrician at the South End Community Health Center. She was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Boston University, a Doctorate of Medicine from Tufts Medical School and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.

Rev. Gloria is the founder of and consultant to the church-based creative writing/mentoring ministry called "Do The Write Thing" for high-risk black adolescent females. The project, which began in 1994 with four girls, now serves over 550 young women through small groups in two Boston public schools, two juvenile detention facilities in Boston and on site at Bethel AME Church. Gloria is past co-chair of the Faith in Action Committee of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. She currently serves on the Women's Health Leadership Forum of Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Board of Visitors for the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, as well as the boards of the American Anti-Slavery Group, Christian Solidarity International and the Winsor School.

Dr. White-Hammond has worked as a medical missionary in several African countries including South Africa, Cote D'Ivoire and Botswana. In 2001 she traveled to southern Sudan where she was involved in obtaining the freedom of 10,000 women and children who were enslaved during the two decades long civil war. In 2002 she founded My Sister's Keeper, a human rights group organized to support women of southern Sudan in their efforts toward the reconciliation and reconstruction of their communities.

2003
Nader Darehshori, Chairman and CEO of Cambium Learning and retired President & CEO of Houghton Mifflin Company

Nader F. Darehshori
Nader F. Darehshori is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Cambium Learning, an education company delivering research and evidence-based outcomes for students at risk for academic failure.

Mr. Darehshori is a former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the leading educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Company, where he began his career in 1966, as a sales representative. In April of 1990, Mr. Darehshori was elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, and became President in 1991. Prior to his experience at Houghton Mifflin, he was an elementary school teacher in Iran.

An active member of the community, Mr. Darehshori serves as a director and member of the Executive Compensation Committee for the State Street Bank and Trust Company and State Street Corporation. He is also Director and member of the Audit Committee for Aviva USA Corporation. Mr. Darehshori is a trustee of Wellesley College, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and is a member of the Board of the Boston Public Library Foundation and the Boston Business Roundtable. He is also Director of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. Mr. Darehshori received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1966 and an honorary degree of Doctor of Commercial Science from Suffolk University in 1992.

2002
Thomas J. Hollister, currently Vice Chairman, Midwest Banking for Citizens Bank and former President and CEO of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts

Thomas J. Hollister
Thomas J. Hollister joined Citizens Bank of Massachusetts in October 1998, bringing 20 years of banking experience and a commitment to customer service to the state's second largest commercial bank. Hollister began his banking career at Bank of Boston in 1979. Throughout his tenure there, he held significant roles in commercial banking, retail banking, and real estate. At the time of his move to Citizens, Mr. Hollister was Executive Vice President of Consumer and Small Business Banking.

Mr. Hollister holds a BA degree from Amherst College and an MBA from Boston University. He is Chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the boards of directors of Savings Bank Life Insurance of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation. He is a member of the Governor's Economic Development Council, a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and a trustee of The Church Home Society, Wheaton College, where he serves on the Executive Committee.

Mr. Hollister has received awards on behalf of his work from the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, Habitat for Humanity, the New England Center for Children, and the Small Business Administration. Mr. Hollister has also been very active chairing numerous fund-raising efforts for not-for-profit organizations in the state.

2001
David A. Spina, former Chairman and CEO of State Street Corporation

David A. Spina
David A. Spina is former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of State Street Corporation. He originally joined the corporation in 1969 and held a variety of positions, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Executive Vice President, and Vice Chairman. He was elected to President in 1995, CEO in May 2000, and Chairman in January 2001.

Mr. Spina is active in state and community organizations, including the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Jobs for Massachusetts, and the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. He also is involved in the Financial Services Forum, The Private Industry Council and the private sector component of the Boston Mayor's Summer Jobs Campaign. Additionally, he has been active in the New England College of Finance, the Advisory Board for the Corporate Board Resource Committee of The Boston Club, a Corporator of the Dana Hall School, and Chairman Emeritus of the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation. Mr. Spina is a former Director of the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership and is a member of The Commercial Club of Boston.

Mr. Spina holds a B.S. degree from the College of the Holy Cross and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard University. He was an officer in the United States Navy from 1964 to 1969, serving a tour of duty in Vietnam.

2000
William O. Taylor, former publisher of The Boston Globe

William O. Taylor
William O. Taylor is Chairman Emeritus of the Globe Newspaper Company, which publishes The Boston Globe.

A 1954 graduate of Harvard University with a B.A., Mr. Taylor was also educated at The Dexter School in Brookline, Massachusetts and St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He has received honorary degrees from Northeastern University (Doctor of Journalism); University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (Doctor of Humane Letters); and Bentley College (Doctor of Humane Letters), and University of Massachusetts (Boston).

In community activities, Mr. Taylor is a Trustee of the Boston Public Library; Trustee of the Boston Public Library Foundation; Director of Harvard Magazine; Director of International Center for Journalists; Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Trustee of the International Crisis Group and Chairman Emeritus of The Freedom Trail Foundation.

1999
Thomas M. Menino, mayor of the City of Boston

Thomas M. Menino
Thomas M. Menino is serving his third term as Mayor of the City of Boston. The first Italian-American Mayor of Boston, he was elected to his first term on November 2, 1993, winning 64 percent of the vote and 18 of the city's 22 wards. Mayor Menino was re-elected to a second term without opposition in 1997 and won a third term in a landslide victory in November 2001. Prior to his election in 1993, he previously served four months as Acting Mayor and nine years as a District City Councilor from Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood.

A lifelong resident of Hyde Park, Mayor Menino is a graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School. In 1963, Mayor Menino earned an associate's degree in business management and advertising and sales from Chamberlayne Junior College. In 1988, he earned a degree in community planning from the University of Massachusetts. Mayor Menino and his wife, the former Angela Faletra, have two children, Susan and Thomas, Jr., and six grandchildren.

As President of the United States Conference of Mayors from 2002-2003, Mayor Menino championed homeland security and housing availability. He was an advisor to the National Trust for Historic Preservation from 1988 to 1997.