The Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF) has appointed three local civic leaders to its Board of Directors and added two new members to its Professional Advisors Council (PAC), effective this fall.
New board members include Rev. Adam Lawrence Dyer, lead minister at First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, author and musician; Ed Feijo, a top Coldwell Banker sales associate; and Michael Monestime, executive director of the Central Square Business Association and Cultural District. They will each serve a five-year term. New PAC members include Bill Laskin, co-founder of PG Calc, a leading provider of gift planning software and services, and Nadia Yassa, director of Estate and Gift Planning and Technical Advisor at Emerson College. They will both serve a three-year term.
The Board of Directors serve as the ultimate authority on the Foundation’s activities, setting its community impact and civic leadership agenda, signing off on two annual rounds of grants to local nonprofit organizations, promoting philanthropy, and building the Cambridge Endowment to support the City’s pressing urban needs today and in the future. The Cambridge Community Foundation and its donors awarded $1.5 Million in grants to 150 nonprofits and programs last year. The Professional Advisor’s Council helps the Foundation build the Cambridge Endowment through donor engagement and advancing philanthropy.
“We are delighted to welcome these exceptional leaders to the Foundation,” said Geeta Pradhan, president of the Cambridge Community Foundation. “They are all deeply invested in our community in very different ways and will help us deepen our civic reach and financial bench strength to support equity in Cambridge.”
Rev. Adam Lawrence Dyer is lead minister at First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the author of Love Beyond God, a collection of poetry and reflections focused on black identity and liberal religion. His blog Spirituwellness.org explores the relationship between bodies, faith, and politics and has been featured in UU World, and included in the blogs Believe Out Loud, Equity Blog, and The Good Men Project. Adam has also worked with PolicyLink, the PICO Networks, and the UU Justice Ministry of California advocating for racial, economic, and health equity as well as LGBTQ inclusion. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Pacific School of Religion. Over a 30-year professional career, Adam’s passion for wellness and fitness has been seen in his work as a personal trainer and as a massage therapist. He is frequently recognized as a featured cast member of the P90x fitness videos with Tony Horton. In addition to wellness, Adam is an accomplished vocal artist and dancer and appeared in the original Broadway company of Ragtime, the Musical and the national tour of Martin Guerre.
Ed Feijo, a lifelong Boston area resident, grew up in a family that worked in development and construction, which helped provide the foundation for his success in real estate. Working exclusively with sellers and developers, Ed has annually ranked among the top Coldwell Banker sales associates and has received both the Coldwell Banker International President’s Elite Award and International President’s Circle Award. In February, 2019 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC announced that the Gail Roberts, Ed Feijo & Team, a Global Luxury sales team affiliated with the Cambridge – Massachusetts Avenue office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New England, had been ranked as the No. 1 top-performing Coldwell Banker® sales team. Ed has been an active member of the Dinner Committee for the last three years and has sponsored the dinner twice. He sits on the board of directors for both the Center for Coastal Studies and Furnishing Hope of Massachusetts.
Michael Monestime grew up in the Egleston Square neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Following his completion of a B.A. in American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Michael used that knowledge, as well as strong communications skills, and entrepreneurial know-how to excel in a number of his own startup businesses and important marketing positions with the Institute for Contemporary Art, ZIP Car & Live Nation. After more than ten years of doing experiential marketing programming in NYC, Michael returned to Boston where he completed the MS in Urban Planning and Community Development Program at Umass Boston while serving as the Executive Director of the Central Square Business Association & Cultural District. The CSBA aims to maintain and support a lively business environment and enhance the experience of the Central Square Cultural District. Michael, his wife, and two children reside in Cambridge.
Bill Laskin is a co-founder of PG Calc, a leading provider of gift planning software and services since 1985, headquartered in Harvard Square. As Vice President, Product Management, his responsibilities include product requirement definition, design, documentation, and market research. He also manages and hosts PG Calc’s monthly webinar series, writes the PG Calc-U-Letter, PG Calc’s quarterly newsletter, and contributes regularly to the eRate, PG Calc’s monthly eNewsletter. He has published numerous articles in Planned Giving Today and other industry publications on a variety of planned giving topics. He has served on the board of the Planned Giving Group of New England and is a current board member of the American Council on Gift Annuities. Prior to PG Calc, Bill spent two years as a development assistant in the Harvard Planned Giving Office. He graduated from Harvard College in 1982 and from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1991. He lives in Cambridge with his wife and two children.
Nadia Yassa has worked for over 20 years in the area of estate and charitable gift planning in private and nonprofit settings. She has served as a trusts and estates attorney at Nutter, McClennen, & Fish LLP, and as the Director of Estate and Gift Planning/Legal Advisor for Trusts and Estates at the Boston Foundation. She currently works as the Director of Estate and Gift Planning and Technical Advisor at Emerson College. Nadia has been an Adjunct Lecturer in the Graduate Tax Program at Boston University School of Law, and is a former Board member of the Boston Estate Planning Council. She graduated from Tufts University, received a Master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. Nadia has lived in Cambridge for over 30 years and is a volunteer with Cambridge School Volunteers, Tutoring Plus, and the Irish International Immigration Center. She is a fine arts printmaker.
About the Cambridge Community Foundation: The Cambridge Community Foundation is THE local giving platform for Cambridge, supporting our city’s shared prosperity, social equity, and cultural richness, with roots that go a century deep. The Foundation is a convener and catalyst for transformative change in Cambridge, supporting equity in the city through civic leadership, grant making and collective giving in partnership with generous donors from the community. The Foundation identifies emerging and critical needs, convenes all sectors of the city and directs resources where they can make the greatest difference.
