BELL Leadership

National Board of Directors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  • Laurene Sperling, Chair
    President, Sperling Family Charitable Foundation
  • Paula Arrojo
    Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.
  • Michael Bell
    Chairman & CEO, inVentiv Health
  • Chris Bulger
    Managing Partner, Bulger Partners
  • Gene Guill
    Managing Partner, GPS Risk Management Advisors, LLC
  • John J-H Kim
    Founder & Chair, District Management Council
  • George Neble
    Office Managing Partner, Ernst & Young
  • Paul Reville
    Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • Laura Samberg
    Executive Director, Samberg Family Foundation
  • Garrett Smith
    Portfolio Manager, K-12 Education, Strategic Grant Partners
  • David Zilberman
    Comcast Ventures

BOARD EMERITUS

  • Nicholas Bogard
    President, J. Nicholas Arthur
  • Marjorie Fink
    Scripps Research Institute Board of Directors
  • Kathleen Kelley
    Queen Anne’s Gate Capital Management, LLC
  • Deb Knez
    Trustee, Richard & Susan Smith Family Foundation
  • Donald Manekin
    Co-Founder & Senior Vice President, Seawall Development Company
  • Doug Miller
  • Soren Oberg
    Managing Director, Thomas H. Lee Partners
  • Charles Ogletree, Jr., Chair Emeritus
    Professor, Harvard Law School
  • Chris Piela, Chair Emeritus
  • Justin Sadrian
    Partner & Managing Director, Warburg Pincus
  • Lauren Smith, MD, MPH
    Boston University School of Medicine

BELL of the Carolinas Leadership Council

  • Claire Tate, Chair
    Community Advocate & former Executive Director, Partners in Out-of-School-Time (POST) Philanthropist & Community Activist
  • Jean Cochrane
    Education Advocate
  • Molly Griffin
    Community Advocate & former Member of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
  • Cammie Hauptfuhrer
    Philanthropist & Community Advocate
  • Tom Lambeth
    Senior Fellow and former Executive Director
    Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation (retired)
  • Dr. Donald Martin
    Professor of Education, High Point University and former Superintendent, Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Schools (retired)
  • Chris Meade
    Founder and CEO
    Genetipetz, LLC
  • Walter McDowell
    Chair, Business for Education Success & Transformation (BEST NC) & former CEO for NC and VA, Wachovia Corp.

BELL Executive Management Team

  • Lauren Sanchez Gilbert, CEO
  • Tony Battaglia, President and COO
  • Dan Dobin, Vice President, Partner Engagement
  • Marlene Harrington, Chief Development Officer
  • Damon Johnson, Vice President, Partner Impact
  • Brenda McLaughlin, Chief Strategy Officer
  • Mark Williams, Chief Impact Officer
  • Partheev Shah, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
  • Jessica Banks, Vice President, Learning & Innovation

Tiffany Cooper Gueye Educator of the Year
Betsy Perry

In 2017, BELL established the Tiffany Cooper Gueye Educator of the Year award in honor of BELL’s former CEO. This award recognizes a BELL educator who best exemplifies BELL’s core values of Excellence, Learning, Respect, Courage and Collaboration.

We are proud to announce that Betsy Perry is the first recipient of this prestigious award. In the summer of 2017, Perry served as the BELL Program Manager in Montgomery County’s Summit Hall Elementary School site in Gaithersburg, Maryland. In this role, she set high expectations for achievement, modeled and encouraged a growth mindset in scholars, and created a supportive community for teacher collaboration.

“Ms. Perry is an outstanding educator who has been an inspiration to both students and staff,” says Carole Rawlison, Principal of Summit Hall Elementary School. “She is a dedicated professional who utilizes her time and talents in school and in our community to enable our students to be better prepared for life. Ms. Perry sets challenges before her students that encourage divergent thinking and problem solving. Her enthusiasm for teaching and learning has had a positive impact on all.”

Each morning, Perry greeted all scholars at the door with a smile. Throughout the school year, in her roles as a special education teacher, and as co-chair of the Elementary Councils on Teaching and Learning for Montgomery County Public Schools, Perry is a relentless advocate for expanded education for all children.

“The experiences I gained as a BELL leader are invaluable. I have used many of the tools, resources and skills from the BELL program to become a better teacher and leader in my school and community,” she says.

John Holt, Director of Program Implementation, commended Perry’s ability to develop strong connections between BELL and educational and community leaders in Montgomery County to ensure continued support for the program.

“Betsy is a true ambassador of BELL,” he says. “She continues to advocate and promote all of the amazing work we do in Montgomery County. The sacrifices she makes for her children, friends, and community are truly admirable.”