Foundation Board

NCCES Foundation Board

Bob Hildreth, Chairman & Treasurer

Stephanie Davolos, President & Sizer School Executive Director

Fagan Forhan, Secretary

Bill Flynn

Stan Smith

Larry Casassa

Emma Russell, Sizer School Development Coordinator

Get to Know Our Chairman Bob Hildreth:

Bob Hildreth is a champion for educational and social equity in this country. Following a career in Latin American finance at the IMF, Citibank, Drexel Burnham Lambert and his own brokering company, International Bank Services, Bob turned his sights to active philanthropy. Coming from a family of educators and a short stint as a high school history teacher, he subsequently focused his energies on education reform in the US with particular attention to low income populations. There is no wonder his draw to North Central Charter Essential School whose student population is 60% low income and quite diverse. Where very few Boston philanthropists show much interest in anything west of Route 495, Mr. Hildreth has been a gracious supporter of NCCES since it opened its doors in 2002. Bob has served on the school’s Finance Committee for many years and was asked to chair the NCCES Foundation in 2008.

Bob Hildreth is the Founder and Executive Director of FUEL (Families United in Educational Leadership), a matching savings program for low-income families actively saving for a college education. Currently the foundation is engaged in a campaign to combat the dangerously high dropout rate among Latino high school and college students.
In addition to North Central Charter Essential School, Mr. Hildreth is a dedicated supporter of many educational institutions. He is a graduate of Harvard University (class of ‘72) and Johns Hopkins University (class of ‘75), as well as George Washington University (class of ‘80). He serves on the governance and advisory boards of several universities including Boston University and The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. At present he is Chairman of the Board of Overseers at Boston University. He has focused most of his activity on developing student internship programs.

Bob has won numerous awards including 2009 All-Chelsea Award from the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, 2009 Give Liberty a Hand Award from the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Citizen of the Year 2009 from the Rockport Rotary Club, a 2008 Bostonian of the Year by The Boston Globe, 2008 Partner in Pursuit of Justice Award from the Bronx Defenders, 2008 Keepers of the American Dream Award from the National Immigrant Forum, and 2007 Champion of Justice Award from the Greater Boston Legal Services. In 2009 he was especially honored to be the emcee for the Irish Immigration Center’s Solas Award Dinner that honored Irish President Mary McAleese, as well as the emcee for the galas of the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project and the Gaston Institute of UMass Boston. He has also been honored as one of El Planeta’s 100 most influential for Latinos in the state of Massachusetts in 2009 and 2010. In June 2010 he spoke at the adult education celebration at Bunker Hill Community College.