It's All About the People
For me, people and relationships are the strongest reason for engaging with an organization and supporting it financially. I was introduced to Global Citizens Circle (GCC) through a dynamic social justice advocate and friend, GCC director Soudie Tahmassebipour. Soudie introduced me to the following folks at GCC who have motivated me and made me a better human:
Eleanor Dunfey-Freiburger – a founding Dunfey family member, Eleanor was part of the Circles that began in the 1960s in Dunfey hotels, which led to GCC. She tackled such issues as "the troubles” in Ireland and apartheid in South Africa, not small or easily solvable issues. Eleanor is our “den mother” who has a long history in higher education, curriculum development, supporting the next generation and civic engagement. We are all richer for working alongside Eleanor.
Theo Spanos Dunfey – current President at Global Citizens Circle and leader and magician and diplomat and difference maker. She has more than 30 years of experience in international nonprofits and higher education. She has taught global citizenship and brings a wealth of knowledge to this role, and shouldn’t we ALL be global citizens?!
Phoebe de Larrabeiti – our GCC Assistant Director who has the biggest heart and soul and spirit and makes things happen out of thin air. She brings a background in nonprofit management and event organizing and an international and cross-cultural perspective to our work. She brings out the best in everyone she works with.
Nadine Hack – CEO, author, top female executive. Nadine is an inspiring feminist who keeps company with folks like Gloria Steinem, Margaret Burnham and Mike Dukakis, and who has been pushing the envelope since the 1970s. She’s been with Global Citizens Circle for nearly four decades and shares her knowledge base and wisdom with us.
Sean O’Kane – served as our Board Chair and is now facing the battle of a lifetime. He has the best sense of humor and warm personality. Sean is an incredible connector and business development expert with relationships built throughout New England and beyond. His strength, leadership and loyalty inspire me daily.
James McKim – current Board Chair, an organizational changemaker, author, speaker, coach, and advisor. James is a techie, who loves leading organizations through change and is guiding GCC through its next growth spurt.
There are also about 40 other fantastic and inspirational board members and advisors and young leaders that make GCC what it is today and who bring an incredible array of offerings to our participants.
Global Citizens Circle is an organization that produces quality programming that brings people together, discusses tough topics with civility, values intergenerational change and collaboration, creates change, pushes back on polarization and needs our support. The content we provide is superb, but for me it's the people that make up the heart and soul of an organization and inspire participation and philanthropy.
Come for the people, stay for the content.
Mielle Marquis is the director of alumni/ae engagement and special initiatives at Northeastern University and primarily the School of Law, one of the nation’s leading public interest law schools. In this role, she manages the programming/signature events and marketing for all alumni/ae engagement events. She is also an impactful fundraiser and facilitates major gifts to the law school and partners with Northeastern fundraisers and is the liaison to the School of Law’s Alumni/ae Association’s board of directors.
Marquis has worked at Northeastern for 25 years in progressively responsible positions. She partners with many departments to fundraise, to encourage co-op opportunities, and to bring in new applicants. She is immensely proud of the School’s social justice foundation. In 2007, she co-founded NUSL’s annual Brown Forum/Women in the Law program, a program that has expanded due to philanthropy and now includes our illustrious Practitioner-in-Residence program.
Marquis has more than 30 years of expertise in the areas of strategic partnerships, marketing communications, fundraising, board management, business development and successful, collaborative management techniques. Before working at Northeastern, she was the marketing director at the University of New Mexico and prior to that, worked in public relations and corporate marketing.
She is a proud board member for Global Citizens Circle where she has assisted with development and communications. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English/American literature from Duke University and a master’s degree with distinction in communication and journalism from the University of New Mexico. She lives in Grafton, Massachusetts with her husband, son and golden retriever, Tatum (after Jayson).
Please note: We invite members of the greater Global Citizens Circle community to contribute to GCC Voices. The views and opinions expressed in each blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Global Citizens Circle.
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