Our Board of Directors

Joseph Wadlinger, chair, has over 35 years of experience in Commercial Banking. Throughout his career, he has served on the boards of several organizations focused on underserved populations. Joe is currently senior vice president and commercial regional executive at Rockland Trust Bank. He lives in Beverly with his wife, Maria. They enjoy getting together with their large and active family. Joe somehow finds time to volunteer for causes that are important to him and to stay physically active with a variety of sports.

 

Annette Shine, vice-chair, is a retired critical care nurse. She has devoted her time to numerous volunteer roles with Moms Demand Action, Be My Eyes, the Kindness Coalition, and in local schools and her church. Annette was motivated to join the Riverside board through her commitment to the goal of behavioral healthcare access for everyone. She and her husband, Bill, a cardiologist at Milford Regional Medical Center, have three grown children. Annette knows from personal experience the hurdles involved in finding care for a child struggling with mental health, even with the knowledge and resources she and her husband have as medical professionals. Annette and Bill live in Shrewsbury.

 

Susan Flannery, clerk, served as director of libraries in Cambridge for over 23 years. She was honored by the American Library Association as one of the 20th century’s outstanding library advocates. As a librarian, Susan learned first-hand about the helpful role libraries can play for people who are homeless and/or have a disability. Susan remains very active in the local community, serving on two other boards. She resides in Cambridge with her husband Stephen and chairs the Riverside Community Council–Cambridge/Somerville. She enjoys painting and reading and the company of extended family and lifelong friends.

 

Mark Whalen, treasurer, retired as CEO of Needham Bank and continues to serve on its board of directors. He is also on the board of advisors at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham and the board of the Dedham Historical Society, and he is a trustee of the Needham History Center & Museum. Mark holds a fourth-degree black belt in karate. He lives in Weymouth with his wife, Tina. Mark has a long history supporting Riverside both professionally and personally.

 

Fran Arnold is a clinical psychologist counseling adults, children and families at her private practice in Harvard Square. She was first drawn to Riverside by the Cambridge Guidance Center, a “local gem,” and is passionate about the larger mission of Riverside Community Care. Fran is on the faculty of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry; and a clinical associate in psychology at McLean Hospital. Her areas of special interest are women’s psychological development, personality disorders, and infant-parent mental health. Fran and her husband Bob Stern raised their three daughters in Cambridge and now enjoy spending time with their seven grandchildren. You can also find them hiking in the Adirondack Mountains, relaxing on Martha’s Vineyard, and attending performances at the American Repertory Theater.

 

Megon Barrow is a Riverside Early Head Start parent and community advocate. She juggles her role as a mom of two rambunctious toddlers and working with young children on the autism spectrum. Caribbean in origin, she was brought to the US as a teenager, grew up in a Jewish household, and speaks Italian! Megon earned a BA in Psychology from Northeastern University and recently received an MA in Education from Cambridge College. She has held various human service positions including providing support to children and parents as a Therapeutic Mentor/Family Partner for Riverside. Megon is a believer in life-long learning and in the collective strength of the human spirit.

 

Kip Brown is the Investment Director at NEPC, LLC. He brings a financial background coupled with non-profit Board experience to the Riverside Board. He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Shady Hill School for the last six years, where he was on the audit and nominating committees. Kip looks forward to using his skills on the Board to ensure access to behavioral healthcare and human services and to promote Riverside to his network. He lives in Belmont with his wife Beth and enjoys playing golf and grilling on the weekends.

 

Jack Connolly is CEO of insurance agency WCCIA, Inc., and a notary public in Davis Square in Somerville. A lifelong Somerville resident, Jack is active with the Somerville Chamber of Commerce and served as a ward and at-large alderman for more than 32 years. He notes, “It is a joy to see Riverside making a major difference in Somerville and other communities with much-needed behavioral health and human services.” Jack serves on the board of Teen Empowerment and is a former board member of the Somerville Home, which merged with Riverside. He and his wife Gail are ever-active athletes – Jack has completed 18 marathons and hundreds of road races, and earned a third-degree black belt in karate. He has been an internationally certified tournament-level basketball referee since 1972, and does TV commentary for the Somerville High School Basketball Program on City Cable station EDTV.

 

Jamie Evans is Senior Director and Active Caring Leader of Environmental, Health, and Safety at Turner Construction in Boston. Jamie knows Riverside well – Riverside’s MindWise Innovations worked with Turner on a major project to enhance a culture of safety. Jamie is frequently invited to speak on behavioral health and wellness strategies in his reimagined national vision for safety in the construction industry. His goal is for others in the building trades – where physical pain and fatigue can lead to poor emotional well-being for workers – to benefit from organizations like Riverside. He and his wife Alana have three children. In his spare time, Jamie enjoys hiking, skiing, relaxing on the Maine Coast, backgammon, and cooking for family and friends.

 

Cécile Garcin has over 20 years of experience in human resources, marketing, and sales.  Raised in France as a dual French-American citizen, she values cultural diversity and believes in empathy and collaboration to foster deep professional and social connections. A strong supporter of mental health advocacy, Cécile has been a Riverside volunteer since 2019, serving as co-chair of the Gala and member of Riverside’s Community Council. She holds master’s degrees from France’s EDHEC Business School and University Paris IX Dauphine. A mother of two grown children, Cécile lives in Cambridge with her husband and is an avid cyclist and hiker. She enjoys entertaining friends and sharing her passion for cooking, especially French and Mediterranean cuisine.

 

James (Jim) Hardeman is a licensed clinical social worker, and works with students in seven school districts on the South Shore. He grew up in Athens, Georgia and Hartford, Connecticut, and graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC. Many of his classmates there became civil rights leaders, and Jim attended his first civil rights march in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1969. He spent four years in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, achieving the rank of captain. Jim’s long and varied career includes work in state government and in advocacy – he worked with former President Bill Clinton to pass the Violence Against Women Bill, and he founded the South Shore Shelter for Battered Women. He enjoys attending the Summer Olympic Games every four years with his four grandchildren – as well as football, basketball, and hockey games at Boston College, his graduate school alma mater. Jim is also an avid jogger.

 

Kimberly Herman is a partner at Sullivan and Worcester LLP and leads the firm’s Intellectual Property, Technology, and Media & Entertainment Groups. She has been ranked as a leading professional in World Trademark Review 1000 each year since 2015, and in 2021 was named a “Go-To Intellectual Property Lawyer” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. As a guest speaker at Northeastern University, she addresses developments in intellectual property law, copyright, fair use, and First Amendment issues. Kim is the daughter of Scott M. Bock, Riverside’s founder and longtime CEO, who died in 2021. She says, “I grew up with Riverside and know first-hand that the organization makes a profound difference in thousands of lives – I want to help further my father’s remarkable legacy.” Kim lives in Needham with her husband Elliot; they have two children.

 

Edward Klayman works in the insurance industry and has been president of IMAC (International Marketing and Administration Company) in Canton, MA for almost 30 years. Eddie has served on several industry Boards and has many years on the Board of Camp Avoda, a boy’s overnight camp. He knows and appreciates first-hand Riverside’s impact, through the work of our Child & Family Services when his children were very young. He looks forward to applying his passion and experience to the Riverside Board. Eddie lives in Needham with his wife Rosalyn and has three children. He is an avid golfer, skier, and Boston sports fan. In his spare time, he enjoys reading fiction mystery books.

 

Rod Laurenz is an independent wealth advisor and has worked as an internal auditor and in a financial executive development program at a Fortune 50 company. He grew up working on his family’s 2,000-acre farm, where he learned the value of hard work, patience, and persistence through times of uncertainty, and now combines those disciplines with an analytical background and love of people to help clients build, manage, and protect their financial security. In his free time, Rod enjoys all types of outdoor activities including running, hiking, swimming, cycling, and sailing. He believes in giving back to his community and has served on many boards.

 

Ellis Seidman had a long career in labor relations in government before completely reinventing himself – as chef/owner of Inman Square restaurant institution Daddy-O’s in Cambridge! Now retired, he speaks warmly about the Riverside Early Intervention services provided for his family when they faced the challenge of prematurely born twin boys. Both are now successful young men, a significant reason why serving on Riverside’s board is incredibly important to him. Ellis and his wife Jenny live in Cambridge, where he rides his bike every day and prepares elaborate meals for the family and anyone else who may show up at his table.

 

Hao Wang is CEO of VuRoyal, a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical distributor. He has served as Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health and has worked for more than 20 years managing information technology, data analytics, and information sharing across large organizations including health and hospital systems, universities, and state governments. Beginning his career in Massachusetts, he created one of the first health information exchanges in Central Mass. Originally from China, Hao received his PhD from MIT and an MPA from Harvard University. He lives in Cambridge and is a bilingual poet who writes in both Chinese and English.