Catholic Charities Boston Announces New Board Chair and Member to Board of Trustees

New Board Appointments Strengthen Catholic Charities and Position the Organization for Growth

Today, Catholic Charities Boston [CCAB], announced updates to its Board of Trustees, including the appointment of a new Board Chair and a new Member. Mark B. Kerwin, former Deputy Director and Chief Financial Officer, Museum of Fine Arts, has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees. Eileen McAnneny, former President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, has been appointed as a member. Elected at the December 2022 Board meeting, these individuals began serving in their new roles immediately. Prior to assuming the role of the Board Chair, Kerwin was Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee and member of the Executive Committee and Audit Committee.

“We are grateful that Mark has agreed to continue to bring his extensive business and nonprofit experience to the mission of Catholic Charities, now in the role of Board Chair.  Also, we welcome Eileen to the Board as she brings many years of public service as a financial leader on issues pertaining to the citizens of the Commonwealth,” said Cardinal Séan Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Boston. “The core mission of Catholic Charities, serving the most vulnerable in our society, is made possible by the women and men who generously give their time, professional expertise, and financial support. We are blessed that both Mark and Eileen are helping Catholic Charities achieve its mission of service.”

“We are excited and proud to appoint Mark as our new Board Chair and also to welcome Eileen,” said Kevin M. MacKenzie, President and CEO of Catholic Charities Boston. “We are fortunate to have Mark’s leadership, knowledge, and experience as we continue to position the Agency to respond to the growing needs of the communities we serve during these challenging times. As we expand our Board, Eileen brings a unique perspective and an unyielding drive to help CCAB in its mission to serve our most vulnerable neighbors.”

Mark B. Kerwin, Former Deputy Director and Chief Financial Officer, Museum of Fine Arts

Mark B. Kerwin has spent the last 35 years of his career in senior financial positions in the support of art, culture, and related educational endeavors. In 1986 he was chosen to lead the financial functions at Emerson College, a college devoted to excellence in Communications and Performing Arts. Thirteen years later in 1999, Kerwin became the Chief Financial Officer of one of the largest American museums, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He is an honored professional whose work behind the scenes has ensured the financial health and programmatic excellence of two great institutions as well as other non-profits in Massachusetts.

As Deputy Director and CFO of the MFA, Kerwin was responsible for strategic financial planning and administration along with leading a number of operational activities. His financial leadership was central to the Museum’s growth including the $345-million New American Wing and related campaign, the renovation of the Linde Wing – the home for the MFA’s Contemporary Art Collection, and the development of the new Greek and Roman galleries, and the Center for Netherlandish Art. Kerwin was instrumental in successfully merging the MFA’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts into Tufts University, thus preserving its future as a great American art school. As part of his role at the MFA, he was the Museum appointee to the Board of the Fenway Alliance, the 21 educational and cultural institutions in Boston’s Fenway District, the last seven years as Chair of the Board. He was instrumental in the designation of Huntington Avenue, home to the MFA, as the “Avenue of the Arts,” helping to connect myriad neighboring institutions into a corridor of collaboration of artistic support. Kerwin’s leadership during the pandemic helped lead a values-based decision-making process as the Museum managed through its greatest financial crisis in its history.

Kerwin is a resident of Milton, and a recent recipient of the Boston Business Journal’s F. Gorham Brigham Lifetime Achievement Award. Born and raised in Quincy, MA, he attended Boston College High School before receiving his bachelor’s degree from Boston College. He earned his MBA from Babson College and began his CPA career at the accounting firm BDO and then Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, as its first financial manager of its wholly owned subsidiary, Medical East Community Health. In 1986, he became the Chief Financial Officer of Emerson College, which put him on a path of working for mission-driven nonprofits that would continue through his career. In 2022, when he stepped down from the Museum of Fine Arts after 22 years, Mayor Michelle Wu proclaimed February 4^th, 2022, as “Mark Kerwin Day” in the City of Boston to recognize his contributions.

Eileen McAnneny, Former President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF)

Eileen McAnneny joined MTF as its President in February 2015. She is an attorney who came to MTF after more than 20 years of government relations, public policy, advocacy, and managerial experience in both the public and private sectors in Massachusetts. She held executive level positions at the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, serving as its President and CEO; at Fidelity Investments as a Director of Public Policy; and at Associated Industries of Massachusetts as its Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Associate General Counsel, where she focused on health care and tax policy issues for the employer community.

McAnneny worked in the public sector as a staff attorney for the Joint Committee on Taxation of the Massachusetts Legislature, playing a key role in numerous significant tax policy changes, including reforms to the corporate tax code, an overhaul of the Appellate Tax Board, amendments to DOR’s administrative practices and updates to unclaimed property collections. A cum laude graduate of Tufts University and Suffolk University Law School, McAnneny holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a juris doctorate in law. She is a Commissioner of the Group Insurance Commission and on the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Central Bank and is a resident of Melrose.

To learn more about CCAB’s Board of Trustees, visit https://www.ccab.org/about-us/leadership/. To learn more about CCAB, visit https://www.ccab.org.

About Catholic Charities Boston 
As one of Massachusetts’s largest social service organizations, Catholic Charities Boston serves our most vulnerable neighbors each year, regardless of religion, race, gender, age, disability, or ethnicity. Catholic Charities has five hub locations in Dorchester, Lynn, Brockton, Lowell, and South Boston, with 23 program locations supporting families across Eastern Massachusetts. The Agency’s four core services assist clients with Basic Needs, Family & Youth Services, Adult Education & Workforce Development, and Refugee & Immigrant Services. We help our clients move from crisis to stability to self-sufficiency.