Board of Directors
John Burke
John M. Burke is currently a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Management & Restructuring for The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC. Mr. Burke heads a team of professionals responsible for the management of a multi-billion dollar portfolio commercial real estate debt and equity positions in the U.S. His group is responsible for the restructuring of distressed commercial real estate debt positions, and for developing and executing strategies for the disposition of the portfolio. Prior to this current role at RBS, Mr. Burke has held various roles in the bank’s commercial real estate lending businesses. Prior to joining RBS, Mr. Burke was a Director at Nomura Securities International working in its CMBS business in New York and Chicago. Mr. Burke began his career as an Associate at the law firm of Kaye Scholer LLP in New York, working on a variety of real estate and finance matters, including restructuring cases, early vintage CMBS transactions and REIT initial public offerings.
Mr. Burke received his A.B. in 1988 from the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he majored in Economics. He received his J.D. in 1992 from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an Executive Editor of the ABA’s “The Tax Lawyer” journal. Mr. Burke holds a General Securities Principal Registration (Series 24), and a General Securities Representative registration (Series 7 and 63).
Michael Costello
Mike Costello is President and CEO of Endurance Wealth Management, Inc. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Endurance is one of the largest privately held investment advisory firms in Rhode Island and is focused on managing the wealth of high net worth individuals, families and institutions. From 1997 until 2009, he was partner in Baldwin Brothers, an investment advisory firm, in charge of the Providence Office and with specific firm responsibilities for portfolio management and public equity analysis. Prior to joining Baldwin Brothers, Mike was with the Providence Group and Fleet Investment Advisors as an investment analyst and portfolio manager. Mike received his Bachelor of Arts from Boston College in 1986 and earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1992. Currently, he is a member of the Rhode Island State Investment Commission, Chairman of the United Way of Rhode Island, Trustee of the Gordon School, Director of AAA Southern New England, and a Board member of the Slater Center Manufacturing Fund and Ego Vehicles, a start up, alternative vehicle company. He also served as a Board Member of St. Mary’s Academy and was Past President of the Providence Society of Financial Analysts.
Bill Daugherty
Bill Daugherty is CEO of Daugherty Management & Investment (DMI), a firm focused on making investments in mid-stage growth companies. He currently serves on the boards of ConnectEDU, Tickets-For-Charity, Creative Circle Media Solutions and Mission Critical Wireless. Prior to launching DMI, Bill founded and served as co-CEO of Interactive Search Holdings, Inc. (ISH) until the company was sold to Ask Jeeves in May, 2004. ISH was Google’s 2nd largest domestic distribution partner behind AOL. Prior to starting ISH, Bill served as Sr. Vice President of Business Development for the National Basketball Association where he worked from 1991-1999. Bill also served as the Managing Director of the NBA Consumer Products Division. Bill is a member of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s national board of directors. He also chairs the Center for Entrepreneurship at The Met Center, a charter high school in Providence, Rhode Island where he teaches three mornings each week.
Bill received an MBA from the Harvard Business School (1991) and a BBA from the University of Georgia (1985).
Richard Dresdale
Richard C. Dresdale is a Managing Director and co-founder of Fenway Partners, a private equity company based in New York City. He is involved in all aspects of the firm’s investment activities, including sourcing transactions, deploying capital, overseeing portfolio company operations, finances and strategy, to managing value realization events and limited partner relationships. Previously, he was a Principal at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc. (CD&R) from 1985 to 1994 and an Investment Officer with Manufacturers Hanover Venture Capital Corporation. Mr. Dresdale received a Bachelor's degree from Brown University.
He currently serves on the President’s Leadership Council of Brown University and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Brown University Sports Foundation and the Westchester Community College Foundation. He previously served as a Trustee of the Bronxville School, and is a Board Member of Lawrence Hospital.
Ralph James
Ralph James is Executive Director of External Relations at Harvard Business School. He is responsible for development and alumni relations activities for HBS. Prior to taking the External Relations role, Ralph was the Executive Director of Executive Education at Harvard Business School. He was responsible for the management of the School’s open enrollment and custom executive education programs. Ralph attended the College of Wooster in Ohio and received his BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1977. He received his MBA from Harvard in 1982. Over the next 15 years, he held several different positions at HBS in the areas of Executive Education, MBA admissions, major gift fundraising, finally serving as Associate Dean and Senior Executive Officer under Deans McArthur and Clark.
In 1996, Ralph left HBS to join the First Marblehead Corporation, as Chief Marketing Officer, becoming Chief Operating Officer in 1998 and President in 2000 prior to the company going public in 2003(NYSE:FMD). In 2005, Ralph stepped down from his role as Vice Chairman to return to HBS.
Nancy Peretsman
Over a three decade career on Wall Street, Nancy has provided advice and capital to over one hundred start up and early stage businesses. Additionally, she has served as an advisor to many of the world’s largest media and consumer companies including Amazon, Google, Time Warner, News Corporation, Sony Corporation, Activision Blizzard, and Weyerhaeuser. Prior to Allen & Company, Nancy worked as a Managing Director at Salomon Brothers, heading the worldwide media investment banking practice. Over the last decade, Fortune has named her among the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.
Nancy currently serves on the board of several privately held companies as well as on the board of Priceline.com, of which she was a founding investor. In addition, she is a trustee of Princeton University and serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study and Teach for America. Nancy received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School in 1976 and earned an MBA from the Yale School of Management in 1979.
Craig Powell
Thomas Riley
Tom has more than 28-years’ experience in healthcare services and proprietary education. Tom joined Seniorlink in July, 2009 to rejoin his former business partner, Byron Hensley. Together they are building a national company providing community-based services to nursing-home eligible, frail elders. Previously, Tom served as CEO and then Chairman of ConnectEDU. From 1998-2001 he was a board member and interim Chairman/CEO of the Brown Schools, Austin, TX, a $200M provider of specialized residential treatment and education programs for at-risk youth. From 1996-1998, he served as the CEO of CareAdvantage, a NJ-based provider to high-cost case management services to Blue Cross Plans. From 1988 to 1996, Tom served as the CFO and then CEO of National Mentor, Inc. (now, The Mentor Network), a national provider of behavioral services to at-risk populations. From 1981-1987, Tom served as a Regional Vice President for the healthcare services group of Healthdyne, Inc., a manufacturer of specialized pediatric and respiratory equipment.
In addition to ConnectEDU, Tom serves on several other boards: Seniorlink, Inc.; Habit Management, Boston, MA, a specialized provider of addiction treatment services; St. Johns Preparatory School, Danvers, MA, a Xaverian-brothers sponsored high school for 1,300 young men on Boston’s North Shore; Ipswich Country Club, Ipswich, MA.
H. Jay Sarles
H. Jay Sarles is a private investor and a senior advisor to Nautic Partners, a private equity company that manages $1.5 billion in assets. He retired in March of 2005 as Vice Chairman of Bank of America. Prior to that, he was Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer of FleetBoston Financial which was acquired by Bank of America in April of 2004. As Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Sarles oversaw all of the administrative functions of the company, including treasury, risk management, corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, technology and operations, and human resources. He was also the senior executive in charge of Fleet’s New York-based operations, overseeing and executing the company’s growth strategy for Metro New York.
During his 37 years with Fleet, Mr. Sarles was a driving force behind Fleet’s growth from a Rhode Island-based bank with $971 million in assets, to a financial services company with bank assets of $190 billion and assets under management of $150 billion. Mr. Sarles oversaw all of Fleet’s acquisitions and mergers over the past 15 years, including Bank of New England (1991); Shawmut Bank (1995); NatWest’s U.S. banking franchise (1996); Quick & Reilly (1997); Advanta’s consumer credit card business (Fleet Credit Card Services; 1998); Sanwa Business Credit (1998); BankBoston (1999); Summit Bancorp (2000), and Liberty Financial Services (2001). In addition, Mr. Sarles had been responsible for refining and executing the company’s strategic direction through the sale of assets, downsizing, or growth through investment. Mr. Sarles had also overseen virtually all of Fleet’s businesses at one time or another including the company’s wholesale banking businesses in 2002-2004. These included commercial finance (Fleet was the leading bank owned asset-based lender in the U.S.); real estate finance, capital markets, global services, industry banking, middle market and large corporate lending, small business services, and investment banking. In previous years, Mr. Sarles was responsible for Fleet Mortgage Company, Fleet Credit Card Services, and other financial services subsidiaries.
Mr. Sarles is a director of Ameriprise Financial, Inc., a financial services company, and AvalonBay Communities, Inc., a real estate investment trust, both listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He is also a director of Dental Service of Massachusetts, Inc. and a trustee of Mount Holyoke College.
Mr. Sarles received his B.A. degree from Amherst College in Massachusetts.
Margaret Spellings
Margaret Spellings is president and CEO of Margaret Spellings and Company and a leading national expert on public policy. Spellings also serves as a senior advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and as president of the U.S. Forum for Policy Innovation. As President, Spellings oversees the Chamber’s three non-profit foundations: the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW), the National Chamber Foundation (NCF), and the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC). In addition, she is a senior advisor to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm. Her work also includes guiding philanthropic and private sector organizations in meeting their strategic goals.
Spellings served as U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009. In that role, she oversaw an agency with a nearly $70 billion budget and more than 10,000 employees and contractors. As a member of the president’s Cabinet, she led the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a historic national initiative to provide enhanced accountability for the education of 50 million U.S. public school students.
In higher education, Spellings launched a national policy debate and action plan to improve accessibility, affordability, and accountability in our nation’s colleges and universities. Spellings initiated international outreach and collaboration by leading delegations on behalf of the President of the United States as well as overseeing the development and implementation of international education agreements with such countries as China, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates.
As White House Domestic Policy Advisor, from 2001 to 2005, she managed the development of the president’s domestic policy agenda. Her achievements include the development and passage of NCLB, oversight of the development of the president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the development of a comprehensive immigration plan to ensure long-term economic stability and to secure U.S. borders, and numerous other initiatives on health and human services, transportation, labor, justice and housing.
Prior to her service in the White House, Spellings was senior advisor to then-Governor George W. Bush of Texas, led governmental and external relations for the Texas Association of School Boards, and has served in key positions at Austin Community College and with the Texas Legislature.
In addition to ConnectEDU, Spellings serves on the boards of America’s Promise Alliance, The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, The Education Equality Project, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Special Olympics. She is also a member of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Advisory Council and The Aspen Institute Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process.
She is an experienced public speaker and media personality who speaks with authority on policy and politics to business and civic audiences. She has appeared on Meet the Press, Celebrity Jeopardy, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the Colbert Report, among others.
