About the Marion Institute
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Margherita Baldwin, Co-Founder and President
Along with her husband, Michael Baldwin, Margie co-founded the Marion Institute. With a desire to support and restore local farming in their community, Margie started the store How on Earth in Mattapoisett. The goal of the store is to educate others in the community about the benefits of organic foods that are produced from nearby farms.
Margie has been leading this charge since 2009 and is an active member of several town organizations.
Michael Baldwin, Co-Founder & Treasurer
After previously working at Morgan Guaranty, Michael Baldwin founded Baldwin Brothers in 1974. In addition to his duties as President of Baldwin Brothers, Michael is also a trustee of the Nathaniel Saltonstall Arts Fund and The Garfield Foundation. Michael has a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University.
“I am passionate about the Marion Institute because of the leading edge initiatives it undertakes with extraordinary discernment that generate the positive and effective change so desperately needed throughout the world today. These initiatives are practical, get to the root causes of problems, and offer wise and oftentimes simple solutions.
John Duke
For the past 24 years, John has been living on the unseated land of the Pokanoket Wampanoag in the town currently called Mattapoisett. He grew up in north central Massachusetts during the 70’s and then went to the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1987 to study Geography. After graduating and spending some time in Oregon, he returned to Massachusetts in 1994. For the next seven years, John grew produce for farmers markets and restaurants, grew Shiitake mushrooms, moved to Mattapoisett, worked at Westport River’s Winery, Jonathan Sprouts, Plymouth County Conservation District, and then in 2001, became an electrician.
In 2017 John began his online training with Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web school which involves gaining an understanding of how the soil food web works, and assessing that functionality through microscopy. For the last three years, he has been applying that knowledge to the land that he lives on, some farms and gardens in Southeastern Massachusetts, and teaching microscopy through the Northeast Organic Farming Association / Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass), of which he is a board member.
David O. McCready
David McCready is a healthcare executive with over 25 years of executive leadership experience in academic medical centers, community hospital systems, large physician organizations and healthcare management consulting. David has focused his professional work on leading hospital and physician organizations by driving performance, innovation and advancement while developing a healthy, diverse and safe culture for both patients and employees. He has particular expertise in designing and executing organizational strategies for provider system integration, financial improvement and sustainable operational efficiencies within a culture of competing institutional missions requiring sensitive diplomacy.
David currently serves as President and CEO of Southcoast Health, a $1.4 billion healthcare system employing 7,500 staff working in 3 hospitals and 60 clinical facilities across the southeastern region of Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island. He joined Southcoast as its CEO in 2023.
Most recently, David served as President of Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, a 171-bed community teaching hospital within the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, from 2018-2023. David also worked as a senior executive at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a $3 billion, 812-bed quaternary care academic medical center in Boston with nearly 18,000 employees, from 2005-2023.
David holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Health Administration degree, both from the University of Pittsburgh. He served as an instructor and course director at Harvard Medical School’s Master of Clinical Service Operations program, and is a member of several South Coast-based boards and organizations focused on service to the local community. David co-chairs the Bristol County Opioid Taskforce with District Attorney Thomas Quinn, and serves on the Board of Directors for the New Bedford Economic Development Council, the Marion Institute, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, and the Yankee Alliance.
A native of Pittsburgh, David currently lives in Mattapoisett, MA with his wife Susan and their labradoodle Gracie. They are proud parents of their daughter, Kate, who began her freshman year at Simmons University in Boston this fall, majoring in Nursing.
Leigh Keyser Phillips
Leigh Keyser Phillips joins the Marion Institute Board of Directors with over 35 years of law experience in the region of Burlington, VT. Her work has focused on corporate, estate planning and administration, nonprofit organizational structure and governance, and real estate matters.
Leigh attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied and received her degree in International Relations. After working for a prominent Philadelphia law firm for a year upon graduation, she attended the Villanova University School of Law, where she served on the board of its Delaware County Legal Aid Program.
In her corporate practice, Leigh worked with and advised clients on business organizational matters, including formation, dissolution, purchase and sale of Vermont business enterprises, as well as contract, employment, financing and real estate matters. She also worked with many nonprofit organizations, providing advice on formation, obtaining federal tax-exempt status and on-going governance issues. In her estate planning practice, she worked with and advised individuals and families on options to achieve their estate planning goals, as well as probate and trust administration, elder law and guardianship matters.
Kerry Saltonstall
Kerry Saltonstall is a 30-year veteran of the K-12 independent school advancement community. Retired in 2020, she worked in fundraising, strategic planning, volunteer recruitment and management, and board development early in her career at Moses Brown School and The Gordon School in Providence where she served as Director of Development. Over the last 20 years of her professional career, Kerry held the positions of Associate Director of Development, Director of Alumni Relations, and later Director of Communications for Tabor Academy in Marion. A results oriented team-builder, well aware of how community-building drives non-profit success, Kerry is eager to apply her experience to advance our mission and build our network.
Kerry holds a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY) and is currently working as a freelance writer, and Director of Marketing at Saltonstall Architects in Marion.
Jamey Shachoy
Jamey Shachoy is a volunteer, director, and independent corporate advisor. He worked as Accenture’s Chief Tax Officer and held various finance leadership roles with the company. Before Accenture, Jamey worked for a global accounting firm advising clients in the technology industry. He is a lawyer and a CPA.
Jamey has been active in professional and tax policy organizations and has taught as a visiting professor in international tax. He is a Trustee Emeritus of the Zeiterion Theater and currently serves as Board Chair for Oxfam America.
Jamey and Laura Ryan have three children. They enjoy playing on the sea and in the mountains.
Joan Tiffany, Clerk
Joan is the Senior Director of the International Honors Program (IHP), a comparative global study abroad program for undergraduates founded in 1958 to address timely issues with overarching themes relating to the environment and social justice. Students study with a faculty team, live in homestays, meet with experts in the field and local activists during one and two semester programs in three to five contrasting countries. IHP is a rigorous academic program. Thematic areas of study include globalization, urban issues and public health. IHP is a program of World Learning.
Joan has been a Board Member of the Marion Institute since 2006. Her interests are in the arts, international environmental and social justice issues and the impact of individuals and community leaders to make a difference in creating change. In addition to IHP and the Marion Institute, Joan has been involved with the Museum of Fine Arts, United South End Settlements and First Night, a community New Year’s Eve celebration of the arts started in Boston.
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Christina Bascom
Nonie Brady
John Burt
Johnnie Chace
Mark Finser
Sally Hunsdorfer
Robert Inches
Krystyna Jurzykowski
John Mannix
Elizabeth Oates
Claude Pepin
Patricia Sullivan
Robert Unger
Ryan Wagner
Greg Watson
In Memoriam: Wangari Maathai (1940 – 2011)
In 1999, the Marion Institute became Wangari’s representative and partner with the Green Belt Movement in the United States – and has advocated for and raised funds for the Green Belt Movement. Maathai served on the Marion Institute Advisory Board and was the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an environmentalist, a civil society and women’s rights activist, and a former parliamentarian. The Green Belt Movement is one of the most prominent women’s civil society organizations, based in Kenya, advocating for human rights and supporting good governance and peaceful democratic change through the protection of the environment. Its mission is to empower communities worldwide to protect the environment and to promote good governance and cultures of peace.
In Memoriam: Bokara Legendre (1940 – 2017)