Elevating the Potential of Youth

Laura Samberg oversees her family’s foundation which focuses on creating opportunities and mobility for children and families living in poverty. Prior, she conducted and managed research and policy work on education and children’s health in the corporate and nonprofit sectors, at the Institute of Educational Leadership, R.O.W. Sciences, and the American Council on Education.

Laura also serves on the boards of Harlem Children’s Zone and Health Leads. She holds a B.A. in History from Cornell University and a M.A. in Education from Stanford University. She lives with her husband and two children in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she is a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children.

Paula is a private wealth advisor in the Consumer and Investment Management Division. She serves as a mentor and member of the Advisor’s Council at the firm. Paula joined Goldman Sachs in 2000 and was named managing director in 2010. Paula has 28 years of industry expertise, working for eight years at Chase Manhattan Bank as a senior relationship manager for Latin American clients before joining the firm.

Paula also serves on the Advisory Board of Horizons at Saint David’s and is a member of the Economic Club of New York. She earned a BA in Comparative Area Studies and Political Science from Duke University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Laura Glick is the Chief Investment Officer at the Spencer Foundation in Chicago, IL. Prior to joining Spencer, she held senior and executive private banking roles at firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, in both Chicago and New York City.

Laura brings to BellXcel strong financial experience in both the philanthropic and private sectors. Laura serves on the Winnetka Public Schools Foundation, the Winnetka Community House Woman’s Board and the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation. She is a proud alumna of the University of Michigan, where she earned an MBA and both a BSE and MSE in Industrial Engineering. Laura lives with her husband Jason and two children outside of Chicago.

Laura Grattan is a Partner with Hg in the Genesis fund. Laura joined Hg from Crosspoint Capital Partners, where she was a Managing Director. Prior to Crosspoint, Laura was a Managing Director at Thomas H. Lee Partners, focusing on Technology and HCIT investing. Laura started her career as an investment professional in the Private Equity Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Laura has held an array of directorships including with inVentiv Health, Inc., Alfresco Software, Inc., Juvare, iHeartMedia, Inc. and a board observer at Univision Communications, Inc. In addition to serving on the BellXcel Board of Directors, she is also co-chair of the board of Boston Scores, a local soccer-based education nonprofit. She holds an A.B., summa cum laude, in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Tony Jordan is a partner of forensic & integrity services at EY specializing in forensic accounting investigations, issues surrounding Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and general business-related disputes. He has extensive litigation consulting, forensic accounting and auditing experience, is a certified public accountant, and has been providing financial consulting advice to clients for over 20 years.

Previously, Tony was Accounting Branch Chief at the Boston SEC Office. Tony earned a BBA in Accounting at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has multiple CPA affiliations. Tony is a 2006 Andrew Barr Award Winner and is a former Board member of Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange and Discovering Justice.

Allyson Kim is a management consultant who has helped guide the strategy of many organizations in the education and health care industries. She began her career at Bain and Company and later worked at Quattro Consulting before starting her own consulting business.

Allyson brings to BellXcel experience helping other educational non-profits scale their programs, as well as knowledge she has gained serving on the Board of Directors of a pre-school, public elementary school, and her regional YMCA. She earned a B.A. in Economics and in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She and her husband live in New York with their two children.

George Neble currently serves as a board director and senior advisor to a number of public, private and non-profit organizations. He previously served as the Office Managing Partner of Ernst & Young in Boston, as well as the Market Segment Leader for New England. George led the New England Ernst & Young offices in providing assurance, tax, transactional and advisory services to some of the area’s largest public companies as well as to a diverse client base of innovative and entrepreneurial organizations.

George was also a partner in the audit practice of Arthur Andersen. He has more than 40 years of extensive experience working with companies on financing and acquisition plans, as well as involvement with numerous IPOs, secondary financing plans, and multiple merger and acquisition transactions.

Dr. Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Paul has been a member of the HGSE faculty since 1997 and served as director of the Education Policy and Management Program. He is the founding director of HGSE’s Education Redesign Lab.

In 2013, Paul completed nearly five years of service as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As Governor Patrick’s top education adviser, Paul established a new Executive Office of Education and had oversight of higher education, K-12, and early education in the nation’s leading student achievement state.

Paul also served as a teacher and principal of two urban, alternative high schools. He holds a B.A. from Colorado College, an M.A. from Stanford University and five honorary doctorate degrees.

Garrett Smith brings a combination of experience in management and education to BellXcel. Prior to joining UMass Boston, he served as a Portfolio Manager at Strategic Grant Partners, a venture philanthropy and pro bono consulting firm, where he managed a portfolio of non-profit grantees and led strategic planning projects.

Garrett was Managing Director at the District Management Council (DMC), where he worked closely with school district leadership teams on strategy development and execution. Before joining DMC, he served as a management consultant at Bain & Company working across a wide variety of industries and practice areas. Garrett received a BA in Math and Economics from Williams College and an MBA and MPA from Harvard University.

David Zilberman has worked in the investment sector in various capacities for over 20 years, currently as General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners. Previously, David was Managing Director at Comcast Ventures where he was responsible for identifying, executing, and managing new investments while supporting existing portfolio companies that focus on enterprise technologies and financial services.

David’s true expertise lies in the technology sector. In addition to David’s experience working with start-up companies as an investor, he is very knowledgeable about consumer and larger enterprise IT trends. He holds a B.S. in Management with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University.