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Media Contact:
Suzanne Morse
Ph: (617) 646-1020
[email protected]
New Boston Harbor Organization Names Kathy Abbott as President
and Chief
Executive Officer
New Civic Organization to be Called Boston Harbor Now
Boston, Mass. (March 23, 2016) – A new civic nonprofit
focused on Boston Harbor and the
Harbor Islands is announcing today that Katherine F. Abbott will
become the founding President
and Chief Executive Officer of the organization, which will be
called Boston Harbor Now.
Abbott, who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Tower
Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston,
will assume her role as President in May. Boston Harbor Now will
focus on developing and
implementing a new vision connecting Boston, the Harbor and the
Islands, which integrates
them into the fabric of the city and enhances the public’s
ability to use and enjoy these public
assets.
“I’m so pleased to be taking on this exciting role for Boston
Harbor Now, which is developing a
new vision for one of the region’s most important assets –
Boston Harbor,” said Abbott. “After
decades of hard work cleaning up the Harbor and bringing the
Harbor Islands back to life, I am
excited to be a part of an organization that will help plan a
new future ensuring that Boston
Harbor and its environs benefit all the residents of, and
visitors to, the city and the region.”
“I also wish to thank the leadership and staff at Tower Hill
Botanic Garden, who have done a
tremendous job developing Tower Hill into one of the 65 large
public botanic gardens in the
country,” Abbott said. “It has been an honor to work with
everyone there, and I look forward
to continuing to watch the garden grow its influence in New
England and beyond.”
Boston Harbor Now is the result of a merger between two
well-respected organizations focused
on providing access to the Harbor and developing the Harbor
Islands - The Boston Harbor
Association and the Boston Harbor Island Alliance. The two
organizations recognized that after
years of advocating to restore and promote Boston Harbor, the
opportunity now exists to knit
the mainland and the Islands together to better shape the future
of the Harbor for generations
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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to come. But in order to take advantage of that opportunity and
increase their capacity to
achieve these civic goals, the nonprofits determined, after more
than a year of deliberations,
they needed to join forces to become a new civic organization.
That nonprofit, Boston Harbor
Now, will begin operating on April 1st.
“Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands are an asset to our city
and we are fortunate to have
two experienced organizations join forces to shape the future of
the Harbor,” said Mayor
Martin J. Walsh. “I look forward to working with Kathy Abbott
and Boston Harbor Now to build
on the endless opportunities the Harbor offers us.”
The new organization will advocate for a strategic vision and
comprehensive plan for Boston
Harbor. It will focus on issues vital to developing the Harbor
and the Islands as an economic,
environmental and social asset, opportunities for public access
such as expanding the
Harborwalk and the system of water front parks, climate change
mitigation plans as part of
enhanced waterfront development, and creating a comprehensive
and integrated water
transportation system.
The new group seeks to play a key role in activating the Harbor
and the Islands, working with
both the public and private sectors to fully realize the
potential of one of the City’s greatest
assets. Today, 125,000 people enjoy visiting the Harbor Islands
each year by public ferry and
many more by private boat. Boston Harbor Now will work with
their partners to continue to
grow visitor attendance and function as the nonprofit partner of
the Boston Harbor Islands
National and State Park.
“We strongly believe that merging these two organizations into
one new entity, Boston Harbor
Now, will provide the region with the opportunity to develop
with other stakeholders astrategic plan around the opportunities
and challenges facing Boston Harbor and the Harbor
Islands,” said Brian Dacey, interim Chairman of the Board of
Boston Harbor Now. “We have
come very far in restoring Boston Harbor. With Kathy Abbott at
the helm, we know that this
new, 21st century nonprofit organization will be able to work
with interested stakeholders to
realize the potential of this most precious and unique
resource.”
Abbott’s career has been defined by almost 30 years of
experience in environmental leadership
and nonprofit management. Prior to her role at Tower Hill
Botanic Garden, Abbott was Interim
President and Executive Vice President of the Trustees of
Reservations. She was also President
of the Island Alliance and Director of the Conservation and
Recreation Campaign for the Trustfor Public Land. She has also
served as the Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of
Conservation and Recreation, and as Assistant Secretary for Land
Conservation in the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
“Forging together these two organizations is a bold move that we
believe will advance the
ideals of the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park.
With Kathy Abbott's leadership we
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will see an exciting new course set for Boston's waterfront and
the Islands,” said Michael
Creasey, General Superintendent of the National Parks of
Boston.
To help launch Boston Harbor Now through its initial phase, the
organization has received
$350,000 from the Barr Foundation and $80,000 in grant funding
from the Catalyst Fund for
Nonprofits. The grants will help the two nonprofits implement
and finalize the merger andbegin the planning, programming and
development required to realize a bigger vision for
Boston Harbor. The trustees for Boston Harbor Now include
Barbara Capuano, Raphael &
Raphael LLP; Carol Churchill, Suez Energy North America; Brian
Dacey, Cambridge Innovation
Center; Richard Dimino, A Better City; Gov. Michael S. Dukakis,
Northeastern University; Jamie
M. Fay, Ft. Point Associates, Inc.; Robert Golledge, Golledge
Strategies; Elizabeth Grob, VHB;
Meaghan Hooper-Berdik, Turner Construction; Douglas McGarrah,
Foley Hoag; Thomas
McShane, Dewey Square Group; Liz Morningstar; J. Keith Motley,
University of Massachusetts
Boston; Shelly O’Neill, O’Neill & Associates; Bud Ris; Cathy
Douglas Stone, Stone Family
Foundation; Richard Walker, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; and
Gov. William Weld, ML
Strategies. The tagline for the organization is “Navigating Our
Future.”
“We want to thank the staff of both organizations, who have
worked very hard to ensure that
this transition is smooth,” said Bud Ris, former President and
CEO of the New England
Aquarium. “They are excited to work with Kathy Abbott, who
understands the issues facing
Boston Harbor and the Islands and the goal of Boston Harbor Now
to shape the future of the
Harbor.”
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