John Hope Settlement House warmly welcomes John Mara and Marcus Mitchell to the Board of Directors.
John Mara's grandfather, a powerful role model, was very involved in the Boys & Girl Club. John, following his lead, wanted to get involved with a children-oriented non-profit organization. A co-worker and Director of Community Relations at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of RI suggested he look into John Hope Settlement House. And when he met with President & CEO Peter Lee, he knew it was the right place for him. As a manager of financial forecasting at BCBSRI, he looks forward to sharing his financial insight with the John Hope staff and Board. In his free time, John enjoys running, gardening, and watching the Red Sox when it's warm, and snowboarding and football when it's cold.
Marcus Mitchell is a resident of the East Side, President of the Providence Community Library, and board member of several organizations including John Hope Settlement House (where he loves reading to the children). He wields a wealth of federal economic and community development policy information, with 20 years experience in Pharmaceutical R&D Sciences and Corporate Strategy (co-authorship of 15 scientific publications and an editor of the reference book Biotechnology: Law, Business & Regulation). Additionally, he has 30 years cumulative experience amassed through managing a diverse array of organizations, groups, projects, and initiatives. Marcus is the founder of the National Urban League Young Professionals, which today has dozens of chapters and membership exceeding 2000 young professionals across the United States.
He enjoys leveraging his economic development, strategy creation, business development, leadership, and coalition building skills in national and international arenas, specifically within government, corporate, philanthropic, and political strategy efforts to enhance our communities and country. Marcus is an accomplished public speaker with an array of competition titles and awards. Marcus is President of Shere Strategy Enterprises, a business strategy firm, and is a US Coast Guard Auxiliary staff officer in RI.