Martha's
Vineyard
Donors
Collaborative

Board Members

Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs is a more-than-seasonal/less-than full time resident of the Vineyard. He has had a 40-odd year financial career in London and New York, and was for 25 years the Chief Investment Officer of Fiduciary Trust International, where he is still currently Vice Chairman. He remains active in investment management, especially for eleemosynary institutions.

Both he and his wife have been on the Boards of a number of business and charitable institutions. Mr. Biggs is currently Chairman of the Board of the Davis Group of Mutual Funds and Saint James School, and a member of the Board and Finance Committees of the Museum of the City of New York and the Vineyard Conservation Society. He is a member of the Guardians Council of Sheriff's Meadow.

Carole Cohen  

A native of New York City, Carole Cohen grew up in Detroit, and has lived in Boston, Chicago, Long Island and, currently, in Washington, DC and Chilmark.  She is a graduate of Wellesley College and attended the Simmons School of Social Work. Cohen spent over 35 years in university advancement work and non-profit management. 

She has been Associate Chancellor for Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Vice President for University Affairs at SUNY Stony Brook, President of the Stony Brook Foundation, and President of the American Kidney Fund. As a volunteer she serves on the boards of IONA Senior Services and Green Spaces for DC in Washington, on the board of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, and is co-president of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. 

Cohen is married to Dr. Jordan J. Cohen, is the mother of three grown children, and the grandmother of eight.

Cindy Doyle
Cindy Doyle moved the Martha's Vineyard in 2001 from Providence, RI where she co-founded the Angell Street Wellness Collaborative and was a therapist in private practice.  She has worked as a Head Start teacher, an architect's assistant, and as an independent school development director.   She served on a number of non -profit boards in Rhode Island and was the president of the board of Amos House, the largest soup kitchen and shelter in RI.

As a seasonal resident for over 30 years Ms. Doyle and her family have been long time supporters of Island non-profits.  She is now on the boards of the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard and the Martha's Vineyard Donors Collaborative.  She is a trustee of The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation.   

Samuel M. Feldman
Before becoming a full-time resident of Martha's Vineyard, Sam Feldman lived in Baltimore, Maryland.  He was chairman, CEO, and president of a national chain of apparel stores, which became a public company in 1986.

Mr. Feldman has served on many non-profit boards primarily relating to community services and education.  On Martha's Vineyard his non-profit affiliations have been with the Island Charter School, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Island Council for Youth, Polly Hill Arboretum, Mopeds Are Dangerous Committee, Hebrew Center, the FARM Institute and Martha's Vineyard Donors Collaborative.  Mr. Feldman is chair of the Gretchen V. & Samuel M. Feldman Private Foundation and the Feldman Family Fund. 

Eric Glasgow

Eric and his wife Molly recently put down roots on the Vineyard after moving around for 15 years as Eric pursued a successful career in oil trading. They are excited to be here, have become active members of the community and started a diversified farm in Chilmark known as the Grey Barn and Farm. They will have a farm store, creamery, butchery and produce operation. Their Mission Statement is:

The Grey Barn and Farm is dedicated to the cultivation, production and preparation of local food seasonally and organically. We are committed to the principle of sustainability for the land and community. It is our aspiration that we do this in a beautiful, pastoral setting where our animals are humanely cared for and our customers can appreciate the simple joy of experiencing where their food comes from.

Eric graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Economics with Honors. He and Molly have been married 12 years and have two children attending the Chilmark School.

Inez K. Janger
Inez Janger has over 20 years' experience in human resources management.  Her experience spans management and consulting positions with Citibank, KPMG, and in private practice.  She is recognized for her ability to identify people-focused issues and to collaborate with clients to develop and implement client-specific solutions to both day-to-day problems and long-term issues.  Her contributions have resulted in improved human resources effectiveness as well as measurable bottom line results.

Ms. Janger and her husband Allen now live on Martha's Vineyard where she is a member of the Board of Directors of The Yard and currently President of the MVDC.  She is past President of of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, headquartered in Washington, DC.  Before moving to Martha's Vineyard, she was active in local community affairs in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY where she was elected to the Board of Education and served as both member and President.

Gerald S. Jones

Gerald Jones is a management consultant concentrating on change---ownership change, strategic change, business model change, structural change, culture change, etc.  Gerald is also an Executive coach, working with CEO’s and Boards.

Previously, Gerald was executive vice president at the Forum Corporation, a management consulting and education firm.  Over his 23 years’ tenure at Forum, Gerald served as the firm’s chief marketing and sales officer, headed Forum’s international division, the consulting business, and most recently its strategic outsourcing business. He was worked with large and small firms domestically and internationally, creating customer-centered organizations, organizational restructuring, culture change, marketing and sales effectiveness, sales and service training, Total Quality Management and profit improvement, and leadership development.

Gerald has served as Chair of several large condominium Boards, is currently Chair of the South Shore Conservatory, New England’s largest community arts school.  He also advises non-profits and participates on several other non-profit Boards.  Gerald received his BA from VMI and an MBA from Wharton.

He and his wife, Linda, who has her own Parenting Education business, live in Hingham, MA and in Edgartown, MA.

Robin A. Leeds
Robin Leeds is a senior strategist, manager, and organizer with over 25 years of experience in public policy development, public-private partnerships, constituency outreach, capacity building, grassroots advocacy and lobbying, fund development, media affairs, and national and state government relations and service.  She has devoted her entire professional career to advancing the rights of women, working people, and communities of color.  Toward this end, Ms. Leeds has developed and implemented countless successful initiatives and programs for the White House, federal and state agencies and legislatures, labor unions, corporations, electoral campaigns, foundations, non-profit organizations, public interest groups, and state and federal governments and legislative bodies.

Ms. Leeds serves on the board of the Mary Center for Maternal and Child Health and the Women's Information Network, and is active in the Democratic National Committee's Women's Caucus and Women's Leadership Forum.   Ms. Leeds has also been appointed to a number of Massachusetts' boards and commissions including the: Governor's Advisory Committee on Women's Issues, and Task Force on Sexual Harassment; Secretary of State's Voter Participation Partnership; Planned Parenthood's Coalition for Choice Consensus Building Project; National Women's Political Caucus; Human Rights Campaign Fund; and the Coalition for Democratic Women.  She lives in Washington, DC and Vineyard Haven, MA.

Claudia Miller

Claudia Miller, born and educated in Germany, has been living in the United States for 30 years. She is an artist and owned and ran a studio-coop for ceramic artists and sculptors and a galleryin Port Chester, NY. She is a mother of two grown children and a grandmother of one.

Claudia splits her time between Martha's Vineyard, New York City and Key West Florida where she is a supporter of the arts.  She is on the Board of the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival and the Preservation Trust. Claudia also owns the Point Way Inn in Edgartown, which she runs as an inn for visiting artists working on island.

Beatrice Phear
Beatrice Phear spent all her professional life in the not for profit sector.  With a degree in social welfare policy, she worked as Human Services Coordinator for the Town of Lexington and later ran the housing stabilization programs for a community development corporation in Cambridge, where she founded a transitional shelter for homeless teen parents.  She also served as a member of the Stewardship Committee of the United Way of Mass Bay, and on the board of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. Currently retired, Ms. Phear serves as chair of the Edey Foundation.  She divides her time between West Tisbury and Somerville, MA.

Robert G. Ripley, Jr.

Robert Ripley is Executive Vice President - Financial Group Manager of the Martha's Vineyard Savings Bank which he joined in May 2009. He has over twenty-five years trust and asset management experience beginning his banking career at Shawmut Bank. 

While at Shawmut, Bob was group Vice President heading the bank's central tax unit.  After leaving Shawmut Bank, Bob started Trust Tax Services Of America (TTSOA) and grew the company into one of the countries largest provider of trust tax compliance and software services to the trust industry. 

After selling TTSOA, Bob purchased Securities Research Company (SRC), America's oldest stock charting company.  At SRC, Bob introduced new print products and a web based charting system that was rolled out to investment managers and brokers world-wide.  Since the sale of SRC, Bob has been consulting banks on how to grow their trust departments. 

Bob is a graduate of Bentley College and completed graduate studies at Bryant College's MST program and Nichols College's MBA program.  Bob and his wife Sue reside in East Falmouth.

Julie Skinner

Julie Skinner and her family have been coming to the Vineyard since the late 60’s. She and her husband, a business executive, retired here in 2005 after living 40 years in Muncie Indiana where she raised a family and was active in the community. She helped bring an NPR station to Muncie and was instrumental in starting a “Hands On” Children’s Museum in 1970 which is still viable today.

Julie was active on several Boards over the years including: President of the Muncie Symphony, Vice Chairman of Mutual Federal and Savings Bank, Public Television and Muncie Children’s Museum.  Her last position was Chairman of the Grants Committee of the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County. 

Originally from California, she taught school after College until she started a family which now includes three sons and four grandchildren.