Clayton H.W. Turnbull was born in Jamaica and came to the United States with his parents at the age of six. Mr. Turnbull attended Boston Public Schools, graduating from Dorchester High. He then received his bachelor’s degree in marketing from The University of Massachusetts Boston. In 1992 Mr. Turnbull secured the rights to develop a geographical area for Dunkin' Donuts as a franchisee. Building stores in economically deprived neighborhoods was his vision and motive for the business plan. Today he owns and operates Dunkin’ stores in diverse neighborhoods of Boston (Back Bay, Dorchester, Nubian Square, Roxbury), Logan Airport and Quincy. As CEO of The Waldwin Group he is committed to creating a rewarding experience for customers and employees in alignment with core values and a mission to provide the best service and product to customers.

Mr. Turnbull's development experience in real estate consists of various projects. Most notably he revamped an unoccupied building on Allerton Street in New Market Square in 2005. He built on a parcel of land from the ground up, a mixed commercial and residential units in Nubian Square in 2018 and he developed in 2014 beautiful condos in Jamaica Plain.

Melissa M. MacDonnell is President of the Foundation at Liberty Mutual Insurance and Vice President, Community Investments at Liberty Mutual Insurance. Since she founded Liberty Mutual Foundation in 2003, it has committed more than $340 million dollars to 1,300+ organizations through direct grants, with a focus on advancing security and building resiliency for vulnerable people and communities. As Vice President of Community Investments at Liberty Mutual Insurance, Melissa also oversees the company’s corporate community engagement, including its philanthropic thought leadership, robust employee engagement and Integrated Programs, which leverages Liberty’s core capabilities, expertise and assets to drive greater impact in the community. The recipient of numerous awards for her philanthropic work, Melissa believes deeply in the potential of the private sector, in concert with the community at large, to ignite social good.

Melissa earned her BS in Finance with a concentration in Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.

Ruth J. Simmons is a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Rice University and Adviser to the President of Harvard University on HBCU Initiatives.  She served as President of Prairie View A&M University until March 2023. Prior to joining Prairie View, she was President of Brown University from 2001-2012 and President of Smith College from 1995-2001. Under her leadership, Prairie View was reclassified as an R-2 Research University and Brown made significant strides in improving its standing as one of the world’s finest research universities.

A French professor before entering university administration, President Simmons held an appointment as a Professor of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies at Brown. After completing her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard, she served in various faculty and administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College before becoming president of Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States. At Smith, she launched a number of important academic initiatives, including an engineering program, the first at an American women’s college.