Community Fund for Wellesley

Liz Cua

Liz and her husband, Chris, moved to Wellesley in 1994. Their children, Lily and Christopher, graduated from Wellesley High School in 2007 and 2011. Liz is a practicing radiologist at Atrius Health in Boston. Liz’s volunteer efforts include various non-profits in the Boston area.

Sree Balamurugesh

Sree Balamurugesh has been a Wellesley resident since 2006 and her two daughters graduated from the Wellesley Public School system. Sree has had extensive professional experience and significant executive leadership accomplishments in business in philanthropy. Sree helps oversee the digital division of Small Army Media and is a partner at Sree Power Agencies and Reefer Power Corp. Prior to these roles, she has managed various diversified clients, from international exports like Vennila Tex Exports to nonprofit organizations educating girls in Afghanistan (Razia’s Ray of Hope) to educating and empowering children about microfinance (One Hen, Inc.). Sree has served on the boards of Friends of Dana Farber, Wellesley Education Foundation, and several advisory boards. She holds dearly her role as the parent coordinator for the Comp. Girls team at Community Rowing Inc. With her natural affinity for cultivating relationships, and convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals, Sree enjoys being part of the community and helping through any means she can! She applies qualities of integrity, credibility, and a passion for progress to strategic efforts and is highly driven to making a difference in the organizations is a part of! 

Ellen F. Gibbs

Ellen has served in a volunteer and elected capacity in Wellesley for more than two decades. She recently retired from the Wellesley Board of Selectmen after serving 9 years. During her tenure, Ellen dealt with a wide range of matters and helped to advance important initiatives involving multiple Town boards, a broad spectrum of many public and private institutions and organizations at the state, regional and local levels.

Ellen and husband David, an attorney, moved to Wellesley in 1992. Their two children are in graduate school. Prior to her municipal work, Ellen worked as a Project Director for the MA Department of Public Health. She is co-owner and manager of a small real estate investment company and holds degrees from Tufts University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Mary Beth Mahoney

Mary Beth has been a Wellesley resident since 1977 and attended Wellesley High School, Dartmouth College, and Babson College for her MBA. Her 33 year career first as a private banker and then as a wealth advisor started at BayBank.  She spent 12 years with Boston Private Bank and has now been with Wellesley Investment Partners, a subsidiary of Wellesley Bank, for 5 years. Mary Beth and her husband Randy have 3 adult children: Meghan, Caitlin and Kevin.

Tom McGovern

Tom moved to Wellesley in 2016 with his wife, Kate, and one-year old son, Miles. They welcomed a daughter, Rose, in 2018. Tom grew up in New Hampshire and attended Boston College and Fordham Law School. He is now a lawyer specializing in commercial real estate and corporate finance. When not spending time with his family, Tom enjoys golfing and fishing and is an active member of Sakonnet Golf Club and Brae Burn Country Club. Tom and Kate look forward to raising their kids in Wellesley and hope to give back to the community that has already given them so much.

Lisa Novakoff

Lisa has worked as a mental health nurse for the past 32 years, providing direct care and teaching. Lisa feels strongly about education, prevention and rehabilitation when it comes to mental health and believes our communities need to do more to support this. Currently, she serves on the advisory board for Elliot House, a rehabilitation program for people with chronic, debilitating mental health issues because she thinks it is important to support the resources in her own community that provide a safe and nurturing place for people living and working in Wellesley. Lisa teaches in the baccalaureate nursing program at Regis College, is a graduate of Simmons College and received a master of science in nursing from the University of Massachusetts.

Wendy Paul

Wendy and her family have lived in Wellesley since 2001. After years of work in health care and outcomes research administration, Wendy’s focus upon moving to Wellesley from Los Angeles has been in supporting her community and non-profit organizations. Wendy has served as President of the PTOs at PAWS and Bates Schools, on the Executive Board of the Central Council of PTOs and Treasurer and President of Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club. Most recently, Wendy completed six years (2011-2017) on the Wellesley School Committee, serving as Vice-Chair three years and liaison to the Permanent Building Committee for the Fiske & Schofield renovation and School Security projects. Wendy has been a Town Meeting Member since 2011, is a Board Member at the Walker School in Needham, focusing on capital projects, and serves on the Security Task Force at Temple Beth Elohim. With her husband, Jim, she enjoys being the parent of and trying to keep up with two busy Wellesley High School students.

Tina Chen

Tina Chen, her husband Justin, and their children Olivia and Owen moved to Wellesley in 2018.  Tina is the Director of B2C Sales Enablement at Wayfair.  Prior to moving to Wellesley , Tina and family were based in Asia where she worked as a management consultant at McKinsey, advising clients across Asia and the Middle East, with focus on growth strategy and family-owned business management.  Tina holds a BA in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College and a JD from Harvard Law.   

Beth Shedd

Beth is a passionate connector, volunteer and photographer and has lived in Wellesley since 1989. She’s been an active member of Wellesley’s Service League, PTOs, Mother’s Forum and Gardner’s Guild and has served on numerous town committees over the years. She is the owner of Beth Shedd Photography and loves photographing people in and around Wellesley as well as working with its many town organizations: the Council on Aging, Board of Selectmen, Country Club, Town Band, Wellesley Weston Magazine, Wellesley Hills Living Magazine etc. Beth and her husband, Chris, have two daughters – one a junior at UVM and the other teaches 3rd grade in Chicago.

Mike Stephens

Mike has lived in Wellesley since 2014 with his wife, Hadley, and their two sons. He is an Investment Officer at Fiduciary Trust Company, where he helps successful families and institutions reach their financial goals. He has also spent time involved in a number of other business ventures in hospitality, private equity, and consulting. He is also a member of the Financial Planning Association and is an alumnus of Columbia and Cornell Universities. Mike joined the Community Board in 2016 and particularly appreciates the local nature of the fund and being able to see firsthand the impact of the grants the fund makes.

Johanna Cahoon

Johanna and her family moved to Wellesley in 2018 after living in New York City for nearly 20 years.  Johanna worked as a second grade teacher in the New York City public school system.  Always an active volunteer, Johanna has been involved with numerous New York based non profit organizations and a variety of academic institutions.  She received her BA from Connecticut College, MA in Art History from Hunter College and MA in Childhood Education from New York University.