To be effective, a Foundation needs to be grounded in the community it serves. Returning to the Boston Foundation marks an opportunity for me to work with community members and civic leaders to create meaningful economic, community, cultural and civic change from the ground up.
Boston – The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, has announced the appointment of Travis McCready as its new Vice President for Program. McCready has been serving as the first-ever Executive Director of the Kendall Square Association since 2010, where he led the efforts to preserve, promote and advance the interests of the Kendall Square neighborhood and business district during a time of unprecedented change and expansion.
The hiring was announced by Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, who first brought McCready to the Foundation in 2001 to serve as his first Chief of Staff. McCready rejoins the Foundation as Vice President for Program beginning February 4th.
“The Boston Foundaton has committed itself to building ever-stronger community connections,” said Grogan, who first worked with McCready in their time at Harvard University, where McCready was Director of Community Affairs and Grogan was Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs. “Travis was a key partner in remolding the Foundation in the early years of my tenure, and he is the right person to help us enhance those connections, while bringing with him an exceptional background in the business, innovation and nonprofit sectors.”
Before joining the Kendall Square Association, McCready was previously the COO and CFO of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, where he oversaw all operations and finance for the Commonwealth’s three convention centers including the award-winning Boston Convention Exhibition Center.
McCready succeeds Robert Lewis, Jr., who announced last month that he would leave the Foundation after five years to found a new initiative, Home BASE, that will leverage sports as a vehicle to engage boys and young men in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan in a positive, rigorous, passionate and success-driven environment with the goal of excellence both on and off the field. Lewis will also serve as a special adviser to the Foundation in the first half of 2013.
“To be effective, a Foundation needs to be grounded in the community it serves. Returning to the Boston Foundation marks an opportunity for me to work with community members and civic leaders to create meaningful economic, community, cultural and civic change from the ground up,” said McCready. “It also gives me my third opportunity to work with Paul Grogan, who brought me to Boston 13 years ago, and provides a chance to connect again with the great people of the Foundation, its donors and its grantee partners.”
McCready grew up in Harlem and Brooklyn, and is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Iowa Law School. He serves on the advisory boards of a number of local organizations, including the UMass Boston Center for Collaborative Leadership, the Harvard Kennedy School Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, and the American Reperatory Theatre. He is on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, and the co-chair of the Subcommittee on Innovation Entrepreneurship for the Massachusetts Economic Development Advisory Planning Council.