Who We Are

Our Mission: To promote and enhance the value of the South End Library and Library Park as a cultural, informational, and educational asset for the South End community, free to all, through programs, activities, and financial support. 

Voting and Advisory Boards

FOSEL recently expanded its board of directors to 14 from seven to more broadly reflect the South End as the Library embarks on a multi-million-dollar expansion plan in the next three to five years. In the fall of 2019, FOSEL mailed 2,500 recruitment brochures (see below) and made presentations at South End neighborhood association meetings to find candidates who wanted to be South End Library advocates. New members of the the voting board and the advisory board were voted in via ZOOM in July 2020.

VOTING BOARD DIRECTORS 2023-24:

Gary Bailey: Gary is Professor of Practice at Simmons College School of Social Work where he directs the Urban Leadership and Clinical Social Work Certificate Program and coordinates the Dynamics of Racism and Oppression Sequence. He has a secondary appointment at the Simmons College School of Nursing and Health Sciences, where he also serves as Special Assistant to the Dean for Inter-Professional Education. Gary has a Faculty Affiliate appointment at Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care and is a consultant to Fenway Health Department of Behavioral Health, among his many affiliations. Gary is interested in the issue of homelessness as it affects libraries and is working with BPL leadership to create programming to serve them with his students’ assistance . Columbus Square

Lauren Begley: Lauren has called the South End “home” for six years. She currently resides on East Concord street with her husband, Jeff, and one-year-old daughter, Charlie and is excited to join FOSEL and be an advocate for family-friendly events at the South End branch library. Lauren worked for private equity and asset-management firms for six years before switching careers to work for a local fashion boutique, traveling to NYC and Paris buying women’s high-end clothing and accessories. Lauren has experience organizing and hosting events with a creative mindset. She is on the Young Professionals Network (YPN) board of local women’s shelter, Rosie’s Place, and has championed their cause since arriving to Boston almost ten years ago. She is excited to bring her fundraising experience from YPN to FOSEL and about helping to ensure the South End library is a safe and inviting space for kids and families. When Lauren isn’t spending time with her husband and daughter, she is with her big extended family in Boston, avid supporters of the causes she champions. E Concord Street

Tracey Bolotnick: Tracey is an attorney with a practice specialized in serving nonprofit organizations, including the Massachusetts Library Association, Friends of the Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, South End-based groups like United South End Settlements and Friends of Harriet Tubman Park, and a host of education and literacy organizations.  She is the Secretary and General Counsel of the Edward P. Evans Foundation, which supports cancer research, and serves on the boards of the Nexterra Foundation and Mass Audubon.  She spent six years as a litigator and corporate attorney in New York and London and helped found and head the Varsavsky Foundation, a grant-making organization that aimed to bring technology to education in Latin America. For a brief stint, she was a volunteer grade-school teacher in Ghana, West Africa. Tracey has lived in the South End for 15 years and is raising her two children there.  She is an avid reader and loves libraries. Columbus Avenue, moving to: Claremont Park

Sara DiVello: Sara is a national yoga teacher, speaker, and the author of the best-selling book, Where in the OM Am I? One Woman’s Journey from the Corporate World to the Yoga Mat,  NIEA-winner for Best Memoir, selected by Shape Magazine as a best book, and named a must-read for anyone considering a career change (or just a good laugh) by Working Mother. She has appeared on CBS and the Huffington Post Live, as well as in Forbes, the New York Times, ABC, CNBC, the San Francisco Chronicle, and more. Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Elle, Redbook, Dr. Oz, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, and more. Sara is a long-time South End resident with her husband and their thirteen-pound rescue mutt, Pelu, and has been a life-long library lover. She is thrilled to lead the South End Writes Author Series. E.Concord Street.

Nancy Downer: Nancy leads a team of principal and major gifts fundraisers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  She has been a South End resident for 15 years and has been active in neighborhood matters via the Pilot Block Neighborhood Association.  She recognizes the important role libraries play in our communities and is excited about the opportunity to contribute to FOSEL’s mission.      Tremont & W Brookline Streets

Barbara Faires: Barbara spent most of her professional life with Westminster College, PA, as a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, including five years in which she served as vice president for academic affairs.  Before that she held positions with Carnegie Mellon and Oxford universities and the Mathematical Association of America.  She has volunteered as the treasurer of the Lyric Opera, co-chair of a juried women's art exhibit in its 40th year, and senior warden (and all sorts of other positions) with the Episcopal church. She lives in the South End, as does her daughter and her daughter’s family.

Michael Hinchcliffe: A South End resident for more than 25 years, Michael is a an architect and principal with the Boston-based firm Payette where he leads projects for research, education, and healthcare facilities.  An avid reader - his book group has been thriving for more than 20 years - he believes that libraries are one of our society's greatest resources to enrich our communities.  He looks forward to helping sustain and plan for our neighborhood library’s future. Waltham Street. 

Yvette Jarreau: Yvette is an organization development professional, learning & development leader, career coach, and marriage and family therapist.  Recently retired from EILEEN FISHER, INC., she has led efforts in leadership and organization development with a passionate focus on growth and learning.  An inveterate  reader, she loves libraries and all they provide for communities. Yvette holds an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy and a BS in Marketing.  She is a licensed MFT in MA and a member of AAMFT. Shawmut Avenue

Dorothy Kelley: Dorothy retired as Deputy Director of the Des Moines Public Library after more than three decades of professional library work. She was responsible for the library system’s  operating and capital improvements budgets, facilities management, and human resource management. She worked with architects and contractors during the library’s ten-year building program to remodel and expand all of the branch libraries, and to construct a new Central Library. She has a BA in English and a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa, and she is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). She is a lifetime member of The American Library Association. Dorothy is active in a book discussion group which has been meeting for forty years. She is delighted to continue her  lifelong commitment to public libraries by serving on the FOSEL board.

Derek P. Lessing: Derek is a lifelong avid reader and eager to secure a firm future for the South End branch library of the BPL. He is a leader with the Rutland Street Neighborhood Association, lives across from the library, and is a lab manager and staff scientist with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard. Rutland Street

Alex Reis: Alex is a lifelong New Yorker-turned-New Englander when her fiancé matched at Boston Medical Center for his residency and fellowship, and she is very grateful that their journey brought her to the vibrant South End community. Alex studied English and Creative Writing at New York University and is an avid reader and writer of fiction and poetry. She is thrilled to bring her love of literature and the Library to support FOSEL. Alex has worn several different hats in the five years she has worked at Compass, a tech-focused real estate brokerage, but currently is enjoying her role as a Senior Product Marketing Manager.

Joe Rondinelli: Joe came to Boston after graduating college in 1982 and initially worked for a small architectural firm in Cambridge where he did a number of the early 80’s South End condo conversions.  He immediately fell in love with the neighborhood and moved to Milford Street in 1993.  Joe is an interior designer with a practice focus in higher education, including more than 25 academic libraries.  He also designed the interiors for the new Austin Central Library, his first public library. After a career of more than two decades with the architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Joe left the practice to pursue a variety of consulting opportunities.  He now has the time to become reacquainted with the neighborhood and the city and appreciate it more than ever. Milford Street

Barbara Sommerfeld: Barbara has lived in the South End for 45 years and raised two sons in the neighborhood. She received her MBA from Northeastern University and worked on the business side of non-profit organizations for 35 years. She has served as the treasurer of FOSEL since 2010.  She was a tutor for K-3 reading program at St. Stephens’s after-school program and is currently tutoring at the Blackstone School reading program run by Generations, Inc. W Concord Street.

VOTING BOARD OFFICERS:

Yvette Jarreau, president; Barbara Sommerfeld, treasurer; Tracey Bolotnick, clerk.

ADVISORY BOARD:

Kaitlin (Kaiti) Coffin: Kaiti is the Director of Early Childhood Education and Out of School Time at United South End Settlements (USES).  She has worked in the Early Education field for more than 20 years. She is passionate about program quality, children’s experiences in Early Education Programs, educator training, family partnerships and building community.  She is excited to support the South End Library and the South End community, specifically for the youth in our community.   East Springfield Street

Susanna Coit: Susanna is the Archives and Research Library assistant at Perkins School for the Blind. She has an MSLIS in Archives Management from Simmons School of Library and Information Science. A former Rutland St resident, she now Somerville but is still devoted to the South End library’s well-being.

Liane Crawford: Liane has been a South End resident for forty years and, with her husband Don, raised their three now-adult children here. Liane has served as board member for various organizations, including the board of the Eastern CT Symphony Orchestra and the Community Music Center of Boston Corporation. Liane worked closely with USES on the reopening celebration of the Children's Art Centre. Her background is in finance, marketing and fundraising. She currently consults for non-profit organizations makes excellent recommendations for all FOSEL programming. Rutland Square.

Stephen Fox: Steve came to Boston in 1972 to go to grad school and never left except for a three-year posting in Washington, D.C. in corporate government relations. He worked in educational research and consulting and was tapped by Mayor Kevin White as Special Assistant for Education Policy; shortly thereafter he became the Mayor's Executive Assistant, working closely with all city departments, the Boston City Council, and constituencies and neighborhoods. In the private sector, he was the Asia-Pacific Trade & Government Relations Manager for Digital Equipment Corporation and became its the Worldwide Trade Manager. After heading the Rutland Square Association for 30 years, Steve was one of the original founders, and current chair, of the South End Forum, the first organization to represent the common interests and initiatives of fifteen independent neighborhood and two business associations of the South End. Rutland Square

Don Haber: Don is co-chair of the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch Library, the oldest Friends group in the BPL system (est. 1952) (www.friendsjplibrary.org). He began advocating for renovation of the JP Branch 14 years ago. In May 2018, it reopened after a $10 million renovation to spectacular reviews. For the past several years, he has attended most BPL Trustees meetings with Marleen Nienhuis. He also serves on the Advisory Board for JP Reads, a community-wide literary celebration (www.jpreads.org). Professionally, he is an attorney who also serves as vice-president of the Jamaica Hills Neighborhood Association. He is the co-president of Friends of JP Library and was in charge of the JP Friends’ role in its renovation. Jamaica Plain.

Jackie McRath: Jackie has lived in the South End for more than forty years, and feels that the library is one of the most treasured community resources.  She recycles her Boston Globe to the library and is a grateful recipient of free books ("Open to All") on the library's front entrance cart. She frequently takes children's books from the cart to the pediatric unit of the South End Health Center.  She has taken memoir writing at the Dudley Branch and would love to see such workshops given at the South End Branch. Jackie has published travel articles and poems, and covered arts and culture events for the Bay State Banner.  She chairs the Theresa-India Young Scholarship Committee, which awards a scholarship in the Fibers Dept. at Mass Art. She is currently researching the life and works of Beat Generation Jazz Action surrealist poet, Ted Joans, and, most recently, provided full technical support to the Haitian surrealist painter, Patrick Gerald Wah. Rutland Square

Hermine Muskat: Hermine worked as a full time licensed psychologist in private practice in Wellesley and Brookline and now maintains a part time practice in Boston.  She worked in the Counseling Center at Boston State College and taught in the Department of Psychology.   She graduated from the Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Waltham and co-produced two documentary feature length films, Waiting for Armageddon and Doctors of the Dark Side as well as a public service announcement, Cut It Out, on the subject of intimate partner violence for the Cambridge Women’s Commission. She is currently engaged as a photographer with the Communications Committee at FOSEL and looks forward to becoming more involved with the South End Library. She has lived in the South End for eleven years.  

Russ O’Haver: Russ retired from Ernst & Young in NYC. He lives in the South End with his wife Laura who grew up reading most of the books in the Mattapan library. He currently teaches Accounting at Northeastern’s Business School. Russ has volunteered for the FOSEL Programming Study committee and is actively involved in bringing information access technology (as in touch-screens)to the branch. He is also interested providing income tax assistance and financial literacy sessions at the South End library. West Concord Street.

Licia Sky: Licia is a singer-songwriter, playwright, and South End resident. She leads writing retreats and experiential movement and vocalizing workshops to facilitate self-awareness and connection with others. In the late nineties, she ran a poetry and music “open mic” for three years. She would like to start an “open mic” reading for the community through the South End library. Upton Street

Elizabeth Taylor: A South End artist and art teacher at MFA. She has designed the beautiful new FOSEL book bags centered on a prominent FOSEL logo. Her work was featured in one of the Local/Focus shows last year. Tremont Street

Duncan Will: Duncan is retired after a career in independent school administration, including 25 years at Phillips Academy in Andover. Since moving to the South End, Duncan has become a regular volunteer at Community Servings, the Pine Street Inn and the Boston Center for the Arts. In his spare time, Duncan enjoys weekly oil painting classes at the MFA and making paintings in his studio/apartment. He is actively engaged in the Local/Focus installations. Concord Square.

FOUNDER:

Marleen Nienhuis: Marleen formalized an already existing South End Library Friends group into a 501C3 non-profit in 2008, enabling it to raise funds for programming and physical improvements for the library and Library Park. With FOSEL board members, she organized the South End Writes author series, the summer Jazz & Blues concerts with Pat Loomis, the Library Park Easter Egg Hunt, the Local/Focus window installations (spearheaded by former advisory board member Karen Watson) and the Award Winning Books window (with director Jennifer Watson and advisor Reinhold Mahler). She resigned as president of FOSEL in 2010, stayed on as an advisor, but returned as interim clerk and then president from 2014 to 2020. In the 1990s, she was a founding board member, treasurer and president of the Friends of Titus Sparrow Park when its Friends group lobbied successfully for the park’s renovation while, with other board members, developing the Titus Sparrow Park summer programming for children, and the music-in-the-park programs. She is the membership chair of the Rutland Square Association. She was born and raised in Amsterdam, graduated from the Columbia Journalism School, and worked as a reporter/editor for various organizations for ten years until motherhood intervened in the 1990s. W Newton Street 

If you would like to participate, or have suggestions about making the library or Library Park a better place for you and yours, please email us at info@friendsofsouthendlibrary.org.

FOSEL’s 2019 Board recruitment brochure: