ALLIANCE FOR RESPONSE
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
November 17, 2003
SPEAKER PROFILES
Jane S. Long is founding director of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, an initiative
of the nonprofit Heritage Preservation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The
program helps museums, libraries, archives, and historic sites protect their collections from
disasters. She is also co-author of Heritage Preservation’s latest book, Caring for Your Family
Treasures (Harry N. Abrams, 2000). Ms. Long has served as assistant director of the National
Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property, special projects coordinator for the
President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and executive director of the
Foundation for Public Affairs. A native of Ohio, she received a B.A. degree from the College
of Wooster and an M.A. from the University of Chicago.
Anne Hawley was appointed director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1989.
Under Ms. Hawley’s stewardship, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, now celebrating its
centennial anniversary, continues to evolve as a vibrant, innovative cultural resource. Drawing
on a background in contemporary arts, music, and arts education, Ms. Hawley initiated a series
of innovative programs – including the Artist-in-Residence program, the Young Artist Showcase
concert series, and the nationally recognized School Partnership Program – to encourage
scholarly and artistic explorations of the Museum’s collections. Prior to assuming the helm of
the Museum, Ms. Hawley held senior arts positions in the public and private nonprofit arts
sectors. She founded the Cultural Education Collaborative and brought entrepreneurial
leadership to the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities. Ms. Hawley holds a B.A.
from the University of Iowa, an M.A. from George Washington University, and honorary
doctorates conferred by Williams College, Montserrat College of Art, Babson College, and
Lesley College. Her many awards include the Lyman Ziegler Award for Outstanding Service
to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Reginald Townsend Award, given for outstanding achievement in New England by the New England Society in the City of New York.
Myra Harrison has held a variety of positions at the local, regional, and national levels in the
fields of historic preservation, conservation, and historic sites management. She has been
associated with the Providence Preservation Society (RI), the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, the President's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the (federal) Heritage
Conservation and Recreation Service, and finally the National Park Service. Her immediate
past position in the National Park Service was as director of the Northeast Cultural Resources
Center, which provided archeological, architectural, and historic object and building
conservation services to the National Parks in the northeast. Currently Ms. Harrison is
superintendent of three National Historic Sites: Frederick LawOlmsted NHS, which
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encompasses Olmsted's Brookline home, office, domestic landscape, and extensive archives
(including 140,000 drawings); the John Fitzgerald Kennedy NHS, the President's birthplace
in Brookline; and the Longfellow NHS in Cambridge (also the headquarters of George
Washington during the Siege of Boston), with a surrounding historic landscape and a collection
of 750,000 items, most from the Longfellow years, including decorative arts, furniture, books,
and papers.
G. Fred Vanderschmidt is the senior environmental and historical reviewer for the Region I,
Mitigation Division, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). During his
twelve-year tenure at FEMA, Mr. Vanderschmidt has worked on over 30 federally-declared
disaster response, recovery, and mitigation operations across the country and US protectorates;
assisted in the award of over $10 million in mitigation grants in New England; and has trained
and assisted hundreds of state and community officials with disaster response, recovery,
mitigation, and flood insurance programs. Currently he assists the New England states in
identifying their hazards and risks and developing plans and funding projects that will mitigate
damages due to these hazards. He also acts as the federal liaison to the State of Massachusetts in
the event of an emergency or disaster. In addition to his work at FEMA, Mr. Vanderschmidt has
10 years’ experience in construction, engineering, and engineering inspection of both residential
and public projects and 15 years’ experience in the culinary arts. He is an alumnus of Tulane
University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Boston University. He holds a
degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a certified floodplain manager.
Peter Judge serves as the public information officer for the Massachusetts Emergency
Management Agency (MEMA). He initially joined the agency to develop and coordinate the
Commonwealth’s public education campaign regarding “Y2K Preparedness.” His responsibilities include ensuring that the public receives accurate and timely information, precautions,
and instructions concerning impending and occurring disasters and emergencies. He takes the
lead as the Agency’s media spokesman and assists in the coordination and presentation of a
consistent message at the Joint Information Center (JIC) during large multi-agency/multijurisdictional events. Prior to joining MEMA, Mr. Judge worked for 12 years in education and
17 years in sports marketing and management. The Boston native earned Bachelor of Arts
degrees in both History and Education from Boston College and a Master of Education degree
in School Administration from Boston State College.
Bernard A. Margolis became the first president of the nation’s first public library system in
1997. In his post, Mr. Margolis oversees the operation of the sixth largest library system in the
country, which consists of the Research Library and the Central Library in Copley Square, the
Edward Kirstein Business Library in the downtown business district, and 27 branch libraries
located throughout Boston’s neighborhoods. With a collection of over 32 million items, the BPL
is the largest public research library in New England. Before coming to Boston, Mr. Margolis
served as the director of Colorado’s Pikes Peak Library District, director of Michigan’s Monroe
County Library System, director of the Southeast Michigan Regional Film Library, and director
of Southern Michigan’s Raisin Valley Library System. Mr. Margolis is serving his fourth elected
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term on the Governing Council of the 63,000-member American Library Association (ALA), and
has served in a variety of Association positions. His many awards include “Colorado Librarian
of the Year,” two John Cotton Dana library public relations awards, and the Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts’ “Award of Excellence” for his library-sponsored “Imagination
Celebration.” Mr. Margolis received an M.A. in Librarianship and a B.S. in Political Science
from the University of Denver.
Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, M.L.S., C.A., preservation specialist at the Massachusetts Board of
Library Commissioners, is responsible for implementing the statewide preservation program,
the MBLC’s Emergency Assistance Program, its Environmental Monitoring Program, and for
maintaining the Massachusetts Special Collections Directory on the Massachusetts Library and
Information Network (MLIN). Mr. Trinkaus-Randall, a member of the Northeast Document
Conservation Center’s Advisory Committee and the Massachusetts Emergency Management
Team, has conducted numerous workshops on preservation, disaster preparedness, repair,
archival, and security topics. A member of the Academy of Certified Archivists, the Society of
American Archivists, and the New England Archivists, he is author of Protecting Your
Collections: A Manual of Archival Security and “Library and Archival Security: Policies and
Procedures to Protect Holdings from Theft and Damage,” in Management of Library and Archival
Security: From the Outside Looking In. Mr. Trinkaus-Randall received his B.A. and M.A.s in
History and Library Science/Archives Administration from the University of WisconsinMadison and is a graduate of Yale University’s NEH-funded Preservation/Conservation
Internship.
Arthur Beale is chair of Conservation and Collections Management at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. His career as a conservator spans more than 38 years since his education at Brandeis
and Boston Universities. He received his apprentice training in conservation at Harvard’s Fogg
Art Museum where he worked for twenty years, becoming director of the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies (now the Straus Center for Conservation). He was also senior
lecturer on fine arts at Harvard and helped develop the formal post-graduate training programs
at the Harvard University Art Museums and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Mr. Beale was
founding chairman of the board and council of the National Institute for Conservation (now
Heritage Preservation). He is a fellow of both the International and American Institutes for
Conservation. He held a Presidential appointment to the National Museum Services Board for
six years until 1995. In that same year, Mr. Beale was named the first recipient of the University
Products, Inc., award for distinguished achievement in the field of conservation. He has
lectured widely and published on a variety of subjects including the preservation of outdoor
statuary, the technical and authentication examination of objects, and environmental control
methods.
John P. Sullivan, Jr., is chief engineer at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, where he
has worked since 1977. He has over 31 years’ experience in water and wastewater engineering.
Mr. Sullivan is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a
certified operator of drinking water supplies in the Commonwealth. From 1972 to 1977, he was
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employed by the Boston Public Works Department. Mr. Sullivan holds a Masters degree in
Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Science degree in
Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Kelly Brilliant is executive director of The Fenway Alliance, Inc., an arts and cultural
membership organization that strives to improve the physical, social, economic, and cultural
environment of Boston’s Fenway area, “The Fenway Cultural District.” The Fenway Alliance’s
18 members represent major arts, cultural, academic, and religious institutions in this area. Prior
to heading up The Fenway Alliance, Ms. Brilliant directed Healthy Malden 2000, a nonprofit
organization established to serve the health of the city and the state through a variety of public
health initiatives. Ms. Brilliant was managing director and co-author of FLASHPOINT: Life Skills
Through the Lens of Media Literacy and FLASHPOINT II: Close-Up On Civil Rights curricula,
initiated by the Eastern District Attorney's Office of Massachusetts, and director of curriculum
for the Program for Young Negotiators. She has extensive experience researching, writing, and
developing youth programs that address substance abuse and violence prevention, and
prejudice and hate crime reduction. Ms. Brilliant received her B.A. from Vassar College and her
M.A. in English Literature from Boston University.
Mary Jo (MJ) Davis graduated from the State University College at Buffalo in 1994 with a
Masters in Art Conservation and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Paper Conservation. Since
1995, Ms. Davis has worked part-time for the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance heading
up their collections care program. Working with small historical societies, galleries, and
museums around the state, Ms. Davis assists these understaffed and mainly all-volunteer
institutions by conducting on-site visits, organizing workshops, and carrying out general
collections surveys. Through her work with these institutions, it became apparent that many
were not ready for any type of emergency or disaster that might befall them. Ms. Davis is
putting together a Vermont Emergency Response Team for Cultural Institutions, which will
help small historical societies, museums, libraries, town clerk offices, and archives in the event
of an emergency. In the other half of her week, Ms. Davis runs her own private conservation lab
where she is involved in the long-term preservation and treatment of artworks from private
clients around the state and the country.
Lawrence L. Reger has been president of Heritage Preservation since 1988, where he has been
responsible for development of a long-range strategy and a comprehensive program of services
to improve the care of the collections and other resources that constitute our nation’s patrimony. In 2000, he received the Forbes Medal from the American Institute for Conservation in
recognition of his distinguished contribution to the field. Mr. Reger has consulted with
foundations and cultural organizations on management, fund-raising, and long-range planning,
including the Cleveland Foundation and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has served as
director for the American Association of Museums and at the National Endowment for the Arts
as, successively, general counsel; director, planning and management; and director, program
development and coordination. He began his career as a lawyer after receiving his J.D. from
Vanderbilt University in 1964.
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