Meet the Board

Bette Colombo has been a trustee since 2010 and serves on the CMS Finance Committee. She has chaired CMS search committees for both the Head of School and the Interim Head of School, and in 2009 was a member of the Strategic Plan Update Committee. Her two children have attended CMS since 2008 and are currently in Lower Elementary and Middle School. Bette has extensive experience working as an equity analyst at several Wall Street firms and was also a portfolio manager at the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC). Currently, Bette is an Equity Analyst for Rockbound Capital, a small capitalization fund, as well as a Housemaster at Next House, MIT. She has an MBA in Accounting from NYU, studied Economics and Math at Johns Hopkins, and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Bette lives in Cambridge with her two children and husband, Chris, who is the Dean for Student Life at MIT.

Deborah Fennick is the parent of a recent CMS graduate who attended from pre-kindergarten through the 8th grade. Deborah has been a trustee since 2007, serving as chair of the Campus and Facilities Committee and member of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. As a founding partner of a 20-person architectural practice, Deborah’s design work includes education, transportation, residential, and institutional architecture, with projects ranging in scale from expansion of a South Shore Montessori school, to four new transit stations on the MBTA Green Line extension in Somerville. Deborah has a B.A. summa cum laude from Lehigh University and a Masters of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is active on other local boards and commissions, and enjoys time for ballet and yoga.

Annie has been a CMS parent for this, her 11th year - with son Clay an 8th year in Middle School/Infrared Room, and son Reed a 4th year in Upper El/ Jade Room. Professionally, Annie is a Credit Investment and Risk analyst, specializing in sustainable and socially-responsible holdings, and principal of her own firm, A B Lawson Analytics, LLC. Her background is in investment analysis and prior to that, commercial banking, at ING Group and Bank Brussels Lambert in New York. Annie is a CFA Charterholder and earned her MBA in Finance and International Business from NYU's Stern School of Business, and her BA in Cultural Anthropology at Vassar College. She also attended Concord Academy. Annie's special interests are live music of most types, social and environmental justice, world affairs, and French language, literature and culture.

Webster O’Brien, currently Board President, has been a trustee since the mid-2000s. He has served as President since May 2010 and as Treasurer for three years prior to President. Both his boys have attended Cambridge Montessori from the Toddler program, with his older son a graduating eighth-grader in 2013. Webster is a management consultant to the aviation industry, working with ICF SH&E (the aviation unit of ICF International) in Cambridge since 2002. Prior to consulting Webster has been an international airline and marketing executive in general management and regional roles, with a decade living and working in Asia. He holds a Harvard BA and MBA and has also studied at Oxford University and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He lives in Arlington with his wife Jennifer and their sons.

Laura Russ has been a trustee since June 2011 and has served on the Strategic Planning and Facilities Committees, as well as ad hoc work to enhance the school’s internal processes and technology systems. Her two children have attended CMS since 2010 and are both currently in the Primary Program.Professionally, Laura works at WinnCompanies, the country’s largest manager of affordable housing, where her leadership role in the Business Systems and Technology Group focuses on translating business needs into strategic use of technologies.Laura has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.C.P. in Housing and Community Development from MIT.She lives in Cambridge with her two children and husband, Greg, who serves as Executive Director of the Cambridge Housing Authority.

Rebecca Geary joined CMS as a trustee in June 2012, serving on the Development Committee and the 50th Anniversary Alumni sub-committee. Her two teenaged daughters attended Montessori schools on Martha’s Vineyard through early elementary. Rebecca is an educator who was the Lower School Assistant Director and now Associate Admission Director at BB&N. In her first career, she was a marketing director and product manager for several design/importing firms. Rebecca has a B.S. in Textile Marketing with a minor in Russian from University of Maryland, College Park, and a M.Ed. in Global and Multicultural Education from Lesley University. She lives in Belmont with her girls, and enjoys cycling, distance running, and exploring nature.

Rachel van der Voort has been a trustee since June 2010 and has been amember of the Development Committee and the Committee on Trustees. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Board. Rachel's two children and two step children have all attended CMS since the ageof 2. In her professional life, Rachel practiced law for over fifteen years. She is currently taking a break from work to spend more time with her family. Rachel has an A.B.. in History from Princeton University and a J.D. from the College of William and Mary. She lives in Belmont with her children and husband, Mike, a Principal at The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm.