Board of Trustees

Eric Brown

Eric is a marketing, technology, product and business innovator. As the founder of It’s Possible Media, Eric focuses on helping businesses attract their ideal customer through carefully crafted marketing messaging and proven customer attraction systems.

A graduate of Babson College and The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, Eric has a unique interest in businesses at the intersection of marketing, technology and food.

Eric joins the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden Board of Trustees with the mission of expanding the reach of client services through the use of technology and providing care opportunities to historically underserved populations.

Eric lives in Harvard with his wife, Elizabeth, and his children Jeremy (5yrs), Malcolm (3yrs) and Evelyn (1yr).

Cynthia Burghard

Cynthia is a long-time resident of Littleton where she raised her daughter and two dogs. She has been a professional market researcher for nearly 30 years exclusively in the healthcare technology industry, for Cynthia full-time work was replaced with opportunities to use her analyst skills in a variety of new part-time ventures. She is committed to keeping her mind sharp and her soul fed. Cynthia has been involved with the Healing Garden since 2002 when she became a client and organized the original “Healing Gardeners” group that maintained and enhanced the gardens around the cottage – well before the professionals transformed the property. While gardening remains a passion, Cynthia recently applied her market research skills by conducting a survey for the Healing Garden board and staff. She was honored to receive the “Steward of Hope” award in the fall of 2022 and joined the Healing Garden Board of Trustees in January 2023.

Marcia B. Croyle, Clerk

Marcia Croyle has been involved in volunteer activities for a variety of non-profit organizations. In addition to her work for the Healing Garden, she has been active in fundraising and event planning for the Nashoba Brooks School, Sandy Spring Friends School, and the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church, where she was part of a successful capital campaign for a new Fellowship Building. In addition, Ms. Croyle was a corporator and a trustee of Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA.

Professionally, Ms. Croyle has worked as a writer and project editor for publishing companies and non-profit organizations in the Boston and St. Louis areas. A long-time resident of Harvard, Marcia is married and the mother of two adult daughters. She has also walked in six of the Just Cause Walks (3 days–60 miles) that benefit the Healing Garden.

Sarah K. Hindle, Past Board Chair, Board Member Emeritus

Sarah Hindle joined the Board of the Healing Garden in the fall of 2003, just three years into its founding.  She was introduced to the Garden through a meeting with her friend and co-founder Betsy Tyson-Smith, and Bill Thurston which resulted in a passionate interest in the unique mission of the Garden. The added benefit of working with Betsy and the vision she had for the Garden was a bonus. Hindle jumped in quickly as the Chair of the Board, recruiting new members and building the committee. In time, she also offered her leadership on the Finance Committee and Events Committee. In 2008 she co-chaired a $1M Capitol Campaign resulting the renovation and expansion of the Garden’s beautiful facility. Today, she remains involved on the Board and Executive Committee.

“My “work” during my life has been in the role of a Volunteer – several different committees at my church, the Board of the tennis club in Siasconset, MA, the Board of the Concord Free Public Library, various garden clubs, the Junior League in which I was Head of the Area, and the Concord Museum where I headed up the Ladies Association, two search committees for a Director, was Head of the Board of Governors, developed the Advisory Committee, and am presently on the Board of Trustees.”

Holly Kouvo

Holly Kouvo is a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist. She started her own personal training company, Fitting Fitness In®, after working in management for 16 years in the high-tech industry as owner/manager of Acadia Software and Vice President of Client Services for SmartTime Software. Using her entrepreneurial business experience, she has been pursuing her passion: helping people fit fitness into their lives.

For the past 16 years, Holly has been making an impact in the fitness world. She has helped clients lose hundreds of pounds, offering a variety of fitness classes, weight-loss clinics, boot camps, and personal training. Fitting Fitness In’s Boxborough, MA studio was open for 5 years, before Holly decided to pursue her online business and writing her book. Fitting Fitness In for Weight Loss and Healthy Living was published in 2016. Over the years, she has been published in a variety of fitness magazines and newspapers, and you can regularly find her at various speaking engagements on health, fitness, weight loss, and motivation. In 2006, she released her exercise DVD, Total Body Workout…Just Easy on The Knees™. She has also appeared on television and radio with her personal training business.

Holly brings her entrepreneurial business skills and experience to the board at the Healing Garden.

David Martin, MBA, Board Chair

David Martin is a retired business analyst with expertise in project management, business process redesign, quality management and organizational change.  David began his career as an analyst and trainer in the Educational Services division of Digital Equipment Corporation.   While at DEC, David became an internal consultant in quality management and business process redesign. He left DEC to join Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (now merged into Point32Health) where he held a variety of positions in quality, organization development and project management.  He finished his career as a Senior Business Analyst serving HPHC’s operations as an employee of NTT DATA, a global IT services company.

David graduated from Williams College and earned his MBA from Clark University.  He is Chair of the Board of the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden.  David is a resident of Westford, Massachusetts.

Sharon Murphy

Sharon is the Regional Vice President for the Massachusetts Branch of Acadia Insurance, a member company of W.R. Berkley Corporation, located in Marlborough Massachusetts.  She has been working in the Property & Casualty insurance industry for nearly 30 years servicing the needs of businesses throughout the Northeast with strong emphasis on customer service, community involvement and employee engagement.  Through her work with Acadia Insurance, Sharon is a member of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation and she also serves on the Commercial Automobile Advisory Committee.

Sharon graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a BS in Business Management and resides in Northborough Massachusetts with her husband and three children.  She loves the outdoors and can often be found exploring new adventures.

Anand Rao, Ph.D.

Anand is a senior executive, advisor, and thought leader in digital transformations and emerging technologies. He is currently the Global Artificial Intelligence Lead for the PwC, a leading global professional services firm. Passionate about people and technology, and how best each can help the other towards a better tomorrow; passionate about technological innovation, but applied in a responsible manner for societal good; passionate about data science that is applied to solve real-world business problems; rooted in solid academic foundations, but also pragmatic in transforming and disrupting industry; passionate about western philosophy and thinking while rooted in the age-old wisdom of the eastern Vedantic tradition.

Anand has received widespread recognition for his extraordinary contributions in the field of consulting and Artificial Intelligence Research. He serves on the Advisory Board of Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI, World Economic Forum’s Global AI Council, OECD’s Network of Experts on AI (ONE), and other prestigious forums. He has co-edited four books and written over fifty refereed papers. He is a frequent speaker at academic, policy, and business forums.

Anand graduated from BITS Pilani in India and subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sydney and an MBA from Melbourne Business School in Australia. Anand has lived and worked extensively in five different continents – North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Anand currently lives in Lexington with his wife Sumana. They have a son who lives in Canada and a daughter who lives in San Francisco and are the proud grandparents of two grandchildren.

Anand joins the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden Board of Trustees with the mission of expanding its services and serving a larger group of diverse communities.

Anne L. Rarich

Anne Rarich is a retired director in two Fortune 500 companies as well as running her own consulting business. She has assessed, designed and delivered programs to improve and promote healthy human systems within organizations. She coached individuals who were interested in developing and growing into extraordinary contributors in both work, community and life.

Ms. Rarich holds a B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace University in Ohio, and M.Ed. in Leadership Development from Springfield College in Massachusetts. She has been an activist and leader in her community for over 30 years and has authored many articles and co-authored two books.

Anne resides in Concord, MA where she enjoys both being in nature as well as music and culinary pursuits. Anne looks forward to furthering the outreach of the Healing Garden as a member of the board.

Mark Salamone

Mark Salamone is the CFO of Alpha Pension Group, Inc. a retirement plan consulting firm that specializes in educating companies and nonprofits on their retirement plan options. Mark has a passion for working with plan fiduciaries using strategic data analytics to measure the success of the retirement plan and for developing action plans towards improving plan health and employee retirement outcomes. He loves to assist plan sponsors in developing initiatives designed to recruit, reward, and retain talent and is always excited to play a role in an organization’s growth strategy.

Prior to Alpha, Mark worked as a financial advisor at New York Life and Eagle Strategies. During this time, Mark gained extensive knowledge about retirement plans and the various service and fee models. He quickly realized the importance of providing transparent, personalized, and cost-effective retirement planning services to help clients negotiate lower fees and get the most value from their retirement plans. Now, while leading Alpha, he continues his mission to provide the best client experience and improve the country’s retirement landscape.

Karen Engly Shea, Board Vice Chair

Karen is a licensed realtor in Massachusetts with over 30 years of experience. Previously, she worked in medical sales and served as a development officer in higher education. Born in Galveston, Texas, and reared in Columbia, Missouri, Karen went to school in Switzerland before attending Skidmore College and The Museum School of Fine Arts (Boston).

Karen has served on the Healing Garden Board of Directors for 15 years where she is currently the Co-Chair. A resident of Harvard, Karen is an active member of local organizations including the Harvard Schools Trust, Harvard PTO, Harvard Women’s Club, and the Harvard Garden Club. Additionally, she has been a Trustee of the Fruitland’s Museum.

An avid birder and naturalist, Karen walked in numerous Just Cause Walks (3-days/60 miles) to benefit the Healing Garden.

Pamela P. Sawyer, RN, B.S.N., M.H.A., Past Board Chair, Board Member Emeritus

Pamela has been on the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden for eight years, and for the last three years has been the Chair of Board. She describes herself as being passionate about the Healing Garden’s mission and the work it does to support people with cancer and their families.

Ms.  Sawyer was the owner and Principal of Sawyer HealthCare Consulting. Previously she was the Vice President of Business Development for the Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA), a national non-profit membership organization representing not-for-profit community based home care providers.  She has over thirty years of experience in home health care administration. Ms. Sawyer received a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Simmons College in Boston, MA.

Her publications include “Cases in Long- Term Care Management”, “A Comparative Analysis of Home Care versus Hospital Care of Technology-Dependent Children” and “Clinicians’ Forum: Bioterrorism: Are We Prepared?”  She has served on the advisory council for National Medicare Education Task Force.

Ms. Sawyer was a Corporator for Emerson Hospital, Concord, MA.  She is also an avid fan of the theatre and has served on the Board of Directors of the Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit, ME

Jon Way, M.D.

Jon has a rich and long career having served Acton Medical Associates, PC in Internal Medicine for 35 years. He retired in April 2015. He received his medical degree from The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont. Jon served Emerson Hospital as Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, Chair of Primary Care Service, member of the Professional Review Committee, Chair of the Department of Medicine, Co-Chair of the Health Information Systems Committee and member of the Hospital Board of Directors. Jon’s wife Chris was a cherished client of the Healing Garden for many years until she passed away in late 2015. Jon’s interest include running, skiing, woodworking and photography.

Tim Wondolowski, CPA, Treasurer

Tim  is a Managing Director in FTI Consulting’s Forensic & Litigation Consulting segment and is based in Boston. Tim has over twenty years of experience in providing accounting, auditing and litigation consulting services, including forensic accounting and matters involving securities fraud. Tim currently focuses the majority of his time providing accounting advisory services to biotechnology, medical device and technology companies that are embarking on their initial public offering, as well as providing technical accounting and financial reporting assistance in the periods after a successful IPO.

Tim graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a BA in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts.  Tim resides in Lexington, MA with his wife and their three children where he enjoys coaching youth baseball and basketball, working in the family gardens and maintaining their historic home.