Board

Kevin McCall
President and CEO, Paradigm Properties and Paradigm Capital Advisors
Co-Founder of Building Impact and Chair of the Board of Directors

Kevin is the President & CEO of Paradigm Properties, a full-service commercial real estate firm, and Paradigm Capital Advisors, a real estate investment management firm.  Prior to forming Paradigm in 1997, Mr. McCall was a Principal of Aldrich, Eastman & Watch, L.P. where he directed real estate investment and management for institutional clients and, during the 1980's, was a Partner and Senior Vice President of Spaulding & Slye, a multi-region real estate development company.

In addition to his commitment to Building Impact, Mr. McCall also serves on the governing boards of MetroLacrosse, Hearth, and The Boston Museum Project as well as several advisory boards. Kevin is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the Pension Real Estate Association and a Board Member and past Board Chair of Massachusetts Chapter.

Mr. McCall has an A.B. from Harvard College, an MBA from Harvard University School of Business Administration and is a LeadBoston Fellow. As Building Impact's Founder and Board Chair, Kevin brings vision, leadership and a deep commitment to issues of civic engagement and social justice to Building Impact.

Jon Aram
Partner, Next Street Financial

Jon is a Partner at Next Street Financial, a merchant bank that provides flexible debt and equity financing to small businesses in Boston.  Prior to joining Next Street Financial, Jon worked as a management consultant for over 10 years at Marakon Associates, Galt & Company and ran his own business, Responsible World. Jon holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and has guided and advised Building Impact since 2001.

Mr. Aram has deep experience in building winning corporate-community partnerships and provides expert insight to the Building Impact staff about program development and evolution, measurement and organizational growth.

Simon Butler
EVP, Partner CBRE/New England

Mr. Butler is currently an Executive Vice President and Partner of CBRE New England leading the Multi-Housing Group in New England.  Prior to CBRE, Mr. Butler served as Executive Director with Cushman & Wakefield, Inc’s Capital Markets Group. Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., Mr. Butler was with CB Richard Ellis New England, as a member of the Investment Properties Group. Since January of 1996, he has dedicated his focus to the marketing of apartment communities and was included as a member of CB Richard Ellis Multi-Housing Group. Mr. Butler was elected as a partner of CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners in 2002. To date during his career, Mr. Butler has sold over 25,000 apartment units for a total consideration in excess of $3.2 billion. Simon was named to the “Top 200” sales professionals nationwide for CB Richard Ellis in 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2005.

Simon is an experienced leader in the residential property world as the leading investment broker of multi-family property in the Greater Boston area. His unique understanding of local communities and depth of experience will help guide and support Building Impact’s growth in residential properties.

Kelly Gaule
Principal, PROMUS+ Consulting, LLC

Kelly T. Gaule has over 15 years of experience in fundraising and strategic campaign development, which she uses to support Building Impact's own development efforts. She has raised significant funds for the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), amongst many other organizations. Before starting PROMUS+ Consulting, a fund raising and development consultancy, Kelly was the Development Director and member of the senior management team of the AIDS Action Committee of MA. She led the fundraising efforts there for nearly five years and during that time secured unprecedented levels of corporate sponsorship and major gift support.

Kelly, an amazing chef, brings method and flavor to Building Impact’s fundraising, board development and organizational planning initiatives.

Gary F. Gut
President & CEO, Boston Foundation for Sight

Gary F. Gut is a former strategic Management Consultant (Bain & Company) and serial entrepreneur (Sound Synergy, Medivision, Medical Management of America, John Harvard's Brew House chain, Rural Cellular, LLP).  Currently Mr. Gut serves as the President & CEO of the Boston Foundation for Sight, a pioneering non-profit institute working to improve the lives of those suffering with complex corneal disease. In addition to his commitment to Building Impact, Gary is the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston, MA and the former Board Vice Chair of the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA.  He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of The Advent School in Boston, MA.

Gary provides strategic guidance, entrepreneurial mentoring and support and BIG IDEAS to Building Impact.

Reesa Fischer
Senior Vice President, NAIOP

Reesa is Senior Vice President at the Boston chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Prior to her role at NAIOP, Reesa was a Vice President at Doerr Associates, a marketing and communications firm in Winchester, MA, focusing primarily on the real estate industry. She was responsible for business development and strategic account management. Reesa’s previous roles include vice president of product and brand development for a multifamily developer, regional vice president of a new home marketing and sales company, and vice president of marketing and development for an educational non-profit now owned by National Geographic. 

Reesa brings her 20+ years of experience building brand awareness, creating cost-effective marketing/outreach campaigns and successfully building businesses to the Building Impact Board of Directors.  The consummate networker, Reesa is helping Building Impact build robust relationships with new real estate and community partners and she guides our development of new marketing and messaging to better engage volunteers, program users and supporters.

Mary Rivet
Principal, Arcadia Consulting, LLC

Mary Rivet heads her own consultancy, specializing in collaborative approaches to strategic planning and organization change in the nonprofit sector.  Most recently, she was Co-Director, then Senior Advisor, to the Social Innovation Forum, a venture philanthropy based in Cambridge, MA.  At the Social Innovation Forum, Mary focused on developing the consulting services that the Forum delivered to the organizations in its portfolio, measuring social impact, and planning for growth. Prior to joining the Forum she was a Principal and Partner at Mercer Management Consulting, where she specialized in strategic planning, management education and organization change for clients across a wide range of industries, including telecommunications and transportation. She has served on a range of nonprofit boards and committees, giving her an in-depth knowledge of the management issues confronting nonprofit leaders. Mary holds an M.A. in Economics from Georgetown University, where she was a Graduate Fellow concentrating in Econometrics, Public Finance, and Urban and Regional Economics.

Helene Solomon
CEO, Solomon McCown & Company, Inc.

Helene is the founder & CEO of Solomon McCown -- a strategic communications firm based in Boston with a proven track record of helping clients become leaders in their fields through innovative communications campaigns that feature strategic media coverage, executive visibility and thought leadership programs.

Helene is active in Greater Boston community affairs, serving on the board of directors of Building Impact, The Commonwealth Institute, the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, the Massachusetts Health Council, and Jewish Big Brother Big Sister. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Boston Women Communicators and the NAIOP Massachusetts Marketing Committee. She is a member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and, previously served on the Massachusetts eHealth Institute’s Consumer Education Ad Hoc Workgroup, and as Chair of Brookline’s Transportation Board.

She has participated in a variety of forums that examine the relationship between the media and the organizations they cover as it impacts brands and leaders. She has provided commentary on CNN, NBC Nightly News, NBC's Today Show, MSNBC, and FOX TV News, and in local print and broadcast media.

Helene received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Boston University College of Communications and is a recipient of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus Abigail Adams Award. She is a lifetime member of The Publicity Club of New England and has twice served as its president, and has been selected as a Crystal Bell Winner, which recognized her significant contributions to the field of public relations. She is also a member of the editorial board of PR News.