CEOs You Should Know - Boston

Denise Woodard is the Founder and CEO of Partake Foods, the allergy-friendly company that was inspired by her daughter’s experience with food allergies. Key moments this year include that Partake Foods announced it became a Certified B Corporation, and launched a collab with Ben & Jerry’s! Created in 2016, Denise started the business by self-distributing (selling cookies out of her car around NYC) and self-funding (depleting her 401K and selling her engagement ring). To date, the company has raised more than $20M from investors including HER, Rihanna, Circle Up Growth Partners, FF2032 and Marcy Venture Partners (Jay-Z’s venture capital firm). Partake was named #45 on the Inc 5000 list in 2022. Denise was the first Black woman to raise more than $1 Million publicly for a CPG food startup. As a Black woman, Denise is passionate about raising awareness of Black and female entrepreneurship and increasing opportunities for underrepresented people seeking careers in the food and beverage industry. In 2020, Denise founded Black Futures in Food & Beverage, an annual fellowship program that mentors HBCU students and helps them secure internships and jobs at the program’s end. Prior to launching Partake, Denise spent a decade in consumer-packaged goods at various Fortune 100 companies. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Vivienne. She graduated with her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Arizona State University.

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Stephen has devoted his career to supporting the educational promise of all, from the youngest children to high school students and adult learners -- working to realize his vision and belief that everyone at every age deserves a great education. Stephen was named CEO of Bright Horizons in January 2018, and over the last decade, he has held leadership positions throughout the organization including President, Chief Development Officer, and Managing Director, Europe, based in London. He joined Bright Horizons in 2006 through the acquisition of College Coach®, a company he co-founded and led. Previously, Stephen held roles at Fidelity Ventures and Arthur D. Little.

In addition to the Bright Horizons Board of Directors, Stephen serves on the boards of the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children in both the U.S. and the UK and co-chairs the Bright Horizons Diversity and Inclusion Council. A Massachusetts native, Stephen is a graduate of Babson College and Harvard Business School.

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An educational technology, digital health, and social impact entrepreneur, Michael London has created more than one billion dollars in company value throughout his career. Michael’s belief that "student mental health is the defining higher education issue of our time" led him to create Uwill. Founded in 2020 to assist campus counseling centers as they faced overwhelming student demand for mental health support, Uwill has quickly earned the reputation as the leading student mental health and wellness solution, now serving more than 2 million students at 300+ colleges across the county.

Michael has spent a career building and advising new education ventures, nonprofits and educational institutions.  In 2013, he founded Examity, a leader in learning validation and online proctoring. Prior, Michael led Bloomberg Institute, an EdTech start-up funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His earlier successes include the cofounding of College Coach and founding of EdAssist, both acquired by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. In 2019, he was a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award and held a position on the Governor’s Commission for Digital Education and Lifelong Learning. Michael is a current Trustee at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a member of the behavioral health committee. He is also a Member of the Advisory Board at Babson College where he graduated with honors.  In addition, he received his MBA from Boston University. Michael is also a published author of a book with advice for parents navigating the college admissions process. 

About Uwill:

Uwill is a teletherapy platform that connects college and university students with experienced mental health professionals. Students receive support from a licensed counselor of their choice in any format they like – video, chat, messaging, or phone. It’s a leading mental health and wellness solution for colleges and students, providing free immediate access to teletherapy and mental health crisis.

Uwill’s mission is to expand mental health access and services to colleges by leveraging technology-enabled models validated in recent years. 

If you’re a student seeking support, Uwill offers an immediate appointment with a licensed counselor, direct crisis connections, wellness events, and more.

Anuj Khanna is a Partner of CapitalView Investment Partners. Mr. Khanna is responsible for deal origination, transaction execution, portfolio management, fundraising, and administration of the firm’s operations. He has over 12 years of investing and other relevant experience and has sat on the board of directors of eight portfolio companies.

Prior to co-founding CapitalView Investment Partners in 2017, Mr. Khanna was a Principal with American Capital Special Situations, having joined in 2007 as a Senior Associate. Mr. Khanna was involved with and served on the board of directors of the following American Capital portfolio companies: Service Experts, NECCO Realty Investments, Halex Corporation, Unwired Technology, and Unique Fabricating, among others.

Prior to joining American Capital, Mr. Khanna was an Associate in the Restructuring Group at Evercore Partners and an Investment Banking Analyst at UBS Los Angeles.

Mr. Khanna received an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, a J.D. from Northwestern University’s School of Law, and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Mark Eldridge is the CEO and founder of ALKU, a nationally ranked niche based staffing and consulting firm based in Andover. Mark has been in the staffing and consulting industry since he graduated college. Through his experience, Mark noticed a need for reliable, highly specialized resource services and solutions; this observation led to the launch of ALKU in 2008! During ALKU’s years in business, its unique Have Fun Working Hard® culture and exponential growth have been recognized with several prestigious awards. The company operates on the simple belief that if you give the right people the correct tools, everything else will fall into place. Mark’s laser focus on personnel development has helped ALKU create more than 20 revenue teams and best-in-class corporate infrastructure.

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Michael Hund is the CEO of EB Research Partnership (EBRP), a trailblazing medical research organization focused on curing Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a life-threatening genetic skin disease. Under his leadership EBRP has accelerated the landscape from 2 to over 40 clinical trials and via their award winning venture philanthropy methodology funded the first FDA approved treatment for EB in 2023, the first ever topical gene therapy. In Michael’s tenure, EBRP’s innovative business model has garnered recognition from Harvard Business School, Yale University, MIT, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Rolling Stone, and Forbes. With a background at the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Fund, he has dedicated his career to transforming healthcare.

Michael received his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Yale University, CORe credential from Harvard Business School, and an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Kansas. He is the recipient of the MIT Solve Horizon Innovation Award, Social Innovations Journal Leadership Award, Top 100 Magazine Innovators, and Authority Magazine’s Social Innovators. He lives in Connecticut with his wife Sarah and four daughters.

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Shontay Lundy is the CEO, Creator, and Founder of Black Girl Sunscreen (BGS). In 2016, when Shontay became tired of using sunscreen that left a white residue, she decided to leverage her MBA and knack for business to develop a melanin-friendly option for women who look like her. While working to build awareness for BGS, Shontay has continued to fuel her passion by traveling the world educating women of color on the importance of wearing sunscreen.

Shontay has emerged as a thought leader and innovator in the beauty industry and her success has been chronicled by Forbes, Business Insider, Teen Vogue, InStyle, and countless other national publications. The first indie Black-owned sunscreen brand sold in Target's sun care section full time, you can also find Black Girl Sunscreen at 13,000+ retailers across the globe.

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GreenEarth® Cleaning, the world’s largest brand of environmentally friendly dry cleaning, offering the industry’s only non-toxic cleaning alternative, recently named Tim Maxwell as its chief executive officer (CEO). Maxwell had served as president of the company since 2003.

In his role as CEO, Maxwell will continue oversight of GreenEarth Cleaning and the company’s network of Affiliates. GreenEarth’s proprietary products and processes are available at more than 6000 points of consumer contact around the globe.

“What has been most gratifying to me over the past 20 + years, has been the commitment by so many members of both the Affiliate network, and the staff at GreenEarth to innovate the system to not only reduce energy and additive usage, but provide the lowest overall operational cost to garment care providers,” said Maxwell. “Expansion of our Affiliate Network has been deliberate and measured over the past 24 years.” commented Maxwell, “We are proud to include some of the finest garment care providers in the world among our Membership – whether that be a 7 Star hotel in Dubai, the holder of the Royal Warrant in England, or a family-run counter in Minneapolis.”

Added Maxwell, “Providing a kinder clean in even more markets in the coming years is a “challenge accepted” for the GreenEarth Team.”

Maxwell and his wife Karen enjoy traveling from their home base in Kansas City with their two adult children, Kelsey and Kolin.

About GreenEarth® Cleaning:

“Doing business without doing harm” has been the mission statement of GreenEarth Cleaning since its birth in 1999. Founded by partners, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, and three drycleaners – Jim Barry, Ron Benjamin, and Jim Douglas, the System utilizes a proprietary product line of pure silicone and unique “cold” filtration media, which provides consumers with the best possible fabric care while lowering energy costs by more than 50 percent from traditional drycleaning systems. Global regulatory agencies have deemed the unique silicone dry cleaning medium to be environmentally non-toxic, allowing GreenEarth Affiliates to completely eliminate hazardous waste removal fees. Leading dry cleaners, hotels, property owners, fashion brands, and financial institutions recognize GreenEarth Cleaning as the clear leader in meeting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives. For more information, visit https://www.greenearthcleaning.com/.

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Kevin DuBois is the CEO of Clean Brands. A Franchise company that operates in the DryCleaning and Laundry space and has a portfolio of brands that include: Martinizing Cleaners, Lapels Cleaners, 1800 Dry Clean, Pressed 4 Time and Dry Cleaning Station. They have stores in 7 countries with nearly 500 units across the world.

Clean Brands is a multi-brand franchising company in the garment care space which includes dry cleaning, laundry, laundromats and all things garment cleaning!

Their mission to define “The Future of Dry Cleaning®” started in 2000 with the formation of Lapels® Dry Cleaning. Lapels was founded on the principles of cleaning garments in the most environmentally friendly manner, within a high-end “boutique” style atmosphere. We aspire to bring successful, environmentally conscious entrepreneurs into what had been considered a tired industry and build a new breed of dry cleaning and laundry professionals. We take local business owners – operating neighborhood cleaners – and back them with the power of an International Franchising arm that provides marketing and operations support to them.

In 2021, Lapels acquired Martinizing Dry Cleaning, Pressed4Time, 1-800-Dry-Cleaning, Dry Cleaning Station and BizzieBox. These brands all share one common theme: To be recognized as the industry leader in garment care and to capitalize on the foundation that originated in 2000. They look to leverage the size and scope of their footprint with Innovative technology and marketing initiatives that continue to grow their collective brands and redefine The Future of Garment Care!

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Jessica Sassi, PhD, BCBA-D, LABA, was named CEO of The New England Center for Children® (NECC®) in 2023 to succeed the organization’s founder who served in that role for 48 years. She brings more than 25 years of experience in the research and practice of autism education and applied behavior analysis (ABA), making her uniquely qualified to run this multinational nonprofit.

Dr. Sassi completed her BS, MS, and PhD at the University of Florida where she specialized in the assessment and treatment of severe behavior disorders. Her professional experience includes three years at the Kennedy Krieger Institute as a clinical specialist and more than 16 years at NECC in various roles including program director, clinical director, and executive director.

Dr. Sassi has taught and mentored numerous graduate students through Western New England University’s master’s and doctoral programs in behavior analysis as well as in Simmons University’s master’s program in severe special needs. She and her graduate students conducted research on the reinforcement-based treatment of behavior disorders, with lines of research on dental desensitization and factors that impact treatment effectiveness. Her research is widely published in academic journals, and she has served as a guest on the editorial boards of several of those journals. Dr. Sassi is on the board of directors for the Massachusetts Association of Approved Private Special Education Schools (MAAPS).

About NECC

NECC is a nonprofit autism education and research center, headquartered in Southborough, MA with programs and services around the world. With more than 1,200 employees and a $120 million annual budget, NECC operates a day and residential program in Central Massachusetts, a day school in Abu Dhabi, UAE, three clinics in the Middle East, 67 public school classrooms throughout New England, consulting practices in six states and a patented technology providing NECC’s curriculum to 12,453 learners across nine countries.

For nearly 50 years, NECC has been training special education teachers and behavior analysts, providing ongoing professional development and graduate degree programs on our campus. Affiliations with Simmons and Western New England universities provide on-site classes and research opportunities under faculty advisors, among the most respected in the field, stationed at NECC. Our Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia® (ACE®) ABA Software System contains lesson plans for more than 2,200 skills, is used in all our programs, and is commercially available to learners with autism anywhere in the world.

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