Board of Trustees

Daren Bascome '93 BFA Graphic Design

Daren Bascome is the founder and CEO of Proverb, an award-winning place-branding agency. Proverb partners with real estate developers, institutions, cities, and destinations to build groundbreaking brands and campaigns. The agency’s comprehensive strategic approach connects with sophisticated audiences, differentiates clients from competitors, and creates lasting value. Under Daren’s leadership, Proverb has become a recognized partner for brands applying strategic design thinking to their businesses, products, and communications. A native Bermudian with experience in exhibit design, Daren founded Proverb to be a dynamic, inclusive, effective, and culturally relevant agency.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of Shepley Bullfinch, Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, and Honorary Advisors for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

In 2023, Boston Magazine named him one of the 150 Most Influential People in Boston and in 2024, he was inducted as an American Institute of Graphic Arts Fellow.

Denise Korn

Denise Korn is the founder/principal of Yellow& Partners, a multi-disciplinary creative consultancy, leveraging design to foster meaningful business and social impact. Korn crafts culture-shifting brands, places and community activations leading through her innovative approach to strategy, design and storytelling. She brings her extensive experience across the creative economy, placemaking, and lifestyle sectors. 

Designing the way forward, Korn engages where culture & commerce, community & collaboration meet. Referred to as the “hospitality whisperer” her award-winning work lives deeply at the intersection of Hospitality, Lifestyle, Community, and Culture.

Korn was the Founder and Creative Director of the award-winning brand strategy and design firm, Korn Design for 25 years, and previously a Design Director for Lifestyle Brand at Gensler.

Korn is a convener, activist, mentor and champion of the creative economy. She founded Youth Design in 2003 to mentor the next generation of design professionals. She is the recipient of the Fellow Award from the American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA) and was awarded a James Beard Foundation medal for design, honored as a 2015 Leader in Diversity by the Boston Business Journal, as well as Hospitality Design, Communication Arts, and Interior Design, among others.

Korn co-authored—10 Who Mentor — (2010, w/Neal Kane) inspired by
the power of creative mentoring.

Suzanne Bump

Trustee Bump regards her board service as a continuation of her life in state public service, which concluded officially with her retirement from the position of State Auditor in 2023. In that capacity she served on the US Comptroller General’s Domestic Working Group and was president of the National State Auditors Association. Throughout her career, which included the positions of Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and of State Representative, she was focused on the effectiveness and accountability of public institutions. As a trustee and as a director of the MassArt Foundation, she is dedicated to ensuring the continued integrity of the institution and fulfillment of its mission, equipping artists, designers, and educators with the skills and knowledge to enhance our communities and lives. Trustee Bump is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Boston College, and Cardinal Spellman High School.

Lina Maria Giraldo, ‘06 BFA SIM

Lina Maria Giraldo is a Boston-based designer, interactive media artist, and storyteller from Colombia. An assistant professor of data visualization in the Department of Journalism at Emerson College, she has a background in co-design, civic media, art, and technology.

Lina has been honored as a journalist-in-residence at Emerson College, an artist-in-residence for the City of Boston, and a recipient of the Now + There accelerator program for creating Public Art in the City of Boston. She is also the recipient of the Creative City Grant and the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation Grant. While working as an interaction designer at ESI Design, Lina was part of the award-winning educational website JFK50.org team. 

Lina’s work focuses on interactive storytelling for social change through data visualization, grassroots storytelling, public installations, and computer-generated art. Her art explores questions related to identity, data democratization, and environmental justice within minorities of color, particularly Latine.

Makeeba McCreary

Dr. McCreary is the President of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF), leading efforts to empower Black and Brown communities across Massachusetts. Under her leadership, NCF has raised over $40 million and distributed $16 million to nonprofits focused on health equity, criminal justice reform, youth development, economic empowerment, and the arts.

Previously, she served as the Patti and Jonathan Kraft Chief of Learning and Community Engagement at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she expanded community programs and integrated diverse voices into exhibitions. She also held leadership roles in Boston Public Schools and managed philanthropic initiatives for major national brands.

Dr. McCreary holds a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, a master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a bachelor’s from UMass Boston. She remains dedicated to fostering equity, education, and cultural transformation.

Jeevan Ramapriya

Jeevan Ramapriya is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment (“MOITI”) – the Commonwealth’s primary foreign trade promotion agency. In this role, Jeevan is responsible for promoting foreign direct investment into the Commonwealth, supporting export opportunities for Massachusetts’ small businesses, and fostering relations with over 60+ foreign consulates and international trade agencies.

Prior to joining the Healey-Driscoll Administration, Jeevan was the Managing Director at State Street Bank and Trust Company’s Regulatory, Industry and Government Affairs department where he supported public policy initiatives and led lobbying efforts at the state, federal, and international levels.

Jeevan was also the Deputy Chief of Staff to a Massachusetts State Senator where he oversaw the Senator’s political operation and policy matters involving transportation, economic development, and public safety. He started his career as a technology and management consultant with Accenture where he assisted in the implementation of Customer Relationship Management solutions for Fortune 500 companies.

Jeevan is a graduate of the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program jointly administered by the London School of Economics, HEC-Paris, and the NYU Stern School of Business; he is a 1998 graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Management of Information Systems. Originally from Billerica, Massachusetts he now lives in Boston.

Janice M. Saragoni

Jan is President of Saragoni & Company, a Boston-based communications consultancy specializing in media relations, crisis communications and issues management. Active in a variety of educational and non-profit organizations, she has served on the boards of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the Massachusetts Lottery Commission, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and the Executive Committee of Save Venice, Boston Chapter. She currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Harvard Club of Boston, the Board of Trustees of The Valedictorian Project and is a member of the Concord Cultural Commission.

Kelly Sherman, ‘02 BFA Sculpture

Kelly Sherman is a nonprofit leader and organizational strategist with over two decades of experience advancing innovation across arts, education, and social justice organizations, as well as Fortune 500 companies. She is the Co-Founder and Director of Strategy & Operations at the Impact Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing racial and economic justice.
Kelly began her strategy career at the global innovation consultancy EPAM Continuum, where her design research earned a Gold IDEA Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America. She later co-founded a MassChallenge start-up before transitioning into nonprofit leadership and organizational strategy.

Grounded in design thinking, systems thinking, and adaptive leadership, Kelly has held leadership roles on numerous governance and advisory boards, including the BSA Foundation, MassArt’s Alumni Leadership Council, and Cambridge’s Mayor’s Arts Task Force. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the MIT List Visual Arts Center and on the School Council of a public school in Cambridge.

Kelly has maintained an active art practice for two decades. Her work has been supported by the Krakow Witkin Gallery, Center Street Studio, and the ICA Boston, which awarded her a James & Audrey Foster Prize and includes her work in its permanent collection.

Valentine Talland

Valentine Talland enjoys a long career in Boston area arts organizations, previously as an art conservator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM), and serving in governance and advisory roles for Boston Dance Theater, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, ArtsEmerson, New England Center for Circus Arts, Circus Up, José Mateo Ballet Theatre.

Valentine is a consulting art conservator, working with New England museums, libraries, galleries, and private collectors. In her twenty-seven-year tenure at the ISGM, she worked to safeguard the museum’s permanent collection, as well as supporting the contemporary work of the museum’s many Artists-in-Residence. She participated in the planning, design and construction phases of two major construction projects at the museum. Valentine has supervised post-baccalaureate, graduate, and post-graduate conservation interns; from 1992 -96 she taught in the Tufts University Museum Studies Certificate Program. She currently teaches workshops in traditional art-making materials and methods, such as fresco, egg tempera, and manuscript illumination. In addition, Valentine is co-founder and president of the Movement Arts Creation Studio (MACS).