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Jerry Rappaport has been a mover and shaker in the greater Boston area for more than 50 years, investing his energy and fondness of the city and the region into his successful career.

A native New Yorker, Rappaport began his involvement in public policy while a student at Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He was an integral part of John Hynes’ campaign for mayor of Boston and served in Hynes’ administration. In 1950, he created the New Boston Committee, an organization that became an essential element in the revitalization of Boston. After four years of policy-level public service, he left government to start his career as an attorney. Rappaport also returned to Harvard, receiving his Master in Public Administration degree in 1963. In addition to his three Harvard degrees, Jerry Rappaport received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Suffolk University in 1989.

In 1993, with sons Jerry Jr. and Jim, Rappaport founded the New Boston Fund, which owns, develops, and operates over 15 million square feet of office, research and development, warehouse, and residential real estate. He is Chairman of the Board.

Jerry Rappaport has spent a lifetime as a political activist, real-estate developer, and philanthropist with a single goal in mind: to shape a better future for Boston and the region. His unwavering attention to the betterment of the city in both business and personal interests has manifested itself throughout the region in innumerable ways. That effort culminated in 1997, with the creation of the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation.

Over the years, Jerry Rappaport has been a dedicated and generous contributor to numerous charitable and civic organizations in Boston, and the Rappaport Foundation will continue that tradition. His wife and 10 children have also provided substantial leadership to various communities and public service endeavors locally and nationally.

Ed Glaeser is an economist at Harvard University where he is currently Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor at the Department of Economics and Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and the Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston (both at the Kennedy School of Government), in addition to being an editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. At Harvard, Glaeser regularly teaches an undergraduate course on intermediate microeconomic theory. Glaeser obtained his B.A. in economics from Princeton University and his PhD in economics from the University of Chicago. Glaeser's connections with both Chicago and Harvard makes him a linkage between the Chicago School and the Cambridge School of Economics.

Glaeser has made substantial contributions to the empirical study of urban economics. In particular, his work examining the historical evolution of economic hubs like Boston and New York City has had major influence on both economics and urban geography. Glaeser also has written widely on a variety of other topics, ranging from social economics to the economics of religion, from both contemporary and historical perspectives.

Steve comes to the foundation after 13 years with The Philanthropic Initiative, Inc. (TPI), a Boston philanthropy consulting firm, where he worked with a wide range of philanthropies, both domestic and global. He is a frequent author and speaker on strategic and family philanthropy, and has served as the managing director of his own family’s foundation for more than 20 years. Steve began his career as a corporate lawyer, transitioned into state and federal government, and spent the 90’s working to improve the state and federal courts. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Gregory Massing is the Executive Director of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service. Prior to his appointment as executive director, Mr. Massing served from February 2007 through December 2011 as the General Counsel of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Massachusetts Cabinet department charged with oversight of matters of law enforcement, criminal justice, and public safety. From 1993 to 2005, as both an assistant district attorney and assistant attorney general specializing in appeals, Mr. Massing represented the Commonwealth in criminal justice matters at all levels of the federal and state courts. He was a law clerk for U.S. District Judge A. David Mazzone.

In addition to his public service experience, Mr. Massing practiced law at two Boston law firms, Laredo & Smith, LLP, and Ropes & Gray. He is the author of numerous articles on criminal justice matters, as well as a former editor, author, and consultant on high school civics and government textbooks. Mr. Massing is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an articles editor on the Virginia Law Review, and of the University of California at Berkeley.

Alasdair Roberts is the Jerome L. Rappaport Professor of Law and Public Policy at Suffolk University Law School. Previously, he was a professor of public administration in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and an associate professor of public administration at Queen's University, Canada.

Professor Roberts writes extensively on problems of governance, law and public policy. His latest book, The Logic of Discipline: Global Capitalism and the Architecture of Government, was published by Oxford University Press in March 2010.

His previous book, The Collapse of Fortress Bush: The Crisis of Authority in American Government, was published by New York University Press in 2008. Kirkus Reviews called it "a trenchant analysis of the last eight years of American political history." An earlier book, Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age, received the 2006 Brownlow Book Award from the US National Academy of Public Administration, and three other academic book awards. Professor Roberts has also won several awards for his journal articles.

He is co-editor of the journal Governance and serves on the editorial boards of several other journals in the field of public administration.

At Suffolk Law, Professor Roberts teaches Administrative Law and Law and Public Policy. Professor Roberts received a JD from the University of Toronto in 1984, a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard University in 1986, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University in 1994.

Tim H. Davis is an independent research consultant with a focus in housing, demographics and community development. Working for Fenway Community Development Corporation, the City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development and the Boston Foundation's Boston Indicators Project, Mr. Davis has developed a deep knowledge of Boston and the challenges and opportunities facing the city and its distinct neighborhoods.

A research consultant since 2008, Mr. Davis's work has covered a wide range of topics related to the health of Greater Boston, including:

The affect of foreclosures on Massachusetts communities
Health insurance coverage for low-income Boston households
Indicators of change and success in aligning investments in Boston's Fairmount Corridor
The opportunities and challenges created by the rapid re-housing of families housed in motels
Racial disparities in housing opportunities

Mr. Davis has a B.A. from Macalester College (St. Paul, MN) and an M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Rappaport Boston Urban Fellow. More information can be found at www.timhdavis.net.

Scott Harshbarger’s distinguished career has included major public office, not-for-profit executive management, numerous board directorships and private legal counsel.

During his two terms as Massachusetts Attorney General (1991–1999), Scott was the first Attorney General in the nation to engage the health care community in developing hospital and HMO benefit guidelines. In leading Massachusetts’ efforts against Big Tobacco, Scott was among the first AGs nationally to recover the costs of health care associated with tobacco use, resulting in payments by the tobacco companies to the Commonwealth totaling $300 million per year over the next 25 years.

During his tenure as AG, he led major initiatives against white collar crime, public corruption, insurance and Medicaid fraud, environmental abuses and high-tech crime. Scott built the first Family and Community Crimes Bureau, a department focused on domestic violence, elder and child abuse prosecution and prevention, and his Conflict Resolution/Violence Prevention Project (SCORE) earned a Ford Foundation Excellence in Government Award. Scott received national praise for his Safe Neighborhoods Initiative to reduce urban crime and violence, and sponsored unprecedented Brownfields legislation to help stimulate economic growth in formerly depressed neighborhoods. In conjunction with the Safe Neighborhoods Initiative, Scott was the first AG to use consumer protection and safety regulations to combat handgun availability.

Scott also served as President and CEO of Common Cause (1999-2002) and has taught legal ethics at Boston University School of Law for 20 years and was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School for three years. He has authored numerous articles on corporate and not-for-profit governance and regulatory strategies. Scott appears often in the national media and routinely appears on New England television as a commentator and news analyst.

Vivien Li is Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association, a non-profit, public interest organization which promotes a clean, alive, and accessible Boston Harbor. TBHA was the first organization to call for the clean up of Boston Harbor, and under Vivien's leadership, has successfully worked to help restore Boston Harbor beaches from Winthrop to Quincy, as well as to help create more than 39 miles of the HarborWalk public access system along Boston's waterfront. In November 2010 TBHA hosted the first Boston Harbor Sea Level Rise Forum to examine the impacts of climate change and sea level in Boston.

Vivien is a Public Director of the American Institute of Architects; Co-Chair of Princeton University's Advisory Council to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Chair of MassDevelopment's Brownfields Advisory Group; overseer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and an advisory council member of the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston at Harvard's Kennedy School.

She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the American Society of Public Administration's first John W. Gaston, Jr., Award for Excellence in Public Service Management, the Boston Women's Business' 2009 Hall of Fame Executive Award, the Edward Bullard Distinguished Alumnus Award from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, as well as an Honorary Member of the Boston Society of Architects.

Vivien has a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a joint Masters of Public Affairs/Urban and Regional Planning from Princeton University.

Susan Prosnitz is the former Executive Director of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School and now works at the Transportation Security Administration as a Senior Advisor. Previously, Ms. Prosnitz held several senior positions in state and local government including General Counsel to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Chief Counsel to the Massachusetts Highway Department, General Counsel and Executive Director for the Special Advisory Task Force on Massport and Chief of Litigation for the Boston Police Department. During her government tenure, Ms. Prosnitz also served as co-chair of the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes and as co-chair of the Statewide Racial and Gender Profiling Committee. Prior to her public service career, Ms. Prosnitz worked as an associate with the law firm Hinckley, Allen, and Snyder and as a law clerk for the Superior Court of Massachusetts.

Ms. Prosnitz serves on several nonprofit Boards including the Anti-Defamation League, Citizen Schools Council of Champions, and as President of the Duke University Law Alumni Association. She is a member of the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, American Bar Association, Women's Bar Association, National Association of Legal Professionals and the Boston Club.

She is a graduate of Amherst College and Duke University School of Law.