Gillian A. Najarian

Executive Director

Gillian A. Najarian, the Council’s Executive Director, works in close partnership with the Chair on all strategic planning in the service of advancing the Council’s mission.  She also serves as Deputy Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and currently sits on the United Way of Massachusetts Bay Healthy Child Development Impact Council.

Previously, as Associate Dean at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, Najarian worked with faculty and research staff on media and communications issues related to public dissemination of their work in the context of overall branding and marketing for the school. Early in her tenure at The Heller School, she directed a complete reorganization of all student affairs, including admissions, financial aid, counseling, and career and academic services.

Before joining Brandeis, she worked at the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Prior to her career in higher education administration, she worked as an ESL teacher and foreign program officer in Boston, France and Japan. She earned a B.A. in French Language and Literature and International Relations from Connecticut College, and an Ed.M. in Higher Education Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jerry F. Boren, Ph.D.

Director of Finance and Administration

Jerry F. Boren, Ph.D., Director of Finance and Administration for the Council and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, has primary responsibility for consolidated budget planning and forecasting as well as the development of budgets and cost proposals for submission to prospective sponsors.

Previously he served as Senior Administrative Officer for The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. In this role, he was responsible for supervising the financial and central administrative services of the school. Prior to assuming school-wide responsibilities, he served as Associate Director of the Schneider Institute for Health Policy at The Heller School, where his role focused on financial and administrative services. Before coming to Brandeis, he taught Sociology at Merrimack College, worked as a management consultant, and served as Research Director for the Center on Corporate Community Relations at Boston College.

He earned an M.A. in Social Ethics from Andover Newton Theological School and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Boston College.

Al Race

Director of Communications and Strategic Relations

Al Race is Director of Communications and Strategic Relations. His responsibilities include leading the development and execution of a comprehensive communications strategy and building and maintaining strategic partnerships for the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and its initiatives, including the National Scientific Council and the National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation.

Previously, as Executive Editor for CCI/Crosby Publishing, he worked for 16 years with non-profit, academic, and corporate partners to lead the strategy, development, and execution of print, electronic, and web-based publications designed to meet communications goals and audience needs. Among those publications, Threshold: Exploring the Future of Education, a quarterly journal for education leaders and policy makers, was named a 2005 Education Press Association Distinguished Achievement Award finalist. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for a Media Literate America.

He received his B.A., cum laude, in English Literature from Middlebury College.