Who We Are
The JFK Friends Board is a dedicated team of professionals serving on a volunteer basis to bring organizational, interpretive, fundraising, community engagement, and operational experience from both the private and public sectors.
Maria Quintero
President
Community Programs Manager, JFK Library Foundation
Maria specializes in serving as a bridge between cultural institutions, local agencies, community organizations, and the public in order to create spaces for people from diverse backgrounds to enrich their lives by critically engaging in exhibitions and programs. ...more
Mark Swartz
Co-Founder
Acting Treasurer
Mark is a National Park Service “alum,” having begun his 19-year career with the agency as a seasonal Park Ranger at the Birthplace. He went on to work over 18-years as a permanent staffer across town at Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, witnessing the formation of their friends group and the “added value” it brought to that site. ...more
Seth Blumenthal
Program Committee
Master Lecturer, Boston University
Seth Blumenthal is a Master Lecturer in Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences Writing Program. His research focuses on the history of the Republican Party since WWII and conservative politics in the 20th century. Blumenthal’s first book, Children of the Silent Majority: Youth Politics and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1968-1980 was published 2018, and won the New England Historical Association’s James P. Hanlan Book Award. ...more
Betsy DeWitt
Co-Founder
Outreach & Development Committee
In 1960, as a high school senior in southeast Texas, Betsy helped to organize a campaign for Senator John F. Kennedy in a Mock Presidential Primary Election against local state hero, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. Her JFK Team won the Mock Primary over the LBJ Team. Kennedy lost the State Primary--after all, it was Texas. And then ... JFK was elected President! That was Betsy’s introduction to political activism. ...more
Ken Goldstein
Governance Committee
Ken is an attorney with the firm of Goldstein and Herndon LLP. Ken is a product of the Brookline, Massachusetts public school system, graduated Connecticut College in 1981 and Boston University School of Law in 1984. Ken served as a Selectman and as Chair of the Select Board for the Town of Brookline for several years. He is currently a member of the Planning Board for the Town. ...more
Joyce Graff
Outreach & Development Committee
Joyce is President of Powerful Patient, Inc., a patient advocacy practice in Brookline. She worked for 25 years in high tech. Joyce is a passionate advocate for health and for accessibility for handicapped people. She served in 2024-2025 as the District Governor for Rotary District 7910 and is a past president of Brookline Rotary. ...more
Evelyne Milorin
Outreach & Development Committee
Evelyne Milorin is a proud Haitian-American parent of two young adults, one of whom, her son Reginald, has autism. She is a longtime grassroots advocate for people with disabilities and has been deeply involved with a number of organizations, including Family to Family, and the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council. She has also served on the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disabilities and the Governor’s new Autism Commission. She has worked with the Massachusetts Haitian Family Support Program and spent a year in Washington, DC, as a Joseph P. Kennedy Public Policy Fellow. ...more
Jim O'Connell
Program Committee
Professor of City Planning & Urban Affairs, Boston University
Jim O’Connell formerly was a planner for National Park sites in New England and New York State. His latest book is Boston and the Making of a Global City. He teaches in the City Planning-Urban Affairs Program at Boston University. Jim has a Ph.D. in Urban History from the University of Chicago. He leads urban planning/design tours of different areas of Boston and Cambridge. ...more
Barbara Perry
Program Committee
J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the Miller Center, University of Virginia, and Co-Director, Presidential Oral History Program.
Perry has authored or edited 17 books on presidents, First Ladies, the Kennedy family, the Supreme Court, and civil rights and civil liberties. Perry has conducted more than 150 interviews for Presidential Oral History Projects She has worked for both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate. Her books include Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch; Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier; Edward Kennedy: An Oral History; and Strange Bedfellows: The Political Courtship of Eleanor Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. ...more
Nikki Shults
Interim Clerk, Governance Committee
Nikki Shults brings over 15 years of nonprofit leadership experience focused on building community, alleviating isolation, and challenging stereotypes. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Everyday Boston, an organization dedicated to bridging social, racial, and economic divides through the sharing of life stories. She joined the board in 2024 and is an active member of the Governance Committee. She has a strong background in nonprofit management, board development, fundraising, and governance, making her a valuable asset to the board's work. ...more
Mark White
Program Committee
Professor of History, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK
Professor Mark White is a scholar who works on twentieth-century United States history, with a focus on the modern American presidency. He has published nine books. A number of them examine the presidency of John F. Kennedy, including a body of work on the Cuban missile crisis. His 1996 book The Cuban Missile Crisis, was described by one reviewer as ‘this generation’s definitive account of the famous crisis.’ His most recent book is Icon, Libertine, Leader: The Life and Presidency of John F. Kennedy (2024). ...more