2023 Annual Celebration

Latoyia Edwards is an Emmy Award-winning anchor on NBC10 Boston and NECN.  Since joining the station in 2005, she has enjoyed success as a health reporter, weekend anchor, and evening news anchor, and today serves as morning news anchor.  Latoyia has moderated political debates, field-anchored live news events, and secured exclusive one-on-one interviews. Over the course of her career in broadcast journalism, Latoyia has played an important role in telling some of the most important news stories in New England, and highlighting critical issues facing the region. She volunteers with a number of local organizations, and regularly serves as emcee of charity events.  In 2019, she was awarded an honorary degree from Endicott College, and she was recently named one of Boston Magazine’s Most Influential Bostonians. Latoyia is a Dorchester native, and a graduate of Emerson College.   

Dr. Jim O’Connell, MD, is the President of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing high quality medical care to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in the Greater Boston community.  Dr. O’Connell joined BHCHP as its founding physician in 1985 and is also credited with establishing the nation’s first medical respite program in within the Lemuel Shattuck Shelter, and with designing and implementing the nation’s first computerized medical record for a homeless program in collaboration with the MGH Laboratory of Computer Science.  His first book, Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor, was published in 2015.  Dr. O’Connell also serves as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, from which he received his medical degree in 1982. 

Pamela Reeve is Chair of the Board of American Tower Corporation, having served as a Director since 2002. She also serves as Chair of The Women’s Edge, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, Mass General Brigham Community Physicians, and the Mass General Physicians Organization, and as a Director of Mass General Brigham and Trustee of Boston Arts Academy. Ms. Reeve helps to lead statewide digital equity planning in her role on the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s Broadband and Digital Equity Working Group. She was previously the founding CEO of openairboston.net, the Boston wireless initiative, leading efforts to provide low-cost connectivity for underprivileged communities. From 1989 to 2004, she was the President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Lightbridge, Inc., a global provider of mobile business solutions, offering products and services for the wireless communications industry.   

The Honorable Martin J. Walsh is a lifelong champion of working people who began his career as a leader in organized labor, and went on to serve in public office for 25 years.  Mr. Walsh was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 16 years, and served for seven years as the Mayor of the City of Boston, during which time he is credited with leading Boston to the forefront of the global innovation economy.  He was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as the U.S. Secretary of Labor in January 2021, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2021. After two years in the Administration, Mr. Walsh returned to labor leadership when he was named the Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association in February 2023.  He is a native of Dorchester, and a graduate of Boston College.