Karen Sommers, Co-Founder/President

Karen began her sales career in Boston, MA with the LoJack Corporation (’89-92) and WBMX/MIX 98.5FM (’92- 95). From 1995-2000 she was the General Sales Manager for American Radio Systems stations WRMM, Rochester, NY; WRKO, Boston and finally WBMX, Boston under the new ownership of CBS/Infinity Broadcasting.

Karen’s professional charity efforts began in 2000 when she managed the fund raising efforts for The Marathon of Hope that raised money for the Ukrainian Orphanage charity, Help Us Help the Children. She and her husband, Bob, started Smiling Kids Inc. in 2003. Karen is currently the President of Smiling Kids Inc, an active participant in the Boston University College of Communications Professional Partners Mentor Program and a busy stay at home mom.

Karen graduated from Boston University in 1989 with a B.S. in Mass Communications/PR. She lives in Southborough, MA with her husband and three children (ages 6, 4, and 2).

Bob Sommers, Co-Founder

Bob has worked in a variety of sales and marketing management positions in the high-tech industry. He is currently Director of Business Development at TotalView Technologies in Natick, MA. Previously he held positions in business development at CenterStone Software, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Open Market.

Bob's charitable endeavors include holiday gift drives, volunteering at the Salvation Army, The Utica Big Brother program, and running the 2000 Marathon of Hope in Athens, Greece for the benefit of Ukrainian orphans. The common theme has been his interest in helping children who are less fortunate.

Bob is a 1990 graduate of Hamilton College with a BA in Psychology and a 1995 graduate from Babson College Olin School of Management with a MBA in Marketing. Bob is also an active father of three and a weekend saltwater fisherman who resides in Southborough, MA his wife, and Smiling Kids president, Karen.

Dan Moore

Dan is the Vice President, General Manager of Boston Scientific Corporation’s Vascular Surgery Group. He has worked at Boston Scientific Corporation for 15 years in a variety of sales, marketing, new business development, and management roles. Dan joined Boston Scientific Corporation after 5 years at Procter & Gamble. He has his undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard University and a Masters in Business Administration from Boston University.

Throughout his life, Dan has participated in charitable activities. As a young boy and through high school, he helped elderly neighbors maintain their homes and ran errands for them. He spent time visiting residents in nursing homes and worked at soup kitchens around holidays. As a college student Dan volunteered at Children’ s Hospital in Boston where he worked in the emergency department. He was also a Big Brother and still maintains a relationship with his “little brother” who is now an adult. Dan’s extensive travel in the US and around the world has allowed him to see the effects of poverty and the difference one person and a little effort can make.

Currently, Dan is President of the Parish Council at St. Matthews in Southborough, MA. He also is a member of the Finance Committee and teaches Religious Education to Confirmation candidates

Dan has been happily married to Grace Moore (Georgas) for 18 years. Grace and Dan are motivated by the challenge of raising their children to become capable, productive, happy adults. They live in Hopkinton, Massachusetts with their three children, DJ age 17, Julie Anne age 15, and Michael age 11.

Trisha Christy

Trisha graduated from Brown University in 1991 with a degree in International Relations. While at Brown she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and held various leadership positions.

She worked with Accenture from 1991 until 2001 as a project manager for financial systems implementations. Currently, she works part-time for Pyxis Consulting and is responsible for financial account and reporting.

Trisha has been on the Board of Directors of Brown Club of Boston since 2001. She is currently serving as the co-President of the Board and oversees the coordination of all events in the Boston area. In addition to her Board responsibilities, Trisha works as an alumni recruiter interviewing prospective high school students applying to Brown.

Trisha serves as the Secretary of the Board of Advisors at the Hopkinton Country Club. She served on the Board as the Social Committee Chairperson from 2002-2003. Her responsibilities included event planning and coordination for the clubs members.

Trisha resides in Southborough, MA with her husband and two young children (2 ½ and 4 ½ years old).

Tracy Bodio

Tracy graduated from Boston College in 1991 with a degree in Communications and in 1995 from Clark University/UMASS Medical School with a joint MBA/MHA. While at BC she was active in a number of charitable organizations including Habitat for Humanity and Big Brother/Big Sister.

While completing her graduate degree, Tracy began working for AdvantageHEALTH as Manager of Strategic Planning; responsible for researching and assisting with acquisitions of medical/physical/occupational rehabilitation sites.

From 1996-2000, Tracy worked for Transition Systems, Inc. (later known as Eclipsys Corp.). Her first role was as Implementation Manager, implementing financial and clinical systems at hospitals and health care systems throughout the eastern U.S.  Later, Tracy led the Quality team as QA Manager as the company expanded its offerings and ventured into new product lines.

Currently, Tracy is a stay at home mom and an active member of the Parent Council at her children’s school. She lives with her husband, Rob, in Ashland with their three young children.

Catherine Schiff

Catherine Stanton Schiff is currently the Director of Sales and Marketing for Harvard Sweet Boutique, a gourmet cookie & brownie company. She has spent most of her sales management career in the wine and spirits industry for companies such as Bacardi USA, Allied Domecq Spirits & Wine and Beam Wine Estates. She was most recently Director of Sales and Marketing for Phillips Chocolate in Boston.

Catherine graduated Cum Laude from Boston College in 1987 with a B.A. in Communications. She has served as a Class Officer as well as Class Correspondent for the BC Alumni Association since 1991. She is involved with Kevin Youkilis' "Hits for Kids", and created the "Yoouukk!" chocolate bar, which will raise thousands of dollars for the foundation. She is also involved with the Braintree Public Schools PTO and youth basketball programs.

 

Catherine resides in Braintree with her husband Brad and daughter Jaclyn (12)

Advisors

Karen Doherty, Legal Counsel

Erin Martin Kane, EMK PR

Mark Zides, PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Sue Gordon, Owner, Let's Get Personal

Erik Westwig, Senior Software Engineer, Palisade Corporation