Board of Directors
KERRY GENDRON
President
Kerry Gendron has over twenty years of experience as a compliance risk management and analytics leader, strategic change agent, management consultant, program manager, and technology and data innovator within the financial services industry. Most recently, she was a Senior Vice President in FINRA’s Member Supervision Department in New York, NY. Immediately prior to joining FINRA, she was a Managing Director in Morgan Stanley’s Legal & Compliance Division. In addition to serving as President of the Creative Lives Board, Kerry is a lecturer in the Enterprise Risk Management Program at Columbia University, School of Professional Studies, and she serves as an advisor for Women in RegTech NY.
She began studying meditation and philosophy with Ellen Tadd over 20 years ago and Kerry actively uses a variety of the tools Ellen has taught her, including the Tadd Technique for wise decision making, in her career and in all areas of her life.
She holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Applied Mathematics from the University of Rhode Island.
DAN FURST
Board Member
Dan Furst serves as a technician in the film industry, on locations in the United States and abroad. His work is both technical and interpersonal, enabling him to be analytical in solving problems, yet open to the unpredictability that makes living an active journey.
Dan is a human in progress. He began working with Ellen Tadd’s teachings in 2000-01 while working in Public Radio in Boston; a seminal takeaway from this experience was to recognize what clarity is and how it feels, which has helped him navigate both his professional and personal life. In 2020, Dan dug deeper into Ellen’s teachings, joining a study and practice group on her book, “The Infinite View,” and continued this practice throughout the pandemic. As work resumed in the film industry, Dan’s studies have helped him see new opportunities for living up to his potential.
As a Board member, Dan seeks to help Creative Lives open its potential to a wider audience through his experience in mass communication and his tendency to think of novel solutions in unconventional ways.
MAUREEN BURFORD
Board Member
Creative Lives® Founder and Director Maureen Burford, M.Ed. has spent the past 32 years helping thousands of children and adults improve their lives via the creative and contemplative arts and education. She has taught, lectured and performed nationally and internationally.
Maureen has studied meditation, and philosophy with Ellen Tadd for over twenty-one years, including seven years of extensive training and mentoring in Ellen’s Framework for Wise Education as part of the founding and developing of Creative Lives®.
Sheila Grace, Attorney at Law
Board Member
Sheila Grace is an Assistant General Counsel at the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. Sheila previously served as a hearing officer at the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board and as a regional policy adviser at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. More recently, Sheila served as special counsel to the Vermont Public Service Department, before that she practiced law at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC.
Sheila holds a JD from Suffolk University Law School and a BA from Regis College.
Sheila began studying meditation and philosophy with Ellen Tadd in 2005. Sheila deeply appreciates the perspective she holds, and the lessons she continues to learn, as a result of training with Ellen.
Beth Heffernan
Board Member
Beth Heffernan runs an accounting/bookkeeping business virtually from her home on Whidbey Island WA. She keeps systems and money flowing for multiple business owners on an ongoing basis for the last 20 years. She has had an enduring interest in meditation and philosophy. Beth worked with Ellen Tadd in the 1980’s and then later took classes in Boston with Ellen learning more skills and refinement of making attuned choices.