WorldBoston sponsors don’t just support an event, they sustain our mission year-round. Our donors help ensure our region remains a beacon of international engagement and of civil discourse on topics of global importance. Sponsorships also provide exceptional visibility for internationally minded companies, organizations, and individuals.
In 2025, we are introducing new opportunities starting at the Ambassador level to designate specific programs as part of sponsorship benefits across three core areas: Chat & Chowder, Great Decisions, and our pioneering NextGen initiatives.
For more information about sponsoring WorldBoston, please contact Joe Haynes.
(jhaynes@worldboston.org)
The Consuls Reception draws distinguished guests from business, government, academia and the community to mingle with other internationally-minded leaders over delicious light fare and drinks. This landmark event in Greater Boston’s international calendar takes place in the Harborview Room, on the 31st floor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston against a sparkling backdrop of Boston Harbor by night.
On October 21st, 2025, WorldBoston hosted the 16th Annual Consuls Reception recognizing the Consular Corps serving Boston and New England and supporting the mission of WorldBoston to foster engagement in international affairs. We were honored to host Kendalle Burlin O'Connell, CEO and President of MassBio, as our keynote speaker.
WorldBoston sponsorships highlight internationally-minded organizations and individuals and their commitment to global engagement. Sponsorships at the Diplomat Level and above translate into special visibility in WorldBoston communications, complimentary tickets to the 16th Annual Consuls Reception, and more.
For more information about sponsoring WorldBoston, please contact Joe Haynes (jhaynes@worldboston.org).
Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, Chief Executive Officer and President of MassBio
Kendalle Burlin O’Connell is a seasoned and effective executive who has received wide acclaim for her
leadership of MassBio. As CEO and President of the world’s largest and oldest biopharma membership
organization, Kendalle drives the strategy to grow the industry and support member companies, while
advocating for policies that enable healthcare innovation and unlock breakthrough therapies for patients
around the world. For more than 16 years, Kendalle has sought to deliver for MassBio’s now 1,700+ members
through the launch of new initiatives, programs, and events while pushing the industry to new heights by
convening and connecting key stakeholders and promoting collaboration.
To better serve the entire life cycle of biopharma companies, Kendalle has expanded MassBio’s innovation
offerings to include partnering and investor events, an entrepreneurial accelerator, and a network for founders
and chief executives. By the end of the year, more than 30 startups will have completed MassBioDrive, an
accelerator designed to advance breakthrough science through business education and mentoring. Kendalle
has grown both Pharma Days® and MassBio Align Summit to be “can’t miss” opportunities for funders,
biotechs, and pharmaceutical companies. This year, she helped to enable a new venture with The Termeer
Foundation to form a supportive community called the CEO & Founder Link.
Most recently, as part of MassBio’s commitment to realizing a more diverse and equitable life sciences
industry, Kendalle was the driving force behind the organization’s launch of Bioversity, a non-profit created to
develop new training pathways and create employer connections for underrepresented populations and
individuals traditional left out of the life sciences. Bioversity has opened its first workforce training center in
Dorchester where residents, 96 percent of whom identify as Black or Latino, are prepared over just eight
weeks for rewarding entry-level careers at local life sciences companies.
MassBio has become an effective and respected voice across the public policy landscape, from Beacon Hill in
Boston to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Kendalle has been an outspoken advocate for the industry in policy
debates about state government support for the expansion of the life sciences in Massachusetts, the federal
government’s intervention into biopharma innovation, and efforts to improve the affordability and accessibility of life-changing medicines, just to name a few. She has also led the formation of strategic partnerships with sister membership organizations in Connecticut, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Maryland.
Kendalle has earned numerous accolades for her leadership, including Boston Magazine’s list of The 150 Most
Influential Bostonians in 2023 and 2024, the Boston Business Journal’s 2023 Power 50: Movement Makers list,
a 2022 recipient of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Inspire Award recognizing outstanding women
leaders in the Cambridge community, a 2022 Boston power player as named by Axios, a 2021 executive fellow
in the inaugural class of the Civic Action Project Collaborative, and a 2019 Boston Business Journal 40 under
40 honoree. Currently, Kendalle serves as a Director on the Board of The Boston Foundation, Vice Chair of the
Eastern New England Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society, a Director on the Board of the
Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation (MassBioEd), Chair of Bioversity’s Board, and an
Advisory Committee member for the Suffolk University Law School All Rise Program.
Prior to joining MassBio, Kendalle practiced law in the areas of Estate and Medicaid Planning, Probate and
Asset Protection. She graduated cum laude from Sacred Heart University with a B.A. in Economics and
Political Science, and received her Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School. She resides in Haverhill,
Massachusetts with her husband and two children.
On October 30th, 2024, WorldBoston hosted the 15th Annual Consuls Reception recognizing the Consular Corps serving Boston and New England and supporting the mission of WorldBoston to foster engagement in international affairs. We were honored to host Paul Selian, Executive Vice President and Head of the Global Credit Finance Division at State Street.
Paul J. Selian is executive vice president and head of the Global Credit Finance division. In this role, he leads an organization comprised of several talented teams that extend credit to the firm’s broad range of institutional clients. Products offered include Fund Finance - private equity, CLO’s, BDC’s, Mutual Fund - Commercial Real Estate, Leveraged Loans, Municipal Finance and Stable Value Wrap.
Most recently, Paul served as treasurer for State Street in Europe, overseeing the firm’s European banking operations including asset-liability management (ALM), capital, liquidity risk and operations management. Previously, Paul served as chief investment officer. In that role, he oversaw the construction of the firm’s proprietary investment management process and portfolio and the activities of a team of investment professionals in the United States, Europe and Australia.
Prior to joining us in 2004, Paul was head of investment strategy for Aetna, Inc., where he developed asset allocation strategies utilizing real estate, fixed income, private equities and hedge funds. He also served as portfolio manager and trader for various fixed income asset classes, including corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities.
Previously, Paul was with Prudential Investment Corporation and Chase Investors Management Corporation, where he constructed portfolios of institutional quality commercial real estate throughout the US on behalf of domestic and international pensions, life insurers and sovereign investors.
Paul also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Aidentified.com, a Boston based tech start-up and has worked with several other AI driven tech start-ups.
He earned a degree in economics with honors from the University of Connecticut and a MBA with concentrations in finance and international business from New York University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Paul is a member of the Posse Foundation’s Boston Advisory Board.
Presidential
Berkshire Bank
Autodesk
Ambassador
American Jewish Committee
American Tower Corporation
DoubleTree by Hilton Boston-Downtown
Tom Ebling
The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Ramsay Thurber
Wilkins Family Fund
Diplomat
Henry Ancona
Battery Wharf Waterfront Hotel
Maureen Bennett
Bunker Hill Community College
Colleges of the Fenway
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Courtyard by Marriott Boston/Brookline
James De Vellis
Dr. Edward W. Minnock Institute for Global Engagement at Bridgewater State University
East Horizon Investments
Becca Gould
Irving Kemper
Northeastern University
University of Massachusetts Boston
Attaché
Bill Clifford
Matthew Findlay
Leslie Griffin
James Kaufman
Bennett W. Schwartz
Deborah Smith
Union Oyster House
*New sponsors as of 2024 are marked with an asterisk.
On October 19th, 2023, WorldBoston hosted the 14th Annual Consuls Reception recognizing the Consular Corps serving Boston and New England and supporting the mission of WorldBoston to foster engagement in international affairs. We were honored to host Gina McCarthy, former U.S. EPA Administrator and first-ever White House National Climate Advisor.
The first-ever White House National Climate Advisor and former U.S. EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy is one of the nation’s most respected voices on climate change, the environment, and public health. As head of the Climate Policy Office under President Biden, McCarthy’s leadership led to the most aggressive action on climate in U.S. history, creating new jobs and unprecedented clean energy innovation and investments across the country. Her commitment to bold action across the Biden administration, supported by the climate and clean energy provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, restored U.S. climate leadership on a global stage and put a new U.S. national target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 within reach.
Throughout her years of public service in both Republican and Democratic administrations, McCarthy is credited for her common-sense strategies and ability to work across the aisle, with states, communities, business leaders, and the labor community, to tackle our nation’s toughest environmental challenges in ways that spur economic growth. and improve public health for workers and families, especially those living in environmental justice communities.
Currently, Gina is an Operating Advisor at Pegasus Capital Advisors, a Senior Advisor at TPG Rise Climate Fund, a Senior Advisor at Bloomberg Philanthropies, and a Senior Fellow at The Fletcher School’s Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Energy Foundation.
Before joining the Biden administration, McCarthy was President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the nation's largest and most influential environmental advocacy organizations. Prior to NRDC, she was a Professor of the Practice of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she served as the Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment. She was also a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. During this time, she engaged students and climate science thought-leaders across the faculty, as well as corporate and non-profit leaders across the world, to coordinate strategies to turn climate and health science into actions that promote a healthier, more sustainable, and just world.
From 2013–2017, McCarthy was the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Obama. McCarthy focused on using science and input from broad external engagement to strengthen clean air standards including establishing tighter standards on mercury pollution, a new EPA Clean Water Rule to protect rivers and streams that 117 million Americans rely on for drinking water, the first national standards requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for fossil-fuel-fired power plants, and many other policies, programmatic and regulatory efforts that demonstrated the United States' strong commitment to protecting public health and the environment. To advance climate and environmental justice domestically and internationally, McCarthy worked to implement President Obama’s climate action plan spearheading U.S. international engagements that resulted in the passage of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out the use of high global warming chemicals and engaged in efforts leading to the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Before serving as EPA Administrator, McCarthy held the position of Assistant Administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation. Prior to her Presidential appointment, McCarthy was the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, where she served as Chair of the Governor’s Climate Advisory Council, developed the state’s Climate Action Plan, began an initiative called “No Child Left Inside” to introduce families to the natural world by visiting state parks, helped design and implement the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nation’s first cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for power plants. She also held senior positions in the administration of five Massachusetts governors, including Deputy Secretary of the Office of Commonwealth Development and Undersecretary for Policy for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
McCarthy earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a joint Master of Science in Environmental Health Engineering, Planning and Policy from Tuft’s University.
Presidential
Berkshire Bank
Autodesk
Ambassador
American Jewish Committee
American Tower Corporation
*DoubleTree by Hilton Boston-Downtown
Tom Ebling
Jeffery LeClair, AllianceBernstein
The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Ramsay Thurber
*Wilkins Family Fund
Diplomat
*Sanjay Aggarwal
Henry Ancona
Battery Wharf Waterfront Hotel
Maureen Bennett
Bunker Hill Community College
*Colleges of the Fenway
*Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Courtyard by Marriott Boston/Brookline
*Creative Leadership Solutions
Jeffrey Cymrot
James De Vellis
Dr. Edward W. Minnock Institute for Global Engagement at Bridgewater State University
East Horizon Investments
*Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University
Becca Gould
Irving Kemper
Ann LaFrance
Northeastern University
*Salem State University
The Edward Davis Company
*University of Massachusetts Boston
Attaché
Anonymous
*Boston-Strasbourg Sister City Association, President Kathryn Portle
*Bill Clifford
Matthew Findlay
Leslie Griffin
Haynes & Associates
James Kaufman
Bennett W. Schwartz
Deborah Smith
*Union Oyster House
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University
*New sponsors as of 2023 are marked with an asterisk.
On September 14th, 2022, WorldBoston hosted its 13th Annual Consuls Reception honoring the Consular Corps serving New England and celebrating the mission of WorldBoston to foster engagement in international affairs. This year, the event highlighted Boston’s role as a global city in a globalized world. To mark the occasion and to offer remarks on Boston’s growing position on the international stage, we were honored to feature Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at the beautiful Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building.
Michelle Wu is the Mayor of Boston. She is a daughter of immigrants, Boston Public Schools mom to two boys, MBTA commuter, and fierce believer that we can solve our deepest challenges through building community. As Mayor, Michelle is working in coalition to deliver bold, systemic change and make Boston a city for everyone.
Mayor Wu has been a voice for accessibility, transparency, and community engagement in city leadership. First elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, Wu is the first Asian-American woman to serve on the Council. In January 2016, she was elected President of the City Council by her colleagues in a unanimous vote, becoming the first woman of color to serve as Council President.
As a Councilor, Mayor Wu was the lead sponsor of Boston's Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity — both of which passed unanimously through the Council and were signed into law by former Mayor Martin J. Walsh. She also authored Boston’s Communications Access ordinance, which guarantees translation, interpretation and assistive technology for access to City services regardless of English language proficiency or communications disability.
Wu got her start in City Hall working for Mayor Thomas M. Menino as a Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy, where she created the city’s first guide to the restaurant permitting process from start to finish, and was also a driving force to launch Boston’s food truck program. She later served as statewide Constituency Director in the U.S. Senate campaign of her former law professor, Elizabeth Warren.
As a former restaurant owner, legal services attorney, and legal guardian of her younger sister, Wu understands firsthand the barriers that families and communities face. She has a background in community advocacy, having worked at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain, providing legal advice to low-income small business owners, as well as at the Medical-Legal Partnership at Boston Medical Center on immigration law cases for survivors of domestic violence.
In 2016, Councilor Wu was honored as one of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as part of Marie Claire magazine’s New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in America.
Mayor Wu graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, and lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor and her sons Blaise and Cass.
Presidential
Berkshire Bank
Autodesk
Ambassador
Tom Ebling
Ramsay Thurber
American Jewish Committee
American Tower
Diplomat
Kempner Family Foundation
Jeffrey LeClair
Northeastern University
*Québec Government Office in Boston
*The Edward Davis Company
The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Anna Thurber
*212 Stuart
Henry Ancona
Bunker Hill Community College
Jeffrey Cymrot
Dr. Edward W. Minnock Institute for Global Engagement, Bridgewater State University
East Horizon Investments
*James De Vellis
Becca Gould
*Haynes & Associates
Attaché
James Kaufman
Bennett W. Schwartz
*Deborah Smith
*Weatherhead Scholars Program at Harvard University
Anonymous
Anonymous
Courtyard Marriott Boston/Brookline
Matthew Findlay
Leslie Griffin
*New sponsors as of 2022 are marked with an asterisk.
In October 2021, WorldBoston hosted its 12th Annual Consuls Reception honoring the Consular Corps serving New England and celebrating the mission of WorldBoston to foster engagement in international affairs.
The event focused on the local-international sustainability dynamic, highlighting Massachusetts’ leadership in climate initiatives and the role the local diplomatic corps plays in global policies and partnerships. As a timely reminder of the importance of this topic, the keynote speaker, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen A. Theoharides, was called to an urgent press conference about a nor’easter hitting the region. Despite the weather, the mission persisted! We had the privilege of hosting Undersecretary of Energy and Climate Solutions Judy Chang in her place.
President
American Jewish Committee
American Tower
Berkshire Bank
Ambassador
Autodesk
*Anonymous Donor
Commonwealth Frontier Advisors
Tom Ebling
Ramsay Thurber
Diplomat
Henry Ancona
*Bunker Hill Community College
Jeffrey Cymrot
Becca Gould
Henderson Family Foundation
Kempner Family Foundation
*Northeastern University
*The Fletcher School
*WiTricity
Attache
*Bridgewater State University
*Matthew Findlay
Leslie Griffin
Jim Kaufman
*Courtyard Marriott Boston/Brookline
Bennett W. Schwartz
*New sponsors since 2020 are marked with an asterisk.
Thank you to The Urban Grape and The Brattle Theatre for generously donating our raffle prizes.
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