PRESIDENT

Cathleen D. Stone earned her B.A. and J.D. from American University and an L.L.M. from Georgetown University Law Center. She was of counsel and a past partner of the Boston law firm Foley, Hoag & Eliot where her practice encompassed environmental and administrative law issues. Ms. Stone is widely recognized as a philanthropic leader and trailblazer. Among other accomplishments, she founded the Stone Living Lab at UMass Boston, the Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship at UC Berkeley and the MAAH Stone Book Award. In the 1990s she served as the City of Boston’s first ever chief of environmental services and worked with Senator Kennedy, Congressman Moakley and others to establish the Boston Harbor Islands National Park. She currently serves as President of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation; as an appointed member of the partnership board for the Boston Harbor Islands National Park; on the board of directors for Boston Harbor Now and the Wilderness Society, and as a member of the Honorary Committee of the Museum of African American History (MAAH) Stone Book Award. For over twenty-five years she served as a commissioner for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. She also served as chair of the board of directors for the Museum of African American History and as a member of the boards of The Nature Conservancy, National Public Radio, the Supreme Court Historical Society, WBUR Boston, and MATCH Public Charter High School. In 2006, Ms. Stone received the Eleanor Roosevelt “Following In Her Footsteps Award” and in 2017 she received the Norman B. Leventhal Excellence in City Building Award. She received an honorary degree from University College London in 2024.

CHAIRMAN

James M. Stone is founder of Boston-based Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation and chief executive of its parent company, The Plymouth Rock Company. He began his career teaching economics at Harvard University after earning his B.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard. From 1975 to 1979, he served as the insurance commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and then served as chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Carter. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a member of the board of directors of ProPublica, and chair of EdVestors’ School on the Move Prize Panel. Mr. Stone is a former member of the board of directors of the Boston Globe, a former vice chairman of Global Post, and chairman emeritus of Management Sciences for Health.

Mr. Stone is the author of the bestselling book, Five Easy Theses: Commonsense Solutions to America's Greatest Economic Challenges and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, where he serves as a member of the Trust.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sonja Plesset is Executive Director of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation and The Plymouth Rock Assurance Foundation. She has over twenty-five years of experience in philanthropy, research and higher education. Previous roles include Chief Advancement Officer at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Whitehead Institute, Lecturer at Harvard University, and Program Manager at the Yale School of Forestry.

Ms. Plesset received her BA from Cornell University, and her PhD in cultural anthropology from Harvard University. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health where she conducted research on eviction and health in a public housing community and is the author of Sheltering Women: Negotiating Gender and Violence in Northern Italy which was published in 2006 by Stanford University Press. Currently, she serves on the Board of Trustees for Cathleen Stone Island Outward Bound Education School, on the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research Director's Advisory Board, and as an Advisor to the Museum of African American History (MAAH) Stone Book Prize.