Three Beacon Hill Village members have been appointed to leadership roles in the 20-year-old organization that helps enable older adults in central Boston neighborhoods to live independently in their own homes.
Joining the leadership team are Karen Cord Taylor of Beacon Hill and Maureen Yoder of the Back Bay, both of whom will serve on the BHV board of directors, and George Coorssen, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood who will serve on the Village Council.
Taylor, a 50-year resident of Beacon Hill, has been a member of BHV since its inception in 2002. An editor and publisher, she launched The Beacon Hill Times in 1995 and later The Charlestown Bridge and The Back Bay Sun weekly newspapers, serving as editor and publisher of these entities through 2007 when she sold the company. Prior to that she was a freelance writer, creating newsletters, corporate materials, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on topics as varied as banking, business, real estate, travel and design.
Throughout her time here, she has been active in many civic ventures such as Walk Boston which honored her last year for the valuable contributions she made during her long-term service on its board. She has served on the BHV public relations committee and contributed many articles that were published in local newspapers.
Yoder is a professor emerita at Lesley University in Cambridge. Her field is educational technology, and for several decades she helped educators enhance their classrooms with technology. She continues to present at conferences, nationally and internationally, primarily on current and emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence, as well as photo and video editing.
She joined Beacon Hill Village in January of this year, participating in several of its activities such as The Connected Foundation college student initiative that resulted in technology support workshops for BHV members.
Executive Director Gina Paglucia Morrison said she was delighted to welcome the two new board members who, she said, will bring a wealth of professional skills as well as passion for the Village’s mission. She also welcomes Coorssen’s insights and wisdom as a new member of the Village Council.
The Council comprises individuals who are interested in supporting and furthering BHV’s mission. Individual members may be asked to consider topics of importance to BHV in areas as marketing, fundraising, programs, and other matters within the organization’s strategic plan and to suggest creative strategies for strengthening its mission and ability to serve its constituencies in Boston’s downtown neighborhoods.
Coorssen began his personal trust/investment career at State Street Bank and Trust Co. in New Hampshire before moving to Boston. He became a member of the CFA Society Boston Financial Literacy initiative, a community outreach program. As the investment business changed over the years he was recruited to Gardner and Preston Moss and fully enjoyed that partnership until the firm was sold in the mid 1990’s. He then joined Mellon Private Asset Management.
George is a member of many neighborhood committees in downtown Boston, including the Beacon Hill Civic Association’s open spaces committee, Friends of the Public Garden Common committee and the Boston Police Department Area A-1 neighborhood advisory committee. He is a co-founder of the Downtown Boston Residents Association and a realtor with Keller Williams Boston-Metro.