Annual Dinner

Thomas N. O’Brien
Managing Partner and CEO, HYM Investment Group

Thomas N. O’Brien is the Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of The HYM Investment Group, LLC. HYM is currently leading the development of over twenty (20) million square feet of mixed-use development in Greater Boston, including the following notable and complex projects: Bulfinch Crossing (the redevelopment of the Government Center Garage), Suffolk Downs and Parcel 3 in Roxbury.

Prior to HYM, O’Brien served as a Managing Partner for JPI, a national developer and owner of multifamily communities, and as a Managing Director in Boston and New York for Tishman Speyer, one of the world’s leading real estate firms. O’Brien also led the Boston Redevelopment Authority as its Director and Chief of Staff, overseeing the development of over 12 million Square Feet of projects in Boston, from 1993 to 2000.

O’Brien has served as Chairman of The Greater Boston Real Estate Board and is Vice Chair of the Board of Overseers of The Anti-Defamation League of New England, which awarded O’Brien its Abraham Joshua Heschel Interfaith Relations Award in 2016. In 2011, Governor Deval Patrick appointed O’Brien to the Board of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency.

In 2016, Mayor Martin J. Walsh appointed O’Brien to the Board of Trustees of the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and he also serves as a Board Member of the Pine Street Inn, Project 351 and the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. O’Brien is a graduate of Brown University and Suffolk University Law School and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

Kendalle Burlin O’Connell
CEO and President, MassBio

Kendalle Burlin O’Connell is a seasoned and effective executive who has received wide acclaim for her leadership of MassBio, the world’s largest biopharma membership organization, where she drives the strategy to grow the industry and support member companies as CEO and President.

Kendalle has expanded MassBio’s innovation offerings to include an entrepreneurial accelerator, as well as partnering and investor events, and was the driving force behind the launch of Bioversity and its first workforce training center in Dorchester where 96 percent of enrolled students are Black or Latino. She is an outspoken advocate for government policies that enable healthcare innovation and unlock breakthrough therapies for patients.

Kendalle has earned numerous accolades for her leadership, including top recognitions from Boston Magazine and the Boston Business Journal, and serves on the Boards of The Boston Foundation and the American Cancer Society, where she is Vice Chair for the Eastern New England region, among others.