BOARD OF DIRECTORS
REBECCA C. GRAY
Rebecca has an extensive background in writing, editing, fundraising, political advocacy work, marketing, and stewardship both for not-for-profit organizations and other businesses, including the Grays’ own publishing company. She has held leadership positions at the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center (FNCCC), Dartmouth College, Mt. Ascutney Hospital, and Mt. Auburn Hospital in fundraising. In the last seven years she has been part of a five-person team that produces the largest one-day fundraising event in Northern New England, and numerous other events to raise money for cancer research and patient supportive services for Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Recently she has created two successful FNCCC fundraising events, each part of the Reach for the Peaks mountaineering program.
Among Rebecca’s many nonprofit service positions: appointed to the seven-member Susan G. Komen for the Cure Public Policy Advisory Council; chair of VT-NH Champions for the Cure; U.S. delegate, representing the State of New Hampshire, to the Global Summit on Breast Cancer in Budapest, Hungary; president of the Vermont-New Hampshire Affiliate Board of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; member of the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center Board of Trustees; and a founding board member of Glen Urquhart school, an independent elementary school.
EDWARD E. GRAY
Ed was the co-founder, with his wife, Rebecca, of Gray’s Sporting Journal, where he discovered and edited the early fiction of E. Annie Proulx, Rick Bass, and many others who went on to distinguished writing careers. Ed and Rebecca subsequently founded Graybooks Publishers and Aisle Seat Books, where they originated and developed the concept of Movie Length Tales™. Ed is the author of more than a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction.
His nonprofit service has included terms as chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, and interim executive director of the Connecticut River Conservancy, the 60-year-old independent protector of New England’s largest river and its four-state watershed. He’s a board member and treasurer of White River Indie Films, a Vermont-based educational and outreach nonprofit, and currently serves as treasurer for the Class of 1967 at Dartmouth College, where he earned his undergraduate degree in economics and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School.
Ed is a former naval officer, an instrument-rated private pilot, a rescue-certified scuba diver, an avid hunter and fly fisherman, and an experienced backcountry traveler and trip leader.
MARK A. ISRAEL
An internationally distinguished cancer physician and scientist, Mark specializes in the molecular and cellular biology of pediatric brain tumors. In particular, his research focuses on the pathogenesis of nervous system tumors and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. He has served on the scientific advisory boards of organizations supporting cancer care and research in the U.S. and Europe and on the executive committees of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, and the Israel Cancer Research Fund. In January of this year Mark, a pediatric oncologist, translational scientist and a nationally recognized leader in cancer research, was appointed National Executive Director of the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), the largest nonprofit organization dedicated solely to funding cancer research in Israel.
He is the recipient of several prestigious national awards, including the Farber Award for outstanding contributions to neuro-oncology, and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Professor of pediatrics and of genetics at the Geisel School of Medicine, he has published more than 200 papers and mentored more than 75 students and fellows. As director of Norris Cotton Cancer Center, he delivered on an ambitious agenda, expanding cancer research laboratories and clinical space and building strong research collaborations with Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
ELIZABETH SPENCER
Elizabeth’s personal and professional career has been dedicated to the power of philanthropy. With over 27 years of fundraising experience at Yale University, Dartmouth College, SeaChange Capital Partners and Middlebury College, Elizabeth has assisted in inspiring donors to make meaningful investments that advance an institution’s mission and vision for the future. Elizabeth believes philanthropy should be meaningful and joyful! As a volunteer she serves on the board of trustees of her alma mater, Westover School, a girls secondary school in Middlebury, CT. She has been an active participant in the Prouty – the annual fundraiser for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center – and was among the first to participate “virtually” by climbing Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park on the day of the event. Elizabeth provides her advice, counsel and dollars to a variety of nonprofits focused on education, girls empowerment, cancer research, land conservation and environmental issues.
DAVID J. GIBSON
David has advanced the interests of mission-driven organizations by working to match the passions of individuals seeking to do good in the world with nonprofits positioned to bring this vital work to scale. HIs teams are guided by a few principles: Are their efforts responsive to constituents’ needs as much as to the organizational goals? Is their work steeped in the institution’s values and culture? That’s where robust engagement and philanthropic support are centered.
He’s consulted for institutions in a number of sectors, including Jackson Laboratory, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, New York Philharmonic, and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. In education he’s worked with a range of schools, from large research universities to liberal arts colleges to independent schools, including the University of Calgary, St. Paul’s School, and Business School Lausanne. At MIT he led strategy and creative to support a multi-billion-dollar campaign, and is a former managing editor at Yankee Magazine, where he helped earn its first-ever National Magazine Award nomination for reporting. He has a passion for teaching and has been on the faculty of CASE’s Summer Institute in Communications and Marketing for the last 18 years.