Two Members Join Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation Board

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

SHEFFIELD, MA -- Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation announced today that David Offensend of Wassaic, New York, and Eleanore Velez of Lee, Massachusetts, have joined its board of directors.

Offensend is president and CEO of Waltham-based Education Development Center, a global nonprofit focused on improving education, promoting health and expanding economic opportunity. Before that, he was chief operating officer for America Achieves and the New York Public Library. Prior to his work in the nonprofit sector, David cofounded Evercore Partners, an independent investment banking advisory firm, and held leadership roles at the investment organization of Robert M. Bass and Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partnership. He has served on the boards of Princeton University, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation.

Velez is an admissions counselor and coordinator of the Multicultural Center at Berkshire Community College, where she serves students from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. She has received the 2019 Latinx Excellence on the Hill award from the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, as well as the Literacy Network of South Berkshire Founders of America Award, the Berkshire Immigrant Center’s Jane Addams Spirit Award and the Multicultural Competence Award from Multicultural Bridge. She is currently a board member of Barrington Stage Company and a member of the Four Freedoms Coalition.

Offensend and Velez join a regional board of 21 members. With assets of $160 million, Berkshire Taconic is a major funder of nonprofit organizations in its four-county region, working in partnership with donors and nonprofits to meet the needs of communities.

About Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation

For more than 30 years, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation has strengthened communities through philanthropy and leadership in northwest Litchfield County, CT; Berkshire County, MA; and Columbia County and northeast Dutchess County, NY. A nonprofit public charity with $160 million in assets, the foundation distributed a total of $6.5 million through grants and scholarships in 2018 to nonprofits and individuals in the arts and education, health and human services, and environmental protection.

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Contact:

Justin Burke
Director of Marketing and Communications
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
jburke@berkshiretaconic.org
413-229-0370 x123

Darryl Gangloff
Communications Officer
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
dgangloff@berkshiretaconic.org
413-229-0370 x114

Website & Social: www.berkshiretaconic.org | Facebook