The WUMB Friends Council

The Friends Council is a group of up to thirteen WUMB listeners, with the charge of assisting and advising the radio station's general manager with fundraising, outreach and community service. They also review programming, policy decisions and our financial statements. The Council's members represent a geographic diversity reflecting the stations listening areas.

The next four meetings of the WUMB Friends Council will take place as follows: Wednesday, October 10, 2007; Thursday, January 10, 2008; Wednesday, April 9, 2008. All meetings will be held at 6:30 pm on the Lower Level of the UMass Boston Healey Library Building. You can contact the WUMB Friends Council at friends@wumb.org

The following listeners currently serve as members of the Council.

Susan Burgess is a graduate of UMass Boston where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Geography. Representing the UMass Boston Alumni Association, Susan approached WUMB enlisting their help from the association's board members during a fall fund raiser. Ever since she's been volunteering at WUMB, on and off, for more than a dozen years, most recently helping out Darrell and Dick with the Morning Express. She has also attended SAMW for the last two years. After graduating from UMass Boston, she primarily stayed in the world of finance focusing on R! esource Management and Training Support. Currently, Susan is enrolled in her first year at the North Bennet Street School where she's studying Piano Technology.

Tom Callahan is an actor, artist, and radio broadcaster and has over 20 years of broadcast and performance experience. Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, he studied acting with Jeannie Lindheim and Michael Shurtleff, worked in public and commercial radio, and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City before relocating to Los Angeles. Mr. Callahan has been in over 20 films, commercials and radio & theatre productions including The Lesson, Metamorphosis, A Cry of Players. Abracadabra. Mercedes-Benz, Miller-Lite and sketch comedy and improv troupes. He has exhibited his art in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. A recipient of several awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Associated Press, and the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, Mr. Callahan was co-founder of WUMB-FM in Boston, and currently hosts 'Seasons & Celebrations' and 60's Chicks' Radio broadcast on Live365.com.

Susan Davis is a fundraising consultant with over fifteen years experience in fundraising administration, annual giving, endowment and capital campaigns. Retiring from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2002 as an Assistant Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement, she has continued to assist the University on special projects and has done consulting for The May Institute, The University of Massachusetts Foundation, Inc., and the Town of Sutton 300th Anniversary Committee. Davis has been a member of WUMB since 1989, has served on its Advisory and Public Policy Boards, and is an active volunteer.

Christine DePalma is a graduate student in applied linguistics and serves as program manager for UMass Boston's Venture Development Center. Christine first became involved with WUMB when she was an undergraduate student at UMass Boston and has worked with the Friends Council in collaboration with the university’s Golden Key International Honour Society chapter on various community service initiatives. A Boston native, Christine is also a volunteer teacher of English as a Second Language in her hometown of East Boston, loves animals, and is passionate about creating awareness and raising funds to fight blood cancers through her work with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Dean Denniston is the Director of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. He is also an occasional guest minister and a talented and creative blues guitarist/composer who is active on a variety of advisory boards. Mr. Denniston is also a VORACIOUS reader; reading between 60-80 books a year. Mr. Denniston’s professional affiliations and experiences are diverse, ranging from community advisory boards such as the Museum of Science, the Ethics Advisory Group of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and the WGBH Community Advisory Board. He is an active member and guest minister at King’s Chapel where he leads committees and volunteer activities. A former counselor at the Carroll Center for the Blind, and regional director for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, Mr. Denniston serves on the executive committee of the governor’s Commission on Employment and Training Policy for Individuals with Disabilities. He was on the boards of Boston Aid to the Blind, the National Braille Press, and MATCHUP Interfaith Volunteers. Mr. Denniston received a M.Div from Yale University Divinity School and a B.A. from Northeastern University. The father of an eighteen year old daughter, he grew up in Boston and Martha’s Vineyard, and currently lives in Brookline.

Cheryl Hoenemeyer is a singer songwriter whose piano playing career has taken her from classical to cabaret to folk. She has also seen the other side of the arts world, having worked as an accountant for a number of non-profits including the Museum of American Folk Art (NYC) and Boston Center for the Arts. Currently living in West Newbury, MA, her other passions and preoccupations include gardening, wooden boats and politics, depending on the season.

Gary Kavanagh. Gary has been a member and volunteer at WUMB since the mid-80’s. Since 1996 he has been the music director at the Steeple Coffeehouse in Southborough, MA and recently retired from presenting concerts in Jun 07 after 11 years. Gary has also been past acting President of the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA), as well as Vice-President. Since the inception of the BACHA, Gary was BACHA’s liaison to WUMB, crew chief and sound engineer for the Coffeehouse Stage for the Boston Folk Festival. Professionally, Gary is a financial manager supporting the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force.

Pam Kirby. Currently residing in the Richmond, VA area, Pam discovered WUMB 10 years ago while living on Cape Cod for 5 years. She was a volunteer for the very first Boston Folk Festival and many member drives. After graduating with a degree in English Literature from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, she worked as a technical editor and environmental educator. She then spent 12 years working in retail and management for Borders Books & Music, allowing her to travel across the U.S, from Alaska to Washington DC. A travel enthusiast, Pam also spent 1995 traveling around the world with a friend. Recently she decided to seek a career in ESL education and focus energy on her passion of promoting the arts, specifically music and film.

Mac McLanahan is a self-employed Marketing Consultant with more than 30 years in the advertising, marketing, and promotional field. He is Artistic Director and co-founder of the Rose Garden Coffeehouse, an active and successful folk music venue running continuously in Mansfield, MA since 1989. He has served as a Stage Host of a number of area folk festivals including the Boston Folk Festival, The New Bedford Summerfest, and the Habitat for Humanity Festival in Avon. As a representative of the Rose Garden, Mac is an active participant in meetings of BACHA, the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association. As a musician, Mac sings and plays guitar, mandolin, and dobro. He has performed and recorded with the Boston Music Award winning John Michaels Group and still performs with friends and his wife Rae Ann, with whom he has attended SAMW for the past seven years. Mac serves on the Board of Trustees of Richards Memorial Library in North Attleborough where he and Rae Ann live.

Matthias J. Mulvey (Friends Council Vice Chair): CBO, CET. Matt is a Boston, Cambridge and Massachusetts Licensed Builder. He is a Massachusetts Certified Building Commissioner. He assists property owners and developers in: building and land use appeals including preparation and presentation before boards and commissions, construction permitting, site supervision, third party inspections, expert witness services for plaintiffs and defendants in building and land use disputes, assemblage of design and building teams and construction mediation. Matt has been active in state and national building and fire code development for many years. Matt is a graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

Jack Murray: A Brockton native, Jack discovered WUMB 10 years ago when he enrolled for the first Summer Acoustic Music Week. He, and his guitar, have attended it every year. He has volunteered his time for a number of functions at WUMB over the years including answering phones during the pledge drive and pitching on the air this year. He has worked on the Boston Folk Festival since its inception as a volunteer. Jack owns an insurance sales firm in Franklin, MA where he also lives with his wife Kay.

Lynne Tirrell (Friends Council Secretary) is Associate Professor of Philosophy at U Mass Boston. Her philosophical research and teaching interests are in language, art, literature, politics, and the intersections amongst these. She has taught philosophy at U Mass Boston, Wellesley College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Judy Wong (Friends Council Chair) is an attorney who is working as the Associate Director of Human Resources at Middlesex Community College. Prior to that she was the labor counsel at UMass Memorial Health Care. For the 20 years prior to that, she was the General Counsel for the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts. Judy has long been a listener and member of WUMB, she is a dedicated SAMW camper, and plays fiddle and hammered dulcimer, with occasional forays into mandolin and piano.

You can reach the Friends Council at wumb@umb.edu