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Ben is 38 years old and lives in the flower bulb region of Holland, in the town of Sassenheim, SouthWest of Amsterdam. He’s been married for 6 years now to his wife, Koosje, and they have 2 sons, Kees(4 years old) and Hugo (2 years old). Ben’s been working in the flower bulb industry for more than 20 years. He began at the young age of 14-year-old, packing and cleaning bulbs. After graduating college in 2005, he started working full-time in the bulb business and is now the co-owner at Pete J. Rotteveel Bulb Co., Inc.His hobbies are playing soccer and road cycling.
A third-generation farmer originally from Taunton, MA, Clive started a retail garden center in 1991 at the age of 14 in Wareham, MA. After owning and managing it for 13 years he, along with business partner Matthew Piscitelli, purchased Olson’s Greenhouses, Inc., a wholesale greenhouse grower of potted flowers. He has continued to expand his business holdings including two more retail garden centers and a restaurant. Clive continues to love his businesses and all the people with whom which he surrounds himself. His passion continues to this day and his desire to grow his businesses still burns strong.
A successful businessman with an undergraduate degree from Bryant University and a master’s degree from Northeastern University, Matt resides with his beautiful wife and two wonderful boys just south of Boston. Before purchasing Olson’sGreenhouses, Inc. (wholesale greenhouse grower of potted flowers) in Raynham, MA with a business partner in 2006, Matt built, grew and sold a Home Respiratory company. His business passion is pure entrepreneurship and his personal passions all family. In addition to owning Olson’s Greenhouses, he also owns three garden centers, a real estate management company, and a successful restaurant. His drive to grow his business holdings is unrelenting and he is always seeking out new opportunities to grow his professional portfolio.
Diane Valle is a Boston resident, an avid urban horticulturist, and a passionate community organizer and collaborator. Diane has been beautifying greenspace and building community in the City of Boston for decades, spearheading the first private/public partnership at the historic Bunker Hill Monument site; starting the first Crime Watch in her neighborhood, and serving as President and Founder of many urban horticultural organizations. Discovering the joy of improving open spaces, as Chair of the Greenway Gardens six acres on the newly reclaimed land on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Diane’s focus is on bringing fine horticulture to the public where they work, play and live. In ways that none could imagine, The Boston Marathon tragedy caused unfathomable loss of innocent life and affected the BAA marathoners, the City of Boston residents, workers and visitors. Diane is grateful that her daughter Danielle Valle Gilchrist was safe on Marathon Day 2013, and was able to leave the Marathon Finish line to serve the City of Boston, as Neighborhood Liaison forMayor Thomas M. Menino. To welcome the BAA Marathon the following year, as an act of hope, recovery and a tribute to Boston Strong, Diane organized the eight communities along the marathon route and hundreds of remarkable Garden Club members, horticulturists, volunteers and donors, and with their help, planted over 130,000Marathon Daffodils along the route. The generous public support of Marathon Daffodils inspired the distribution plotted Marathon Daffodils along the Finish Line and Back Bay, to great marathoners and visitors, and to lift spirits for the historic weekend. This is the sixth year of celebrating Spring and Boston Strong.
Paul Hayes Tucker is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston where he taught for 36years after earning his Ph.D. in the History of Art from Yale University. He also served on the faculties of the Institute of Fine Arts(NYU), the University of California Santa Barbara (USCB), and Williams College, his alma mater. A specialist in 19th-and 20thcentury art, Tucker is considered the world’s leading authority on Claude Monet. Tucker has written and edited 11 books, curated more than half a dozen international exhibitions, and contributed numerous essays to museum catalogs and art historical publications. Tucker has received many academic awards, has been heard often on NPR, and has appeared frequently on television including Good Morning America, TheToday Show, and the Charlie Rose Show. Now a resident of Santa Barbara, he is presently writing a textbook on modern art.
Tom Grilk, a member of the Boston Athletic Association since 1987, became Executive Director of the B.A.A. in January 2011 and Chief Executive Officer in2016. He served as President of the B.A.A. Board of Governors from 2003 until2011. He is guided by the traditions that have fostered more than a century of achievement at the B.A.A. while collaborating with colleagues to drive the innovation that will keep the organization and the Boston Marathon at the forefront of athletic excellence and community service going forward. That shared sense of imperative is rooted in the commitment to resilience, strength, and determination that has marked the history of the B.A.A. and all who serve it, both in good times and in times of challenge.
Dr. Meredith Charney is a clinical psychologist with many years’ experience researching and treating individuals exposed to trauma. Until recently, she was in both the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders (CATSD) and the Home Base Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital. At CATSD, she was also director of psychotherapy and training. In the summer of 2018, Dr. Charney relocated to Maine and joined the group practice PsychologySpecialists of Maine.
