Jamaica Plain-based Community Servings recently announced the election of four new members to its Board of Directors.
Community Servings is a nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses.
The new board members are:
• Dr. Aretha Delight Davis, a physician, former attorney, and CEO of ACP Decisions, a nonprofit that helps families make informed health care decisions;
• David Farwell, an executive vice president at Citizens Bank overseeing commercial banking, including the restaurant finance practice;
• Mehrdad Noorani, a former Harvard University Advanced Leadership Fellow and founding partner of the independent investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners; and
• Malisa Schuyler, vice president of government affairs at Beth Israel Lahey Health, an integrated healthcare system expanding access to care throughout Eastern Massachusetts.
“Each of these individuals brings a wealth of experience and an abundance of passion to our Board of Directors,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “They will play a critical role not only as we continue to expand our services but also as we tackle the many challenges that Community Servings and the people we support have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The new board members began their leadership roles with the Community Servings Board of Directors on July 1.
Dr. Aretha Delight Davis
Dr. Davis’ entire career has centered on work to improve our nation’s health care system. She is a co-founder and CEO of ACP Decisions, a nonprofit that produces tools and video content designed to help seriously ill patients and their families make informed and thoughtful health care decisions. These tools are multi-lingual, easy-to-understand and readily scalable.
Before she founded ACP Decisions, she was an Internal Medicine Resident at Mount Auburn Hospital. Prior to her career as a physician, she was an attorney in Philadelphia where she specialized in corporate criminal defense. She began her career in medicine after her experience as a caretaker for her late father.
Dr. Davis has been an active leader on several boards, including her current service on the boards of the Lown Institute, the Sage School and National POLST.
Dr. Davis earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and interned at Massachusetts General Hospital.
David Farwell
Farwell is well-acquainted with the food service industry, serving as executive vice president of commercial banking and leading the restaurant finance practice at Citizens Bank. He oversees five national industry lending areas, including restaurant finance, professionals banking, retail petroleum and sports finance.
Before joining Citizens Bank, Farwell spent 13 years in a number of commercial banking positions with Shawmut/Fleet Bank. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and received his MBA from the Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College. Farwell resides in Reading with his wife, Dominique, and three children. He serves as treasurer of Reading Youth Hockey.
Mehrdad Noorani
Noorani is a senior adviser at Global Infrastructure Partners and was a founding partner of the firm. He managed the firm’s airport investments in the United Kingdom. Before founding Global Infrastructure Partners, he was an investment banker at Barclays Bank and later Credit Suisse.
He has been involved in the governance of the nonprofits Right to Play International and The Basics, Inc. He has also served on the boards of London City Airport, Great Yarmouth Port and GE Capital UK Ltd.
Noorani earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder and attended NYU’s Stern School of Business. In 2019, he was an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University where he studied nutrition and food science, health care delivery and economics.
Malisa Schuyler
For over a decade, Schuyler has managed government affairs for health care systems, including Beth Israel Lahey Health, Wellforce and Tufts Medical Center, and has worked in the public policy and affairs sector for over 20 years. She began her career as an aide in the Massachusetts Senate working for state Sen. Therese Murray.
Her civic activities include terms on the boards of directors of the Animal Rescue League of Boston and Boston MedFlight. She previously served as chair of the Massachusetts Asian American Commission.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College and a master’s in public affairs from the University of Massachusetts Boston.