The Manship Residency is a 501c(3) governed by a Board of Trustees. The founding Board and its advisors dedicated their time, energy, and resources to establishing a viable nonprofit capable of launching the Manship Residency. Having accomplished this goal, we look to expand this pool of volunteers to meet developing opportunities and challenges.
Karen Bird joined the Manship Finance Committee as an advisor in 2021. In 2022 she was invited to join our Board of Directors. Ms. Bird has been in financial management for over 30 years. Her early career began at Tufts New England Medical Center and Brigham Women's Faulkner Hospital. For the next 16 years she was Chief Financial Officer of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, involved in the numerous financial aspects of running a large institution including building a $450 million state of the art cancer facility. As the Executive Director of Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers, Ms Bird went on to focus her financial acumen in the policy field working with stakeholders in the government to assure quality cancer care and treatment for the sickest patients. Having retired in 2001, Ms. Bird joins Manship Residency Board with a passion for the arts and sciences, a cellist herself, she remains active helping in the leadership role of Manship's future growth and sustainability. She also continues her Board membership work as Chair, Board of Lady Doak College Foundation, Tamil Nadu, India, Financial Advisor, Society of Saint John the Evangelist, and Women's Mental Health Leadership Council, McLean.
Harry served several Presidents over the last 16 years and brings both governmental and political experience to the Manship Residency Board. He served as a legislative specialist and campaign manager for Congressman John Tierney and has consulted on multiple political campaigns throughout the country.
A sculptor, arts educator, community cultural organizer with 39 years experience as an arts administrator and activist, Castano co-established Gloucester’s Committee for the Arts, the Society for the Encouragement for the Arts (seARTS), and the Gloucester Arts & Culture Initiative. She is the Founding Vice-President of Manship Artists (2015-2019).
Anne Olney spent her childhood in Lanesville and is a museum professional with over two decades of experience in collections care, cultural stewardship, and access. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Collections Care and Access at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, where she supports strategic initiatives to preserve and activate museum collections for origin communities through inclusive and ethical practices.
Her career has been deeply rooted in the responsible care, documentation, and repatriation of cultural materials, including work with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). She brings a deep understanding of both historical and contemporary cultural contexts. Her interests center on ethical stewardship, cross-cultural dialogue, and supporting artists and communities in reclaiming and reimagining cultural heritage.
She is passionate about fostering creative spaces where artists and cultural practitioners can reflect, create, and connect across disciplines.
John is a retired Architect with experience in a variety of building types from residential to commercial to institutional. Advocacy and support for working artists is important to him, having been married to a painter for decades, and raising a daughter who is now an artist. He feels that we need artists and they need places like Manship.
A former Assistant Attorney General in Massachusetts and New York, Whittey is now in private practice in Gloucester. Her expertise is in civil litigation, regulatory process, administrative law and consumer protection. She was a close friend of Margaret Cassidy Manship.
As head of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, Groff brings over forty years experience as an architect and project manager of important historic sites such as Boston’s Fenway Park. Groff consulted for the Manship Residency as a volunteer, overseeing the renovation of the Manship residence before joining the board in 2019.
The great grand-daughter of Paul and Isabel Manship and the grand-niece of Margaret Cassidy and John Manship, Diana Natti is a former Gloucester resident who grew up playing on the Manship estate. She has degrees in art and art history and has studied abroad at an artist residency in France.
Brian is a design business owner (Cambridge, MA). He focuses on Art direction, Design & Marketing, Communications Design, Branding, Marketing, and Advertising. He is a 35 year Lanesville neighborhood resident. He has been providing design, promotion & branding for Manship since 2022.
As a Lanesville native and distant relative of the Manship Family, Babson brings an unique dedication to this project as he literally grew up playing and working on the grounds. As the proprietor of the full service accounting firm, Babson and Company, and as the Chair of the Manship Residency’s Finance Committee, Babson provides valuable expertise and resources to the Manship Residency.
Reynolds is a museum professional and arts administrator with some 30 years experience. She served as a curator and art consultant specializing in American sculpture, as the founding director of Forest Hills Educational Trust and its public art program, and as a member of Gloucester’s Committee for the Arts (2016-2019).
An international public artist, who has completed over 30 major public commissions, Harries is a professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a Gloucester summer visitor for over 20 years. She has been the recipient of prestigious artist residencies.
A philosopher and art-writer, Tom Huhn has been spending time in Gloucester for more than forty years. He has a Ph.D. in the philosophy of art and aesthetic theory, and has published widely within and beyond his field. Currently chair of the Art History Department and founding chair of the BFA Program in Visual & Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Huhn comes to Manship with significant administrative experience in academic and cultural organizations.
