Conversations with Women of Distinction with Dana Borrelli-Murray

Join us for this new series of monthly fireside chats at Innovate Newport with a local Woman of Distinction (entrepreneur, business woman, elected official, community leader, or author) and the Chamber President.

All are welcome to coffee, tea, fruit, and pastries upon arrival. The speaking program will begin around 9:15 and guests will hear a 20-30 minute conversation and have the opportunity to ask questions to follow. After the Q&A, all are welcome to stay and network.

Thank you to our series sponsor, Newport This Week!

About our August Woman of Distinction: Dana Borrelli- Murray

Dana is the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England, where she is laser-focused on ensuring that Girl Scouts is the most relevant, engaging, youth-centered, and inclusive leadership development program available. In this role, Dana leads all strategy, creates systems and structures necessary to meet council goals, and designs the ways in which youth discover their personal best and prepare for a positive future, connect with others in an increasingly diverse world, and take action to solve problems and improve their communities.  

Previously, Dana spent nine years as the Executive Director for the Highlander Institute, an education nonprofit organization that partners with communities to imagine and create more equitable, relevant, and effective schools. Under her leadership, the Institute grew exponentially and is seen as a national leader in driving instructional equity.  

An anthropologist by training and nerd by heart, Dana is driven by the power of community, music-making, and social justice. She serves on several city, state, and national boards and committees, including RI?s Commission for National and Community Service. As a foster parent, she facilitated the Foster Parent Advisory Council for the RI Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Dana served as Chair of the Board for Trinity Academy for Performing Arts (TAPA), a performing arts charter school in Providence, the Executive Committee for RI National Organization of Women (RINOW), and the Prudential Committee for First Unitarian Church of Providence. She plays saxophone with the Extraordinary Rendition Band, creating raucous noise for social causes. A native Rhode Islander, Dana holds graduate degrees from University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Brown University and lives in Cranston with her spouse and four young children. 

Confirmed Women of Distinction include:

January 11th: Elizabeth Lynn, Executive Director, van Beuren Charitable Foundation

February 8th: Cristina Offenberg, Esq. Silva, Thomas, Martland & Offenberg, Ltd.

March 7th: Crista Durand, Newport Hospital

April 4th: Gail Alofsin, Newport International Boat Show, Author, Keynote Speaker

May 9th: Britt Riley, Founder, The Haven Collection

June 13th: Kathy Staab, Owner & President, Jane Pickens Theater + Event Center

July 11th: Christine Stenning, Chair of League of Women Voters Newport County 

August 8th: Dana Borrelli-Murray, CEO, Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England

September 12th: Dayna Gladstein, President & CEO, Newport Mental Health

October 10th: Katie Potter, Newport Chowder Co.

November 14th: TBD

December 12th: Brenda Brock, Farmaesthetics