In 2019, St. Mary of the Assumption School and The Healey Education Foundation partnered to establish a Board of Specified Jurisdiction at St. Mary’s to assist with school governance. The Board of Specified Jurisdiction is a mission-driven, results-driven body with a bias for action. The Board has voting oversight of the governance and fiscal health of the school. The Board provides guidance for the enrollment, fundraising, and fiscal aspects of school management. 

 

St. Mary of the Assumption School School Board

 

Damien Leigh, Chair

Damien Leigh serves as Chair of the St. Mary’s School Board. Additionally, he is a member of the parish finance council.

 

He is Senior Vice President, Direct to Consumer at New Balance. Damien looks after NB’s e-commerce, retail, marketplace, and social commerce businesses, globally. Additionally, he is responsible for digital product and engineering. He spent over ten years at Staples in a host of senior-level roles in retail, e-commerce, and sales. Damien has a proven track record as a strong general manager and leader who has led both growth and operational turnarounds.

 

Before leaving for New Balance, Damien was Senior Vice President and General Manager at Staples.com and Mid-Market. Prior to Staples, Damien worked for Bain and Company. He also served as a Captain in the United States Army. Damien has a BS in Engineering from West Point and an MBA from Dartmouth College (Tuck School of Business).

 

Damien has been a parishioner at St. Mary’s for six years and lives in Coolidge Corner with his wife Mary Jane, two sons, Matt and Andrew, and two dogs, Roxy and Roby. Additionally, Damien competed in the St. Mary’s 5k Race and won his age group!

 

Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Pastor

Father Jonathan Gaspar is a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Brookline, Massachusetts, which includes St. Mary’s and St. Lawrence churches. His ministry encompasses parish leadership, Catholic education, faith formation, and pastoral care.

 

During his eight years as pastor, the parish has experienced sustained growth in Mass attendance, increased involvement among young adults and families, and a significant expansion of ministries. Working with clergy and lay leaders, he has helped strengthen the St. Vincent de Paul Society and revive a Knights of Columbus council that had been dormant for approximately four decades. The parish’s initiation program has roughly doubled, while new offerings—including Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, adult faith formation, and outreach to people experiencing homelessness—have broadened its mission. His tenure has also included the renovation of the lower church into a parish hall and meeting spaces, improvements to parish buildings, and expanded space for the school’s infant and toddler programs.

 

Father Gaspar studied philosophy as an undergraduate at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton and Boston College and earned his Master of Divinity degree from St. John’s Seminary. He previously served as secretary to Cardinal Seán O’Malley and worked as Director in the Archdiocese’s Office of Divine Worship.

 

A classically trained musician, Father Gaspar has pursued studies in liturgical music and Gregorian chant and as a member of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and the Church Music Association of America. He has published articles on Catholic spirituality, liturgy and sacred music and served as an adjunct faculty member at St. John’s Seminary. He continues to contribute to priestly formation as a pastoral supervisor for diocesan seminarians and Jesuit scholastics studying at Boston College.

 

As pastor, Father Gaspar is closely involved in the life of St. Mary’s School and in helping parishioners deepen their relationship with Christ through Scripture, the sacraments, and service to others. He is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.

 

The son of immigrants from São Miguel in the Azores, Father Gaspar cherishes his Portuguese heritage and its traditions of faith, family, and hospitality. Outside his pastoral responsibilities, he enjoys gardening, cooking, travel, and gathering family and friends around the table.

 

Sarah Kelly, Secretary

 

Sarah is a Corporate Partnerships Director at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, an organization that raises funds for 170 children’s hospitals across the U.S. and Canada, helping make sure every child receives the best possible care. The Corporate Partnerships team is responsible for driving more than $200 million in revenue annually. In her role, Sarah leads the strategy for key relationships with corporate supporters.

 

Sarah has been with CMN Hospitals since 2015, working in a variety of roles in collegiate peer-to-peer fundraising, business development, and now corporate partnerships. In this role, Sarah focuses on building strong relationships with partners, developing corporate social responsibility solutions that fit business needs, and increasing fundraising for local member hospitals.

 

Sarah holds degrees from Auburn University in Human Development & Family Studies and Spanish. She lives in Boston and is a proud Missouri native.

 

 

Kitty Boles

Kitty Boles taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for 25 years, serving as Senior Lecturer on Education and Director of the Learning and Teaching Master’s Program until her retirement in 2018. Kitty was a classroom teacher for over 20 years before earning her doctorate at Harvard. With her colleague, Vivian Troen, Kitty has written extensively about school reform, teacher education, new forms of teacher leadership, and the connection between educational research and teaching practice.

 

Kitty lives in Brookline with her husband Barney. They have a son, Henry, who lives in Utah with his wife and two children, and a daughter, Molly, who lives in Uruguay. Kitty loves to travel, and in addition to visiting her children and grandchildren, she enjoys trips to New York City and Paris for good food and theatre.

 

Kitty is a parishioner at St. Mary’s and an active member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

 

 

Michelle L’Etoile

Michelle L’Etoile serves as a member of the St. Mary’s School Board. She is the Director of Graduate Admissions at Boston University School of Law. She leads the recruitment, admissions, and enrollment strategy for the law school’s LL.M., master’s degree, certificate, and other non-J.D. programs.  She has over 30 years of experience in admissions having overseen J.D. admissions previously at New England Law | Boston and Boston University School of Law. 

 

Always a lover of languages, Michelle received both her B.A. in English and Ed.M. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Boston University. She enjoys learning new languages and practicing with her students who come from over 45 countries each year. Currently, she is an avid watcher of Korean drama shows.

 

Michelle has been a parishioner at St. Mary’s for 26 years and lives with her husband Albert and their two teenage children, Juliette and Charlie, in North Brookline.

 

Jeremiah Smith

Jerry Smith serves as a member of the St. Mary’s School Board. He is the Senior Director of Advancement at Catholic Charities Boston, where he oversees annual giving, stewardship, and development operations. Jerry has more than a decade of experience helping organizations raise money for their missions. Prior to Catholic Charities, he worked for Goodwill and Merrimack College.

 

Jerry is a graduate of Merrimack College and enjoys spending time with family and friends, board games, Boston sports, and traveling. He is a parishioner at St. Cecilia Parish in Back Bay (where he met his wife). Jerry lives in Arlington with his wife Andrea and their Old English Sheepdog named Dudley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Grzybowski

 
David serves as a member of the St. Mary’s School Board. He was a partner in a National Real Estate Investment Company for 20 years before retiring. Prior to that he was Director of Facilities and Risk Management at Union College. 
 
David graduated from Syracuse University, with a degree in Civil Engineering and has a MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 
 
David is married and enjoys staying active playing golf and pickleball, traveling, volunteering and spending time with his 3 beautiful granddaughters. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruno Vaz

 

Bruno is the Senior Director and Global Head of Real Estate for New Balance, where he directs global real estate strategy and execution across a portfolio of over 600 directly operated stores and 2,700 partner locations across 27 countries. With more than 25 years of international experience leading corporate real estate, design & construction and facilities, Bruno brings deep expertise in managing multi-million-dollar capital budgets, strategic planning, and infrastructure development to the board’s governance.

 

Prior to joining New Balance, Bruno held several senior executive roles at Walmart, including Senior Director of International Real Estate and Head of Real Estate for Walmart Central America, where he managed large-scale corporate assets and led cross-functional, multicultural teams. His early career includes extensive development and expansion leadership across Europe with retail leaders Sonae and LIDL.

 

Bruno holds a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, and an MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid. Bruno resides in Brookline with his wife, Marina, and their children. An avid traveler who is trilingual in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, he is also a passionate lifelong surfer who loves spending time on the ocean.

 

 

 

 

Mary Russo