Board of Directors

Lynda Fairbanks-Atkins, President

Lynda Fairbanks-Atkins is a non profit management and fundraising professional.  Over a dozen years ago, through volunteer fundraising experiences, Lynda came to the charitable world after a successful career in the for-profit world.  Much of her non-profit work has been in education and the arts, including major gifts and senior management positions in organizations such as Northeastern University, the Handel and Haydn Society orchestra, and the Environmental Careers Organization. 

She has designed and built development departments based on creating strategic, multi-year plans. Lynda has redesigned communications, expanded volunteer involvement and stewardship, and mentored executives and staff.  A seasoned executive, she is experienced in all aspects of fundraising and working with boards.  One board member called one of Lynda’s workshops, “One of the best workshops we’veeverhad.”

Lynda has been recognized by donors and colleagues as a big-picture thinker, skilled at building client connections and managing through change and growth.  While serving as Interim Executive Director for a start-up, virtual non-profit, she was publically acknowledged by a major Washington think tank as “having brought professional management” to the organization. 

An experienced presenter, Lynda has significant corporate speaking experience and training.  She also served on the adjunct faculty of Northeastern University for several years.

Co-founder and President of New England Light Opera, she has held a number of board positions on the North Shore.  A serious cook, several years ago she developed “Kids Cook” series of classes to teach children good kitchen techniques; basic, expandable recipes; and table etiquette.  Lynda is a classically trained singer who has performed as soloist and chorus member in a number of locations.  Today, she spends more time with the Great American Songbook than with the great classical composers.

Lynda received a BA in French from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Northeastern University.

Neil Hourihan, Vice President

Phil Blaisdell, Treasurer

Phil Blaisdell has a BA from San Diego State University and a graduate degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management. After working as a VP for Chase Manhattan Bank’s Int’l Dept at several Asian locations, he was part of a management team that formed a development bank for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After handing the reins over to Saudi nationals, Phil stayed on and established the Kingdom’s first tea factory which was sold 10 years later to a Unilever Lipton joint-venture. Phil has worked in import-export for a large local chain and has engaged in formulating business plans for small local companies. Phil’s wife is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker for a Boston-based medical group and shares Phil’s concerns for the disadvantaged. He has served on the board of the North Shore ARC and welcomes working with the board of Lifebridge. Phil still enjoys sailing and his membership in a badminton club where he and his wife, Nancy, often play with Don and Mimi Gardner.

Scott Grover, Clerk

Scott M. Grover received a B.A. in English Literature from Bentley College, 1978; M.B.A. Boston College, 1985; J.D. Cum Laude, Boston College, 1985.  Mr. Grover is a partner in the Salem law firm of Tinti, Quinn, Grover & Frey, P.C.  specializing in land use, real estate development, commercial and residential real estate lending, condominium law and tax titles.  His clients include many local and national banks and mortgage companies as well as large and small real estate developers.  He has also represented several cities and towns in real estate related matters.  He is a member of the Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts and a member of the Board of Directors of Lifebridge and an active member of Tabernacle Congregational Church U.C.C.  Scott resides in Salem with his wife Amy and their two sons, Alex and Owen.

Andrew Oliver

Andrew Oliver was born and raised in the UK, where he graduated from Oxford University.  His career in investment banking included periods working in London, Singapore and the US. In 1998, Oliver sold his business to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, which was based in the World Trade Centre. Oliver was in the WTC when the bomb went off there in 1993 and was also present the day before 9/11, in which attack KBW lost 67 employees. Following 9/11, Oliver decided to retire from investment banking, which he did in 2003, and to devote more time to Lifebridge, then the Salem Mission, whose Board he chaired from 2002 to 2011.  In that time the Organization has transformed its operations, with a determination to end homelessness on the North Shore. Lifebridge, today, is largely what it is due to the vision and commitment of Andrew Oliver.  The purchase of the former St. Mary’s parish, the private fundraising that made it possible, the 22 units of low income housing, a nationally recognized model program for moving people out of homelessness, and more were all achieved under Oliver’s leadership. Oliver and his wife, Carla, live in Marblehead where he is active in the community.  Their daughter, Sacha, attends Smith College; and Oliver’s adult sons live in the UK.

Don Gardner

After a varied career in education, business, government, the military and public history, Don Gardner is currently President of the Board of Managers of the Boston Port and Seamen’s Aid Society, serves on several committees of the Board of Lifebridge, and has been recently appointed to the Marblehead Historical Commission. With degrees in American history from Williams College and Yale University, Don Gardner has taught history at both the secondary and college levels and early in his career was recruited to become an administrator in higher education. A life-long sailor and badminton player, he keeps in contact with his five children and four grandchildren, in addition to his active involvement with issues of affordable housing, homelessness, politics and historic preservation.  He continues to advise and consult on issues of management development and land use planning.  With his wife, the Reverend Mimi Hollister, he shares additional opportunities for local political, peace and social justice involvement as well as cross country and international travel.

Seth Doolin

Seth A. Doolin is a resident of the immediate neighborhood of Lifebridge Campus and has a clinical practice as a Licensed Psychologist across the street from the Campus. Dr. Doolin has been a board member since 2009. Dr. Doolin's practice of neuropsychological assessment involves treating people similar to those served by Lifebridge Campus services and he has recently started teaching cognitive neuroscience at Salem State University.

Andrew Updegrove

Andrew Updegrove is a co-founder of the Boston law firm Gesmer Updegrove
LLP, which focuses its practice on representing technology companies. He
has several times been rated as one of the top 100 attorneys in
Massachusetts in annual peer surveys of all attorneys in the state
conducted by Law and Politics. He is a graduate of Yale University and the
Cornell University Law School. In the non-profit world, he has also been a
director of the Gloucester Stage Company, the Treasurer and a Director of
the Vinalhaven [Maine] Land Trust, and the Clerk and Moderator of the Old
North Church in Marblehead. A prolific writer and speaker on professional
topics, he recently published his first non-fiction book: a cybersecurity
thriller titled The Alexandria Project. In a prior life, he was the
founder and owner of a successful architectural stained glass studio. He
continues to be the adoring father of a 21 year-old daughter and the loving
husband of a wife whose age is better left unstated.

Bruce Whear