Compiled by The Bedford Citizen
In the second week of The Bedford Citizen’s leadership profiles, we would like to introduce you to the second group of our board members: Jerry Wolf, our Treasurer, and board members Mitch Evans, Gene Kalb, Meredith McCulloch and Emily Mitchell. They are your friends and neighbors and like you, they care deeply about Bedford and its future. In just five years they have helped transform the early enthusiasm of our founders into a highly-valued resource for the town.
Click this link if you missed last week’s profiles: Ginny Spencer, Nancy Asbedian, Dot Bergin, Joan Bowen, and Bob Dorer.
Jerry Wolf, Treasurer
Jerry Wolf is The Bedford Citizen’s “man with the spreadsheets”. As treasurer, Jerry keeps tabs on The Citizen’s Finances; he was also responsible for navigating the IRS processes for obtaining 501(c)3 status for the organization. (This designation exempts your donations from taxes as permitted by law.) Jerry has lived in Bedford for more than 40 years with his wife, Lynne. Together they raised two children here; his daughter, Becky Ricci, and her family also live in Bedford. A son, David, lives in northern Virginia.
Jerry has a long history of service to various town organizations including the Citizen Scholarship Foundation, POMS, the Bedford Farmer’s Market, youth soccer program, and the Ad Hoc Recycling Committee. He is currently treasurer of the Friends of the Library.
Asked his views on the importance of The Bedford Citizen, Jerry said, “I think The Citizen brings us together as a community. I want to be informed on what’s going on in town government and town organizations, and The Citizen provides that.”
Jerry has been a board member and treasurer since 2012. He is also a member of the Executive Committee which oversees the daily operation of The Citizen.
Currently retired, Jerry worked at BBN for many years as an R&D engineer, working in speech and signal processing. He came to the Boston area to do graduate work at MIT where he earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.
Mitch Evans, Board Member
Mitch Evans moved from the UK to Bedford in 2011 with her (yes, she is female) husband and two children. Her daughters are now in 7th grade and 4th grade and are involved in travel soccer, lacrosse, theatre and orchestra. Mitch is a Girl Scout troop leader and an active member of First Parish Church in Bedford where she volunteers for the Caring Network. She is also a member of the Religious Education Committee, R.E. teacher, curriculum coordinator, and writer.
She is on the board of The Bedford Citizen and a member of their fundraising committee. Mitch writes educational themed articles and currently reports on the Bedford School Committee meetings. Mitch was a Governor of an elementary school in the UK and a Trustee of a local kindergarten.
“I am a firm believer in the importance of The Bedford Citizen’s role in informing and supporting the local community. In today’s world of social media and digital accessibility, we are all being bombarded by multiple interpretations of the facts, quite often mixed in with personal views. Therefore, the role of TBC as an unbiased and controlled source of accurate information is even more vital. Our town is growing and I am excited to be part of a team that is able to keep Bedford residents up to date on these changes.”
Mitch was awarded honors degrees from both Queen Mary and Kings Colleges in London. Having spent over 15 years working in the Advertising and Marketing industry, Mitch has recently decided to head back to school herself, and is currently studying for her Master’s in Early Years Education.
Gene Kalb, Board Member
Gene and his wife Linda Pollitz have lived in Bedford since 1992. They have one daughter, Mary, who attends Hamilton College. Gene is a publisher, publishing a weekly newsletter aimed at high school counselors. He’s also written newsletters in federal procurement areas (think fencing, asbestos abatement, fire control). He’s even dabbled as an importer, importing catnip and cat treats from around the world for his entrepreneurial business “The Catnip Trading Company.”
As a huge consumer of news, it was a natural fit for Gene to become a contributor to The Bedford Citizen, introducing a new feature called Bedford Explained.
Gene received a BA in Economics from the Colorado College, where he also played baseball. His claim to fame was playing baseball at a Division I Hockey school.
Meredith McCulloch, Co-Founder and Board Member
Meredith’s life-long interests have been good government and the quality journalism required to support it. When she moved to Bedford in 1968, she immediately joined the League of Women Voters of Bedford. She grew in the south under a county government system, but through the Bedford League learned about Town Meeting form of government and established many long-term friendships. She served as President of the League from 1978 to 1980.
Meredith earned a bachelor degree from West Virginian Wesleyan College and a Masters in Library Science from Simmons College. After moving to Bedford she volunteered at the Bedford Free Public Library and then worked as a part-time reference librarian. In 1979 she became Assistant Director and then Library Director from 1991 to 2005. Both her love of libraries and journalism draw on a commitment to First Amendments rights and to the importance of information in a democracy. These values were paramount when she agreed to join Kim Siebert and Julie McCay Turner to found The Bedford Citizen in 2012. Meredith believes that citizen participation is essential to the quality of life in Bedford. Her hope is that as citizens become more informed about town government they will be motivated to serve as town volunteers and to attend Town Meeting.
Meredith and her husband John raised four children in Bedford. John served as a member of the Capital Expenditures Committee, the Finance Committee, and Selectmen. After retirement, Meredith’s interest in the town continued and she served on Finance Committee for one term before founding the Citizen.
Emily Mitchell, Board Member
Emily Mitchell has lived in Bedford since 2001. A Midwesterner by birth and temperament, she has been on the East Coast for nearly 25 years (but still calls soda “pop” in her head). Emily and her husband, John, have two children: a daughter at JGMS and a son at Lane.
“I love The Citizen because it keeps me connected to my adopted hometown,” Emily said. “I can read an article about the latest Planning Board meeting and see the fruits of their decisions in my daily errand walks around town. I can submit a press release for a parish event and reach a much broader and more engaged local audience than I would by simply hollering about it on my own Facebook page. And I can learn a lot more about Bedford itself through feature articles on local history, running trails, cultural offerings, and more.”
As a board member, Emily contributes occasional articles on events of community interest, and she helped coordinate The Citizen’s participation in this year’s Bedford Day parade, including the launch of BeTC, the new online town calendar. In addition to her work on The Citizen board, Emily is an elected trustee of the Bedford Free Public Library and a board member of Bedford Patrons of Music Students (POMS). She is also an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, having served as its warden for seven years and high school youth leader for 14 years. She sings in St. Paul’s choir, and serves as the parish’s webmaster and occasional director of ST. PAUL’S TONIGHT, the church’s mostly bi-annual song-and-dance revue.
Emily is a literary agent with Wernick & Pratt Agency LLC, representing writers and illustrators in the children’s trade market. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and master’s degrees from Syracuse University (MSEd) and Babson (MBA).
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