As part of the Annual Conference, MNN will present the Lifetime Achievement Awards to individuals with outstanding service to the nonprofit sector in Massachusetts. This ceremony has always been a highlight of our conference, and will coincide with this year’s theme of lifting up members of the nonprofit community for collective inspiration.
We are honored to announce our 2022 winners, Linda Cavaioli, Executive Director of the YWCA Central Massachusetts from 1992 to 2021, and Michael Curry Esq., CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.
Award winners are nominated and selected by their peers, leaders in the nonprofit sector. Read about the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award winners here.
Read more about Linda and Michael below.
Linda Cavaioli served as Executive Director of the YWCA Central Massachusetts from1992 to 2021. Linda reported to a 30-member board of directors and oversaw the daily operations of a $7 million non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of racism and empowerment of women.
Linda is active in the community and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Quinsigamond Community College, and as Chair of Audit and Oversight, a member Emeritus of the Community Board of DCF Worcester West Area Office and a Commissioner Emeritus of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. She also serves on the Martin Luther King Community Breakfast Committee, President’s Advisory for Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition and Board Chair of 2Gether We Eat. She also served as regional chair of the YWCAs New England Council and Chair of the YWCA USA Regional Leadership Committee.
Before joining the YWCA, Linda was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Resource Development at the United Way of Central Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Hampshire and a MBA from Clark University. Linda and her husband John Medbury are the proud parents of five children and 12 grandchildren.
Mr. Curry is the past president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP (2011-2016) and has over twenty years of dedicated service to the NAACP at the city, state-area conference and national levels. He was elected to the National NAACP Board of Directors in 2014 and reelected twice in 2017 and 2020. He now serves as Chair of the National Board’s Advocacy & Policy Committee, Vice-Chair the Political Action and Legislation
Committee, as well as a member of the Executive and Legal Committees.
Mr. Curry served on both the City of Boston’s COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force, Mayor Walsh’s Reopening Advisory Group, co-chaired the Legislature’s Health Equity Task Force, and was appointed to Governor Baker’s COVID-19 Vaccine Working Group. In addition, he continues to serve on the Massachusetts Public Health Association’s Task Force on Coronavirus & Equity, while also coordinating the community health center response to the pandemic, in conjunction with the state Attorney General’s Office, Executive Office of Health and Human Services, various municipalities, and other partners. Based on Michael’s advocacy for community health centers and their patients, as well as his work to advance health equity in Massachusetts, he was named one of the 2021 Bostonians of the Year by the Boston Globe and Boston Globe Magazine, and was honored by the Jewish Alliance For Law and Social Action (JALSA) in June 2022, as well as the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA), and numerous local and national awards for leadership and advocacy.
