Serving and Leading in the DR | News | Montrose School | Medfield, MA

A dedicated member of the Montrose Board since 2019, Mike Roberto will bring his decades of expertise in leadership, strategy, and organizational excellence to his new role. He is the Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University, where he joined the tenured faculty at Bryant after serving for six years on the faculty at Harvard Business School. Mike is the author of three books, most recently Unlocking Creativity; has created three best-selling audio/video lecture series for The Great Courses; and has published many best-selling case studies. Mike’s research and teaching have earned numerous awards, and he has consulted at businesses including Deloitte, Target, The Home Depot, Mars, Google, Apple, FedEx, and Morgan Stanley. 

Mike holds a BA from Harvard College, and both an MBA and doctorate from Harvard Business School. He and his wife Kristin are the parents of three children, including Celia ‘20, and live in Holliston. 

Joining Mike as Vice Chair, Melanie Francis has been a steadfast member of the Board since 2022 and served as our Commencement speaker in 2021. She brings more than 25 years of experience leading change management at some of the world's best-known technology companies. Melanie currently serves as Vice President and Chief of Staff in the Office of the CEO at Akamai, where she partners closely with executive leadership on governance, strategy, and communications. Earlier in her career, she spent 12 years at Symantec and began as a software engineer at GTE.  

Melanie earned a BS in Computer Science in the Honors Program at Stonehill College and an MBA from Clark University. She is the mother of two children – including Lauren ‘16, our Varsity soccer coach – and she and her children donated the championship banners in the Arts & Athletics Center in 2018 in memory of her husband John.

As Mike and Melanie take the helm, they are well positioned for success thanks to the tireless dedication of our outgoing leadership team: Bill Noonan and Neil Jacob. These heroic servant leaders have laid a strong foundation for our school and leave behind a remarkable legacy.   

Neil Jacob joined the Board in 2004, serving as Board Chair from 2006 to 2018 and as Vice Chair since then. His leadership was essential in establishing our permanent campus home in Medfield. Neil led the purchase and renovation of the Medfield property, achieving the longtime Board goal of a permanent campus home for Montrose. Later, he spearheaded the Realizing the Dream campaign, mobilizing the community to fund the building of the Arts & Athletics Center that anchors campus life today. Under Neil’s stewardship, the campus grew to include Miracle Field and the Arts & Environment Building. During his tenure as Chair, he saw Montrose recognized by Boston Magazine in its list of top ten Boston-area private schools. He is the father of Dary ‘05, who is the inspiration for the annual Daffodils for Dary campus beautification project.

Bill Noonan’s leadership carried Neil’s vision forward into a new era of growth. Bill is the son of Montrose co-founder G. Edward Noonan and the brother of several Montrose alumnae. He joined the Board in 2008 and was elected Chair in 2018. In the past eight years, he shepherded the school’s leadership team through COVID, oversaw a smooth Head of School transition, established the Angel Fund to expand accessibility for our students, and launched our beloved annual Fr. Dick Golf Classic. Under his leadership, enrollment grew 30% in five years, our endowment grew to $2.4 million in pledges — including a historic $1 million gift from the McNeice Foundation — and our campus expanded to include student spaces in 55 North and Vinebrook. Most recently, he has guided the ongoing Campus Renewal Project, which is transforming our outdoor space by adding two new turf fields, three new bridges over Vine Brook, and a mentoring walk and other outdoor student areas.