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Curry College is pleased to announce the appointments of three new members to the Board of Trustees. They bring a breadth of experience in healthcare, business, law, technology, and higher education. Their leadership will help support Curry’s mission and forward momentum as the College continues to execute on initiatives of a three-year strategic plan.
The new trustees are Richard Fernandez, President/CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton; Gloria Cordes Larson, Boston business leader, attorney, public policy expert, and former president of Bently University; and Scott Samson ‘91, Vice President of Samson Medical Technologies, L.L.C. and Curry alumnus. The appointments will be effective on October 17, 2025.
Richard Fernandez
Richard Fernandez has been President/CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton (BID-Milton) since January 2017. He has more than 20 years of experience in health care administration across community hospitals, large physician groups, health care systems, and academic medical centers.
Before joining BID-Milton, Fernandez was Senior Vice President, Ambulatory Services, at Brigham and Women’s Health Care. He also previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Steward Medical Group.
During Fernandez’s tenure, BID-Milton has become a true regional community hospital noted for providing high-quality, safe health care. He led successful efforts to expand clinical service programs such as women’s health and robotic surgery, recruit new physicians and surgeons and further strengthened the affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He also oversaw the hospital’s largest expansion in nine years consisting of:
- 2018: On campus expansion consisting of expanded/new outpatient Rehabilitation Services Center; a new state of the art operating room and a new 12 private bed inpatient unit.
- 2020: New off campus Urgent Care/Primary Care/Specialty Center in downtown Quincy,
- 2022: Recently approved by BILH, ED and Observation Unit consisting of 19 (doubling size of current ED) ED/Observation Bays.
- 2022: Co-Chairs BILH Ambulatory expansion project in Quincy that will deliver a large multidisciplinary and comprehensive array of outpatient/ancillary services—including HemOnc, Infusion, Orthopedics and Primary Care.
Fernandez has served on several boards including the South Shore Chamber Commerce from 2018-2024, of which he was Chair in 2023; the Quincy Chamber of Commerce; and the Southshore Region MassHire Board since 2021.
Fernandez lives in Needham with his family—wife, Beata and two children, Matthew and Katherine.
Gloria Cordes Larson
Gloria Cordes Larson is a Boston business leader, respected attorney, public policy expert, and former university president. Following her 11-year tenure as President of Bentley University, Larson served a sabbatical year as President in Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education from July 2018 through June 2019. In December of 2023, Governor Maura Healey asked Larson to serve as Interim Executive Director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, a post she held from January until December 2024, when a permanent Executive Director assumed the role.
This past May, Larson retired from the board of the Fortune 500 company Unum Group, where she chaired the Governance Committee. She currently serves on the board of reacHIRE, a privately held company. Prior to their acquisition, Larson served as a director on three other public company boards: RSA Security, KeySpan Energy, and Boston Private Bank. She also served as a longtime member of the board of BCBS of MA.
Larson is a current or emeritus member of the boards of several national and regional non-profit organizations. These include NACD New England; McLean Hospital (a member hospital of MGB); the MA Conference for Women; the International Women’s Forum of MA; the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, where she is board chair emeritus and member of the executive committee; and the Alumni Law Council of the University of Virginia School of Law.
From July 2007 until June 2018, Larson served as President of Bentley University in Waltham, MA. During her tenure, Bentley achieved university status; deepened its distinctive integration of business and the liberal arts; and ranked a Top 10 undergraduate business school by Bloomberg Businessweek, as well as #1 in the country for career services and internships by The Princeton Review. In 2011, Larson launched the Center for Women and Business (CWB) at the university, with a stated mission to advance women in the organizational world. The Bentley Board of Trustees named the CWB in her honor when she stepped down from her role as president. While at Bentley, Larson also authored the book PreparedU: How Innovative Colleges Prepare Students for Success, published in 2016 by Jossey-Bass, a division of Wiley.
Prior to assuming the Bentley University presidency, Larson had a wide-ranging career in law, public policy, and business. She served as a senior partner and co-chair of the Government Strategies Group at the Boston based law firm, Foley Hoag, LLP; Secretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and Secretary of Economic Affairs, under Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld; and Deputy Director of Consumer Protection for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington.
Larson has received many awards and honors throughout her career. Named multiple times to Boston Magazine’s “Power 100” and the Boston Business Journal’s “Power 50”, she served as the first female board chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and has been honored with the Chamber’s Distinguished Bostonian, Collaborative Leadership, and Pinnacle awards. While serving as Bentley’s President, The Commonwealth Institute named the university one of the Top 10 Women-led businesses in Massachusetts. Other awards include: the Ellen M. Zane Award for Visionary Leadership from Tufts Medical Center; a Woman of the Year Award from the Wentworth Institute of Technology; the One Hundred Change Agents alumni award from the University of Virginia School of Law to mark the school’s 200th anniversary; and a Top 100 honoree from the NACD for distinguished service as a director on several publicly traded company boards .
Larson received her Bachelor of Arts with honors from Vassar College and earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is the recipient of three Honorary Doctorate degrees from Bentley University, Northeastern University, and Mount Wachusett Community College. She is married to Allen Larson, also an attorney, and their family includes two English Labrador Retrievers, Sally II and Charlie.
Scott Samson
Scott Samson is Vice President of Samson Medical Technologies, L.L.C., a company specializing in injectable drug delivery systems for hospital and alternate site pharmacists.
Mr. Samson received a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Curry College in Milton, MA, where he currently serves as a member of its Advisory Council, and has completed graduate courses in project management, leadership, and time management at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
Following receipt of his BS degree, he owned and operated S & S Ace Hardware, Inc. in Westampton, NJ. In 1999, he was recruited by Ace to provide a variety of training and technologic services to its retailers throughout the U.S. with concentration in New England. During his tenure with Ace, Mr. Samson received several awards for individual and team excellence.
Having been brought up in a pharmaceutical family, in 2008, Mr. Samson turned his efforts to the pharmaceutical industry as a territory account manager in New England for Baxa Corporation and moving up to pharmacy operations sales specialist following Baxa’s acquisition by Baxter International Inc., where he remained until joining Samson Medical Technologies as Director of Sales in 2013.
Mr. Samson is a strong supporter of community activities having served as a volunteer, trustee, and president of the Westampton Fire Department and Emergency Unit and member of the Westampton Township Economic Development Committee in New Jersey. Currently, a resident of Westminster, MA, served as a member of the Board of Directors of baseball for Westminster Little League for 18 years, and was a director of the Greater Gardner Youth Hockey. He also has been coach and assistant coach for the former and coach, president, and treasurer of the latter. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists Foundation and the President’s Council at Curry College.
Mr. Samson and his wife, Kimberly are the proud parents of two amazing sons, Evan and Brendan.