FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2025
CONTACT: Jamie McIver
857.488.5068
jamie.mciver@bostonabcd.org
(BOSTON, MA) – The ABCD Board of Directors elected a new slate of officers at their June meeting and named Candice Caines-Francis as board chair, representing Massachusetts State Representative Aaron Michlewitz (3rd Suffolk). As Head of Strategy Global Inforce Management at Manulife, Caines-Francis helps execute a distinct portfolio optimization agenda whose aim is to add $20+ billion of market capitalization through reinsurance, mergers and acquisitions and organic active initiatives. She also directs strategy, planning and governance at Manulife.
ABCD President and CEO Sharon Scott-Chandler said that she is excited about the new board chair’s leadership. “Candice is a phenomenal strategic leader who is deeply rooted in both the community and corporate sector and has made exceptional contributions to the board over the past 12 years. She and the new officers will help guide ABCD through this new, yet familiar, era of economic and political uncertainty on behalf of low-income people in Greater Boston to build pathways out of poverty in partnership with communities and families so that everyone can thrive.”
A resident of Dorchester, Caines-Francis joined the ABCD Board of Directors in 2013. Prior to being elected chair, she held other board leadership roles including first vice chair, assistant treasurer, chair of the Energy & Fuel Assistance Committee. She continues to serve on the Executive and Finance Committees in addition to her new role.
“It is very affirming to have both Sharon’s and the board’s confidence in my ability to lead,” said Caines-Francis. After 12 years on this board in various roles, I continue to be inspired and committed to helping lift up people in Greater Boston and the Mystic Valley who are struggling, and aspire to and achieve better lives for themselves and their families.”
Prior to her tenure at Manulife, Caines-Francis held leadership roles with the Office of the State Auditor and Boston Financial Data Services, among others in the financial services industry.
She earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Suffolk University and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services and Spanish from Simmons University. A certified public accountant and certified information systems auditor, Candice is a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants.
ABCD’s tripartite board is composed of individuals from the private and public sectors, and residents from the Boston and Mystic Valley communities that ABCD serves. They collaborate to help fulfill ABCD’s mission.
Outgoing chair, Senior Director of Analytical Sciences and Technology at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Sean K. Daughtry, who represents State Representative Christopher Worrell, and who served in that role for the past four years continues as vice chair on the board. The following officers were also elected at the June meeting:
- Vice Chair Joyce Dennis representing Senator Nick Collins
- Vice Chair Marie Greig representing the South Boston Area Planning Council Advisory Board
- Vice Chair James Owens, Jr. representing the Roxbury North Dorchester Neighborhood Opportunity Center
- Vice Chair Yvonne Jones representing the Dorchester Neighborhood Service Center Advisory Board
- Treasurer Pat Washington representing the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
- Assistant Treasurer Jose Umana representing the Parker Hill-Fenway Neighborhood Service Center Advisory Board
- Clerk Julia Hardy Cofield, Esq. representing Senator Michael Rush
- Assistant Clerk Jennifer Williams, Esq.
The full board slate is available here.