2025 Boston CEO Roundtable Kickoff

Brian Kavoogian is a Managing Partner of National Development, one of Greater Boston’s leading real estate development, investment and management firms. Formed in 1983, the firm is recognized as one of the region’s most innovative and creative real estate firms, working with its partners and stakeholders to create great places to live, work and play within the Greater Boston region and providing its investors with attractive risk adjusted returns. The firm is focused almost entirely on the Greater Boston region, where it has, over the past 35 years, become ingrained in the local community, in the belief that its local knowledge and relationships will result in better projects and better investments. The firm’s projects involve a mix of uses, which we are able to create as a result of our expertise across the property-type spectrum including office, research, industrial, retail, senior housing, multifamily and lodging. Its capital is provided by its fully-discretionary closed-end Charles River funds, which it manages on behalf of a group of educational endowments, foundations, pension funds and family offices. Throughout its history, the firm has acquired or developed over 30 million SF in over 45 communities throughout the region, and invested over $6 billion on behalf of its investors. In 2006, Brian co-founded Charles River Realty Investors as the investment management platform of National Development. Charles River raised over $1.1 billion of equity capital across its four funds before combining with National Development in 2019 to form a seamless, vertically-integrated firm. Brian is involved with a number of civic, charitable and industry-related organizations. He is a past chairman of both of the region’s real estate trade organizations, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and NAIOP Massachusetts, where he remains on the Board of Directors. In 2015, he was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to the board of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency where he serves as the Vice Chair. Brian is an Overseer of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and a member of the Partners Healthcare System, Inc. Corporation. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Tufts University, a past co-chairman of Heading Home and the past Vice Chairman of the Greater Boston YMCA. Brian received a BA from Tufts University in 1984.

As a social impact entrepreneur, Sal’s personal commitment to community engagement and corporate social responsibility is unparalleled. Sal’s approach to activism and involvement is defined by an optimistic determination to cause change that positively impacts the economic and social landscape in the community at large. His desire to contribute to the economic progress in the region is emphasized by the success Sal has shared with a number of local organizations and programs.

Kendalle Burlin O’Connell is a seasoned and effective executive who has received wide acclaim for her leadership of MassBio. As CEO and President of the world’s largest and oldest biopharma membership organization, Kendalle drives the strategy to grow the industry and support member companies, while advocating for policies that enable healthcare innovation and unlock breakthrough therapies for patients around the world. For more than 16 years, Kendalle has sought to deliver for MassBio’s now 1,700+ members through the launch of new initiatives, programs, and events while pushing the industry to new heights by convening and connecting key stakeholders and promoting collaboration. To better serve the entire life cycle of biopharma companies, Kendalle has expanded MassBio’s innovation offerings to include partnering and investor events, an entrepreneurial accelerator, and a network for founders and chief executives. As part of MassBio’s commitment to realizing a more diverse and equitable life sciences industry, Kendalle was the driving force behind the organization’s launch of the non-profit Bioversity and the opening of its first workforce training center in Dorchester where residents, 96 percent of whom identify as Black or Latino, are prepared for rewarding entry-level careers at local life sciences companies. Kendalle has been an outspoken advocate for the industry in policy debates about state government support for the expansion of the life sciences in Massachusetts, the federal government’s intervention into biopharma innovation, and efforts to improve the affordability and accessibility of life-changing medicines, just to name a few. Kendalle has earned numerous accolades for her leadership, including Boston Magazine’s list of The 150 Most Influential Bostonians in 2023 and 2024, the Boston Business Journal’s 2023 Power 50: Movement Makers list, and the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Inspire Award. Currently, Kendalle serves as a Director on the Board of The Boston Foundation, Vice Chair of the Eastern New England Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society, and Chair of Bioversity’s Board. She graduated cum laude from Sacred Heart University with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science and received her Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School.