Dmitri Rabin
Chairman
Dmitri Rabin is a Portfolio Manager at Jennison Associates. Previously, he spent 10 years at Loomis Sayles, most recently co-head of the mortgage and structured finance group. Earlier in his career, he was a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group, where a significant portion of his work focused on Healthcare. He received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College, and his MBA from MIT Sloan. Before joining the Hearts & Noses Hospital Clown Troupe board, where he focuses on the strategic plan and financial reporting of the Troupe, Dmitri had the privilege to go with the clowns on a visit to Franciscans Hospital. He remains in awe of the work the clowns do and views his mission on the board as ensuring the clowns have everything they need to continue their amazing work.
Alan T. Huberman, CPA
Vice Chairman; Past Treasurer
Alan Huberman is a Tax Principal with the accounting firm of CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen). CLA, named to Accounting Today’stop 10 accounting firms, is one of the nation’s leading professional services firms with over 120 U.S. locations, as well as a global affiliation. CLA’s success is rooted in their approach to business which has grown out of a passion for the businesses in our communities and a deep concern for the people who make them run. CLA exists to create opportunities – for our clients, our people and our communities. We accomplish this by living the CLA Promise: We promise to know you and help you.
Alan primarily advises privately held businesses, non-profit organizations and high net-worth individuals and their families on business planning and operations as well as personal tax planning. Alan has experience with corporate and individual taxation, trusts and estates, probate accounting and administration, business planning and consulting, tax and financial planning, tax representation and defense matters, litigation support services and tax planning in contemplation of divorce.
Before joining the Hearts & Noses Hospital Clown Troupe board in 2004, Alan had the privilege of visiting Franciscan Hospital for Children to witness first-hand the clowns in action. After that visit, he was hooked and decided to take on the role as Treasurer where he focused on establishing and maintaining the Troupe’s budget as well as assisting with the financial reporting of the Troupe. In 2020, Alan stepped down as Treasurer to focus on other nonprofit activities but remains on the Board as Vice Chairman.
Cheryl Lekousi
Executive Director
Cheryl Lekousi is the teacher for Tiny Hearts Playgroup in Needham. She opened Tiny Hearts Playgroup in 1984 after being an aid, teacher and then head teacher in the Needham YMCA preschool for six years. With a background in special needs and development, Cheryl has an inclusive childcare program. Cheryl started training with Hearts & Noses Hospital clown Troupe in 1999. Her clown, Tic Toc, regularly makes visits to three Boston area hospitals and many events for ill and disabled children. She became Executive Director in 2007 and Artistic Director in 2008.
Kenny Raskin
Artistic Director
For over forty years, Kenny Raskin has been a leading physical comedian both in the United States and Europe. He performed as the lead clown with Cirque du Soleil, and originated the role of Lefou in the Broadway production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Kenny has taught clowning and physical comedy as an adjunct faculty member in the theater departments of Boston University, Emerson College, Emory University and Ringling Brothers Clown College. For eight years he was a member of the Big Apple Clown Care Troupe. He is delighted to lead the artistic component of Hearts & Noses.
Steve French, CPA, MSA
Treasurer
Steve French is a Director with the accounting firm of CliftonLarsenAllen, LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the United States. Steve primarily works on financial statement audits, reviews and compilations of privately held companies in many industries including manufacturing, distribution, retail, construction, non-profits and more. Steve joined the board of Hearts & Noses Hospital Clown Troupe in 2019, where he focuses on maintaining the Troupe’s budget, financial analysis and financial reporting. Steve had the privilege of visiting Tufts Children Hospital to witness first-hand the clowns in action.
Reni Gertner, MPH
Reni Gertner, MPH, is a Strategic Communications and Marketing Consultant who works with local and national clients on marketing strategy design and implementation, content development and online and social media branding. Prior to starting her own business, Reni worked as an editor in the medical and legal publishing industries for 15 years. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Biomedical Ethics, and holds a Master’s in Public Health with a focus in Epidemiology from Boston University.
Michael Agus M.D.
Michael Agus is Division Chief of Medical Critical Care at Boston Children’s Hospital, pediatric intensivist and endocrinologist, recipient of NIH grants, a teacher and a researcher. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He has served on the board of Hearts & Noses Hospital Clown Troupe since 1999, serving as Medical Director. He was a co-author of the Troupe’s The Art & Joy of Hospital Clowning, published in 2005. He has also served as past leader of the Newton Center Minyan, President of the Board of Trustees of Kehillah Schechter Academy, and on the Board of Camp Ramah New England. He traveled to Haiti shortly after the earthquake in 2010 under the aegis of Partners in Health, and continues to serve on a specialty medical team as part of the US National Disaster Medical System. He is married to Elisa and has three children, one of whom was a direct and grateful beneficiary of the services provided by Hearts & Noses.
Justin Florence
Justin is Co-Founder and Legal Director of Protect Democracy, a non-partisan non-profit working to prevent our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. Before then he most recently served as counsel in Ropes & Gray’s business & securities litigation practice group, where his practice focused on appellate and Supreme Court matters. He has represented clients in the Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals, as well as at the trial level. He has previously served in the Office of the White House Counsel as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. Justin also worked for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse as Senior Counsel on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Christopher Boyce
Chris is currently a Development Manager for a local real estate development company focused on creating community-oriented spaces that people want to be. After spending nearly 15 years of his career in architecture and urban planning working on projects around the country his focus shifted to the long-term life cycle strategy behind always evolving assets. Chris is also co-founder and partner at Lakeland PM, LLC where he focuses on family-oriented residential rental properties in the Greater Boston area. Chris recently joined the board of Hearts & Noses to help focus on new relationship building and is incredibly excited to witness the joy that the clowns bring to children and families when it is needed most.