The Newton-Needham Regional Chamber has elected five new members to its board for a three-year term starting in January 2020.

“The board’s goal each year is to welcome a group of new directors who will enhance the skills and professional perspectives of our existing board and represent the overall interests of our membership,” said Governance Committee Chair John Spino, who led the recruitment effort. “I could not be more excited about our nominees for 2020 who collectively represent large and small employers, private sector and nonprofit employers and five different industries.”

Christopher Allen, General Manager of the Boston Marriott Newton has been crucial to the success of the chamber’s largest chamber events during his tenure at both Newton’s Marriott and the Sheraton Needham. Having worked in almost every capacity of hotel management, in addition to being a former faculty member of the UMass department of hotel, restaurant and travel administration, Chris has helped elevate the chamber’s 300-500 plus member events to a new level with his hospitality expertise and professional staff.


Jay Kim serves as the Chief Operating Officer at the Foundation for MetroWest, leading the day to day operations for the nonprofit organization that connects philanthropic opportunity with demonstrated need at a hyper-local level. Prior to joining the Foundation, Jay led fundraising and development work for nonprofit organizations in the Greater Boston area. He has spent time in fundraising and philanthropy for The Boston Foundation, Target the Fannie Mae Foundation, AmeriCorps and began his career as a Corps Member at City Year Boston.


Tamara King’s association with the Boston Ballet School began in 1981 as a Summer Dance Program scholarship recipient. After stints at Louisville and Salt Lake City-based ballets, she returned to the Boston Ballet where she danced until her retirement. In 2001 Tamara came on board as a faculty member and became Principal of the Newton Studio and the Summer Dance Program Newton in 2004.During her tenure, the Newton studio has become the hub of the Classical Ballet Program curriculum. Tamara has also guided the studio toward establishing strong ties with the city of Newton, becoming an Executive leader in the Newton Cultural Alliance, as well as launching a partnership with Lasell University where she resides on the Advisory Board of the Humanities Department.

John Rufo, AIA of Form + Place is a Needham resident with over 25 years of experience in commercial, institutional and residential architecture and planning. John's projects span all building types from retail, office, hospitality and mixed-use master planning to more intimately scaled residences, schools, offices and retail boutiques. John has been a valuable member of the chamber’s real estate committee, bringing important insight into place-making, streetscape environments and walkable development as the chamber weighs transformative projects proposed in both Newton and Needham.


Maggie Smith is Vice President, Head of Marketing for WS Development, the firm behind The Street in Chestnut Hill. With her agency and branding work on behalf of large retail, fashion, and financial clients, Maggie’s experience has touched on almost every aspect of the retail experience from both the retailer and customer perspective. The list includes marketing and media strategies to drive traffic, engagement and sales; retail incubation; brand partnerships; global campaign launches; and development of new operation processes, organizational structures and communication strategies. We’ll be counting on Maggie to keep us abreast of the rapidly changing face of retail and the impact of those changes on our local merchants and other brick and mortar small businesses and services.

In addition to the newly-appointed directors, the board voted to reappoint, John Spino, a founding partner at the law firm Dwyer, Spino and Goncalves; and Allison Yee, founder + CEO at UpNext Retail Reimagined to second three year terms.