FEATURE
Enhancing LA’s Mission
Betsy Cote, director of development
Q&A with the New Director of Development Lawrence Academy’s new Director of Development, Betsy Cote, comes to our “elm tree-shaded hillside” from Massachusetts General Hospital, where she worked since 1997, most recently as the Director of Development for Primary Care Medicine. Prior to MGH, Ms. Cote worked in fundraising for Belmont’s McLean Hospital and United Way of Massachusetts Bay. The Academy Journal spoke to Betsy, who lives in Lunenburg with her husband David and her two children, Abigail and Jack, just a few weeks after she arrived on campus. AJ: Why did you make the change from health care to education? What are your immediate priorities at LA? BC: I think it’s important that people understand that I sought out this opportunity. I had been in Boston for a long time and I had been in health care for the better part of that experience, and as I started to evaluate what was really rewarding and fulfilling to me about being at Mass General Hospital, I realized that Lawrence Academy would provide a smaller environment where I would have a chance to be involved in different activities while also helping to fulfill the vision for the school. Like Mass General, LA is an institution with a long history of success. I am interested in setting goals that
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are even more ambitious than the ones that have previously been set, and as we do that, look at the long-term goals of the program and work to enhance the student and faculty experience. AJ: Improvements like the ones you’ve alluded to take capital. When you speak to people who are interested in Lawrence Academy, to what areas do you point, in terms of reasons to be philanthropic? BC: We need our entire community to help us sustain what the school has been about for over 200 years. One of the key ways in which Lawrence will continue to thrive will be through the success of our fundraising initiatives. Philanthropy is one of the most powerful ways individuals can invest in the future of Lawrence Academy because gifts to the school support our most precious resource: our students, who will eventually become the next generation of global leaders in all facets of public and private domain. AJ: You mentioned community. LA enjoys a vibrant array of people who feel like this is their home away from home. What can you and your team do to foster that feeling of camaraderie as you work to provide the means to allow Lawrence to live up to its motto: “Learn with others to think for yourself ”?
