Claire A. Ramsbottom is Executive Director of Colleges of the Fenway, Inc. (COF) in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1996, she was hired to help develop the newly formed COF. Formally incorporated in 2003 as a 501 (c) 3, COF is a collaboration among five Boston institutions of higher education (Emmanuel College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Simmons University, and Wentworth Institute of Technology) formed to enhance opportunities for students and find ways to mitigate the rising costs of higher education. She works closely with the institutions’ presidents and senior leadership in identifying and implementing opportunities to strengthen the individual institutions and the collective through collaboration.
Prior to joining COF, Claire worked in higher education administration for 15 years at SUNY Cortland, Simmons University and Wheaton College and as a recruiter in private industry. While at Wheaton, she was extensively involved in the college’s transition from an all-women’s college to a coeducational institution.
She earned a BA from Framingham State University and M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from Springfield College (MA). She served for over 25 years as a staff associate focused on organizational development and planning for her local church. She is certified in mediation, DiSC Indra and the Myers Briggs Type Inventory.
Claire joined the Board of Trustees at Framingham State University in 2021, having previously served on the Alumni Board from 2011-2017. She also serves on the Board Directors of the Association for Collaborative Leadership (ACL) and was president of that organization from 2012-2020. She co-authored chapters in two ACL publications including Best Practices in Higher Education Consortia: How Institutions Can Work Together and Pushing the Boundaries of Collaboration: What Consortia Can Accomplish. She is a founding faculty member of the ACL Summer Leadership Institute and frequently consults on collaboration and higher education consortia. An avid cook and travel lover, she and her husband have three grown children and two grandchildren.
