Women in the News

MARTHA SHERIDAN
TOURISM TITAN

Meet Boston President and CEO Martha Sheridan, recently won the prestigious 2025 ICON Award, presented annually by Boston University School of Hospitality. The award recognized Sheridan as an “Experience Innovator” who creates new and transformative paradigms in hospitality.

As a seasoned tourism leader of more than three decades, Sheridan “has reimagined Boston’s tourism landscape since assuming her role at Meet Boston…. she now guides a 1,000-plus partnership dedicated to fostering a robust and equitable visitor economy in the region,” noted ICON. “Her leadership has been pivotal in securing major events, including seven FIFA World Cup 2026 matches at Gillette Stadium and the historic hosting of the 2023 Army-Navy Game in New England.”

Sheridan was also recently recognized as one of the “150 Most Influential Bostonians” by Boston Magazine. She also hosts Meet Boston’s podcast, aptly named “Boston Found.”

meetboston.com

RACHEL FLOR
MUSEUM MAVEN

As Executive Director of John F. Kennedy Library Foundation since 2019, Rachel Flor has guided the Foundation to new heights of excellence. She initiated a groundbreaking partnership with The Earthshot Prize, a high-impact global venture to address the climate crisis; launched an executive education program offering leadership skills based on President Kenedy’s most compelling speeches and public actions; and she led a mission to Germany and Ireland to recognize JFK’s momentous European visit in 1963.

In response to being chosen as one of the “150 Most Influential Bostonians” by Boston Magazine, Flor said, “This recognition is a reminder that President Kennedy’s example continues to inspire and that the JFK Library Foundation has a responsibility to light the way as a beacon of democracy and the ideals President Kennedy stood for – peace, service, inclusion, innovation, global citizenship, freedom and justice for all.”

jfklibrary.org

J. COURNEY SULLIVAN
NOTED NOVELIST

Novelist J. Courtney Sullivan is a familiar face around Boston these days, much to the delight of her extensive base of fans who have followed her faithfully, since her first novel, Commencement, was published in 2009 followed by Maine in 2011.

The New York Times bestselling author grew up in Milton, Massachusetts, then moved away for two decades, living with her husband and children and dog in Brooklyn, NY, before returning home to Milton in 2021 during the COVID pandemic. Sullivan is promoting her sixth novel, The Cliffs, published in 2024 and set on the coast of Maine, where many of her novels are based.

On September 17, Courtney reads at her hometown Milton Public Library, where she always gets a warm reception.

In October, Courtney appears at An Unlikely Story Bookstore in Plainville, MA, and then at the Boston Book Festival on October 26.

jcourtneysullivan.com