2025 McDowell Awards Celebration

Since 2005, Donald E. Foley has served as a Trustee of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, and in 2009 was elected Chair, with responsibilities covering the Hospital, the Burke Research Institute and the Burke Foundation. As Chair, Don was instrumental in strategically aligning Burke with the Montefiore Health System in 2016, thereby positioning Burke Hospital for long-term growth in the ever-changing world of healthcare. Don has also been a significant supporter of the Burke Research Institute’s Columbia Presbyterian-Weill Cornell affiliation and its numerous initiatives in advancing restorative solutions to those hampered by disabilities.

Don brought a wealth of strategic, international, executive-level experience to Burke, having driven banking and capital markets initiatives for several Fortune 500 companies. Don has served as Chair of the Board and CEO of the Wilmington Trust Company/Corporation (2010-2012), having served on its Board between 2007 and 2011. His other corporate experiences have included Senior Vice President, Treasurer, Chief Investment Officer and Director of Tax for ITT Industries (1996-2010); Assistant Treasurer for International Paper Company (1989-1996); and various financial management, investment, accounting and strategic analytical positions for Mobil Corporation (1979-1989) and General Electric Company (1973-1979).

Currently, Don serves on numerous corporate and non-profit boards.

The Corporate Boards include the Equitable Mutual Fund family of funds (trustee: 2013 and currently Chair of the Investment Committee); the Wilmington Funds (Board Chair and trustee: 2015-currently). Over the last 30 years, he has served on the Boards of several other publicly-listed companies, including BioSig Technologies Inc. (a NASDAQ-listed company: 2015-2024); Propal Paper Company, Colombia (1991-1996); Formica South Africa (1994-1996); Digital Globe (1999-2003), and M&T Bank (2011-2013).

Among the non-profit boards with which he is currently, or was, involved are the W. Burke Rehabilitation Hospital (Chair, member, 2005-2015); the Burke Foundation (chair, 2009-currently); the Burke Corporation ( chair, 2015- currently); the Burke Neurological Research Institute (Trustee, 2006-currently); Union College President’s Council (current member and Chair 2011- 2015) and Board of Trustees (2011-2015), Convent of the Sacred Heart School (2005-2014) and the Sacred Heart Network of Schools Board Finance Committee.

Don has a BA degree from Union College (1973, cum laude, Nott Scholar) and an MBA from New York University (1981, high honors).

Mary Kate Wold has held leadership positions in the pharmaceutical and healthcare, financial services, legal, and government sectors, including sitting on the boards of numerous organizations. She is the CEO and a board member of the Church Pension Group (CPG), a pension and financial services firm that is headquartered in New York City. 

Prior to joining CPG, Ms. Wold was Senior Vice President, Finance, and a Principal Corporate Officer of Wyeth, one of the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical companies. Sitting on several executive oversight committees, she provided direction across a spectrum of Wyeth’s business and finance operations.

Before Wyeth, Ms. Wold was a partner and chaired the tax practice group of Shearman & Sterling, one of the world’s leading law firms. She advised the firm’s global clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Earlier in her career, she served in the United States Department of the Treasury as a member of the Office of International Tax Counsel, where she negotiated the first income tax treaty between the United States and China.

Ms. Wold has served on numerous boards of both for-profit and non-profit organizations. She currently is a board member of Nucleus RadioPharma, founded by Mayo Clinic and Eclipse Ventures to provide a reliable supply chain for life-saving radiopharmaceuticals. She is a member of the board and chairs the audit committee of The Jackson Laboratory, a biomedical research institution dedicated to the discovery of genomic solutions to cancer and other human diseases; and she is a board member of the Burke Neurological Institute, the neurological research organization affiliated with Weill Cornell Medicine. She also serves on the vestries of Trinity Church Wall Street and St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City.

A native of North Dakota, Ms. Wold attended Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, from which she graduated summa cum laude and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. She holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University.

Peter is a hospitality investor, nature lover, composer of electronic music, and beneficiary of spinal cord injury research. He has worked in restaurant management in multiple New York City restaurants and is currently looking for his next opportunity. Peter also spent a year working in hospitality in Australia. In 2017, Peter sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident and has been dedicated to recovery ever since. Only a year after his injury he won the first ever exoskeleton heat in the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile event in New York City. Advancing research to accelerate his recovery and that of others, Peter has participated in multiple clinical studies and trials, including at Mount Sinai, the Bronx VA Hospital, UCLA, and Shirley Ryan Abilities Center in Chicago. A native of New York City, Peter is a graduate of Bucknell University, where he majored in physics and minored in creative writing. He now lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and cat.