Board of Trustees – Bios

Tinker President, Chairman and CEO R. Dyke Benjamin is a project
consultant for Anthony Knerr & Associates and a managing director of
Axiom Capital Management Inc. A former director of Lazard Asset
Management LLC, Mr. Benjamin has been an investment advisor and
securities analyst at Lazard for more than 30 years.
      As a part of his overall wealth management responsibilities in the U.S.
and the Middle East, the financial and organizational structures of
eleemosynary institutions has been a primary focus. The organizational
investment advisory structure for the active management of exchange
traded funds has become a tactical/strategic investment discipline of
particular interest.
      Mr. Benjamin is CEO of the Annie Tinker Association for Women, Inc.,
chairman of the Audit Committee for the Bibliographical Society of
America, Inc., advisor to the Board of Trustees of the Modern Language
Association, treasurer of the American Trust for the British Library, a
member of the Finance Committee of St. Philip’s Church, and a member of
the Finance Committee of the Support Center for Nonprofit Management.
      Mr. Benjamin served on the U. S. House of Representatives’ Select
Committee on Hunger. He was chairman of the Finance Committee and
treasurer of the Century Association and the Grolier Club of New York
City. Mr. Benjamin has been a financial advisor to several United
Methodist City Society charities including the Five Points Mission, one
of the oldest charities in New York City. Mr. Benjamin was a member of
the vestry of St. Bartholomew’s Church and a director of Girls Inc.,
formerly The Girls’ Club of America, Inc.
      Mr. Benjamin is a collector of the books and letters of the 19th Century
art critic and social reformer John Ruskin, who was a major influence
upon Gandhi’s reforms. Mr. Benjamin’s publications include “John Ruskin,
the Formation of a Private Collection”, “Ruskin Observed”, and “Ruskin
Remembered”. In another context, for the Islamic Investment Conference
in Geneva, Switzerland in 2002, Mr. Benjamin authored Greater World
Stability Through Innovative Ethical Finance.
      Mr. Benjamin is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts
and The Financial Planning Association.
      With a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate
School of Business Administration, and as an American record holder in
long distance running, Mr. Benjamin was undergraduate co-recipient of
the William J. Bingham Award, the highest student-athlete award at
Harvard. Upon graduation, Mr. Benjamin was elected a marshal of his
class, and for his 25th reunion he was elected Chief Marshal.

Everett Poisson is the director of the KUA Fund at Kimball Union Academy
in Meriden, N.H. Formerly associate director for external relations
with Harvard Business School, he served as a liaison between alumni and
the school, seeking to build relationships that continue beyond graduate
school years. Before joining Harvard, he was director of business
development for Boston’s well-know public broadcasting station, WGBH
      Everett is spearheading Tinker’s comprehensive fundraising campaign.
“The mission of the association resonates with me—the thought of being
homeless and not being able to continue to be involved in one’s
community is powerful and tragic,” he says. “I also admire and am
motivated by the tremendous team that leads the association in its
important work.”

Leeds Hackett, board chair of CMD Outsourcing Solutions, has been a
member of the Tinker Association’s Board of Trustees since 2006,
previously serving on the association’s National Advisory Council.
Hackett is now working on long-range budgeting and planning for the
association.
      Hackett’s company, based in the Inner Harbor Business District of
Baltimore, provides customized call center services that strengthen
relationships, drive new business and improve cash flow for the clients.
Since its incorporation in 1999, it has worked closely with
organizations in the healthcare, higher education and
business-to-business markets. Hackett is a former executive vice
president of Marine Midland Bank.
      “Being involved in Tinker is a way to give back,” Hackett says. Hackett,
who also serves on the Board of Overseers of Babson Business College,
adds that being involved with the Tinker constituency is a “worthy way
to make a difference.”

Landon Fuhrman joined the Tinker Association staff in 2003 after
graduating from Vassar College. For two years, she worked as an intern
for Tinker, interacting directly with the foundation’s beneficiaries and
helping organize social and fund-raising events. As a member of the
Board of Trustees, she is involved in organizing the annual Valentine’s
Day benefit and recently launched a monthly book club with the
beneficiaries. After completing studies at Columbia University, where
she was a psychology lab manager, she has embarked on her doctoral
studies in clinical psychology at Yeshiva University.

Carolyn L. Smith has been involved in organizations benefitting women,
children and the homeless for many years. For 11 years, she served as
chairman of the Christ Church United Methodist Soup Kitchen. She is also
a past president of the Grolier Club and is currently president of the
Cosmopolitan Club. Originally from Nebraska, she loves New York City but
feels there are many residents who have a difficult time living here.
She is particularly interested in the Tinker Association because it
assists formerly employed older women, who have little or no pension and
who have found the city becoming an economic challenge as they grow
older. The Association provides a family-like community for women living
alone and on limited means.