Trustee
LinkedIn
A former child advocate and the mother of a young son with epilepsy, Meredith Carter has seen and felt the full spectrum of care afforded to kids with multiple impairments and challenges.
So when an OSB trustee asked her to consider joining the board, she had a mental checklist as she stepped onto the campus for her initial tour. “What immediately impressed me was just how customized the learning is,’’ Carter says. ``The teachers clearly have great training and could go anywhere, but they have a passion to serve here. It was a beautiful thing to witness.”
The timing was perfect. Carter had just cycled off her board term at another nonprofit and was looking for where she could serve next. A corporate lawyer by trade, she also served as a legal advocate representing minors within the foster care system -- work Carter called both “difficult and rewarding.” And when her son underwent emergency brain surgery, that advocacy became personal. “I’ve always had a path in child advocacy,’ she says. ``But now it’s more relevant that I’m helping a mission that supports children of all abilities.”
Now President and CEO of Edge Capital -- a specialty finance company with multiple locations nationwide – Carter sits fittingly on both the governance and development committees of the OSB Board. Before joining OSB, she served on the board of a local private school for many years and has led fundraising efforts for the Junior League of Philadelphia for more than a decade.
Carter and her husband Michael and their two children live in Haverford.
At OSB, she sees herself, as others do, as the school’s Swiss Army Knife, willing to fill any need the board has during her tenure. Already she has proven an effective recruiter, onboarding good friend Elizabeth Smith Campana to serve on the board as well.
“I want to make an impact and contribute my skills to the needs of the school,’ says Carter, adding that her only goal is to be pliable. “I realize priorities may change,’ she says. ``It’s not about my personal goals. When you have achieved a certain level of success, you have an obligation or at least you should want to share what you’ve gained, whether it’s a talent or a treasure.”
“I’m looking forward to having even more time helping the school get things over the finish line,” she says.
