For CCF ex-chief, a new chapter in a philanthropy-focused career

Concordian Jennifer Ubaldino says her career hasn’t been a straight line. Instead, she calls it a “winding path” shaped by people, relationships, and openness to opportunity. 

“You just never quite know where you’re going to land,” she said. 

She has taken pieces from each role and each person she’s encountered in her work, learning what she loved and carrying that forward. That, she said, helped guide her to her new role as director of corporate philanthropy at Middlesex Savings Bank.

Ubaldino began the position, which will also have her serve as executive director of the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation, at the start of last month. She now oversees the foundation and the bank’s corporate giving program, working with the foundation’s board to review grant proposals and support non-profits across the bank’s branch footprint. 

“This role is really our way of giving back to the community,” Ubaldino said. “Philanthropy is part of the mission of the bank.”

Acton connection

Originally from upstate New York, Ubaldino has lived in Acton for 13 years.

Before coming to Middlesex Savings Bank, she spent 12 years at the Community Foundation for MetroWest, followed by eight years leading the Acton Carlisle Foundation, including time during the pandemic. 

She said many of the same groups she supported in Acton and Carlisle also get help from Middlesex, so in some ways it’s a “natural continuation” of her work. 

“I jumped right in,” she said, adding that she briefly overlapped with her predecessor, Mike Kuza, who retired after 20 years in the position. “The bank was very keen on understanding the needs in the greater community.”

That need, she said, included her first big project in the role, which focused on supporting food security across the region. The Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation awarded grants totaling $190,000 to 38 local food pantries.

“We’re pleased that Jennifer has joined the bank and know that her expertise and passion for strengthening communities will help us continue our impact at a time when the needs of our region continue to grow,” Dana Neshe, president and CEO of Middlesex Savings Bank, said in a press release. 

Ubaldino said she is happy her winding path led her to a place where she can continue helping the area she’s called home for many years. 

“I feel very strongly about this region that we live in and all that it provides to those of us who live here, work here, learn here, raise our children here,” she said. “Above all else, it’s community … knowing your neighbors, supporting your town, and sometimes that means not just your town, but beyond that, too.”