Skip To Main Content
Students walking on campus

Speaker Program

Belmont Hill is so fortunate to be able to offer our boys a wide array of distinguished speakers in our historic Hamilton Chapel. Through the years, our Head of School, alumni, and faculty—as well as an impressive list of guest speakers—have presented on a broad range of topics. Head of School Chapel Talks and the Parents' Council Speaker Series are made available to parents by video whenever possible. Other talks are shared publicly on occasion, but the primary audience is the internal community of faculty, staff, and the boys.

2022-2023 Speakers

Ryan O’Callaghan played college football for the University of California, Berkeley where he earned all American honors and was the recipient of the Morris Trophy; presented to the most outstanding lineman in the Pac-12 conference. Mr. O'Callaghan was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2006 and had a six year NFL career. After retirement, Ryan came out as gay and went on to start The Ryan O’Callaghan Foundation to provide scholarship and support for LGBTQ athletes. He published his memoir titled, "My Life On The Line" in 2019.

Molly H. King has been the head of school at Greenwich Academy, an independent day school for girls in grades pre-K to 12, since 2004. Prior to this role, she spent seven years as the director of admission for St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA. She also spent five years at Fay School as a member of their senior leadership team. Earlier in her professional career she taught and coached at Taft School and Greenwich Country Day School, where she also served as director of secondary school placement. From 2012 to 2015, she served as board chair for SPARC and continues to serve as a trustee. Ms. King received a BA in American history from Bowdoin College and an EdM in administration, planning, and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Glenn C. Loury is Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics at Brown University. He holds the B.A. in Mathematics (Northwestern) and the Ph.D. in Economics (M.I.T). As an economic theorist he has published widely and lectured throughout the world on his research. He is also among America’s leading critics writing on racial inequality. He has been elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economics Association, as a Member of the American Philosophical Society and of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and as a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Commander Peter Firenze ’97 is the Director, Advanced Programs within the Geospatial Intelligence Systems Acquisitions Directorate at the National Reconnaissance Office. After Belmont Hill, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in naval architecture and was a designated as a naval aviator in 2003.

Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of "How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America," which was a #1 New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of the poetry collection "Counting Descent," which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been widely published and he is a former National Poetry Slam champion and a recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. Previously, he taught high school English in Prince George’s County, MD where he was named the Christine D. Sarbanes Teacher of the Year. He is the host of the YouTube series "Crash Course Black American History." He received his B.A. in English from Davidson College and his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University. 

The Multicultural Alumni Partnership Speaker Series proudly presents, “Alumni in Medicine.” The event will be a Q & A panel format, moderated by Trustee Greg Paul ‘09. The speakers will discuss their experiences at Belmont Hill and their paths into medicine with questions welcomed from students and faculty during the program. 

Albert A. Coombs III, D.M.D ’03 
General Dentist and Owner at Smile Services 
Tufts University, School of Dental Medicine, Doctor, Dental Medicine
Kenyon College, BA Molecular Biology, Activities and societies: President and Co-Founder of MSA (Multicultural Student Athletes), Kenyon College Athlete of the year 2007, Kenyon College Football Captain 2006

Corey T. Gatewood, M.D. ’07  
Internal Medicine Physician at Morehouse School of Medicine
The Ohio State University College of Medicine, M.D.
Stanford University, Human Biology, Human Performance, Activities and societies: Football
Phi Beta Sigma

Richard C. “Dewey” Jarvis III ’13 
M.D. Candidate at Emory University School of Medicine
Brown University, Pre-Med, Biology, Activities and societies: Varsity Football Team (Linebacker/ Defensive End)

Jason Hsu (Hsu Yu-jen; 許毓仁) is Senior Research Fellow at The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Harvard Kennedy School. He is also a visiting Fellow for the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School. From 2016 to 2020 Hsu served as Legislator At-Large in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (national parliament) overseeing technology policy, development, entrepreneurship and innovation. Crucial legislations that he initiated and sponsored include FinTech Regulatory Sandbox Act, Autonomous Vehicles Management Act, Amendment on Anti-Money Laundering Law, Cybersecurity Management Act and Virtual Currency Guidelines, Artificial Intelligence Development Act, Digital Economy Principle Act. Hsu is also a prominent advocate for socially progressive legislation. He co-led the effort to pass Same Sex Marriage Act and championed for End of Life Dignity Act (Voluntary Euthanasia). 

Poet Regie Gibson at Belmont Hill for a week of poetry

Regie Gibson is a poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, and educator. Gibson and his work appear in the film Love Jones, based largely on events in his life. In 1999 he performed for the award-winning Traffic Series at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater where he adapted the work of Kurt Vonnegut. In addition, he is a National Poetry Slam champion and has performed at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, and many other venues. Gibson is widely published in anthologies, magazines, and journals, such as Power Lines, An Anthology of Poetry along with Pulitzer-Prize winning poets Gwendolyn Brooks, Yosef Komunyakaa, and Lisel Mueller. His first full-length book of poetry, Storms Beneath The Skin, was released in 2001. He has been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and is the lead singer for Atlas Soul, a multimedia performance focusing on the life and works of William Shakespeare. Gibson got his Masters in Fine Arts in poetry from New England College.

Mr. Gibson will be on campus April 10-14, 2023, visiting individual classes, performing, and then hosting the Belmont Hill PoetryFest in Chapel to close out his weeklong visit.

Visiting Speaker Lisa Monaco

Lisa O. Monaco is the 39th Deputy Attorney General of the United States. The Deputy Attorney General serves as the Chief Operating Officer, and the Department’s litigating and policy components, law enforcement agencies, and 93 U.S. Attorneys report to the Deputy. 

She began her Justice Department career as Counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno and went on to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Columbia, where she was a member of the Enron Task Force and received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Department’s highest award. She thereafter served in several leadership roles: Chief of Staff at the FBI; Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General; and Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the first woman to hold that position. From 2013-2017, she was the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to the President.

Deputy Attorney General Monaco has served in private practice and taught national security law. She was born and raised in Massachusetts and is a graduate of The Winsor School, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago Law School. Here brothers, Peter '82, Mark '83, and Chris '86, are Belmont Hill graduates.

Previous Speakers

Sextant Divider

Previous Speakers

Ibram X. Kendi
Lt. Daniel McDonald
Arshay Cooper
Field Yates
Jessica Lahey
Brandord Marsalis
Mark Chandler
Joani Geltman
Caroline Randall Williams
Dr. Michael Thompson
Greg Dayton
Peter Flaherty
Rabbi Marc Baker
Alison Crowther
Kenya Barris
Michael G. Thompson
Dr. Lee M. Levison
Rich Newton
David Brooks
Taswell Papier
Olympians Tokyo 2020
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller
Imari Paris Jeffries
Julie Nicoletti
Chris Herren
Dr. Noubar Afeyan
Stephen Kinzer
Dr. Shinya Yamanaka

Speaker Program