Founder, Knight Consulting LLC

Maryclaire Knight brings twenty years of non-profit leadership and management experience to her consulting work. She began her career teaching in the Boston and New Orleans public school systems, instructing children with moderate special needs at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. This experience created the opportunity to enter the private non-profit arena securing a leadership position as the Executive Director of the River Street School in Hyde Park MA. Leading a team of eighteen professionals, this school served a high school population with education and clinical services to address the behavior and emotional disturbance issues that prevented these students from succeeding in a traditional public school setting. The challenges inherent in addressing the needs of this population propelled a decision to work in a community based setting to learn how services could be organized to support children and families and prevent the crisis in family life that often led to alternative placements for students. Maryclaire led the Dorchester branch of the YMCA of Greater Boston for the next fifteen years. During this time period this YMCA grew from a small organization serving less than five hundred members to a 3.75 million dollar organization with 125 employees, 3100 members and six community based sites in addition to the main facility. In 2000 she became the Senior Executive of Urban and Community Development for the YMCA of Greater Providence, a position she held until beginning her consulting business. Maryclaire is married to Daryl Wright and the mother of Maxine Wright, an alumni of New Urban Arts. As an active member of her community she participates on the School Improvement team at Classical, a board member of Rhode Island After School Alliance and Community Works RI.