Nonprofit Leader
Guilford, Connecticut
Years of Service: 2025–2030

Jeanmarie Hester Cooper is a nonprofit leader who has served in multiple board and development roles for several charitable organizations over the last two decades, including The Village for Families and Children Inc., Connecticut’s largest nonprofit mental health and community support organization. With an annual budget of $60 million, its 500 employees serve 20,000 individuals a year. Cooper has also worked with the Junior League of Hartford Inc., the Aurora Foundation for Women and Girls Giving Circle in Hartford and served on the local board of A Better Chance in Glastonbury, Conn. The Connecticut Council of Family Service Agencies recognized her as a Family Champion in 2015. 

Cooper began her career in investment banking, working for both Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. and G.E. Capital’s Corporate Finance business, providing growth and acquisition financing to middle market companies.

While at Bates, Cooper majored in biology, was on the dean’s list and played varsity soccer all four years. She was also on the indoor track team and served as a junior advisor. Cooper went on to earn a M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She’s been a dedicated member of the alumni community particularly through the Hartford Bates Network, and served on multiple Reunion Gift Committees, including co-chairing her 35th. As a Bates parent, she served on the Parents Fund Committee and was Parents Leadership Circle Chair, 2017–19, receiving a Bates’ Best Award for volunteer service in 2018.

Cooper lives in Guilford, Conn. with her husband Colin Cooper P’19. They have two adult children, Ashley and Eli. Eli ’19 majored in economics at Bates and will attend The Sloan School at MIT in the fall.