Barbara and Amos Hostetter are cofounders and trustees of the Barr Foundation of Boston, Massachusetts, among the largest private foundations in the New England region, with assets of $2.8 billion. Since its inception in 1997, Barr has granted over $1.5 billion, principally in its priority areas of the arts, climate, and education. Barbara Hostetter has served as chair of the board of trustees since Barr’s founding.

A pioneer of the cable television industry, Amos Hostetter cofounded Continental Cablevision and served as its chair and CEO from 1980–1996. During this period, Continental grew to become the third largest company in the cable television business. He was also a founding director and chairman of C-SPAN and, for his contributions to the cable industry, he was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame. Among his civic leadership roles, Hostetter is chair emeritus of the boards of Amherst College and WGBH, and he has served on the boards of AT&T, Colonial Williamsburg Society, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among others.

Barbara Hostetter is actively engaged in Boston’s cultural life through a variety of civic leadership roles. She is currently a trustee and chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and she serves as a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is also a life trustee of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where she served as president of the board for ten years. During her leadership tenure, she led the museum through a major expansion, with the new Renzo Piano-designed wing which opened in 2012. Her prior board service includes the New England Aquarium, Friends of the Public Garden, and Milton Academy.

Carol Colburn Grigor CBE lives in Dublin, Ireland, and travels extensively for both philanthropic and business purposes. Grigor is president of Dunard Fund USA, chair emeritus and board member of the Colburn School, and chair of the Colburn Foundation, which supports classical music through performances, presentations, education, and musician training in Southern California.

Her contributions to classical music and the visual arts have been recognized with numerous honors including Commander of the British Empire (CBE). She is an inaugural recipient of the Prince of Wales Medal for Philanthropy and has been admitted as a Chevalier into France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Grigor received her Bachelor of Music from Indiana University School of Music and her Master of Musical Arts from Yale University School of Music. She also has received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Edinburgh Napier University.

As a pianist, she performed extensively in the United States and Europe, before turning to family business activities and philanthropic initiatives in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Australia, and now specifically in Ireland.

Grigor is a director of the Colburn Collection, the Colburn Music Fund, and Dunard Fund UK and a member of the board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Yale School of Music board of visitors. In August 2013, she was named honorary vice-president of the Edinburgh International Festival Society.

She is the founder and member of the Royal High School Preservation Trust in Edinburgh.

Comic Relief is a charity cofounded by Richard Curtis CBE and Sir Lenny Henry in reaction to devastation in Ethiopia and Sudan. Since its launch, the United Kingdom-based charity has raised over £1.6 billion to support projects in the U.K. and across the world. Comic Relief envisions a just world free from poverty, using the power of entertainment and popular culture to drive positive change.

The charity raises money to support organizations that are closest to the communities who can make change happen. Donations to the charity support work that will tackle the impact of poverty, injustice, conflict and climate change in the UK and around the world.

Their most well-known initiative is Red Nose Day, an annual fundraising event that raises money to support people in the UK and across the world who are facing the toughest times of their lives. On Red Nose Day, participants are encouraged to engage in light-hearted fundraising activities, such as charity challenges, bake sales, and tune into a spectacular night of TV — all while wearing the charity’s iconic Red Nose.

Richard Curtis CBE is a television and film writer, director, and philanthropist. A founding member of the Make Poverty History campaign, he also played a key role in Live 8, a series of benefit concerts held across the G8 states and South Africa. In 2015, he helped found Project Everyone, a nonprofit organization that supports the reach and implementation of the Global Goals. Curtis later helped launch Make My Money Matter, a campaign that advocated for sustainable investment in pensions and helped redirect £1.3 trillion toward ethical opportunities. Curtis’ entertainment career spans television shows, such as Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, and Mr. Bean, as well as films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, About Time, and Yesterday. His accolades include two Emmy Awards, two BAFTAs, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sir Lenny Henry began his career as a cult star on children’s television before rising to become one of Great Britain’s best-known television performers, as well as a writer, philanthropist, and stage actor. A passionate advocate for diversity in the arts, he established a media diversity center at Birmingham City University and cohosted the Black British Lives Matter podcast. In 2015, he was knighted for his contributions to drama and charity, and from 2016 to 2023, he served as a National Theatre trustee. He has authored two memoirs with Faber and a series of children’s books with Pan Macmillan. His acting career spans television (The Witcher: Blood Origin, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Broadchurch) and theatre (Fences, The Comedy of Errors, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui). In 2023, his ITV1 drama series Three Little Birds received critical acclaim, as did August in England, a one-man play he wrote and performed. Henry also runs Esmeralda, a drama production company, in partnership with Banijay Entertainment.

Joe Neubauer and Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer practice a distinctive style of entrepreneurial philanthropy that evolved from individual careers as agents of change. Together, the Neubauers collaborate to effect transformational change in education, public safety, and the arts.

Joe Neubauer is the former CEO and chairman of Aramark Corporation. By crafting a culture of customer service, he grew Aramark from $2.5 to $13 billion, operating in 16 countries. A trustee of the University of Chicago since 1992, he served as chair of the board from 2015 to 2022. During his tenure, the university rose in national rankings from 30th to third, through his emphasis on excellence in faculty recruitment and enabling the most talented students to attend regardless of family income.

Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, a corporate communications specialist, has always been interested in the nexus of art, technology, and commerce. She created the first private television network in the financial services industry (before the Internet) for Merrill Lynch, managed global merger communications for Unisys, and helped Time Warner introduce the DVD, when it was a new technology. A trustee of the Metropolitan Opera House, she championed the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD simulcasts, which reach over 250,000 enthusiasts in more than 72 countries, reviving a global taste for opera in much younger audiences.

The Neubauer Family Foundation focuses on finding innovative solutions to systemic problems that can be tested, replicated, and scaled in ways that ensure progress continues without the foundation’s sole support. Initiatives include the Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders, which trains school principals in leadership and management to accelerate student achievement. A focus on ninth grade performance has raised graduation rates and broadened student career aspirations and attainment.

The foundation has similarly improved public safety by training precinct captains to use data to allocate scarce resources and build community trust and support. Gun violence has decreased, youth employment has increased, vacant lots have been greened, and community collaboration has solidified. Their arts leadership has revitalized the remarkable Barnes Foundation and will soon inaugurate Calder Gardens, exploring the work of artist Alexander Calder and his family. Their interests in Jewish continuity have resulted in three major Pew Research studies investigating trends in Jewish life, enabling a broad array of Jewish organizations to gauge the efficacy of their local efforts.

The opportunity to address challenges facing contemporary society using skills developed over a lifetime is a special privilege. Joe Neubauer and Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer are honored to join fellow Carnegie Medalists in this crucial, immensely satisfying work.