Vision Fellowship appoints Rebekah Thomson as new executive director

The Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship appointed Rebekah Thomson, president of the Chilmark Preschool board of directors and a pediatric sleep coach, as its new executive director.

Thomson will assume the role on June 22, replacing retiring executive director Melissa Hackney.

Thomson said that her appointment as executive director was “surreal.” 

“I was extremely honored,” Thomson said. “The Vision Fellowship is just such a profoundly important organization and force for good on the Island. It was really humbling and exciting to get that call.”

Established in 2006, the M.V. Vision Fellowship is a nonprofit organization that provides financial support and professional development opportunities for Islanders working in various fields, such as affordable housing, conservation, and education.

In a press release, M.V. Vision Fellowship board of directors chair Karen Davis praised Thomson’s leadership experience and love for the Island community. 

“Rebekah’s passion for the Island, combined with her proven leadership and collaborative spirit, makes her the ideal person to guide the Fellowship into its next chapter,” Davis said in the release. “She understands the unique challenges and opportunities facing our community and is deeply invested in nurturing the local talent that addresses them.”

Thomson, who spent summers on the Vineyard during her childhood, moved to the Island full-time in 2010 after her parents encouraged her to give birth to her second child at the then–newly renovated Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. 

It was during this pregnancy that Thomson enrolled in an online pediatric sleep course to fix her childrens’ sleep challenges. After receiving her Gentle Sleep Coach certification, Thomson started coaching her friends on the Vineyard, before launching her own sleep coaching business, Counting Sheep, in 2011, Thomson said in an interview with The Times. 

In 2022, Thomson expanded her services by becoming the program facilitator of Baby’s First Year, an open discussion group for parents with infants at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services’ Family Center.  

“It was an intention of mine to really help the Island become a well-rested Island and help young families support their children, so they could get the sleep they needed and be their best selves,” Thomson said. 

Thomson has also been involved in education on the Island, and served as president of the Chilmark Preschool board of directors for 14 years. Thomson, whose three children all attended the preschool, considers their early education at the school “the best investment we could have made.”

“It was magical. It was an incredibly important time for [my children], and they got exactly what they needed from the preschool,” Thomson said. 

After learning about proposed plans to install turf athletic fields at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, Thomson cofounded the Field Fund in 2017, an advocacy group dedicated to maintaining and improving the Island’s grass recreational fields. 

“As an environmentalist and as someone who loves sports and being outside, it just hit a nerve,” Thomson said. “I felt like there had to be a better solution than going in that direction [of turf fields] when we’re doing so much to avoid plastics in our society.”

In her role as executive director, Thomson hopes to continue the strong leadership of her predecessors.    

“It’s an extremely well-structured and highly impactful organization, and that’s the result of many years of really careful stewardship and thoughtful leadership by Melissa Hackney and the board [of directors],” Thomson said. “I’m really committed to upholding that and ensuring that everything that they’ve worked hard to build is sustained moving forward.”