Staff

Patricia Baker

Patricia Baker was named president & CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) in March 2002 after serving as executive director since CT Health was established in July 1999. Immediately prior, Baker served as the national program director for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and as director of Connecticut government programs at Oxford Health Plans. The long-time women’s health advocate also served as executive director of Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, associate executive director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, and executive director of The Women’s Center in southeastern Wisconsin.

Yolanda Caldera-Durant

Senior Program Officer
yolandacd@cthealth.org

In her role as senior program officer at CT Health, Yolanda Caldera-Durant oversees the foundation’s health equity grant portfolio.

Prior to joining CT Health, Yolanda was program associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Center for Community and Economic Opportunity in New Haven, CT. She was focused on workforce development for low-income residents and on promoting strategies that help families achieve economic self-sufficiency. Before joining the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Yolanda was program director at the Fairfield County Community Foundation. Yolanda currently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Latina A.R.M.Y. (Accomplished Role Models Motivating Young Latinas). She has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Connecticut and a M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.

Maryland M. Grier

Senior Communications Officer
maryland@cthealth.org

Maryland Grier manages media and public relations programming, disseminates information through publications and the website, and researches emerging health policy trends. She also provides communications-related technical assistance to the foundation’s grantees.

Prior to joining CT Health, Grier held several positions at the Institute for Community Research (ICR) in Hartford, including associate director of the communications office, project director of a nationally funded community-outreach HIV/AIDS prevention research project, and evaluation coordinator for an AIDS prevention education project. She also directed a statewide professional development program for underserved artists and arts organizations. Prior to ICR, she was marketing specialist at the National Alliance of Business in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Myung Sook Krause

Vice President, Policy & Communications
elizabeth@cthealth.org

As Vice President of Policy & Communications, Elizabeth Krause provides vision and strategy for CT Health’s public policy and strategic communications activities. On staff since 2005 and previously holding the positions of Program Officer and Senior Program Officer/Health Leadership Fellows Program Director, Elizabeth plays a leading role in integrating the work of CT Health’s program, policy, and communications departments. A recognized health equity expert, Elizabeth represents the foundation on a number of state and national advisory bodies and multi-partner initiatives.

The Smith College and Harvard School of Public Health alumna previously served as a Prevention Specialist with the Public Health Prevention Service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Elizabeth is a Grantmakers in Health’s Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy fellow.

Rochel Lantz

Controller
rochel@cthealth.org

As a financial consultant to CT Health since 2004 and a permanent employee in 2012, Rochel Lantz manages the Foundation’s accounting functions for investments, grant making, benefits and operations. She is also responsible for analysis and execution of Connecticut Health Foundation’s employee benefits program.

Rochel is the owner and President of the RML Company and has consulted since 1997 to clients in the Hartford and Boston areas including Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, Hispanic Health Council, Children’s Fund of CT and Child Health and Development Institute of CT. She was also employed by Universal Healthcare Foundation of CT, RHI Management Resources and was interim Finance Director at the YWCA of Greater Hartford.

Nancy Nolan

Grants Manager
nancy@cthealth.org

Nancy Nolan is involved in all aspects of grants management. These responsibilities include: program staff administrator; managing CT Health’s grant tracking database; serving as liaison with grantees; and developing grant protocols to increase the efficiency of the grants management system. In addition, she is coordinator for the Health Leadership Fellows program. Along with being grants manager, Nolan was office manager from 2000 to 2008.

Before joining CT Health in 2000, Nolan served as office manager with the Arrhythmia Center in New Haven. She also served as office manager with Richard Kayne, M.D., and J.P. Diamond & Associates, and as executive secretary in public relations at the Emhart Corp. of Farmington.

Lina Paredes

Vice President of Program
lina@cthealth.org

Lina Paredes joined CT Health in October 2010. In her capacity as VP of Program, she directs the planning, implementation and evaluation of CT Health’s grant-making strategies and investments in racial equity, children’s mental health, and oral health. Lina is a graduate of the Courageous Community Leadership Program of New Haven and recently joined the board of Youth Rights Media.

Previously, Lina was the director of grant-making for the Liberty Hill Foundation in Los Angeles. Her portfolio addressed human rights, poverty and economic justice issues through community organizing and advocacy. Service on two national boards – the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and Funders for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issues – has been an opportunity to influence the philanthropic sector towards promoting equity for all.

Carol Pollack

Vice President of Finance & Operations
carol@cthealth.org

Carol Pollack is the foundation’s primary liaison on asset management. She directs accounting, personnel and technology functions, and oversees office operations. Before joining CT Health, she was founder and president of Diversified Financial Solutions, providing finance and operations support to several organizations, including the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. Previously, Pollack served as chief financial officer for Housing Authority Insurance in Cheshire; the Comprehensive Care Corporation in Tampa, Florida; and held several positions at CIGNA Corporation in Bloomfield and Philadelphia.

Jenn Whinnem

Communications Officer
jenn@cthealth.org

Jenn manages the Web, social media and e-mail initiatives, and contributes to overall Web vision and strategy for the foundation. She is a graduate of CT Health’s Health Leadership Fellows program.

Prior to joining CT Health, Jenn was the Communications Specialist for Golden Compass, a staffing and recruiting firm, where she spearheaded the creation and implementation of the company’s social media strategy. She was also the Communications Manager for CRIX International, a start-up not-for-profit company tasked with overseeing the delivery of an information exchange for the clinical research industry. In this role, Jenn created and executed the overall communications strategy and plan for the company. She began her communications career as a contracted resource at Pfizer.

Yolanda Wilson

Office Manager
yolanda@cthealth.org

Yolanda Wilson was named office manager in February 2008. Wilson’s responsibilities include management and maintenance of the facility; liaison for technology issues; managing the non-grants database; bookkeeping; support for the board of directors and its committees.

Wilson joined CT Health in March 2007 as administrative assistant. Prior to that, she held several marketing and administrative positions, including customer service representative for Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies (Forestville); marketing coordinator for Maguire Group, Inc. (New Britain); executive administrative assistant for Accustaff (New Britain); and sales and marketing coordinator for Arthur Building Systems, Inc. (Bristol).

PART-TIME STAFF

Midge Mongillo

Midge Mongillo is part-time Senior Administrative Assistant at the foundation. Her primary focus is the communications and public affairs staff. Prior to joining CT Health, Mongillo held several positions at the Torrington Company. This included manager of sales administration in the North American sales and global business development divisions for Timken USA Corporation, where she managed a $30 million operating budget, supervised field customer service supervisors and served as project manager for a merger of the Torrington and Timken customer service teams in Ohio. As assistant to the director of sales, Mongillo developed a pilot program that improved advanced training for senior field sales correspondents and account representatives.