Board of Directors

Kenneth Alleyne is a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon practicing in Connecticut and Manhattan. He is the co-founder of Zing Health, a Medicare Advantage plan, and HartHaven Partners, a health care investment firm. He is a member of the board of the UConn Health Center, Connecticut Public Television and Radio, and Louis Armstrong Education Foundation. He served on the Community Committee of the state’s Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group. He previously served as a board member at Community Health Services, a federally qualified health center in Hartford.

He is a graduate of Williams College and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Alleyne serves as chair of the foundation’s board. He also sits on the program and finance and investment committees.

Chekesha Kidd is CEO and Founder of The Ilera Companies, which supports corporations, individuals, and families in efforts to promote better health outcomes, increase access to resources and services, and improve efficiencies in care delivery.

Kidd previously served in executive roles at Delta Dental of Minnesota, The Hartford, and Aetna, where she was president of the student health business. Her experience also includes more than a decade in investment banking. Kidd is on the boards of the Greater Hartford YMCA and the Chaka Chinyelu Foundation, and is active with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., as well as The Links Incorporated. She has an MBA in finance/corporate strategy and a Master’s of Health Services Administration degree from the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of Florida A&M University.

Kidd is vice chair of the foundation’s board and serves on the finance and investment committee and the program committee.

Tanya Barrett is senior vice president of 2-1-1 Health and Human Services (HHS), a program of the United Way of Connecticut, which helps meet the needs of Connecticut residents by providing information, education and connection to services. She oversees the 2-1-1 HHS unit and specialty units including the Child Development Infoline. Previously, she worked in child protection and employment services for people with mental illness.

She is a graduate of CT Health’s leadership program and previously served on the foundation’s Community Advisory Committee.

Barrett serves as secretary of the foundation and is a member of the foundation’s policy and communications committee.

Yvette Meléndez has a wide range of experience in health care, higher education, and philanthropy. She served as vice president for government and community alliances at Hartford HealthCare, chief of staff and chief administrative officer for the Connecticut State University System, and interim president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Meléndez also served as deputy commissioner and acting commissioner of the state Department of Public Health and as board chair for the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. She currently serves as vice chair of the Board of Regents for Higher Education and is a member of the board of directors of Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, and the Wadsworth Atheneum.

She is a graduate of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and completed studies in industrial and labor relations at Cornell University.

Meléndez is the chair of the governance committee, and serves on the finance and investment committee.

Alvin W. Thompson is a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut, an appointment he has held since 1994. Thompson previously worked as an attorney at Robinson & Cole, where he served as an associate, partner, and managing partner. He has chaired and is active in the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association. He has also served on the scholarship committee for the American Bar Association’s Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund.

Thompson serves on the Hartford Advisory Board of the Salvation Army and the Trustees of the Warburton Chapel, and has served on the Policy Advisory Committee for the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Thompson is chair of the program committee and serves on the finance and investment committee.

Barbara L. Pearce is President & CEO of H. Pearce Real Estate Company in North Haven, a full-service real estate firm with eight offices and more than 100 associates. In addition, Pearce has served as president of Grameen America’s health care subsidiary, worked as a consultant to Yale University, and practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She has been on many for-profit and not-for-profit boards, and has, among others, chaired The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Artspace, the Hospital of Saint Raphael, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, WOWPAC, Long Wharf Theatre, United Way of Greater New Haven, and the Regional Leadership Council.

She is a graduate of Radcliffe College/Harvard University, the Harvard Graduate School of Business, and Harvard Law School.

Pearce serves as chair of the policy and communications committee and is a member of the governance committee.

Dennis Torres is a longtime advocate for appropriate and accessible care. He serves as Chief Health Officer at Family Centers Inc. in lower Fairfield County, where he oversees outpatient medical, dental, mental health, and supportive health-related services from their federally qualified health center and six school-based health centers. He also oversees HIV service coordination and provision, nurse consulting for early childhood centers, and multiple health and wellness initiatives. He has taught bachelor’s and master’s level social work courses in cultural diversity and inclusion.

Torres is a graduate of Fredonia College and received a law degree from Pace University and master’s degree in social work from Columbia University in New York.

Torres is vice chair of the policy and communications committee and a member of the finance committee.

Patrick A. Charmel is president and chief executive officer of Griffin Hospital and its parent organization, Griffin Health Services Corporation. Charmel also serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Planetree International and is chairman of the Value Care Alliance. Charmel is involved in health policy at the state level, serving on the State Innovation Model Steering Committee and the state Health IT Advisory Council. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Connecticut Hospital Association, Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Valley United Way.

Charmel is a graduate of Quinnipiac University and has a Master of Public Health degree from Yale University.

Charmel is the vice chair of the governance committee and is a member of the finance and investment committee.

Mikki Meadows-Oliver is a pediatric nurse practitioner and associate professor at the Quinnipiac University School of Nursing. She earned a PhD from the University of Connecticut and joint Master’s degrees in Nursing and Public Health from Yale University.

Meadows-Oliver has been a nurse for more than two decades, working in inpatient, outpatient, home-based, and school-based health care settings. Her current clinical practice is in the student health center at Choate Rosemary Hall.

She has published more than 30 book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed nursing and health care journals, and has presented at national and international conferences.

Meadows-Oliver is vice chair of the program committee and a member of the policy and communications committee.

John J. Crawford is president of Strategem, LLC. Crawford also serves on the boards of Webster Financial Corporation, St. Martin de Porres Academy, the Guilford Community Foundation, Albertus Magnus College, and Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.

Previously, Crawford served as chairman & CEO of Aristotle Corporation. Prior to that, he held top positions with the South Central Connecticut Water Authority, Holt Wexler Crawford & Merchant, New Haven Water Company, and Southern New England Telephone Company.

Crawford is a member of the foundation’s program and policy and communications committees.

Hector Glynn is the Chief Operating Officer for The Village for Families and Children, where he has served in several leadership positions since 2007. At The Village, Glynn developed wide-ranging expertise in developing and overseeing a variety of programs and administrative support systems. He has been engaged in several statewide advocacy initiatives and is recognized as an expert on issues related to children and families. Before joining The Village, Glynn served as director of youth services for Catholic Charities and executive director of the CT Juvenile Justice Alliance. He has a master’s degree in social work from UConn.

Glynn is a member of the foundation’s governance and policy and communications committees.

MaryAnn Perez-Brescia MSN, RN, is pursuing a PhD at the University of Connecticut School of Nursing. Her research focus is on access to care in underserved populations. Perez-Brescia has practiced nursing for 25 years in a variety of settings including education, acute care, mental health, and community. Perez-Brescia is the immediate past president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, Hartford Chapter. She is on the advisory committee of the Connecticut Nurse Coalition-Action Coalition (CNC-AC) and is the co-chair of the CNC-AC Diversity subcommittee.

Perez-Brescia was a 2015 fellow of the foundation’s Health Leadership Fellows Program. She has also served on the CT Health Community Advisory Committee.

Perez-Brescia is a member of the foundation’s governance and program committees.

Mehul Dalal serves as New Haven’s community services administrator, overseeing the city’s health and human services departments. His teams have focused on local pandemic response and reimagining public safety through a community resilience lens.

He previously served as the chronic disease director at the Connecticut Department of Public Health, where he supervised health programs and helped implement components of the Affordable Care Act. Dalal has served on numerous stakeholder groups including serving as board president of the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, co-chair of the State Innovation Model Quality Metrics Council, and a member of Connecticut’s State Health Improvement Plan Advisory Council. He is the founder of Health Design Strategies, which helps health organizations design and implement strategies to broadly improve health.

Dalal is a graduate of Brown University, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the Yale Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. He previously served on the foundation’s Community Advisory Committee.

Photo by Harold Shapiro