Board of Directors

Chekesha Kidd is the founder of Kinumi, a health and lifestyle platform for older adults that focuses on supporting them and their caregivers in living independently. She 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 serves on the Alumni Board of Governors for the University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

She holds a Master of Business Administration in finance/corporate strategy and a Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of Florida A&M University.

Kidd is chair of the foundation’s board and serves on the finance and investment committee and the program 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, is a member of the Board of Trustees of Goodwin University, 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 serves as board vice chair and serves on the program committee and the finance and investment committee.

Cynthia Tseng is Managing Director of Private Investments at Glenmede, an investment and wealth management firm based in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to joining Glenmede, Tseng was a Partner at Fairview Capital and worked as an investment banking associate at J.P. Morgan. She is a board member of The Association of Asian American Investment Managers and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. 

Tseng is a graduate of Brown University and received a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a CFA charter holder.

Currently, Tseng serves as Treasurer of the board and chair of the foundation’s finance and investment committee and is a member of the program 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 serves as board secretary and vice chair of the policy and communications committee and is a member of the governance committee.

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 serves as chair of the foundation’s program committee and is a member of the 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 chair of CT Public Broadcasting, and serves on the board of directors for Hartford HealthCare and the MITRE corporation. 

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.

Barbara L. Pearce is CEO of The Connecticut Hospice and serves as CEO of Pearce Real Estate, a full-service, independent brokerage firm. 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.

Mikki Meadows-Oliver is a pediatric nurse practitioner and clinical professor at New York University. She earned a PhD from the University of Connecticut and joint Master’s degrees in Nursing and Public Health from Yale University. She holds a B.A. degree from Barnard College.

Meadows-Oliver has been a nurse for more than two decades, working in inpatient, outpatient, home-based, and school-based health care settings. She is a past president of Project Access-New Haven as well as the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

She has published more than 70 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.

Getty Atienza is a managing director and the global head of product management for Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM).

Prior to joining Blackstone, Atienza was group vice president of global sales strategy and operations at Gartner, where he was also chair of the company’s firmwide analytics leadership committee. Previously, Mr. Atienza was at Bridgewater Associates for 10 years, where he led the company’s investment analytics team in the client service and marketing department. Atienza also previously worked at the International Finance Corporation in their structured private investments business, at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking Division, and at Bain & Company in their strategy consulting practice.

Atienza received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Engineering and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics-Honors from Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated Valedictorian and Magna Cum Laude. Mr. Atienza earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

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

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.

He is vice chair of the governance committee and is a member of the program committee.

Photo by Harold Shapiro

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 is a member of the foundation’s program committee and the policy and communications 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 a member of the governance committee and finance and investment committee.

John J. Crawford is president of Strategem, LLC. Crawford also serves on the board of St. Martin de Porres Academy.

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. In addition, he previously served on the boards of Webster Financial Corporation, the Guilford Community Foundation, Albertus Magnus College, and Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.

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

Kristie Kuhl, J.D., is Global Managing Partner, Health + Wellness leader at Zeno Group, an integrated communications agency, building upon the firm’s health and wellness capabilities for top clients worldwide and broadening the scope to include health equity.

Honored as a Top Woman in Public Relations in 2020, Kuhl’s commitment to understanding stakeholders and cultures, plus her decades of experience, help clients and colleagues grow. She focuses on building an inclusive workplace and providing clients with counsel and programing that have a positive impact on health and business outcomes.

Kuhl is a graduate of Fairfield University and Quinnipiac University School of Law.

She is a member of the governance committee and the policy and communications committee.

MaryAnn Perez-Brescia PhD, RN, is an assistant clinical professor and director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the UConn 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.