Board of Trustees

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2023-2024 Board of Trustees:

Alan Aleia

Chief Financial Officer, Southeastern Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence, Inc.

Alan Aleia of Glastonbury is a Certified Public Accountant and the Chief Financial Officer of the Southeastern Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence, Inc. He previously served as Senior Vice President (Revenue Cycle Point Solutions), Parallon Business Solutions; Vice President Product Management, Claim Subrogation, CCC Informational Services, Inc.; and Vice President, Trumbull Services Inc., with The Hartford Financial Services Group, where he served for 23 years. Earlier, he worked for Aetna, preceded by PWC. Mr. Aleia is on the board at March Inc., Manchester, CT, and has served on the board of Health Equity Solutions, Hartford, CT. He is a member of Leadership Greater Harford, Health Financial Management Association, CT Chapter, CT Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Aleia holds a B.S. in Business Administration from American International College, Springfield, MA. He has continued his education with programs at the University of Connecticut and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Harry Arora

Founder, AlphaStrat LLC

Harry Arora is an advocate for good governance and robust public policy. He works tirelessly to improve public engagement and citizen participation through his emails, social media, and zoom conversations. Harry serves residents around Connecticut helping constituents understand government programs and policies and solving public problems. His objective is to enhance the dialogue between citizens and their elected officials.Mr. Arora served in the Connecticut General Assembly representing the 151st General Assembly District for two terms. He was the Ranking Member of the Labor Committee, a Member of the Energy and Technology Committee and a Member of the Human Services Committee. He was the nominated Republican candidate for State Treasurer in 2022.Before running for public office, Mr. Arora spent 20 years as an investment manager focused on commodities. He started and ran his own investment business in Greenwich. He and his wife Nisha are raising their three kids in Greenwich.Mr. Arora came to the United States from India as a graduate student 30 years ago and naturalized as an American citizen in 2004. Harry has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, MBA in finance from University of Texas at Austin, and Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.Since leaving elected office in Jan 2023, Mr. Arora relaunched AlphaStrat – an investment management firm focused on identifying and investing in outperformance(alpha) opportunities in macro, commodities and equities.

Kerry Britland

Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Eversource Energy

Kerry Britland is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Eversource Energy. In this role, she is responsible for developing regulatory policy and implementing strategic initiatives to advance the Company’s business plan. Kerry is charged with forming and strengthening key stakeholder relationships that will enable the advancement of energy policy initiatives.Kerry joined Eversource’s regulatory team in 2004 and was elevated to her current role, a newly created position, in 2021.With over 30 years of utility experience, Kerry brings deep insight into key issues, challenges and opportunities facing public utilities and the energy industry. Kerry works across Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire to develop meaningful relationships to understand each state’s energy policy priorities and regulatory environment.Kerry leads a talented team of regulatory professionals, charged with developing meaningful and effective relationships; collaborating with cross functional teams to develop and execute energy policy, strategic communication, outreach, and engagement plans; and delivering accurate, reliable, and timely information to internal and external stakeholders assuring credible, productive interactions in all phases of the regulatory process. She also leads the regulatory liaison team during storm events.Kerry was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts.
Board Chair

Michael A. Cantor

Co-Managing Partner, Cantor Colburn

For more than 30 years, Michael Cantor’s unwavering commitment to delivering the highest level of legal services at exceptionally competitive rates has fueled Cantor Colburn’s strategic expansion from a ten-lawyer firm into the nation’s top 10 largest intellectual property law firms. Today, Michael oversees more than 115 attorneys and patent agents who help a diverse client base of international innovators make the most of their IP assets. Michael is a frequent speaker on IP legal issues and active in industry associations for which travels around the world. Cantor Colburn has offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, and is headquartered in Hartford. He is passionate about growing innovation, technology and the economy in Connecticut, and has an active role in the state’s economic development as the Chairman of Connecticut Innovations – appointed by Governor Dannel Malloy in 2014 – and as a board member of the Connecticut Technology Council, among numerous other boards. Michael has received many awards for legal practice and legal and civic leadership. He is a graduate of UConn’s School of Engineering and School of Law, where he has been an adjunct professor teaching Patent Law and Procedure for more than 20 years, and now serves on the advisory boards of both schools. In 2016, Michael served on the CHS’s Connecticut Innovates! Advisory Board and his firm was a major sponsor of the exhibition. Michael and his wife Shari live in West Hartford.

Sara S. Champion

President of the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center

Sara is a former corporate attorney, who specialized in executive compensation. After graduating from Duke University, she worked as a Russian linguist for the National Security Agency and taught Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. She received an M.A. in Russian at the University of California at Davis and continued to work for the U.S. government in San Francisco and New York City. She attended New York Law School at night and then practiced law for 20 years before retiring in 2012. She moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut in 2004 where she pursued her interests in history and genealogy. She is on the Council of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, a Board member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Connecticut and a Board member of the National Society of Colonial Dames in Connecticut. She is a Founding Director and Registrar of the Society of the First Families of New York. In Ridgefield she is the Registrar of the Cannon Ridge Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, the President of the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center, a Board member of the Ridgefield Historical Society and a member of the town Graveyard Restoration Committee.
Secretary

Portia Corbett

President, Farmington Historical Society

A native of Rhode Island, Portia graduated from the University of Rhode Island after which she managed her family’s three retail flower shops in her mid 20’s and became an internationally awarded designer. Eventually she moved into commercial real estate working as a leasing agent for the Downing Corporation, Providence, and Corrigan Commercial, San Diego. In the ‘90’s she joined PNC Bank as a mortgage originator and moved to Connecticut where she met her husband Tim. After having their two sons Portia retired from mortgage banking in 1998.Portia continued being active through volunteering where the need presented itself. She has been a board member for the Cobb School Montessori, the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, the Farmington Garden Club, Services for the Elderly, and the Stanley-Whitman Museum. She was also a member of the House Committee for The Country Club of Farmington (8yrs), President of the 18 Hole Women’s Golf League, a member of the Finance & Building Committees, St. Patrick Church, Farmington, and a volunteer for the Hill-Stead Museum. Her early love and appreciation for history, including historical homes, surfaced in Providence in the 1980’s. She worked closely with the Providence Historical Preservation Commission in the West End Armory District while living there. Portia continues this passion in Connecticut by serving as president of the Farmington Historical Society, as well as being an active member of Preservation Now!. She is also a board member for the Petit Family Foundation.

George Jepsen

Partner, Jepsen Rowthorn, LLP

George Jepsen, of Hartford, CT, has been a CHS member since 2018. He graduated from Dartmouth College summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a B.A. with high distinction in government. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Jepsen recently established a new law practice, Jepsen Rowthorn, after leaving his partnership in Shipman & Goodwin LLP. He previously served as the 24th Attorney General of Connecticut from 2011 to 2019. He began his legal career in 1982 as general counsel to Carpenters Local 210 and later worked in private practice for more than 26 years with several prominent Connecticut law firms. He was first elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1987, serving four years as state representative for Stamford’s 148th district, then 12 years as state senator for the 27th District, Representing Stamford and Darien.
President

Sylvia B. Kelly

President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Health Network of Connecticut

Sylvia B. Kelly has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Health Network of Connecticut (CHNCT) in Wallingford, Connecticut since 2000. CHNCT was founded in 1995 by federally qualified health centers to bring not-for-profit participation to Medicaid managed care in Connecticut. CHNCT currently is the only medical Administrative Services Organization for the HUSKY Health Program serving over 1 million CT residents. She held prior positions at HealthChoice of Connecticut, where she was vice president and executive director for its HUSKY program. She previously served as operations director of Yale Preferred Health, Director, CIGNA Healthcare and Vice President, Anthem in Indiana. Ms. Kelly completed her Bachelor’s and her Master's degrees at Indiana University. Ms. Kelly and her husband, Harvey S. Kelly, are Southington residents. The Kelly’s are connected with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG), the Farmington Valley Chapter of Links, Inc., The Town and County Club and The Lyman Heritage Preservation Foundation. Mr. and Ms. Kelly are among the founding members of the HFPG’s “Black Giving Circle Fund” created in 2015. Last year, the national Association of Community Affiliated Plans, honored Sylvia by naming their health equity scholarship for medical students focusing on maternal health outcomes for Black women.

Barbara Kiefer

Retired, Formerly Executive Vice President, GMAC’s North American Operations

After thirty-five years in finance, mostly at General Motors and GMAC, and culminating as executive vice president of GMAC’s North American Operations, Barbara Kiefer retired and pursed a M.A. in Historic Preservation at Savannah College of Art and Design. She graduated in 2013 and lives in West Hartford with her husband, Paul
Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair

David M. Klein

Retired, Formerly Executive Vice President of Internal Operations, The Hartford

David Klein of Hartford, CT and Narragansett, RI received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and his MBA from Temple University. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS). David has served on the CHS Finance Committee since January 2018. He and his wife have been CHS Life Members since 2016, and they have been loyal and generous CHS donors and members since 2007, as well as from 1999 through 2001. David retired from the Hartford Financial Service Group in 2000 after a career that spanned nearly 28 years. During his tenure at The Hartford, he had a number of responsibilities in the Actuarial and Research Department, the Marketing Department and the Personal Auto and Homeowners division. He also provided operational assistance to The Hartford overseas property casualty operations as well as participating in business development activities worldwide. In 1992, David was named senior vice president and director of personal lines and, in 1995, he was elected Executive Vice President of The Hartford’s international operations. David is or has been affiliated with Riverfront Recapture, Watkinson School, Hartford Stage, Temple Sinai – Newington, and the West End Civic Association. David’s wife, Janice, served on the CHS education staff in the early 2000s. They have lived in Hartford’s West End for more than 30 years. David has one son and two daughters. His daughter, Jordan, provided consultative exhibition services to the CHS on “Connecticut Innovates” and “That’s Weird.”

Mark F. Kohler

74th Secretary of the State of Connecticut

Mark Kohler was appointed as the 74th Secretary of the State of Connecticut by Governor Ned Lamont and was sworn in on July 1, 2022. He served in this capacity until the current Secretary of the State of Connecticut was sworn into office in January 2023. After his term as Secretary of State, Secretary Kohler retired. He previously served for three decades in the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office, finishing as an Associate Attorney General and Chief of the Division of Government Administration.From 2011-21, Secretary Kohler worked in several departments, including as head of the Special Litigation Department, which is responsible for representing all state constitutional officers, the legislature, and the judiciary, with responsibilities over election matters, charities, gaming, and federal Indian tribal issues. He supervised all department litigation and agency counseling and provided formal and informal opinions to state officials and agencies.Secretary Kohler served as the head of the office’s public utilities unit from 2009-11 and the finance department from 2003 to 2009. He served in its special litigation department from 1999-2003 and within its finance and public utilities department from 1992 to 1999. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Secretary Kohler was an associate attorney at Shipman & Goodwin (1990-92) and served as a law clerk to Hon. Thomas J. Meskill of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1989-90) and to Hon. T.F. Gilroy Daly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut (1987-89).Secretary Kohler earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota, in 1982, a Master of Arts degree in political science from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana in 1984, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1987. Secretary Kohler lives in North Haven. He has three daughters, who reside in California.

Jay Malcynsky

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Gaffney, Bennett and Associates

Jay Malcynsky is the co-founder and managing partner of Gaffney, Bennett and Associates, Inc. Jay is also a practicing attorney licensed in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., and is the founder and managing partner of The Law Offices of Jay F. Malcynsky, P.C. In these capacities, Jay has distinguished himself as one of the most knowledgeable, highly respected, and capable professionals in the fields of government relations and political consulting, as well as administrative law. At the state Capitol, clients and legislators frequently call upon Jay’s skills in negotiating agreements, forging alliances, and coordinating crisis management. Under his leadership, Gaffney, Bennett and Associates has mounted a record of success unsurpassed in Connecticut.Mr. Malcynsky has been an active and longtime political strategist. Prior to establishing the firm, Jay managed U.S. Congressman Stewart B. McKinney’s political campaigns in 1980 and 1982. He also managed the re-election bids of U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson and U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker, in 1984 and 1988, respectively. In 2000, Mr. Malcynsky served as campaign manager for Bush for President in Connecticut and was among the lead attorneys representing the Bush campaign during the Florida recount effort.He serves as President and a member of the Nutmeg State Games, as well as being a member of the board of directors of Connecticut Legal Services, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.After graduating from law school, Mr. Malcynsky served as a trial attorney in the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. He also served as an attorney for the U.S. House of Representatives.Jay and Jonie Malcynsky live in Chester, CT.

Dixon Mallory

Director of Business Development, Greenwich Hospitality Group, LLC

Dixon Mallory is the Director of Business Development for Greenwich Hospitality Group (GHG). Prior to GHG he was an associate with Newmark, a commercial real estate advisory firm, in New York City. Mr. Mallory earned his B.A. in Economics and Asian Studies from St. Lawrence University and his M.S in Real Estate Development from Columbia University. An avid golfer and squash player, Mr. Mallory is married to Sarah Saeli and resides in Greenwich, CT.

David McCary

Founding Partner, McCary Anheuser Wealth Management

David McCary graduated from Middlebury College with a BA in Economics and Dartmouth’s Tuck Business School with an MBA in Finance. Over the last 40 years he has gone on to be an institutional investment advisor for clients including Aetna Realty Investors, JP Morgan, Citi Group Alternative Assets, Greenwich Capital and Allied Capital. He is also an entrepreneur starting four businesses in finance including his current company McCary Anheuser Wealth Management, LLC serving ultra-high net worth families nationwide. He also currently sits on four other Boards of Directors and their Investment Committees helping them oversee $100+ million in investments: The University of Hartford Art School Endowment, The Connecticut Episcopal Bishops Fund, The Colt Family Bequest, and St. John’s Episcopal Church.Mr. McCary is married with three adult children and two grandsons. He is also a part-time professional ski instructor and fine art nature photographer.

Andrew McDonald

Senior Associate Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court

Justice Andrew J. McDonald (b. March 11, 1966) is a native of Stamford, CT. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University. In 1991, he completed a Juris Doctor degree at the University of Connecticut Law School where he served as the Managing Editor of the Connecticut Journal of International Law. He also holds honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Quinnipiac University School of Law and the Western New England University School of Law.In 2013, Justice McDonald was nominated to be an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and he was confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly later that month. In 2021, he was re-nominated Justice McDonald to the Supreme Court, and later that month he was again confirmed by the General Assembly. Justice McDonald is the senior associate justice of the Supreme Court.Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice McDonald served as the General Counsel to the Office of the Governor for the State of Connecticut from 2011 to 2013. In this role, he served as chief legal advisor to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor and senior staff of the Executive Branch of government.From 1991 to 2011, Justice McDonald worked in private practice commercial litigation with the firm of Pullman & Comley, LLC. From 1999 to 2002, Justice McDonald additionally served as the Director of Legal Affairs and Corporation Counsel for the City of Stamford.Justice McDonald was a State Senator from 2003 to 2011. He served as the Senate Chairman of the Judiciary Committee for all eight years he was in the General Assembly. During periods of his legislative career he also served as the Senate Vice Chairman of the Energy and Technology Committee and as a member of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Education Committee and the Regulations Review Committee. From 2005 to 2011, he served as Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate.Earlier in his career, Justice McDonald served on the Stamford Board of Finance from 1995 to 1999, including serving as the board's Chairman from 1997 to 1999, and as Co-Chair of the Audit Committee from 1995 to 1997. He began his public service career in 1993 as a member of the Stamford Board of Representatives, where he served until 1995.Justice McDonald and his husband, Charles, live in Hartford.

Denise Merrill

CT Secretary of the State

Denise W. Merrill served over 30 years in elected office in the State of Connecticut, first at the local level on the Mansfield Board of Education in 1991, then in the State Legislature for 17 years as State Representative from Mansfield, then finally as the Secretary of the State for three terms.First elected to the General Assembly in 1994, Secretary Merrill rose to the rank of House Majority Leader from 2009-2011. She also served as the House Chair of the budget writing Appropriations Committee from 2005-2009, as well as on the Education and Government Administration and Elections Committees. In a 2009 poll done by Connecticut magazine, Majority Leader Merrill was named by her colleagues in the legislature as "Most Respected by the Other Side of the Aisle" and "Most Effective Legislator". She focused on issues of education and higher education, helping to forge the ground-breaking "UConn 2000" legislation and a requirement that every student take a course in Civics to graduate from a public high school in Connecticut. Her work has been recognized by the CT Council on Social Studies, the New England Board of Higher Education, the CT Bar Association, among many others.As Secretary of the State, she was the Chief Elections official and business registrar. When in office, Secretary Merrill focused on modernizing Connecticut's elections and business services through introduction of new technologies.She was elected as President of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) during the 2016 Presidential Election. During that time, she created and served as Chair of the NASS Task Force on the Cybersecurity of Elections.Secretary Merrill is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and licensed to practice law in California. She has been a Board member of the UConn Alumni Association, was a founding member of the Women's Campaign School at Yale, founded and directed the Civics First program, and is still member of the CT Bar Association's Civics Education Committee. She is currently the Chair of the America 250 Commission of Connecticut.She trained as a concert pianist in Geneva Switzerland and still speaks decent French. She is a resident of Mansfield CT, is married to Dr. Stephen Leach, and has five grown children and six grandchildren.
Third Vice President and Investment Committee Chair

Bichop J. Nawrot

Partner, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC

Bichop Nawrot is currently a Partner at Farmington-based Connecticut Wealth Management LLC, an investment advisory company offering comprehensive financial planning and ongoing wealth management services to individuals. He was previously co-founder of Capital Strategies (1987) in Bloomfield. He is an original member of the Registry of Financial Planning Practitioners and is a Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional, Certified Insurance Consultant, and a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals. Mr. Nawrot is currently Chairman on the Board of Trustees for Old Sturbridge Village and on the Board of Directors of LobsterGraft LLC.

JoAnn H. Price

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Fairview Capital Partners

JoAnn Price came to Farmington, CT in 1994 for the express purpose of founding what has become Fairview Capital Partners. Encouraged by members of the National Association of Investment Companies, Ms. Price became the catalyst for significant change in the way institutional investors approached diversity through investment. Today, the entire industry’s lexicon and initiatives around emerging managers and diversity in private equity investment can be traced to Fairview’s pioneering efforts.Ms. Price served as a director of the Vantagepoint Funds, as a member of the CT Board of Regents for Higher Education, as board chair of the Amistad Center for Art and Culture, and most recently as the Board Chair of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Currently, she is a member of 4-CT Board of Directors, the Howard University School of Business Board of Visitors, board member of the Apollo Theater Foundation in New York City, board member of Trinity Health of New England, board member of the Blue Hills Civic Association, and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Wilson Gray YMCA. She is also an active member of the Union Baptist church in Hartford.Ms. Price has been the recipient of numerous awards in the community, most recently as the recipient of the 2019 Hartford Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018 she was presented with the Women’s Venture Fund’s Highest Leaf Award, and in 2017 was the honoree of New York’s nonprofit LIFT. In 2015, Ms. Price was the recipient of the Greater Hartford Torch of Liberty award presented by the Anti-Defamation League, and in 2014 was awarded the title of the Village for Families & Children’s Woman of the Year.Ms. Price leads by example and is not shy about encouraging her colleagues at Fairview to get involved in the community. At this point, Fairview professionals, largely through her direct encouragement, are involved in Hartford community organizations including the Mark Twain House, the Greater Hartford YMCA, the Bushnell, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the CT Children’s Hospital, the Urban League of Greater Hartford, Camp Courant, the UConn Research and Development Foundation, Hartford Habitat for Humanity, and the CT Science Center.Additionally, Ms. Price continues to be generous with her time, her resources, and her prodigious talents in the office and out, helping individuals who come to her for skills counseling, career strategies, educational aid, personal crisis management, and general advice. Through all of this, she enjoys the quiet but strong support of her husband of many years, James Price, now a retired Tax attorney.Ms. Price is a graduate of Howard University.

Jason Rojas

CT House Majority Leader

Jason Rojas serves Connecticut’s 9th Assembly District, which is composed of parts of East Hartford and Manchester. He currently serves as House Majority Leader with responsibility for shaping House Democrats legislative agenda as well as managing the flow of legislation and House floor operations. He previously served as co-chair of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, the Planning and Development Committee and Deputy Majority Leader. He also served on the Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee and the Education Committee. A lifelong resident of East Hartford, Mr. Rojas attended East Hartford Public Schools and was the first in his family to graduate from college, earning a history degree from the University of Connecticut and a master's degree in public policy from Trinity College.Outside of the legislature, Mr. Rojas serves as the president's chief of staff and associate vice president for external affairs, with primary responsibilities of administering the Office of the President at Trinity College. He has served on the board of directors of numerous nonprofits including three nonprofit housing development organizations, the Board of Trustees of the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford, the Manchester Community College Foundation, the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, the I-Quilt Partnership as well as serving as a founding board member of the East Hartford Alumni Association and Education Foundation.Mr. Rojas is married to his high school sweetheart, Sarah, and they have three children and two cats.

Manisha Sinha

James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History, University of Connecticut

Manisha Sinha is the Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut and recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial fellowship in 2022. She received her Ph.D from Columbia University where her dissertation was nominated for the Bancroft prize. She taught at the University of Massachusetts for over twenty years where she was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor bestowed on faculty. She is the author of The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina which was named one of the ten best books on slavery in Politico and featured in The New York Times 1619 Project. Her recent book The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition, which won the Frederick Douglass, Avery Craven, James Rawley, and SHEAR Best Book prizes, was also long listed for the National Book Award for Non-Fiction. It was widely reviewed in the mainstream press and was named editor’s choice in The New York Times Book Review and the book of the week by Times Higher Education to coincide with its UK publication. She is the author and editor of several other books and articles. In 2018, she was a visiting Professor at the University of Paris, Diderot and in 2021, she received the James W.C. Pennington award, from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She is on the Historians Advisory Committee of the American Civil War Museum and the Council of Advisors of the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg, New York Public Library. She is a co-editor of the “Race and the Atlantic World, 1700-1900,” series of the University of Georgia Press and is on the editorial board of Slavery and Abolition. A historian of the long nineteenth century, her research interests lie in the transnational histories of slavery, abolition, and feminism and the history and legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Her latest book, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920 is forthcoming from Liveright. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Karsten R. Stueber, a philosophy professor at the College of the Holy Cross, their two sons, Sheel and Shiv Stueber, and dog, Wylie.
First Vice President

Fiona Vernal

Associate Professor of History, University of Connecticut

Fiona Vernal is Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, with extensive teaching and research interests in pre-colonial and colonial Africa, the history of South Africa and the African Diaspora. She holds a B.A. from Princeton, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale. Dr. Vernal has consulted with CHS on two oral history projects (September 11, Connecticut Responds and Reflects; and Finding a Place, Maintaining Ties: Greater Hartford’s West Indians) and is currently engaged in a photo-documentation project on Caribbean migration to Greater Hartford. She and her three children live in Manchester.

James C. Williams

Retired, Formerly Partner, Kuzmak-Williams & Associates

Jim Williams was a partner in the commercial real estate firm Kuzmak-Williams & Associates, which provides professional property management service, leasing and sales brokerage, development and consulting services to a wide variety of clients throughout New England. Mr. Williams is a former Chairman of the Building Owners & Managers Institute, a former Trustee and President of the CHS, and former Trustee and President of the Old State House Association. He proudly served 4 years in the United States Air Force, including a 13 month tour of duty in Vietnam. Mr. Williams also holds a B.S. in Accounting from Central Connecticut State University, along with graduate studies in the field of commercial real estate. He holds the following designations: C.P.A., R.P.A., and C.S.M. He and his wife, Linda, live in Cheshire.
Second Vice President

Henry M. Zachs

Chairman, Message Center Management and Zafa Towers

Mr. Zachs is an entrepreneur in the classic sense, and he truly made his mark in the wireless industry. In 1960, he was one of the first applicants for mobile telephone spectrum from the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) in Hartford, CT. He was Chairman and Founder of Message Center Beepers, which was sold to Vodaphone/Air Touch. Mr. Zachs has been in several areas of communications, including paging, cellular, wireless, and the internet (Ziplink Inc.). Mr. Zachs is the founder of Endow Hartford 21 endowment matching program, which has helped over 60 local non-profits in the Greater Hartford area build endowments for the long-term health of their organizations. His philanthropy doesn’t stop there: he has been involved as a Trustee, Advisor and/or Board Member with numerous organizations, including Williston-Northampton School, Trinity College, Watkinson Library, Trinity Hillel, UConn Hillel, CT College Hillel, University of Hartford Hillel, Greenberg Center, United Way, Jewish Community Foundation, Jewish Federation, Wadsworth Atheneum, the Bushnell, Oak Hill, Schechter School, and many others. Mr. Zachs has a B.A. from Trinity, and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Honorary Trustees:

  • Susan B. Aller
  • David W. Dangremond
  • Lawrence V. Mowell, Jr.
  • Mary Jeanne Jones
  • Judith S. Wawro

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