Gail Garceau joined the NH Children’s Health Foundation in 2015 as its President.  She is a passionate leader, visionary and advocate for social justice with over 20 years of experience in non-profit leadership roles. Gail previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the former New Hampshire Healthy Kids Corporation.  Prior to her work with Healthy Kids, she served in consulting, leadership and project management positions in the fields of higher education, health care and community services, including CEO of the Heritage United Way (Manchester) for 10 years. She most recently served as the General Manager of Well Sense Health Plan, one of three managed care organizations selected by the NH Department of Health and Human Services to provide health care coverage to New Hampshire’s Medicaid recipients.

Gail’s deep commitment to volunteerism and social responsibility is evidenced by her numerous memberships and participation in civic organizations over the years. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors of Bellwether Community Credit Union, the Board of Directors of Evergreen Place and the Advisory Board of Independent Services Network. Gail’s expertise and leadership is widely recognized. Among the prestigious awards she has received are the Community Leadership Award by the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester, the Heroine Award by Odyssey House, the Susan B. Anthony Award by the YWCA, and the Business Leaders of the 21st Century – Non-profit Category Award by Business NH Magazine.

Email Gail here.

Since 2008, Patti has served as Program Director at the New Hampshire Children’s Health Foundation.  In this role she coordinates all aspects of the foundation’s grantmaking program, in addition to meeting with grantees, partners and stakeholders to plan and strategize for improving the health of New Hampshire residents. 

Prior to the Children’s Health Foundation, Patti’s experience includes work in health promotion and disease prevention, reproductive health, and domestic and sexual violence.

Email Patti here.

Leslie Craigen, MHA, joined the NH Children’s Health Foundation in 2017 as its Finance & Administration Manager. She is experienced in financial planning and analysis, budgeting, multi-year forecasting, business operations and modeling, database reporting and project management. She worked with Kindred Healthcare for many years and was most recently Executive Director of Kindred at Home, a home health agency providing care to clients in York County, Maine.

Email Leslie here.

Alisa Druzba has been with the Rural Health and Primary Care Section at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services since November 2004. Ms. Druzba collaborates and consults with local, state, regional, and national stakeholders and partners, and with the assistance of contractors and other agencies develops strategies to improve access to quality healthcare. She has a background in information technology, clinical mental health care of adolescents, family therapy, youth development and community dynamics.  Ms. Druzba has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Centenary College of Louisiana and a Master’s of Community and Social Psychology from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.  Ms. Druzba has served on a number of national, regional, state, and foundation boards in both officer and director positions. She has also chaired and worked on various committees ranging from health workforce, policy, education, emergency medical transfers, telehealth, health systems transformation, workforce diversity, healthy aging, and veteran’s issues.

Kathleen Mongan Thies grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, and now resides in Bedford.  She received her BS in nursing from Cornell University, MS in psychiatric nursing from Adelphi University, PhD in developmental psychology from Boston College.  She has written three books on child development, has authored several articles in peer-reviewed journals, and given many presentations at national and international conferences.  Dr. Thies spent much of her career in academia—teaching at St. Anselm College, as the Chair of the Department of Nursing at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, and as the director of a graduate entry program in nursing at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester.  She spent several years doing research and quality improvement at the Elliot Health System in Manchester, and now works as a consultant with federally qualified health centers on research and evaluation of grant-funded programs. Dr. Thies joined the board of HNH because she believes that a healthy childhood is the foundation for a healthy and productive life.  Developmental psychologists like to say that investment in children is like money in the bank: it will accumulate interest that society can draw on for decades.  If we fail our children, we jeopardize our own futures. When she is not working, Dr. Thies enjoys sailing on Lake Winnipesaukee with her husband Bob, visiting grandchildren in San Francisco, and playing the ukulele.

Pamela Brown is the founder and President of Brown Performance Group and its successor, Brown Philanthropy Advisors, which helps individuals, families, and foundations achieve greater impact with their philanthropic dollars.  She has over 27 years of experience in nonprofit and for-profit strategic and business planning and capacity building. Ms. Brown is a former corporate banker with an M.B.A. from Cornell University and an M.S. Ed. from the State University of New York.

Pam is an active volunteer and advocate in NH. She currently serves on the Community Impact Committee of Granite United Way, Central Region.  She was founding Chair of the Board of Granite Pathways, a behavioral health recovery program for adults in NH and facilitated and wrote Manchester’s Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. She is a former member of the Board of NAMI NH and has served on task forces providing input into the two most recent 10-Year Plans for the mental health system in NH.

Lisa Kaplan Howe grew up in Nashua and currently resides in Manchester with her husband and 2 daughters.  Lisa is a Senior Adviser at Public Consulting Group, focusing on health policy consulting for state agencies.  Lisa has a undergraduate degree from Tufts University and a law degree from NYU School of Law.  Prior to joining Public Consulting Group, Lisa was Policy Director at NH Voices for Health after working as Private Market Manager at Health Care ForAll and as an associate in Ropes and Gray’s health law department. Lisa is a graduate of Leadership New Hampshire and previously served on the boards of the NH Health Plan and Against All Odds, on the NH Health Exchange Advisory Board and on the Steering Committee of the NH Child Advocacy Network.  Lisa is admitted to the bars in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Bobbie D. Bagley is a leader in public health. She currently services under the Mayor of Nashua as the Director of the City of Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services. Bobbie has twenty years of experience in the field of public health services. Her executive strengths include: strong leadership skills, effective verbal and written communications, critical thinking, evidence-based decision making, community mobilization, creative visionary and a keen ability to motivate others. Bobbie easily cultivates collaborative partnerships with service providers. She has experience in developing and implementing programs to promote, protect and preserve health and safety through assessment, policy and delivery of services.

Bobbie has ten years of experience in academia. She developed the undergraduate and graduate public health programs at Rivier University and served as the Director of the Public Health Programs. She has expertise in curriculum development, course evaluation, scholarship, community service and academic leadership. She provided instruction in both the on-ground classroom and online settings, serving as lead faculty and advisor of the public health and nursing program. She provided course instruction and course development as well as supervision of public health faculty. Bobbie worked with community agencies to provide exceptional service learning experiences, experiential learning activities in public health and opportunities to engage in political action to transform hearts and minds.

SPECIALTY AREAS OF FOCUS

• Improving Public & Community Health Practice
• Advocating for Health Equity & Policy Setting
• Reducing Socio-Cultural Barriers to Health
• Enhancing Population-Based Health Promotion and Disease
• Prevention
• Diversifying the Public Health Work Force
• Building a Competent Public Health Workforce
• Assuring Cultural Effectiveness

Matthew Boyle is a Certified Financial Planner® with Millerick & Associates, in Concord, NH.  He has been in the financial industry since 1995, and provides investment management and generational wealth planning strategies for families, as well as providing solutions for business owners and their employees.

Matthew enjoys being an active member of the community.  Along with participating with the HNH Board, he has been the board chair of Granite Pathways, and he is coaching youth soccer with the Hopkinton Soccer Club.  If he is not fine-tuning his client accounts, he is likely on the field with the kids.

Lisa Bujno, MSN, APRN is Assistant Medical Director at Ammonoosuc Community Health Center in Littleton.

She formerly served as deputy director and Title V director with the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services and associate chief nurse for quality and performance at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in White River Junction, VT.

She is involved in work groups for the North Country Health Consortium and is medical director of the North Country’s Integrated Delivery Network.

Bujno earned her nursing credentials at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Benjamin Chan, MD, MPH is the State Epidemiologist for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services.  He is board certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in public health and preventive medicine, and board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in the specialties of Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.  He received his MD degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine followed by an internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).  He obtained his MPH degree through The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice during the fellowship training.  Since 2014, Dr. Chan has been the State Epidemiologist for New Hampshire but maintains clinical professional appointments in Medicine and Infectious Disease at DHMC and is an Instructor in Medicine for the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

His work at the Department of Health and Human Services involves providing medial and epidemiology support to the Division of Public Health Services where he has been involved in responding to emerging infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola and Zika, and to emerging environment health concerns around drinking water contamination with Perfluorinated Chemicals (PFCs).  He has also made it a priority in his work at the local, state, and national levels to improve tracking and prevention of antibiotic resistant infections trough strengthening of state and national surveillance, and promotion of antibiotic stewardship.

Dr. Chan also has training and experience in healthcare delivery system quality improvement through his work at DHMC, and is currently engaged with helping the NH Division of Public Health Services develop and implement a performance management system that uses measurement, evaluation, and evidence based practices to improve public health processes and population health outcomes.

Kassie Eafrati of Berlin is Director of Behavioral Health with Northern Human Services. She previously served as NHS’s Early Childhood Mental Health Program Director. Eafrati earned a masters degree in child development at Tufts University.

She is a NH certified Early Childhood Educator and serves on the board of directors of the NH Association of Infant Mental Health. She is also a member of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Foundation’s Community Partnership Network and is actively engaged in the Coos Coalition leadership team and subcommittees focusing on maternal depression, parenting and professional development.

John Hunt of Rindge has been a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives since 1986, serving as a Republican member from the Cheshire 11 District.  During his tenure,  he has served as Chairman, Vice Chairman and ranking member of the House Commerce Committee.  Representative Hunt’s House duties have also included serving as Chairman, and Vice Chairman of the Cheshire County Finance Committee, which oversees the county budget.  He serves on several boards including the Rindge Historical Society and as a Trustee of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation.

Dr. Homicz is a graduate of Cornell University and Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. He served in the U.S. Naval Dental Corps before establishing a private practice in Antrim, New Hampshire.

During his tenure as president of the New Hampshire Dental Society and while serving with American Dental Association, he promoted access to oral health services for underserved populations. He has chaired the NH Oral Health Coalition, contributed to New Hampshire’s first Oral Health Plan and consulted with several non-profit agencies on dental workforce and access to care programs.

In 2004, he participated in the implementation of the dental clinic at Families First Health and Support Center, subsequently serving as its dental director through 2018.

His clinical focus has been the homeless outreach program at the center. Families First, now a part of Greater Seacoast Community Health, is a Federally Qualified Health Center in Portsmouth, NH, providing integrated  health care services to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.

Dr. Homicz has participated in multiple dental missions to Haiti and Ecuador and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Etherington Award for his achievements in bettering the lives of others through dentistry in New England.

With a decades-long career in healthcare, Roland has played a leadership role in the healthcare industry particularly in behavioral health, payer-provider negotiations and contracting, sales management, underwriting, employee benefit and rate development and government programs.

A Principal at Helms & Company, Inc., Roland provides clients with expertise in provider contract negotiations, physician practice management, healthcare business valuation and evaluation of commercial insurance options for employers and government agencies.  He provides payer-contracting expertise to several Critical Access Hospitals including negotiations and analytic support.  Roland has put his interest and expertise to work in his role as Board Chair of Benevera Health, a unique population health company formed as a joint venture among several New Hampshire Hospitals and a commercial payer.

Prior to joining Helms & Company, Roland served as the Assistant Director of Health Planning and Medicaid for the State of New Hampshire, Department of Health and Human Services.  In this capacity, he was responsible for budgeting, forecasting and deficit reduction strategies for the Medicaid program. Before holding that position, he spent much of his career in leadership roles with Blue Cross and Blue Shield with responsibility for total health care spend, provider contracting, provider relations and provider credentialing.

Roland puts his expertise and passion to work in his volunteer activities as well, serving on the Board of the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.  He also serves as a Board member for the HNH Foundation and is the former Chair of the New Hampshire Healthy Kids Corporation.

His greatest achievement, however, is raising a humble, smart and compassionate teenage boy, with whom he enjoys spending time.

Education:
BS – Bloomsburg University
MBA – Southern New Hampshire University (formerly NH College)

Outside Interests:
Travel
Sports

Last Book Read:
“Home” by Harlan Coben

Keith J. Loud, MD, MSc, FAAP, is Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Physician-in-Chief of the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD).

A 1996 graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, Dr. Loud completed his pediatric residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in 2000 and fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2004, also earning a Master of Medical Sciences in clinical investigation at Harvard Medical School. Prior to returning to CHaD in 2010 to lead the Section of General Academic Pediatrics, Keith served as Medical Director of Adolescent and School Health Services at Akron Children’s Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Certified in adolescent medicine, sports medicine, and general pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), Dr. Loud is associate professor of pediatrics and of orthopaedic surgery at Geisel and a member of the ABP Subboard of Adolescent Medicine as well as the American Hospital Association’s Maternal & Child Health Governing Council.

Jonathan Oglebay is the Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer at Bellwether Community Credit Union, a $530 Million credit union headquartered in Manchester, NH. He has been at Bellwether for 3.5 years. Before joining Bellwether he worked at a commercial bank in Massachusetts for the prior 14 years.

Jonathan has his MBA in Finance from Boston College and his undergraduate degree from Trinity College. He is the President of the New Hampshire Chapter of the Cooperative Credit Union Association and is also the Treasurer of Make A Wish, NH.

Jonathan currently resides in Bow, NH with his wife, two teenage boys and their dog Rosie. He and his family enjoy skiing and traveling. They continue to enjoy exploring New Hampshire and have embraced the feeling of community that is so prevalent here. He has met so many fantastic people that want to make a difference in their local communities, which was a deciding factor in his relocation to New Hampshire. Jonathan is a huge Disney fan and tries his best to coordinate an annual pilgrimage to Disney World in Florida.

Barbara Wauchope, Ph.D., is a retired sociologist and professional program evaluator.  During her thirty year career as a researcher and consultant she designed, directed, and implemented evaluations and applied research for federal and state agency, foundation, and nonprofit organization clients.  Her evaluations focused on the process, outcomes, and impact of programs in the areas of child and family well-being; early childhood and adult education; family literacy; family home visiting; social welfare; public health prevention and treatment; community economic development; scientist stakeholder communication; and foundation grantmaking.  She also conducted research on indicators and measures of child well-being; subsidized child health insurance; child care programs; child homelessness; food insecurity; childhood obesity; discipline against students in schools; intimate partner violence; and child victimization.  Her most recent position was as Director of Evaluation and Research Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire.  She is also an artist and amateur naturalist and lives with her husband in Lee, New Hampshire.