About CHDI

Board of Directors

The CHDI Board of Directors includes representatives from academia, the business and finance community, and child-serving systems and services. Board members provide expertise in child psychology, early childhood, pediatrics, racial trauma, health equity, social work, law, business, and other areas.

The CHDI Board of Directors is chaired by Linda Mayes, MD. Linda is the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology and Director of the Yale Child Study Center.

 

Maryellen Doyle, MS Principal, Investor Relations at HarbourVest Partners
CHDI Board Treasurer

Maryellen Doyle is the Principal, Investor Relations at HarbourVest Partners, LLC. Prior to joining HarbourVest, she was with Landmark Partners as Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development for two years. Ms. Doyle spent 14 years with Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) where she was most recently an executive director of U.S. consultant relations. During her tenure at MSIM, Maryellen also worked as a portfolio specialist for Alternative Investment Partners and as a member of the firm’s Strategic Client Group.

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Jeffrey Geoghegan Chief Financial Officer, UConn Health

Jeffrey Geoghegan is the Chief Financial Officer for UConn Health, which includes the UConn School of Medicine, UConn School of Dental Medicine, John Dempsey Hospital, and the University physician practice. He has over two decades of leadership and not-for-profit healthcare and education experience. As CFO, he has responsibility for all of UConn Health’s financial operations including a $1.4 billion operating budget, financial planning and reporting, strategic planning, and all revenue cycle operations.

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Linda Mayes, MD Director of Yale Child Study Center
CHDI Board Chair

Linda Mayes is the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology and Director of the Yale Child Study Center. She is also Special Advisor to the Dean in the Yale School of Medicine and a Distinguished Visiting Professor in psychology at Sewanee: The University of the South where she is working on intervention programs to enhance child and family resilience.

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Roslyn Holliday Moore, MS Deputy Director for Programs for the Office of Minority Health (OMH)

Roslyn Holliday Moore, MS, is the Deputy Director for Programs for the Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Ms. Holliday Moore oversees all program development and implementation activities for OMH.

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Harry Norman, CFA Head of Asset/Liability Management, The Hartford

Harry Norman is Head of Asset/Liability Management at The Hartford, where he has worked for over twenty years. He is a senior leader within The Hartford's Enterprise Risk Management organization and is responsible for the oversight and management of the company’s market risk profile and risk governance structure and for developing long-term investment strategies.

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Jennifer Oppenheim, PsyD Co-Director/Co-Founder, Thriving Together, LLC

Jennifer Oppenheim is a clinical child psychologist with more than 30 years of experience in the fields of infant and early childhood mental health, maternal mental health, and large-scale systems change efforts. She is the co-Founder and co-Director of Thriving Together, LLC, a consulting firm offering training, technical assistance, and thought partnership to support infant and early childhood mental health/early relational health.

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Wizdom Powell, PhD, MPH Chief Social Impact and Diversity Officer, Headspace Health
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, UConn Health

Wisdom Powell is a psychologist, tenured professor, and nationally recognized expert on racial trauma, healing, and health equity. She currently serves as the Chief Social Impact and Diversity Officer at Headspace Health and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UConn Health. She also serves as the President-Elect of the American Psychological Association, Division 51 Men and Masculinities, and is an honorary professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban South Africa.

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Fran Rabinowitz Executive Director, Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents

Fran Rabinowitz is Executive Director at the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS). She is an accomplished educational leader with a wealth of experience in education. She joined the CHDI Board of Directors in December 2023.

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Galo Rodriguez, MPH President and CEO, The Village for Families & Children
CHDI Board Secretary

Galo Rodriguez is President and CEO of The Village for Families & Children. In his leadership role, Galo provides the vision for the agency; he is often its face and its voice, speaking on behalf of its leadership team and over 400 dedicated professional staff.

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Melissa Santos, PhD Interim Division Chief, Pediatric Psychology, Connecticut Children's Specialty Group
Clinical Director, Obesity Center, Connecticut Children's Specialty Group

Melissa Santos is a licensed psychologist and the Interim Division Chief of Pediatric Psychology at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, where she specializes in the family treatment of pediatric obesity. She works with adolescents and their families preparing for bariatric surgery and families participating in non-surgical weight management programming. Dr. Santos also supervises psychology and medical students in clinical and research activities within the obesity program.​

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Jeffrey Vanderploeg, PhD President & CEO
Child Health and Development Institute

Jeff Vanderploeg is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Child Health and Development Institute. He joined CHDI in 2009 and was appointed President and CEO of CHDI on October 1, 2017. Dr. Vanderploeg serves on the CHDI Board of Directors.

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