Board of Directors

Prior to joining Landmark in 2019, she spent 14 years with Morgan Stanley Investment Management where she served as an executive director of U.S. consultant relations, a portfolio specialist for Alternative Investment Partners, and as a member of the firm’s Strategic Client Group. Maryellen is a founding member of the Providence College “PC to Wall Street” Council. She earned an M.S. in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from New York University and a B.A. in Humanities from Providence College.

Maryellen serves as CHDI Board Treasurer. She also chairs the board Finance and Investments Committee and serves on the Executive and Governance Committee.

Before joining UConn Health, Jeff worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers in Hartford. During this time, he specialized in not-for-profit advisory services. Born and raised in Connecticut Jeff is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University and lives in Cheshire with his family.

Jeff joined CHDI's Board of Directors in December 2021. He serves on the board's Finance and Investment Committee and Audit Committee.

Trained as a pediatrician, Dr. Mayes' research focuses on stress-response and regulatory mechanisms in young children at both biological and psychosocial risk. She has especially focused on the impact of prenatal substance use on children’s long-term outcome. She has made contributions to understanding the mechanisms of effect of prenatal stimulant exposure on the ontogeny of arousal regulatory systems and the relation between dysfunctional emotional regulation and impaired prefrontal cortical function in young children. She has published widely in the developmental psychology, pediatrics, and child psychiatry literature.

Given the nature of her work with children at significantly high-risk for developmental impairments from both biological and psychosocial etiologies, Dr. Mayes also focuses on the impact of parenting on the development of arousal and attention regulatory mechanisms in their children and specifically on how substance abuse impacts reward and stress regulatory systems in new parents. With other colleagues in the Center, she studies how adults transition to parenthood especially when substance abuse is involved and the basic neural circuitry of early parent-infant attachment using both neuroimaging and electroencephalographic techniques. She and her colleagues have developed a series of interventions for parents including an intensive home-based program called Minding the Baby. Her research programs are multidisciplinary not only in their blending basic science with clinical interventions but also in the disciplines required including adult and child psychiatry, behavioral neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, and neuropsychology. 

Dr. Mayes serves as Chair of the CHDI Board of Directors. She also chairs the Executive and Governance Committee and the Program, Equity, and Communications Committee.

Prior to joining OMH, Ms. Holliday Moore served as the Senior Public Health Analyst in the Office of Behavioral Health Equity (OBHE) for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The OBHE coordinates SAMHSA’s efforts to reduce disparities in mental and/or substance use disorders across populations. As senior staff, Ms. Holliday Moore provided guidance and direction on national policy, program and data initiatives that addressed health disparities and promoted health equity for underserved individuals and communities.

Prior to federal employment, Ms. Holliday Moore held leadership positions in children’s mental health for the New York State Office of Mental Health’s New York City region, including serving as Director of Community Services for the Bronx Children’s Psychiatric Center. Through her work for the NYS Research Foundation, she directed the Families Reaching In Ever New Directions (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) system of care in the South Bronx. The project demonstrated cost benefits and improved health outcomes of community-based services for children.

Ms. Holliday Moore earned degrees in Speech-Language Pathology at Queens College, CUNY and Teachers College, Columbia University and is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. Ms. Holliday Moore serves on the CHDI Board of Director’s Program, Equity, and Communications Committee and the Finance & Investment Committee. 

A graduate of Fairfield University, he is a CFA charter holder and Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA). Harry will serve on CHDI's Finance and Investments Committee and Audit Committee.

Dr. Oppenheim started her career doing therapeutic work with children and families. She oversaw the creation and implementation of a school-based health center and mental health and social services program, and worked as a consultant designing program evaluations for child abuse prevention, home visiting, and school readiness initiatives. More recently she served for fourteen years as the Senior Advisor on Early Childhood in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Oppenheim’s work at SAMHSA included development and leadership of Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health), Indigenous Project LAUNCH, the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health grant program, and the Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. Dr. Oppenheim received her undergraduate degree from Yale University, where she was awarded the Angier Prize for Excellence in Psychological Research. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Rutgers University, writing her dissertation on the topic of women and courage.

Dr. Oppenheim serves on the CHDI Board of Director’s Program, Equity, and Communications Committee and the Audit Committee. 

He has committed himself to building an organization of talented, skilled, dedicated employees, one that embraces and honors diversity, openness and innovation. He has high standards of excellence for himself and all employees – with the goal of providing the highest level of treatment, service and advocacy for our clients.

Prior to The Village, Galo was the chief operating officer of Catholic Charities, overseeing programs in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties. His career at Catholic Charities spanned 16 years, where he rose to serve as executive director of the Hartford region and director of the Institute for the Hispanic Family. He serves on the Connecticut Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council, and the board of directors of the Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Connecticut Council of Family Services Agencies, Connecticut Association of Human Services, and Hartford Federal Credit Union. He also participates with the Alliance for Children and Families and National Council for Behavioral Health. He was a recipient of a 2015 Polaris Award from Leadership Greater Hartford.

Galo earned a master's in public health from UConn and received his training and licensure as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Cartagena in his native Colombia, South America. His medical career included serving as a family physician with the Colombia Red Cross, in a city hospital and in private practice, as well as a physician in a psychiatry and substance abuse program in San Pablo Hospital in Cartegena.

Galo serves as the CHDI Board Secretary. He also chairs the board Audit Committee and serves on the Finance and Investment Committee and Executive and Governance Committee.

Prior to her current role at Connecticut Children's, Dr. Santos received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Texas Tech University and completed Postdoctoral Fellowships in Medical Psychology at the Medical College of Georgia, and in Child & Adolescent Clinical Psychology the Institute of Living/CCMC.

Melissa serves on the Program, Equity, & Communications Committee, and the Audit Committee for the CHDI Board of Directors.

Vanderploeg received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University, completed Predoctoral and Postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine, and was a research faculty member at Yale before joining CHDI in 2009. He initially began as a Program Associate before being promoted to Associate Director of Mental Health in 2011, and Vice President for Mental Health Initiatives in 2014.  

During his career at CHDI, he played a central role in developing effective policies, systems, and practices for the prevention and treatment of mental health conditions among children and adolescents and their families. He was the lead author of the Connecticut Children’s Behavioral Health Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for addressing the behavioral health needs of youth, which has remained a significant guiding framework for state-wide reform. He was also the co-developer of the Connecticut School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) model and was instrumental in creating a quality improvement system for the state’s mobile crisis system.

In addition to his role as CHDI President and CEO, Vanderploeg serves on the Behavioral Health Plan Implementation Advisory Board, co-chairs the Quality, Access and Policy Subcommittee of the CT Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council, and is a member of several other committees and councils in children’s behavioral health policy development. He holds faculty appointments in Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and the University of Connecticut Health Center School of Medicine.