About
Board of Trustees
Officer | President
Paul Eddy
International Group General Counsel, Travelers
Paul joined the Travelers in 1980. Since 2009, he has been Group General Counsel for International. From 2004 to 2009, he was Chief Operating Officer for Travelers Special Services which manages the legacy St. Paul and Travelers run-off operations. Before that, his responsibilities included corporate and human resources legal matters as a senior member of the Law Department. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Riverfront Recapture, Inc. in Hartford, Connecticut and the Board of Governors of the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut. He also has been an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Paul received a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law where he was Managing Editor of the Connecticut Law Review. He is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He and his wife, Elizabeth Normen, live in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Officer | Vice President
John De Laney
Senior Vice President, Business Affairs Director of International Publishing, ICM Partners
Officer | Treasurer
Andrew Lattimer
Partner, BlumShapiro
Officer | Secretary
Jeanmarie Shea
Partner, Cohn Birnbaum & Shea P.C.
Jeanmarie Shea practices in the areas of estate and tax planning, probate, trust administration, and charitable giving. She counsels individuals and families with respect to a variety of wealth preservation issues and techniques and works with them to develop and implement estate plans designed to meet their personal goals and objectives while minimizing applicable taxes.
Director
David Baldacci
David Baldacci, author, published his first novel, Absolute Power, in 1996. A major motion picture adaptation followed, with Clint Eastwood as its director and star. In total, David has published 31 novels for adults; all have been national and international bestsellers, and several have been adapted for film and television. His novels have been translated into more than 45 languages and sold in more than 80 countries; over 110 million copies are in print worldwide. David has also published five novels for younger readers, including the #1 bestseller The Finisher, which is in development for feature film, and its #1 bestselling sequel, The Keeper. A lifelong Virginian, David received his Bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, after which he practiced law in Washington, D.C. While David is involved with several philanthropic organizations, his greatest efforts are dedicated to his family’s Wish You Well Foundation®. Established by David and his wife, Michelle, the Wish You Well Foundation supports family and adult literacy in the United States by fostering and promoting the development and expansion of literacy and educational programs. In 2008 the Foundation partnered with Feeding America to launch Feeding Body & Mind, a program to address the connection between literacy, poverty and hunger. Through Feeding Body & Mind, more than 1 million new and gently used books have been collected and distributed through food banks to families in need. David and his family live in Virginia.
Director
Gina Barreca
Gina Barreca, author of ten books and editor of 11 others, is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Connecticut and the winner of UConn’s highest award for excellence in teaching. Hailed as “smart and funny” by People magazine and “Very, very funny. For a woman,” by Dave Barry, Gina was deemed a “feminist humor maven” by Ms. Magazine. Novelist Wally Lamb said “Barreca’s prose, in equal measures, is hilarious and humane.” Her weekly columns from The Hartford Courant are now distributed internationally by the Tribune Co., and her work has appeared in most major publications, including The New York Times, The Independent of London, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cosmopolitan, and The Harvard Business Review. Gina is a member of the Friars Club and an honoree of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. She is the author most recently of If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?, which was an ELLE Reader’s Prize selection, and her earlier books include It’s Not That I’m Bitter, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World, the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor, and Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League.
Director
Annette Bolt
Retired; former President of the Friends of The Mark Twain House
Director
Michael Chesman
Senior vice president, associate general counsel, and director of tax law at The Hartford. Before joining The Hartford, Chesman was director of the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Internal Revenue Service.
Director
Kerry Driscoll, Ph.D.
Professor of English, University of St. Joseph
Director
Maureen Fitzgerald
Senior Manager, Social Media, UTC Communications
Director
Joel Freedman
Attorney & Consultant; Retired Senior Vice President and Director of Government Affairs, The Hartford
Joel Freedman is an attorney and a public policy consultant and is a graduate of UCONN and UCONN Law School. He retired in 2008 after a 25-year career at The Hartford. Following a stint heading The Hartford’s Washington, D.C. office, he was Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel in charge of the company’s Government & Regulatory Affairs. In 2009 he became a public policy consultant and was associated with Gephardt Government Affairs in Washington for five years. He has served on the boards of many local non-profits. He lives in South Glastonbury with his wife, Susie.
Director
Rohan Freeman
Rohan Freeman, PE, LS is Founder and President of Freeman Companies, LLC, an award-winning, multi-disciplinary site development, engineering design, and construction services enterprise. Mr. Freeman, an accomplished mountaineer, founded the company in 2009 shortly after summiting Mount Everest with a promise to clients to “Elevate Your Expectations”. This promise and Mr. Freeman’s career-long dedication to economic development and urban design have led to the firm’s involvement in several large-scale, transformative public projects. Rohan Freeman, who grew up in Jamaica, is the first African-American to climb the Seven Summits. He has set up a scholarship at UConn to help elevate others to overcome their own personal challenges: Freeman Companies’s BRIDGE Endowed Engineering Scholarship helps minority students with an interest in civil engineering who have overcome obstacles such as socioeconomic or educational disadvantage. His passions for adventuring and social advocacy recently collided, as he sponsored a fundraising campaign for three Hartford area youth support organizations in conjunction with his 2016 trek to the North Pole. Mr. Freeman is a popular motivational speaker, and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, U.S. Green Building Council, Construction Institute, Greater New England Minority Supplier Diversity Council and board member of several regional children’s charities. Rohan has been recognized by several local organizations for his contributions to the community. In 2015 Mr. Freeman was inducted to UConn’s Academy of Distinguished Engineers.
Director
Amy Gallent
Former Interim Executive Director, The Mark Twain House & Museum
Director
John N. Giamalis
John N. Giamalis Consulting
Director
Susan Herbst
Ph.D., President of the University of Connecticut
Director
David Jimenez
Partner, Jackson Lewis, LLP
David R. Jimenez is a Principal in the Hartford, Connecticut, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He is the Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Governance and Internal Investigations Practice Group. Mr. Jimenez also provides counsel to employers on a variety of strategic matters including HR compliance, outsourcing/in-sourcing HR initiatives, code of conduct development and organizational compliance, and management of employment law exposures.
Director
Carolyn M. Johnson
Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Solutions for Voya Financial
Johnson is responsible for Voya’s Annuities, Individual Life and Employees Benefits businesses, which comprise its Insurance Solutions organization. Johnson is focused on more closely aligning the strengths of all three businesses, and providing a holistic customer experience through complementary product offerings. Johnson also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee.
Director
Alan J. Kreczko
Former Executive Vice President and General Counsel at The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.,worked on national security, foreign policy, and humanitarian affairs matters for over 25 years with the U.S. State Department. Following retirement from the Department, he was General Counsel of The Hartford until his retirement from there in 2015. He is a graduate of Boston College and Michigan Law School, married to Becky Latimer, with two sons, and lives in Simsbury. He is on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford and is a Corporator of The Village for Families and Children.
Director
Maribel La Luz
Director of Communications, Connecticut State Colleges and Universities
Director
Karen Licht
President of The Friends of The Mark Twain House
Director
Frank Lord
Assistant Vice President (retired), The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
Director
Matthew Maclean
Rossmore Private Capital, LLC
Director
Duby McDowell
President, McDowell Jewett Communications
Duby McDowell is a communications specialist whose career has focused on the news media, government and politics. The firm she established in 2006, McDowell Jewett Communications, specializes in strategic communications and helps its clients successfully navigate the media landscape. For 15 years, from 1988 until 2003, Ms. McDowell was a correspondent at Connecticut television stations, reporting on politics and moderating public affairs interview shows. Currently she is a political analyst for WFSB, the CBS affiliate for Connecticut. Ms. McDowell graduated from Harvard University with a degree in History and attended the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri.
Director
R. Paul Mehlman
Partner, Landmark Partners
Director
Roger Michel
Roger Michel, Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Archaeology – The IDA is a joint venture of Harvard and Oxford Universities. The IDA’s central mission is to record, preserve and, where necessary, reconstruct cultural heritage sites throughout the world. In partnership with UNESCO and ICOMOS, the IDA has concentrated its efforts on the conflict zones of the Middle East, especially Syria, Iraq and Libya. The IDA was recently selected to lead the reconstruction efforts in Palmyra, Syria. The IDA’s 2016 reconstruction of the Triumphal Arch from Palmyra on Trafalgar Square brought worldwide attention to the issue of contemporary iconoclasm. Mr. Michel has also worked for the past twenty-five years as a government lawyer specializing in criminal law, particularly high-profile murder prosecutions. He has been on the faculty at Boston University for 22 years.
Director
Hans Miller
Corporate Director and Strategic Advisor
Director
John Moran
John Moran, Vice President of External Communications, Assurant Inc., a global risk management firm headquartered in New York City. He previously worked as a Senior Communications Director at United Technologies Corp., as a newspaper journalist, and as an adjunct professor in Communications at Quinnipiac University.
Director
Daniel A. Morris
Author of numerous nonfiction books and articles, Morris has served in leadership positions for many Midwestern professional organizations. He recently moved to Hartford with his wife and serves as a judge on the U.S. Immigration Court.
Director
Mark Nielsen
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Frontier Communications
Director
Jeffrey Oller
Executive Director, Ernst & Young
Director
Allan Polak
Director, Organizational Effectiveness, Prudential Financial
Director
Jessica Ritter
Partner, Shipman & Goodwin LLP
Director
Kathryn Sherer
Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.
Director
Zulma Toro, Ph.D.
President, Central Connecticut State University
Director
Edward B. Whittemore
Partner, Murtha Cullina LLP
Ambassadors
Alyce Alfano, Partner, Shipman & Goodwin LLC
Justin Bernier, Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley
Donna Collins, Associate Publisher, Hartford Business Journal
Jennifer Dibella, Partner, Cranmore, FitzGerald & Meany
Brian Flaherty, Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Connecticut Business & Industry Association
Raymond Hernandez, Manager, External Communications, Pratt & Whitney
Evan Johnson, Director of Grants and Economic Development, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy
Barri Marks, Community Volunteer
Julie Daly Meehan, Director of Investor Engagement & Digital Media, MetroHartford Alliance
Matt Necci, Partner, Halloran & Sage, LLP
Chip Olson, Regional Wealth Management Advisor, Peoples United Bank
Heather Rhoades, Partner, Cummings & Lockwood
Asker Saeed, President, Saeed Consulting, LLC
Meg Sakellarides, Chief Financial Officer, Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network
Kara Sundlun, Reporter, WFSB
Jeff White, Partner, Robinson & Cole
Trustees Emeriti
Carole Bailey
Coleman Casey
David W. Clark, Jr.
Jared Edwards
Eunice Groark
Nancy Grover
Barbara Kennelly
Philip R. Roberts
Welles A. Standish