COPYWRIGHT - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Executive Vice President
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Executive Vice President of the Melville Charitable Trust

Aimee Hendrigan serves as Executive Vice President of the Melville Charitable Trust. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight for the Trust's operations, grants administration, and strategic communications. Aimee also manages the Trust's evolving grant portfolio addressing the lack of rapid pathways to decent, permanent housing for Black, Indigenous and Latino/a/x people with extremely low incomes as well as special initiatives related to the Trust's new strategy for equitable results. During her fifteen years with the Trust, Aimee has been actively engaged in a wide range of the Trust's operations, grantmaking and strategy development. Most notably she has led the Trust's work to end youth homelessness. Aimee was a key force behind the development and launch of A Way Home America, a national movement to prevent and end homelessness for BIPOC and LGTBQ young people. In addition, the Trust's investments in the Hartford neighborhood of Frog Hollow have always been close to her heart and, in her current role, she ensures the sound physical, financial, and operational management of the properties and the nonprofits that work in those spaces, many of them grantees of the Trust. She is a board member of one of those nonprofits, Forge City Works, which focuses on building community and creating economic opportunity in Hartford. Aimee has a master's degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley with a focus on community development. She was previously a Project Manager in the Santa Barbara County Administrator's Office, responsible for community planning strategy and performance measurement across County departments. Aimee received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Senior Program Officer
• Trust As Senior Program Officer

Alyia Gaskins joined the Trust as Senior Program Officer in November 2020. Alyia's work primarily focuses on housing affordability and housing stability as key components of preventing and ending homelessness for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). A public health strategist and urban planner, Alyia has over 10 years of experience developing and executing large-scale initiatives and partnerships. Previously, Alyia served as Assistant Director for Networks and Programs - Health at the Center for Community Investment (CCI). In that role she led Accelerating Investments for Healthy Communities, which helps hospitals and health systems invest in affordable housing. Prior to CCI, Alyia was a Senior Associate at the National League of Cities where she helped hundreds of municipalities pass over 3,000 policies to promote health equity through First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties initiative. As a Policy and Program Associate at D.C. Hunger Solutions, an initiative of the Food Research and Action Center, Alyia partnered with municipal leaders to implement the D.C. Healthy Schools Act and the D.C. Healthy Tots Act - comprehensive legislation to improve the health and wellness of children. She also founded CitiesRX, a consulting firm focused on advancing innovative models of cross-sector partnerships. Alyia is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and has earned a master's degree in public health from University of Pittsburgh and a master's degree in urban planning from Georgetown University. She also holds a Professional Certificate in Municipal Finance from the University of Chicago. Recognized for her leadership, Alyia was honored as one of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce's 40 Under 40 honorees.

Job Titles:

• Executive Assistant
• Member of the Board of Directors

Anna Viola-Goodman joined the Melville Charitable Trust in December 2019 and serves as Executive Assistant. She brings 10 years of experience providing high-level support to executive leadership and management, with a specialty in supporting organizations addressing homelessness and housing opportunity. Her expertise includes office administration, sales support, web redesign and client relationship management for a range of industries including finance, medicine and software. Anna holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the International Academy of Management and Economics.

Job Titles:

• Leader
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Managing Director at Accenture Federal Services

Biniam Gebre is a leader in the private sector and government, with 15 years of experience building public-sector partnerships and leading complex modernization initiatives with government partners. As managing director at Accenture Federal Services, Mr. Gebre provides advisory services to government clients, focusing on data analysis, advanced technologies, and artificial intelligence. Before joining Accenture, he was a partner at Oliver Wyman, where he led financial service companies and government agencies on risk analytics, organizational design, and culture change. His experience at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration gave him an in-depth perspective on how to leverage new technologies to help the government better interact with and serve citizens.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Member of the Board of Directors

Chris is the Chief Executive Officer and a Founder of Vintris Wealth, LLC. Vintris is a start-up wealth management firm founded in June 2023 with a focus on partnering with existing firms and advisors within the Northeast, Carolinas, Georgia and Florida and underserved segments of the markets, including women and millennials. Previously, Chris was a co-founder of Rocaton Investment Advisors, an institutional investment consulting firm. From its start in 2002, Rocaton grew from zero to 90 clients with $600B in assets under advisement and management. Chris served as a member of the firm's Investment Committee, Compensation Committee, and Board of Managers. Chris also provided customized investment advice to large institutional investors, ranging in asset size from $100 million to $10+ billion, across the private and public sectors, delivering effective information, resources, and solutions to solve asset allocation, investment strategy, and the use of public, private, and alternative investment strategies.

Job Titles:

• Finance Director
• Member of the Board of Directors

Holly is responsible for financial tasks to support the mission and strategic goals of the Trust, including financial reporting, policies and procedures, budgeting, accounts payable, payroll, purchasing and benefits management. Holly has a Masters of Business Administration from Boston University and an undergraduate degree in Finance. She has extensive experience in profit and loss management, budgeting and forecasting, cash flow development management, audit, banking, and investment analysis. Holly is a Trustee of the Marblehead Community Charter Public School Educational Foundation.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors

Jennifer Leimaile Ho has a long history of working to fight homelessness in America. From 2013-2017 she was the Senior Advisor for Housing and Services at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development where she managed the Department's relationship with HHS and the intersection of housing and health-ending homelessness, meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities, and defining the housing needs of an aging America. Prior to her appointment to HUD, she served as deputy director at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), overseeing the creation of Opening Doors, the nation's first-ever comprehensive federal plan to prevent and end homelessness. She facilitated development of the USICH youth framework, and served as point person on issues related to families and chronic homelessness. She has helped communities across the country translate the opportunities inherent in the Affordable Care Act to the work of ending homelessness. From 1999 to 2010, Jennifer was the first Executive Director of a non-profit organization called Hearth Connection, which managed a nationally-recognized demonstration project on long-term homelessness for single adults, youth and families in Minnesota.

Job Titles:

• Chairman of the Board

Karen DuBois-Walton currently serves as the President of the Elm City Communities/ Housing Authority of the City of New Haven and its related entities, The Glendower Group and 360 Management Group, responsible for administrative, programmatic and policy direction of the public housing, housing choice voucher program, low-income housing tax credit program, finance and planning and development activities. Previously, she served as Chief of Staff and Chief Administrative Officer for Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. in the City of New Haven, CT. A trained clinical psychologist, prior to assuming positions with the Housing Authority and the City of New Haven, she served in positions with the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Yale University Child Study Center. Dr. DuBois-Walton earned her BA from Yale University and MA and Ph.D. from Boston University. She serves on numerous Boards and Commissions and is an active member of the New Haven community where she resides with her husband and two sons. In 2014 Dr. DuBois-Walton was named one of The Network Journal's "25 Most Influential Black Women in Business." In 2011, 2013, 2018 and 2021 she was named one of the "100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut" by the CT State Conference of the NAACP. In 2015 she was awarded the Greater New Haven NAACP's Community Service Award.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• President of the National Immigration Law Center

Kica Matos is the president of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF). She is also a Distinguished Practitioner at Yale University's Brady Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Kica joined NILC and IJF as executive vice president of programs and strategy in January 2023. Prior to this, Kica was vice president of initiatives at the Vera Institute of Justice. She also served as the director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change. She has extensive experience as an advocate, community organizer, and lawyer. Kica has also headed up the U.S. Reconciliation and Human Rights Program at Atlantic Philanthropies. Before joining Atlantic Philanthropies, she was deputy mayor in the city of New Haven, where she oversaw community programs and launched new initiatives including prisoner re-entry and youth and immigrant integration. Kica was previously the executive director of JUNTA, New Haven's oldest Latino advocacy organization. She also worked as an assistant federal defender for death sentenced inmates and with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Amnesty International on death penalty and criminal justice issues. She has a B.A. from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, an M.A. from the New School and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. She was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Albertus Magnus College in 2017 and the University of New Haven in 2019. She is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award and in 2021, she was inducted into the CT Women's Hall of Fame.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Senior Program Officer

Rebecca (Becca) joined the Trust in May 2014 and currently manages the Trust's evolving grant portfolio focused on increasing income and assets for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people with extremely low incomes. She also leads efforts to incorporate the perspectives of people with lived expertise of homelessness and housing instability into the Trust's work and support their leadership in the field. Prior to the launch of the Trust's new strategy for equitable grant making, she focused on housing stability and resilience among families by strengthening employment outcomes for people who have experienced homelessness. Before joining the Trust Becca was the Chief Program Officer for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp located in Ashford, CT, and was responsible for all off-site camp programs and implementation of the strategic plan. She also served as Director of Programs and Services at Columbus House in New Haven, CT, where she helped launch Abraham's Tent and Chapel on the Green, two programs that work with local clergy to provide support to adults who are homeless. Earlier in her career she served as Regional Director of Rehabilitation Services at the Southwest Connecticut Mental Health System, where she led the successful implementation of the evidence-based practices of supported employment and integration of peers into the workforce throughout the region. Becca holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Treasurer of the Board

Bob is retired, having served as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Newman's Own Foundation. In that role Bob managed the day-to-day operating activity of Newman's Own Foundation, overseeing grants, the food business operations and intellectual property of the company. Bob graduated from the University of Hartford and joined a Hartford area CPA firm in January 1975. In 1984 Bob co-founded Haggett Longobardi, a Connecticut based CPA firm. Haggett Longobardi combined practices with J.H. Cohn in 2007. Bob joined Newman's Own Foundation in January 2010.

Job Titles:

• Leader
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Secretary of the Board

Rolan is a leader in affordable housing and community healthcare development in Connecticut. Rolan Joni Young helps commercial developers, lenders, public housing authorities, and community healthcare organizations shepherd development projects from conception to completion. From assisting with site selection to negotiating construction contracting and financing to addressing land use and zoning compliance, she navigates clients through the process of building consensus and support for these projects, including public/private partnerships necessary for successful completion. These clients have included six public housing authorities, a large federally qualified community health center, and for-profit and non-profit developers. She represents clients in addressing a full range of commercial real estate, affordable housing, community and economic development, healthcare regulatory, and public and municipal law matters. In her legal and community work, Rolan has championed important social justice initiatives that have helped remove obstacles and advance transformative projects benefitting disadvantaged communities. As a community leader, her accomplishments include serving as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority from 2006-2011 and as a former Chair of the Board and board member of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. She served as the first woman President of the Greater New Haven NAACP and was a member of the Executive Board of the NAACP Connecticut State Conference. Rolan currently serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of New Haven Bank, a community bank and community development financial institution, and is a member of the Greater New Haven Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. She is actively involved in the statewide community and has been a member of the Dixwell Congregational United Church of Christ since 1960. A frequent lecturer, Rolan has spoken on community and private development and community healthcare topics and was a visiting lecturer at Yale University Law School.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Freelance Editor and Writer

Ruth is a freelance editor and writer. She received her BA from the University of Chicago and her MA from Yale, both in classics. Since then she has worked in academic publishing, primarily for the University of Chicago Press and the Ohio State University Press, where she was the managing editor. She is also on the board of Forge City Works. She is married to Stephen.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Board Member of the Melville Charitable Trust

Steve is a longtime board member of the Melville Charitable Trust. He is professor emeritus of History of Art at The Ohio State University, and holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago. He is the son of the late Frank Melville, the board's founding chair, and the late Allen Melville, who also served on the board for many years. He is married to Ruth.

Job Titles:

• President
• President of the Board of Directors
• President of the Melville Charitable Trust

Susan K. Thomas is President of the Melville Charitable Trust where she oversees the Trust's grantmaking strategy, philanthropic partnerships and administration. Formerly the Trust's Program Director, Susan led the foundation's housing and racial equity efforts for five years, while managing a state and national portfolio of grants supporting solutions to homelessness. Susan has been instrumental in the creation of Funders for Housing and Opportunity, a national non-partisan, cross-sector funder collaborative focused on tackling the housing affordability crisis by supporting advocacy, narrative change work, and efforts to scale effective practices at the intersection of housing, health, economic mobility, and education. While at the Trust, she was also selected to participate in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Fellowship program targeting leaders working to improve outcomes for children, families, and communities. Her experience as a Casey Fellow has been instrumental in helping the Trust develop a targeted grantmaking strategy that focuses on ending homelessness for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Prior to joining the Trust, Susan was Project Officer for Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, where she was responsible for leading "Unsheltered No More!," an initiative to dramatically reduce street homelessness that placed over 1,000 homeless men, women, and children into permanent housing. As the former president of Providence Consulting Group, she helped launch a statewide foundation to assist foster families and co-chaired an effort for the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Atlanta Housing Authority to rehouse 420 families as part of a major HOPE VI redevelopment project. Susan is a former Vice President of Community Investment and Area Development at the United Way of Greater Atlanta. Prior to her nonprofit career, she worked for 15 years in the areas of accounting, management consulting, and strategic planning. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Maryland.