CHD - Key Persons

Allison Werder

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Board Vice Chair / Assistant Dean of Marketing & Communication

Alton Jones

Job Titles:

Social Worker
VP of Children and Families

Alton joined CHD in 2022, bringing to the agency more than 25 years of experience in the human services field, and bringing him full circle with our organization: he was a relief staff counselor for one of CHD's group homes for justice-involved youths when he began his career in 1995. Alton is a licensed social worker who earned an associate degree in general studies at Springfield Technical Community College, a bachelor degree in Behavioral Sciences at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and a master's degree in human services at Springfield College.

Amale Neary - CFO

Job Titles:

Chief Financial Officer
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team
Key Member

A key member of the executive management team, Amale joined CHD in 2014 after a long career at Berkshire Healthcare Systems. Amale oversees the agency's $120 million annual budget and has direct responsibility for accounting, finance, forecasting, cost-modeling, strategic financial planning, business development, and acquisition analysis. Amale holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Amy B. Royal - Chairman

Job Titles:

Chairman of the Board
Founding Partner
Principal

Amy Roberts

Job Titles:

Senior Vice President - Chief Human Resources Officer

Anthony Franco

Job Titles:

Vice President / Arrha Credit Union

Anthony Hebert

Job Titles:

VP of Mental Health Services for Connecticut

Ben Craft

bc..@chd.org

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team
Vice President of Community Engagement

Brian Fitzgerald

bf..@chd.org

Job Titles:

Communications Specialist
Media Inquiries

Carol Fitzgerald

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team
VP of Human Resources

Carol has worked at CHD for her entire career. She began as a personnel representative, was soon promoted to coordinator, and spent 18 years as HR director until taking her current position in 2008. Fitzgerald oversees benefits administration, employment law, training, management consulting, policy development and interpretation, wage and salary administration, and training and professional development. She holds a master's degree in business administration from Western New England University in Springfield.

Daniel Quinn

Job Titles:

VP of Integrated Health Services

Ellen Freyman

Job Titles:

Attorney / Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin

Evan C. Plotkin

Job Titles:

Board Clerk / President

Felicity Hardee - Chief Compliance Officer

Job Titles:

Chief Compliance Officer
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team

Felicity officially joined CHD in 2020, though she previously represented the organization for nearly 20 years on real estate transactions brought forth by the agency's continuous growth. Felicity has nearly 40 years of law experience in litigation, real estate and environmental law, including more than 32 years at Bulkley Richardson and 6 1/2 years as the owner of her own practice, where one of her major focuses was on development of affordable housing for low and moderate income residents. As CCO, Felicity oversees CHD's compliance with the many different obligations required of the organization within its broad range of services. She received her juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law.

Freda Driscoll

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team

Jalil Johnson

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team
Senior VP of Medical Services

Jennifer O'Brien - CIO

Job Titles:

Chief Information Officer
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team

Jennifer joined CHD in 2020, bringing with her an outstanding background advancing health and human-service organizations in the IT realm. Before joining the agency, Jennifer held management positions at Baystate Health and most recently at Behavioral Health Network. In her career she has focused on providing and maintaining reliable, sustainable technology and data driven solutions to support clinical and business processes. As CIO, Jennifer provides leadership in building and supporting CHD's information technology infrastructure and applications. Jennifer holds a degree in organizational excellence from Fisher College in Boston.

Jim Goodwin - CEO, Founder, President

Job Titles:

CEO
Founder
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team
President
Ex Officio / President & CEO

As a founder of CHD, Jim has devoted his professional career to helping those in need. A highly respected leader in the behavioral health industry, Jim has held several leadership roles across the organization. For more than 40 years, Jim has been a driving force behind CHD's evolution, expanding our breadth of services and geographic reach so that more people throughout Western Massachusetts and Connecticut can access life-saving care. He holds master's degrees in education and business, sits on several boards including the Association for Behavioral Healthcare, and has served as CEO since 2005.

John Roberson

Job Titles:

Chief
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Leadership Team
Program Officer

John has an extensive background in leadership and operations for community-based residential programs and a passion for helping our communities' most vulnerable members. He is responsible for the overall leadership and development of a multi-faceted delivery system with CHD's contract-based social welfare programs in mental health, youth mentoring, family stabilization, foster care, elder care, intellectual and physical disabilities, homelessness prevention, cancer support, substance use, and juvenile justice. John was most recently Executive Director/CEO of Pathlight, an organization serving people in western Massachusetts with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Prior to that, for 15 years he was Vice President of Children and Families for CHD, a division that provides housing, stabilization, child development, behavioral health, and court-guided support services.