Christine M. Lewis, Chair Ms. Lewis, of South Windsor, was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney in 2003. Chris is the former Director of the State Unit on Aging (the Elderly Services Division of the Department of Social Services). In this role she was responsible for management of the division including the Elder Information Unit, the Community Services Unit and the Ombudsman Program of the Department of Social Services. She was instrumental in the development of Connecticut’s Federal and State Elderly Nutrition Program, the Area Agency on Aging Program, the Statewide Caregiver and Alzheimer’s Respite programs and several statewide associations including senior centers and municipal agents. She is the former President of the National Association of State Units on Aging. Chris has an MSW from the UConn School of Social Work with a concentration in administration and planning. She currently provides consulting services on aging programs and issues and also teaches leadership and aging courses at local colleges.

Waldo C. Klein, Ph.D., MSW, Vice Chair Dr. Klein, of Storrs, was appointed by Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams in 2005. This represents Dr. Klein's second term. Dr. Klein is a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work where he has teaching responsibilities in the areas of gerontology and social research methods. He has published widely in a variety of areas including social work education and practice and long-term care. His book (with Martin Bloom) “Successful Aging: Strategies for Healthy Living” (Plenum Press) addresses the opportunities for primary prevention in the everyday aging of mature and older adults. Consistent with his interest in successful aging, Dr. Klein has conducted a number of studies on older adults’ perception of and participation in senior center programming. In addition to his teaching and research, Dr. Klein is a frequent presenter at national, regional and local conferences and meetings.

Don Dimenstein, Secretary Mr. Dimenstein, of New Haven, was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney in 2005. This represents Mr. Dimenstein's second term. He has spent over forty years in public service. In 2001 he retired as the Director of Elderly Services for the City of New Haven after serving for seven years. His career in public service began in 1961 when he was elected to the New Haven Board of Aldermen. The following year he began work with Community Progress, Inc., New Haven’s anti-poverty agency funded by the Ford Foundation. He has served as presiding officer of the boards of the New Haven Area Mental Health Association, the Educational Support Program, the Hill Cooperative Youth Services and the Bikur Cholim Sheveth Achim Synagogue, and is a former member of the Commission for People with Disabilities. Currently, Mr. Dimenstein is a member of the Residents Services Committee at Tower One Tower East in New Haven.

	William L. Eddy, Treasurer Mr. Eddy, of Simsbury, was appointed by Governor M. Jodi Rell in 2005. He was an active member of AARP between 1993 and 2005. Mr. Eddy also served as AARP’s volunteer representative on the Connecticut Long-Term Care Advisory Council and as a member of the Advisory Council’s Long-Term Care Services and Supports Website Steering Committee since their inception. He continues to serve the Advisory Council and Website Steering Committee as an active volunteer with the Commission on Aging. He received the Connecticut Community Care, Inc.’s Myra H. Kerr Individual Advocacy Award on behalf of older adults in 2002, the AARP Andrus Award for Community Service in 2003, and the Connecticut Commission on Aging Appreciation Award in 2004. Mr. Eddy retired in 1993 as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Shawmut Bank. He served twelve years in that capacity with Shawmut and its predecessors, Connecticut National Bank and Hartford National Bank. He had previously served twenty five years in senior financial and investment positions with Aetna Life & Casualty and its subsidiaries. He holds an MA degree in Economics from Trinity College and a BA in Psychology from Princeton University.
	Mary Ellen Klinck, Member-At-Large Ms. Klinck, of East Haddam, was appointed by House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan in 2005. Ms. Klinck served as Connecticut’s Commissioner on Aging from 1983 to 1991. She is a member of the East Haddam Committee on Aging. She has served on the Governor’s Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease and earned awards for her volunteer work with numerous organizations including the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Hartford, the United Way, March of Dimes and American Heart Association. She was also recognized with a Humanitarian Achievement Award by the Carolton Chronic and Convalescent Hospitals. Her extensive career in public service at both the state and local levels has included serving as an East Haddam selectman, chairman of the town’s Democratic Town Committee, president of the Democratic Women’s Club and a Democratic State Central Committeewoman. She has served on the Connecticut Coalition on Aging, the Connecticut Alzheimer’s Coalition, the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Gerontological Society and Connecticut Community Care, Inc. She has also served as Director of the National Association of State Units on Aging. President of the W.C. Root Insurance Agency, Inc. since 1962, Ms. Klinck’s business career includes serving as president and manager of East Haddam’s Hale-N-Hearty Restaurant from 1991-2003. She has earned a number of awards including Realtor of the Year, Middlesex County Distinguished Citizen of the Year and East Haddam Volunteer of the Month. She is the former chairwoman of the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee. Ms. Klinck has attended St. John’s University, Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the St. Joseph’s College Master’s Program in Gerontology. She is a graduate of the Realtor Institute.
	Sharon Gesek Ms. Gesek, of Seymour, was appointed by Senate Minority Leader Louis DeLuca in 2005. Sharon is the Director of the Monroe Senior Center. She has spent many years in the public sector working in social services and is also an active member of several organizations, including the Community Awareness Program for Seniors, Connecticut Association of Senior Center Personnel, Staff Liaison, Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging and the Connecticut Coalition on Aging. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work/Sociology from Central Connecticut State University and has done graduate work in Recreation and Leisure Studies at Southern Connecticut State University.
	Raymond A. Guenter Mr. Guenter, of West Hartford, was appointed by Speaker of the House James A. Amann in 2007.  He is a retired executive vice president and general counsel of Shawmut National Corp. and its predecessor companies and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Syracuse University.  He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, is a former member of the adjunct faculty of the University of Connecticut School of Law and currently a member of the faculty at the Boston University School of Law Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law Studies.  He served two tours of duty in the U.S. Army.
	Nancy Sullivan Hodkoski Ms. Sullivan Hodkoski, of Torrington, was appointed by Senate Minority Leader Louis DeLuca in 2005. She is one of the original members of the Commission and served as the Chair for 3 ½ years. For the past 20 years Ms. Sullivan Hodkoski has served as the Director of Services for the Elderly in Torrington, as well as the Director of the Sullivan Senior Center and the Municipal Agent. She is a Vice President of the Community Health and Wellness Center of Greater Torrington and a member of the Connecticut Association of Senior Center Personnel, the Connecticut Association of Municipal Agents for the Elderly, the Connecticut Coalition on Aging and the Board of Governors at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital. She was also a member of the former Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging, selected Woman of the Year by the Litchfield County Business and Professional Women’s Club and received a Project Care Leadership Award from the Administration on Aging.
	Judith M. Jencks Ms. Jencks, of Lisbon, was appointed by Minority Leader of the House Robert Ward in 2005. She is currently the Senior Coordinator/Municipal Agent for the Town of Lisbon and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Senior Resources Agency on Aging. She is a member of the Town of Lisbon Commission on Aging, the Connecticut Association of Municipal Agents for the Elderly, which she was instrumental in developing, the Connecticut Association of Senior Center Personnel and the Connecticut Association of Area Agency on Aging. Judy is a true advocate for the elderly. She worked extensively to get the guidelines for ConnPACE increased and on the legislation for the reestablishment of the Department on Aging.
	Gerard J. Kerins, M.D., F.A.C.P. Dr. Kerins, of Madison, was appointed by Speaker of the House James Amann in 2005. Dr. Kerins is Section Chief of Geriatrics at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven. He holds faculty positions at both the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Yale University School of Medicine. He is a member of the State of Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities Fatality Review Board and serves as a consultant to the Department of Mental Retardation. His clinical areas of interest and research include Alzheimer's disease care and the care of older adults with developmental disabilities.
	Patricia H. Mayfield Ms. Mayfield, of Waterbury, was appointed by House Majority Leader Christopher G. Donovan in 2005. During her 34-year career as an employee of the Connecticut Department of Labor, she served 11 years as program manager for the Workforce Investment Act, formerly known as the Job Training Partnership Act. One of her responsibilities in that role was to serve as the commissioner of labor’s liaison with the Commission on Aging. She also represented the Department of Labor as a spokesperson, meeting with other state agencies, employer and community groups at the local, state and national levels. Ms. Mayfield also planned, directed and coordinated her unit’s activities involving the design, development and implementation of various Department of Labor programs and services. She is active in numerous Waterbury-area organizations including the Western Connecticut Area on Aging, Inc., where she is a member of the Advisory Board. She is also a board member of the Waterbury Opportunities Industrialization Center; Girls, Inc. trustee; the Connecticut Community Foundation Lit Links Grants Committee and Diversity Committee; and the Greater Waterbury Chapter of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. She serves as board chairperson of New Opportunities, Inc. and is a member of the Waterbury Black Democratic Club and the city’s Human Rights Commission. She is a member of the NAACP. A graduate of Waterbury’s Crosby High School, Ms. Mayfield attended Howard University.
	Richard C. Memmott, Sr. Mr. Memmott, of West Haven, was appointed by House Minority Leader Robert Ward in 2005. Mr. Memmott is the Director of Masonic Community Services at Masonicare in Wallingford. While at Masonicare, he has performed outreach to seniors, made presentations to civic, religious, community and fraternal groups surrounding senior and health care issues and organized community programs and symposiums. He has served as chairman of the Advisory Council and is a member of the Professional Assessment Committee of the Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging and is also a member of the interagency council for the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut. Mr. Memmott is a CHOICES Insurance Counselor and served as a Director of the Connecticut Coalition on Aging and the Interfaith Volunteer Care Givers. He is also a recipient of the Pierpoint Edwards Medal for Distinguished Masonic Service from the Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M. of Connecticut.
	Carol Tillman Parrish Mrs. Parrish is a member, current secretary and past vice-president of the board of directors of the North Central Area Agency on Aging, where she has served since 1995. She was an active member of AARP since 1992, having served as a minority affairs spokesperson, a member of AARP's Connecticut Leadership Council, an AARP Tax Aide Program volunteer and AARP's Connecticut District Advocacy Team Member. In 1998, she helped organize Hartford Chapter 5266 of AARP. She has served as a consultant to the Braceland Center for Geriatric Studies.
	James L. Pellegrino Mr. Pellegrino, of Meriden, was re-appointed by Governor M. Jodi Rell in 2007. A senior business executive with broad national and international experience in both the public and private sectors, Mr. Pellegrino served for 11 years as president of The Henderson Leonard Group, a career management consulting firm. His public service experience includes serving two terms as mayor of Meriden and working with the Connecticut congressional delegation on aerospace issues. Mr. Pellegrino led the negotiations for the merger of The Meriden-Wallingford Hospital and the World War II Veterans’ Memorial Hospital into Midstate Medical Center in Meriden. He was appointed by former Gov. William A. O’Neill to the Governor’s Technology Advisory Board and served as a special consultant to the U.S. Department of Commerce in the area of export licensing. Mr. Pellegrino held executive management positions with corporations including United Technologies Corp. and the Textron Lycoming Division of Textron Inc. At United Technologies’ Hamilton Standard and Sikorsky Divisions, his work to strategically integrate competitive information systems resulted in international recognition and established Mr. Pellegrino as a national lecturer and guest speaker for IBM. As Vice President of Information Systems Services and later Vice President of Material and Procurement at Textron, he assumed additional assignments in government relations, public relations and advertising and served as spokesman for the corporation’s health care cost containment task force. Mr. Pellegrino has created strategic alliances with multinational corporations and economic development partnerships with government, education and business. For 12 years he was the host and producer of the regional monthly television program, “Eye on Business,” which featured business, government and university leaders. Mr. Pellegrino is a U.S. Air Force veteran, University of Connecticut graduate and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business. He has been a guest speaker for the University of Connecticut Executive MBA School and Public Policy Institute.
	Carolyn J. Thornberry, Ph.D. Dr. Thornberry, of West Hartford, was appointed by State Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams to a four-year term ending in 2009. Dr. Thornberry is a college educator, public policy consultant and has previously worked in non-profit business management. In 2005, she was elected to a third term on the West Hartford Town Council. She chairs the Council’s Human Services Committee, which deals in policy areas of social services, including geriatric services; all leisure services programs and facilities. Additionally, she serves as a member of the Council’s Public Safety committee, Education Liaison committee and is West Hartford’s appointment to the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG). Councilwoman Thornberry’s numerous initiatives have centered on assistance for seniors. She instituted expanded property tax relief for seniors and veterans; stopped plans to eliminate numerous senior services and kept the senior centers open. She is currently working on a full launch of her “Heart Defibrillators in Public Buildings” resolution and expanding her volunteerism projects. Dr. Thornberry and her husband, Lt. Governor Kevin B. Sullivan, have collaborated on articles and a successful 2000 conference on the “Impact of the Baby-Boomer Generation”, which will be her focus on the Commission on Aging.
	Penelope L. Young   Ms. Young, of New Canaan, was appointed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to a four-year term in 2007. A member of the New Canaan Town Council, she has served as president of the Connecticut Association of Area Agencies on Aging since 2004.  She has been a member of the Southwestern Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, based in Bridgeport, since 1993, serving as president, vice-president and secretary of the agency’s Board of Directors and holding assignments on the allocations, personnel, nutrition, finance and executive search committees. She is a current member, and has served in numerous senior leadership positions, for the Elder Care Council of New Canaan, Senior Center of New Canaan, Waveny Care Network and is an advisor to the transportation service, Getabout.  In 1996 she researched, developed and facilitated the expansion of the Senior Center program from two to five days per week, served as chairman of two building renovation and expansion projects and secured a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant. She is a member of the League of Women Voters, the Republican Women’s Club, the Garden Center of New Canaan and an ex officio member of the New Canaan Nature Center. She previously served on the town’s Long-Range Planning Task Force and has participated for many years in health and human services needs assessments with the United Way of New Canaan. Ms. Young earned a master’s degree in gerontology from the College of New Rochelle, where she served on the Graduate School Advisory Council, and a bachelor’s degree in modern languages from the University of Delaware.  She is a past member of the Norwalk Community College Community Advisory Committee to the Human Services, Recreation and Leisure Studies Program.
	Gerd Weindling Mr. Weindling, of Trumbull, was reappointed by Governor M. Jodi Rell in 2005. A retired General Electric executive, Mr. Weindling was AARP’s State Director from 1992 to 1996 and State President from 1996 to 2001. In 2000 he was honored as AARP Connecticut Volunteer of the Year. In addition to his work with the Commission on Aging, Mr. Weindling is a member of the Connecticut State Medical Society Medicare Subcommittee. He performs volunteer work as a Medicare counselor at Bridgeport’s St. Vincent’s Medical Center, serves on several local advisory boards and has been a member of his synagogue’s board of directors.
Ex Officio Members:
	Senator Paul Doyle Senate Chairman of the Select Committee on Aging
	Representative Joseph Serra House Chairman of the Select Committee on Aging
	Senator Sam Caligiuri Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Aging
	Senator John A. Kissel Ranking Member of the Human Services Committee
	Representative Alfred Adinolfi Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Aging
	Senator Jonathan Harris Senate Chairman of the Human Services Committee
	Representative Peter Villano House Chairman of the Human Services Committee
	Representative Lile Gibbons Ranking Member of the Human Services Committee
No Picture Available	Commissioner Joan McDonald Department of Economic & Community Development represented by Debra Landry
	Commissioner Patricia H. Mayfield Department of Labor represented by Susan Deschamplain
	Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, M.D.,  M.P.H. Department of Public Health represented by Barbara Yard
	Commissioner Peter H. O’Meara Department of Developmental Services represented by Siobhan Morgan
	Commissioner Thomas R. Sullivan Department of Insurance represented by Kathy Walsh
	Commissioner Ralph J. Carpenter Department of Transportation represented by Dennis King
	Commissioner Thomas A. Kirk, Jr. Ph.D. Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services represented by Jennifer Glick
	Commissioner Michael P. Starkowski Department of Social Services represented by Pamela Giannini

 

Former Members Connecticut Commission on Aging Since 1993 Kathyrn Freda, Farmington Maxine Goldstein, Greenwich Sandra K. Muller, Cromwell Mary McCabe, Westbrook Ida Arbitman, Hamden Marjorie Valentin, Lebanon Scott Douglass, Durham Ethel M. Austin, Hartford Carmen Romano, New Haven Mary Ann Norelli, Bethlehem Walter L. Schlenker, Westport Mary Wilcox, Middletown Thomas P. Connors, New Milford Agnes W. Timpson, Hamden Bernice Corbo, Waterbury Joan Quinn, Wethersfield Kathy McDonnell - Bissell, Trumbull Sam S. F. Caligiuri, Waterbury Margaret K. Rutledge, Wethersfield Raymond A. Moore, Mansfield Mary H. Boatwright, Stonington Patsy Van Doren, Cornwall