Our Board shapes Birch Hill into the type of independent living retirement community our residents and their families can be proud of. Our board members, many of whom you may know, serve as an experienced, voluntary group made up of lawyers, doctors, local politicians, industry experts, business owners and current residents.
Steve is the former President and CEO of Masonicare, Connecticut’s largest provider of continuing care healthcare services to seniors including skilled nursing, long-term and dementia care, assisted living, home health and hospice care, as well as physician practices and retirement communities. Under Steve’s leadership, Masonicare experienced significant growth, especially in its retirement communities and in its home and community-based services. He joined Masonicare in 2000 as Chief Financial Officer, becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2003 and President and CEO in 2005, retiring in September 2016.
Prior to joining Masonicare, Steve was the Chief Financial Officer of a large integrated delivery system that included a 500-bed major teaching hospital.
Among his distinguished professional activities, Steve has also served as:
Steve has served on several statewide committees in Connecticut addressing healthcare issues including the State Rightsizing Strategic Plan for Long Term Care.
Donella earned her BS in Nursing from Rivier College, St. Joseph’s School of Nursing. She began working for Catholic Medical Center (CMC) shortly thereafter as a Medical/Surgical Registered Nurse. Today, she is the Director of Revenue Cycle at CMC, where she works with the Chief Financial Officer to develop strategic plans and programs for the Revenue Cycle Team to ensure goals and objectives.
Donella is an Accredited Case Manager through the National Board for Case Management and her memberships include:
Using her Lean Six Sigma skills she works with all departments at CMC to improve efficiency and maximization of reimbursement opportunities as well as decreasing errors and payment denials.
John received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. He is the Chief Executive Officer/Administrator of Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital Network (NRH) whose main campus is in Salem, NH. NRH consists of three inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and a network of over 20 outpatient centers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
John has served two terms on the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Hospital Association and throughout the course of his career has worked with community groups who represent the disabled populations treated by NRH.
Jean joined the thriving Birch Hill community in September 2015 and has not questioned for one moment the decision to move here. Jean shares, “When I came for my first visit to learn about Birch Hill, I had not been here 20 minutes before I knew this was the place for me.” She found the intangible feeling of a caring community that was so evident in meeting both staff and residents.
It is the vibrancy of residents that she finds particularly interesting and has become more evident with the opportunity to get involved in life here at Birch Hill serving on the Board of Trustees.
Jean’s involvement includes:
Teresa earned her BA in Communications from the University of New Hampshire. For the last 10 years, she has worked as a marketing and public relations consultant and freelance writer for a variety of clients.
Previously, she was Vice President of Public Affairs and Marketing with Elliot Health System, where she was responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive marketing communications program for the hospital and its affiliates.
Presently, Ms. Dainesi works as Project Manager for Cookson Strategic Communications, a firm that helps clients increase their visibility with public relations, social media, marketing, and government relations services.
Ms. Dainesi is the author of a nationally-recognized blog that chronicles her parent’s journey with Alzheimer’s. Her writing has been featured on Huffington Post and other online and print publications.
Camille’s current practice with Divine Millimet Law Office in Manchester is centered around areas such as secured and unsecured lending, asset-based lending, real estate financing, letters of credit and credit enhancement transactions, taxable and tax exempt bond financing, affordable housing financing, syndicated loans, and ESOP financings. She has extensive experience with many of the major financial institutions in the region, counselling lenders and borrowers on issues related to commercial financing and credit transactions.
Her areas of expertise include:
Originally from Rhode Island, Camille and her family are very involved in New Hampshire and its communities. She has been involved in various political campaigns and volunteered for the Women’s Business Center as a past vice chair.
Mike received his Pharmacy Degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and his Masters in Healthcare Administration from Bellevue University. Mike has served in various leadership roles in pharmacy, hospital administration, and local non-profits for over 36 years.
Mike is currently serving as the Chief Pharmacy Officer for Winchester Hospital in Winchester, MA. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Clinical Services at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NH. Mike also served as the Executive Director for the NH State Board of Pharmacy and the VP of Clinical and Support Services at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, NY. Mike began his career working in various senior leadership roles at both Catholic Medical and the Elliot Health System.
Mike has served on numerous nonprofit boards including:
Dennis was raised in Groveton, NH and attended UNH. After his freshman year he enlisted in the US Army; while in the Army, he continued his education and received a BS in Business Administration in 1982.
Building on his Army computer experience he joined Houghton Mifflin as a computer operator, and then programmer. He then moved to Mailways Inc. as a Programmer Analyst, followed by Honeywell Information Systems as a Customer Systems Engineer. Digital Equipment Corp., DEC, hired him as a Software Specialist, and over the next 28 years, he moved through technical support, marketing, and product management to engineering management, becoming Group Manager for DEC Security Products Architecture and Engineering.
He retired in 2003, but soon joined two friends in starting Moisture Mapper International, Inc. to develop software applications for the water damage remediation industry. As VP/General Manager he handled day-to-day operations including product development and customer support. He turned the business over to the other partners, and then was recruited as Contract Administrator by MIT Lincoln Labs for a Top Secret Air Force program, retiring in 2012 when the project was completed.
Dennis came out of retirement once again to be hired by Windmill International, a Nashua NH defense contractor as Chief Operating Officer. He retired in 2015 for the last time.
Dennis has been a Rotarian for 13 years, serving as Club President, Treasurer, BOD member, and International Project Manager; District Governor, Secretary, Web Site Administrator, and Editor of the District Directory and Newsletter. He is a Rotary Leadership Institute Graduate and Instructor.
Dennis and his wife Donna moved to Birch Hill in 2017.
Patty McCartan Prue founded McCartan Consulting and is certified as an Executive Coach. Patty’s overall global business expertise includes executive coaching, Human Resource strategic leadership and oversight and mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to establishing her coaching business, Patty was employed as The Vice President of Human Resources for Tyco International, which grew to become a 36B global company with over 240,000 employees.
As a graduate of Stonehill College, Ms. Prue now welcomes the opportunity to serve as a Trustee. Patty has also enjoyed serving locally in NH as Vice Chair, Governance Chair, Riverwoods of Exeter and previously at Exeter Health Resources. Patty is a member of Stonehill College’s Visiting Business Committee and has volunteered with Global Volunteers in Ghana and Por Cristo in Ecuador as well as other non-profit boards.
Timothy Riley is a Senior Member of Harbor Group, Inc. and is the firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Director of Financial Planning and the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer. A specialist in the areas of retirement and estate planning, Mr. Riley holds the designations of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and Chartered Financial Consultant. He earned a Master of Science degree in Financial Planning with concentrations in retirement planning and portfolio management specialties.
His recognition for expertise in financial planning includes:
Rebecca A. (Becky) Smith retired in February 2018 after 34 years of leadership and management of Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). Becky provided leadership in strategic planning, resident relations and satisfaction, marketing, human resource management, staff training, budget development/fiscal management, board development and relations, facilitation of board and staff retreats, community operational assessments, and opening of new communities.
In Becky’s numerous years of experience she served as CEO of Kendal at Hanover, Vice President of Management Services/Principal of New Life Management and Development, Inc., Executive Director of RiverMead and Senior Vice President of Havenwood-Heritage Heights (HHH). Becky is a former Music Educator and has led various church choirs and community choruses.
Becky holds an Advanced Certificate in Health Administration from the New Hampshire College Graduate School of Business and a Master of Business Administration, New Hampshire College Graduate School of Business; Bachelor of Music Education, University of New Hampshire.
A graduate of Rutgers University School of Business with a BS in Accounting, Justine began work at RiverWoods as part of the pre-opening team in June, 1994. Her tenure at RiverWoods began as the Director of Accounting, with growth into the role of CFO in 1997, COO in 2005, and President/CEO in 2007.
Ms. Vogel’s prior experience includes several years in auditing and financial analysis with Arthur Andersen & Co., Ernst & Young, and Chubb Life Insurance Company. She is a certified public accountant in the state of New Jersey and serves as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Board of Directors for LeadingAge of Maine and New Hampshire.
Ms. Vogel has lectured at the University of New Hampshire and is a frequent speaker at local, regional and national industry conferences on topics including strategic management, growth planning, culture development, and financial oversight.
Susan holds an MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and a BA from Colby College and brings over thirty years of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital experience to the Birch Hill Board of Trustees. Her industry experience was acquired in companies spanning insurance, reinsurance, healthcare, direct marketing, and technology. She is currently Principal of Chartworth, LLC strategy consulting and investment banking for business owners in northern New England.
Susan serves on the Board of Directors of the Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire, Associated Grocers of New England, and the New Hampshire High Technology Council.