Author: Webmaster (Page 3 of 32)

Margaret A. Hann has been the Executive Director of The Bridge Family Center since 1998. Prior to being named Executive Director, she served for eleven years as the Residential Director for the Bridge, directing all residential programs, including the Youth Shelter and the transitional living program for older adolescents. She also led the regional life skills and drug-prevention programs. Under Margaret’s leadership, the Bridge has experienced tremendous growth, evolving and thriving as it continues to respond to the ever-changing needs of the communities we serve.

Margaret’s career began in Michigan at the Ingham County Juvenile Home as a Youth Worker. She moved to Connecticut in 1983 and served as the director of a group home for girls in Mystic, Connecticut. Over the course of her career, she has served on numerous community committees and nonprofit boards and has been actively involved in child welfare issues. Margaret earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus on Juvenile Justice and a Master of Arts degree in Administration from Michigan State University.

Robin H. Clare, MBA, RCP, is the Executive Director of Seniors Job Bank, a nonprofit organization serving adults age 50 and older throughout Greater Hartford. Since assuming leadership of the organization, she has helped expand its reach, strengthen employer partnerships, and increase opportunities for mature workers seeking meaningful employment and community engagement.
With a professional background spanning corporate, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial leadership, Robin brings decades of experience in workforce development, human resources, finance, and organizational management. She is a nationally certified speaker, Recovery Coach Professional, and passionate advocate for challenging outdated assumptions about aging and employment.
Robin is also a best-selling author and creator of the Harmony Method™, a framework that explores the connection between personal fulfillment, purpose, and meaningful contribution. Through her writing and speaking, she encourages individuals to recognize the value of their experience and to embrace new possibilities at every stage of life.
Robin is passionate about helping individuals recognize that retirement is not an ending, but often the beginning of a new chapter filled with opportunity, meaningful work, connection, and purpose.

Chris Doyle loves history: reading it, teaching it, and writing it. He enjoys conversations about ideas—with students, colleagues, parents, and even strangers at a coffee shop. On campus, he runs with the cross-country team, wrestles with his athletes, and walks with his wife, Bev, and their dogs. At Avon since 2017, Chris has launched courses in Global Studies, “Government and Crisis,” and, with English teacher Dan Hodgson, a class on inequality and protest in the Gilded Age and today. He also spearheaded the Evans History Initiative, which became a full academic conference in 2019 on slavery and its legacies at the 400th anniversary of Jamestown.

Chris holds a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, an M.A. from Trinity College, and a B.A. from Western Connecticut State University. His commentary has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, and Education Week, and his teaching has been featured in the New York Times. He began teaching in 1985 after a short stint in sales, inspired by his lifelong passion for books and a desire to do meaningful work. “It was so much harder to teach well than I thought,” Chris recalls. “I had to draw students in with stories—so I kept studying to find more.” Now a veteran, he focuses on helping students think like historians. “Memorizing facts isn’t history. History explains the human condition,” he says. For Chris, this demanding approach creates more thoughtful people and better citizens.

Working Globally, Acting Locally: A Community-Based Approach to Staying Healthy

Thomas Buckley, PharmD, MPH, FNAP

Thomas Buckley is Professor Emeritus at the UConn School of Pharmacy. He holds joint appointments at the UConn School of Medicine Department of Public Health Sciences, and the UConn Human Rights Institute. He received his pharmacy and public health degrees from the University of Connecticut, and he completed a pharmacy practice residency at the University of Washington, and a global health fellowship with Johns Hopkins University and the International Rescue Committee. As a public health pharmacist researcher, his work focuses on health disparities and health policy implications, focusing on immigrant and refugee health care in Connecticut and Southeast Asia.

He is a Clinical Consultant and researcher for Khmer Health Advocates, a Cambodian American mental health clinic for genocide survivors in West Hartford, CT. He also provides public health and clinical consultation for the Cambodian Diabetes Association in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the Mao Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand. He has authored numerous national and global health publications and been principle investigator or co-investigator on multiple federal grant projects serving racial and ethnically underserved populations.

Anna Swinbourne (PhD) is executive director and CEO of Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT, and an independent art historian, curator, and art advisor engaged in publication, exhibition and art-market endeavors. From 1999 to 2009, Dr. Swinbourne was on the curatorial staff of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where she created a catalogue on the unparalleled Niarchos Collection, and curated—either independently, or with Chief Curators, Kirk Varnedoe and John Elderfield—major exhibitions on Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Édouard Manet, and James Ensor, the last two of which were awarded First Prize for Best Historical Show of the year by the International Art Critics Association (AICA). Prior to joining MoMA, Anna was an Assistant Vice President in the Impressionist and Modern Art Department of Sotheby’s, New York. Trained at the École du Louvre in Paris, Tufts University (BA), and the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University (MA.; PhD.), she is a Trustee of Hill-Stead Museum as well as member of the Board of Managers of Lewis Walpole Library of Yale University and the Art Advisory Committee of King Baudouin Foundation United States.

Cori brings 25 years of executive leadership experience in social justice work, nonprofit management, and faith-based organizing to the Center for Leadership and Justice, where she has served as Executive Director since 2014. Cori’s passion is building power among marginalized and faith-based communities through organizing efforts to bring about systemic change. She is also deeply passionate about the intersection of social justice and congregational life. She holds an M.Div. from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH and is a member of Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford.

Founder, and president of The Mitman Group, is a 50-plus market advisor with over 30 years of experience studying the mature market. A Ph.D. graduate in Gerontology, Transportation and Education from Michigan State University, Ruth has a diverse professional background in striving to improve the quality of life for the older population.

Dr. Mitman was a Corporate Gerontologist at The Hartford Financial Services Group, has served on the faculty of the College of Lifelong Learning at Michigan State University and was a consultant for AARP.

Ruth lives in West Hartford with her husband, The Rev. John Mitman.  They have two children and four grandchildren.

Bruce is CEO and Publisher of The Connecticut Mirror. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization, revenue generation, product innovation, reader engagement, and all business operations. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Cornell University.