Leadership + Board

President

Walter J. Ramos, J.D. – President & CEO

Walter J. Ramos joined Rogerson as President and CEO in July, 2018. Mr. Ramos, an accomplished and respected healthcare administrator, succeeded James F. Seagle, Jr., who led the organization for 45 years. Mr. Ramos has more than twenty years of leadership experience in non-profit healthcare and municipal agencies and was most recently President of Carney Hospital, part of Steward Health Care, where he was responsible for setting the vision and ensuring effective leadership and management. He managed $128 million annual operating budget, orchestrating unprecedented financial turnaround for the long-struggling organization.

Senior Leadership

Peter van Kalkeren – Chief Operating Officer

Peter van Kalkeren is Chief Operating Officer at Rogerson communities. In this role, he leads, directs and supports Rogerson’s senior living portfolio. This portfolio includes both Rogerson owned-sites, and fee-managed sites for other clients.  Peter also oversees Information Technology services and Rogerson’s digital transformation. He is responsible for advancing organizational strategic initiatives as they relate to senior living and technology. Peter joined Rogerson in 2018 as Chief Administrative Officer. Prior to joining Rogerson, Peter was Vice President Operations at Steward Carney Hospital and served as Chief Business Development Officer at DotHouse Health.

Natalya Leshchiner – Chief Financial Officer

Natalya Leshchiner joined Rogerson in 2020 with over 19 years of business success in finance and operations management. As the Chief Financial Officer, she provides leadership, direction and management of the finance and accounting teams and oversees all financial activities, budget preparation and audit functions for Rogerson. Natalya formerly worked for Steward Carney Hospital as Vice President of Finance/CFO and Steward Morton Hospital as Director of Finance. In addition, Natalya oversees Rogerson’s Adult Day Health Programs.

David Pia – Chief Administrative Officer

David J. Pia is the Chief Administrative Officer for Rogerson Communities. David has primary responsibility for overseeing organizational management and strategy, human resources, workforce development and corporate regulatory compliance. David joined Rogerson in 2022 as the Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to joining Rogerson, David worked as the Director of Human Resources for the Boston Planning and Development Agency and spent nineteen years as the Director of Human Resources for the Boston Public Health Commission.

Laurie Novakoff Trilling – Senior Vice President of Affordable Housing

Laurie Novakoff Trilling came to Rogerson Communities in 1998 and has served in several roles during her tenure at Rogerson across both Senior Living and Affordable Housing. Laurie currently holds the position of Senior Vice President for Affordable Housing. In this role, Laurie leads a team in providing managerial oversight, support, compliance control, and fiscal/budgetary management for a portfolio of affordable and supportive housing properties. This portfolio includes both Rogerson owned-sites, and fee-managed sites for other clients.

Ken Crisafulli – Vice President of Real Estate Construction and Design

Ken Crisafulli joined Rogerson Communities in 2001 as Building Services Director. He has served in the role of Vice President of Real Estate Construction & Design since 2015.  Ken’s responsibilities include oversight of all construction through completion including the structural planning and permitting, to the management and oversight of a team of architects, designers, and production managers, and ensuring projects are on budget and within timeline scope. Ken works directly with non-profit clients and with the President/CEO to manage specific real estate or new program development assignments and/or to offer consultation on potential new development opportunities.

Board of Directors

Brit d’Arbeloff – Chair

Now retired, Brit is active or has served on many non-profit Boards including her alma mater, MIT and its Council for the Arts, the Brookline Library Foundation and Whitehead Institute. With a mechanical engineering M.A. and B.S., she has been a manager at companies such as Teradyne and Digital Equipment. Brit has served as Chair of Rogerson’s Board of Directors since 2013.

John L. Hall, II – Vice Chair

John is principal of Hall Properties and has served as an Executive Vice President of Carpenter and Company. He has been active in non-profit and community work including as a Town Meeting Member in Brookline, a Director of Brookline Bank and former Chair of the Park School. He is chair of Rogerson’s Development Committee.

Karla Todd Barrett – Vice Chair

Karla is a program manager and training specialist at the New England Public Health Training Center, Boston University School of Public Health, a partnership of schools and agencies to develop and deliver trainings to improve the competencies of the public health workforce. Prior to this she served as Chief Learning Officer for E.L.D.E.R Management Education focusing on programs for emerging leaders and managers in the eldercare industry, the needs of seniors and the range of providers. She was a founding shareholder of MPM Capital, and a manager and consultant at The Boston Consulting Group.

James Mackey – Treasurer

James Mackey joined Bain Capital in 2016. He is a Vice President in the Technology Vertical and is a member of the North America Private Equity team. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Mackey was an Analyst at Spyglass Capital Management and founder and president of Foundation Brief, LLC. He also served as an investment banking analyst at Lazard in New York.

Mary R. Jeka – Clerk

Mary R. Jeka is a member of President Monaco’s senior leadership team at Tufts University. In June 2003, Ms. Jeka was appointed Vice President for University Relations and was later promoted to Senior Vice President for University Relations and General Counsel. Ms. Jeka is the chief legal officer managing the Office of University Counsel, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Government & Community Relations. The University Relations Division also includes Tufts’ main communications departments, which are overseen by a Vice President for Communications and Marketing.

Prior to coming to Tufts, Ms. Jeka was a principal aide and General Counsel to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, (D-Mass) for over ten years. She worked with Senator Kennedy on appropriations, education, environmental, transportation and health care issues and became General Counsel of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. She returned to Massachusetts in 1992 to serve as General Counsel for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) with primary responsibility for managing the legal affairs and government relations in Washington D.C. She also served as General Counsel for the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority (HEFA). In June 2003, Ms. Jeka was appointed Vice President for University Relations at Tufts University and in November 2011 was promoted to Senior Vice President for University Relations and General Counsel.

Ms. Jeka is a resident of Somerville, Massachusetts. She earned her J.D. from Boston College Law School and her B.A. in political science cum laude from Boston College. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts.

Sarah Acer Allen

Sarah served as Director of Religious Education at the Church of the Redeemer, Director of Village Residences at Pine Manor College and as a teacher at several schools located nationally and locally.  She provides pastoral care at the Church of the Redeemer and serves as President of the Alumni Council of Pine Manor College among other community activities.

Charles Baker, III, J.D.

Charles Baker, III is the President and Co-Founder of Dewey Square Group with more than 30 years of experience in government, politics, and law with focuses on the development of public strategies, the building of successful grassroots coalitions, and the analysis of public law/policy.

From 2015-2016, Charlie served as Chief Administrative Officer for Hillary for America. Prior to that role he was a senior advisor during several national campaigns, including for the Democratic National Committee, Kerry/Edwards 2004, Gore/Lieberman 2000 and Clinton/Gore ’92. His political experience also includes positions as Chief Campaign Consultant to Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 1994 and National Field Director for Dukakis/Bentsen ’88.

Early in his career Charlie served as Deputy Chief Secretary to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, later becoming Deputy Secretary of the Executive office of Communities and Development and Assistant Secretary of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

From 2001-2015 he was a Partner in both the Government Affairs and Real Estate departments at the international law firm DLA Piper. He began his legal career in 1991 as an Associate and later Partner at Hill & Barlow.

Charlie received his J.D. from Boston University in 1984 and his A.B. in Government (cum laude) from Harvard College in 1980.

George Bennett

Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Good Measures, for 35 years George has been a successful serial entrepreneur. He co-founded Bain and Co. and Braxton Associates, two highly regarded international strategy consulting firms. He is also a co-founder of Symmetrix, a management consulting firm that specialized in helping large firms translate innovative strategies into cost effective operating practices and Health Dialog Corporation, an international health care services company.

Brent A. Berc

Brent Berc is a Founding Partner at Boston Real Estate Collaborative LLC.  Brent has more than 13 years of experience in the real estate industry, mostly around investment, development and the operation of property management and corporate housing companies.  Brent was the Founding Partner at Boston Real Estate Collaborative and Short Term Rentals Boston.  Brent’s prior experience includes serving as Vice President of Sales at Reservoir Real Estate, and various roles at Providence Development Group, Opechee Construction Corporation, and HallKeen LLC.  Brent holds degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Babson College.

Darlene L. Boroviak

Darlene Boroviak received her B.A. from Beloit College and her Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University, St. Louis. She began her teaching career at Wheaton College in September 1970, developing and teaching courses in European Politics, U. S. Foreign Policy, International Relations, International Law, and Research Methods for 43 years. She was instrumental in starting the major in International Relations and served as Coordinator for that major until she retired from full-time teaching in 2013. In addition to teaching, during her years at Wheaton she served in various administrative positions including Dean of the College, 1979-1983; Dean of the Faculty, 1987-1991; and Acting Provost 1990-1991. Most recently she served as the College’s Title IX Coordinator from 2013-2016.

Now fully retired from the College, she is active in various groups and on various Boards in Norton and surrounding communities, including the Daggett Crandall Newcomb Home for Seniors in Norton, Mass., (Board member since 2010; Board Chair since 2015); Cooperative Production(COOP) serving Dighton, Rehoboth, Taunton, and Norton (Board member since 1999; Governance Committee Chair since 2012); Land Preservation Society of Norton (Board member since 2013); Nine Lives of Norton (Board member since 2016; Board Chair since 2017).

Cynthia M. Connelly

Cynthia has worked since 1990 as a principal in strategic business development, marketing, communications and client relations, with extensive sales and leadership experience across a broad range of industries. In 2009 Cynthia made a deliberate change of focus into the senior sector; applying her strategic marketing and communications expertise in helping businesses develop distinctive ways to position and distinguish their products, services, and ideas in this exploding and demanding marketplace. Cynthia has spent the past decade serving as a Senior Living Consultant, with an impressive portfolio of national and local clients, including Senior Helpers, one of the top performing home care agencies in the United States. She is responsible for marketing and external messaging, monthly blogs and social media management, and communications/presentations to referral sources, as well as guiding the owner’s reputation in the greater marketplace and ghost-writing a book about the journey of aging. Her work has included the re-branding of 2Sisters Senior Living Advisors, a referral service for families considering assisted living and memory care communities, advising them on marketing, communications and business strategy. Cynthia is a Certified Dementia Practitioner working with leading professionals in the field to package and market staff training programs for Alzheimer’s and Dementia care to assisted livings, home care agencies, and the EOEA.

John E. Cupples

John is the founder and former principal of Cupples Associates Consulting, a consulting practice specializing in services to leadership of healthcare organizations including planning, governance effectiveness, electronic medical records strategies enterprise alignment and process improvement strategies. He recently retired as principal.  Previous to this he has served as President, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Executive Vice President of Hebrew Senior Life and Vice President Brigham and Women’s Hospital. John chairs Rogerson’s Governance Committee.

Lloyd C. Dahmen

Prior to his retirement, Lloyd served as a Managing Partner at Alphametrics and as General Partner at Claflin Capital Management. He has worked in senior positions for other Boston financial management firms including Scudder Stevens & Clark, Dahmen Associates and Franklin Management. He served as President at Club Motorsports, Inc. In addition to serving as a director of Rogerson Communities, Lloyd has been on the Board of Directors at The Brookline Music School and was Senior Warden at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill.  He serves as a Director at Club Motorsports, Inc.

Ogden M. Hunnewell

Og is President and founding co-partner of Nordic Properties, a commercial real estate investment, development and asset management company based in Burlington and Boston. He has served as a senior vice president of Northland Investment Corporation and worked at Booz Allen and Hamilton. He serves or has served on the Boards of Milton Academy, New England Aquarium, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties both nationally and locally.

Philip W. Johnston

In 1984, Governor Michael S. Dukakis appointed Phil the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Massachusetts.  In 1991, Phil served as the Executive Director of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in Washington, D.C., an organization established by the Kennedy family to continue to carry on Robert F. Kennedy’s work in the field of social justice and human rights in the United States and around the globe.  In 1992, he was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the New England Administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Phil was appointed in 2007 by Governor Deval Patrick as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts. Phil has served on the Board of Directors of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts since 1998.  In 2002, he was appointed to Chair the Board of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.  In addition, Phil is the Board Chair of the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum. Phil also sits on the Boards of ConforMIS, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, the Carroll Center for the Blind, the Tramuto Foundation, Health eVillages, along with the Advisory Board for the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center.  In 2012, Phil was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.  Most recently, Phil was named a trustee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.  Phil founded and served as Executive Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps. 

Martin Williams, M.D.

Dr. Martin J. Williams is Chief of Surgery at Carney Hospital and parishioner at St. Mary of the Angels Parish in Roxbury. He is known for his work and advocacy for quality health care for all, especially the poor and disenfranchised. He has provided kind and compassionate care for many people in the former Columbia Point Housing Project, Health Centers and the Bridge Over Troubled Waters Van, which provide free health care throughout greater Boston.

Dr. Williams is a practicing Surgeon in Dorchester Center, MA. Dr. Williams graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1982 and has been in practice for 37 years. Dr. Williams also specializes in Internal Medicine. He currently practices at Martin J Williams MD and is affiliated with Carney Hospital. Dr. Williams is board certified in Internal Medicine. Dr. Williams also practices at Steward Carney Hospital Inc. in Dorchester, MA.

Peter L. Zane

In 1973, Peter joined the Kryptonite Corporation. Kryptonite’s primary focus was on the development, manufacturing and marketing of bicycle and motorcycle  locks to dealers around the country.  Peter and his brother, Mike and their father, Ernest, collaborated on a design of the K-4 Bike Lock which became the standard in the industry.   The famous K-4 lock won many national and international awards for design excellence. Peter served as the President of the Kryptonite Corporation from 1986 until the sale of the company in 2002.  During his tenure, Kryptonite Corporation sold products in more than 50 countries around the world and transformed itself from a manufacturing company to a marketing company. Kryptonite Locks and the K-4 design are ubiquitous throughout the world.

Today, Peter focuses much of his time on human service not-for-profit activities. As a member of the Board of Directors of Crittenton Women’s Union from 2002 to 2014. Peter was instrumental in the development of the synergies, integration, and execution of the new enterprise – creating economic mobility for women in poverty.

Peter enjoys his long-term affiliation with the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care and membership on their Leadership Counsel and Development Committee. He also serves as Chair of Community Servings, a Boston-based not-for-profit that focuses on providing wholesome, medically tailored meals to individuals with serious illnesses.

Peter has been an Overseer and a member of the Finance Committee of Rogerson Communities for over 15 years. In January, 2023, he joined Rogerson’s Board as a Director. He has a personal connection to Rogerson, as his mother, Lilian Zane was a resident at Rogerson House during the last 14 years of her life where she passed at the age of 101. Peter has very fond memories of the staff and her time at Rogerson House.

Peter is an inveterate ‘foodie’ and has been married to Ellen Zane, a renowned national healthcare leader, for over 40 years. Ellen is also an active member of many public, private, and non-profit boards. In 2013, Peter and Ellen Zane were presented with the Charles E. Rogerson Award at Rogerson’s Welcome Home gala.

Peter Zane received his B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College and his M.A. degree from Montclair University. He received his J.D. from New England School of Law.

Life Directors

  • Lawrence S. DiCara, Esq.
  • Paul S. Evans
  • Shelley Kaplan
  • Gary P. Kearney, M.D.
  • Peter M. Keating
  • Cecily O. Morse
  • Joseph L. Serafini
  • William Stone
  • Paula Thier

Board of Overseers

  • Nile L. Albright, MD
  • Daniel Bancroft
  • Patricia N. Burdick *
  • Carolyn J. Campanelli
  • Robert D. Chellis
  • Meredith P. Clapp *
  • Lisa Clark
  • Christine F. Collins
  • Erica A. Corsano
  • Pat L. Cox *
  • Andrea d’Amato
  • Ellen Feingold
  • Susan Flanagan, Ph.D.
  • Elizabeth M. Hanson
  • Sarah D. Hurlbut
  • Bonlyn A. McBride
  • Barbara McNeil, MD., Ph.D.
  • Randace Rauscher Moore
  • Joanne Prince
  • Rebekah K. Richardson *
  • Sarita Rogers
  • Jeffrey W. Sacks
  • Esther Schlorholtz
  • Merlin Southwick
  • Robert Tuchmann
  • Ellen Takagi Walsh *
  • Georgiana K. White
  • Peter Zane

*Past Board Member