Glenmeadow Welcomes New Board Members

 In Client Press Releases

LONGMEADOW—At Glenmeadow’s Annual Meeting in November, Attorney David Carlson of Wilbraham, chair of the nonprofit’s Governance Committee, announced three new members of the Glenmeadow Board of Directors and five new corporators.

Naren Dhamodharan, John Gallup and Annette Lerner, all of Longmeadow, will now come on the board while Mark Cress, Christopher Gill, Marie Stebbins, all of Longmeadow, and Julie Siciliano, of Feeding Hills, have retired from service.

The new members join Paul Nicholson, Dusty Hoyt, Crystal Diamond, Lawrence Bernstein, David Carlson, Dennis Fitzpatrick, Richard Goldstein, Jerome Gurland, Susan Megas, Amy Santarelli and Norman Smith on the panel. New officers, also elected at Annual Meeting are: Hoyt, chair; Fitzpatrick, vice chair; Smith, clerk; and Santarelli, treasurer.

New corporators are Paul Barden of Los Angeles, California; and Sean Anderson, Leslie Smith Frank, Jackie Quimby and Elaine Tourtelotte, all of Longmeadow. Glenmeadow is a nonprofit organization, and corporators are its legal entity, empowered to elect board members and to amend the bylaws. Corporators also support the mission of Glenmeadow by serving as ambassadors.

Dhamodharan, who earned his master’s degree in social science at Boston College, has extensive experience in affordable housing for elders, specifically in developing assisted living. Prior to establishing Hampden Park Capital & Consulting in Northborough, for which he is president, Dhamodharen was director of Housing and Supportive Services at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs. Under his direction, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs developed a successful affordable assisted living model in existing elderly housing communities.

During Dhamodharen’s tenure, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs received the prestigious John Gunter Blue Ribbon Best Practice award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for developing a successful model of affordable assisted living. Additionally, Dhamodharen was instrumental in promoting assisted living legislation and developing assisted living regulations, which fostered the growth of the assisted living industry in Massachusetts.

Gallup, a Longmeadow resident who received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, retired as president and CEO of Westfield’s Strathmore Paper Company in 1992. Gallup was involved in different capacities with the Baystate Medical Center and Baystate Health Foundation, serving on the foundation’s President’s Society. His awards include the National Conference for Community and Justice’s Human Relations Award, which he received with his wife, Paula, and an honorary doctor of humanics degree from Springfield College in 1998.

Currently, Gallup is a charter trustee with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and is involved with the Willie Ross School for the Deaf.

Lerner, a Glenmeadow resident, brings leadership skills from her experience as vice president of a publishing company and stock photo agency in New York City for 12 years. She was also president of a women’s organization at her temple and an active member of a parent-teacher association when her children were young.

Since moving to Glenmeadow from Florida a year and a half ago, Lerner has been an active member of the community, working in the Glenmeadow store, developing relationships and volunteering with fundraisers. She said she is honored to be a new board member.

“I love my life, I love Glenmeadow and I want to improve it in any way I can,” Lerner said.

Glenmeadow is a nonprofit life plan community—formerly known as a retirement community—and it has a mission to serve seniors in the Greater Springfield region, whether they live on the Longmeadow campus or in their own homes.

Established in 1884, Glenmeadow provides independent and assisted living at its campus at 24 Tabor Crossing in Longmeadow and expanded Glenmeadow at Home services throughout greater Springfield.

To learn more about Glenmeadow and its history and offerings, visit www.glenmeadow.org.

About Glenmeadow

In the 1800s, elderly individuals without family or means were sent to live at what was called “the poor farm.”  In 1884, a group of civic leaders raised funds among themselves and other area families and purchased a house on Main Street in Springfield’s south end, establishing The Springfield Home for Aged Women. Quickly outgrowing that house, land was purchased on the corner of Chestnut and Carew streets, where a new home was constructed and opened in 1900.  In 1960, the name was changed to Chestnut Knoll, and, in 1992, it began to admit men.

In 1993, the organization purchased a 23-acre parcel in Longmeadow to build a new community that would provide both independent living and assisted living in one building with various common areas.  This was a new concept known as a continuing care retirement community.  Existing residents from the old Chestnut Knoll property were moved to the new campus in 1997.  Shortly after the move, the board voted to change its legal name to Glenmeadow to coincide with the name being used by the developer of the property.

Continuing care retirement communities are now referred to as life plan communities, responding to the needs of the aging population with new opportunities for care, plus creative, educational and personal exploration. Glenmeadow offerings, which include everything from senior living options and handyman services to personal care and travel programs, are provided at its Longmeadow campus and across the region through Glenmeadow at Home. Glenmeadow strives to fulfill its mission of nurturing the whole person in mind, body and spirit.

Recommended Posts

Leave a Comment

Contact Us

We're not around right now. But you can send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap.

Not readable? Change text.