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The Board of Directors of the Providence Village includes:

 


Jane Adler is an internationally syndicated columnist and syndicated cartoonist. She has also been featured on national television, and is a long time member of the National Speakers Association.
Term expires 2019

 

Anne Connor, Secretary, has served on the Board since May 2015 and is its Fundraising Chair. She volunteers as a Service Coordinator and driver.   She is a former librarian and paralegal who moved from NYC to Rhode Island 27 years ago and to Providence in August 2014.  Anne was appointed to the RI Visitor Center Board (2016) and served as President, Annual Budget Drive co-chair and current Food Pantry volunteer at the First Unitarian Church of Providence.  Anne and husband Sean are enthusiastic Villagers.

Term expires 2019

Tony Allen had three careers.  Initially he taught English at the community college in Flint, MI, followed by three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines.  His second career was reporting for The Providence Journal covering courts and business.   Following this, he founded Barrington Books and ran the store until retiring in 2008.  In retirement, he enjoys the Lifelong Learning Collaborative, leading classes in Roman literature, Islam, current events and other topics, and serves as a volunteer driver for the Village.

Term expires in 2021

 

Lenore Bunting is originally from the Philadelphia area, and has degrees from Syracuse, Harvard and Northeastern Law.  Lenore has worked in New York State & in Michigan as a Juvenile Probation Officer, in Massachusetts for the Disability Law Center focusing on Special Education Advocacy and in private practice in the Juvenile Courts.  In between, she worked for the RI Disability Law Center as the policy specialist for an Assistive Technology project. She has served on various boards including YWCA, League of Women Voters and Temple Beth El.

Term expires in 2021

 

 

Deborah Dunning

Deborah believes that living in sustainable communities is the best way for people to be healthy and productive.  For the past 35 years she has worked in positions enabling her to contribute to this goal. As the Executive Director of the Providence Preservation Society, Deborah led creation of a revolving loan fund enabling people with modest incomes to buy the materials needed to fix up their homes. Then she developed educational programs on selecting sustainable building products for the Green Standard. More recently, Deborah founded a software firm offering contractors the ability to efficiently select the materials that support balancing cost and environmental performance. She believes that sustainable communities contribute to the health and well-being of seniors. She served in the initial planning group of the Providence Village and is eager to contribute to its future development.

Term expires 2020

 

Joe Fisler devoted 34 years to public education, the last 15 as a school superintendent in New York City and northern New Jersey. After 13 years in Williamsburg VA, where he was active in both church and adult education programs, he moved to Providence in 2014.  He is an active member of the First Unitarian Church of Providence and has been serving as a Service Coordinator for Providence Village
Term expires 2019


Suzanne Francis, President Elect

Over the decades Suzanne’s work life has included jobs in the public, not-for-profit and private sectors. After several years at the Pittsburgh (PA) Urban Redevelopment Authority, she helped to found and run two innovative childcare programs in Rochester, MN.  Those experiences led her to the Yale School of Management for an MBA.  After getting her degree she joined Xerox Corporation as part of a start-up team for a new business and later worked for the Xerox Foundation, responsible for funding Community and Women’s Programs.  Suzanne was also a partner for more than 30 years at Schaffer Consulting, a boutique consulting firm based in Stamford, CT.  The firm collaborates with large and small organizations to implement complex changes by helping clients to build internal capabilities, set challenging measurable goals and undertake projects to achieve them.  Suzanne pioneered the application of this approach to the integration of mergers and acquisitions.  Her volunteer work has taken the same approach into population health projects to improve asthma management among elementary school children in New London, CT. She learned about the Providence Village at an early information session, and later joined the Fundraising Committee.  Now that she is retired and an East Sider, she aims to put her experience to work helping the Village prosper.

Term expires 2021

Gary Leib, Treasurer, came to the US with his parents in 1950  after surviving the holocaust in Belgium and settling first in Brattleboro, VT. After college in New Hampshire, grad school in North Carolina and Cambridge, MA, the Army sent him to California and to Vietnam. In 1972 he started civilian work at city hall in Boston and then Lowell in economic development planning. Next, he was Director of Community Development in Bristol, RI for 30 years, doing planning, zoning, grants, conservation, affordable housing and more economic development.Upon retirement, Gary was CEO of a startup nonprofit to build affordable housing in South County and then more economic development in Cumberland. His wifeof many years died from ovarian cancer in 2014. Since then he has be volunteering at various places including Dorcas House and the Providence Village. At the PV, he is part of the tech support team, serves as a driver, and also helps out with small activities planning. He is also working on developing the first co-housing in Providence.

Term expires in 2020


Patrick Mattingly, Past President, is a physician with over 35 years of healthcare management experience in non-profit and private ventures.  Pat has lived in Providence for 25 years and serves on the Boards of the Southside Community Land Trust and the RI Health Insurance Advisory Council.
Term expires 2019

 

Jim Maxwell, President, has lived on the East Side since coming to Rhode Island in 1984 to join the staff of the American Mathematical Society as Associate Executive Director. Over time, his responsibilities at the AMS included human resources, meetings and conferences, membership and numerous professional services for members of the US and international mathematical sciences community. Prior to coming to Providence Jim was Associate Professor of Mathematics at Oklahoma State University. Jim retired from the AMS in February of 2014.
Term expires 2020

 

Terry Percelay has had wide experience creating custom promotional premium products for major national brands. As project manager for work in progress, she supervised production contractors and suppliers, including graphic, product and packaging designers. Her prior experience was in copywriting, publicity, and account management at New York advertising agencies. In addition to volunteering with the Providence Village, Terry is developing Finysh Line jewelry products which  inspire, motivate, and encourage. Volunteering with the Providence Village, Terry assists in implementing special projects, and she serves on the Social Events Committee.

Term expires 2021

 


Bonnie Ryvicker has resided in RI for more than 40 years. She has had a varied professional career which has included teaching kindergarten in New York City, managing a volunteer program in a skilled non profit skilled nursing facility here in RI, coordinating the Jewish Eldercare of RI Program to assisted living and nursing home residents and working with Community VNA and Hospice in Attleboro, MA in community education and marketing. She is enjoying her retirement and the opportunity to volunteer with the Providence Village.

Term expires 2019

Peter Viner-Brown was born in Bedford, England.  He is a graduate of The King’s Grammar School, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Queen Mary College, University of London (B.Sc. Combined Honors: Physics/Chemistry); and Lesley College, Cambridge, MA (MS Management). Peter worked as an engineer and health physicist in the power industry in the UK. In the US, he worked in the IT field for most of his career and as a math teacher for the last few years before retiring. He is a volunteer at School One and The Providence Village. He enjoys DIY projects, travel and keeping his 1986 TVR sports car on the road.

Term expires 2021



Phil West is the author of SECRETS & SCANDALS: Reforming Rhode Island, 1986-2006, a first-person history of state government during years he served as state director for Common Cause. A retired pastor, he has helped provide nonprofit human services in several states and countries.
Term expires 2021

Laura Young

In 1973, at age 16, Laura left home for SUNY at Albany, and a degree program, receiving a BA in Sociology in 1977, with a semester break to travel in Colombia. In 1980, after a bit of volunteering (preschool, Albany Association for the Blind), she chose a career in gerontology, which led to BU for a Masters in Social Work and Louis Lowy Certificate of Gerontology. Eventually, she became interested in counseling and worked for Hallgarth Institute, Bourne, MA, making home visits to elders in the community and working with adolescents in DSS foster care. This led to Family Services of Fall River, providing counseling, consultation in long term care facilities, and eventually supervision. After her marriage in 1989, she opened a private practice on the East Side, and maintained this part-time while raising her two sons. In 2005, Laura decided to seek full-time employment with her children growing up, and applied to the first ad she saw, which was the PACE Organization, newly forming in RI. This led to 10 years on a wild and exciting ride of developing and growing this terrific model of care, nursing home level of care--community-based. Her husband’s illness interrupted this work for 15 months, but she has now returned to work part-time, serving as Social Work Supervisor for 5 MSW staff as well as Behavioral Health liaison, coordinating care with geriatric psychiatrists and counseling staff. Laura volunteers as a Service Coordinator for the Providence Village.

Term expires 2020