Peter Keating: Investigative Journalist, Current Chair of Montclair Chapter of United Way, Northern New Jersey, Member of Montclair Neighborhood Development Corporation (MNDC).
Katherine York, PhD, MBA: Associate State Director of Advocacy, AARP New Jersey State Office. Dr. York formerly spearheaded the Montclair Division of Senior Services, establishing collaborative relationships with over 30 community organizations to found LifeLong Montclair and setting the bar for other municipalities to establish their own LifeLong Township bodies.
Carmel Loughman: Retired from a 35 year career in corporate work at a variety of Fortune 100 companies including Prudential, American Smelting and Refining Company, Marsh & McLennan, Schering Plough (Merck), and L’Oreal USA. Her specialty is Risk Management. She currently serves on the Montclair Planning Board where she reviews development applications, zoning ordinances, and land use documents. She is the Treasurer for the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area.
Lou Miele: Lou Miele had a primary career in computer programming and digital technology for several Wall Street firms. His avocation and first love, however, has been teaching European intellectual history from the ancient world to the 19th Century. For over 30 years, he was an adjunct professor at Bloomfield College, at NYU’s General Studies Program, and at the Humanities program of NYU’s Paul McGhee Division. Retired from his “day job”, he currently teaches history at the Montclair Institute for Lifelong Learning.
Ken Bannerman, MD: Dr. Kenneth Bannerman retired from the practice of cardiology after over thirty-nine years in private practice where he was most recently a member of Summit Health. As an attending cardiologist at the Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, New Jersey, he held various positions including Chief of Cardiology, Director of the Heart Failure Center and Heart Failure Program, and Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. Currently he is part of the Internal Medicine Core Faculty, and he is Subspecialty Faculty Coordinator for Cardiology at Mountainside. He was also an attending cardiologist at the St. Barnabas Medical Center where he continues to be on the honorary staff. Previous non-hospital committees include Member of the Board of Directors of the Senior Care Activities Center of Montclair and a member of the Professional Advisory Committee of the West Essex Community Health Services. Other interests include long distance bicycling, hiking and classical music.
Donna Ward: Retired from35 year managerial career in global marketing for pharmaceutical and consumer package goods companies. Currently, she is Chair of the Voter Registration Committee for the Women’s League of Voters (Montclair Area), and a founding member of Montclair Senior Housing Action Group (M SHAG).
Harold Simon: recently retired from a 27 year tenure as executive director of the National Housing Institute and publisher of Shelter Force, an independent publication that serves (and sometimes challenges) community development practitioners across the United States. Over the years he has had the pleasure of meeting community developers and organizers working in urban and rural areas—from small and large organizations—who are building housing, creating jobs, and assuring that equity is the guiding principle for everything they did. He is a current board member of HANDS, Inc., a community development corporation in Orange NJ, board president of ECLT, a trustee of LMI Mortgage Platform LLC, and an advisor to the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation. Mr. Simon is a long term member of the Montclair Housing Commission.
Rose Cofone: Rose Cofone, MA, MBA, has 20 years of management experience working for telecommunications Fortune 100 companies, and has spent the last 16 years as a healthcare professional helping special populations improve their overall health and fitness. She has lived in Montclair for 31 years, and is a homeowner and taxpayer for as many years. At 65 years old, Rose is not only dealing with her own set of challenges that arise with aging, but she is also intimately familiar with the challenges of caregiving.
Anita Clark: Active member of NAACP Health Committee, Anita has been working on behalf of the underserved in Essex County for thirty years. Ms. Clark was the recipient of the 2019 Fred Handy In-Service Award from the Montclair Branch of the NAACP. She is most proud of the work she did preventing juveniles from turning to lives of crime. Retired from her previous career, she keeps active through work with the Turrell Fund which serves the needs of children. Her experience in fundraising will benefit our Gateway project.
Anya Maria Mayans: Innovative and enthusiastic bilingual (English/Spanish) senior services specialist. Anya served as consultant to mGap‘s SmartSeniors/Smartphones pilot project and was responsible for its developing framework and evaluation metrics for success. She served as State Coordinator of the Plan Ibiripitam Plan Ceibal in Uruguay from March 2016 to May 2021.
Anne Mernin: Executive Director of Toni’s Kitchen, Anne Mernin is a major contributor to the Montclair community, both in the public schools, having served as PTA President of Bullock School (2011-2012), PTA Council member, SEPAC liaison, and for her work with Toni’s Kitchen. During the 2020/2021 pandemic, Ms. Mernin orchestrated a massive food distribution project which ultimately served 500 of our seniors and over a thousand other members of this community.