Leadership

Terence G. Blackwell, Jr., BCBA

Mr. Blackwell joins the Chimes Family of Services as our President and Chief Executive Officer. He brings more than two decades of diverse leadership experience serving the needs of people with disabilities to his new role with Chimes. Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Manhattan-based Services for the Underserved (SUS), providing services to people with intellectual disabilities, behavioral health, mental health, and substance abuse issues as well as veterans’ services in a variety of coordinated and integrated care models.

In addition to earning his M.S. in Psychological Services from the University of Pennsylvania, including attendance at the Wharton School, Terence is a Licensed School Principal, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and Certified Addictions Specialist. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from Saint Peter’s University.

Mr. Blackwell’s career history has ranged from serving as a Direct Care Counselor for a large community-based residence to leading the development and operation of preschool programs for children with disabilities under the authority of the New York State Educational Department. He also launched his own consulting practice for not for profits and government-funded agencies and led program expansion and business development efforts for a large not for profit that provides job opportunities for people with barriers to independent employment.

Thomas Palermo

Thomas Palermo joined the Chimes Family of Services as Chief Program Officer effective May 1, 2017, after serving as President and CEO of Human Service Support Systems in the greater New York/New Jersey area. Prior to that, Tom served as the Director of Community Youth Services and Director of Training, Research and Program Evaluation for Volunteers of America where he created a high performance culture through leadership and proactive engagement.

As a consultant, speaker and trainer, Tom has provided professional development and leadership trainings to many organizations including the New York Office of Mental Health, New York Administration for Children’s Services, The Foundling, the United States Army, and Columbia University’s Adult Education program. In addition, Tom launched a consultation practice providing Parent Management Training, before co-authoring a book on the teaching models developed through his experience with intensive in-home services.

Through his career, Tom has committed himself to the individual, family, and their provider agencies. His experience has focused on youth, behavioral health, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Gerard J. Cotter

Gerard J. Cotter (Jerry) joined Chimes in January of 2017 and assumed the role of Executive Vice President for Chimes District of Columbia. As Executive Vice President, he is responsible for all programs and services, funding, program development and quality assurance for Chimes District of Columbia.

A retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, he brings to Chimes over 37 years of experience in the leadership and management of services, programs, contracts and sustainment logistics operations, in the military, commercial industry, and federal civil service.  He has managed operations and contracts in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has developed federal department procurement policy.

Mr. Cotter has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Saint Peter’s University, a Master’s Degree in Contracting and Acquisition Management from Florida Institute of Technology, and holds top tier federal certifications in Contracting and Project/Program Management.

Steve DaRe

Steve DaRe is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Chimes, bringing more than 25 years of specialty and managed healthcare finance and operations experience to the team. Prior to joining Chimes, Steve held the CFO role at Emergency Medical Associates (part of Alteon Health) and MEP Health (part of US Acute Care Associates.)

Earlier in his career he served as the senior vice president of finance at APS Healthcare, a behavioral health, disease management and specialty managed care company; was CFO of American Psych Systems, a behavioral health management company; and was a divisional CFO at Magellan Health Services, where he had overall financial responsibility for the public sector (State Medicaid/Tricare) division and acquisition integration activities for the Merit Behavioral and CMG Health purchases.  

He holds an MBA from Loyola College and a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Baltimore.

Pamela Z. Meadows

Pamela Z. Meadows is Sr. Vice President of Human Resources.  Prior to joining Chimes, she spent 13 years as the Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Operations at The Lightstone Group.  Prior to her tenure with Lightstone, Ms. Meadows served as the Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Prime Retail and played a pivotal role in forming the company’s human resources department.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Meadows was responsible for accounting, human resources and tenant relations with Shopco Management. Ms. Meadows is an active member of the Society of Human Resources and the National Payroll Association. She lives in Joppa, Maryland, with her husband, Ken, and their four children.