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.

Stacy DiStefano

With over 25 years of leadership experience in the health and human services industry, Stacy DiStefano has been recognized for her clinical acumen, with a deep understanding of SPMI and IDD populations, market intelligence, and systemic effects of the opioid crisis.

Ms. DiStefano was the Chief Operating Officer at OPEN MINDS, overseeing Strategic Consulting Services, Business Development and Marketing teams. After leaving this role, she served on the OPEN MINDS Advisory Board, where she contributed to projects involving national provider organizations, managed care organizations, and pharma and technology vendors, which allows her to bring a timely national perspective to the Chimes Family of Services.

Prior to Open Minds, Stacy spent 12 years with Resources for Human Development (RHD) in Philadelphia, PA, where she began as NJ Supportive Housing Program Director, overseeing the inception of the program bringing individuals out of state psychiatric hospitals into home and community-based services. She was integral in expanding the program to six counties, after which she was then promoted to Director of National Business Development & Social Innovation, and eventually to Vice President of Innovation.

From 2007-2009 Ms. Distefano served as the Ocean County Campaign Coordinator for NJ of Obama. She is the founding Principal of Consulting for Human Services, which she has operated since 2015. Ms. DiStefano earned her Master’s of Counseling from the University of Phoenix Campus and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Arizona State University. She serves on several non-profit Boards and is a member of the HealthCare Businesswomen’s Association.

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.

Kathleen McPeake

Kathleen M. McPeake is the Chief Compliance Officer for Chimes. Kathleen is an attorney, licensed to practice in the state of Pennsylvania. She has focused her career exclusively in the area of healthcare compliance since 2008 when she began working for the Medicare Qualified Independent Contractor (QIC) and performed 2^nd level Medicare Appeals under Medicare part A for MAXIMUS Federal Services.  From there, Kathleen worked at Executive Health Resources where worked as a regulatory research attorney and helped fight for hospital reimbursement before the Medicare Administrative Law Judge.  She then assumed the position of Compliance Program Manager at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, a 1000 plus bed teaching facility, where she was responsible for auditing and investigating clinical programs to ensure compliance with federal payer guidelines and she provided compliance guidance to JHHS personnel, leadership and executive management. Immediately prior to joining Chimes, Kathleen was Director of Corporate Compliance at Pivot Physical Therapy where she created a companywide compliance program, performed pre-merger and acquisition due diligence auditing, created policies and procedures to ensure compliance with federal, state and payer rules, and provided enterprise wide compliance training. Kathleen currently resides in Fallston, Maryland, with her husband Paul and their two children.

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.