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.

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.

Maureen Cones, Esq.

Maureen Cones, Esq. joins Chimes International Limited as General Counsel.  This new endeavor gives Ms. Cones the unique opportunity to utilize her teaching, special education, and legal experience to fulfill her passion for helping individuals with disabilities live their best lives

Maureen graduated Cum Laude from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, in May 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education and a concentration in special education.  After college, she taught 8^th grade gifted science and language arts in one of the Atlanta area’s toughest school districts. After teaching for five rewarding years, Maureen moved to Washington, DC, where she attended the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, graduating with her Juris Doctor in 1995.

Maureen began her career in private litigation practice in Ohio.  In 2004, Maureen moved to Baltimore.  A few years later, she joined the American Nurses Association, eventually becoming the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for ANA and its several subsidiaries.  In that role, she represented nurses and nursing organizations in national impact litigation involving scope of practice issues in several cases across the country in both state and federal courts.  As chief legal officer, her many accomplishments included spearheading the historic labor transition of ANA in 2017 by unanimous vote, reforming the organizations’ compliance program and training, and providing executive leadership and guidance through significant structural and organizational change. In addition, Maureen built a high performing legal department, led her team through implementation of multiple innovative legal technology solutions, and enhanced delivery of legal services resulting in increased client satisfaction in each year of her tenure.

Maureen enjoys spending time with her family and going to movies and sporting events.  She is licensed to practice law in the States of Ohio and Maryland and has been admitted to multiple federal district and appellate courts.