Ina grew up in Westville with parents who were always active in the Jewish community and were superb role models for volunteering. She is married to Jay Sokolow and they have two adult children, and three granddaughters who, like all grandchildren, are the most wonderful children in the world!
Ina attended public schools, has two degrees from Yale, and her law degree from UConn. In her professional life she practiced law, was a science writer, an elementary school teacher, and recently retired after many years as the principal at the BEKI synagogue.
Many of Ina’s relatives and friends have lived at The Towers over the past forty years. She is thrilled to lead the Board of Directors as it embarks on building Tower Three, allowing more seniors to access the uniquely successful Towers model for aging in place.
Originally from Detroit, Linda Cedarbaum has been a Connecticut resident since 2012 when she immediately got involved with The Towers as a volunteer and eventually a board member. Her career has spanned the worlds of the cradle to the grave. Her work life bridges infant development, early childhood mental health, education, toy invention, landscape design, picture book authorship, and more recently, horticultural therapy with cognitively impaired seniors and chat group facilitator for caregivers of loved ones with a rare Jewish genetic disease. Throughout her eclectic career she has maintained a particular interest in non-profit organizational development and growth. Uniting all her endeavors is an abiding interest in promoting resilience in every facet and phase of the life cycle. Embodying The Towers’ motto, her 90-some year-old mother is currently living her best life as a resident, and personal inspiration, at The Towers.
Robert Cole is a senior health care administrator with over 30 years of experience in the public sector as well as in academic psychiatry. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT in 1976 with a BA in History and from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH in 1990 with a master’s degree in Organization and Management.
He joined Yale Psychiatry and the CT Mental Health Center (CMHC) leadership group in 1988 as the chief administrator of CMHC. He was subsequently promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer, following a reorganization in 1997. Prior to coming to Yale, Robert served as Director of Grant and Contract Management and Chief of Administrative and Fiscal Services for the Connecticut Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (subsequently merged administratively with DMHAS).
As an accomplished Financial Controller with a proven track record of driving financial excellence and strategic leadership, I am dedicated to elevating organizations to new heights. My expertise lies in financial analysis, accounting, budgeting, and forecasting, allowing me to provide invaluable insights and guide decision-making processes.
OBJECTIVE: Currently retired, my objective is to enjoy life.
Robert (“Rob”) Klee is a leading energy and environmental practitioner, with over 20 years of experience in academia, public policy, law, and consulting.
Rob is a Senior Lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment, where he teaches courses on energy, climate and environmental law and policy to graduate students, undergraduates, and working professionals in the Yale’s online Certificate Program in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy. He serves as the Managing Director of Clean Energy Programs at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment.
Rob is Principal of Klee Sustainability Advisors LLC, a legal and consulting firm that advises clients on the strategic, legal, and regulatory issues surrounding clean energy deployment and sustainable materials management.
Previously Rob served as the Commissioner of the CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and Vice-Chair of the CT Green Bank Board. Prior to state service, he was an energy, environmental, appellate, and complex litigation lawyer in private practice.
Rob holds masters and Ph.D. degrees from Yale’s School of the Environment, a law degree from the Yale Law School, and an undergraduate degree from Princeton in geology and environmental science. He is the chair of his town’s local plan and zoning commission and serves on the advisory boards of Audubon Connecticut and the Trust for Public Land in Connecticut.
Dr. Stacey Lee Smith, MD is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Northwestern University, where she majored in history. She graduated from Northwestern University Medical School, and then completed her psychiatric residency at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine, and a distinguished fellow and former Board Member of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists. She taught the senior psychiatric residents in the outpatient clinic at Washington University School of Medicine Psychiatry Department for nearly three decades as voluntary faculty. She continues to maintain an active solo practice in general adult and forensic psychiatry.
She is the 1978, 1979, and 1980 U.S. National Ice Dance Champion. She was co-Captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team, and represented the United States at the XIII Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. She has competed and skated in countries around the world.
Dr. Smith served as a Vice President of Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community in St. Louis and is now an active member of B’nai Jacob Congregation in Woodbridge, Connecticut. She is married to Dr. Richard T. Katz, a fellow physician and classical pianist. They are the proud parents of two and now grandparents of two.
Jeremy Bronen grew up in Woodbridge, CT and went to UConn for undergrad studying mechanical engineering. Through Jeremy’s senior design capstone project in 2020 he was exposed to some of the many issues that older adults face – in this particular case struggles with activities of daily living, namely, toileting. Jeremy founded SedMed Inc. which produces toilet lifts to help older adults and people with disabilities to get on/off the toilet. SedMed works to help those in elder care facilities, hospitals, and at home. Jeremy is passionate about elder care, fall prevention, and improved quality of life. Jeremy enjoys spending his spare time with loved ones, building things in the workshop, and exploring.
Donna Fedus is a gerontologist educator, adjunct professor, program strategist, instructional designer, and researcher, who has worked enthusiastically in the field of aging for more than 30 years. Critical to Donna’s mission is offering alternatives to the tragedy narrative and stigma that often surround aging, caregiving, and dementia.
Donna is also an entrepreneur. She founded gerontology education company Borrow My Glasses, which offers scalable learning solutions, training and evaluation services for organizations, professionals, educators, students, and individuals looking to embrace the many opportunities brought by longevity.
Over more than three decades, Donna has immersed in the field of aging becoming known as a subject matter expert, continually developing new and creative ways to engage and educate audiences. Topics range widely for healthcare and social services professionals, business leaders, user experience specialists, family caregivers, college students, and clergy. Donna’s primary interests in aging, caregiving and dementia are reflected in the three courses she developed and has taught since 2017 on a rotating basis an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University: Dementia Fundamentals, Social Issues in Family Caregiving, and Sociology of Aging.
Donna does some research in addition to collaborative evaluation work. She is Principal Investigator (PI) of the Gerontology Relevance Study, in which college students found studying gerontology to be relevant to their personal and professional lives after engaging in a self-study module. Donna also served as PI throughout a five-year collaboration between BMG and AARP to develop, pilot and evaluate Connecticut’s Disrupt Aging Model. The model, shown to transform attitudes about aging, was presented at multiple conferences, recognized by AARP as a best practice in innovation, and replicated in colleges and communities nationwide.
Donna contributes to the field through board service and committee work. She currently co-chairs the education workgroup of the Connecticut Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Coalition. This group, convened by the CT Dept of Public Health and the Alzheimer’s Association, is developing a statewide strategic plan to address Alzheimer’s. She is a member of Quinnipiac University Committee for Age Inclusivity, and a founding member of the Grandfamilies Outcome Workgroup (GrOW), a national group that works in support of kinship families. Donna is a Contributing Editor for Grandfamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy.
Donna is a two-time winner of the “Stop Ageism Now” Campaign Partner Award from the Agency on Aging of South Central CT. She was honored with the Employee of the Year award at The Consultation Center, Yale University and the Einstein Award at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Donna earned her master’s degree with distinction in social gerontology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991.
Dr. Jacobson earned her doctorate in social welfare from the CUNY Graduate Center in New York, her MSW from New York University School of Social Work, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She also completed the management development program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Her clinical social work career spans nearly 20 years, including inpatient and outpatient mental health with older adults. Her academic career includes over 10 years as a professor of social work at Quinnipiac University. She now applies her dedication to faculty development and commitment to fostering a strong academic community to her role as Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development at Quinnipiac University.
Robert Katz is part of the 4th generation of his family to run Goody’s Hardware in East Haven. He is a lifelong supporter of the Towers. Rob has had three family members that were residents at the Towers. He lives in Cheshire with his wife Jodi and has two daughters, Michala and Gabrielle, who both volunteered at the Towers. Rob’s hobbies are his work and traveling.
Bob has over 35 years of real estate investment experience beginning with hands-on project management which over his career has grown into senior roles among the industry’s leading companies. This includes serving as Starwood Capital Groups’ Managing Director and Head of Asset Management where he was responsible for the performance, operations and investment returns for over $25 billion of properties. He also held similar roles with Apollo Global Management managing its $4 billion portfolio and Citi Property Investors with its $2 billion portfolio which was acquired by Apollo in 2010. In each case he was a member of the Investment Committee and directly responsible for the performance of the individual properties which spanned all product types, investment structures and US geography.
Since leaving Starwood at the end of 2016, he has invested in or advised on over $500M of acquisitions including office, multifamily, retail and hotels for Anvil Property Investors which he founded and leads. His clients include institutional fund managers and high net worth investors.
His early career was spent in the development and construction of commercial buildings until a market correction led him to join JE Robert, a market leader in the acquisition of distressed debt and equity for numerous institutional investors. He has a Bachelor of Architecture, Master of Business Administration (both from Rensselaer) and a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Cindy Leffell has been involved with The Towers for nearly three decades, as a board member, volunteer, and family member. With a background in hospital and long-term care administration, she first joined the board after completing the Young Leadership training program at The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven. She has also known The Towers as a family member when her mother-in-law was a resident. Cindy has a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
We are proud of the expertise that our team brings to the table. We have spent years advancing the field of aging services.
At The Towers priorities matter. Our staff lives by the principle, the person comes before the task. You will always come before all other daily obligations and you will always be what matters most. You will come first.
Listening to one another with compassion defines us. Leading with quiet and understated competence is what we do.
Gustave (Gus) Keach-Longo assumed the role of President/CEO in January 2018. Having heard of Tower One/Tower East’s reputation throughout his career, he continues to feel honored and humbled by the opportunity to support such an outstanding and innovated organization. Since the age of 16, Gus has felt called to work with seniors. It is a natural fit having grown up with a great-grandmother who lived to age 108. His professional purpose evolved throughout his career toward finding ways that help seniors live their best lives. He strongly believes that there are key practices to setting the right tone for a team and to finding ways to lift seniors up in everything we do at The Towers. Our Guiding Principles are the hallmark of Gus’ approach to senior care. Through fostering respect for all, compassionately putting the person before the task, exploring innovated ways to help people grow, and serving one another with care, strength and humility, together we create the community where we all want to live. This is a culmination of decades of listening to our elders and learning their life-lessons early.
Through his training as a Masters-prepared Connecticut Nursing Home Administrator and his post-graduate work with UCONN’s Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. program, Gus’ focus remained on what propelled him forward—seniors’ experiences as they age and the effects of their interactions with our support services systems. Through his time working in a good, yet institutional, nursing home setting, Gus knew that our profession can and should always do better. Studying the evolving models of Plane Tree, Elden Alternative and following the Pioneer Network, Gus started to influence the environments and approaches through his own work. Responsible for the startup of one of the CT Assisted Living Demonstration Pilots, The Retreat in Hartford, Gus was able to fully embrace and implement the principles of these national efforts and assist the evolution of senior care models.
Gus is proud to be a life-long Connecticut resident and is grateful for the progress our state has made towards becoming inclusive and affirming for all its residents. He has been married to his husband, Joe, for more years than it has been technically legal. They share their lives with their adult son, Jonathan, who they were able to adopt because our state was one of the only states allowing LGBTQ co-parent adoptions. Gus often hikes with mixed beagles “Cooper” and “Molly” in the Metropolitan District Reservoir behind their house in Bloomfield.
In the role of Vice President, Jesse Wescott is responsible for supporting all of the daily needs of our community. “Since joining the team in 2018 it has been an amazing journey to understand the rich history of The Towers and how it has served our seniors for fifty plus years. Being able to be at the forefront of so many enhancements to the building and its systems has truly been the biggest gift in my career,” Jesse says. Holding dual degrees in Management and Finance from the Jack Brown School of Business at California State University, as well as over a decade’s worth of leadership experience in caring for seniors of diverse backgrounds has engrained in Jesse an eye for detail and a zest for continuous improvement. After being awarded with the CALA Young Leader of the Year Award in 2016, Jesse’s passion for creating the best living environment for seniors was further ignited and he is looking forward to many fruitful years of success here at The Towers. Being a leader in this field often means being on call 24 hours a day, but when Jesse is not physically in the building he loves spending time with his beautiful wife and daughter at home, with their dog, Napa. When they aren’t looking he does his best to sneak away to drive his Mustang or spend time in his wood workshop!
Glenn Gordon is the Director of Human Resources and Information Technology. Glenn would say that his role at The Towers is “taking care of people who take care of people.” For the past two years, he has been focused on finding individuals who are excellent at their roles, but make up a team who is accomplishing one goal—helping people to live their best lives. Glenn is a Senior Certified Professional with the Society For Human Resource Management, and he has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Connecticut. While he is constantly behind the scenes, working on technology connections for The Towers team, his best time is spent making personal connections with Towers residents, and when he needs a break, you will find him sitting at a piano.
Timothy Smith has spent most of his career in the hospitality and culinary world, studying the art at the University of New Haven and working for over twenty years in dining services and facilities for senior living organizations. It was during that time when Tim’s path crossed The Towers’ as the Regional Director of Operations where he successfully oversaw dining and/or facilities for multiple properties, including The Towers for 4 years.
Tim’s extensive experience in senior living combined with a close, personal relationship with his own grandmother helped build the foundation for his professional goals. More than anything, Tim sought to master resident satisfaction and a quality product, while prioritizing getting to know individuals on a personal level. It was, and still is, commonplace to see Tim taking a pause to sit and chat with his residents. His own objectives and integrity aligned with that of The Towers’ and the vision to provide unrivaled services and amenities. With The Towers Team, Tim helped spearhead special Dining Programs as well as the construction of a brand-new state-of-the-art kitchen and dining room.
When the opportunity to share and expand on his own expertise presented itself in the Spring of 2024, Tim couldn’t wait to jump on board and join the Towers’ team. As the Director of Quality Operations, he looks forward to managing and improving the day-to-day operations that help The Towers flourish and stand out as the one-of-a-kind organization that it is.
Tim has lived in Connecticut his entire life, where he resides today with his supportive and loving wife and three amazing and busy children. When he’s not playing taxi driver or watching a soccer game (or a softball game, a chorus or band concert, a dance recital, etc.), you will find him working with his hands, building and managing his own elaborate DIY projects at his own home. He enjoys spending time on the shoreline and sailing with his father and family on Long Island Sound.
Nicole Merritt is the Assistant Director of Development and Marketing for The Towers Foundation. She has been working at The Towers for almost twenty years starting out in the Resident Services Department. Nicole earned her Bachelor and Master degrees in the area of Social Work from Southern CT State University. “Our seniors have done so much for us in their lifetime, it is my honor to now provide care and encouragement to them at The Towers.” Nicole lives in East Haven with her husband of close to thirty years and their two sons. She is currently attending The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven’s Woman’s Philanthropy Jewish Women’s Leadership YESOD course. In her spare time, she loves to spend time with her family, go for walks and work on sewing and craft projects.
Stacey Berg
Jeremy Perkins