Jon has served as Executive Director of the Italian Center of Stamford since 2020 and has been an active member of the Planetree Global Patient and Family Partnership Council (Global PFPC) since that same year. He has contributed to numerous Council subcommittees and initiatives, including work on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the development of Planetree's certification standards, and presentations at the Planetree International Forum.
Jon's professional and nonprofit leadership experience has been a tremendous asset to Planetree in his role as a member of the Planetree International Board of Directors, where he balances his legal and fiduciary responsibilities with ensuring the voices of patients and families remain front and center.
Jon's journey as a patient advocate began as a teenager living with a rare blood disorder. He spent much of his adolescence as the oldest patient in children's hospitals throughout the northeastern United States. After graduating from college, Jon began working in a group home for abused and neglected boys in 1998. He went on to serve underrepresented and disadvantaged youth through education and juvenile justice programs across Connecticut for the next 20 years.
His formal journey as a patient and family advocate began in 2011 following a lengthy and arduous battle with lymphoma that resulted in a four-month inpatient stay. During that time, he experienced firsthand the full continuum of services a health system can provide. Following his recovery, Jon joined the Stamford Hospital Patient and Family Partnership Council and remains actively involved on the Council, as well as several other Stamford Health committees.
Jon is a recognized leader in the Stamford community and a proud husband and father of two sons.
