Biographies of Commission Members
Leander A. Dolphin, Chair
Leander A. Dolphin is managing partner at Shipman and Goodwin.
Leander is a partner in the School Law Practice Group. In private practice and as former vice president of human resources and general counsel for the Girl Scouts of Connecticut, Leander has dedicated her career to advising educational institutions and organizations that foster the development of children, youth and young adults. An effective litigator and counselor, she draws on her dispute-resolution experience to help clients identify shared goals and find common ground with staff, parents, students and community stakeholders.
Leander advises universities, colleges, public school districts, independent schools, and other public- and private-sector clients on the full range of education and employment matters. Schools are often at the forefront of legal, regulatory and societal concerns; in this regard, she provides guidance on fast-developing issues involving sexual harassment (Title IX) and workplace health and safety standards in the COVID-19 era, as well as a range of equity, discrimination and reverse-discrimination considerations.
She also works with clients to develop and implement effective policies on Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations and to address teacher, staff and student discipline concerns, confidentiality and privacy issues in education, and special education disputes, among other areas.
When disputes arise, Leander represents clients in all phases of investigations, negotiations, pre-trial discovery, trials and appeals. She has successfully defended and pursued claims in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and in alternative-dispute resolution forums across the state. Leander understands the unique challenges facing parties in education-related litigation, not the least of which is that administrators, teachers, parents and students involved in a dispute will often continue to work together for years after the issue has been resolved. With this in mind, Leander is both focused and forthright, giving clients the answers and information they need (and not always what they want), with a focus on achieving results that foster ongoing collaboration.
A skilled educator in her own right, Leander has been an adjunct professor of education law at Quinnipiac University School of Law. She also conducts a wide range of workshops for public- and private-sector clients on topics such as sexual harassment, bullying, special education, disability and other forms of discrimination, and confidentiality.
Leander is a trusted advisor to many of her clients and is regularly sought out for her guidance and access to resources in areas beyond education and employment law. Her executive experience at the Girl Scouts of Connecticut imbues her advice with practicality that her clients appreciate.
Rowena Track
Rowena Track, Board Director and former CEO, is a global innovation, transformation and turnaround executive of Fortune 100 companies, with expertise in business strategy, financial transformation, audit, cyber security, digital innovation, technology transformation and strategic marketing. She has over 30 years of global and domestic experience in diverse industries such as Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Banking, Financial Services, Technology and Health Services. Her employers include Cigna Corporation, CitiBank, TIAA-CREF Financial Services, Bayer Healthcare/Pharmaceutical and the Yale University School of Medicine. Rowena’s career had been at the intersection of corporate strategy, digital innovation and technology transformation and held responsibilities in the US, Europe and Asia.
Most recently, Ms. Track was the Chief Executive Officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford. Currently, Ms. Track serves on the Board of Governors of the University of New Haven in CT, is the Vice Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee. She is also a member of the Cybersecurity Advisory Board. Ms. Track is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Stamford Partnership, a non-profit in Stamford, CT, focusing on the region’s economic development. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board, is a member of the Finance and Audit Committee, and is a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee.
Ms. Track holds a Board certification in Cyber Security Governance from the Directors Chief Risk Officers (DCRO) Institute.
Ms. Track became a Board Leadership Fellow and Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) in 2018. She is a member of IEEE’s (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Women in Engineering chapter. She is also a member of Women Corporate Directors (WCD) for which she has moderated panels on innovation including a panel on digital currency. Rowena is a Board Coach for 50/50 Women on Boards.
Ms. Track attended the Harvard Business School programs for corporate boards including: Making Corporate Boards More Effective, Audit Committees in a new Era of Governance, and, Compensation Committees: New Challenges, New Solutions. In addition, she attended Stanford’s 21st Annual Director’s College program.
Ms. Track holds a BS in Physics and an MS in Computer Science.
Ms. Track is married to Dr. Elie Track and lives in Stamford, CT and has two grown children. Both are natives of Beirut, Lebanon, and immigrated to the United States to pursue advanced education. She and her family enjoy skiing, soccer and swimming. Ms. Track speaks English, Arabic and some French.
Dan DeBarba
Dan DeBarba is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nuvance Health, a health and hospital system serving communities in both Connecticut and New York. He previously served in the same role with Catholic Health, a health and hospital system serving the Long Island community.
Prior to his role at Catholic Health, Dan served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Norwalk Hospital and later President of Danbury Hospital and New Milford Hospital as part of Nuvance Health’s predecessor, Western Connecticut Health Network. He spent the first decade of his career in accounting and consulting roles with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young (EY).
Dan is a certified public accountant and holds a B.A. degree in English from the University of Connecticut and an M.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Hartford. He is a life-long Connecticut resident and lives in Orange, Connecticut with his wife Lynn.
Brandon Hayden
Brandon began his career in government and advocacy working in the CT General Assembly for the Senate Democrats Office as a legislative aide where he assisted with constituent issues and legislative research and advocacy. He subsequently served as Policy Director for a non-profit Coalition advocating for youth and families across the state.
Brandon currently works for a government consulting firm based out of Hartford, advocating for clients across multiple sectors including healthcare and education. He resides in Norwalk with his dog and cat.
Steven Hernandez
Steven Hernández, Esq. is the Executive Director for the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), a leading advocacy organization that ensures each child in Connecticut has equitable access to a high-quality public education. Prior to serving as Executive Director, he served the CT state legislature as Executive Director of the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity, and as Director of Public Policy and Research for the Connecticut Commission on Children. Mr. Hernandez served seven years as legislative and budget director in the office of Washington, D.C., Council member Jim Graham.
He served as a clerk to two judges in the District’s Court of Appeals and as a consultant to the Washington law firm Baker & Miller, PLLC. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Bennington College in Vermont in 1995 and a Juris Doctor Degree from the Washington College of Law at American University.
He is an experienced attorney, leader, and collaborator in public policy and advises on cutting-edge policy through a bicameral, bipartisan, research and best-practice driven lens. He is most comfortable collaborating cross-culturally, with youth, family, state, local, and national stakeholders, with the public and private sector, business, and philanthropy.
JoAnne Jones
JoAnne is a leader at UnitedHealthcare who is currently a Regional Vice President, managing the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions for National Accounts. JoAnne has had a successful and long career at UnitedHealthcare and has led multiple strategies and teams across the country as an effective leader. JoAnne currently leads a team of 15 individuals who collectively have responsibility for over 40 large national accounts. Her team leads the sales strategy, renewal, and ongoing management of their assigned clients to help support their healthcare goals for their consumers and stake holders.
JoAnne’s career encompasses her participation in a management enhancement program that was designed for top talent. That program launched her career in healthcare - she relocated to Chicago to help open and lead the Naperville office, she also had rotational assignments in various businesses at UnitedHealthcare.
JoAnne is a graduate of Northeastern University with a degree in journalism and communications.
Melissa Ozols
Melissa Ozols has over twenty years of experience working within Connecticut’s State House, campaigns and news outlets. Presently, she writes for the morning coffee and political email CTNews Junkie. Melissa compiles this daily publication every Monday through Thursday, synthesizing news from around the state to update constituents. She also now serves as the Registrar of Voters for the Town of Essex.
Melissa is an avid volunteer within her community on the shoreline of Connecticut. She dedicates her time to the Ivoryton Library Board of Directors, Essex Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization, Shoreline Soup Kitchen & Pantries, and the Valley-Shore YMCA Board of Directors.
Melissa was the Director of Scheduling for Richard Blumenthal’s successful campaign for U.S. Senate. Prior, she spent six years working at the Connecticut State House. Melissa worked first for the Speaker of the House of Representatives as a policy analyst with a primary focus on energy, environment, insurance, and the planning and development committees. She was then a press aide within the Communications Department for the House Democratic Caucus. Melissa handled the delivery of the caucus’ messages to media outlets on behalf of legislators.
Melissa and her husband, Lon, live with their two daughters in Ivoryton. Having both grown up in the neighboring town of Westbrook, they spend their summers with their families there on the beach.
Perry Rowthorn
Perry Rowthorn is the founder and principal of Rowthorn Law LLC. Perry represents clients in a wide range of investigations, litigation and settlements resulting from government enforcement actions. Perry’s clients include major international, national and regional businesses in insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, energy, technology, financial services and other sectors.
Drawing upon considerable experience as the former Connecticut Chief Deputy Attorney General, Perry is regularly called upon to assist clients in navigating single and multi-state attorney general matters, including several of the most significant and complex recent multi-state matters.
During his nearly six years as Chief Deputy Attorney General, Perry oversaw day-to-day operations of the Office of the Attorney General and personally handled complex consumer protection, antitrust, privacy, securities, environmental enforcement, charities regulation and false claims act investigations, litigation and settlements. He played a key role in several national attorney general investigations and settlements. He also served as liaison to the Office of the Governor and leaders of executive branch agencies as well as state and federal elected and judicial officials. Perry previously served as Connecticut’s Associate Attorney General for Litigation, managing the office’s full portfolio of litigation and investigations.
Marjorie Shansky
Attorney Marjorie Shansky has been a solo practitioner in New Haven, Connecticut, for more than thirty years practicing in the areas of land use, zoning, and real estate development throughout the State of Connecticut. Services provided by her office extend from due diligence for property acquisition, contract review and negotiation, commercial finance, and all manner of regulatory approvals including regulation text amendments and planning and zoning, inland wetlands and watercourses, and coastal area management permits. She also litigates administrative appeals in the Superior and Appellate Courts, including the Connecticut Supreme Court. Attorney Shansky’s clients include individual, environmental, institutional, municipal, construction and industrial concerns.
For twenty-four years, Shansky was a member of the State Codes and Standards Committee that adopts and administers the State Building Code and Fire Safety Code. During her tenure, she held leadership positions including Chair of the Committee. Shansky has been an adjunct faculty member at the Yale School of the Environment from 2006 to the present teaching Local Environmental Law and Land Use Practice. Since 2018, she is also adjunct faculty at Quinnipiac Law School teaching Land Use Planning and the Land Use Law Practicum. Ms. Shansky is a frequent speaker on substantive and procedural land use issues. Since 2005, Attorney Shansky has been the Law Trainer for the Connecticut Land Use Leadership Alliance (“LULA”), a four-day law, planning tools and collaborative process program initially developed at the Pace University Law School Land Use Law Center. With Michael W. Klemens, PhD and Hank Gruner, Marjorie Shansky co-authored “From Planning to Action, Biodiversity Conservation in Connecticut.”
Attorney Shansky has a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in music education and a master’s degree in flute performance from the Yale School of Music. She earned her J.D. with honors at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Between her master’s work at Yale and law school, Ms. Shansky was a Fulbright Scholar studying in Germany. In 2023, Ms. Shansky celebrated her 50th year as the Assistant Principal Flute with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra with which she continues to perform. Ms. Shansky has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America from 2006 to the present (including designation as “Lawyer of the Year” in 2022) and among Connecticut Super Lawyers from 2008 to the present. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Planning and Zoning Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association.