The OCHS Board of Directors is truly representative of the communities we serve on the Lower and Outer Cape. All of our directors live in our service region, and the majority are OCHS patients, knowing that those who use our services can best know the needs of our patients and the community.
With their impressive and varied skills and backgrounds, we are so grateful to them for their volunteer dedication and commitment in our shared mission.
OFFICERS
Pamela French, MD, MPH, DTMH
President
Show More Dr. French is a specialist in Infectious Diseases and an antibiotic development consultant. Her career has included academics, public health and clinical research. Locally, Dr. French has served as an officer of the Board of Directors of Helping Our Women and is an active volunteer at IFAW Marine Mammal Rescue and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Dr. French joined the OCHS Board in April, 2008. Dr. French is also recognized as an acclaimed photographer of whales.
Ed McManus
First Vice President
Show More McManus received his bachelor of arts in Physical Geography from the University of California, Berkeley and a master in planning from Antioch University. He is currently the owner and principal of McManus Renovation Services, which has its offices in Albany, CA and Harwich, MA. McManus has held various political offices and currently is a Selectman for the Town of Harwich and holds the Harwich seat on the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates. His community service includes his role as President of the Harwich Cranberry Festival Committee and Treasurer of the Board of WOMR Community Radio. He is an avid reader, cyclist, gardener and potter.
Robin B. Reid, Esq.
Second Vice President
Show More Robin is very pleased to return to the Board of Directors of Outer Cape Health Services. Born and educated in Canada, Robin believes that quality health care is a basic human right. A graduate of McGill University, Robin is a mediator and general practice attorney in Provincetown, where she lives with her wife. She enjoys giving back to her community with the Friends of the Provincetown Public Library, Provincetown Senior Dinner, and Cape Mediation.
Nancy Howard, MEd, MBA
Treasurer
Show More Ms. Howard has had a home in Provincetown for over 13 years and also has a home in Boston. She has served on the Provincetown MacMillan Pier Corporation Board. Ms. Howard recently retired as COO of MassDevelopment, a quasi-governmental agency responsible for economic development across the Commonwealth, focusing on tax exempt bond financing, lending and real estate development. Prior to serving at MassDevelopment, Ms. Howard was the Group Executive for all Specialized Lending and a member of the Senior Credit Committee at Bank Boston.
Mary Grace Smith, BA, MA, ABD
Clerk
Show More Mary Grace Smith is a technology and communications specialist whose career highlights include serving as Associate Director of the Office for Information Technology at Harvard University. Smith served as Principal of Northeast Consulting Resources, Inc., which offered planning, management, and communications consulting to businesses and non-profit organizations. She serves on the board of Wellfleet Preservation Hall, and she lives in Wellfleet.
BOARD MEMBERS
Larry Ballantine, MBA, PhD
Show More Dr. Ballantine resides in Harwich where he currently serves as a Town Selectman and liaison to the town’s finance committee. Before “retiring,” he served as Vice President of Global Agrochemical and Environmental Services for Covance, an international contract research corporation. He holds a doctorate in Soil Chemistry/Analytical Chemistry from University of Massachusetts Amherst and an Executive MBA degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Dr. Ballantine currently serves on OCHS’ Capital Campaign Committee and chairs the organization’s Lower Cape Community Advisory Committee. He has had a long volunteer history on town boards and community organizations including service on the Harwich Conservation Commission, the Pleasant Bay Alliance Steering Committee, Cape Cod Water Protection Committee and the Harwich Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
Fred Gaechter
Immediate Past President of the Board of Directors
Show More A veteran of the United States Air Force, Mr. Gaechter worked for over 40 years in telecommunications. In 2001, he retired as Executive Director of Telecordia, a renowned telecommunications firm with over 7,000 employees worldwide. Mr. Gaechter served as a Truro Selectman for six years (2004-2010), the first four of which were as the Board’s Chairman. He currently chairs OCHS’ Capital Campaign Committee, and is also the current president of the Truro Conservation Trust. He lives with his wife Judy in Truro.
Penelope Keyl, MSc, PhD
Dr. Keyl is a retired Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and earned her PhD in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Keyl taught in the Department of Emergency Medicine, where she chaired the Research Committee for several years and mentored residents and junior faculty. She also taught in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where she served on the school’s IRB Committee. Dr. Keyl has served as principal or co-principal investigator on grants from the NIA, NIAAA, MCHB and several research foundations, and authored sixty peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Steve Roehm, MBA
Show More Mr. Roehm spent five years as a US Navy officer and then joined IBM, where he worked for 35 years, holding middle and executive management positions in sales, marketing, finance, planning/strategy, information technology, and logistics before joining IBM’s Executive Business Institute as a Senior Consulting faculty member. Mr. Roehm retired from IBM and founded his own company – Strategic Innovation Insights, LLC – which continued his client work in these disciplines while allowing him to teach in executive education innovation programs and start-up entrepreneurship programs. Mr. Roehm was a member of the Board of the Frost Valley YMCA from 1993–2012, and he resides in Wellfleet with his wife.
David L. Wilson, MBA
Show More David Wilson is a year-round resident of Provincetown. He currently serves as President of the Provincetown Theater board of directors and as a member of the GLAD board of directors. After earning a BS and MBA from Northeastern University, David embarked on a 30-year career with Verizon Communications, last serving as Assistant Vice President, followed by a stint as Vice President of a Boston-based property and facility management company. Mr. Wilson also previously served on the boards of directors of the National Human Rights Campaign, MA LGBTQ Youth Commission, MassEquality and the Greater Boston Business Council. Now retired, Mr. Wilson is considered an expert on Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace and regularly guest lectures on the topic at Bentley University. He and his husband, Dr. Robert Compton, continue to be active community members. In 2003 they earned the right to marry in Massachusetts as one of seven same-sex plaintiff couples in the Goodridge vs. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts law suit. Mr. Wilson and his husband are the proud parents of five adult children, nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.