Advisory Board

Maritza Bond, MPH

Bridgeport Department of Health & Human Services

Maritza Bond, MPH, is a Public Health leader with over 18 years’ experience.  Bond currently serves as the Director of Health for the City of New Haven.  In this role, Director Bond leads efforts on creating a culture of health and wellness with a focus on addressing social determinants of health and health equity.  Prior to joining the City of New Haven, Bond served as the Director of Health and Social Services for the City of Bridgeport since 2016, where she led initiatives that aimed to promote, prevent, and protect City residents. Prior to her service in Bridgeport, Ms. Bond served as Executive Director of Eastern Area Health Education Center (EAHEC), Inc. In this role, Bond provided leadership to bring educators, health care professionals, and community leaders together regionally and statewide to ensure health care access and enhance the workforce in Connecticut. Prior to joining Eastern AHEC, Bond coordinated several grant project initiatives at the Naugatuck Valley Health District, including the Immunization Action Program (IAP). In 2015, Bond was awarded the Health Equity Super Star award from the Connecticut Health Foundation for efforts and contribution in Connecticut and was the 2015 Health Rural Health Leadership Fellow. Bond was a 2008 CT Health Foundation Leadership Fellow as well served on various boards and committees statewide. Bond holds a Masters in Public Health with an MPA certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Connecticut. She earned a B.S. in Public Health with a specialty in health promotion from Southern Connecticut.

Tekisha Dwan Everette, Ph.D.

Health Equity Solutions

Tekisha has built a successful career in public policy, particularly health care policy, and advocacy in the non-profit, state, and private sectors. Before taking the helm of Health Equity Solutions (HES), she served as the Managing Director of Federal Government Affairs with the American Diabetes Association where she provided strategic leadership on policy and advocacy initiatives with the White House, several federal agencies, and Congress, which led to important victories for people both with and at risk for diabetes. Everette earned her doctorate in Sociology from American University with a concentration in race, gender, and social justice as it relates to social policy. She received her Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Center of Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (popularly known as Virginia Tech) and holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Interdisciplinary Studies from the same institution. Everette is an alumna of the Masters Series for Distinguished Leaders and the National Urban Fellows America’s Leaders of Change program. She is a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Association of Black Sociologists.

Monette Ferguson, Ed.D.

Alliance for Community Empowerment

Dr. Monette Ferguson has worked in the non-profit sector for almost 17 years at Action for Bridgeport Community Development Inc.( an urban community action agency). Monette began her non-profit leadership career as a Head Start family case-worker at this agency. She quickly advanced to directing the Early Learning division here. In this role Dr. Ferguson oversaw more than 300 staff members who provide quality school readiness , SEL experiences and comprehensive family resources to over 1000 families in Bridgeport and the surrounding area. She had worked in this role for almost 9 years. Dr. Ferguson has grown her leadership development over the years in this position while writing grants, managing multi-million dollar budgets, and collaborating with community partners toward the common goal of ensuring quality early childhood experiences for all children while assisting families with breaking the cycle of poverty. She has participated in several State Department workgroups assisting in defining “school readiness”, and creating standards for the Connecticut Early Childhood Teaching Credential. She is a past Connecticut representative for the New England Head Start Association and has been honored and travels locally and nationally as a strong advocate who fights for quality education for all in the early childhood space. She Spearheads statewide work to end homelessness in early childhood populations and works tirelessly for equity in education. Dr. Ferguson is currently the Executive Director of Action for Bridgeport Community Development (ABCD Inc.) and holds Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Bridgeport.

Elizabeth Rivera-Rodriguez, DNP, MSN, MPH, RN

City of Bridgeport

Elizabeth Rivera-Rodriguez, Ph.D., has dedicated over 30 years of her professional career to nursing and public health within the non-profit and profit sectors. In her current role as director of public health for Bridgeport, Rivera-Rodriguez leads municipal public health strategies focused on advancing health equity, population health and community resilience. She is also responsible for all financial, programmatic and managerial aspects of a large urban health department. Previously, she served as chief operations officer and the first chief nursing officer at Optimus Healthcare, overseeing clinical operations and systemwide initiatives across community health settings.

Rivera-Rodriguez holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Walden University, a Master of Science in nursing education from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Public Health from Southern Connecticut State University.

Gina Smith

Get Healthy Connecticut, Yale New Haven Hospital System

Gina Smith graduated from East Carolina University with both her BS and MA in Health Education and Promotion, with concentration in community health. She has been a Certified Health Education Specialists since 2004. From 2005-2010, she served as the Eastern Regional Coordinator for the North Carolina Folic Acid Campaign/March of Dimes, where she coordinated birth defects prevention education in a 29-county region. Since then she worked with for Yale University at the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric, and Environmental Epidemiology on the National Children’s Study and the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center as the coordinator for the Valley Initiative to Advance Health and Learning in Schools (VITAHLS). Gina is currently the Community Health Improvement Coordinator for Yale New Haven Health System, where she provides day-to-day leadership for Get Healthy CT, a website with educational resources to reduce obesity and chronic disease. Gina also provides facilitation and expertise in the areas of obesity and chronic disease to support health improvement initiatives, including the Know Your Numbers community screening program in the Greater Bridgeport and Greater New Haven regions.