Meet Benhaven's Board Members

Benhaven is fortunate to have strong leadership from its Board of Directors. Board members have diverse backgrounds, relevant experience, a collaborative approach to guiding the agency in policy and financial matters, and a passion for ensuring quality and responsiveness to our program participants, students, residents and their families.

Ken Cabral, President & Board Member

Ken Cabral returned to the provider community after a 25-year career in state government including Connecticut and Washington, DC.  His career has focused on person centered and family center service in the field of Autism, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Child Welfare. He has a passion and commitment to supporting people and their families. 

Since returning to Connecticut Ken has served as the Regional Administrator for both Region 5 and Region 1 at the Department of Children and Families and the Director of Family Services Strategy at the Department of Developmental Services. 

Ken’s focus fully aligns with Behaven’s mission of enabling people with autism and pervasive developmental disorders to participate in community life, exercise productive control over their own lives, have meaningful relationships and associations, be gainfully employed, and experience happiness and personal satisfaction. 

Carl Casper, Board Chair

Mr. Casper has been involved with Benhaven since 2013 and previously was Secretary of the Board. Previously, he was a member of the Sarah Seneca Residential Services Board for over ten years. Sarah Seneca is a non-profit agency dedicated to providing individualized residential services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and autism.

Mr. Casper is currently the Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Office of Connex Credit Union, headquartered in North Haven, Connecticut. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina and his MBA from Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut.  

Eileen Clark, Board Member

 

Eileen joined the Board of Directors in April 2023.  Her connection with Benhaven is through her son Sean, who has been with the agency since 2020.   As the mother of Autistic twins and a son with mental health challenges she is able to give a unique perspective.  Eileen brings passion, compassion and heart to the table.

 

Eileen’s education includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and A Master of Science Degree. She loves to create in various artistic media while also being fascinated by human health and physiology.  She has recently shifted to mixed media explorations launching Eileen Clark Art, LLC this summer. She is a member of Guilford Rotary as well as Guilford, Madison and Clinton Art Societies. In addition, she serves on The Board of Directors at Vista Life Innovations.

 

Eileen lives along the shoreline with her husband Dave. They enjoy working in the yard, taking trail walks, field trips, cooking, and baking.

Thomas Igoe, Board Treasurer and Secretary

Mr. Igoe joined Benhaven in 2017 after a career as a practicing attorney in New York City. With expertise in corporate finance and corporate regulation, he served as Vice-chairman and Chairman of a large national law firm and then as CEO of a global lawyers professional Liability Insurance company for its member national and international law firms.

Mr. Igoe and his wife have raised their 38 year old son with Autism who lives independently in the New Haven community and continues to benefit from the special services provided by a team of dedicated Benhaven professionals.

Janette Johnson, Board Member

Ms. Johnson began working at Benhaven in 1992 as a consultant and helped form The Learning Network which was Benhaven’s consulting branch of the organization. During her time at Benhaven, she supported person-centered planning and designed positive futures plans for children and adults. In addition, she facilitated what was called The Benhaven College and taught others to completed functional assessments of problem behaviors called Behavioral Overviews and ecological designs which highlighted teaching positive behaviors to replace negative behaviors and create positive physical, social and teaching environments which would decrease problem behaviors and make learning new behaviors easier.

Ms. Johnson consulted within and outside of Benhaven including working with others in the states of Connecticut, California, Tennessee, Arizona, New Jersey, and New York. Throughout her career she was involved with many of the top professionals in the field of positive behavior support and families and individuals with differing abilities who all had a mission to support positive change in the lives of people and in their communities. She retired from Benhaven in 2015.

James C. McPartland, PhD, Board Member

Dr. McPartland is an Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry and Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center. He is a licensed child psychologist and Director of the Yale Developmental Disabilities Clinic.

Dr. McPartland’s program of research investigates the brain bases of neurodevelopmental disabilities to develop biologically-based tools to improve detection and treatment. He is the Principal Investigator of the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials, a nationwide effort to identify biomarkers to support intervention research in autism. His contributions to the field have been recognized by numerous awards, and he has been named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Division on Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder. He believes strongly in the mission of Benhaven, and he is grateful for the opportunity to serve on its board.

Alexander Westphal, MD, PhD, Board Member

Dr. Westphal has worked with Benhaven as a psychiatrist since 2007, has been on the Board of Directors since 2012, and has served as the Director of Psychiatry since 2018.

Dr. Westphal is an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine with a primary appointment in Yale’s Division of Law and Psychiatry and a secondary appointment at Yale Child Study Center. He serves as a consulting forensic psychiatrist on risk for Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. He has a clinical and research focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder and is particularly interested in clinical risk assessment and ASD, as well as other topics related to ASD and the legal system.

Stephen Wizner, Board Member

Mr. Wizner has served on the Benhaven Board of Directors since 1994. He is the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor Emeritus at the Yale Law School, where he taught and supervised law students representing, among others, families with children on the autism spectrum in special education cases in a disability rights clinic. He and his students often partnered with Benhaven in those cases.

Robin Wood, Board Member

 Benhaven has been a big part of Robin’s life for many years. Larry Wood and Robin have been married for 42 years.  Together, they raised William (Bill), who has autism.  For over thirty years, Bill has benefited from the excellent supports and services he has received from Benhaven.

Robin has served in a variety of positions over the course of her career.  She was a special education teacher; she held senior administrator positions in a non-profit organization; and she provided employment consulting services across the country.  She also assisted school districts in Connecticut and Massachusetts to successfully include students with disabilities into their school system. Robin spent almost twenty years employed by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS).  As the Director of Family Support Strategies, she reported directly to the Commissioner of DDS and was responsible for helping the department to design and deliver respite, family support, employment, and self-determination services.

 As a member of the Benhaven board, she hopes to continue to advocate and help plan for the best possible services for families.