Mark Masselli
President & CEO, Community Health Center, Inc.

Mark Masselli is the President/CEO of Community Health Center, Inc., Connecticut’s largest and most comprehensive provider of primary health care services for the uninsured and underserved.

Along with a small group of Wesleyan University students and community activists, Mark founded CHC as a Free Clinic in 1972 and worked with the National Free Clinic Council based in San Francisco in promoting the development of free clinics across America. Like most Free Clinics of its time, CHC’s early days saw limited public support, as community-organized health services were strongly opposed by the medical community and received little in the way of governmental support. With a personal commitment that health care is a right and not a privilege, Mark brought an entrepreneurial spirit to his non-profit organization, building a network of CHC sites that met the highest standard in both care and environment, to respect the dignity of those they serve.

Today, CHC is located in 10 cities – serving 70,000 patients statewide. Providing medical, dental and behavioral heath services, CHC is an innovator in the delivery and the development of primary care services to special populations.
Mark has played an important leadership role or was a founding member of many health and human services initiatives in Connecticut, including the primary care association, a managed care company serving the Medicaid population, a child abuse and prevention agency, a drop-in center for runaways, a battered women’s shelter, a half-way house for the mentally ill, and a community children’s theater, as well as anti-poverty organizations, food coops, and cooperative housing for homeless families.

In addition to local issues, Mark has worked on a range of international human rights issues. He has worked with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has traveled in Tibet, Nepal, India and China working on the issues facing the Tibetan people. He also was active in the development of the Bishop Tutu Refugee relief agency during the critical years fighting the apartheid system in South Africa.

Mark is currently Chairman of the Middletown Housing Authority and recently opened a housing project for the sensory impaired, one of only a handful of such projects in the United States. He also chairs the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce technology committee and has been a pioneer in creating free wi-fi networks that service both the business community and low-income neighborhoods. He has also been involved in a number of initiatives to revitalize Middletown for both businesses and residents, leading a successful charge to establish a downtown hotel, and founding a group to promote home-ownership in the historic Main Street neighborhood.