Staff

At Community Servings we come prepared every day to help our clients maintain their health and dignity through nutritious, made-from-scratch meals.

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Leadership

David B. Waters
Chief Executive Officer

David has been involved with Community Servings since its inception in 1989, moving from volunteer to board member, Board Chair, Director of Development, and eventually CEO, in 1999.

Under David’s leadership, Community Servings has evolved from a small neighborhood meals program delivering dinner to 30 people, to a critical regional program providing 15 medically-tailored meals plans to thousands of people with acute life-threatening illnesses, their dependents, and caregivers, across Massachusetts.

An advocate for integrating accessible, medically tailored meals into the healthcare system, David has formed partnerships with leading healthcare payers and providers to better link clinical care and social services, designing some of the country’s first health insurance contracts for prescription meals.

With 35+ years experience in food service management, David also created the highly cost-effective fundraising events, LifeSavor and Pie in the Sky, a Thanksgiving pie sale duplicated in cities around the country.

He is the former Board Chair of the Association of Nutrition Service Agencies, and is a founding member of the national Food Is Medicine Coalition. In recognition of his leadership and impact at Community Servings and within the Greater Boston community, David was named a Barr Foundation Fellow in 2017. A resident of Cambridge, he holds graduate degrees from Middlebury College and Boston University.

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Monica Molina Austin
Chief Human Resource Officer

With over 25 years of experience in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, Monica Molina Austin is known for her pragmatic approach and transformative impact. As Organizational and Talent Development Program Officer and Executive Coach at Westwind LLC since 2006, she has led organization-wide training and enterprise-wide innovation, driving behavior change and enhancing talent engagement.

Previously, as Executive Director, HR and Co-Chair of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at The New York Times Co. (2000-2006), Monica managed HR Directors and implemented impactful diversity and inclusion programs. She provided strategic guidance on talent management and embedding inclusive principles into HR processes.

Monica’s board work includes EcoLogic.org as Board Advisor and Board Secretary. Her nonprofit involvement encompasses professional development and conservation programs. She holds an MBA with a concentration in Organizational Behavior and Labor and Human Resources Policy from Case Western Reserve University and is pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration focused on positive psychology in business and DEI initiatives. Monica also holds a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University and various coaching certifications.

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Kevin Conner
Chief Operating Officer

As Chief Operating Officer, Kevin oversees all Delivery Department, facilities, and IT needs. He also oversees Community Servings’ Teaching Kitchen program.

Kevin, a native of upstate New York, has been a professional chef for 20 years. His culinary experience includes crafting menus and recipes at some of the region’s most well-known restaurants, including No. 9 Park, Radius, Union Bar Grille in Boston and Al Forno in Providence. Prior to joining the staff of Community Servings, Kevin worked as the Executive Chef at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Chef Conner is motivated by the significant impact that food can have on someone experiencing an illness and he aims to integrate new recipes and different cuisines into the menu to help ensure that our medically tailored meals are flavorful, while still meeting the dietary needs of our clients.

Kevin is a graduate of Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts Program.

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Erin DiBacco
Sr. Director of Strategy & Business Development

Bio coming soon.

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Brian Hillmer
Chief Culinary Officer

As Chief Culinary Officer, Brian is responsible for culinary excellence from R&D to production and packaging.  With a focus on whole ingredients procured from quality local producers, Brian and his team create delicious, nutritious and completely scratch, diet-specific meals for our clients.

Drawn to Community Servings by the mission, Brian is passionate about providing healthy and joyful food experiences to those who need it the most.  Before joining Community Servings, he spent two decades as a chef and culinary director for national and regional restaurant groups overseeing culinary operation around the country.

Brian has a BA in English from Illinois State and a Master’s in Sustainability and Environmental Management from the Harvard Extension School where he still gives the occasional lecture on fisheries management and aquaculture technology.

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Leigh Kalbacker
Senior Program Director

Leigh joined the Community Servings team as a graduate student intern in 2012 and got hooked on the mission of providing nutritious, medically tailored meals to clients experiencing critical and chronic illnesses. Over the past several years she has managed an array of projects at Community Servings from school meals to our local food abundance program. She now works with our client services and volunteer services teams to ensure that we have helping hands in the kitchen and that the needs of our diverse client base are met.

She has a BS from Cornell University in Natural Resources with a focus on Sustainable Agriculture Education and her Master’s degree from Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, in Agriculture, Food and the Environment. From past work with farmers, gardeners, consumers, and growing food of her own, she is passionate about connecting people to good food.

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Tim Leahy
Chief Development Officer

In his role as Chief Development Officer, Tim oversees all fundraising, which includes Major Gifts, Events (Pie in the Sky and LifeSavor), and Grants from corporate and foundation partners.  He also supports the work of the Board of Directors and is the staff lead for the Board of Advisors, our two leadership volunteer boards. He has led Community Servings through two major capital campaigns, and is responsible for the agency’s online presence, print communications, and press.

Tim brings nearly 30 years of fundraising and communications experience, along with a food service background, to the job.  He worked for 16 years in the food service industry, from ice cream parlors to fine dining, and for six years in sales and marketing, with the world’s largest Macintosh computer show, MacWorld Expo. After years of working in the private sector, Tim chose to dedicate his efforts to nonprofit development. Before coming to Community Servings in 1999, Tim served for two years as the Director of Development for the Boston Salvation Army and for three years at the United Way of Dutchess County, NY. Tim has long been a passionate supporter of HIV/AIDS and hunger-relief causes, volunteering for a number of organizations and participating in the AIDS LifeCycle from 2009 – 2017, and the Harbor to the Bay bike ride from 2003 – present. He received a BA in English and Economics from UMASS Boston.

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Jean Terranova
Sr. Director of Policy & Research

Jean has served as a co-investigator in published studies examining the impact of Community Servings’ medically tailored meals on health outcomes and healthcare  utilization and costs.  Currently, Jean is the site principal investigator for two large-scale NIH studies examining the impact of Community Servings’ meals on health outcomes and quality of life for individuals with diabetes and food insecurity; for those with HIV, diabetes, and food insecurity; and for individuals receiving our meals through a MassHealth Section 1115 Demonstration.  Jean is also on the Leadership Team of the Food is Medicine Coalition’s Accelerator Program.  A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Jean has worn many hats as a social justice attorney and advocate. Jean also holds a professional chef’s degree from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and serves on the Policy Committee of the Food is Medicine Coalition, on the Advisory Board of the Root Cause Coalition, as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Aspen Institute’s Food is Medicine Initiative.

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Silifa Wallace
Chief Financial Officer

Silifa joined Community Servings in June 2022 as the Chief Financial Officer. She has over two decades of audit experience and diverse background in accounting, finance, operations, and management. Before joining Community Servings, Silifa held positions as Chief Audit Executive and Director of Clinical Finance at Boston University and senior auditor roles at various retail food and service organizations.

Silifa is passionate about helping people improve their lives and utilizing her broad range of financial, operational, and strategic experience to support Community Servings in achieving its mission. She is a CPA with a BS in Accounting from UMass Amherst and an MBA with a concentration in Leading Organization & Transformation from Boston University.

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