The MATCH Coalition is grateful to our Board of Directors for the time and resources they bring to our organization. They provide us with leadership, volunteer hours, materials and office space, strategic planning, publicity, opportunities to participate in and get our mission heard by the public.
They share in our mission of "Live Smoke Free, Work Smoke Free and Play Smoke Free".
Ruth Canovi
CHAIR
Ruth Canovi serves as the Connecticut Director of Public Policy for the American Lung Association of the Northeast. In this capacity, Ruth works with community partners, volunteers and policy makers to advance the organization’s mission of saving lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. Issues Ruth works on include tobacco control, lung health and air quality. Ruth has 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, working previously in health education, food access, and human services. Ruth has a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a Bachelor of Art from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Brian Cournoyer
Vice CHAIR
Director, Government Relations
Connecticut Hospital Association
Brian moved to Connecticut from Boston in the fall of 2006 to take a position in CHA's government relations department. In his role as Director of Government Relations, Brian serves as an advocate before elected and appointed local, state, and federal officials on matters relating to legislative and budgetary matters impacting the hospital and healthcare communities in Connecticut.
From April of 1998 to November 2006, Brian served as the Legislative Director and Chief Policy Advisor to Massachusetts State Senator Richard Moore (D- Uxbridge). In this capacity, Brian was tasked with developing a legislative agenda to complement the Senator's legislative and budgetary goals and objectives. During his tenure, Brian was involved with every healthcare-related piece of legislation introduced in Massachusetts. Noted pieces of legislation passed with Brian's direct involvement included: a statewide smoking ban in restaurant and bars, modernizing tuberculosis screening for schoolchildren, increasing the penalties for animal cruelty, creating a pediatric palliative care program, creating of the official Jack Kerouac Day, and securing hundreds of millions of dollars for school nurses, school-based health centers, and other statewide public health programs.
Prior to his employment with Sen. Moore, Brian worked from October 1991 to April 1998 at the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement Board. He was the campaign manager for the 2006 reelection campaign of Connecticut State Senator Eileen Daily (D-Westbrook), and served in a senior advisor capacity during numerous local and state campaigns in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Brian is a graduate of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., and attended Graduate School at Suffolk University in Boston. Brian is married to Patty Cournoyer, a middle school health educator in Old Lyme. Brian and Patty live in the Ivoryton section of the town of Essex, CT.
Jim Williams
SECRETARY/ TREASURER
Jim Williams has been the Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association in CT since 2015. In his professional life he was a Sergeant in the Marine Corps where he performed diplomatic security overseas for the US State Department, worked for Senator Don Williams at the CT General Assembly who at the time was the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, worked for one of the largest lobbying firms in the state, Sullivan & LeShane, and was the Director of Government Relations/Assistant Executive Director for the CT State Dental Association. Jim graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT with a BA in political science. He lives in Newington, CT with his wife Nancy, his two sons, Gavin and Jack, and two Golden Retrievers Georgie and Cooper.