Board of Directors

Peter Benassi – Chair

Peter attended Elmhurst College and Loyola University before pursuing a career in business. He has been a successful entrepreneur in the fields of advertising, marketing, and real estate development. He has been a major contributor to many nonprofit organizations including Bailey House, Project Angel Food, God’s Love We Deliver, Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Chrysalis Foundation and Human Rights Campaign. As a close friend and lifelong confidant of Rand Harlan Skolnick, The Palette’s Fund’s founder, Peter is uniquely qualified to help implement the last wishes of Palette’s benefactor.

Terrence Meck – President

Terrence Meck is the Co-Founder and President of The Palette Fund, a private foundation that honors the legacy of his late partner Rand Harlan Skolnick through collaborative grant making and programs that value human rights and education.  Since its inception in 2009, the Palette Fund has granted more than $3 million in the areas of Nutrition and Wellness, Patient Navigation and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Youth. From 2003 to 2008, Terrence and Rand co-owned The Raven Resort Properties in New Hope, Pennsylvania until Rand’s untimely death from Pancreatic Cancer.  Prior to this, he worked in Public Relations in the publishing and fashion industries. Terrence currently serves as the Board Chair of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and sits on the Boards of the Movement Advancement Project, Threshold Foundation, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and God’s Love We Deliver.  He was recently recognized as one of Out Magazine’s 100 most compelling people of 2012. Terrence received his B.A. in political science from Princeton University and presently resides in New York City with his partner Breton.

Kristin Resnansky – Secretary and Treasurer

Kristin Resnansky is currently a partner at Lamond Capital Partners, a hedge fund focused on investing in technology companies.  Previously, Kristin was a professional at Robin Hood and Jumo and a Managing Director at Chilton Investment Company.  She is also the founder and co-chair of the Social Investment Council for Echoing Green, a provider of seed funding to social entrepreneurs. Kristin holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where she earned the Certificate in Public Management with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and a BA in economics and French from the University of Virginia.  Kristin has been friends with Terrence since childhood and is honored to help Palette achieve its mission.

Todd Sears

Todd Sears is the founder and Principal of Coda Leadership Consulting LLC, which brings his ROI-focused approach to companies, helping move diversity beyond traditional programs and integrate it into business objectives.  After creating the first national team of financial advisors on Wall Street to focus on the LGBT community, which brought over $1.5 Billion of new assets to Merrill Lynch, Todd moved into diversity leadership.  Since that time, he has led diversity initiatives both at Merrill Lynch, where he was Head of Strategic Initiatives for the Office of Diversity, as well as Credit Suisse, where he was Americas Head of Diversity & Inclusion.  In the community, Todd is a member of the Lambda Legal National Leadership Council, and the Williams Institute Founders Council.  He is a member of the SIFMA Diversity Board as well as the Corporate Diversity Board of the Asia Society.  Most recently, he joined the Corporate Board of the National Council for Research on Women as well as serves as an advisory board member of Sylvia Hewlett’s “Hidden Brain Drain Task Force”.  He is also a co-founder and co-chair of Jeffrey FashionCares, an annual fashion event, which has raised over $4mm for LGBT causes over the past seven years.  Todd is a graduate of Duke University.  Todd and his partner, Chris Garvin, an architect, live in Manhattan.

Advisory Board

Annemarie Colbin, PhD – Nutrition and Wellness
Founder, CEO – The Natural Gourmet Institute

David Holtgrave, PhD – HIV/AIDS
Professor and Chair, Department of Health, Behavior & Society - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Shanti Norris – Nutrition and Wellness & Patient Navigation
Co-Founder and Executive Director – Smith Farm Center

Regina Quattrochi – LGBT Youth & HIV/AIDS
CEO, Bailey House

Jorge Valencia – LGBT Youth
Executive Director & CEO, Point Foundation