As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Caring Health Center (CHC), Tania Barber, MBA leads the only federally-funded (Section 330) Community Health Center in the city of Springfield. CHC operates several sites throughout the region, employs 327 employees, and serves 20,501 patients with medical, dental and behavioral health needs. CHC offers primary care services with integrated behavioral health and substance abuse programs; dental services; pharmacy; a state-of-the-art wellness center that houses a teaching and demonstration kitchen; Women, Infants and Children Nutrition (WIC) programming; many research, prevention, and education programs; interpreting services; and a refugee health assessment program, which serves the largest number of refugee and immigrant patients west of Boston. Joining CHC in 1996, Barber has worked in various roles. She began in switchboard operations and worked her way up the ladder. She would eventually become the Front Office Operations Manager, Chief Operations Officer, then Executive Vice President, followed by to her current role as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2013.
Recognized as a servant leader who has compassion for people, Barber serves as a full-time pastor and founder of Living Water Global Ministries in Springfield, Massachusetts. She sits on several boards, including the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Regional Employment Board, Health New England, Bay Path University, and Be Healthy Partnership Plan Joint Operating Committee. Barber also serves as a Corporator for Florence Savings Bank. Barber received her Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from the University of Massachusetts in 2007 and Master of Business Administration degree in Entrepreneurial Practices and Innovative Thinking from Bay Path University in 2009.