About Us

Robert F. Littleton, Jr. Ed.D.

Founder and CEO

Robert F. Littleton Jr. is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of numerous service agencies including Beacon ABA Services of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Evergreen Center, Criterion Child Enrichment, BehaviorPedia Inc., and Human Services Management Corporation. Dr. Littleton has taught elementary and special education in the Barnstable Public Schools. He has held certifications as an Administrator of Special Education and as an Early Intervention Program Director. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his Masters in Education in Severe Special Needs from Lesley University.   Dr. Littleton completed his doctoral research in Special Education at Boston University on the treatment of toddlers with expressive language delay. He is a past President of the Massachusetts Association for Approved Private Schools and is a former Chair of the Council of Affiliated State Associations, a subcommittee of the National Association of Private Special Education Centers. He is also a founding incorporator of the Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Littleton was the catalyst and has been a key contributor to the development of graduate training programs for behavior analysts at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and Cambridge College. He has served as a committee chair for the Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium and as a trustee the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He is a former trustee of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Foundation and the Milford Regional Medical Center. In 2012, Dr. Littleton was an inaugural recipient of the Salute to Service Award from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

A message from the President

Robert K. Ross, Ed.D, BCBA-D, LABA

Chief Clinical Officer

Dr. Ross is the Chief Clinical Officer at Beacon ABA Services of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He received his Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis from Northeastern University and his Doctorate from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Ross oversees all research activity at Beacon. He also provides direct and consultation services to families, schools and educational programs throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is a founding member and current Past President of the Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Ross is also the President of the Autism Special Interest Group (SIG) of ABAI, and has served three terms on the ABAI Practice Board.

Dione Christy, Ph.D. (Consult)

Senior Vice President Office of Cultural Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity

Dr. Dione Christy leads the Office of Cultural Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (OCEID) of Human Services Management Corporation. Previously, she served as a visiting adjunct Professor of Practice with Nova University, Advising Senior Consultant with Virginia Department of Education, Division of Quality Schools, and Chair/Senior Lead Evaluator with Cognia Corporation. Dr. Christy has also served as President of a Washington-based public service organization and Nonprofit Senior Executive of a Northern Virginia-based National Association overseeing superintendent and principal leadership development.  Dr. Christy has previously been appointed to the Educator Workforce Diversity Initiative Task Force and State Equity Plan of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Harvard University and Boston Public Schools Inclusion and Equity Advisory Committee and Equity Working Group. Dr. Christy has been invited to speak at thought leadership events and has numerous service honors and awards such as the United States President’s Education Awards for Educational Excellence, Chamber of Commerce’s International ATHENA Individual Leadership Award, Economic Council and the Education Foundation’s Administrator of the Year, Executive Women’s National Female Executive Award, and DWYER Award for Excellence in Special Education. Dr. Christy earned post-doctorate advanced certification in change leadership, education reform, and urban education superintendent from Harvard University; global education senior policy fellow designation from the institute of Education Leadership (IEL), a Ph.D. (College of Sciences Marshall, Kappa Delta Pi honors, distinction) in leadership and education from Barry University, and a M.S. in speech language pathology supervision and administration from Nova University. Additionally, she is certified in Facilitative Leadership for Social Change from the Interaction Institute for Social Change.

Charles Newfield, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LABA, LBA, Licensed Psychologist

Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Newfield is the Chief Operating Officer of Beacon ABA Services in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with a focus in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior from Adelphi University. In addition to being a licensed and board certified behavior analyst, he is also a licensed psychologist in Connecticut. Dr. Newfield has been the Director for Behavioral Services at a private non-profit in Connecticut for the past 18 years. During his tenure, he was responsible for the agency’s dynamic growth in Connecticut where he oversaw development of a variety of behavioral services for children in school settings including founding a state approved special education school for students with high functioning autism and other disabilities. Under his supervision, the School Consultation Division began as a start-up and grew to become a division serving thousands of individuals and their families and over 50 school districts. Dr. Newfield was a founding member of a collaborative Master’s Program with Fitchburg State, MA in Applied Behavior Analysis. He began his career serving as a Behavioral Consultant for the ACES school programs in Connecticut for 10 years.

Heather Teichman, M.Ed, BCBA, LBA

Senior Associate Vice President of Operations

Heather Teichman is the State Director at Beacon Services of Connecticut.  She received her Master’s degree in Education from Cambridge College, and is a licensed behavior analyst in both Massachusetts and Connecticut.  She has worked in the field of ABA for over 18 years.  Heather began her career working on the Neurobehavioral Unit at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, and has since worked in both home and school-based settings, with a focus on home-based early intervention services for the past 8 years.  She currently also serves as the CEO and Chair of the Continuing Education Committee for the Connecticut Association for Behavior Analysis.