Parent to Parent USA 2008 Board of Directors
Susan Atkins, Robin Mathea, Nancy DiVenere, Kathy Brill, Dana Yarbrough and Laura Warren
To email the entire Board: Board@P2PUSA.org
(Click on the name to email individually)
President: Nancy DiVenere, Former Director Parent to Parent of Vermont
Vice-President: Dana Yarbrough, Director, Parent to Parent of Virginia
Secretary: Laura Warren, Co-Director, Parent to Parent of Texas
Treasurer: Robin Mathea, Director Parent to Parent of Wisconsin
Susan Atkins, Parent to Parent, Washington
Kathy Brill, Former Director Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania
Catherine Dunham, President of The Access Project
Nanfi N. Lubogo, Co-Director PATH Parent to Parent of Connecticut
George Singer, University of California at Santa Barbara
Irene Nathan Zipper, Family Support Network of North CarolinaNancy DiVenere BA, St Michael’s College. Until 2004, Nancy was the Executive Director of Parent to Parent of Vermont, a statewide organization she founded in 1987 (www.partoparvt.org). Nancy developed Parent to Parent of Vermont’s Family Faculty Program designed to teach medical students and pediatric residents. The program was recognized by the Association of American Medical Colleges as the first of its kind in the country. In 1998, Nancy was honored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with a Community Health Leadership Award as one of ten individuals in the country “changing the shape of health care in America.” Nancy’s work was inspired by the birth of her son Brett whose early years were compromised due to a birth injury.
Dana Yarbrough Dana is the parent of a 13 year old daughter with multiple physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities. Since 1997, she has directed Virginia’s state Parent to Parent office. In addition to her work promoting best practice in the parent to parent model in Virginia, Dana coordinates family support and self-advocacy projects at the Partnership for People with Disabilities, Virginia’s University Center on Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and co-directs Virginia’s Family to Family Health Information and Education Center. Dana is a 1997 graduate of Partners in Policymaking and has chaired several state and local early intervention and special education advisory committees.
Laura Warren Laura is the parent of a 21-year-old son who was a micro-preemie and has mild physical and sensory disabilities. She has been involved in parent to parent support for the past 18 years as a volunteer, Parent Advocate, and Director of a local parent to parent program and co-founder and Executive Director of Texas Parent to Parent. Laura is a 1993 graduate of Partners in Policymaking.
Robin Mathea, BA, Business Administration, Robin is Director of Parent to Parent of Wisconsin. Robin’s experience includes the research, development and operation of service delivery programs for Family Resource Connection serving three counties, Northern Regional Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Center serving 15 counties, and Parent to Parent of Wisconsin serving the State. She is a member of the Executive Board for Parent to Parent of the United States (P2P USA) and Board Member for Northern Wisconsin Infant Mental Health Task Force and WSPEI (Department of Public Instruction’s Wisconsin Statewide Parent-Educator Initiative). Robin is an experienced trainer for Parent to Parent of Wisconsin; Great Beginnings, The First Years Last Forever, Early Childhood Brain Research; Wisconsin Parent and Provider Early Learning Network; Parents in Partnership; and, Facilitator for PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope). Robin’s family experience drives her passion for Parent to Parent.
Susan Atkins Susan has over 20 years of leadership experience in Parent to Parent program development beginning in 1986 as founder and Executive Director of Washington’s third Parent to Parent program. Currently the organization, in which Susan is now State Director, has Programs in every county in the state as well as Regional Centers. She represents WA Parent to Parent at the state level, trains and consults with community based Parent to Parent programs, facilitates communication and networking amongst Program coordinators and agencies and is also responsible for conference planning and resource development for WA Parent to Parent. She serves on Boards of other health and family support organizations in the state as well as local community programs. The Arc of Washington State sponsors the state organization. Susan and her husband Terry are the parents of three girls, Alexa the oldest was born with Down Syndrome and is currently working full-time at Starbucks in Washington and living in an apartment with support and with her 79 year old grandmother.
Kathy Brill, M.Ed. Kathy is the mother of three daughters. Her youngest, Alexa, age 17, uses numerous supports and assistive technology to assist her in being successfully and fully included in all aspects of her home, school, and community. Kathy was director of Parent to Parent of PA for seven years, hosting the International Parent to Parent Conference in 2002. She also served as Chair of PA’s State Interagency Coordinating Council for three years. In addition to serving on the Parent to Parent USA board, she serves as president of PA TASH, and secretary of National Coalition on Self-Determination. She is also a trainer for Natural Allies in Pennsylvania, an effort to build collaborative partnerships between higher education in early childhood and parents who are raising children with disabilities and special health care needs. Kathy received the National Council on Disability 2006 Leadership Award in appreciation of outstanding contributions to the improvement of disability policy in the United States presented by Chair Lex Frieden and Executive Director Ethel D. Briggs.
Catherine M. Dunham Ed.D is President of The Access Project, a research and advocacy organization that has worked to improve access to health care for people without adequate health insurance since 1998. She served as national program director of the Community Health Leadership Program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 1991 to 2007. She was also the Executive Director of the National Center on Family Homelessness during 2007. From 1984-1991 she was the chief health and human services policy advisor to Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts. Prior to that, Dr. Dunham was the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers. She received her Masters in Education and her Doctorate in Social Analysis in Education from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. She has faculty appointments at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Brandeis University.
Nanfi N. Lubogo, Co-Director PATH Parent to Parent of Connecticut. Nanfi is the parent of two children the oldest of whom has special needs. Nanfi served as the Chair of the Primary Care Family Advisory Council at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and was the Regional Coordinator of Connecticut Birth to Three Mentor Program responsible for linking parents entering the Birth to Three System with Parent Mentors. Nanfi has completed Policymaking and Advocacy Training, Multicultural Early Childhood Training a PEATC Training Center at George Mason University and Parent Leadership Training at the National Leadership Institute in Massachusetts.
George Singer Ph.D. George is a professor and a member of the Special Education, Disability, and Risk emphasis group in the Graduate School of Education, University of California Santa Barbara. Since 1985, questions surrounding families and persons with disabilities have been a primary research interest. From 1991-95 George was the director of the Hood Center for Family Support at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical School where he and his colleagues conducted studies about self-determination and family support. From 1995-2000 George conducted a federally funded project in his local hospital to introduce Family Centered Care practices in the neonatal intensive care unit. He is interested in the philosophy of social science and its intersection with actual day to day practice of research. George sees his work as primarily aimed to provide pragmatic insights, methods, materials, and policies that will be useful in the lives of people with disabilities and their families. In his private life George is a published poet, furnisher maker, father, grandfather, and fan of golden-haired retrievers.
Irene Nathan Zipper, M.S.W., Ph.D., is Director of the Family Support Network of North Carolina, Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, and a fellow with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Secretary of Parent to Parent-USA. Irene is involved in teaching, training, and research in the area of family support, with a particular focus on families whose children are at risk or have disabilities, and is the recipient of a federal grant for North Carolina’s Family Support 360 Project, OneStop for Strengthening Families. She is also involved in an international project focused on preparing graduate students for positions of leadership in early childhood education. She has worked with children and families in a variety of settings, including Head Start, public schools, public and private mental health agencies, and residential treatment settings.
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