CHALLENGE DAY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Janet Tillman — President

Janet has been in the field of education for over 20 years in many different types of settings. She has worked with at-risk youth in Ann Arbor, Michigan, trained University of Michigan Medical students in patient care, and was a founding teacher in a Big Picture charter school in Detroit. She moved to the Bay Area to be closer to the Challenge Day community and to create the job of her dreams. She found that job at the Lighthouse Community Charter school in Oakland, California where she is the Dean of Students (7-12). Providing opportunities for her community and beyond to feel "safe, loved and celebrated" is her life work.

Janet is one of the founding members of the Washtenaw County Circle of Change. Being able to participate locally and globally gives her a unique perspective on the power of our work. Her contributions to the Board show up in her passion, clarity, commitment, integrity, authenticity, and willingness to be of service.

Larry Boxer — Treasurer

Larry is an attorney who spent his first 10 years as a criminal lawyer and then spent 20+ years in civil litigation specializing in catastrophic injury, medical negligence, crime-related torts, and elder law. He resides in Oakland, California, is married to Susan Marie Davis, and has three grown children and a dog named Obi. Larry's varied background includes working as a longshoreman, warehouseman, toymaker, aerial cropsprayer (England), teacher, and other jobs prior to law school. He is also a Professor of Trial Advocacy, University of California, Hastings College of the Law (S.F.), and a Hospice Volunteer for the Zen Hospice Project at Laguna Honda Hospital, S.F.

Katie Greenman — Secretary

Just starting her first year at Tufts University, Katie Greenman has been involved with Challenge Day since she was ten years old. Accordingly, she is a firm believer in the movement and is honored and determined to help Challenge Day impact other lives the way it has her own.

As a result of the instilled "Be the Change" movement and the privilege of travel, Katie and her two sisters founded a non-profit organization called Hands On Hands that continues to support underprivileged Kenyan children through education and needed resources. Throughout high school, Katie also dedicated her time to serving with other organizations including Children Shelters, American Red Cross, and service-learning organizations, all of which promote personal connection and provide people with the support they need.

Although more exploration is to come, Katie is planning to major in International Relations and Peace & Justice Studies with a focus on education. Starting now, she is striving to promote and use education as a means for cultivating a healthy world.

Rich Dutra St. John — Challenge Day Founder and Leader

A former high school teacher and championship wrestling coach, Rich has worked with teens and families since 1978. As a licensed family therapist and drug intervention specialist, he was recruited to open and direct two different adolescent treatment facilities in Northern California, most notably the Thunder Road Adolescent Recovery Center in Oakland, where he served as the founding clinical director.

A gifted facilitator and counselor, Rich is viewed as an expert in working with youth and families. With a shared vision that every child could someday live in a world where they feel safe, loved, and celebrated, Rich and his wife Yvonne combined their collective passion and experience to co-found the Challenge Day program in 1987. Their work with has now positively affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth and adults in 39 different states and six Canadian Provinces. Rich now serves as a Challenge Day trainer/facilitator and Chairman of the Board.

Yvonne St. John Dutra — Challenge Day Founder and Co-Director

Working for over 24 years with teens and adults in a variety of settings, Yvonne has been instrumental in designing and implementing over 17 different nationally recognized prevention and intervention programs for teenagers.

Yvonne's earliest experiences varied from facilitating classroom presentations and school assemblies, to conducting media programs on gender roles and eating disorders. She later focused her attention on working with at risk youth, addiction, and social oppression issues.

A gifted speaker, program designer, trainer, and educator, Yvonne has received many honors and won numerous awards for her work with teens and families. In 2003, Yvonne was selected to receive the Contra Costa County Woman of The Year Award.

As parents of four daughters, Yvonne and her husband Rich co-founded the awarding winning Challenge Day program in 1987. In addition to leading Challenge Day Programs, Next Step, and Living the Change Community Workshops, Yvonne is currently serving as CEO and head of Challenge Day's Training Department.

Spalding Ashley

Spalding was born in Atlanta, GA and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Speech Communication. It was there that she met her husband and love of her life.

She has led Bible studies and women's retreats, and she currently sings with the praise band at her church.

She has two boys- one in college and one in high school. She is involved in Campus Beautification, Athletic Boosters and Community Pride Foundation at her son's high school.

She has created a bonded neighborhood community, bringing together neighbors who have lived together for years but never knew each other. The neighbors now get together to socialize and to band together regarding projects affecting the neighborhood.

Because of her husband's job as a news anchor, they attend many fundraisers, auctions, etc., but Challenge Day is the first organization that tugged at her heartstrings enough to motivate her to get involved with raising funds.

Through attending the Next Step to Being the Chane workshop, she was reminded that she has been very, very blessed in her life. Because of this, she wants to share and give back to others and to make a difference. She can think of no better way to do that than to support the efforts of Challenge Day.

Amy Clark

A life-long resident of Ohio, Amy attended the University of Toledo for marketing and sales. She has occupational experience in real estate, where she was a million-dollar sales agent, as well as a sales account executive. Currently, Amy is the Regional Program Coordinator for the Spring Green Educational Foundation.

Amy's extensive volunteer work with churches and ministries, parent organizations, historical societies, Easter Seals, and other community agencies led her to receive the Anthony Wayne Hall of Fame Award in 2006. Ms. Clark has been significantly involved in building the Challenge Day program in Northwest Ohio.

Amy is married to recording artist Kerry Clark and has three sons.

Debbie Dimery

Debbie Dimery hails from Northern California where she lives with her husband, teenage son and practically teenage daughter. She was first introduced to Challenge day through their work at her son's high school. Debbie is particularly excited to be part of the Challenge Day Board of Directors because they weave together her interests in education, youth and social justice in a unique and dynamic way.

In her professional life, Debbie is a certified public accountant and a partner at the firm of Lindquist LLP. All of Debbie's clients are not-for-profit entities and she has over twenty years of providing service and advice to the not-for-profit industry. Professional memberships include the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Debbie is excited to bring her unique professional acumen to Challenge Day.

In her private life, Debbie loves to read, cook, route for Cal football, attend her children's sporting events, and play bocce. Her favorite activity is traveling with her family.

Steven Echtman

Steven Echtman joins Challenge Day's Board with over 20 years experience in marketing and media production. He is the founder and president of Passinglane, an interactive communications company that leverages technology and media to provide clients with elegant, yet pragmatic, solutions to business objectives. Steven is passionate about the potential media holds to reach people, evoke emotion and inspire them to come together for deeper relating and fulfillment in their lives.

Originally from New York, Steven moved to San Francisco (by way of Los Angeles) in 2002. The day he arrived in San Francisco (moving truck still unpacked) he was invited to a Challenge Day introductory event. Needless to say, that day he was moved in more ways than one. Steven found an instant affinity for Challenge Day and made it a priority to help the organization fulfill its mission and goals.

Adopting and practicing Challenge Day's principals of compassionate communication, non-judgment and speaking one's truth, Steven felt the loss of so many years without these fundamental tools. He realized that if he could use his talents to help reach more people, especially at an early age, many could avoid years of feeling disconnected from themselves and those around them.

After assisting with Challenge Day's annual fundraisers Steven approached Challenge Day's founders with initiatives that held the promise of furthering the organization's reach while increasing resources. Steven was invited to serve on the Challenge Day's Resource Development Committee and a year later, in 2006, he was elected to the Board of Directors.

Kenny Lauer

Kenny Lauer is Executive Director, Digital Experience at George P. Johnson Experience Marketing, where he leads GPJ's worldwide Digital practice. He brings to Challenge Day's Board over 20 years of customer strategy experience. He is a specialist in the use and integration of experience marketing, Web 2.0 and Virtual Events into customer engagement and relationship strategies. Kenny is a former technology evangelist with Apple Computer, served in key client engagements for KPMG as an IT integrator, and worked with the Peppers and Rogers Group as a CRM strategist. He is 1 of only 24 honorees worldwide awarded the "Certified Experience Economy Expert" designation from Strategic Horizons' founder Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors of the best-selling business book The Experience Economy. Lauer also was a contributing author to the recently published Age of Conversation 2: Why They Don't Get It?

Originally from San Diego (which he loves), he now lives with his wife and two kids –who are steeped in the Challenge Day philosophies-- in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has always been in awe of children's potential. His wife grabbed him to watch the Challenge Day Program on Oprah; the following day, he was on the phone finding the next Challenge Day school program he could support. Obviously, he couldn't get enough, and wanted to get involved even more to help spread the word about Challenge Day's work.

His desire as a Challenge Day Board member is to be a part of something much bigger than himself and to leave this world a better place.

Betsy Leighton

Betsy Leighton has been involved with social service work ever since she can remember. She was a teen counselor in high school and an intern/caseworker at St. Luke's Hospital in New York for three years while attending Barnard. After college, she tried acting (and lasted approximately three weeks!) before becoming a page at NBC. Since then, it's been back and forth between film and television and mental health/social service work.

She received a Masters in Social Work in 1991 at Hunter College and was at AHRC for 4 years where she started the country's first alcohol and drug program for mentally challenged adults. In 1992 she produced and directed a feature documentary on the homeless entitled A Six Voice Home for PBS. After moving to Denver 12 years ago, Betsy became a freelance television producer, with clients including Ovation, Starz, and Animal Planet, for whom she produced long-running series Emergency Vets. She also wrote a young adult novelization of Emergency Vets which was published in 2001 by Penguin Putnam. Betsy was awarded a grant for fiction writing from Colorado Council on the Arts and is now finishing up her first adult novel, My Life on the Stage: Memoirs of a Non-actress . Betsy also serves on the board of the Denver Film Society.

Betsy was inspired to action when her oldest daughter began high school at Denver School of the Arts in 2006 and she saw first-hand some of the profound barriers and pain faced by many of the kids in the community. Betsy brought Challenge Day to her daughter's school in May 2007 and since then has raised money for over 25 Challenge Days throughout the school district. She has formed a chapter non-profit called Challenge Denver which is working toward making it possible for every child in Denver Public Schools to experience Challenge Day and has designed and is providing follow-up programs to measure, encourage and strengthen its benefits.

Betsy lives in Denver with her husband Bob, a long-time cable tv industry executive, and their three children.

Jeff Malone

The father of two teenage children, Jeff knows all too well what the world of teenagers is like today and what it can do to even the strongest of individuals. Jeff joined the Board because he attended one Challenge Day and saw the potential for lasting change that is not always possible with older adults. He sees that the future is in schools right now, where the leaders who can change the world are being trained. He believes that if we want a new and better world, then we should train new leaders who operate with new paradigms--those who look from love and trust; those who want connection, not separation.

Jeff made a commitment to himself in 1990 to make a difference with his life and his choices, and has been making a difference in the world ever since. He is currently working with Debbie Ford on delivering Debbie's world famous Shadow workshops, lectures, and Integrative Coaching to the world. Additionally, Jeff is a professor at JFK University, teaching Integrative Coaching and relationship transformation. Finally, Jeff is a Master Integrative Coach and spiritual mentor. He is known as the coach's coach. He specializes in people and leaders whose vision is very big and important. With an MBA from Stanford and a successful career in business, Jeff has been at the forefront of real world entrepreneurial effort aimed at bringing new leadership style and mentality to businesses of all kinds today.

Roxana Marachi

Roxana Marachi is currently an Assistant Professor of Education at San Jose State University. She joined SJSU in 2006 after having served for three years as faculty in the Department of Child and Adolescent Development at California State University Northridge. She earned her doctorate in Education and Psychology from University of Michigan in 2003 with a research focus on School Climate and School Violence Prevention. Dr. Marachi currently serves as Co-Chair of the Safe Schools and Communities Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association. She has presented at numerous national conferences and the International Society for Research on Aggression. Her publications include chapters in the Handbook of School Violence and School Safety: From Research to Practice and the School Services Sourcebook: A Guide for School-Based Professionals as well as research articles in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, The Journal of School Violence, and School Psychology International.

Roxana's research interests focus on interpersonal dynamics among teachers and students, school climate, and how elements of control are related to student violence and victimization. She also has an emerging interest in the intersection of Biology, Psychology, and Education in connections between psycho-physiological aspects of emotion-regulation/coping strategies, and effects on student cognition, motivation, school climate, and behavior. She teaches the Psychological Foundations in Education courses to credential candidates in the Multiple Subjects Credential program and supervises students in the Middle Level Emphasis Program. Roxana is looking forward to serving on the Board at Challenge Day, as she finds the work of inspiring meaningful social connections in schools to be the single most important action to support students in schools. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge and passion about development/behavior in efforts to enhance school climates for safety and engaged learning.

Susan Monaghan

Susan Monaghan is currently Vice President Employee Engagement, Development and Inclusion. She is responsible for leading Cisco's efforts to scale best practices in leadership and employee development across the entire company. Susan's operational excellence track record and her experience as a HR client-facing leader bring tremendous value and expertise to Cisco's efforts to accelerate and scale company-wide adoption of talent management best practices, stemming from Cisco's Leadership Development Architecture.

Susan previously held the position of Vice President Human Resources for Cisco's worldwide research and development organization. Two years ago, Susan transitioned to a HR role as Vice-President of HR for Operations, Processes and Systems Group where she introduced a new leadership model that has become the standard for Operations leaders. Prior to joining Cisco, Susan worked at IBM for 14 years. She held a number of Executive Sales and Marketing positions on the East Coast and then moved to California in 1997. Susan also worked in the Storage Systems division and launched one of IBM's first products in the Network Attached Storage market aimed at small and medium businesses.

Susan has a BA in Psychology from University of Vermont. Susan also serves on the board of MentorNet, a non-profit group focused on the development of woman in technology and currently volunteers for Wardrobe for Opportunity in Oakland.

Suzanne Stanford

Suzanne's mission is the welfare of children. Her extensive background in Internet Safety Education includes lobbying the United States Congress on internet safety issues, and the illegal trafficking of minor children. She authored proposed federal legislation, "Parents Against Predator's Act" (a.k.a. PAPA) which will be voted on by the United States Congress in 2008. In 2008, she received the Artemis Award by the Euro American Women's Council, in Greece. In 2003, while an executive with I-Safe America, a federally funded internet safety education foundation she helped launch, she was selected by Congressman David Vitter as one of "10 American Women of Leadership". In 2002, she received a Congressional Merit Award for "Internet Safety and America's Youth". Currently, she is the founder and CEO of My Internet Safety Coach.com, and the Vice President of Internet Safety Affairs for the Children's Educational Network. Suzanne publishes online internet safety information and speaks around the country on responsible internet use, how to avoid being victimized by online predators; and the worldwide crisis of child pornography and trafficking.

Prior to working in the Internet safety education field, Suzanne enjoyed a long and varied career in the network television and feature film industry as an actress, writer, television critic, producer, and production executive. She remains a member of the Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

She is active in her church, her daughter's school, is an avid supporter of The Special Olympics, and the President of the Founder's Guild for Casa Teresa, a non-profit organization that provides a loving home for single, pregnant women 18 years of age and older and their babies.

In 2005, Suzanne launched "The Rolling Suitcase and New Clothing Drive" for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims for The Red Cross in San Antonio, Texas. This resulted in donations of over 24,000 rolling suitcases and countless articles of clothing.

Suzanne holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from UCLA, lives in Newport Beach, California, and is a single mother. She gives credit to God for her accomplishments, and is honored to be a member of the Challenge Day Board of Directors.

Jody Turin

Jody Turin is presently President, Gallina USA LLC, based in Janesville,Wisconsin. Gallina USA is the North American subsidiary of Dott Gallina, Torino, Italy, and the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of translucent daylighting systems. Turin is an accomplished executive with a career marked with significant achievements.

For a decade, Turin held senior executive roles at Owens Corning in general management, supply chain and marketing. As general manager for OC Automotive and other business segments, she ran a $100 million global enterprise. She led the turnaround from negative profit margin to positive through asset consolidation, higher utilization, product rationalization, improved pricing strategy and growth for a separate segment. In the same period, she reduced safety incidents across the business segment by 80%. Elevating the team's engagement was a priority and significantly improved during uncertain economic times in the automotive industry as measured by independently by Gallup.

From senior roles in general management, marketing and operations, Turin developed business strategy, facilitating the process, and creating strategic and operating plans for businesses in automotive, thermoplastics, residential services, building & construction and energy industries. She has created presentations for Board-level and external shareholder reviews; and venture capital funding.

Launching her career in the energy industry, Turin was promoted through a series of engineering and operations management positions with BP, formerly Amoco Oil Company, at the Whiting Refinery in Northwest Indiana.

Turin earned her M.B.A. with Highest Distinction from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her areas of concentration were Corporate Strategy and Global Marketing. Prior to that, she earned a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Chicago and B.S. Cum Laude, University of Michigan Honors College.

Presently, Turin serves on the Board of Directors, Northwest Ohio Circle of Change. In the past, Turin has served as an officer or member to the Junior League of Toledo, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, Southwest Suburban Chicago Chapter of Delta Delta Delta, and various local community-based committees. "Creating the world we wish to see" is her passion in volunteerism.

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