COMPASSION & CHOICES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Midwest Regional Advocacy & Outreach Manager
Job Titles:
- President
- President Emerita / Senior Adviser
Barbara Coombs Lee is president emerita/senior adviser of Compassion & Choices, the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life. Previously, she had a 25-year career as a nurse and physician assistant, during which she often cared for terminally ill patients. Read more.
Barbara Coombs Lee is president emerita/senior advisor of Compassion & Choices, the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life. Before becoming an advocate, she had a 25-year career as a nurse and physician assistant, during which she often cared for terminally ill patients. She attended many patients who suffered through fruitless procedures and prolonged stays in intensive care. As an emergency room and intensive care nurse, she was often obligated to perform painful and pointless interventions on dying patients.
Those unforgettable experiences informed Barbara's career in law and health policy and prompted her professional devotion to individual choice and empowerment in healthcare. In 2019, Barbara completed her second book, Finish Strong: Putting YOUR Priorities First at Life's End. Finish Strong is a practical guide based on her 50 years of firsthand experience in nursing, medicine, law, public policy and advocacy. In Finish Strong, Barbara calls for all Americans to join a patient-driven movement to dismantle the institutional and cultural barriers to living well to the very end.
In her early years, as a private attorney, staff to an Oregon State Senate committee and a healthcare executive, she championed initiatives that allow individuals a full range of choices and full agency in their healthcare decisions.
Staffing the Oregon Senate Healthcare and Bioethics committee in 1991, Barbara assisted State Senator Frank Roberts Roberts as he introduced one of the first aid-in-dying bills in the nation. Unfortunately, the committee never approved the bill and Roberts died of prostate cancer in 1993, suffering the kind of slow, painful death his bill sought to help people avoid.
In 1994 Barbara co-authored and became one of three chief petitioners for the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. She served as spokesperson through two statewide campaigns and spent 10 years defending the nation's first Death with Dignity law against attacks in both the judicial and legislative arenas.
In 2008, Barbara served as a senior advisor for the Washington State Death with Dignity ballot initiative voters approved by an 18-point margin. Washington became the second state to permit aid in dying. In 2009, the Montana Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case brought by Compassion & Choices (Baxter v. Montana) it does not violate the state's public policy for a physician to provide aid in dying to a mentally competent, terminally ill adult. Under her leadership Compassion & Choices successfully championed the California End of Life Option Act in 2015.
Barbara has been interviewed by all leading media outlets. She has testified before the U.S. Congress. She has spoken in hundreds of venues over the past twenty-five years. She is a seasoned traveler and tireless firebrand.
She studied literature at Vassar College and nursing at Cornell University, and earned advanced degrees in law and medicine from the University of Washington and Lewis & Clark College. Barbara is a member of the Oregon State Bar.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- National Director of Digital Strategy
Berly Laycox is the National Director of Digital Strategy for Compassion & Choices. In this role, she provides direction for our digital advocacy and fundraising efforts. Berly comes to Compassion & Choices with over 14 years of experience in marketing and communications and a passion for listening to people and data. Learn more.
Berly Laycox is the National Director of Digital Strategy for Compassion & Choices. In this role, she provides direction for our digital advocacy and fundraising efforts. Berly comes to Compassion & Choices with over 14 years of experience in marketing and communications and a passion for listening to people and data.
Prior to joining Compassion & Choices, Berly worked as the Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Rutgers University Foundation, managing the foundation's public-facing digital presence for donors and alumni. In addition to her time at Rutgers, Berly led the digital communications team at Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers in Camden, NJ, and helped launch the brand and digital presence for their National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs in 2017.
Berly graduated first in her Executive MBA class from Rutgers University and received the Dean Lei Achievement Award. She also holds a BA in Communications from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a BFA in Print Media from Highlands University.
Job Titles:
- National Director of Policy
Bernadette Nunley leads the Compassion & Choices Policy Team. Together with staff across the organization, the team develops federal and state policies to authorize, ensure access to, protect, and improve the quality of end-of-life care and the full range of end-of-life options. Read more.
Bernadette Nunley leads the Compassion & Choices Policy Team. Together with staff across the organization, the team develops federal and state policies to authorize, ensure access to, protect, and improve the quality of end-of-life care and the full range of end-of-life options.
Nunley is a long-time health lawyer and advocate with expertise in health policy. Prior to Compassion & Choices, she served as lead advisory attorney for the largest health department and local public health division in Oregon.
Nunley fosters systemic change through law and policy, bringing together community advocates, lawmakers, and other stakeholders to create far-reaching solutions to complex health-related problems. Nunley is passionate about building healthy communities and ending systemic inequities in health and healthcare. She centers her work to empower community members and to hold lawmakers accountable to serving their constituents.
Nunley earned her BA in English from Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky and her JD from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Prior to legal advocacy, her professional career included book editing and public relations.
Job Titles:
- Officer
- Chief Engagement Officer
Brandi Alexander is the Chief Engagement Officer for Compassion & Choices, and she has been with the organization for nearly 20 years. Her dedication to educating people about having autonomy over all aspects of life, including at the end of life, has been a driving force in her career. At Compassion & Choices, she is responsible for outreach to the following communities: Clinicians, African Americans, Latino, Faith Leaders, People with Disabilities, LGBTQ+ and Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. Learn more.
Brandi Alexander is the Chief Engagement Officer at Compassion & Choices. In this role, she leads the organization's outreach to diverse populations. Currently, this includes our work engaging with Clinicians, African Americans, Latino, Faith, Disability, LGBTQ+ and Asian American Native Hawai'ian and Pacific Islander communities.
For nearly two decades, Brandi has devoted herself to advancing Compassion & Choices' mission. This includes pioneering the need for us to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive movement.
She envisioned and built out our Community Engagement and Doctors for Dignity program and spearheaded the formation of our Leadership Council model and concept. This included building authentic partnerships with national leaders and organizations, presenting at national, state and local conferences, and authoring opinion editorials and thought leadership pieces.
Brandi began at Compassion & Choices in 2004 as the office manager. In 2012, she moved cross country to help us open up our Washington DC office, while serving as our national field coordinator. In 2016, she once again answered the call for help and moved cross country to Colorado to serve as the Coalition Director for Yes! on Colorado End of Life Options voter initiative campaign. With the efforts of Brandi and others, the initiative successfully passed with more than 65% of the vote. In her collective time at Compassion & Choices, Brandi has worked on end-of-life campaigns across the country, including hands-on involvement with successful efforts to authorize medical aid in dying in Vermont, Montana, and Washington, D.C
Brandi graduated from Middlebury College with a bachelor's degree in psychology, with a minor in French and women's studies. She holds certificates in Fundamentals in Gerontology, as well as Health and Wellness in an Aging Society, through a joint program offered by the American Society on Aging and the USC Davis School of Gerontology. She has completed several Wellstone Advocacy Training units, including Direct Mail & Voter Guides, Endorsements & Outreach, and Direct Voter Contact. She also completed the Management Center's People of Color & Indigenous Cohorts training;
Brian McCurdy's partner suffered for weeks before her death from lung cancer. Now Brian is advocating for medical aid in dying in Illinois.
Job Titles:
- First Vice Chair
- Member of the Board of Directors
Chandana Banerjee, M.D., M.P.A., is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Supportive Care Medicine, specializing in hospice and palliative care. She developed the City of Hope Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship. She also established the Cancer Pain Rotation for Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship, which is now part of the core curriculum for the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Hospice & Palliative Medicine fellowship program. Dr. Banerjee also developed and directed the End of Life Symposium which was held at City of Hope in September 2019 and has now been endowed for multiple years. She is the physician lead for Schwartz Rounds at City of Hope and serves as chair on the End of Life Option Act Subcommittee. She also serves on the Continuing Medical Education and the Ethics and Quality of Life committees.
Job Titles:
- Officer
- Chief Advocacy Officer
Charmaine Manansala is the Chief Advocacy Officer at Compassion & Choices. She was instrumental in California's successful campaign to authorize medical aid in dying in the nation's most populous state and led the efforts to pass similar legislation in the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, and New Jersey. Charmaine is now in charge of the state teams to authorize, ensure access, protect, and improve medical aid in dying and the full range of end-of-life options. Read more.
Charmaine Manansala is the Chief Advocacy Officer at Compassion & Choices. Charmaine is in charge of the state teams to authorize, ensure access, protect, and improve medical aid in dying and the full range of end-of-life options. She was instrumental in California's successful campaign to authorize medical aid in dying in the nation's most populous state. Charmaine also led the teams that passed similar legislation in the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, and New Jersey. Charmaine is now in charge of the state teams to authorize, ensure access, protect, and improve medical aid in dying and the full range of end-of-life options.
Prior to joining Compassion & Choices Charmaine served in the highest levels of government, as a presidential appointee in the Obama administration and senior legislative officer at the U.S. Department of Labor. During the Clinton administration, Charmaine held the position of senior policy analyst for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).
Charmaine worked in Congress as senior advisor to Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi focusing on Social Security, health care and labor, and lead advisor on policy affecting Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She also served as the AAPI vote director for the 2008 Obama for America campaign, area political director for the Services International Union and vice president for the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum. Charmaine brings broad campaign experience, having worked on over two dozen candidate and issue initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Compassion & Choices' Chief Financial Officer
Crystal Huish, Compassion & Choices' Chief Financial Officer, has been working with nonprofit organizations since she first started at C&C in 2002. Read more.
Crystal Huish, Compassion & Choices' Chief Financial Officer, has been working with nonprofit organizations since she first started at C&C in 2002.
In past years, she worked with community, national and international nonprofits - all centered on human rights and success. She previously worked with an international nonprofit in the water and sanitation sector and had the privilege of leading a global accounting team.
Deb Robertson is a former social worker living with terminal cancer. She is advocating for the option of medical aid in dying in Illinois.
Dianne Clemens is a retired nurse living with advanced breast cancer. She is advocating for the option of medical aid in dying in Illinois.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Certified Family Physician
- National Medical Director
Dr. Cory Carroll is a board-certified family physician who is still practicing medicine in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over the past thirty plus years he has greatly appreciated (and learned from) the relationships that he shared with his patients. He strongly believes in patient autonomy and that having choices at the end of life is critical and should be available to every American. Working with Compassion and Choices as one of the Medical Directors is a natural fit.
Cory was born in Florida but became a resident of Colorado at a very young age. Growing up in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, he fell in love with the mountains and seasons that Colorado offers. He completed his undergraduate bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Colorado State University in 1979. He received a scholarship from the United States Air Force and entered active-duty service as a commissioned officer. After that he obtained a master's degree and spent the next 6 and ½ years working at the Air Force Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (AFAMRL).
At AFAMRL he worked with other scientists to improve the survivability of pilots ejecting out of high-speed aircraft. Although this was an important task, the most notable aspect of his time in Dayton, OH, was to meet and fall in love with his wife of 31 years, Shelly. Upon leaving the Air Force, Cory was accepted into medical school at the University of Cincinnati. Matriculating in 1989 he was offered residency training at the Poudre Valley Hospital Family Medicine program in Fort Collins. Enticing his New York State wife to live in Colorado wasn't too difficult, especially when one looked at the number of days of sunshine vs. overcast compared to upstate NY.
Over the next few years, he and Shelly had two beautiful boys and decided to make Fort Collins their permanent home. When medical aid in dying became a potential legislative option, Dr. Carroll was a staunch supporter and testified at the legislature. Despite two failed attempts to pass the law in the CO legislature, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 gave qualified patients the opportunity to choose medical aid in dying. Educating patients and physicians regarding this option has been a significant part of Dr. Carroll's passion and he is extremely grateful to be part of Compassion & Choices.
Job Titles:
- Certified Clinical Psychologist
- Contributor to the FOX Network
Dr. Jeff Gardere is a board-certified clinical psychologist. In addition to having a private practice in Manhattan, he is an Associate Professor and Course Director of Behavioral Medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine and an Adjunct Associate Director of Training at The PsyD Program at Touro University-New York. He is also an author of three books.
In addition to being a respected academician, Dr. Jeff has been a contributor to the FOX Network, the Today Show, MSNBC, and CNN. Dr. Jeff was the host of VH1's Dad Camp, has appeared on the Love and Hip Hop and Housewives reality show franchises, and was recently a contributor and substitute anchor on the nightly newscast, Chasing News, on WWOR- TV, NJ.
Dr. Jeff recently starred in the documentary film, Mental Health in Color.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- National Medical Director
Dr. Susan Wilhoit is a native of Louisville, Kentucky where she was born and raised. After graduating from Indiana University where she studied Human Biology, she joined AmeriCorps. For two years she served as a member of the Health Services Corps at a migrant farmworker clinic in Colorado before returning home to attend the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Some of Dr. Wilhoit's most indelible memories of medical school are set in Ecuador. There she worked alongside an Ecuadorian non-profit agency that provided medical care to populations who otherwise did not have access to it. Influenced by both her experiences in Ecuador and AmeriCorps, she was compelled to pursue primary care.
Dr. Wilhoit was honored to attend the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency in Asheville, North Carolina. Initially she felt a particular sense of purpose in prenatal and peripartum care. However, Dr. Wilhoit soon realized that it was actually in caring for patients at the other end of life's spectrum where she found the most meaning. She felt a unique calling to support individuals and their families as they grappled with a terminal diagnosis. Dr. Wilhoit pursued this calling by staying in Asheville after residency to complete a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
As a primary care physician, palliative medicine consultant, and a hospice clinician, Dr. Wilhoit strives to help patients feel seen and heard. She advocates for their autonomy so they can be empowered to seek the care that best aligns with their values. Dr. Wilhoit hopes that all of her patients live their lives in ways that are meaningful to them and does her best to ensure that their deaths are also full of meaning, authenticity, and peace.
Elaine Charney, J.D., is an attorney who worked as an Administrative Law judge and Director of the Bureau of Driver Safety for the Michigan Department of State. She was also employed by the Department of Homeland Security as Program Manager of Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC, and as Assistant Federal Security Director for the Southwest Florida International Airport. Charney spent 25 years working with the Michigan Legislature to pass many traffic safety laws including major drunk driving reforms. Governors of both parties appointed her to serve on several Michigan boards and commissions. Elaine was also a volunteer professor and Chair of the Faculty Council at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.. She served as the first woman President of the Ingham County Bar Association, Vice President of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, President of Mid-Michigan Women's Lawyers Association and Chair of the Michigan Bar Association Annual Convention for years
In retirement, Elaine has become a watercolor and mixed media artist. She teaches art at the local college and her work can be seen at www.elainecharney.com.
Job Titles:
- National Director of Legislative Advocacy
Elizabeth Armijo is a long-time health promotion advocate and community organizer in New Mexico. She has worked extensively within diverse communities, collaborating with populations who experience disparities and injustices. As a mentor, an employer, and an advocate, she has promoted inclusiveness and cultural awareness in all her initiatives. Her career and life passion have been rooted in promoting access to quality health care, women's empowerment and racial justice. Learn more.
Elizabeth Armijo is a long-time health promotion advocate and community organizer in New Mexico. She has worked extensively within diverse communities, collaborating with populations who experience disparities and injustices. As a mentor, an employer, and an advocate, she has promoted inclusiveness and cultural awareness in all her initiatives. Her career and life passion have been rooted in promoting access to quality health care, women's empowerment and racial justice.
Elizabeth Armijo has worked in different capacities with Compassion & Choices since 2012. She started with growing a grassroots base of supporters in New Mexico and leading two legislative campaign initiatives. Her responsibilities were then expanded across multiple states, across the western region, and now nationally.
She is an elected member of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, currently serves on the board of the NAACP, and is the past president of the New Mexico Heart Hospital Foundation board.
Elizabeth holds a BA in Communications and Journalism from the University of New Mexico and an Executive Education Program Certificate from Harvard Business School.
Elizabeth is the proud parent of two children and enjoys traveling with her partner William.
Irene founded Jackson-Brown Associates, LLC in 2005, doing business as The Art of Eldercare, an applied gerontology practice, based in Washington, D.C. As the company principal, she provides consultative services from a holistic, client-centered approach.
Her book, Eldercare as Art and Ministry (2020), embodies her thinking about caregiving and recognizes caregiving‘s creative dimension that requires imagination, perseverance, and knowledge. A life-long learner, Irene has enhanced her professional capacity through study, learning, and training, including through the Washington School of Psychiatry where she is a faculty member; the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and the Georgetown University Medical Center's Herbert B. Herscowitz Mini-Medical School Program.
Her career is intentionally hybrid. Mid-career, she was a senior consultant at NTL Institute for Applied Behavior Science and a staff officer at the national headquarters of the Episcopal Church. Her early career was in academia, as an assistant professor at Yale and Howard University.
A third-generation Washingtonian, she earned an undergraduate degree with honors from Howard University, which included a junior year exchange at the University of Rochester. Her graduate degrees are from Smith College (MAT) and Wesleyan University (Ph.D.).
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Co - Founder and Former President of JBS International, Inc
Jerri is co-founder and former president of JBS International, Inc., a consulting firm that works to strengthen health care, social service, and education systems in the United States and internationally. Her career has focused on vulnerable populations, expanding their access to and options for quality health care. Her work engages policy makers and program leaders in strengthening federal, state, and community health care policy and service delivery.
Job Titles:
- Medical Social Worker
- National Director of Clinical Engagement & Education
Jessica Empeño is a medical social worker with over 23 years' experience as a clinician, leader, educator and advocate specializing in end-of-life care, dementia, caregiver support, program development and leadership. Jessica has a Masters of Social Work degree from San Diego State University and certificates in Health Law & Policy, Dementia Positive Approach to Care, Human Services Management and Interdisciplinary Palliative Care.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- CEO and Co - Founder of KidSnips
Jill Gordon is the CEO and co-founder of KidSnips, Chicagoland's leading children's hair salon chain with $4.5 million in sales and more than 90 employees. Gordon has served as a board member of Planned Parenthood of Illinois since 2017, and she currently serves as chair of its Investment Committee and a member of its Finance and Strategies committees. She formerly served on the board for 20 years and was board treasurer for 10 years of Tuesday's Child, a local, behavioral intervention program for at-risk, highly-stressed families from all income levels. She has been co-chair of CARE Chicago Women's Initiative since 2005, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds, advocacy, and creating awareness for the large international, humanitarian organization CARE. Gordon graduated with a B.S. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1979 and received an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Business School in 1980.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the National Bar Association LGBTQ Division
- Chief People & Culture Officer
Jonathan Patterson is the Chief People & Culture Officer at Compassion & Choices. He previously served as the Staff Attorney, where he provided consultation for a wide variety of legal matters, including the issues of unwanted medical treatment, medical aid in dying, and end-of-life decision making. He is a frequent national speaker on available end-of-life options and empowering consumers to make healthcare decisions in line with their values. Read more.
Jonathan Patterson is the Chief People & Culture Officer. He previously served as the Staff Attorney, where he provided consultation for a wide variety of legal matters, including the issues of unwanted medical treatment, medical aid in dying, and end-of-life decision making. He is a frequent national speaker on available end-of-life options and empowering consumers to make healthcare decisions in line with their values.
A Wichita, Kansas, native, Jonathan completed his undergraduate studies in Political Science and Psychology at Hawaiʻi Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, where he worked as an educator and youth and developmental disability counselor before moving to the Pacific Northwest to attend the University of Oregon School of Law.
Jonathan currently serves as the inaugural chair of the National Bar Association LGBTQ Division, the first membership body for African-American LGBTQ legal professionals. Jonathan also serves on the Victory Fund Campaign Board, working to support opportunities for LGBTQ political candidates. He is very active in the Oregon legal community, having served as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and Chair of the Oregon State Bar Diversity Section. He was named a 2019 Queer Hero of the Northwest. He also received the 2018 President's Diversity & Inclusion Award from the Oregon State Bar, the 2018 Minoru Yasui Justice Award from the University of Oregon School of Law, and the 2015 Oregon New Lawyers Division Advancing Diversity Award.
Job Titles:
- Funeral Director
- Insurance Agent
Joél Simone Maldonado is a licensed funeral director, insurance agent and sacred grief practitioner. She specializes in helping individuals, families, businesses and governmental agencies navigate uncomfortable and difficult conversations about death, dying, end of life and funeral and burial planning. She was born in Europe and raised in Beaufort, South Carolina, the heart of Gullah and Geechee culture. Spirituality, the sacredness of death, caring for those in transition, the deceased and supporting her community through grief have always been a huge part of her life. Her professional approach is deeply rooted in ancient and ancestral wisdom passed down from generation to generation.
During her decade of service in the funeral service industry, her unique background and professional experiences are reflected in her style of care and comfort that guides those that she serves toward healing through journeys with grief. Her life's work is to educate everyone - regardless of faith, race, age or status - that death, dying and grief are sacred and transformative to our journeys as human beings.
Kelly Rice is a public health professional based in Illinois who works with older populations navigating the healthcare system.
Kevin Díaz - Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Officer
- Chief Legal Advocacy Officer and General Counsel
A highly regarded litigator and program manager, Kevin Díaz comes to the organization from his previous role as legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon. Born in Perú and raised in Oregon, Díaz has spent his entire career in public interest law. Read more.
Kevin Díaz is the chief legal advocacy officer & general counsel for Compassion & Choices. His work focuses on improving healthcare and expanding choice for the end of life throughout the United States. During his over 20-year career in public interest law he has worked to protect the liberty and enhance the dignity of people through the use of integrated advocacy. Most recently he launched the Patient Protection Initiative by filing suit in the United States District Court of Idaho on behalf of four women of childbearing age challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that voids their advance directives during pregnancy.
Previously Díaz served as the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and as an advocate for immigrants, with a particular focus on issues affecting migrant and seasonal farm workers.
He has appeared in numerous state and federal jurisdictions including the United States Supreme Court.
Díaz was named a 2013-2014 Wasserstein Fellow by Harvard Law School for his exemplary public interest career. In 2014 he received the Fighting Spirit award from Basic Rights Oregon and was recognized by the ACLU of Oregon for his legal work on a landmark U.S. District Court case overturning Oregon's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In 2016 the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association presented Díaz with the Paul J. De Muniz professionalism award.
The Latina/o Bar Association of Washington had previously acknowledged Díaz as an Abogado Excepcional (Exceptional Attorney) in 2006. In addition to serving various professional and community organizations in the past, Díaz was a member of the inaugural class of the 2005 Washington Leadership Institute.
Díaz has been quoted or published in local, regional and national news outlets including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian, El Comercio, The Hill, People, Associated Press, Reuters and National Public Radio affiliates, among others. Born in Perú and raised in Oregon, Díaz earned degrees at the University of Oregon and at the University of Washington School of Law. He is a proud husband and father to three children.
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
Kiana is the Chief Development Officer at Compassion & Choices. Kiana is responsible for the organizational annual fundraising of $21 million and implements a strategy that encourages continued support of the C&C mission and programs while promoting a culture of gratitude and philanthropy.
Kiana brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with over a decade as a Senior Fundraising Professional. Before joining Compassion & Choices, Kiana worked for national nonprofits focused on health/human services and advocacy civil rights organizations. She also spent seven years as Vice President in corporate philanthropy and partnership building in the healthcare sector. Kiana loves fundraising and spent her entire professional career working in Development. Her sum of funds raised exceeds over $50 million.
Kiana has a sincere passion for social justice issues and civil rights affairs. Kiana has her Masters of Arts degree from Columbia University. She also has a dual B.S. in Communications and Rhetorical Studies and African American Studies from Syracuse University and holds a certificate in Executive Healthcare Leadership from Pepperdine University. Kiana is a native from Southern California and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is committed to the choice movement to ensure access, protect, and improve medical aid in dying and the full range of end-of-life options and support for patients and their families.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Kim Callinan has served on the Compassion & Choices leadership team for eight years, first as chief program officer and for the past five years as the organization's president and chief executive officer. During her combined tenure at Compassion & Choices, Kim has played a leadership role in authorizing and implementing medical aid in dying in six new jurisdictions, including the recent passage of New Mexico's End of Life Options Act. She was instrumental in drafting Compassion & Choices' current five-year strategic plan, implemented in 2018, which prioritized the creation of a diverse, equitable and inclusive movement. She also launched our Finish Strong initiative designed to empower patients to take charge of the final chapter of their lives, with a specific focus on helping people plan for a possible dementia diagnosis and closing the disparities in end-of-life care and planning that exist for communities of color. Kim frequently speaks at conferences, testifies before state legislatures, conducts policy briefings and serves on committees as a subject-matter expert on end-of-life care options.
Prior to joining Compassion & Choices, Kim spent two decades creating integrated campaigns to engineer social change, including campaigns to reduce the number of uninsured Americans and improve children's health, and political campaigns at the federal, state and local levels.
Kim holds a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus, a bachelor's degree in government from Oberlin College and a certificate in the fundamentals of gerontology through a joint program offered by the American Society on Aging and the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology. She also recently received an end-of-life doula certificate from the University of Vermont.
Kim Callinan is the President and CEO of Compassion & Choices, where she has had a leadership role in realizing patient directed end of life care for the past seven years. She launched the Finish Strong initiative, designed to empower patients to take charge of the final chapter of their lives; played a leadership role in the authorization and implementation of medical aid in dying into six new jurisdictions; and launched an initiative to address the inequities in end of life care and planning for historically underserved communities. Kim is frequently invited to speak at conferences, testify before state legislatures, conduct policy briefings and serve on committees as an expert on end-of-life care options. Read more.
Job Titles:
- National Director of Operations
Kimberly Taccini has two decades of success managing program operations and communications campaigns for foundations, nonprofits and government agencies. She has applied her expertise in project management and communications to advance public health goals ranging from improving hearing health to covering the uninsured. Read more.
Kimberly Taccini has two decades of success managing program operations and communications campaigns for foundations, nonprofits and government agencies. She has applied her expertise in project management and communications to advance public health goals ranging from improving hearing health to covering the uninsured. She is responsible for the internal operations of Compassion & Choices working across the organization to integrate systems and strategies. Kimberly also oversees the administrative functions of the Compassion & Choices Action Network's board of directors. Since joining Compassion & Choices in 2016, she has managed teams spanning both the programmatic and operational arms of the organization.
Kimberly came to Compassion & Choices from her previous role directing multimillion-dollar health education, information services and communications contracts for leading public health stakeholders at the consulting firms of IQ Solutions and GMMB. She is a two-time graduate of the George Washington University, earning a master's degree in project management and a bachelor's degree in communications. She also holds a project management professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute.
Job Titles:
- Second Vice Chair
- Organizational Engagement Leader and Content Producer
Leslie Jennings Rowley is a respected organizational engagement leader and content producer with a background in building new programs and sustaining key initiatives for mission-driven organizations. She began her career in the creative arts world - supporting the mission of San Francisco Opera by creating immersive experiences for established donors and the culturally curious alike. She then spent nearly twenty years in the educational travel industry, where she created and managed experiential learning programs for the likes of National Geographic, Lindblad Expeditions and the Smithsonian Institution, causing Princeton university to ask her to build Princeton Journeys, which became one of the preeminent alumni travel programs in the U.S. under her tenure. Upon the creation of the University's Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy she became its inaugural administrative director, linking academic insights in the behavioral sciences to real world issues. She continues to provide high-level communications and engagement strategy to the university and other organizations. Leslie holds an A.B. in Economics and Geography from Dartmouth College, an M.B.A in international business and a Ph.D. in media psychology and launched an organization, Hereafter Partners, that aims to make conversations about death, dying, and aging more normalized and accessible for younger cohorts of society.
The Rev. Madison T. Shockley II is the pastor of the Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, CA. He brings to Pilgrim Church a wealth of experience from his work in the religious, political, non-profit, and media environments. Originally ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1979, he joined the United Church of Christ in 1990 when he accepted the call to the Congregational Church of Christian Fellowship, UCC, in Los Angeles. Madison was called to Pilgrim Church (as the first African American pastor of this predominantly Anglo congregation) in 2004. Beyond the pulpit, Madison was a grassroots candidate for the Los Angeles City Council in 1999 and 2003. In 1998 he began writing commentary for the Los Angeles Times and in 2005 became a contributor to the award winning website, Truthdig.com on a wide range of topics including religion, race, politics, reproductive choice and popular culture. A native of Los Angeles he was educated at Harvard College and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He holds the Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and has done advanced graduate work at Claremont Graduate University in New Testament Studies.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Principal of the Weideman Group
Mark Weideman is Founder and Principal of the Weideman Group, a California-based legislative, strategy and public affairs consulting firm. Weideman is Compassion and Choices' chief lobbyist in California and spearheaded the strategy that led to enactment of California's End of Life Option Act. Weideman received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his law degree with honors in written and oral advocacy from the University of California Hastings College of Law. He is a registered lobbyist with the State of California and a licensed attorney with the State Bar of California.
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Communications Executive
- National Director of Marketing & Communications
Michael Cavaiola is a marketing and communications executive with decades of experience in the nonprofit, government and corporate sectors. Michael leads Compassion & Choices' strategic communications, media relations, design and video production efforts. Prior to joining Compassion & Choices in 2020, Michael headed up the public information office for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the nation. He also worked as a state government relations professional, on Capitol Hill and as a TV producer and journalist for C-SPAN and Discovery Channel. Read More
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy Officer
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
Mickey MacIntyre has served Compassion & Choices and the end-of-life choice and care movement since 2005. As a consultant, development director, chief program officer or chief strategy officer, Mickey supported C&C's trajectory to being the leader in its class as a national policy, advocacy, and education game changer. Read More.
Mickey MacIntyre has served Compassion & Choices and the end-of-life choice and care movement since 2005. As aconsultant, development director, chief program officer or chief strategy officer, Mickey supported C&C's trajectory to being the leader in its class as a national policy, advocacy, and education game changer.
Throughout his career, Mickey MacIntyre has charted the growth and future for well over a thousand nonprofit advocacy, service, and community organizations and served as an architect of social change movements as the President and CEO of realChange Partners, LLC. His unique brand of practical solutions for nonprofit leaders has built their capacity for social change and direct service at the local, state, national and international levels. Mickey has particular expertise in moving organizations from founders to mature institutions with leadership roles in movements. He has effectively engaged in strategic and campaign planning with hundreds of organizations and coalitions in difficult to charter political advocacy arenas and has also worked closely with more than 350 major donors, foundations, and funding networks to help them become more strategic and satisfied givers. He has authored over 20 curriculums and handbooks including Be A Board Star - A handbook for non-profit board members.
As Co-Director of the Denver-based Gill Foundation, Mickey created The OutGiving Project in 1995, an $8 million national training and resource program to build better organizations and educate donors leading to many successes in the modern LGBT rights movement including same sex civil marriage. Prior to his groundbreaking work with Gill, Mickey was the Development Director for the AIDSAction Council and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where he increased annual operating income four-fold, from $900,000 to $4.4 million, in two years. He served as the first Director of Major Gifts at the American Red Cross and was a consultant at the New York-based management consulting firm of Caesar & Washburn, where his non-profit client organizations had budgets ranging from $100,000 to $20 million.
Mickey has appeared on CNN, CSPAN, CBN, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show on NPR, the AARP blog, The Huffington Post, The Hill, among others and given testimony before the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Transforming End-of-Life Care.
MacIntyre has a strong background in the philanthropic sector through his work on-staff and as a consultant to private and community foundations as well as philanthropic affinity groups. Mickey has provided consulting services and training for Joint Affinity Groups of the Council of Foundations, Environmental Grantmakers Association, Disability Funders Network, The Arcus Foundation, The Scot Opler Foundation, The Walter & Evalyn Haas Jr. Fund, Third Wave Foundation, Community Foundation of South Eastern Michigan, The Hope Fund, The Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, the Peace Development Fund and the Stonewall Community Foundation.
Mickey graduated from Pace University in New York City with a degree in communications and one of the first-ever in the country degrees in youth and human service agency administration.
Nancy is a counseling psychologist and educator who has worked with adolescents in underserved Chicago schools. She is currently the vice president of the Civic Leadership Foundation's board, whose program helps students develop the skills and experiences necessary to become engaged civic leaders. She received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and her MA in organizational and counseling psychology from Teacher's College, Columbia University. Nancy has served on many strategic planning committees in both secondary schools and colleges in New York and Chicago. She and her husband, Bob Hoyt, have been involved with Compassion & Choices for more than a decade.
Nilsa Centeno is the mother of the late Miguel Carrasquillo, a Chicago chef who died in his native Puerto Rico in 2016 of brain cancer while advocating for medical aid in dying.
Nilsa Centeno's son died from an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2016, without access to medical aid in dying, an option he fiercely advocated for.
Lifelong educator and cancer survivor Oliver Ruff is advocating for the full range of end-of-life options in his home state of Illinois.
Job Titles:
- National Latino Media Director
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- National Director of Advocacy for Compassion
- National Director of Care Advocacy
Samantha Trad is the National Director of Advocacy for Compassion and Choices, the nation's oldest, largest and most active non-profit organization dedicated to empowering everyone to chart their own end-of-life journey. In this role, Samantha passionately works hard to expand patient-centered and patient-directed end-of-life care across the country, which includes making sure people have the tools they need to plan for a possible dementia diagnosis and other serious illness. Read more.
Samantha Trad is the National Director of Advocacy for Compassion and Choices, the nation's oldest, largest and most active non-profit organization dedicated to empowering everyone to chart their own end-of-life journey. In this role, Samantha passionately works hard to expand patient-centered and patient-directed end-of-life care across the country, which includes making sure people have the tools they need to plan for a possible dementia diagnosis and other serious illness. She is also an expert on implementing medical aid in dying laws and leads education and outreach efforts to eliminate barriers for eligible patients who want the option of medical aid in dying. Previously, Samantha led Compassion & Choices and Compassion & Choices Action Network work in California and Hawai'i.
Before working at Compassion & Choices, she taught American Politics at the University of Redlands and was the Executive Director of the Arizona Advocacy Network. Samantha has a Bachelor's of Art in Political Science from the University of Redlands and Master's of Art in International Economic and Political Studies from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Samantha is also a Rotarian and member of the Redlands Sunrise Rotary Club. In her free time, Samantha loves spending time with her family, running, hiking, and is an all-around outdoorsy-lover. She is based near Los Angeles, California.
Satheesh Gunaga, DO, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, administrator, and educator. He received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and received his Osteopathic medical degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, East Lansing. He has spent the last 14 years practicing and teaching Emergency Medicine (EM) as part of Envision Healthcare within the Henry Ford Health System in the Detroit Metropolitan area. Ten of those years he spent as the associate EM residency director, training the next generation of EM physicians, before transitioning in 2019 to his current roles as Vice Chair of the Department of EM, EM Research Director, and Division Head of EMS at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital. He serves as the ED Medical Director at Henry Ford Health Center Brownstown and actively leads research around sepsis resuscitation, stroke care innovations, and acute coronary syndrome biomarkers. Throughout his medical career he has had a passion for palliative care and serves on the City of Hope: End of Life Symposium's Steering Committee. In 2021, Dr. Gunaga joined our Healthcare Advisory Committee and is one of the physician leaders for Compassion and Choices' National Emergency and Palliative Medicine Initiative, which is proactively exploring collaborations, research, and outreach opportunities to improve earlier access to palliative care options in EDs across our country.
Trish Bernstein joined Compassion & Choices in 2013. She began as the director of family and client services and was soon promoted to chief operating officer. Trish oversees human resources, information technology, the End of Life Consultation department, facility management and the administrative functions of Compassion & Choices' board of directors. Read more.
Trish Bernstein joined Compassion & Choices in 2013. She began as the director of family and client services and was soon promoted to chief operating officer. Trish oversees human resources, information technology, the End of Life Consultation department, facility management and the administrative functions of Compassion & Choices' board of directors.
Trish came to Compassion & Choices with almost two decades of experience running the operations of both national and nonprofit hospice and palliative care organizations. In addition to that work, she has held regional positions with a nursing home chain, Alzheimer's care provider and pharmaceutical company. She also designed and taught medical programs at a technical institute in Michigan for 10 years.
Trish's interest in the medical field began in Canada, where she was born and raised. She has a degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and lived with her husband and son in the Washington, D.C. area for nearly 20 years before moving to Portland, Oregon in 2013. She is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality of end-of-life care and support for patients and their families.