COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN - Key Persons

Ashley began her career as a public defender in New York City with The Legal Aid Society. For almost five years Ashley represented hundreds of clients with cases ranging from low-level violations to serious felonies. Ashley has been active in community engagement including "know your rights" trainings for young people and adults, voter registration of inmates at Rikers Island, and mentorship development for the children of incarcerated parents in Brooklyn. After working in New York City, Ashley joined the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission as a Regional Manager where she worked to restructure the public defender system across the state. Ashley closely advised county administrations and local court systems on how to restructure their indigent defense systems by implementing practice standards for attorneys taking court appointed criminal cases developed by the MIDC. In this capacity Ashley created and presented trainings for attorneys taking court appointed cases, led policy reform discussions with various stakeholders about indigent defense, and helped counties create plans for ensuring that every citizen in the state had access to their constitutional right to counsel, regardless of their ability to pay. Most recently, Ashley served as a Senior Attorney + Deputy Director in the Justice Project of Advancement Project's National Office in Washington, DC. Her work focused on addressing oppressive systems of mass incarceration and policing by partnering with grassroots organizations to support their campaigns around these issues in cities across the country. She provided legal and strategy support and helped develop mechanisms for widespread community education and engagement around issues in the criminal legal system. These mechanisms included impact litigation, FOIA, and policy research, development and recommendation. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ashley attended Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, and William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Ashley Collins

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Digital Communications Officer

Barbara C. Van Dusen

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Trustee
Civic Leader

Barbara L. McQuade

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Trustee
Professor from Practice, University of Michigan Law School

Betty Phillips

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Finance Assistant

Bonnie Larson

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Trustee
Civic Leader

Brad Westlake

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Controller

Briana Mitchell

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Communications Associate

Bruce E. Nyberg

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Trustee
Board Director, Flagstar Bank

Carla Walker-Miller

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Trustee
Founder & CEO, Walker - Miller Energy Services

Cathy Hilfinger

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Senior Accountant

Christopher L. Rizik

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Trustee
CEO, Renaissance Venture Capital Fund

Chuck Stokes

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Trustee
Director Editorial & Public Affairs, WXYZ

Claire Devlin

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Senior Accountant

Cynthia J. Pasky

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Trustee
President and CEO, Strategic Staffing Solutions Inc

Dale L. Watchowski

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Trustee
President, CEO and COO, REDICO LLC

Dana M. Locniskar

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Trustee
Managing Director - Wealth Management, Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investment Group

David M. Hempstead

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Trustee
Partner, Bodman PLC

David P. Larsen

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Trustee
Member of the Bodman PLC

David T. Provost

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Officer of the Board
Vice Chair / CEO, TCF Financial Corp

Emily Angyal

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Program Coordinator, Health Initiatives

Eric B. Larson

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Trustee
President and CEO, Larson Realty Group

Eris Kline

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Philanthropic Services Assistant

Florine Mark

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Trustee
Entrepreneur

Gary H. Torgow

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Trustee
Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Huntington National Bank

Glenda D. Price

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Trustee

Greg Yankee

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Director, Arts and Environmental Initiatives

Gwen Macklin

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Receptionist

Hannah McLaughlin

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Program Officer, Health Initiatives

Harmony Rhodes

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Program Officer

Henry W. Lim

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Trustee
Chairman Emeritus, Department of Dermatology Henry Ford Hospital

Jack Martin

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Officer of the Board
Treasurer / Chairman, Martin, Arrington, Desai & Meyers PC

Jack VanAssche

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Digital Media Specialist

James B. Nicholson

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Officer of the Board
Chairman / Chairman, PVS Chemicals Inc

Jenice C. Mitchell Ford

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Trustee
Chief General Counsel, Detroit Public Schools Community District

Jenilyn Norman

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Vice President, Finance and Administration

Jennifer M. Fischer

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Trustee
Civic Leader

JoAnn Chávez

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Trustee
Senior Vice President and Legal Officer, DTE

John D. Lewis

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Trustee
Chairman, Flagstar Bank

John M. Erb

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Trustee
Chairman, Fred a. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation

Judy Puhl

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Program Assistant

Kamilah Henderson

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Director, PEDALS Michigan

Karen Gartrell

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Program Assistant and Scholarship Coordinator

Karen Sosnick Schoenberg

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Trustee
Principal, REDICO LLC

Kate Baudeloque

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Event and Marketing Specialist

Katie Brisson

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Vice President, Program

As Vice President of Program for the Community Foundation, Katie manages our program staff and all of the amazing work that comes with it. While the team does help our board to make grants, their work reaches far beyond that. Katie helps manage the program team to oversee the many ways the Community Foundation can connect our donors with the incredible work being done by so many organizations and initiatives across southeast Michigan and beyond. She has been with the Community Foundation since 1999 and has served as Vice President since 2012. Even with her years of experience, being able to help connect local donors with local organizations and projects that they may never have heard of is still exciting to her. Katie has an M.A. in Policy Studies from The Johns Hopkins University, as well as an M.A. in Legal and Ethical Studies from the University of Baltimore. Prior to her time with the Community Foundation, she worked as a lobbyist on hunger and poverty issues in Maryland. Katie was excited to return to her home state of Michigan to take a role at the Community Foundation.

Kellie Dugan

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Philanthropic Services Assistant

Ken Whipple

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Trustee

Laura Brownfield - Chief Legal Officer

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General Counsel

Lauren Castillo

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Processing Coordinator

Lena R. Epstein

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Trustee
Co - Owner, Vesco Oil Corporation

Leslie Ellis

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Editor

Linda Wasserman Aviv

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Trustee
Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP

Lisa Jones

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Program Assistant, Health Initiatives

Livia Slebodnik

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Office Manager

Maria Thompson

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Trustee
Venture Partner, Arsenal Growth

Marissa Natzke

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Project Manager, Health Initiatives, Michigan Opioid Partnership

Marlene Rencher

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Grant Assistant

Marty Calvert

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Records Management Assistant

Mary Clark

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Senior Advisor, Caregiving

Mary Fulmer

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Senior Program Officer

Mary serves as a program officer for the New Economy Initiative (NEI). In her role, Mary contributes to program implementation, research, grants management and assessment activities, as well as special project work with the NEI team and community collaborators. Mary came to NEI from the McGregor Fund, where she served as project coordinator in the Fund's migration to an online grant application and reporting platform. As a member of the McGregor Fund program team, Mary also participated in the Fund's grantmaking process and managed logistics for grantee convenings. Mary previously served as an organizational development specialist at Human Synergistics, Inc. and in program management positions for nonprofit organizations. She has a Master of Arts degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Detroit Mercy and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Creighton University.