Officers

Jan Bays, PT
Board Chair
Jan firmly believes that all people deserve emotional security and the opportunity for meaning and growth in their lives. This is fostered through connections to activities that are interesting and meaningful, new learning experiences, social connections and relationships, and participation in normal daily routines. She champions intergenerational connections through engagement with Jill’s House Preschool, university service learning, and outreach to high school students.

Jennifer Carson, PhD
Board Secretary
Dr. Carson is the Project Director of the Dementia Friendly Nevada initiative, is the author and facilitator of Bravo Zulu: Achieving Excellence in Relationship-Centered Dementia Care, a comprehensive, 12-hour dementia education program developed in partnership with the Nevada Department of Veterans Services. She also partners with the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine’s Sanford Center for Aging on a U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program grant.

Karen Love
Co-Founder and CEO

Craig Fowler, MBA
Board Vice Chair

Laurie Scherrer
Board Vice Chair of Lived Experience

Jackie Pinkowitz
Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus
Directors

Rev. Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel BS. MDiv, DMin
Cynthia is a lifelong learner and enjoys auditing classes at Elmira College. She has been singing in a band for more than 20 years and was inducted into the NY State Country Music Hall of Honor in 2016. Cynthia is an author and an artist. She loves swimming, kayaking, travel, and most of all, being a grandma! In August 2021, she celebrated her 25th anniversary as an ordained Presbyterian pastor.

Stephen S. Miller, Ph.D.
He is married to Karen Farber, a retired professor and administrator at the University of Virginia. She also served as Vice Chancellor for the California University System and the University of Maryland System. Karen was diagnosed with mixed dementia in October 2019. Karen and Steve have one son,Andrew, who is an emergency department physician in Charlotte, NC. Steve enjoys reading, exercising collecting vintage baseball and basketball cards, attending sporting events at UVA and has taken up pickle ball. His main focus currently is ensuring Karen has the best medical/nursing care, comfort care and engagement as possible.

John-Richard (JR) Pagan
Today JR’s world is quite a different place. He’s an advocate for those living with dementia, a student working on yet another degree – in religious studies, and as both a novitiate member of a monastic community and a lay leader at his church, St Margaret’s Episcopal. JR has truly found his place in life, beyond his diagnosis, with family, in community, and making sure that every voice has a place when it comes to sharing their own experiences living beyond a dementia diagnosis.

Magda Kaczmarska, MFA
Magda serves as a representative to the UN with Generations United and is on the executive committee of the UN NGO Committee on Ageing. As an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute, Magda builds collaborations around the globe to design and expand access to creative aging programs that support brain health, belonging and artistic expression across the lifespan.

Lon Pinkowitz

Debra Tann, EdD.
Dr. Tann is a lecturer at Georgia State University in the Gerontology department. She is certified to conduct scholarly research in biomedical and social behavior at Georgia State University and is currently on a research team examining Alzheimer’s with an emphasis on the prevention of slips, trips, and falls. Dr. Tann’s book, “The Race of Dementia” is currently being utilized in the nursing program at Texas Christian University and at Georgia State University’s Gerontology department. She facilitates an online support group designed for care partners, and is the host of a local monthly Memory Café for those living with memory loss. Dr Tann is a national and international speaker, and the ambassador for ALZAuthors traveling dementia library in Georgia.
Dr. Tann is moving the needle in rural south Georgia by conducting quarterly local events that enhance dementia and brain health education. She is a strong advocate for care partners, debunking myths associated with dementia, and erasing stigma and misunderstanding around dementia. She also works to eradicate health care disparities as it relates to diagnosis rates, access to early treatment, quality care, clinical research, and trial participation rates among Blacks and Latinos.

Susan Wehry, MD
In 2009 Dr. Wehry and a colleague developed an interdisciplinary person-directed care training curriculum informed by their experiences and the research of Thomas Kitwood and Jiska Cohen-Mansfield. The curriculum, Oasis 2.0, is now used in over 1200 nursing homes, helping residents with dementia enjoy a higher quality of life.