Executive Board Officers
Executive Director
Full Board Members
Katie Conley
Term: 2024-2027
Nicholas Diggs
Term: 2024-2027
Karen Gifford
KOI Education
Term: 2023-2026
Muna Khalif
University of Minnesota
Term: 2022-2025
Zipporah Levi-Shackleford
Term: 2024-2027
Stephanie Martinez
University of South Florida
Term: 2022-2025
Erika McDowell
Wildflower Schools
Term: 2024-2027
Satish Moorthy
New York City Department of Education
Term: 2022-2025
Kristy Ritvalsky
Jodie Soracco
Virginia Commonwealth University
Term: 2022-2025
Dianna Yip
Positive Behaviour Support Academy Asia
Term: 2022-2025
Imad Zaheer
Montclair State University
Term: 2023-2026
APBS Volunteer Recognition
The Association for Positive Behavior Support relies on and appreciates the generous volunteer support of its members in its work on achieving the organization’s mission. Periodically, APBS committees nominate members for recognition who have made a significant volunteer contribution to these efforts. These members are recognized in the APBS Newsletter and listed here on the website. Please join APBS in thanking these individuals for their active volunteerism.
Contact volunteers@apbs.org if you would like to learn more about getting involved with APBS!
Rhiannon Evans - February 2024
Rhiannon Evans, BCBA, LBA, DD Integrated Care Manager, Missouri Behavioral Health Council,
Jefferson City, Missouri
Rhiannon Evans is a dedicated member of the APBS Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) committee. She has been actively involved in action planning efforts and is a leading author on the APBS White Paper on PBS in the IDD field. The IDD committee appreciates Rhiannon Evans’s long-term contributions and is recognizing her work for the IDD Committee.
Kathleen (Katie) Conley - August 2023
Kathleen Conley, PhD, Sr. Research Assistant 1, University of Oregon
Katie Conley has been an active member of the Training & Education and Membership committees, as well as the Early Career Professional Learning Community (Early Career PLC). She has been instrumental in supporting data-focused discussions during Membership and offering to lead novel ideas for reviewing organization data that is relevant to both the membership and conference. She is quick to offer to take the lead when tasks need to be completed and to volunteer her time and expertise to support conference sessions. For the Early Career PLC, Katie has taken the lead on a number of initiatives, including conference event planning. She brings optimism and makes valuable contributions to our work as we have been establishing the PLC. The leaders and members of each of these committees value her contributions and her overall commitment to APBS!
Thank you, Katie, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!
Nicolette Grasley-Boy - January 2023
Nicolette (Nikki) Grasley-Boy has been an active volunteer for APBS in many capacities. She was a founding member of the Student Network Advisory Board. In that role, she led a team to conduct a crosswalk of student member benefits across similar organizations, ran the technology for the student-focused webinars, and helped to plan the student conference sessions. She has also been an active member of the Training and Education Committee (TEC) since her time as a student member. As a TEC member, Nikki helps to plan the annual APBS conference, supports the conference proposal review process, and contributes to the planning of APBS webinars throughout the year. Nikki also currently serves as the social media lead for the Early Career Network, and has been a reviewer of the student research grant proposals for all three years APBS has held the competition. Nikki has been a valuable member of all the APBS groups she has worked with, and her leadership and drive has directly contributed to much of the organization’s growth over the past several years.
Thank you, Nikki, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!Mara Power - October 2022
Mara Power has served as the Conference Social Committee Chair on the APBS Student Network Advisory Board for the past two years. In this role, she has spearheaded social programming for the APBS conference, putting together events designed to build community among student members. For the most recent conference, Mara planned a trivia social that was a hit among students and early career members alike! In addition to her service on the Student Network Advisory Board, Mara serves as a student representative on multiple APBS committees, including TEC and Mental Health. Mara’s contributions to the broader APBS community in these roles are many and include advocating for student opportunities on TEC and sharing ideas for collaborations between the Student Network and Mental Health committee (and bringing them to life!). Mara is always eager to offer her assistance and goes above and beyond to help make APBS the best organization it can be.
Thank you, Mara, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!Brooke Wagner - July 2022
Brooke Wagner has been an active member of the Community and Network Development Opportunities (CANDO) committee for the past year, as well as a vocal supporter of the international networks, the Student Network, and the development of the Early Career Network. Brooke has made many valuable contributions to our discussions around increasing membership, engaging current members, and increasing our visibility on social media. She brings the voice of state-level leadership to CANDO, ensuring that we continue to support this important group of stakeholders. Brooke has also worked to support the efforts of the Membership Committee by helping to create a survey used to gather information about member perceptions of APBS benefits. She is always one of the first people to volunteer when there are tasks that need to be done, and she was a key player in helping to organize the APBS information booth during the poster session at the recent conference. We appreciate Brooke’s consistent enthusiasm and commitment to APBS and the mission of our organization! Thank you, Brooke, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!
Teresa Rodgers - January 2022
Teresa Rodgers has been a long–standing volunteer participating on the Association for Positive Behavior Support Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Ad Hoc Committee. In addition to being a leader within the IDD Ad Hoc committee meetings, over the years Terri has assisted with strand development, workshops, and other presentations and events at the annual conference. Terri has recently been working on the committee’s White Paper on Positive Behavior Support in the IDD field. Terri’s work leading positive behavior support using a tiered model at a statewide level has been essential, and her experience implementing Applied Behavior Analysis has made her an invaluable member of the Association. Terri’s efforts to support people with IDD across her career is appreciated and we would like to acknowledge her important contributions.
Thank you, Terri for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!Jennifer Jeffrey-Pearsall - October 2021
Jennifer Jeffrey-Pearsall has served on the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Ad Hoc Committee and has been instrumental in supporting its work over the past year. Jenn has been involved in action planning activities, including the design and development of a White Paper addressing Positive Behavior Support in the IDD field. In addition to the IDD Ad Hoc Committee, Jenn has served as a volunteer for other committees as well; and you will hear her voice as the narrator for the Introduction to APBS.
For these reasons, we nominate Jennifer Jeffrey-Pearsall for Outstanding APBS Member Volunteer recognition and thank her for her volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!Meme Hieneman - July 2021
- Initiated dialogue with the positive behavior support group in the United Kingdom (BILD) to identify and work together on common areas of practice & needs
- Piloted Family chats with APBS, and then launched these as an on-going support to families nationally
- Provided and supported webinar presentations and workshops for the network and APBS
- Established partnerships to bring people together to work together to support family and home needs
- Coordinated and led a team of professional volunteers to maintain a website filled with excellent resources on positive behavior support, provide webinars, and family chats
- Provided personal funds and volunteered her time to cover the costs of expenses associated with website and clerical staff
Karen Robbie - April 2021
Karen Robbie’s commitment, support and engagement to the Training & Education Committee has been remarkable. She has unwavering commitment to the team, attending several meetings each month to provide feedback, insight and support. In addition, she frequently volunteers her time and skills outside of committee meetings to advance projects and tasks related to implementing APBS’s Strategic Plan activities. Karen has proved herself an essential stakeholder by contributing to conversations and sharing ideas and considerations as APBS pivoted the 2021 conference to a virtual format.
Thank you, Karen, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support.Stewart Shear - January 2021
Stewart Shear is an active member of the Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Ad Hoc Committee and has made significant contributions by volunteering for many of the action plan activities. The IDD Ad Hoc Committee is working to increase members who support people with disabilities in home and community settings. Stewart has contributed to these efforts by attending meetings regularly, providing leadership in committee brainstorming, presenting at conferences, contributing to policy documents, and supporting the efforts of other committee members.
Stewart is a leader in bringing a tiered model of Positive Behavior Support to the disability community and, as a result, he provides important leadership to the committee. We appreciate Stewart’s dedication and would like to recognize his contributions formally. Thank you, Stewart, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support.Normand St-Georges - July 2020
The Community and Network Development Opportunities (CANDO) Committee, along with the Public Awareness and Dissemination (PAD) Committee, wish to recognize Normand St-Georges for his extraordinary volunteer service to APBS.
Norm volunteered his time to review and edit translations of video scripts and other documents to complete the conversion of three positive behavior support videos posted on the new APBS website, including Positive Behavior Support at Home, Positive Behavior Support in Schools and Positive Behavior Support in Your Community, into the French Canadian language, including scripts for dialogue and closed captioning. Norm served on the CANDO committee when he was on the APBS Board. When his term ended, he continued on the committee as a Volunteer. Norm has been a valuable member of the CANDO committee, and has provided support for the International APBS Networks. Thank you, Norm, for your outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!Ashley Rila - July 2019
The Community and Network Development Opportunities (CANDO) Committee would like to recognize one of our APBS members for their extraordinary volunteer services: Ashley Rila.
Ashley is a member of the APBS Student Network and serves on the CANDO Committee. Ashley has worked with APBS Student Network leader and board member, Sarah Wilkinson on the revision of a poster rubric for scoring of the Student Poster submissions to our annual conference, planning Conference activities to encourage student participation, attending and participating fully in meetings of the CANDO Committee, and being extremely helpful in recommending ideas for increasing APBS Student Memberships. We are fortunate to have Ashley on our CANDO Committee and value her contributions! Thank you, Ashley, for your outstanding volunteer service in support of APBS!Kelcey Schmitz - October 2019
The Training and Education Committee is pleased to recognize Kelcey Schmitz for her extraordinary volunteer service providing social media management.
Kelcey has raised awareness of APBS via several social media channels and her invaluable service to the TEC and APBS for the past two years, particularly around conference time, has put APBS and the conference on the social media map! In her management of social media communication, Kelcey brought together a team, created standards and a plan, and got APBS out there. Thank you, Kelcey, for your critical contributions and outstanding volunteer service to APBS!Skip Kumm - April 2019
The Public Awareness and Dissemination (PAD) Committee, along with the Student Network Advisory Board, wishes to recognize Skip Kumm as an Outstanding APBS Member Volunteer.
Skip is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He serves as a student member of APBS and volunteers with the Public Awareness and Dissemination Committee as a student member. Skip regularly attends monthly meetings and looks for additional service obligations. Most recently, Skip worked diligently to review and edit scripts for the new APBS videos. He has provided timely and important commentary and revisions. Skip has also been an active member of the Student Network Advisory Board. He calls in to monthly meetings and has contributed to the many projects this group has been working on, including preparations for the 16th International Conference on Positive Behavior Support. We thank Skipp Kumm for his outstanding volunteer service to the Association for Positive Behavior Support!Tara Davis, M.A., NCSP - July 2018
Ms. Tara Davis, a devoted practitioner of Positive Behavior Support and the PBIS Framework, has been an active volunteer on the Training and Education Committee (TEC) for several years. She attends most of the virtual meetings, and, even more impressive, she consistently volunteers to participate in activities. For the last two years, Tara has assisted the TEC by scoring nominee applications for the Ted Carr Initial Practitioner and Initial Researcher awards. This activity required Tara to review multiple materials associated with each nominee and use a rubric to score the nominee’s performance on several components. In addition, she participated in numerous virtual meetings to discuss the results and provide feedback in selecting the final awardees. Tara has also volunteered to review new and adapted policies and procedures being addressed by the TEC and provide feedback. Tara’s feedback is consistently on target and provides the TEC with a practitioner’s perspective that is of high value. Tara is well-deserving of recognition and thanks for her volunteer service.
Thank you, Tara, for your outstanding volunteer service in support of APBS!Sheri Luecking, MSW, LCSW - October 2016
Sheri Luecking is a Co-Leader of the Midwest-Illinois PBIS Network. As a leader of this APBS Network, Sheri created and currently facilitates a Rural PBIS Implementation Work Group, and she leads a Train-the-Trainer model of implementation support. Sheri has been a major voice in the APBS community in expanding preventive practices to include classroom-based behavior and academic support strategies. Her leadership has contributed to the development and implementation of more accessible and effective training events for APBS leaders involved with training associated with the PBIS framework. Sheri regularly serves as a volunteer during the annual APBS conference in many roles, including poster session aide, customer service provider and/or session host. Volunteering at the APBS conference fits with Sheri’s worldview that supporting others makes one a more fulfilled person and the world a better place.
Thank you, Sheri, for your outstanding volunteer service in support of APBS!Nanette Perrin, PhD, BCBA-D - July 2016
Michael Lombardo - April 2016
The Training and Education Committee nominated Michael Lombardo for recognition as an APBS member volunteer who has made significant contributions to the Organization. An active member of APBS since 2012, Michael serves as Primary Contact for our APBS California Network. Recently, Michael has provided extraordinary effort and outreach throughout the California Network to recruit volunteers for our 13th International Conference on Positive Behavior Support. Both the number and quality of our conference volunteers this past year positively impacted the success of our conference in San Francisco, and we are pleased to acknowledge Michael’s recruitment efforts in support of APBS.
Thank you, Michael, for your outstanding volunteer work in support of APBS!Dr. Barry McCurdy - July 2015
The Dissemination Committee would like to recognize Barry McCurdy for his efforts in hosting visitors from abroad and providing guidance and information on the application of positive behavior support to support children involved with child protective services and system level application.
Thank you, Barry, for your outstanding volunteer work in support of the mission of APBS!Randall De Pry & Matt Tincani - April 2015
Dr. Randall De Pry
Dept. of Special Education, Portland State University Portland, ORAfter successfully completing multiple years as an elected member of the APBS Board of Directors and the Executive Committee in various offices, Randy has continued to serve APBS through his position as Editor of the APBS Newsletter. This service requires considerable time and commitment on an on-going basis throughout the year as this quarterly publication brings relevant information and organizational news to our membership.
Dr. Matt Tincani
College of Education, Temple University Philadelphia, PAAfter successfully completing a three-year elected term on the APBS Board of Directors, Matt has continued to serve APBS through facilitation of the awarding of the annual E.G. “Ted” Carr Initial Researcher Award. This service requires considerable time and commitment throughout the course of each year culminating with selection and announcement of award winners in conjunction with our annual conference.
Thank you Randall and Matt for your outstanding volunteer work in support of APBS!Kate Dooley & Shanna Hirsch - January 2015
