U2FP Leadership Team
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Board of Directors
President: Susan Maus
of Burnsville, Minnesota, sustained a C4 spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the shoulders down when the Ford Explorer she was riding in with her family was hit from the side and rolled over. Inspired by a visit with Dr. Wise Young in 2004, and galvanized by the subsequent passing of Christopher Reeve later that year, Susan knew she wanted to make a direct impact on advancing promising curative therapies for paralysis. She is a founding Board member of Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP), an informal peer counselor and public speaker on paralysis care and cure issues, and serves on the board for MN Works! Susan is a graduate of Winona State University with a BS in Business Administration. She is a highly experienced professional in the healthcare industry with a 20+ year career in operations, finance, and information technology. Currently, she is an Information Technology Solution Strategist for Fairview Health Services.
Secretary: Kate Willette
is a Bellevue, Washington writer and activist. She holds an M.Ed and a BA in mathematics, both from the University of Washington in Seattle. When her husband broke his neck skiing in the spring of 2001, she gradually became determined to use her skills to further the cause of a cure for spinal cord injury. She published a memoir (Some Things Are Unbreakable) in 2003 that has won high praise from editors and readers alike. Her articles about the state of research science and the men and women who are engaged in it have been published in the United States, Norway, and online. In recent years she's enjoyed writing colorful, reliable, real-time narratives of U2FP events with a series of live blogs that are widely read and disseminated in the spinal cord injury community. She's honored to be a board member of Unite 2 Fight Paralysis.
Executive Director: Marilyn Smith
of Hood River, Oregon, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and brings a wide variety of skills to her work with Unite 2 Fight Paralysis. She has many years of experience as a fundraiser, event planner, and volunteer coordinator for nonprofit organizations. She has also worked as a tax consultant, webmaster, and office manager in the for-profit world. When her son was paralyzed in 2002 by a wheel that flew off of an oncoming vehicle, she immediately went to work to help him make the best of his situation. Marilyn is one of the co-founders of U2FP, and was recently appointed its first Executive Director.
Donna Sullivan
of Dublin, Ohio, joined the paralysis community in 2005 when her son sustained a spinal cord injury. She began advocating on a local level, then joined Unite 2 Fight Paralysis to help plan the 2008 Working 2 Walk Symposium. Through her persistence, she's persuaded a number of Ohio legislators to support the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Act. It is her belief that before people will commit themselves to supporting SCI research, they must understand the numerous health issues associated with surviving the injury. To help other advocates explain these issues to policymakers, she has compiled a series of letters for advocates to send to their legislators. Prior to her son’s injury, Donna worked as an elementary grade enrichment coordinator and in the hospital communications field.
Todd Phillips
of New York is an actor, singer, and long-time member of the Reeve Action Network who attended his first Working 2 Walk in the spring of 2006. He spent the following summer as a volunteer advocate, working Capitol Hill in support of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act (CDRPA), a bill that had been stalled in committee for more than two years. His personal efforts landed thirteen new co-sponsors for the legislation, an achievement that helped keep it in play the following year. In 2007, Todd led a U2FP team in coordinating the efforts of advocates across the country-- a project that built awareness and support for the bill in both houses of Congress and signed on dozens of new co-sponsors in the process. The ultimate success of that effort came in 2009, when President Obama signed the CDRPA into law. Todd lives in Manhattan, where he is currently at work on a degree in Non-Profit Management.
Rachel Hammerman
of New York has played an integral role in the planning and execution of U2FP's advocacy and educational efforts since 2005, leading the successful campaign for passage of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Act. Currently a Senior Account Executive in the Public Affairs practice at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Rachel brings extensive public affairs experience to Unite 2 Fight Paralysis with a strong background in issue awareness campaigns, government affairs, patient advocacy, strategic messaging and event planning. Rachel began her career at the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, where she designed and communicated advocacy efforts through the Christopher Reeve Action Network. She then worked as a Government Relations Consultant in the Health practice at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek Government Affairs. Prior to joining Ogilvy Rachel ran her own public affairs consultancy, using her expertise in patient advocacy and public health policy to engage coalitions of national disease groups and patient organizations. Rachel is a graduate of Tufts University and is honored to join the Board of Directors.
David Zacks
is from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he joined his family’s manufacturing business in 1993. Quickly learning about all facets of running a successful small business, his passion and energy soon translated into strong leadership skills that helped fuel the company’s growth and eventual international expansion. Married and the father of 3 children, David’s flourishing life was rudely interrupted in January 2005 when a snowmobile accident left him with a C5/6 complete spinal cord injury. Determined to take action rather than wait for curative therapies, David visited the Keck Center at Rutgers University to learn about the current state of research science. Convinced that the future could be much brighter than the picture painted in the SCI community, he asked himself, “What can I do”? With U2FP, that question is answered.