Katie Wright
Vice President
Mom to Mattias and Christian

Katie is the mother of two boys, Mattias, age 3 and 5 year-old Christian.  Christian  regressed into autism at 2 ½ years old.  Katie completed her under-graduate studies at Boston University and received a Masters in Education from Columbia University.  Studying counseling psychology, she received her professional license in 2000 and was the Clinical Director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Stamford, CT providing free and confidential counseling services to male and female survivors of rape and sexual assaults.   Katie resigned her position when Christian became ill and now, with her husband Andreas, is dedicated to working to improve the lives of children and families affected by Autism.

Joanne Quinn
Treasurer

Mother of 3 boys, Joanne's youngest son Patrick was diagnosed with high-functioning Autism in 1999. Since 2002, Joanne has served as the Executive Director of the Autism Project of Rhode Island.  Joanne has a BA in History from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. She’s completed both Level I and II of the TEACCH training on Structured Teaching and Consultation.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Kelly Vanicek
Chairperson of the Board
Mom to Ashley, Rachel and Kyle

Kelly has a BA in Journalism. She has worked for the past 17 years with her husband, Bruce, at their wholesale nursery. When their son Kyle was diagnosed on the autism spectrum 4 years ago, she followed the path of the pioneers in biomedical interventions and has successfully recovered their son. She continues to advocate for children and their families affected by autism as a long-time volunteer for NAA and also as a Rescue Angel through Generation Rescue where she guides many families along the journey toward recovery.

Claire Bothwell
Board Member
Mum to Will, Katrina, and Jillian

Claire works full-time as a paralegal and office manager of the California office of the law firm of Waters & Kraus.  Claire has worked in the legal field since coming to the United States at age 19 in 1982.   She is originally from Coventry, England, but now resides in Long Beach, California.  She is married to Bruce, an attorney, and has three children: Will (aged 12 and autistic), Katrina (age 10 diagnosed with autism, but now recovered) and Jillian (age 8 and seemingly typical, whatever that is).  When Will was diagnosed with autism in 1995, Claire quit her job and dedicated her time to running Will’s 40+ hours a week Lovaas program and advocating on Will’s behalf.  She and Bruce sued their local school district and regional center for funding for Will’s program and prevailed.  Soon, she and Bruce were successfully advocating for services for other autistic children in the area.  In 1997, Claire’s second child, Katrina, was diagnosed with autism and Claire co-founded the first support group in the area specifically targeted at newly-diagnosed parents.  She serves on the Board of the Autism Society of America-Greater Long Beach South Bay Chapter and has previously edited their newsletter and served as the Corresponding Secretary.  She was one of the founding parents of L.A.-F.EA.T. and was a frequent contributor to the old FEATLIST.  In 2000, she returned to work full-time and opened the California office of Waters & Kraus.  One of her first assignments was to research the issue of thimerosal in vaccines and its link to mercury poisoning and autism.  Waters & Kraus filed the first civil suit in the United States alleging that thimerosal had caused neurological damage to children later diagnosed with autism.  In the meantime, Bruce Bothwell left his partners in a general civil practice and opened his own office.  He now practices exclusively in special education law.  Claire and Bruce have made it their mission to do as much as they personally can to address the needs of individuals with autism in their community and beyond. 

Ann Brasher
Board Member
Grandmother to Dean and Bryan

Ann is a grandmother of six, two of which are heavy metal toxic. The oldest has recovered and is enjoying life. Her daughter's son, Dean, is still affected.

Ann has been actively working in and for autism related issues over the last several years. This includes organizing her state's first Autism Rally, conferences, meeting with legislators, trips to D.C. to meet with her state's Senators and Representatives, fund-raising efforts and helping families with bio-medical and emotional issues.

Together with her daughter, Ann moderates an online autism support group on Yahoo! called ChelatingKids2 with almost 6,000 members from around the world. 2004 brought her recognition within her state (MS) for ongoing efforts on behalf of the children and families dealing with autism when she was honored by The TEAAM Organization with their Spirit of Family Award at their annual convention. This award is given to a family member(s), who is a leader and inspiration to other families and who has demonstrated a strong commitment towards assisting and empowering individuals with Autism and their families.

Deirdre Imus
Board Member

Ms. Imus, a national leader in children’s health and environmental issues, is the founder and president of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center ™ at Hackensack University Medical Center. The Center represents one of the first hospital-based programs whose specific mission is to identify, control, and ultimately prevent exposures to environmental factors that may cause adult, and especially pediatric cancer, as well as other health problems with our children.

Deirdre is also co-founder and co-director with husband, Don Imus, of The Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer, a 501(C) (3) not-for-profit authentic 4,000 acre working cattle ranch in northern New Mexico, which provides the experience of the American cowboy to children suffering from cancer and various blood diseases, as well as to children who have lost a brother or sister to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

James A. Moody
Founding Board Member, Government Affairs Committee Chair

Jim is a practicing attorney and Founder of Citizens for a Competitive Economy. He is very active in cause-related advocacy and has dedicated himself to serving the autism community for nearly two decades.

Leslie Phillips
Board Member

Leslie Phillips earned an MBA from the University of Houston while pursuing a career in marketing and public relations. Later, she worked for a contractor at NASA’s Johnson Space Center coordinating experiments on the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. She married in 1994, had three sons in five years and became a stay-at-home mom.  When her youngest son was diagnosed with autism in 2001, Leslie was told there were no known treatments, yet she realized her son had medical issues which demanded attention. She also learned he could benefit from therapies not covered by insurance. Over time, she learned to advocate for the help he needed, and went on to help other affected families.

A graduate of Disability Leadership Network of Houston, Leslie also received advanced advocacy training. She is Vice President and co-founder of Katy Autism Support. Discouraged at the lack of support families were receiving in their faith communities, Leslie planned the first annual Katy Faith & Disability Symposium. She works part-time for Family to Family Network of Houston, a parent organization that assists families navigating special education. Her special interest is educating others that people with disabilities should be a part of, and not apart from, their communities.

Harry Tembenis
Board Member
Father to Elias

Harry Tembenis is a long-time advocate of children’s rights and biomedical intervention. Most recently he spearheaded The Elias Tembenis Walk for Autism in memory of his seven-year-old son Elias, who passed away in 2007 following a seizure. The walk gained national media attention when two friends of the Tembenis family walked across the country for six months to raise over $30,000 for NAA’s Helping Hand Program. Tembenis has been featured on ABC News, in countless news publications around the country, and was recently named iParenting.com’s father of the month. He and his wife Gina, who was featured in the book Mother Warriors by best-selling author Jenny McCarthy, reside in Worcester, Massachusetts.