CHAPTER ADVISORY BOARD

The CHADD chapter advisory board (CAB), a subcommittee of the CHADD board of directors, collaborates with CHADD management to foster the formation, growth, and sustained success of CHADD chapters. In partnership with CHADD chapters, regional centers, and the chapter services manager, the CAB facilitates idea exchange, identifies common needs, and provides oversight for chapter services processes. Committed to supporting CHADD chapters and regional centers, the CAB offers annual training and mentorship opportunities as well as acknowledges and celebrates outstanding contributions to the CHADD mission by chapters and individual volunteers.

Beth Bardeen, Co-Chair

Suzanne Sophos

Suzanne Sophos, CMPSS, Co-Chair

Suzanne Sophos is a neuro-inclusivity advocate who has been engaged in family and child work since 2010. She is the executive director of CHADD of Greater Los Angeles and the manager of the ADHD Empowerment Community™. She previously directed CHADD of San Fernando Valley, twice recognized as Chapter of the Year. Sophos serves as co-chair of CHADD’s chapter advisory board and is a member of the planning committee for the Annual International Conference on ADHD. She received the CHADD Volunteer of the Year award in 2022. Sophos grew up in Texas and received her communications degree from Texas Christian University before moving to Los Angeles with her husband. Her background includes serving as a social-emotional learning specialist, peer support specialist, ADHD educator, writer, and family coach. She has also been trained, certified, and previously served as a foster parent through the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Her work is informed by her education, professional experience, and life experience as an ADHD/2e individual and the parent of an ADHD/2e child.

Jami Demuth, MAT

Jami Demuth, Regional Center Coordinator

Christine Mathis, Regional Center Coordinator

Claire Noyes, Regional Center Coordinator

Brandi Walker

Brandi Walker, PhD, Regional Center Coordinator

Dr. Walker is the CEO of Marie Pauline Consulting, LLC, her private practice dedicated to providing educational, clinical, and psychological guidance and expertise to organizations seeking to improve their social climate, employee and customer relations, and/or enhance their diversity and equity awareness.

Dr. Walker is also an executive leadership coach experienced in providing educational, clinical, and coaching guidance to military leaders and their teams in order to support strategic initiatives that target the reduction of mental health challenges for servicemen and women. She is a Howard University and University of Maryland, alumna and an Army Clinical Psychologist and faculty member at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, NC. Dr. Walker is also an active duty Army officer (soon to retire) who works directly with Service Members and their families, in addition to developing initiatives and collaborations that are in sync with the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness programming. Additionally, Dr. Walker maintains her earnest desire to further what is known about ADHD and continues to provide therapeutic expertise and researched-informed support to families and individuals that are impacted.

She spent the last seven years working with various hospitals, clinics, and schools conducting research on children with ADHD, their family and various sleep variables and environmental factors of influence. Dr. Walker’s community efforts entail collaboratively initiating the Prince George’s County (Maryland) CHADD (Children and Adults with ADHD) Chapter and CHADD’s Southern Regional Support Center. Dr. Walker also focuses her efforts to training and advocacy on diversity, inclusion, equity, and intersectionality awareness and practices. She serves as Chair Past of the Diversity in the Military Committee, of the American Psychological Association's Society of Military Psychology (Division 19).

Naline Walker, Regional Center Coordinator

Dale Davison

Jeremy Didier, LMSW, LMAC

Jeremy Didier, LMSW, LMAC

Jeremy Didier, LMSW, LMAC, has over fifteen years of extensive experience working with children, parents, and adults with ADHD in both her personal life and as an ICF/JST/ADDCA-certified ADHD coach with ImpactParents. She currently provides assessment, diagnosis, and therapeutic services for adults with ADHD in her private practice at the Jordan Psychological Center in Kansas City. She is also the group founder and co-coordinator of Kansas City’s award-winning CHADD chapter, ADHDKC, twice recognized as the organization’s chapter of the year. Prior to being elected president of CHADD’s board of directors, Didier served on the board in many capacities: as secretary, as co-chair of both the chapter advisory board and the governance committee, and as a volunteer leadership trainer and chapter mentor. She is a nationally recognized speaker and a frequent contributor to national media outlets such as the Washington Post and NBC Nightly News. A passionate advocate for justice-involved individuals with ADHD, she specializes in the underdiagnosis of girls and women with ADHD and the intersection of ADHD and addiction. Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, she was honored to be selected for Chris Zeigler Dendy’s inaugural advocacy training program at “Camp Dendy.” Didier holds a master of social work from Fordham University and a bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Kansas. Her favorite job is being mom to five fabulous kids, four of whom also have ADHD among other neurodiversities.

Belynda_small-150x150

Belynda L. Gauthier

Belynda L. Gauthier has served on numerous local, state, and national committees and boards involved in special needs and mental health advocacy. She previously served on CHADD’s national board of directors from 1999-2002, and was named CHADD’s Coordinator of the Year in 1998.  A longtime board member for Families Helping Families, she is a founding member of the Greater Baton Rouge Learning Disabilities Coalition, and currently serves on the Louisiana DHH Task Force on ADHD. She has thirty-four years of professional experience in human resources, including twenty years as the human resources director of a large organization. During that time, she received the Employer of the Year Award from BACE for her work employing individuals with disabilities.

Angela Green

Larry Jones

Larry Jones, MD, MBA, AACC

A retired pediatrician, Larry A. Jones, MD, MBA, AACC, received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He completed his pediatric residency, genetics fellowship, and MBA in executive healthcare management at Washington University in St. Louis. He opened a general pediatrics office in St. Louis in 1981, with a specialty in learning disabilities. Dr. Jones became more involved in treating children with ADHD after he and his three sons were diagnosed, and ever since he has been proactive in bringing awareness about ADHD to public health officials, hospital administrators, and physicians. He served as the chief administrator for childhood lead poisoning and all other child and maternal health activities for the city of St. Louis. For ten years he served as a physician advisor for hospitals in St. Louis, and he subsequently served in that capacity in Charlotte, North Carolina, prior to his retirement. A member of WIE Champions, a group of Charlotte men promoting open discussions on race and culture, he also serves on the board of directors for NAMI Charlotte and several ministries at Friendship, MBC, including social justice. With his wife, Audrey, he coauthored Falling Through the Ceiling: Our ADHD Family Memoir. After training as an ADHD and life coach, he founded TASTE of Success Coaching, with “turning ADHD from stigma to stability” as his mission. Most recently, Dr. Jones and his wife founded the nonprofit Enable Tables Media to support individuals, families, and educators addressing learning challenges. He received CHADD’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

Judy Marshall

Eva O’Malley

Shirelle F. Pearson

Shirelle F. Pearson, MBA, GBA

Shirelle F. Pearson is an account manager with Marsh & McLennan Agency (MMA) in their New York City employee health and benefits office, with over thirty years of experience in insurance carrier, human resources, and group benefits consulting. She also extends her knowledge to her graduate students as an adjunct professor at the New York Institute of Technology.  She sought resources to support her newly diagnosed son and found CHADD quite valuable in her ADHD educational pursuits, for herself and family. In 2014, she accepted the role of treasurer for the Nassau County chapter and accepted the additional role of coordinator in 2018. Having recently assumed membership on CHADD’s diversity, equity, and inclusion committee, she is currently pursuing an ADHD parent coaching certification. Her career has allowed her the opportunity to effectively communicate across organizations and implement thoughtful benefits and wellness recommendations, positively affecting the lives of thousands of employees and their families.  She is a published essayist who enjoys helping clients empower employees through emotionally intelligent strategies, which foster better health, employee satisfaction, higher productivity, and loyalty. A member of MMA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion council she participated in its Aspire mentorship program. She also volunteers as the director of programs with the New York Metro Area chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists (ISCEBS) and its chapter working group. She is a lifelong learner and critical thinker who believes that collaboration is the best way to build a strong village that elevates everyone. She earned her BBA from Adelphi University, her MBA from Dowling College and Group Benefits Associate Certificate from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans in partnership with Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her crowning achievements are her marriage of twenty-five years and the role of doting mother to her two sons.

Rick Webster