FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE
The Finance and Audit Committee monitors all fiscal affairs of CHADD to ensure that the financial policies established by the Board are being met and that the fiscal integrity and accountability of CHADD is being maintained. Duties include reviewing and recommending revisions and/or new fiscal or investment policies and standards; reviewing budget recommendations and submit jointly with the Executive Committee a recommended organizational budget to the Board of Directors; in conjunction with staff, developing and submitting monthly financial reports to the Board of Directors; and in conjunction with staff, reviewing all unrestricted and investment funds annually to determine amounts to be allocated into long term investments.
Shirelle F. Pearson, MBA, GBA, Chair
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.
Ingrid Y. Alpern, JD, LLM in Tax
Ingrid Alpern practiced tax law in Washington, DC, for many years. Alpern has helped to raised awareness about ADHD and provides support to families coping with ADHD through her long-term work as a volunteer for CHADD and as a Parent to Parent teacher. She also serves on CHADD’s Finance Committee. Alpern brings to CHADD the expertise she developed as a tax attorney in legal research and writing and analysis of complex matters.
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.
Brian Foy
Brian Foy has been coordinator for CHADD of Iowa since 2016. Prior to that, he was treasurer for that group for over fifteen years, when six small chapters merged into one super chapter. Brian and his wife Jane were founding members of a parent support group in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1986 after their daughter was diagnosed with ADHD. He currently lives in the Davenport/Quad Cities area in Iowa, where he is a clinical instructor for the masters in speech-language pathology program at St. Ambrose University. Prior to his work at St. Ambrose, he was a speech language pathologist with the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency for twenty-two years. He was also an administrator with the agency from 2000 to 2014, serving as “low incidence disabilities coordinator” over a five-county area.
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.
Patricia M. Hudak, PCC, BCC
Patricia M. Hudak, PCC, BCC, previously served as the chair of the CHADD Northern Virginia and DC (NoVA/DC) chapter. In that position, she worked with other volunteers to connect the local ADHD community with area resources, resulting in CHADD NoVA/DC being recognized as the 2017 Affiliate of the Year. Pat also co-chaired CHADD’s national affiliate advisory board and was a member of the national marketing and conference planning committees. Her passion for supporting families affected by ADHD came from her own experience raising two boys (now successful young men!) diagnosed with ADHD. She is credentialed as a professional certified coach through the International Coach Federation and as a board-certified coach through the College of Executive Coaching, with additional certificates for coaching children, teens, and young adults with ADHD and executive function disorders. Prior to starting her own coaching business in 2005, she retired from a thirty-year career with the federal government, where she served in an executive leadership capacity. Her responsibilities included strategic planning, overseeing national programs, providing guidance and support to employees at all levels, and collaborating with other federal and state agencies and national professional organizations. In addition to her previous experience with CHADD, she sat on the ADHD Resource Group of Northern Virginia’s board as a director-at-large and held the position of chair for the marketing and public relations committee of the ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO).
Bob O’Malley
Bob O’Malley is currently a senior director of sourcing and procurement in the broadcast media industry. He has more than thirty years of experience in developing and implementing sourcing strategies. He has negotiated highly visible strategic agreements for the distribution of content in both the entertainment and sports verticals. In 2008, Bob and his wife Eva (a former member of CHADD’s board of directors) cofounded the Monmouth County CHADD chapter (currently called Tri CHADD NJ) in response to the diagnoses of several family members with ADHD.
Laurie Kulikosky, CAE, Staff Liaison
