Fundraising Work Group
Formed in August 2023, this work group supports and collaborates with the CHADD CEO to build a Culture of Philanthropy at CHADD and serve as an advisory group for fundraising and other revenue generating ideas.
Carolyn Lentzsch-Parcells, MD, Chair
Dr. Carolyn Lentzsch-Parcells is a board-certified pediatrician with Girls to Women/Young Men’s Health and Wellness with a special interest in ADHD, learning issues, mental and behavioral health. She was born and raised in Dallas before heading to North Carolina where she obtained her BA in Theatre from Davidson College. She then completed her medical school, internship, and residency training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She has practiced pediatrics and adolescent medicine in Texas, Kentucky, and Nebraska. While in Kentucky, she was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Education in the Division of Adolescent Medicine. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She holds memberships in the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics and CHADD.
Stephen Chen
Stephen Chen is a board-tested operational leader and CFO who connects people and initiatives that can improve business and societal outcomes at the intersection of technology and business transformation. Chen was educated at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, New York University, and Brown University. He is a public and private board member of several companies, including Phunware, Kent Moore Capital, BioIntegrate, and formerly Anchor Fundings. He was previously the chief investment officer for a UHNW commodities-based family office and started an alternative asset fund that was collateralized by assets in excess of $2B. Chen brings twenty years of executive experience in financial services and technology, where he has built up particular expertise in sales, capital markets, strategic partnerships and investments, as well as growing and scaling business operations in the United States and Asia. He is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce in New York City, the Urban Land Institute, New York Investment Network, and Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. His philanthropic work has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, ABC, and NBC. He has spoken at Yale, Brown, NYU, and Columbia University and is the recipient of the Orphans International Global Citizenship Award, the Dragon 100 Fellowship, and the C.V. Starr Fellowship. He has been profiled in two books, Luck Does Not Exist by Mario Calabresi and Inspired! by Vik Venkatraman.
Richard Gallagher, PhD
Dr. Gallagher is associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Child Study Center, NYU School of Medicine. He specializes in anxiety disorders, ADHD, and learning disorders. He has been a co-principal investigator on NIMH grants investigating executive function deficits in children with ADHD and how to overcome those deficits. Dr. Gallagher is a former leader of the ADHD special interest group for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). He has presented programs at ABCT, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has been an invited speaker at the International Convention of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Canadian ADD Resource Alliance, the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders, regional professional organizations and schools. He is coauthor on numerous papers, first author of Organizational Skills Training for Children with ADHD: An Empirically-Supported Treatment and The Organized Child (for parents), and coauthor of the Children's Organizational Skills Scale. Dr. Gallagher has provided content to the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, The New York Times, and Parents, and has conducted many parent workshops.
Mary Solanto, PhD
Dr. Solanto is professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine, Long Island, New York. She completed her undergraduate education at Princeton University, and received her PhD in clinical psychology from the New York State University at Buffalo. She subsequently completed an NIMH post-doctoral fellowship in the department of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Prior to joining Hofstra, she was director of the ADHD Center in the department of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and an associate professor of psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. In 2017-2018, Dr. Solanto was a Fulbright US Scholar in the Netherlands where she taught undergraduates and conducted research on the treatment of ADHD in college students. Dr. Solanto’s research on the cognitive and behavioral functioning of children with ADHD, the effects of psychostimulants, and the characteristics of the subtypes of ADHD has been supported by grants from NIMH, NICHD, and NINDS. She developed a novel cognitive-behavioral intervention to target problems of executive self-management in adults with ADHD, which was the focus of an NIMH-sponsored treatment efficacy study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry (2010). The manual for therapists, titled Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Adult ADHD: Targeting Executive Dysfunction was published by Guilford Press (2011). The program was recognized as the Innovative Program of the Year by CHADD (2011). Dr. Solanto also edited a volume (with Amy Arnsten and Xavier Castellanos) titled: Stimulant Drugs and ADHD: Basic and Clinical Neuroscience (Oxford University Press, 2001). Dr. Solanto has published numerous scholarly papers concerning ADHD in children and adults. She is a frequent reviewer for professional journals, and has served on study section/grant review panels for NIMH. Currently, she is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Attention Disorders, and the ADHD Report (Guilford Press). Dr. Solanto serves on the professional advisory boards of CHADD, NCLD (National Center for Learning Disabilities), and APSARD (American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders).
Suzanne Sophos, CMPSS
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.
John Willson, MS, LRT/CTRS
John Willson, MS, LRT/CTRS, is the executive director for SOAR, a nonprofit residential boarding school, adventure summer camp, and GAP program serving youth with learning and attention challenges. This is his second stint supporting the CHADD on the national board of directors. Willson holds an undergraduate degree in sociology from Texas State University and a master’s degree in outdoor therapeutic recreation administration from Aurora University. He is licensed in the state of North Carolina as a recreation therapist and holds a national certification from NCTRC to practice therapeutic recreation. He serves on the national board of the Learning Disability Foundation Association and has been a state president of the Learning Disabilities Association of North Carolina. He is a certified wilderness first responder, lifeguard, and rescue SCUBA diver. He can be found canoeing class 3/4 whitewater in his free time. He has led hundreds of adventure courses with youth diagnosed with LD and ADHD. He actively presents to parents and professionals at local, state, and national conferences. Finally, he is the parent of two magnificent adult children living with ADHD.
