Our Board
A Dedicated Group of Ordinary People Committed to Making Extraordinary Change
"I've always wanted to help people achieve their highest potential."
Denise Nix Thompson, M.B.A.
Executive Director
Denise Nix Thompson, MA, MBA, is co-founder and Executive Director of Equally Alive, and consultant for the Life Center focused on social services. Denise also consults on capacity building, change management, program development, cost reduction, and revenue development with healthcare, and social services nonprofit organizations.
Denise is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt which enables her to lead quality improvement projects that reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve effectiveness across complex organizations. As a banker, Denise has financed over $100 million in affordable housing, invested millions of grant and sponsorship dollars into communities, created the first money-centered bank Supplier Diversity program, the first financial literacy program and provided technical assistance to over 200 small businesses. She has led Corporate Marketing Research where she was responsible for national and international brand impact. She has worked for an agency to secure and manage Federal Grants in social services and has worked extensively with community-based organizations as partners to deliver social impact results.
Denise was formerly Principal, Strategic Philanthropy Advisors, Senior Program Advisor, Nonprofit Development Institute, Senior Vice President, Wachovia Bank, Vice President, JPMorgan Chase, Program Manager, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. and Soloist, Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, a M.A. from New York University in Arts Administration, and a B.A. New York University in Liberal Arts. Denise was a parent of a 28 year old son Grant Taylor Thompson who recently passed away. Grant was developmentally disabled with severe medical complexity from a rare genetic disorder. Denise is a disability advocate who serves on the board of Special Moms Network, which has a membership of 3,800 special needs moms in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Denise is not only a disability advocate but is also a person with a disability. Her lived experiences engaging with a fragmented healthcare system combined with her professional background make her well-qualified to lead Equally Alive.
Danny Abelson
Executive Director
Danny Abelson is Co-founder of Equally Alive and CEO of The Abelson Company, an NYC-based creative agency helping to change the organizations who are helping to change the world. This speaks to a lifelong engagement with social issues.
Early in his career Danny was an editor of the humor magazine The National Lampoon, and an originator of the Children's Television Workshop’s 3-2-1 Contact. As a Creative Director at Frankfurt, Gips Balkind in the 80’s he led multiple award-winning projects for clients including Comcast, Time Warner, Seagrams, and Comedy Central and collaborated with Quincy Jones on Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones. He completed Military Service in 1968 which provided context for being the writer on the documentary series WWII: G.I. Diary for Time Life Television.
Danny launched his own agency in the mid-1980’s to partner with clients willing to re-imagine the future in the realms of disability, public health, human rights, and more. Since becoming the parent of a child with complex disabilities who has thrived well beyond expectations, he has been particularly committed to transforming the way we respond to people once defined by their limitations. Danny has worked from his offices in London and New York City with clients in many countries, from public health to the arts, human rights to media—The Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York Philharmonic to Novo Nordisk, Women for Women International and Physicians for Human Rights. In recent years he has focused increasingly on partnering with leading innovators in disability care, including The Center for Discovery, Access: Supports for Living and Adapt Community Network.
Danny Abelson completed primary and secondary education in South Africa and Australia and graduated from Kearsney College, Kwazulu Natal in 1967. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, 1972.
Case studies:
www.abelsonco.com
It Only Takes a Small Group of People To Change the World
It's The Only Thing That Ever Has
Dr. Matthew Holder, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Dr. Matthew Holder, MD, MBA, is the Medical Director of Lee Specialty Clinic, Chief Executive Officer of Chyron, LLC and Advantage Medical Corp., formerly Global Medical Advisor to the Special Olympics, President Emeritus of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, is recognized as an international leader in the care of individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).
Dr. Holder began working on what would result in Developmental Medicine becoming a recognized medical expertise soon after starting his career. In 2002, he took over the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD). Since then the AADMD has set the curriculum and standards that guide medical students, residents and fellowship-level physicians to better treat and understand patients with IDD. Medical schools and residency programs around the world have implemented curriculum changes based on the work done by Dr. Holder and the AADMD.
From 2005-2021 Dr. Holder became Global Medical Advisor for the Special Olympics. Dr. Holder has trained thousands of healthcare providers in addressing the health needs of athletes with IDD. He also assists the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association in developing and passing resolutions that improve the lives and healthcare of IDD patients.
Dr. Holder, alongside colleague Dr. Henry Hood, designed and developed a unique, interdisciplinary patient care and teaching model that meets the health needs of adults with IDD living in the community – the first of its kind in the nation. Today the Lee Specialty Clinic exists as a testament their shared vision. Dr. Holder is a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine. In 2019,
Dr. Holder received the Golisano Foundation’s “Move to Include Award” for his work as an international leader in the care of individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).
Dr. Joanne Gerenser, Ph.D
Vice Chair
Dr. Joanne Gerenser, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Eden II Programs. Eden II is a set of programs that provides educational, vocational, family support and residential services to children and adults on the autism spectrum.
Dr. Gerenser has worked at Eden II for the past 35 years. She received her Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is the president of the Board of the Council of Autism Service Providers, a national coalition of autism providers, and Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Organization for Autism Research. She is President of the Board of the Staten Island Not for Profit Association. Joanne has authored a number of articles and book chapters relating to speech and language disorders and autism. She has presented nationally and internationally on autism and related topics. She sits on a number of Advisory Boards for programs for individuals with ASD both in the US and abroad. She has a Ph.D. from City University of New York Graduate Center, M.A., Ohio State University and a B.S., SUNY at Geneseo.
Mark Davis, M.S.
Treasurer
Mark Davis is the President and CEO of Pennsylvania Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disability.
Mr. Davis is actively involved with the American Network for Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), serving as co-chair of the Alternative Payment Model Workgroup and as a member of the Government Relations Advisory Committee.
Previously, Mark was the President of the Ohio Provider Resource Association (OPRA). As president of OPRA, Mr. Davis helped design and implement innovative system reforms for Ohioans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As part of his role at OPRA, he was co-chair of Advocates for Ohio’s Future, a broad-based health and human services coalition of almost 500 organizations. Mark was Executive Director of the Center for Epidemiological Research for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He has extensive managed care experience gained at FCF Management where he was Executive Director, Public Sector Managed Care and at Project Care/New Hopes as Chief Operating Office, Managed Care. Mark has a MS in Ed, Counseling from Youngstown State University, and a BS in Ed, EMCE from The Ohio State University.
Yvette L. Watts
Secretary
Yvette L. Watts is Executive Director of New York Association of Emerging and Multicultural Providers, a consortium of 40 agencies who serve the growing cultural, ethnic, racial, religious and linguistically diverse Intellectual and Developmental population of the State of New York.
Most recently, Ms. Watts served as the project director for the development of the Training Guide for Care Managers designed to support the Care Coordination Organizations associated with The Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) as they seek to transition current MSCs to Care Manager positions and orient new care managers. Yvette Watts is current President of the board of directors of Quality Services for the Autism Community (QSAC) where she has served for over 20 years.
She has served as co-chair of the Queens Council on Developmental Disabilities, she is a board member on Care Coordination Organization, Care Design Inc., a member of The New York Disabilities Advocates (NYDA) and has been the keynote speaker at varies community events and legislative breakfasts. For over 20 years Ms. Wats worked in publishing as the Director of Circulation tor the Atlantic Monthly, as well as Games magazine and Black Enterprise Magazine. Ms. Watts is married and has a daughter on the autism spectrum.
Kevin J. Malone
Of Counsel
Kevin J. Malone, is Shareholder, in the office of Epstein Becker Green where he focuses on the Health Care and Life Sciences practice in the Washington, DC, office and a Strategic Advisor in the firm’s affiliated consulting practice EBG Advisors.
Mr. Malone provides regulatory and strategic guidance related to health care financing law and policy at both the federal and state levels, with a particular focus on Medicaid, Medicare, behavioral health, long-term care, and managed care.
In addition to serving some of the largest companies in the health care industry, he also works with start-ups, regional and local health care companies, trade associations, and state and local governments. He joined Epstein Becker Green in 2016 after six years in health care financing policy roles at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, most recently with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Mike Alvaro
Mike Alvaro is the President and CEO of the Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State (CP of NYS). Mr. Alvaro joined the Agency in October 2003 and has overseen the Associations’ regulatory and policy issue advocacy and education at the State level.
CP of NYS was founded over 75 years ago by families and today fulfills its mission of advocacy and education for 24 independent Affiliates providing supports and services to people with cerebral palsy and other significant disabilities across NY. Mr. Alvaro also is a leader of the state’s New York Disability Advocates (NYDA), a statewide disability advocacy organization representing over 300 provider agencies of disability supports and services in New York In his role at CP of NYS , he works with Affiliates and Board
members to identify priority issues for
advocacy and education.
Mr. Alvaro has spent over 30 years in the disability and health advocacy field. Prior to joining CP of NYS, he worked in various roles at the Hospital Association of New York State (HANYS), the Hospital Trustees of New York State and, the upstate hospitals’ Iroquois Healthcare Alliance. While at Iroquois, he initiated cooperative efforts among hospitals, developed advocacy efforts on behalf of its 58 upstate hospital and health system members, and helped establish one of the State’s first health information exchanges (HIXNY).
He has obtained and overseen grants to assist disability providers implement a telehealth triage model ($13 M) supporting over 8,000 people in certified residences in NYS, support hospitals in workforce retraining (TANF - $1.5 million) and create the Centers of Excellence in the care and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders and other complex disabilities (BIP - $7.3 million), among others. He also has expertise in staff development, fiscal management, non-profit governance, membership services and marketing. He has an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College and an
Lanny Edelsohn, M.D.
Dr. Lanny Edelsohn, M.D., joined Christiana Care Health System as a neurology specialist in 1973. He is a board-certified neurologist and a clinical professor of neurology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. He serves on numerous community nonprofit boards.
Dr. Edelsohn lectures frequently and has been involved in multiple clinical trials regarding the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. He has a special interest in medical education and had served as the director of neurology education for residents, interns and medical students for over 40 years until his semi-retirement in 2016. In 2013 Dr. Edelsohn was voted Attending Teacher of the Year by the Jefferson Medical College, Delaware Branch, class of 2013 and in 2015 he received the Blockley-Osler Award for distinguished teaching from Jefferson Medical College.
Dr. Edelsohn has served Christiana Care in multiple capacities over the years, including leading the initial Stroke Task Force in 2000, a term as president of the Medical-Dental Staff, and many years on the executive committee of the staff and the Board of Directors of Christiana Hospital. In 2013 the Lanny Edelsohn, M.D. Neuro Critical Care Unit was opened in honor of Dr. Edelsohn’s contribution to stroke care over his career in Delaware.
Dr. Edelsohn is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and completed medical training at Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. His medical internship was at Hahnemann Medical College Hospital in Philadelphia and his neurology residency was at Harvard Neurology (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, the Beth Israel and Children’s Hospital Medical Center), Boston.
Gary Tatz, MD
Dr. Gary Tatz, MD is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at New York Medical College and is board certified in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is an Attending Physician in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, an all-specialty children’s hospital designated as a Burn Center, Level I Trauma center, Organ Transplant Center and Hyperbaric Center in Valhalla, New York.
In his work as a pediatric intensivist, Dr. Tatz cares for a wide variety of complex cardiothoracic, pulmonary, neurosurgical, and multidisciplinary critical care patients. He is the Director of the Pain Management Program and the Palliative Care Service at the children's hospital.
Dr. Tatz serves as Medical Director for the Pediatric and Adult Programs Hospice and Palliative Care of Westchester. He graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and completed his residency at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY and his fellowship at Schneider’s Children’s Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, NY.
Join Our Movement!
We are always looking for partners of all kinds to help us press the case out into the culture and systems of our nation. You would be more than welcome!
