Steering Committee

Mary Fridley (Coordinator)
Helen Abel, Casey Acklin, Jill Battalen, Michael Belleville, Jennifer Carson, Walter Cox, Sherry Dupuis, Angela Edney, Kathryne Fassbender, Phyllis Fehr, MaryKate Gaurke, Robin Gertin, Bernadette Godinho, Jennifer Hicks, Nicolette Ketchum, Pia Kontos, Taylor Kurta, Melanie Lalani, Emerson Lee, Sian Lockwood, Holly Marland, David McDonagh, Nancy Nelson, Myrna Norman, Margaret Oldfield, Michelle Olson, Kari Rogenski, and Kate White.

Founding Members

Helen Abel, Life Performance Coach, Life Performance Coaching 

Jill Battalen, Coordinator, Community Engagement, Life Performance Coaching

Michael Belleville, Dementia Advocate, Advisory Board Member, Dementia Action Alliance, Research Ambassador, Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

Frances Bottenberg, Ph.D., Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Pam Brandon, President/Founder, AGE-u-cate® Training Institute

Kyrié Carpenter, Activist and Editor, Changing Aging

Jennifer Carson, Ph.D., Director, Dementia Engagement, Education and Research (DEER) Program, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno

Wally Cox, Advocate for people with dementia, their caregivers, and health care providers, Board Member, Dementia Alliance International

Joan Devine, R.N., Director of Education, Pioneer Network 

Sherry L. Dupuis, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, and Co-Director, Partnerships in Dementia Care Alliance, University of Waterloo

Kathryne Fassbender, Gerontologist, Creator/Founder of the Dementia Letters Project and Hem of Christ Ministry

Phyllis Fehr, M.L.A., R.N., S.A.N.E., Alzheimer’s Advocate

Emma Finn, MSW, Geriatric Social Worker, Sunnyside Community Services

Mary Fridley, Director of Special Programs, East Side Institute

Dawn Hagen, LMSW, Program Director, Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Initiative, Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation

Pia Kontos, Senior Scientist, KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network, and Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Jennifer Kulik, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, SilverKite Community Arts, LLC

Susan Massad, (deceased) M.D., retired physician educator, Faculty, East Side Institute

David McDonagh, Programme Director, Flourishing Lives

Chuck McClatchey, National Spokesperson and Activist for People Living with Dementia. Advisory Board Member, Dementia Action Alliance, Member, Dementia Friendly Nevada, Co-Host, Dementia Conversations With Chuck and Jennifer

Myrna Norman, Dementia Advocacy Canada, Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, Dementia Task Force, Alzheimer Society of British Columbia, Purple Angel Memory Support

Nicola Pauling, Artistic Director, Voice Arts 

Mary J. Radnofsky, Human rights advocate for people living with dementia

Kari Rogenski, Director, The Hummingbird Project

Carol Varney, Executive Director, TimeSlips Creative Storytelling

Peter Whitehouse, Professor, Case Western Reserve University and University of Toronto