Our Board of Trustees: 2011 to 2012

Anne Townsend, Ph.D. - President and Chief Academic Officer (Board member since 2002)
Anne Townsend is the President and Chief Academic Officer of the Mariposa Child Success Programs. Dr. Townsend holds a Ph.D. in Family Science from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Psychology. She has more than 12 years of experience working with parents, teachers, and therapists in Maryland and has taught classes at the University of Maryland and Baltimore City Community College. Her research focuses on the impact that parents and teachers have on child success outcomes such as academic achievements, social competencies, and physical health. Dr. Townsend has created and implemented all of the programs at Mariposa.

Emried D. Cole, Jr. - Chair and Treasurer (Board member since December 2008)
Em Cole holds a B.A. from Emory University and a J.D. from Harvard University. He practiced law for 35 years, serving as Vice President, Law and Risk Management, of an operating division of CSX Transportation, Inc., and as a partner in the Baltimore office of Venable, LLP. After retiring from law practice, he served as Vice President of Seminary Advancement at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and continues as President of its Endowment Foundation. Mr. Cole brings extensive experience in the development and management of nonprofit boards. Previously, he chaired the boards of the Board of Pensions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries. He sits on the boards of Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, the Lutheran Deaconess Association, the Gettysburg Adams County Chamber of Commerce, and Main Street Gettysburg.

Edward Callahan (Board member since October 2009)
Edward Callahan is the creative leader and a co-founder of Planit. His creative leadership at Planit has led to multiple awards, including American Corporate Identity awards, Baltimore Addys, Communicator Awards of Excellence, Midas Awards, and WebAwards. Recognized by the Baltimore Business Journal as one of “40 Under 40” rising stars, Ed also sits on the board of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the National Aquarium. Ed is a graduate of Towson University.

Dana Di Carlo (Board member since December 2008)
Dana DiCarlo holds a B.A. in Economics from Smith College and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. Her dedication to supporting the mental and physical health and safety of women and children is reflected in her volunteer work and her family foundation, the J.S. Plank & D.M. DiCarlo Foundation. She is active in several Baltimore community organizations: she is the Chair of Fundraising for Port Discovery and sits on the committee for fundraising at the House of Ruth. Ms. DiCarlo also works with Parks and People, a Baltimore nonprofit organization. Her passion for Mariposa comes from her experience with the Parent Education Program (PEP) in Washington, D.C. Seeking a similar educational organization in Baltimore, she was inspired by Mariposa’s ability to provide much-needed skills to parents and professionals in the Baltimore area. Ms. DiCarlo has studied Adlerian philosophies of child rearing though her 10 years of PEP classes and recently became certified to teach Mariposa’s programs.

Ron Desi (Board member since September 2010)
Ron Desi has been the Director of the University of Baltimore/Towson University M.B.A. program since July 2006. In this position, he oversees program operations and is actively involved in program marketing and advertising. He is also a professor in the program and teaches leadership and management courses. Prior to joining the UB/Towson M.B.A. program, Mr. Desi was an information technology consultant for twelve years, implementing various Internet-based systems for clients in Maryland and beyond. He also taught a variety of graduate and undergraduate technology, leadership, and ethics courses at Loyola University, Maryland. Ron has presented at a variety of conferences, demonstrating the potential benefits of social media to admissions professionals, faculty, and other program directors. Through his leadership and innovation, the UB/Towson M.B.A. program has successfully harnessed a variety of social media to engage the community, prospective students, current students, and alumni. Mr. Desi maintains a blog discussing business and social media at www.rondesi.com. Ron is currently earning his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.

Scott Helm (Board member since December 2008)
Mr. Helm is currently a partner with Energy Capital Partners. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington University. Previously, Mr. Helm was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Orion Power Holdings, Inc. He has also served as Vice President the Investment Banking Division for Goldman Sachs. He serves on the board of directors of the Waldorf School of Baltimore and the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.

Angela Stuart (Board member since September 2010)
Angela Stuart is an Account Manager in Business and Development at UPS. She holds a B.A. in accounting from Howard University. A dedicated business professional with broad management experience and a background in mortgage banking, she is passionate about networking and is a strong advocate for employee relations and teamwork. At UPS, she has supervised the finance and business development departments, and planned and organized a client appreciation golf tournament and United Way fundraiser. Active in her community, she is a founding member of the New Millennium Child Study Group, a member of the board for her community’s football program, a board member of Camp Fire USA, Baltimore, active in her church, the historic St. James Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square, and participates in a variety of volunteer activities. She has been married to Michael Stuart for 20 years and they have two children, Trevor, 13 and Sydney, 10.

Bryan Polivka (Board member since June 2011)
Bryan Polivka is a creative, strategy-focused eLearning executive who has designed new products and services and provided strategic direction and business results for a wide array of organizations. As Divisional Vice President and Chief Learning Officer with Laureate Education, Mr. Polivka created programs and courses that fueled student growth of over 900% at Walden University. With Caliber Learning Network, he developed communications and training for Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft and Procter & Gamble. Among his awards are the Most Significant Achievement by an Individual (U.S. Distance Learning Association) and an Emmy. He now consults through his company, PolivkaVox LLC.

Don Scheeler (Board member since June 2011)
Don Scheeler is a lifelong learner with a passion for education and is currently the EVP/General Manager for the nursing program at 2tor. Mr. Scheeler spent 15 years with the Sylvan/Educate education family of companies. His last position with them was President and CEO of Progressus Therapy LLC, which provided speech language pathologists, occupation therapists, and physical therapists to special needs students for school districts in 23 states and the District of Columbia. During his four years as President, he doubled the revenue and positioned Progressus as the premiere quality provider for therapy services in the K12 market. Mr. Scheeler graduated from the University of Maryland and received his master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, he is very active in the local business community. He and his wife Laura reside in Towson and follow their very active two children with great pride.

Susan Townsend, Ph.D. (Board member since December 2008)
Dr. Townsend is a licensed psychologist and the founder of the Institute for Family Education. She holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in Psychology from Loyola College, and a B.A. in Biology from Mary Baldwin College. She has more than a decade of experience as a licensed psychologist with a focus on education, psychology, and behavioral medicine. As a couples therapist, she has specialized in the impact that the couple’s relationship dynamics have not only on their own physical and psychological health outcomes, but also on their children.

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Emeritus

Louise Guerney, Ph.D. - Board Member Emeritus
Dr. Guerney is the founder of the National Institute for Relationship Enhancement (NIRE), a nonprofit organization in Bethesda, Maryland. With her husband, Dr. Bernard Guerney, Jr., she created Filial Family Therapy, a unique family therapy model that teaches parents how to become the primary therapeutic agents for their children through the medium of play therapy. This model served as the basis for parenting and professional skills-training programs, including The Foster Parent Training Program and the Parenting Skills Training Program. Her work serves as the basis of and inspiration for the programs at Mariposa. Dr. Guerney is internationally recognized as one of the most prominent and innovative practitioners of child-centered play therapy. She has won several national awards for her contributions to child/family enrichment and therapy, including the 1988 Marriage and Family Therapy Award for Contributions to the Field of Marriage and Family Therapy, awarded by the Family Therapy Section of the National Conference of Family Relations, and she and her husband won the 1983 Mace Medal for Contributions to Marital Enrichment, awarded by the Association for Couple and Marital Enrichment. Dr. Guerney is Professor Emerita of Human Development and Counseling Psychology at Pennsylvania State University. She has taught workshops conducted on four continents, and has authored or co-authored hundreds of articles and book chapters on child and family therapy, written two books, and created training videotapes for therapists. She is the founding board member of the Association for Play Therapy and served on the Board of APA’s Division of Children, Youth and Family Services. She also serves on the editorial boards of several child- and family-oriented therapy journals, including The International Journal of Play Therapy.

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Advisory Board Members

John Hoey
Mr. Hoey is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Y of Central Maryland. He oversees the growth and development of one of the 30 largest independent Y organizations in the United States. He earned his B.A. in English Literature from the University of South Carolina's Honors College and earned his M.B.A. at the State University of New York. He has 23 years of experience in private sector business, including key contributions to the start-up of Laureate Education's international higher education business and an eight-year stint in various domestic and international management assignments in consumer segments of Citigroup (formerly Citicorp). He has served as President of Progressus Therapy, a division of the Baltimore-based Educate, Inc., a provider of school-based and early intervention special education services nationwide. Previously, he served in a variety of executive management positions at Laureate Education (formerly Sylvan Learning Systems). Mr. Hoey also has extensive board experience in the nonprofit sector and serves on the board of The Family Tree (Maryland’s largest child abuse prevention organization) and the Board of Advisors for USC’s Honors College. He chairs the Board of Visitors of the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences and is also a trustee and the treasurer of Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.

James Piper Bond
James Piper Bond is President and CEO of the Living Classrooms Foundation, a nonprofit educational foundation that provides hands-on education and job training programs in challenging settings. The Foundation operates 35 programs that reach 40,000 youth and young adults per year, and specializes in public-private partnerships that creatively connect hands-on education, job training, juvenile services, community service, and economic development to benefit the community at large. Mr. Bond is also active in the community as a board member for the Maryland Mentoring Partnership, Baltimore National Heritage Area Association (Co-Chair), Partnership for Baltimore’s Waterfront Board (Executive Committee), Baltimore Education Scholarship Trust (BEST), and Matt Birk’s HIKE Foundation (Executive Board). He has also served on the State Department of Education Task Force on Dropout Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery, Governor’s Task Force on Youth Citizenship and Violence Prevention, and Baltimore City Career Connections Executive Board, Baltimore City Public School Alternative Schools & Programs Advisory Board (Chair), Baltimore’s High School Improvement Steering Committee, Mayor O'Malley's Workforce Development Committee, Inner Harbor Advisory Committee, Governor Ehrlich and Mayor Sheila Dixon’s Transition Teams, Attorney General Gansler’s Environmental Advisory Council, and Governor O’Malley’s Development and Sponsor Relations Committee. He is a graduate of the Gilman School and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

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