Board Of Directors
Board of Directors
Fran Solomon, Founder
President
After family, Fran’s passion lies in philanthropy. Fran is a member of the Cedars Sinai Board of Governors and served as a member of the Board of Directors and past Chair for Our House Grief Support Center, a community-based agency located in Los Angeles.
During her work with Our House, Fran realized a greater vision than local community work. She recognized that communities were no longer defined by geography. “Grief is universal and has no boundary. There needs to be a place where individuals throughout the world can come and celebrate the lives of those they love as well as have a place where those bereaved can be guided through their grief to reach a healthy grief recovery.”
Prior to family and philanthropy, Fran had a professional career in New York City where she was President/CEO of Gruppo Intermoda, Ltd., an importer of couture intimate apparel. Other interests include entertaining, good friends and her three little dogs.
Fran, a certified Grief Recovery specialist, lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Rick, and their three children, Matthew, Alex and Lianna.
Michelle Post, M.A.
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Board Chair
Past Board Secretary
Michelle knew since a young age that her calling was in counseling people. But, in high school, her focus was divided between art, leadership, sports, and psychology, and at UCLA, she worked in the Intercollegiate Athletic Department while completing her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an emphasis in Health Psychology and Genocide, with Honors. Her love for creativity and art as well as sports and performance psychology were excellent foundations for her graduate degree, a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy with an emphasis in school-age children, career counseling, and cross-cultural relations.
Along her career path, she developed an expertise in the fields of health psychology, business psychology (organizational behavior and change management), stress and pain management, sports psychology, communication skills and assertiveness training, cross-cultural relationships, family and couple’s counseling, grief and loss, career counseling, life transitions, and business changes and consulting.
Internationally, she has presented and trained parents and professionals on child, teens, and family grief, trauma, death notification, stress management, suicide assessment and prevention, self-care, group facilitation, executive leadership and team building.
Hui Lisano
Board Treasurer
Hui is the Controller for Clean Power Alliance, the largest CCA in California, providing clean electrical power for over three million residents and businesses in the greater Los Angeles area. Hui has been an active Certified Public Account (CPA) in California since 2002 and has more than 15 years of management experience in Finance and Accounting including more than 10 years leadership experience in non-profit and public agencies. Her prior positions include Corporate Controller for OneLegacy, Director of Accounting for Warner Music Group and Financial Auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Hui earned her first masters degree in Education from the University of Texas at Austin and her second masters degree in Accounting from University of Houston, Clear Lake.
Colet Abedi
Board Secretary
After publishing her first article in a national magazine when she was fifteen, Colet Abedi knew she wanted to tell stories. She’s now an American novelist, screenwriter and television and film producer based in Los Angeles.
Abedi was head writer and show-runner for the FOX-owned MyNetworkTV serials, American Heiress and Fashion House where she wrote and oversaw over 100 episodes of the telenovelas. She was the creator and executive producer of Unsealed: Alien Files and Unsealed: Conspiracy Files, which originally ran in syndication for four seasons with over 100 episodes, and is now on Netflix.
Colet is the co-author of the bestselling young adult fiction trilogy, The FAE Series. She sits on the board of directors for HealGrief, a national network for grieving young adults and bereaved individuals.
Alicia Coppola
Actress, Author, Wife and Mother
Alicia Coppola has just completed the 7th Season of Showtime’s Shameless, and stars opposite Bailee Madison in the recently released feature film, A Cowgirl’s Story for Samuel Goldwyn Films. She recurs on CBS’s NCIS LA and recently co-starred opposite Zac Efron in Max Joseph’s Feature film We Are Your Friends.
At the age of 12, Alicia’s beloved father was diagnosed with cancer. She understands the grief surrounding a loved one’s diagnosis of a terminal illness and what it means to care for a loved one during their end-of-life. As an author, Alicia memorializes her journey in Gracefully Gone, a published memoir where she speaks candidly about growing up with her dad’s illness.
Alicia currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Anthony and their three children.
Nicola Fasano-King
Past Board Chair
Nicola started a boutique interior design firm in Hollywood over twenty years ago which has since done projects throughout the U.S. and overseas in New Zealand where Nicola also spends part of the year. Fasano Designs caters to both residential and commercial clients.
Having always been active with a number of charities and contributing largely at Ronald McDonald House throughout New Zealand. Nicola came into contact with HealGrief.org early in 2017 through a design project and the vision and outreach of HealGrief.org couldn’t have resonated more after having her own journey with a healthy grief recovery.
Nicola resides primarily in Los Angeles with her husband Josh and two sons Caden and Connor.
Shannon Maganiezin
Communications
Shannon Maganiezin joined the HealGrief® Board after years of working closely with the organization to shape heartfelt content and campaigns that brought healing to so many.
Her connection to HealGrief is deeply personal. Its mission profoundly moved her after experiencing the heartbreaking passing of her best friend and soul sister, along with that friend’s husband. Shannon has also endured the passing of her brother and another cherished friend.
With over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications, Shannon is honored to continue helping HealGrief provide solace and a sense of community to those navigating a death loss.
Rick Solomon, Founding Member
A true entrepreneur. Rick is currently in the art business yet enjoys other endeavors as well. Formerly a manufacturer of men’s clothing, Rick started his career in Los Angeles before moving to Hong Kong, where he lived for 10 years. In addition to manufacturing, Rick enjoys real estate development. Other interests include travel, golf, sailing and good friends.
Rick’s philanthropic interests include JNF, Jewish Federation, The Guardians, and HealGrief.
Rick resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Fran, and their three children, Matthew, Alex and Lianna.
Clinical & Research Advisors
Illene Cupit, Ph.D.
Illene Noppe Cupit is the Ben J. and Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Human Development, Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She received her Ph.D. from the Educational Psychology Department of Temple University. Dr. Cupit currently teaches courses in Dying, Death, and Loss, Infancy & Early Childhood, and Gender Development. Her research and publications have focused on college student bereavement, adolescent grief, the influence of the Internet in death and dying, and global issues related to trauma and loss.
She is an active member of the Association of Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), where she was editor of The Forum, its quarterly publication, and was the President for 2012 – 2013. In addition, she founded and directs Camp Lloyd, a summer day camp for grieving children.
David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc
Co-Founder, National Students of AMF Support Network
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
While a student at Georgetown University, David founded Students of AMF, a peer-led support group and service program, in memory of his mother, Anne Marie Fajgenbaum (AMF). David received a BS in Human Sciences from Georgetown University, where he was 2007 USA TODAY Academic All-America First Team and a Rhodes Scholar Finalist. He went on to earn an MD from the Raymond & Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA at Wharton.
David co-authored a book for grieving young adults called “We Get It: Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults” in 2015, which is written by grieving young adults and for grieving young adults.
David Forstadt, Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology, MS, MA
David Forstadt is CEO and Founder of Jade Recovery and the Jade Recovery Foundation. Through Jade, David seeks to change the way our country addresses the behavioral health field by offering innovative and outcome-driven treatment interventions to those struggling with mental health and addiction.
David is a Doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology and holds two Masters Degrees in Community Mental Health Counseling and Psychology. He has 15 years experience in the field of Behavioral Health specializing in Addiction, Dual Diagnosis Populations and Mental Health Administration.
Jenny Gruska, MFT, Founding Member
Jenny has been a licensed psychotherapist (MFT, California) in private practice since 1988. Over the years she has had the opportunity to help many individuals, couples, and families overcome a variety of difficulties and challenges. Her focused approach to therapy uses a health-belief model.
Jenny also provides therapy for individuals who are experiencing the loss of a loved one. Jenny is trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, grief recovery therapy, family systems therapy, and recovery from addiction.
Susan Mah, MSW, MFA
Psychotherapist turned photographer, Susan Mah studied photography at L’Ecole Parsons in Paris and at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In her practice, her overarching goal is to bring together her interests in social work and photography. She puts most of her time and energy into portraits and has a special interest in environmental portraiture.
Susan, creator of “the Loss Project” is a current resident of Northern California.
Andy McNiel, MA
Co-founder and Executive Partner with The Satori Group, LLC
Andy is a highly-experienced grief support professional, facilitating numerous groups for bereaved parents, widows and widowers, children, and teenagers throughout his career. He has also provided individual grief support counseling to children, teenagers, and adults. Andy has lectured extensively on support group facilitation, grief and bereavement, non-profit management, leadership, and building resiliency.
Andy is the co-author, along with Pamela Gabbay, of Understanding and Supporting Bereaved Children: A Practical Guide for Professionals. Andy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Palm Beach Atlantic University and a Master of Arts in Counseling from The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Kiri Thompson Meyer, MS, LPC, NCC
Director of Programming for Actively Moving Forward (AMF)
Kiri is the founder of an independent contracting organization StarBright Grief Guidance LLC, and is licensed in the state of Wisconsin as a Child and Family Therapist – specializing in grief & trauma. Kiri has been working in the bereavement field for 10 years, volunteering at grief camps both in and outside of the US.
“I’ve gone through the AMF program myself and fell in love with it all. I will be forever grateful to AMF for the lifelong friends I made that I can always count on, the support I felt in college during my grief, and how it helped empower me to find the work I am completely passionate about.”
Heather L. Servaty-Seib, Ph.D., HSPP
Dr. Servaty-Seib is Professor in the Doctoral Program in Counseling Psychology at Purdue University, Associate Department Head of Educational Studies, and Associate Dean of Student Life in the Honors College. She is well published in the areas of adolescent/young adult bereavement and suicide, social support and grief, and the use of loss as a broad model for conceptualizing significant life events.
She is a past president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) and received the ADEC 2013 Death Educator Award.
Tamina Toray, Ph.D.
Tamina Toray, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Behavioral Sciences Division at Western Oregon University (WOU) where she teaches courses in both the Psychological Sciences and Gerontology Departments. She teaches end-of-life courses including Death and Dying and Grief, and Palliative Care. She has been involved in research in the field of death, dying and bereavement for over two decades.
Dr. Toray also co-founded one of the nation’s first grief and loss clinics focusing on the human animal bond at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Andrea Walker, Ph.D.
Andrea C. Walker, Ph.D., is a Professor of graduate Professional Counseling at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a licensed alcohol, drug, and mental health counselor (LADC/MH) in the state of Oklahoma. Dr. Walker’s research efforts have focused on grief and bereavement related issues across the life span, particularly for college students, with special focus on the role of spirituality, religiosity, and environment in those issues.
Advisory Board
Paige Wheeler-Fleury, Founding Member
Paige is the founder and lead creative strategist for Agency14, a creative strategy and marketing agency in Oakland, California. A former executive creative director and writer, Paige has over 28 years of experience in marketing and advertising for some of the world’s top brands.
Paige currently lives in Oakland with her husband, Gregg, and their two children, Shawn Joaquin and Madelena.
Slash
A British-American musician and songwriter, Slash achieved worldwide success during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and was best known as lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N’ Roses.
Between home and career, Slash finds time to lend his support to notable causes. Grief and the importance of celebrating life became a cause taking on new meaning following the death of his mother after she lost her battle to cancer in 2009.
Conrad Julian
Conrad has been in the virtual arena for almost 20 years. Specializing as web developer and project manager, he has worked on hundreds of web projects with companies, both large and small, worldwide.
Originally from Argentina, he moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and in his free time, Conrad travels the world enjoying one of his passions, scuba diving.
Ryan Nowicki, Esq., Founding Member
Ryan has over a decade of experience as a business and tax attorney, with his practice focusing on domestic and international tax planning, tax controversy (tax audits, appeals and litigation), complex business matters, and non-profit tax-exempt organization law.
Ryan resides in Hermosa Beach, California, with his wife, Karen, and their children.
Becca Ordonez
Becca is a serial entrepreneur with over 10 years experience in digital marketing, operations and voiceover. She was the live announcer for the MTV Movie Awards for three consecutive years.
Becca lives in Los Angeles with her husband and beautiful son.
Mark Pellington
Mark is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Internationally recognized as one of the world’s most premiere video directors, Mark’s eclectic portfolio includes noted music videos, documentaries, feature films and network television.
No stranger to grief, in 1993 Mark created Father’s Daze, a 30-minute film made for PBS, where he himself comes to terms with his father’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. In 2004, his heart was broken again by the sudden death of his wife, Jennifer.
Katherine Pummill
Katherine is a media professional with experience at large media brands such as People Magazine, The Associated Press and We Are The Mighty. She is a graduate from The New School with a master’s degree in Media Management.
Kathy is a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.
Dyan Traynor, Writer/Producer of Film and Television
Dyan specializes in writing character driven stories about life and death. Dyan later continued her career in film and television as Vice President of Soundelux, Inc. and later President of Meridian Studios. It was during this time that Dyan came to understand the importance of being able to successfully “market the intangible”.
Past Members
Michael Abrams, Founding Member (2012-2020)
Michael arrived in Los Angeles with the idea of helping young actors and musicians gain that vital first rung on the ladder of success in music, film and television. In 1997, he founded The Michael Abrams Group on the simple belief that we all need someone to help us open and get through that first door.
Alison Bossert, Member
Treasurer (2015-2017)
Alison Bossert started her own boutique events company, Final Bow Productions, in 2015 which specializes in Memorial Services and Celebrations of Life. Previously she worked as the SVP of Special Events at Sony Pictures Entertainment where she produced hundreds of film premieres, awards show parties and corporate retreats for the studio worldwide for over 17 years.
Ben Chesson, Esq.
Co-Founder, National Students of AMF Support Network
While in school at UNC-Chapel Hill, Ben helped lead one of the first Students of AMF campus chapters and assisted David Fajgenbaum’s efforts to found Students of AMF (now Actively Moving Forward) as a national nonprofit in the college bereavement space.
Outside of his work with AMF and HealGrief, Ben is an attorney in Charlotte, North Carolina, focusing on product liability litigation and commercial litigation.
Stacey Farish, Founding Member
Vice Chair (2012-2013)
A veteran advertising executive, Stacey is currently the Vice President of PMC Entertainment, the industry-leading outlet for high-profile newsbreaks, investigative stories and authoritative analysis.
Stacey currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Tim, and their two children, Ian and Ella.
Tim Farish, Founding Member
Secretary (2012-2013)
Tim brings over 20 years of experience and success in marketing, digital and media strategies to HealGrief.org. As a Senior Vice President of NBC Entertainment Marketing, Tim responded to the changing media and consumer landscape.
Tim currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Stacey, and their two children, Ian and Ella.
Cindy Koral, Founding Member
Chair & Secretary (2012-2017)
Cindy is a Member of the Board of Governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and is actively involved in Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. She has contributed to the UCLA Alumni Association, Jewish National Fund and ORT.
Cindy currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband Richard, their three children, Jessica, Kim and Adam and granddaughters Charli and Emerson.
Carol Levey
Treasurer (2017-2019)
A Marketing and communications brand builder with demonstrated aptitude creating and implementing high-profile campaigns for the luxury/lifestyle, technology, fashion, and entertainment industries. Levey learned about HealGrief when needing support after the death of her father, brother and mother over a nine-year period.
Mellisa Nielsen, Member
Treasurer (2014-2016)
A well-known creative and charismatic force in the philanthropy and fundraising world. Melissa founded the Charity Angels in 2003 to enhance money and awareness for non-profits across the nation. Now with 45 employees, The Charity Angels has cumulatively raised more than $80 million dollars for charities such as St. Jude, The Heart Foundation and FIDF to name a few.
Alfred Siegel, Founding Member
Treasurer (2012-2013)
Al, a former partner in the Financial Advisory Services Group of Crowe Horwath, LLP continues to manage the financial affairs of high net-worth individuals. Al has a very personal familiarity with the need for support during a time of grief.
Sahmon Zoughi
Sahmon is a native Californian with a passion for charity. Spending the early part of his career as a management consultant, he is now a real estate professional focusing on sales and development in Southern California.
Sahmon holds degrees in finance and economics from DePaul University. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his two dogs, Reggie and Betty White.
Original Founder
Karen Russell
Original Founder, National Grief Support Services, Inc.
National Grief Support Services (now HealGrief.org) was founded in 1994 by Karen Russell after she lost her childhood sweetheart and first husband, Michael Press. His sudden, senseless death, caused by a drunk driver, left her determined to turn profound pain into something meaningful and positive.
Karen now lives in Kona, Hawaii, and is delighted that the work of National Grief Support Services will continue under new leadership as HealGrief.org.