Joel Berrettini – Executive Director/Co-Founder
CEO of IT and Media Solutions – Joel has 30 years of technology experience from working in multi-million dollar recording studios, touring as a professional musician, 10 years as the Director of IT for a large Automotive Group, and now, owner of a successful System Integration firm, IT and Media Solutions located near Milwaukee, WI. Joel has spent most of his professional career designing and installing technology. Recently, Joel raised all of the in-kind donations (over $100K/home), designed and installed all of the technology for the first six Smart Homes with the Gary Sinise Foundation for some of our most severely wounded Veterans. His groundwork and relationships he forged with manufacturers in the custom electronics industry, has led to the technology donated for 50 homes to date. The HeroPlex Foundation is the next logical step in giving back to Veterans in need.
Vanessa Zitzmann – President/Co-Founder
Marketing and Sales, Zigen Corp – After 6 years in residential AV distribution, Vanessa made the jump to the manufacturing side and is currently the head of marketing and sales for Zigen. She also has close to 40 years of military support experience behind her as daughter of First Sergeant Daniel R. Durand – U.S. Army Retired and wife to Sergeant First Class John A. Zitzmann – U.S. Army Retired. Having spent her childhood living overseas and stateside and then as an adult supporting her husband through numerous training exercises, schools and 2 deployments she understands the plight of a solider and their families. Knowing intimately what soldier’s and their families go through when they are healing and reintegrating back into civilian society helped plant the seed that started HeroPlex.
Jason Koehler – Board of Directors
Jason is a 22 year veteran of the U.S. Army serving the majority of his time within the elite “Green Berets”. He served with 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in both Ft. Lewis, WA and Okinawa, Japan as a Weapons and Intelligence Sergeant, training and advising partner force National Assets throughout the Pacific. Jason attended Officer Candidate School mid-career and worked his way back to the Special Forces Regiment as a Detachment Commander, serving with 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Stuttgart, Germany until his retirement.
Dr. Sally Augustin – Board of Directors
Sally Augustin, PhD, is a practicing environmental/design psychologist and the principal at Design With Science. She has extensive experience integrating science-based insights to develop recommendations for the design of places, objects, and services that support desired cognitive, emotional, and physical experiences. She is a graduate of Wellesley College (BA), Northwestern University (MBA), and Claremont Graduate University (PhD). She holds leadership positions in professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (past-president, environmental psychology division) and the Environmental Design Research Association (chair, work environments network). Dr. Augustin is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Lorinda Lewis – Board of Directors
Dr. Lewis is a scholar-practitioner, established in a wide variety of disciplines and areas of business. She has a passion for leading and developing others. She has accumulated her perspective through an unusual career trajectory that includes her experiences as a retired Air Force logistician, a continuous improvement and P&L executive of a Fortune 500 company, an adjunct professor at universities, and as a pro bono continuous improvement coach for Collective Impact Initiatives with not-for-profit agencies. She is an ICF & CCA certified executive coach, certificated to administer the Kirton Adaption-Innovation, and a licensed facilitator of Celemi Business Simulation Workshops .
Dennis Mika – Advisory Board – Director of Health Care Design – Bancroft Architects + Engineers
Dennis, a nationally renowned architect, brings more than 30 years of experience designing hospitals throughout the country to Bancroft Architects and Engineers. He designed and supervised the construction of hundreds of buildings over the course of his career, with a heavy concentration on creating innovative healthcare spaces that provide world-class, patient-centered care. His most significant projects include Northwest Community Hospital ‘s New Patient Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital Prentice Women’s Hospital and Sherman Hospital’s John Graham Ambulatory Care Center. A native of Aurora, IL graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in Architecture. He is Evidence-based Design Accredited and Certified and a member of the AIA. His projects have received national recognition and won numerous industry awards.
Tim Driscoll – Advisory Board
Tim Driscoll is a retired Army Special Forces Officer. A graduate of the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies, and the Army Command and General Staff College Tim has worked in some of the most challenging environments, conducting Special Operations Forces missions at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. Tim served on the Joint Staff in Washington D.C. as well as a Congressional liaison Officer on Capitol Hill. He has an innate understanding of planning and preparedness as well as the importance of challenging planning assumptions in order to identify vulnerabilities. Decorated for gallantry and valor from several combat tours, Tim had received the Silver Star for Gallantry, two Bronze Stars for Valor, The Purple Heart and the Army Commendation Medal for Valor.
Dr. Russell H Greenfield – Advisory Board – Director, Integrative Medicine
He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Harbor / UCLA Medical Center as well as a Chief Resident Fellowship at the same institution. After moving to Charlotte, NC he became involved in the Emergency Medicine residency program at Carolinas Medical Center as well as founding medical director of Carolinas Integrative Health, a freestanding center owned and operated by the Carolinas HealthCare System, and a consultant in the development of U.S. national model guidelines for the use of complementary and alternative therapies. He has worked with a variety of organizations promoting employee and community integrative wellness initiatives, including Harris Teeter supermarkets, the Veterans Health Administration, Levine Cancer Institute, and Wake Forest Baptist Health. He is a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was one of the first four physicians to graduate from the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at The University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1999. He is co-author of Healthy Child, Whole Child, named “Best Parenting Guide 2001” by the editors at Amazon.com, and editor of Dr. Andrew Weil’s book, Mind Over Meds (2017). Dr. Greenfield is a medical reviewer for Reader’s Digest, and has consulted with the National Basketball Player’s Association (NBPA).
Dana Hatwig – Advisory Board – LT, NC USN • MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC • Tillman Scholar
2018 Tillman Scholar, MSN Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – Dana’s passionate belief in “service above self” is the driving force behind her career change to military service. Dana launched the “No Veteran Dies Alone” program. Inspired by Veterans she visited and her retired Navy husband, she saw her future, returning to school and commissioning as a Navy Nurse Corps officer. As an emergency nurse, Dana coached patients and families through their most challenging days. Deployed to Afghanistan, her trauma nursing role was twofold; first to save lives, later to save minds. While stabilizing an injured unit following a VBIED attack, Dana knew she could make the most significant impact as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Now, her focus is to develop holistic approaches aimed at risk identification and mitigation of mental health disorders and substance abuse. She has identified a critical need for a more robust mental health program in deployed settings and plans to propose a program for more comprehensive services.
Ben Harrow – Advisory Board
Born in Brooklyn, New York, he attended the United States Military Academy, where he was a 4-year letterman on the Lacrosse team that made NCAA appearances in 2003, 2004, 2005. His senior year on the lacrosse team he was awarded the “Unsung Hero” Award for his selfless contributions to the team. He commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry, attended Airborne School, Infantry Officer Basic Course, and Ranger School. He was an Infantry Platoon leader with 1st CAV division, and deployed to Iraq for 15 months with his platoon. Upon return from Iraq he immediately attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection, was selected and began the Special Forces Qualification Course. In 2010, CPT Ben Harrow earned the coveted “Green Beret” and Special Forces tab. He was a Special Forces Detachment Commander, and led two separate Operational Detachment Alphas on deployments to Afghanistan supporting Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan. On 15 May 2012 CPT Harrow stepped on an IED resulting in the amputation of both legs above the knee, two fingers on his right hand, as well as other injuries. During his recovery, he refused to give into his circumstances, and by his own ingenuity discovered a medical procedure to not only get himself up and walking but other wounded service members as well. He resides with his wife Gina, who is the Executive Director at the Yellow Ribbon Fund, and two children in Bethesda, MD and is the VP of Business Operations at PAM JETS. CPT Harrow was awarded three bronze stars, and a purple heart, and many other Military awards and honors.
Dr. Luis Betancourt – Advisory Board
Dr. Luis Betancourt is a board certified psychiatrist and co-owner of Pediatric & Family Behavioral Health, PLLC. He attended Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo and graduated in 2004, then the psychiatric residency program at Nassau University Medical Center where he was designated as chief resident in 2012. He completed his Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in 2014 and was chief resident. Dr. Betancourt has specialized training in both psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions for OCD, ADHD, Mood Disorders, PTSD, and Substance Abuse. Since 2014, he has been working concurrently as a consultant at Novant Presbyterian Medical Center and as an attending psychiatrist at Pediatric & Family Behavioral Health, PLLC. In 2018, he incorporated consulting at Greenbrook TMS NeuroHealth Centers to his roster of daily activities.
Denise Grothouse – Director of Public Relations
Denise is the President at Perfect Six PR/Marketing firm and has received numerous awards from the American Advertising Association and in 2019, Denise received the prestigious Woman of Influence Award in her local community. Denise is certified in Google AdWords, Google Mobile and Google Analytics. Denise is a member of the NKBA, The Executive Leadership Forum of The Lehigh Valley, Secretary for the Northwestern Regional Emergency Services Committee and has done extensive Charity work for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, The Heidelberg 5K and various other charitable organizations. Her company Perfect Six sponsors Mila, a six-year-old girl living in the West Bank of Gaza in Jerusalem and serves on the board for the Heidelberg 5K annual run. She writes a marketing column for Kitchen and Bath Design News Magazine. She is the COO at The Grothouse Inc. and her marketing strategy for the website www.glumber.com has over 20,000 visitors per month and has been featured on This Old House six times and has been featured in countless print magazines.