Melissa Shore - Founder/Executive Director

Melissa Shore has extensive experience in non-profit management, public relations, fundraising and marketing. She served as consultant for the Native American Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program in California; a member of the Board of Directors for International Human Rights Coalition; and a four-time judge and coordinator for the National Educational Film and Video Festival. Ms. Shore has produced, developed and marketed multiple film projects including PBS documentaries and series; an award-winning international documentary; an award-winning documentary for Outdoor Life Network; and has worked on an Academy Award-nominated documentary and with an Academy Award-winning Producer. Ms. Shore has dual bachelor degrees in Anthropology and Sociology from Mills College, Oakland, California with affiliated courses from the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University.

Charles W. (Chip) Ransler, IV - Co-Founder

Chip Ransler was most recently founder and CEO of Topik Solutions, Inc, a Charlottesville VA-based digital publishing firm. Topik Solutions was a publishing industry leader, creating and marketing new digital publishing products that are now standards in the industry. Mr. Ransler has spoken at conferences and business schools on electronic marketing and has advised numerous start-up firms on their growth strategies. Mr. Ransler started with The Second Road, Inc. as a founder and Vice President. Mr. Ransler is currently obtaining his MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Former Board Member Henry Lozano

*Resigned due to Presidential appointment

Mark Blackwell

Mark Blackwell has served as Executive Director of SAARA (Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance) since July 2005. With over 15 years experience in the healthcare industry, Blackwell has spent a majority of this time in senior management at private mental health/substance abuse facilities in Central Virginia. Primary areas of responsibility included business development, marketing/public relations and contracting.

Edward L. Olsen, LCSW, CASAC, SAP

Northeast Regional Vice President, NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals
Olsen has been in the chemical dependency treatment profession for the past 25 years as a member of NAADAC and the New York affiliate (AAPNY). Olsen served as the chairperson of the AAPNY Public Policy committee and began work on state licensure for addiction professionals. Also through that committee AAPNY became a strong and vocal advocate in New York State Parity Legislation called “Timothy’s Law”.

On the state level, Olsen is a member of the Workforce Committee for the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and member of the Credentialing sub-committee. On the local level, he is a member of the advisory board for Suffolk Community College Chemical Dependency Counseling Program. Olsen also serves as a member of the Education Advisory Committee for the Suffolk Coalition Against Chemical Dependencies as well as a member of the Substance Abuse committee for the Ryan White Foundation for HIV/AIDS.

*Henry Lozano has one of the most powerful backgrounds in the field of addiction and recovery. He has just been appointed Director of the Freedom Corps and is assuming his office in the White House. This includes overseeing and liaison with the Cabinet for Habitat for Humanity, the Peace Corps, Americorps, and the like. He also currently serves as Commissioner for the President’s Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, where he served in that capacity for two previous Presidents. He is the CEO of Californians for Drug Free Youth, Inc., a statewide, non-profit organization working in collaboration with other agencies and organizations to bring parents, youth, schools, and communities together to create and support safe and healthy communities. On October 1, 2004 Mr. Lozano was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as a member of the Stakeholders’ Steering Committee for California Access to Recovery Effort (C.A.R.E). Mr. Lozano serves on numerous National Boards of Directors including Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, Inc.; White Bison, Inc.; National Latino/Hispanic Prevention Network, Inc.; and serves as an Advisor to Teen Challenge International, Inc.

Gregory Gartland

Mr. Gartland is currently Principal and Managing Director of the SNL Center for Financial Education LLC, an affiliate of SNL Financial that provides targeted training and leading executive conferences for the financial community. He is a member of SNL’s Executive Committee. Mr. Gartland has spent his career in advisory and management roles at a range of companies - from startups to Fortune 100 multi-nationals. Prior to SNL, Mr. Gartland was instrumental in helping to raise capital and launch an e-learning company that spun off from the University of Virginia. As a management consultant before that, he developed innovative growth and operational strategies for companies including MasterCard International, DuPont Corporation, and CNA Financial Corp, and helped architect a $400M joint venture for Altria Corporation. Mr. Gartland worked with the authors of the best selling book, Blue Ocean Strategy, in applying and testing their concepts prior to the book’s publication. He has held positions at Diamond Management Consultants, Ernst & Young’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group, and began his career as an Analyst with Greenwich Associates. He holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a BS in Finance from Villanova University.

Robert Hull

Robert has accomplished untold achievements in the entertainment business, writing and creating effective advertising for television, print, and the web, as well as developing numerous successful products for all types of media. From 1989-2004, Robert served as executive producer for Time-Life/Time Warner, overseeing product research and development, and producing thousands of CDs and DVDs for America’s largest direct marketer of entertainment products. In this capacity, Robert managed creative directors, video producers, and writers. In addition, Robert has written and edited marketing campaigns and packaging copy, creating numerous successful television spots and scripted commercials. Since then, Robert has provided outstanding marketing and creative successes for diverse entertainment companies, including Warner Strategic Marketing, Rhino, Acorn Media, Universal Music, PBS, National Geographic, Microsoft, The Discovery Channel, International Masters Publishers, Rolling Stone Press, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Gary S. Hawthorne

Gary Hawthorne is the Owner/Producer of Moolala Media, a digital media and marketing consulting company based in Charlottesville, VA; and the producer of Dirt to Dinner – the Story of Your Meal, a documentary about local farming. He has a BA in experimental psychology from the University of Virginia and a long history of fundraising for worthy causes. In the 1980’s, as the founding member of the band Modern Logic, Gary represented Amnesty International, organizing regional (Eastern US) Live Aid concerts benefitting AI. In the 1990’s he was called on to organize fundraising to launch a community radio station, and was the producer of the Band Aid series of concerts/band competitions benefitting the Charlottesville Aids Services Group. The intensive study of digital marketing while (and since) launching an e-commerce department for an Automotive Dealer group in Central VA has allowed Gary to expand the scope of his efforts to help out the underdog onto the world wide web.

Lee Stringer

is a writer who lived, homeless and crack-addicted, on the streets of New York City from the early eighties until the mid-nineties. He is a former editor and columnist of Street News. His essays and articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including The Nation, The New York Times, and Newsday. He currently lives in Mamaroneck, New York. He is the author of Sleepaway School and Grand Central Winter. Stringer also took part in a discussion on writing with Kurt Vonnegut for a book entitled Like Shaking Hands With God

Virginia Needham

Virginia Needham is the chief financial officer of the Legal Aid Justice Center, a non-profit based in Charlottesville that provides free civil legal services to low income individuals throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. As chief financial officer, Virginia is responsible for accounting, finance, management reporting and budgeting, and is involved with program policy development and grant compliance. Prior to joining Legal Aid in 2003 she held a variety of management positions in the for-profit sector, first as a journalist and later as a financial relations consultant to publicly traded companies. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and is pursuing a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland. Virginia lives in Charlottesville with her husband Richard and their daughter Rachel.