Board of Directors

PRESIDENT

Ryan Grinnell-Ackerman, MPA

Director of Operations, InterCare Community Health Network

Chair of Executive Committee

Ryan Grinnell-Ackerman is the Director of Operations at InterCare Community Health Network, a community health center serving southwest Michigan. Prior to joining InterCare, Ryan worked for the Michigan Primary Care Association for 6 years where he led the public policy and government affairs efforts on behalf of community health centers and underserved communities. Ryan worked closely with policymakers in Lansing, MI, and Washington, DC, to promote health equity and access to care.

VICE PRESIDENT

Debbie Edokpolo, MSW

Chair of Governance and Nominating Committee

Debbie Edokpolo, MSW, is the Director of Health Equity and Social Justice for the Michigan Primary Care Association (MPCA). She directs efforts to foster diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultures within MPCA and its member organizations. Prior to joining MPCA, Ms. Edokpolo served as the Deputy Health Officer for Ingham County Health Department with more than 32 years of public health service and over 30 years of executive experience helping align organizational values and goals with policies, programming, and culture. Ms. Edokpolo has a proven track record of coaching and mentoring emerging leaders in areas of health equity and racial equity. Ms. Edokpolo was instrumental in establishing the innovative and nationally recognized Ingham County Health Department Health Equity and Social Justice Programs. Debbie began her career with Ingham County as a Community Health Worker in 1988.

TREASURER

Rachel Simonds, MST, CPA

Chair of Finance Committee

Rachel Simonds is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and her Master of Science in Taxation from Eastern Michigan University. She works in Rehmann’s Ann Arbor office providing advisory and tax services for individuals, pass‐through entities, and non‐for‐profit organizations. She has significant knowledge of pass‐through and multi‐state taxation, empowering her to serve businesses with complex structures and operations.

As a member of the Celiac Disease community, she is passionate about educating, advocating, and raising awareness of how Celiac Disease and other chronic conditions impact members of our communities. She is a current Celiac Disease Foundation Policy Advocate and member of the National Celiac Association (NCA), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Michigan Association of CPAs (MICPA).

SECRETARY

Carla Rae Neading, CHW

Carla Rae Neading is a Community Health Worker from Muskegon, MI. Carla Rae has worked in direct service to people experiencing homelessness for over 9 and a half years with the Health Project. She is part of the Trinity Health Fruitport family medicine residency clinic, where she works closely with healthcare providers to provide high quality care and service, and she is also part of the education team for the Residents to ensure they are prepared for graduation. Additionally, Carla Rae is involved with the chartered Michigan Advance Care Planning Team, for which she is a trained facilitator. Carla is passionate about working with end-of-life patients to ensure that their voices are heard.
In addition to her work as a CHW, Carla Rae is an active volunteer in her community. She has supported the Red Cross for 15 years by sponsoring annual blood drives at her church. She is also active with the annual Relay for Life, and the annual “Crop Walk.”

CHW NETWORK REPRESENTATIVE

Brenda Smith, BBA, CHW

Brenda K Smith is a Community Health Worker with Henry Ford Cancer in detroit, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration Management from Northwood University. Brenda has worked as a CHW for more than 25 years. Her professional experience includes informal education and programming, advocacy, and community outreach. Brenda’s community-based experience has prepared her to provide compassionate care and supportive resources to patients with cancer. Brenda also serves on the Participant Advisor Board, with the CONNECT for cancer prevention study, as a Henry Ford Health representative. CONNECT is a collaboration with nine other health systems across the United States, whose motto is, “Connect today. Prevent cancer tomorrow”. Over her career, Brenda has served as a chaplain at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and as a Minister, teacher, and usher at her church. Brenda is a loving and empathetic woman of God who advocates for health equity in the community she loves and serves.

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Jenifer Murray, MPH, RN

Community Connections HUB Director for the Northern Michigan Community Health Innovation Region (NMCHIR), and Coordinator of the Northern Michigan Regional Perinatal Quality Collaborative

Jenifer Murray, Community Connections HUB Director for the Northern Michigan Community Health Innovation Region (NMCHIR), and Coordinator of the Northern Michigan Regional Perinatal Quality Collaborative. She received her bachelor in nursing degree from Hope College and a Master degree in Public Health Policy and Administration from the University of Michigan. For 22 years she worked in Public Health Administration at the Genesee County Health Department and the Benzie – Leelanau District Health Department. Most recently, Jenifer is the owner and president of JHM Consulting, a public health and health care consulting company. Specializing in the planning and implementation of Community Health Worker programming and health systems design, Jenifer has been involved in promoting systems change in northern Michigan for RN and CHW home visiting, perinatal substance use disorder and creating Clinical Community Linkage HUBS for addressing Social Determinants of Health.

Jaye Clement, MPH, MPP

Director of Community Health Programs and Strategies with the Office of Community Health, Equity and Wellness, Henry Ford Health System

As the Director of Community Health Programs and Strategies with the Office of Community Health, Equity and Wellness at Henry Ford, Jaye’s primary duties include staffing the Detroit Regional Infant Mortality Reduction Task Force and providing administrative oversight for their nationally-recognized and award-winning Women-Inspired Neighborhood Network: Detroit program, and working to operationalize a CHW Hub for the health system.

Julie Tatko, MSW

President and CEO, Family Health Center

Julie Tatko has been President & CEO of Family Health Care (FHC) since September 2020. FHC is the oldest Federally Qualified Health Center in the State of Michigan with locations in Baldwin, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Grant, McBain and White Cloud. Serving a rural and underserved population, the health centers provide a wide range of services, including medical, dental, behavioral health, radiology, lab, vision and pharmacy.

Julie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Spanish from Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. She completed her Master of Social Work at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC and Master of Business Administration at Calvin University in Grand Rapids. Julie has worked in community health throughout her career, with community health centers across in Michigan and North Carolina. Since 2016, Julie has provided leadership for various statewide and local community health worker initiatives, including a statewide grant-funded project across 16 health centers and service on the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance Steering Committee (MiCHWA). Julie served as Interim Chair for the MiCHWA Board of Directors in 2020 and as Past-President.

Celeste Sánchez Lloyd, MA

Program Manager, Strong Beginnings

As Program Manager of Strong Beginnings, Celeste supports the elimination of disparities amongst prenatal African American and Latina mothers and their families within Kent County through the use of CHWs. She has been recognized as an ATHENA Young Professional Finalist, W. MI Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Young Professional of the Year Finalist, and is currently a fellow with the W.K. Kellogg Community Leadership Network.

Susie M. Williamson, MA, MM, CHW, Community Health Educator

Co-Chair of Education Committee

Susie holds master’s in public administration from Bowling Green State University, and a second master’s in Management from Aquinas College. She is in the process of completing her Doctor of Health Administration from Capella University. She has worked for Corewell Health West/Spectrum Health for 23 years, with 6 years as a Community Health worker and is now a Community Health Educator. At Corewell she oversees the professional development monthly in-services along with twelve social service agency members. Over one hundred agency staff members attend these in-services from various community agencies. She organizes and serves as co-chair of the Annual Community Health Worker Conference, bringing in over five hundred community health workers and their supporters nationally, since 2009. Susie is one of the founding members of MiCHWA, and is a Master Trainer for the CHW training curriculum.

Susie’s focus is education; she believes in the Historically Black College motto “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Her desire is to continually seek out educational opportunities to rise to the challenge of providing quality educational programs to the community. As such, she serves as one of the chairs of MiCHWA’s Education & Workforce Workgroup.

Tiffany Stone

Deputy Director, Medicaid Policy for the Michigan Association of Health Plans (MAHP)

Tiffany Stone is the Deputy Director, Medicaid Policy for the Michigan Association of Health Plans (MAHP), a Lansing based organization that represents 12 health plans in Michigan. Prior to joining, MAHP, Tiffany worked in the Medicaid Health Plan space focusing on operations and program implementation.  She also served as a Quality Analyst for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Currently, Tiffany volunteers her time by serving as Vice President on the Board of the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) of Genesee County and on the Board of Honor Community Health. Tiffany earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Michigan-Flint and her Master’s Degree in General Administration from Central Michigan University.

Mary Janevic, PHD

Chair of Evaluations Committee

As a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Mary conducts community-engaged research on interventions to support healthy aging and chronic pain management, including programs delivered by community health workers. She has also collaborated with the Detroit Area Agency on Aging to conduct program evaluations on health promotion programs for older adults and caregivers. In the past, Mary worked at Kaiser Permanente – Northern California Region, where she coordinated health education programs focusing on chronic disease management. She has been a member of the MiCHWA Evaluation Workgroup since 2014 and has chaired the EWG since 2019.

Debra Adsmond, CHW

Debra Adsmond is a Community Health Worker with the Central Michigan District Health Department in Reed City where she proudly advocates for individuals and works to make improvements in the county in which she lives. She has a bachelor’s degree in food science and nutrition from what she says is the “real U of M”, the University of Minnesota.

Her graduate studies in nutrition and counseling were done at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Debra started her career as a hospital dietitian, but after realizing that health includes much more than just what we eat, she began working in public health and doing community-based work.

For the past 40 years as an educator and home visitor, she has worked with a wide variety of individuals and groups, including those from other cultures, in both urban and rural areas. Debra has been employed by health departments, the Extension service, the National Cancer Institute and a variety of non-profit agencies.

Along with her work as a CHW Debra is passionate about education and literacy and was proud to serve on her local library board for a number of years.

Debbie Aldridge, RN

Debbie started her nursing career as a bedside nurse providing care to pediatric patients. After 15 years of hospital work she discovered public health and has worked for the Benzie Leelanau District Health Department for 28 years in a variety of roles, currently as the assistant director of personal health.  

She is also involved regionally as the  Director for the Northern Michigan Community Health  Innovation Region (NMCHIR) Community Connections  Program which covers a 31 county region. Community Connections utilizes the evidence based  Pathways Community HUB Institute model to help communities come together to support under-resourced residents with system navigation by CHWs to improve overall health and wellbeing. Assuring fidelity to this home visit, relationship based model and working on sustainability by advocating for equitable CHW reimbursement with payors is a large part of her work.  

Debbie was awarded the Public Health Nursing Excellence award by the Michigan Public Health Association for her outstanding contribution to clinical leadership in 2019.

Anne Scott, MPH

Health Center Operations Officer, MPCA

Anne Scott serves the Michigan Primary Care Association as the Health Center Operations Officer.  She oversees Health Center program support and health center development, and co-leads MPCA’s strategic workforce and training efforts.  Anne also provides leadership support for MPCA’s engagement in promoting the roles of community health workers and initiatives related to addressing social factors affecting health.

Anne has over a decade of experience in federally qualified health centers. Prior to MPCA, Anne served in a dual role as Executive Director/Deputy Health Officer at the Ingham County Health Department, overseeing Ingham Community Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center that served over 23,000 patients in the Greater Lansing Area. Before joining the community health center movement, Anne was a specialist at the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, supporting community food and nutrition initiatives across the state.  Over her career, Anne has developed expertise in executive leadership, healthcare operations management, community food and nutrition, public health promotion, and adolescent/school-based health.  Anne received her BS in urban planning/community development and her master’s in public health from Michigan State University.

Laneise Haulcy-Collier

Doula & Perinatal Services Manager at Great Lakes Bay Health Centers

Laneise earned her Master of Business Administration from Jack Welch Management Institute and dual degree Bachelor of Arts & Bachelor of Business Administration from Saginaw Valley State University. Her numerous credentials include (Certified Doula- Labor, Certified V-BAC Specialist, Certified Postpartum & Infant Care, Certified Community Health Worker, Certified Childbirth Educator, Centering Facilitator, ASIST Trained)

She provides day-to-day management of doula services. Being a doula herself for over four years, her joy is ensuring the team has the resources and support they need to thrive while serving our beautiful community. Our team of community Doulas also serve in a dual role as Perinatal Community Health Workers delivering services across Saginaw and Bay counties to help improve maternal health outcomes.

She is a proud parent of two beautiful children and is originally from Saginaw, giving her deep, firsthand knowledge of the local communities and surrounding counties. She is also a world traveler, having visited over 27 countries, a musician (piano and flute), an author, and a linguist who has studied multiple languages over the years. Service has been the foundation of her life and she believes deeply in making meaningful use of her gifts by sharing them through teaching, compassion, and community service.

She is passionate about using her creativity, organizational skills, and genuine love for working with people to drive effective outcomes and empower future community leaders. She feels honored to serve on MiCHWA Board of Directors, where she continues to develop her skills and knowledge to help strengthen the communities we serve.

Richard Carson, MA, BCC, ACC

Richard F. Carson, MA, BCC, ACC, is a nationally credentialed Health and Lifestyle Coach and Executive Coach with nearly 25 years of experience in health promotion, chronic disease prevention, leadership development, and behavior change. He has worked with hundreds of individuals and organizations across healthcare, corporate, nonprofit, and community settings to improve health outcomes, performance, and overall quality of life.

Richard brings a distinctive and deeply informed perspective to his work as a Chronic Kidney Disease patient and two-time kidney transplant recipient. His lived experience shapes his professional mission: helping individuals and families move from reactive healthcare responses to proactive, sustainable wellness strategies. He understands firsthand how prevention, accountability, and intentional lifestyle change can fundamentally alter long-term health and family outcomes.

With more than 1,000 hours of executive, leadership, career, and health coaching, Richard designs and delivers results-oriented wellness and leadership programs through his consulting practice. His coaching approach integrates evidence-based health and lifestyle coaching, emotional intelligence, motivational interviewing, and whole-person wellness frameworks to support lasting behavioral change and long-term success.

Richard has served in leadership, coaching, and provider-support roles across healthcare and wellness environments, including population health initiatives, corporate wellness programs, community-based health education, and support for vulnerable and underserved populations. His work focuses on prevention, resilience, self-management, and sustainable performance—at both the individual and organizational levels.

Richard holds multiple national credentials, including: Associate Certified Coach (ICF), Board Certified Coach, Certified Executive Coach, Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist, Certified Health Coach, Community Health Worker, and Mental Health First Aid certification, among others.

He is a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, an Eagle Scout, and a Board Member of the National Association of Community Health Workers.

Coaching is more than a profession for Richard—it is a mission grounded in experience, prevention, and purpose.