Meet
Our Board of Directors 
Meet
Our Board of Directors |
Megan
Sutton
 Community
Volunteer
Vice President Richard Boyers Teacher, Edmunds Middle School Vice President of Operations Hickok & Boardman Financial Planning & Group Benefits, Inc. Secretary Mary Beth Doyle Jean Coffey Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Jean Held Community Volunteer Virginia Lyons State
Senator
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Megan Sutton, President Megan is primarily a stay-at-home mom, as well as being a community volunteer and advocate for families and their children with disabilities. In addition to her participation on the Parent to Parent Board, Megan is a member of the Weybridge Elementary School Board, a council member of the Vermont Women’s Fund, the parent co-chair of the local Family Infant and Toddler Program, and a member of the Weybridge Zoning Board. Megan’s husband is a builder, and they have three children. Megan’s daughter, Elsie, was born at 24 weeks gestation and is now a hockey playing, soccer playing, beautiful, aspiring actress, who is a junior in high school. Within days of Elsie’s birth, Megan and her husband attended a support group at the hospital sponsored by Parent to Parent and hosted by Nancy Abernathey, beginning Megan’s connection to this wonderful organization. Back
to Top
Mary
Beth Doyle, Secretary
Richard Boyers, Vice
President
Richard is a teacher of language arts at Edmunds Middle School in Burlington. He enjoys the diverse community of learners at Edmunds. In addition to teaching, Richard supervises his students to create The ELM (The Edmunds Literary Magazine), which is in its seventh year of publication. Richard is also a member of Edmunds Action Planning Team. This is a group of teachers and administrators who meet regularly, analyze data, and monitor the progress of specific school improvement goals. Richard received his BA from New York University and a joint Masters degree in regional planning and landscape architecture at Cornell University. He and his wife Rachel spent six months in Kyoto, Japan teaching English and studying garden design. They spent another half of a year interning in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with the landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx. After his travels, Richard worked for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission on the development of several greenway projects. He also served as an independent contractor for the National Park Service Scenic Byways Program. After moving to Vermont, Richard continued post-graduate studies in education at St. Michael’s College, where he received his teaching certification. Richard is the father of two wonderful girls and has recently adopted a joyful baby boy from Korea. Richard has experienced first hand the important work of Parent to Parent. His third child, Ethan suffered from an undiagnosed seizure disorder and numerous other medical issues. After showing incredible strength, Ethan passed away on May 24, 2005 at the age of 2½ years. Richard feels fortunate to have had the support of all the wonderful people at Parent to Parent. Richard and his wife Rachel have designed and are in the process of developing a “sensory garden” in Ethan’s memory with the hope that it will benefit children with special needs. In the creation of the garden, Richard has discovered a passion for stone masonry. He has found the meditative act of building a stone wall to be cathartic after the loss of his son. Richard’s desire to serve on the Board of Parent to Parent is to honor the memory of his son Ethan. Even though Ethan’s life was too brief, he built a community of loving, caring people around him. Ethan’s headstone is inscribed with the words: Those who live no more,
echo still within our thoughts, words and deeds. What they were is woven into what we have become. Read his family story. Mike
Sacco, Treasurer
Mike Sacco, his wife Kim, and their youngest daughter live in Underhill, Vermont. The family includes their five children, three of whom are currently in college at Cal State-L.A, Keene State, and UVM, and another daughter who is a graduate of UVM and employed by Northern Power. Mike studied Psychology at Kenyon College and is a graduate of the University of Akron where he received a BSBA in Finance, continued his studies as a graduate student in the MBA program, and much more recently completed the Leadership Champlain program. He has held positions in accounting and general management over the years and is currently employed by Hickok & Boardman Financial Planning & Group Benefits as Vice President of Operations managing HR, IT, accounting, and participating on the management team. Having lived in Vermont since 1980, Mike has been a volunteer and board member for United Way of Chittenden County, Birch Rock Camp, and HomeShare Vermont, as well as having served on various committees with the United Church of Underhill and their annual Harvest Market. In 2005 he was a committee member with the Hickok & Boardman Companies annual United Way campaign which raised over $60,000 for the 2006 United Way budget. Mike’s other interests include vocal music and writing. He recently published his first magazine article which was featured in the February 2006 edition of BizTech Magazine. Mary Beth is an Associate Professor of Education at St. Michael's College. Mary Beth's areas of interest include building sustainable school communities where all children and adults are welcomed. To this end, she teaches, writes and presents on the topics of: inclusive education, curriculum modification, paraprofessional development, and collaborative team work. At St. Michael's, Mary Beth's primary teaching responsibilities involve preparing graduate and undergraduate students who wish to become secondary education general education teachers. Mary Beth believes that by going in through the "general education door" she has an important way to influence middle schools and high schools. Prior to St. Michael's Mary Beth worked for the Department of Education where she coordinated the development of the "Higher Education Collaborative." This is a joint venture among faculty and administrators from the Vermont State Colleges, the University of Vermont and the Department of Education. The Collaborative provides special education teacher training to general education teachers who live in rural Vermont. All of the coursework for the teachers is delivered in their home communities. Mary Beth continues to contribute articles, books and book chapters on the topics of inclusive education and paraprofessional development. She is also an associate editor for two journals in her field. She explains that the aspect of her work that she enjoys the most is, "going into classrooms to help students and teachers figure out this wonderful thing called community." Jean Sheerin
Coffey PhD APRN
Jean earned her AS from UVM, BSN from Norwich University, MS from UVM, Pediatric Primary Care Certificate from Northeastern University and PhD in Nursing from the University of Connecticut. She is a nationally certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Her clinical expertise and interest includes caring for children with chronic illness. Currently, Jean is a primary care provider at Essex Pediatrics as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Vermont School of Nursing and College of Medicine. Jean lives in Essex with her family. She enjoys swimming, gardening and spending time with her family and her sled dogs. Jean recently retired from the University of Vermont, having served there for 25 years as a professor, and for the last 10 years as the Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy. Jean has had more than 37 years of experience in physical therapy, and has served in a variety of clinical, administrative and educational positions. She received her doctorate in Movement Science and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her research interest has been in factors that affect recovery of function following brain damage. Jean lives in Colchester, and has two stepsons. Guy is an adult with Cerebral Palsy who lives in South Burlington. Nick lives in New Jersey, and has two children, one of whom has Autism. From both a personal and professional perspective, Jean understands the importance of Parent to Parent, and has been a longtime supporter. She is honored to have been asked to serve on the Board. Virginia (Ginny) Lyons Ginny is a resident of Williston, Vermont and is married to Richard Lyons, a physician, and they have two daughters. She was educated at Drew University (B.A. in Zoology and Psychology), Rutgers University (M.S. in Nutritional Biochemistry) and the University of Vermont (Ph.D. in Administration, Planning & Policy). She was a Professor of Biology at Trinity College until 2000. She has also served as a democratic Senator with the Vermont State Legislature from 2001 – 2002. Ginny has been actively involved in serving her community and state for many years, including involvement with the Town of Williston Selectboard, Williston School Board, Vermont League of Cities and Towns Quality of Life Committee, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission Regional Impact Task Force, Channel 17 Board of Directors, Sigma Xi Science Research Society Vermont Chapter President, Regional Director and National Board member. Ginny has been a member of the Board of Directors at Parent to Parent of Vermont since 2001.
Danielle
Viau
My name is Danielle Viau and I live in Underhill, Vermont. I went to Champlain Valley Union High School and Trinity College. I like to volunteer in the community. Currently I volunteer at St. Michael’s College in the Education Department. I also like bowling and visiting friends over lunch. I enjoy reading and bike riding. I want to work for Parent to Parent because I like to help people. I can help by listening and giving helpful suggestions that would help the different families from Parent to Parent.
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