Pete Fackler is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst). He has an A.B. in economics from Duke University and a M.B.A. from the University of Michigan’s Graduate School of Business. Pete’s career spanned nearly 30 years in higher education where he mixed classroom teaching with administrative assignments in virtually all of the operating areas of the academic enterprise. Retiring in 2003, he is now a private investor with an emerging interest in options trading.
Pete received a cochlear implant in 2004 and about the same time discovered the Hearing Loss Association of America. He is active with the HLAA Rochester chapter and, in 2009, co-chaired the Walk4Hearing committee and is chair of the theater committee which has successfully worked to bring captioned live theater to Rochester. He is a founding member of the finance (investment) committee of the Maine Health Access Foundation. Pete brings to the HLAA board of trustees experience and expertise in finance, strategic planning, and marketing and development. He was appointed to the HLAA Board of Trustees in March of 2007 and elected to a seat in June of 2007.
Committees: Mr. Fackler chairs the Executive Committee and serves as an ex officio member of the Finance, Nominating, Strategy Planning, Membership and Fund Raising committees.
Deb Charlea Baker – Vice President
Deb Charlea Baker is serving her second term on the Board of Trustees. She was a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor for over 20 years working with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. She holds a master's degree in Community Psychology from Springfield College. Her experience with hearing loss is both personal and professional. Besides having hearing loss herself, she has an adult son and several family members who have hearing loss.
Ms. Baker has been a member of HLAA (SHHH) since 1988. She is also a long time member of ADARA - Professionals Networking for Excellence in Service Delivery with Individuals Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. She has been actively involved over the years with a number of community initiatives working to improve services for Vermonters with hearing loss and is currently serving on the Hearing Aid Task Force. Ms. Baker brings experience to the board in advocacy, young adult issues, parent and family involvement, hearing assistive technology and an understanding of audiological and medical issues related to hearing loss. She has been a member of the HLAA Board of Trustees since 2006.
Committees: Ms. Baker serves on the Executive Committee as well as the Fund Raising and Rocky Stone Remembrance Committees.
Michael H. Stone – Treasurer, Past President & Stone Family Representative
Michael H. Stone is employed by Donatelli Development. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Wheeling Jesuit, a master’s degree in International and Strategic Affairs from Georgetown University, a law degree from Antioch, and a L.L.M. in Securities Regulation from Georgetown University. He started his career on Capitol Hill as the legislative director to Representative James L. Oberstar (D-MN). He later became a Washington lobbyist representing Fortune 500 companies. He has worked as Deputy Counsel for the Federal Asset Disposition Association (renamed the Resolution Trust Corporation) which is a part of the administrative branch of government. In 1990 he entered private practice and co-founded Mobile Communications Holdings, Inc., which received a license to provide satellite-based telecommunications service. In 1995 he co-founded Eagle Eye, Inc., a company which provides satellite-based tracking services. He has also taught history at a private school and served as an advisor to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Mr. Stone has written numerous book reviews for Best Sellers magazine, has been an adjunct professor of law at George Mason University and has served on numerous corporate boards of directors. As the Rocky Stone family representative to the Board he brings a unique historical perspective of the organization’s history and a passion for people with hearing loss to the board. In addition he also brings legal experience and problem-solving skills.
He served on the first Board of the organization, then called Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH). He has served his current term since 2005.
Committees: As Treasurer, Mr. Stone serves as chair of the Finance Committee, and serves on the Executive, Strategy Planning, Nominating, and Rocky Stone Scholarship Committees.
Diana D. Bender, Ph. D. - Secretary
Diana Bender is a graduate of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. She received her master’s and doctorate degrees in organic chemistry at the University of Munich, in Munich, Germany. In her professional career she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware, followed by 21 years as a research chemist and product manager at a Philadelphia area specialty chemicals company. She was first diagnosed with a progressive hearing loss at the age of 10 and received a cochlear implant in 2004.
She has been a member of HLAA since 1995. She served as the chapter president of the Montgomery County, PA chapter from1997 until 2001 and has been the editor of that chapter’s newsletter since 1997. She has been a member of the HLA-PA Advisory Council since the state office originated in 2001 and has served as the state director of HLA-PA since 2004. From 2004 – 2006 she represented HLAA on the Courthouse Access Advisory Committee, a committee convened by the U.S. Access Board. She has served on several state advisory committees in Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the Gallaudet University Peer Mentoring Program.
Committees: As Secretary, Dr. Bender serves on the Executive Committee as well as the Strategy Planning Committee.
Francis Beecher
Francis Beecher is retired after 27 years as a successful businessman and 15 years as a hearing instrument specialist. He has a hearing loss and has been a member of HLAA (SHHH) since 1982. He is a past president of the Sarasota HLAA Chapter. He is a member of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Tampa, Florida AG Bell group and the International Hearing Society.
Mr. Beecher is a strong advocate for improving the design and manufacture of hearing aids and has authored many articles on this topic. In addition to advocacy skills, he brings to the board experience in board policy, marketing, audiology, cochlear implants and hearing assistive technology. He has been on the HLAA Board of Trustees since 2005.
Committees: Mr. Beecher serves on the Finance Committee.
Kathy M. Borzell
Kathy M. Borzell has been a member of the Hearing Loss Association of America since 1995. She has a severe to profound hereditary sensorineural hearing loss which began in her late teens. As the child of a parent with hearing loss and the mother of an adult child with hearing loss, she has a unique perspective that allows her to relate to multiple aspects of living with hearing loss.
Ms. Borzell became a member of the Florida Association of SHHH in 1997 and later served as treasurer and state chapter coordinator. She served as president of the Tampa SHHH Chapter in 1998. She was a member of a consumer and service provider group, collectively referred to as “The Summit” that successfully advocated for the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
During her nine years with Deaf and Hearing Connection of Tampa Bay, as a case manager and a community education specialist, Ms. Borzell worked with senior citizens with hearing loss, facilitated speech reading and communication strategies classes and initiated and coordinated various workshops for people with hearing loss in the workplace. She is a graduate of the Hearing Loss Association of America Academy of Hearing Loss Support Specialists. She has been a member of the HLAA Board of Trustees since 2005.
Committees: Ms. Borzell serves on the Finance and Membership Committees as well as the Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award Committee.
James J. DeCaro, Ph.D. - Strategic Planning Committee Chair
James DeCaro is a professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of eight colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology. He is the director of NTID’s Postsecondary Education Network-International (PEN-International), a multinational collaborative network of colleges and universities serving deaf students that is funded by more than $10 million in grants from The Nippon Foundation of Japan. DeCaro is also director of the NTID Center on Access Technology, a center that focuses on the application of innovative technologies to facilitate access to educational setting for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Prior to holding these posts he served as dean of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf for 14 academic years; two of those years as interim director and CEO. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering and a Ph.D. in instructional technology.
DeCaro has been a Rotary International Scholar at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England) and a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Orebro University (Sweden). He holds an honorary professorship at Tianjin University of Technology (China). DeCaro was also awarded an honorary doctoral degree by Bauman Moscow State Technical University (Russia). In 2008 he received the FESCO award of Japan for his service to humanity.
Committees: Dr. DeCaro serves as the chair of the Strategy Planning Committee and serves on the Executive Committee.
Jeannette E. Kanter
Jeannette E. Kanter has an M.S.S.S. from Boston University School of Social Work and has worked as a social worker and a marriage and family therapist. She coordinated a graduate program in Community Services at the University of Rochester supervising the field work component. In addition she served as coordinator for Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She is an active member of the HLA Rochester Chapter, having served on many committees and as secretary, vice president and president. Most recently she has organized and facilitated an HLAA Cochlear Implant Group which is a sub-group of the Rochester Chapter. She brings skills in the areas of advocacy, mental and physical health, education and cochlear implants to the board.
For over 30 years, Ms. Kanter wore hearing aids, but in 2000 she received a cochlear implant which “gave me back my life.” She can now use the telephone, hear music, listen to the radio, but most importantly, she can hear her grandchildren and the birds. She still delights in hearing new sounds and considers the cochlear implant her most important miracle in recent years. She has been on the HLAA Board of Trustees since 2005.
Committees: Ms. Kanter serves on the Membership and Fund Raising Committees.
Zachary S. La Fratta
Zac La Fratta is clinical doctorate student at Gallaudet University’s audiology program. Zac has a bachelor’s degree in Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems from George Mason University, and completed post-baccalaureate coursework in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is currently an instructor for the Gallaudet University Peer Mentoring Certificate Program.
Zac has been a member of HLAA since 2007 and formerly served as Vice-President for the HLAA-Boulder Chapter. He is the currently President of the HLA-DC Chapter. He serves on the Executive Committee for HearingLossNation, an online community for young adults with hearing loss. He has a severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss acquired from exposure to bacterial meningitis at eight months of age.
As a young adult serving on the board of trustees, Zac represents the voice for young adults with hearing loss. Zac was appointed to the HLAA board in June 2010.
Committees: Mr. La Fratta serves on the Membership Committee.
Paul Lurie
Paul Lurie is an equity partner in the Chicago office of the law firm of Schiff Hardin LLP. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and its law school. He specializes in arbitration and mediation for the construction industry. He is involved in many local not-for-profit companies involved in the arts and has served roles such as general counsel and chair of capital campaign committees. He is past chair and current member of the Executive Committee of The Family Institute at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, a clinical and research institution specializing in issues of mental health of individuals in families. He is a trustee of the Foundation for Hearing and Speech Research in Chicago, an organization that supports pediatric cochlear implants. He is a long-time member of the Cochlear Corporation’s Consumer Advocate Panel.
Mr. Lurie was responsible for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance of the FBI Washington, D.C., tour facility for people with communication disabilities, for landline telephone compliance of the Amtrak station in Springfield, IL, and for an assistive listening system in a local major performing arts facility. He brings to the board experience in advocacy, cochlear implants, hearing assistive technology, mental health and legal issues.
He has been on the board since 2006.
Committees: Mr. Lurie serves as chair of the Fund Raising Committee as well as the Strategy Planning and Nominating Committees.
Vic M. Matsui
In his professional career, Vic Matsui was assigned to the American embassies of six foreign countries, often dealing with the senior most members of the respective governments and societies in matters of policy differences. He was a member of the Lions International Movement where he was engaged in fundraising to help indigent people. He is a member and past president of the Williamsburg HLAA chapter. He currently edits the chapter newsletter. He also serves as the Virginia state chapter coordinator.
Mr. Matsui represents HLAA on the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation ADA Advisory Committee and Virginia Advisory Council for the Mental Health for the Deaf, Deaf-Blind, Late Deafened and Hard of Hearing People. Mr. Matsui brings experience to the board in advocacy, health, fundraising and leadership. He has been a member of the HLAA Board of Trustees since 2005.
Committees: Mr. Matsui serves on the Membership and Fund Raising Committees and chairs the Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award Committee.
Dr. Joseph J. Montano, Ed.D.
Joseph Montano is an Associate Professor of Audiology in Clinical Otolaryngology and Director of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital. He received his Ed.D. in Audiology from Teacher’s College, Columbia University; his M.A. degree from New York University and is certified in audiology (CCC-A) through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Dr. Montano serves on the New York State Licensure Board and is a member of the ASHA Board of Ethics. He is co-editor of Adult Audiologic Rehabilitation, a text book for audiology doctoral programs.
Before his affiliation with Weill Cornell, Dr. Montano was an Associate Professor at Long Island University/C.W. Post and a previous director of the Department of Communication Disorders at Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital. Dr. Montano’s clinical expertise is in the area of audiologic rehabilitation, with particular interest in adjustment to adult onset hearing loss, hearing assistive technology systems and hearing aids.
Committees: Dr. Montano chairs the Membership Committee and serves on the Strategy Planning Committee.
Nancy Lelewer Sonnabend
Nancy Lelewer Sonnabend first became acquainted with SHHH (now HLAA) through her parents as her mother was profoundly hard of hearing and served on the national board of trustees for nine years. This brought Nancy in contact with founder Rocky Stone and his wife Ahme, and she also attended several of the early conferences. Later Nancy became deaf in her left ear and profoundly hard of hearing in her right ear.
Nancy graduated Sarah Lawrence College in 1957 and was a member of the Smith College exchange program in Madrid from 1955-1956. Her diverse background includes inventor; researcher at MIT and Harvard Medical School; founding director of Permobil of Americal, (today renamed USA Permobil) the world’s leading computerized wheelchair company; lecturer; writer and specialty in dyslexia and other learning differences. She currently has two books on the market: SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT: One family’s struggle with learning disabilities and THE LELEWER LEGACY, Traditions of a Loving Family. Nancy has served on several boards and chaired two of them.
Nancy lives in Boston, MA, has four grown children and eight grandchildren. She was appointed to the HLAA Board of Trustees in June 2010.
Committees: Ms. Sonnabend serves on the Fund Raising Committee.
Margaret Wallhagen, Ph.D.
Dr. Wallhagen is a Professor of Gerontological Nursing and a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner in the School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She received her initial nursing degree from St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing in New York, her Baccalaureate and Master’s degrees from UCSF, and her doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Washington in Seattle. Since joining the faculty at UCSF in 1988, she has taught gerontological nursing at both the masters and doctoral level, and works as a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner.
Dr. Wallhagen has conducted a number of research projects in gerontology and chronic care management. Her research and publications focus on studies of: the experience of control in caregivers and in persons with diabetes; successful aging for persons with chronic conditions; self care and symptom management; cross cultural interventions to support family caregivers with dementia; and the impact of hearing impairment on older adults. She recently completed a four year longitudinal study of the experience of hearing impairment in older adults and their partners. In January 2006, Dr. Wallhagen became the Director of the UCSF/John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence as it entered its second five years of funding.
Dr. Wallhagen was appointed to the HLAA Board of Trustees in June 2010.
Committees: Dr. Wallhagen serves on the Finance Committee.
