About Apraxia Kids

Lou LaVecchia joined Apraxia Kids as a board member in 2016.  His son Jayden was diagnosed with severe Apraxia of speech at 4 years old, presently Jayden has been declared resolved.  Lou has a proven record of working with his school district to improve the appropriate services for children in need of speech services.  He has presented seminars at the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Apraxia Kids National Conferences.  He works to raise awareness through local events, including attending walks for Apraxia.

Lou achieved a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Organization from the University of Central Connecticut.  He currently is the vice president of All Seasons Landscaping Inc. (ASL) a construction company located in Connecticut.  There he is responsible for coordinating and directing all field operations as well as managing all administrative operations.

Claudio Capone, Regional VP of Business Development and Strategic Planning, Trinity Health – New England

Claudio Capone is the Regional VP of Business Development and Strategic Planning for the newly formed Trinity Health – New England ministry, currently a three hospital system in Southern New England. He is responsible for managing the creation and execution of strategic business initiatives for the region.  He has extensive experience in strategic planning, business development and physician relations having served as the director of these programs at Saint Mary’s Health System in Waterbury Connecticut and at The Hospital of Central Connecticut, a member of Hartford Healthcare.  He has worked on affiliation strategies, ambulatory development, physician alignment strategies, service line development and creating innovative tactics to meet today’s healthcare demands.

He holds a Masters in Healthcare Management and Bachelors in Political Science. Claudio is currently a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, active with the CT ACHE chapter and serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Society for Healthcare Strategy.

Amber, a Manager in the Assurance & Advisory Group at Grossman Yanak & Ford LLP, has more than six years of experience in public accounting. She specializes in providing assurance services for a variety of clients including manufacturers and not-for-profit organizations. She also has experience with construction accounting, business acquisition transaction work and performing audits of employee benefit plans.

Amber earned a B.S. degree in accounting and finance in 2013, graduating summa cum laude from St. Vincent College. A certified public accountant (CPA) licensed in the state of Pennsylvania, Amber is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA).

Amber resides in Greensburg, PA with her husband, Joey, and daughter, Addison.

Edwin Maas received a masters degree in neurolinguistics from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), and worked as a clinical linguist at the Rotterdam Aphasia Foundation before pursuing his Ph.D. in language and communicative disorders from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. His early research focused on verb and sentence processing in aphasia and basic mechanisms of sentence comprehension. His interest in treatment research led him to shift focus to speech production and its disorders. To supplement his background and training in neurolinguistics, he obtained postdoctoral training at Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a focus on speech motor control. He joined Temple University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2015.

As Co-Director of the Speech, Language, and Brain Laboratory (SLAB Lab), he conducts research on speech production across the lifespan in unimpaired individuals and in various populations with speech and/or language disorders, such as aphasia, apraxia of speech, and phonological disorders.

Sarah White is a nonprofit consultant with over 15 years of experience working in finance, administration, development, and communications for social service, health care, higher education, and other nonprofit organizations.  Her experience and MBA in Nonprofit Management give Sarah a unique perspective on how each aspect of a nonprofit – from program service delivery and website development, to technology and human resources (and everything in between) – impacts an organization’s bottom line and its ability to accomplish its mission.  Sarah is also fluent in Spanish and has experience living and working in Mexico.  Sarah is a native Texan where she lives with her husband and daughter who has Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  In her free time, Sarah enjoys reading, volunteering, and traveling.

Mark Conroe grew up as the second of 4 children; his dad was in the military.  He attended West Point for 2 years and then transferred to Stanford University where he received a BS and MS in Civil Engineering.  He was a varsity athlete in college (tennis player) and worked with kids while attending college.  After working for 2 years, he then went back to get his MBA at Stanford University.  Upon graduation in 1985, he has spent the past 33 years working for both regional and national real estate development companies.  He has managed companies which built billions of dollars of projects (as the President, CEO, managing partner).  He has built several companies from ground up, growing one to 75 employees and another to 50 employees.  He has built real estate projects throughout the US (in 30 cities).  He has built and managed his own firm for the past 18 years.  He has been married for almost 10 years and has two boys, ages 7 and 8.  His 8-year-old has apraxia.  He was diagnosed at 2 years old.  He attended many therapy sessions for speech, fine motor and gross motor skills until he was about 5 years old.  He still has some issues but overall has done exceptionally well in working with his apraxia.

Stephanie Fera is an associate practicing in the firm’s public sector labor, employment, and municipal group.  Prior to joining CFWW+S, Stephanie was employed by other Pittsburgh law firms handling civil litigation and labor and employment matters.   In the course of her practice, she has successfully represented clients in a variety of matters in the Pennsylvania state and federal courts.  She has counseled clients relating to discrimination and harassment claims, wrongful termination, and policies and procedures of employment.  She has represented counties and municipal clients in grievance arbitration, collective bargaining, interest arbitration, and unemployment compensation matters.

Stephanie obtained her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.  While there she served as executive editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review.  She also served as a teaching assistant in legal writing.  Prior to law school, she obtained her undergraduate degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and spent several years in retail management where her role involved various human resource functions and responsibilities.  That experience prompted her interest in practicing labor and employment law.  Stephanie was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2017 and 2018.

Dr. Gary Fernando is the Chief Medical Officer at Crusader Community Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Rockford, Illinois. A graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, he completed his pediatrics residency at Stony Brook University Long Island Children’s Hospital where he also served as Chief Resident. He has been part of the faculty and staff at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford and The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. He is a diplomate fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves on multiple committees including government affairs, legislation, and education. He has been the recipient of multiple awards throughout his career for mentorship as well as education. He and his wife Monique have three children, the oldest of whom, Lucca, is 8 and years old and has severe speech apraxia. He has served on the board of directors of Apraxia Kids since 2018.

Mr. Mills holds a B.S. degree in Mathematical Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. After graduating from the United States Military Academy, Mr. Mills served in the United States Army as an aviation officer. Prior to joining RCF in May, 2016, Mr. Mills held positions in various fundraising and client services, including most recently as Managing Director at Brooklands Capital Strategies, a division of TPG and Ares Management. Prior to Brookland Capital, he was the Head of Investor Relations and Marketing at Oak Hill Capital, and started in the industry with Probitas Partners.
“First and foremost, I am interested in helping in any way I can! My background is in organizational leadership, operational efficiency, marketing and business development over the last 25 years. I have learned and hopefully enhanced these skills both in the Army and in the private sector, primarily in financial services (private equity) firms.”

Jonathan is a partner at BDO USA LLP, has nearly 20 years of domestic and international tax accounting, compliance, and process improvement experience in both public accounting and Fortune 500 corporate industry. He is a member of the American Institute of Public Accountants (AICPA).

Earned Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Bryant University where he also played and coached rugby.

Jonathan joined Apraxia Kids as a board member in 2022. Inspired by his son Ricky, who was diagnosed with severe Apraxia of speech and his journey to find his voice after being told he would never speak.

George is the CEO and Co-Founder of Telligent Capital Management.  Telligent specializes in Asia and focuses on long term sustainable investing.  The firm manages and is the general partner of several funds and investment partnerships. The main strategy was launched in 2004 and has one of the longest track records in the region.  The firm was started in New York, headquarters are in Hong Kong.  Before launching Telligent, he was at Goldman Sachs in equity research. George was born in Taipei, Taiwan and grew up in the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong.  He is married to Melissa and they have three young boys.   He graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Economics and English with Honors and received an Executive MBA from CEIBS.

Matthew Stevens lives in central Arkansas and is a healthcare professional who works within the senior living industry. He is husband to a beautiful wife and father to two children, one of whom was diagnosed with CAS in 2018. Ever since his son received this diagnosis, Mathew has made it his mission to be 100% invested in the advocacy of those that share in the same journey.

Amber Vecchio, PMP, CMQ/OE, CF APMP joined Apraxia Kids as a board member in 2023.  Her six-year-old daughter Delaney was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech two years ago and continues to receive speech therapy services in kindergarten and through outpatient support. Her journey to an Apraxia diagnosis was difficult through COVID-19, but once Apraxia Kids’ resources were identified, Delaney’s speech significantly improved.

Amber is the Director of Proposals for AMI Expeditionary Healthcare and lives in the Pittsburgh, PA area. She is a designated Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute, a Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence with the American Society for Quality, and has a Foundation Certification with the Association for Proposal Management Professionals. Her career includes 16 years of work with federal, state, and local government emergency management and disaster response.  She is actively involved with the International Association for Emergency Managers US Region III and K-12 caucuses. Amber strives to bring awareness to communicating with children who have Apraxia and focus on children in emergencies with accessibility and functional needs as a priority for everyone.

Neil Kilby is the Managing Director of Atticus Road, a branding agency that specialises in finding voices for brands and designing, developing and positioning them for growth.  He has over 15 years experience in brand strategy, has been responsible for multiple leading tourism brands in New Zealand, and has successfully introduced and grown brands in various industries in the United States, Europe and Australasia.

Neil holds a BA Honours Degree in Business from Sheffield Hallam University in England.  He started his career on the Graduate Training Scheme for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, where he managed multiple branches in East Anglia, including their largest in Europe, before emigrating to New Zealand in 2005.  In NZ, he held numerous senior marketing roles before founding Atticus Road in 2015, and also currently serves as a Business Mentor for Business Mentors NZ, a non-profit organisation supported by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

Neil resides in Otatara with his wife and three children; Harpur, Harry and Corban.  Harry was diagnosed with severe Apraxia in 2022, aged 4.

Brennan is a Vice President in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs where his responsibilities include overseeing third-party securitization on behalf of the firm’s CMBS and CRE CLO issuer clients. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Brennan was an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan in the CMBS Capital Markets group. He earned a BS in Economics & Finance from Bentley University and is a CFA Charterholder and CAIA Charterholder.

Brennan resides in Wyckoff, New Jersey with his wife and their three children, including a son with CAS. Consequently, he is passionate about helping all children find their voice.

Amy is a treatment clinician and CARES representative at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. She has extensive experience working with children with developmental delays, motor speech disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and language disorders. She holds her Certificate of Clinical Competency and is licensed in Minnesota. She has been responsible for providing supervision for other speech-language pathologists and graduate students.

In addition to PROMPT training, she has post graduate training and experience in auditory processing, Fast ForWord, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), childhood apraxia of speech, and feeding. Past experience included work with adults and junior high school students. Amy has a special interest in motor speech disorders.

Elaine Dolgin-Lieberman, MA, CCC-SLP, is a pediatric speech language pathologist working in private practice, with special interest in treating children with motor speech sound disorders. She is a graduate of Apraxia Kids’s Intensive Training Institute (Boot Camp) 2011 and is recognized by Apraxia Kids as having Advanced Training and Clinical Expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Elaine is a graduate supervisor and Professional Instructor in the Graduate Communication Disorders Program at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry where she teaches an annual summer elective on Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Elaine has provided workshops on evidenced- based therapy strategies locally and at Apraxia Kids National Conferences. Elaine is a member of the Professional Advisory Council.

Maria Grigos is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at New York University. Dr. Grigos also directs the Motor Speech Lab at NYU. Her scholarly work combines the use of perceptual, acoustic and kinematic methods to pursue two lines of research. The first centers on the study of speech motor control and motor learning across the lifespan. The second focuses on translational research where she studies the efficacy of motor-based intervention in childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Research in the Motor Speech Lab is funded by the NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the Once Upon a Time Foundation. Dr. Grigos holds clinical certification from the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association, and is licensed in speech-language pathology in New York State

Dr. Iuzzini-Seigel received her B.F.A in Studio Art and Socio-Cultural Anthropology at SUNY at Binghamton and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science at Indiana University-Bloomington. She joined the faculty at Marquette University in the fall of 2015. Dr. Iuzzini-Seigel’s research centers on speech development and its disorder with specific focus on Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She is the Director of the Communication, Movement, and Learning Lab where she aims to identify factors that contribute to disorder onset and resolution for children with communication disorders. Her current research takes a multilevel approach to determine the relation among procedural learning and speech, language, and motor deficits in children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Dr. Iuzzini-Seigel is also interested in communication and motor performance in bilingual individuals, including bilingual children with communication disorders.

Dr. Megan Overby, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, specializes in childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), speech sound disorders, literacy, and telepractice. She has over 20 years of experience as a speech-language pathologist in schools, hospitals, agencies, and university clinics in addition to having maintained a private practice. Dr. Overby’s research in CAS has focused on potential early red flags of the disorder, its social consequences, and associations between CAS and literacy development. In addition, she was the primary investigator in a grant-funded study of the home language environment of young children with CAS. She presents regularly at conferences and workshops on assessment and literacy topics related to CAS and has published her research in multiple journals and textbook chapters. At Duquesne, Dr. Overby teaches courses in speech sound development and assessment.