Chairman of the Board of directors

A successful businesswoman and well-known political leader, Congresswoman Mary Bono was hailed as the "embodiment of powerful American womanhood" by the Washington Times, rising to become Chairman of the influential U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.

Today, she is widely recognized as a national leader on privacy and technology issues as well as a powerful advocate for issues important for addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. Congresswoman Bono was elected in 1998 to serve California's 44th (later changed to 45th) Congressional District after the untimely death of her husband, entertainer turned Congressman Sonny Bono. And in 2012, she became the first ever Chairman of the Women's Policy Committee (WPC) in the House.

Bono established herself as a respected and closely-watched leader on a wide range of critically important issues while serving 8 terms in Congress (1998-2013).  She focused her chairmanship on technology, privacy, job creation and consumer protection.  In addition, she's been at the forefront of the nationwide fight against prescription drug abuse, which impacts millions of teenagers across the United States and is now the fastest-growing drug problem in America and recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health epidemic.

Bono's selection as Subcommittee Chairman for the 112th Congress was historic, and made her the first Republican woman in American history to hold a gavel on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the oldest standing committees in the U.S. House of Representatives, dating back to 1795. 

Mary also served on the House Armed Services Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Small Business Committee. She authored legislation that was signed into law by Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, proving to be a true bipartisan consensus builder.

Mary previously served as Principal for Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting. Currently, Mary is also the Chairman of the Board for Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and serves on the boards of SAFE Project (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic) and Verde Technologies. She is married to former astronaut Admiral Steve Oswald (U.S. Navy, Retired) and is mother to Chesare Bono, Chianna Bono, stepmother to Chaz Bono and a grandmother of two.

Lita Brannan is Vice President, Government Relations at Cboe Global Markets, Inc. In this role, Brannan serves as Cboe’s sole Washington, DC-based associate, managing the company’s government relations and representing Cboe on Capitol Hill.  She engages with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate on both sides of the aisle, educating them and their staff about Cboe’s business. Brannan is crucial in communicating Cboe’s positions on various issues facing the financial industry and advocating for the industry as a whole.

Brannan boasts more than 25 years of experience representing the derivatives industry on Capitol Hill. Before joining Cboe, she headed the Washington office of CME Group and spent 14 years in various roles for CME, including helping coordinate activities in Washington for its political action committee (PAC).

Brannan holds a Bachelor of Arts from George Washington University.

Allison has more than 20 years' experience in high-level project management as a consultant in the Federal government along with holding executive positions in the District of Columbia government. Her distinguished career in the District of Columbia government includes, but is not limited to, the DC Financial Control Board as the primary analyst for the DC Public Schools; the Office of the Chief Financial Officer where she served as the Branch Chief for Public Education and Government Operations; the Office of the Mayor under Anthony Williams as Special Assistant on Budget Formulation; and the DC Public Schools as Budget Director. As a consultant, Allison has spent the most recent 12 years working with Federal agencies to implement a budget formulation system at the Defense Logistics Agency, Department of the Interior, the Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, US AID, and others. 

Allison knows first-hand the stress and deep sadness the entire family unit endures with a child struggling with drug addiction. She has participated in many parent groups and helped others through advice around recovery options and handling insurance obstacles. She was successful in having two insurance denials reversed by a third-party review by articulating the case for recovery. She has researched and discussed with policy makers the idea to remove the IRS 10% penalty if parents want to access 529 funds to help pay the extraordinary costs of recovery. She is honored to join the  MAPDA Board, where she can more strategically use her experiences to help other families.

Allison currently serves as the representative for the Sleepy Hollow Citizens Association (SHCA) for the Dominion Hospital Community Advisory Group. Dominion Hospital is integral in serving children and adults with addiction treatment in Northern Virginia. Allison holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She lives in Falls Church, VA with her husband Sean and daughter Lauren. 

Karla has dedicated her career to working with special needs and disadvantaged youth as a Psychologist with Riverside Unified School District. She is a member of the California Positive Network of Trainers (PENT), a consortium dedicated to meeting the needs of students with behavioral and emotional challenges. 

Additionally, Karla serves on the Riverside Unified School District Crisis Response Team. Karla holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside, and a Master of Science in Counseling Guidance from California State University.

Karla resides in Riverside, California with her husband Marc Troast and their two children.

Sam is the  Senior Vice President for Global Public Policy at the American Resort Development Association (ARDA).  She primarily works to advance the Association’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill and in the Executive Branch of government. Sam closely monitors regulatory activities by working with the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Election Commission, as well as the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She joined ARDA in 1999 as Director of Federal Relations for ARDA-ROC and ARDA-PAC.  Throughout her 20 year tenure with ARDA, Sam successfully built and currently oversees the Association’s $6m Political Action Committee.  No stranger to the real estate and financial services industry, Sam has served as Director of Political Affairs for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA) and Director of Government Affairs for the National Association of Realtors.

Sam has more than 30 years of successful policy and government affairs experience working across global businesses, trade and industry associations in pursuit of commercial, political, financial, and legislative stakeholder priorities.  She remains a trusted advisor to a highly extensive, bipartisan network of political, regulatory, public/private sector stakeholders at the federal and state levels of government with a strong track record of developing and executing all elements of an association’s strategic plan and public advocacy initiatives.  She was named Top Lobbyist of the Year 2012. 

Sam, her husband Marty and son Andrew reside in Washington, D.C.

She serves on the following Boards:
The GW Medical Faculty Associated Women’s Health Board
The Ripon Society
The Creative Coalition, New York - Advisory Board Member
The Travel Business Roundtable
The Travel Industry Association
The Real Estate Roundtable

Hannah is the Senior Vice President, Head of Tech Talent Programs for CompTIA, a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology ecosystem. In her role, she is dedicated to helping individuals and organizations unlock their potential through comprehensive training programs and solutions. Hannah has spent her career cultivating talent and developing people initiatives that demonstrably advance business goals. Her passion is to help individuals, teams, and organizations reach their highest potential. Before CompTIA, Hannah spent most of her career as an HR Executive, primarily in financial services. Most recently, she served as Chief Talent Officer for Elsewhere Partners, a growth-oriented investment firm focused on software/tech investing for early-stage companies. In addition, she was Head of Human Resources for Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm. 

Hannah holds a BS in Journalism: Strategic Communications and a BA in Psychology from the University of Kansas. In 2022, she received her Certificate in Executive Coaching through NYU, and is also a Certified Yoga Instructor. Hannah currently resides in Barrington, IL., with her husband, Ben, her three stepchildren, Kieren (19), Aiden (17) and Ella (15), and their two dogs, Vern and Hank.

Jill Hamaker is a Partner at CGCN Group. CGCN is an integrated advocacy and strategic communications firm that specializes in helping Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and trade associations navigate complex public affairs challenges. CGCN provides outreach to key policymakers, gathers strategic intelligence, and offers a full suite of tools for media and grassroots communication to impact the policy decisions critical to clients.

Hamaker is a seasoned government and public affairs professional with over a decade of experience and trusted relationships across the US Government and the private sector. Previously she was Vice President and Head of Federal Government Affairs at Emergent BioSolutions, a life sciences company working to address global public health threats. Hamaker built and led the team that developed and implemented strategies to advance the company’s federal government affairs efforts, focused on driving engagement with both the Administration and Capitol Hill. Jill has deep policy expertise in many subject matter areas, including pandemic and public health preparedness, vaccines, Substance Use Disorder/Opioid Use Disorder (SUD/OUD), and infectious diseases.

Jill has an extensive background in politics, having started her career in California state - local and federal elections. After moving to Washington, DC, in the mid-2000s, she consulted for numerous Members of Congress, raising tens of millions of dollars for both campaigns and committees.

Janet Janes became the Founder of MAPDA in  2011.

In January 2011, Janet Janes wrote about the devastating loss of her son, Christopher, who died tragically at the age of 19 from an overdose of Methadone. Janet contacted the local news media and courageously told her story about the devastating outcome of young adults experimenting with drugs in hopes that others would not befall the same tragedy. Working with television news anchor Karen Devine, Janet made a connection with Congresswoman Mary Bono. With Mary’s help and connection with other mothers who had lost children who had overdosed to prescription drugs MAPDA was founded. On March 28, 2013, Janet was honored as 2013 Woman of Distinction by the California Legislature Assembly for her hard work, dedication and perseverance in the community.

Janet has been a professional bookkeeper for the past 35 years. She lives with her partner, Edward Justice, who is an environmental testing technician and has one son, Matthew Straughan, who is a pilot. She enjoys playing bass guitar, pottery, swimming, surfing and hiking.

As Founder and Executive Director of The Stacie Mathewson Foundation since its inception in 2011, Stacie is dedicated to reducing the nation’s growing substance abuse rate that has reached epidemic proportions and is taking a disproportionate toll on our young people and their families. Her vision is to foster and support a family and youth recovery movement that produces monumental change in the way the nation views, supports and communicates about the disease of addiction. 

Through the Foundation, Stacie is bringing a unique, new perspective to youth recovery. By focusing on the impact that primary, secondary school and college environments have on young people, she has launched an unprecedented initiative using community asset and capacity building that is already changing the lives of students with substance abuse and co-occurring mental health issues. 

Stacie is uniquely qualified to create change in the field of youth recovery. She brings a wealth of business experience to the effort having more than 15 years of entrepreneurial and management experience in the real estate industry. 

Mathewson is also the founder and driving force behind Transforming Youth Recovery. Stacie is a visionary whose dedication to prevention and recovery support for our youth is making a significant impact on Northern Nevada and the nation. To date she has received 29 awards for her innovative efforts from national, state and local organizations in the areas of recovery advocacy, education and evidence-based research. In 2013 Stacie was honored with the Humanitarian of the Year Award by Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and in 2016, George Washington University awarded Stacie the prestigious Recovery Philanthropist of the Year Award. Stacie has served as a board member of the Betty Ford Foundation since 2012.

In addition to her professional experience, she is personally connected to the cause, witnessing since childhood how addiction disease can tear families apart and span generations. With the loss of a son who first faced the challenge of chemical dependency in his early adolescence, Stacie’s commitment to preventing addiction and protecting the health of our youth is relentless.

Stacie is a native of Alaska, and currently resides in Reno, Nevada.

Christal is a seasoned professional with 25-years of combined experience in business operations, finance, marketing and community relations. Working in the healthcare and management consulting industries, she has developed sound business acumen and brings to MAPDA a proven ability to build business relationships, create strategic partnerships, and lead by example through organization and effective communication.     

Growing up in a military family, she has the innate ability to adapt while remaining focused on driving solutions, regardless of any obstacles - expected or unexpected. Christal is thrilled to join MAPDA as the Executive Director, devoting her energy to fighting the prescription drug abuse epidemic plaguing our county. She has a heart for prevention through education and awareness while supporting recovery efforts to those who have been tragically affected. As a mother, she is cares deeply about the health and mental well-being of our future generations.  

Christal has been married for 28-years and resides in Colorado with her husband Mitch. Their son is 25, and she enjoys hiking with their two dogs (Daisy and Murphy), paddle-boarding, snowshoeing, and spending time with family and friends.