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, a part of the Energy and Commerce Committee. In 2022, Mary received Distinguished Graduate Merit Award from her alma mater, the University of Southern California.
Mary is widely recognized as a national leader on issues important for addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. While serving in Congress, she held multiple hearings specific to the opioid abuse epidemic and she co-created the first ever Prescription Drug Abuse Caucus. She has been at the very forefront of the nationwide fight against prescription drug abuse and the fentanyl epidemic, which impact every community in the United States, and is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health epidemic.
Mary was elected to Congress 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. She 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). 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.
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, a grandmother of two, and a dog mom.
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.
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.
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.
MAPDA’s communications team member, Ms. Frazier is a 2023 graduate of Fordham University, Bachelor of Arts in psychology and English minor. While at Fordham, she volunteered for community engagement and awareness projects focused on drug abuse prevention in the Bronx and Queens and incarceration reform and community re-entry initiatives. She spent two summers interning on Capitol Hill and one in the financial services industry, concentrating on client communications and management. She lives in Forest Hills, enjoys exploring New York, and, with her friends, the city’s music venues.
Kim Waltrip is a distinguished filmmaker and philanthropist who is driven by a profound dedication to both her craft and her unwavering commitment to shining a light on important social issues. Drawing from her personal experiences with the devastating loss of her step-son from fentanyl poisoning, she has harnessed the power to help raise awareness about the devastating impact of opioid abuse on individuals, families and communities. She is a widow of ski legend Jon Reveal, a mother to Griffin Wade, step mother of Stefan Reveal and daughter-in-laws Sara Reveal and Casarae Reveal and a grandmother of four.
Emmy winning actress Eileen Davidson is known to millions of television viewers as Ashley Abbott on the number one rated daytime drama “The Young and the Restless” and also as Kristen Dimera on “Days of Our Lives.” She has made several Primetime television appearances including being a regular on the series “Broken Badges”, opposite Miguel Ferrer and Ernie Hudson and has starred in several feature films including “7 Days to Vegas” opposite her husband Vince Van Patten who also wrote the film. She was one of the first actresses to appear on the pop culture reality show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” for three seasons. She resides in Malibu, California with her husband and their son Jesse. She is also the stepmother of Duke and Vinny Van Patten.
Brooke Beare is an Emmy winning journalist and government communicator. Graduating cum laude from the Annenberg School of Communicaion and Journalism at the University of Southern California, Brooke began her broadcast journalism career at two NBC affiliates in Texas. During that time, she was fortunate enough to interview Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a number of governors, and cover the breakup of the Space Shuttle Columbia from the ground.
Over the next 16 years, she established herself as a respected investigative journalist, working in San Diego, and eventually as the evening news anchor for the CBS affiliate in Palm Springs. Brooke is the spokesperson and public information officer for the Riverside County District Attorney’s office.
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