Mona Foundation Staff

Staff and Volunteer Biographies

Sarah Rohm, Public Relations

Sarah began as a volunteer with Mona Foundation in 2004 and now works on the staff.  She holds a BA from the University of Washington in Global Studies and Business, and a MA from Seattle University in Nonprofit Management.  Most recently Sarah has worked at Microsoft doing program and project management, and in Washington D.C. at a leading Nonprofit Management company doing program management for an international nonprofit.

Sarah is originally from New England, but has lived and traveled all over the world, including the Falkland Islands, Israel, Turkey, Greece, France and Italy.  She has now come to settle in the great Northwest, the home office of Mona Foundation, with her husband and daughter.

Judy Rector, Executive Assistant to the Board

When Judy first learned about the Mona Foundation she volunteered right away. She felt the fit was a good one, involving service to others and education of children, both keystones of action in her life. She serves the Foundation as Executive Assistant to the Board, assisting in the day-to-day needs of the organization.

Judy was an educator for 30 years in Brush Prairie, Washington. She has been a Total Quality Commitment staff trainer and conference presenter in educational technology. In 1997 she received her Masters in Educational Technology and Curriculum Development.

Opportunities to give and help others are all around. Children and others only need to be made aware of the inequalities and injustices in the world and their innate kind natures come forward. To this end, sharing opportunities for service learning is very important to Judy. She feels that students just need to become aware so that they may become positive change agents, encouraging others to be allowed opportunities of self-improvement through education. Mona Foundation offers just that opportunity to anyone wishing to take advantage of it.

Judy and her husband Robert, now live in Richland, Washington. She has one daughter, Kira Mauseth, who is married and living in Everett, WA. When she has a spare moment, you will find her in her garden, reading or at the keyboard.

Gaellen Quinn, Development Officer

Gaellen Quinn graduated from Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and has 23 years experience in entrepreneurial business. Her wide travels sparked an interest in social and economic development and she served as an unpaid volounteer for three years in a project in the Amazon.

Her Master's Degree is in International and Community Development with a focus on multi-stakeholder processes and fundraising management.

Gaellen dedicates time to support efforts at racial reconciliation, children's education and the advancement of women.

She is also a writer, working on her third novel. Her themes, related to development work, explore what causes individuals and societies to effloresce and what causes them to decline.

Pepper Peterson Oldziey, Webmaster & Publications Director

Pepper has been a Graphic Designer for 37 years and has served the Mona Foundation as both print and web designer. She attended Parsons School of Design, and has a BFA from Carnegie-Mellon University in Graphic Design. She studied the early development of the field of computer graphics extensively, cultivated an interest in the field of education, then pursued additional training in the design of educational materials, especially for rural adult populations. She received a Master's in Education from the University of Massachusetts.

She has specialized in the development of classroom educational materials for children as well as adults and informal educational materials for rural populations. Her work includes corporate design, university publications design, educational design, ten years as a magazine Art Director, and co-developer/designer of a storybook series for children's spiritual and moral education.

A developer and facilitator of courses for adults and children for two decades, she has also served as Adjunct Faculty in Graphic Design at Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT.

As a working mom, she homeschooled her two children, managed a statewide homeschool association “Family Learning Academies”, and has developed curriculum in every academic subject area from K-9th grade. She is devoted to the equal education and rights for girls and the needs of creative young minds for a style of education that recognizes and encourages different abilities, skill areas, and learning styles.

Board Member Emeritus Biographies

Patrece Banks, Board Member Emeritus

Patrece has been working on bed safety for the elderly and disabled for the past couple years. Falls among the elderly are recognized by Washington DC as a “critical public health problem” and cost over $20 billion a year. Beds, the 2nd leading cause of injury-related deaths and the elderly, cause greatest risk of bed falls. Patrece has invented and is bringing to market a bed mobility, tool-based, universal design (Outta BedTM), which includes human factors and addresses the problems with current devices. As a member of the FDA's “Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup,” she understands the importance of educating the public and healthcare professionals about this ‘major threat to the safety, health and independence of our elderly population’ according to the National Safety Council. The FDA has published a final guidance from the Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup that will hopefully bring attention to the bed safety issues in all settings. Her company, Invisible CareGiverTM Innovations, LLC, is presently working on educational seminars and articles to bring attention to the problem. Her involvement with the Mona Foundation has helped her better understand how to effectively help those that cannot always help them selves.

Patrece enjoys traveling to developing and third world countries for business and pleasure. She is a founding board member of the Mona Foundation and present supporter.

Dr. Randie Gottlieb, Board Member Emeritus

Randie Gottlieb, Ed.D., is the President of UnityWorks, an international diversity training firm (www.UnityWorks.net). She earned a Master's degree in educational administration from Harvard and a doctorate from Boston University in instructional design. Her dissertation won the prestigious Ansin Intercultural Research Award.

Dr. Gottlieb has worked as a college administrator, professor, school principal, author and frequent speaker. She has worked and traveled in over 30 countries, and is a co-founder of the Mona Foundation. While living in Puerto Rico for 12 years, she administered an international training center, produced Spanish-language community radio and TV programs, and founded an elementary school. She has also been a varsity volleyball coach and a member of the U.S. Women's Volleyball Team.

Dr. Gottlieb served for almost a decade as Executive Director of the Heritage University EMPIRE Consortium, providing assistance with multicultural program planning, implementation and assessment for K-12 schools in WA State. Under her direction, EMPIRE was highlighted as a model program by the President's National Initiative on Race; awarded best program of the year by the National Association for Multicultural Education, and received the KCTS-TV Golden Apple Award for excellence in education.

Craig D. Lewis, Ed.D., Board Member Emeritus

Craig D. Lewis, Ed.D., is Dean of Communication and Social Sciences at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington. He is an educational psychologist specializing in assessment, evaluation, and action research. A non-profit organization he founded, Human Development Design, provides consultation and technical assistance to organizations and communities in assessment and development planning. He also teaches research design, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and statistics for universities in western Washington. Much of his development work has taken place in the Pacific Islands. He has served as the Treasurer and Vice President of the Mona Foundation.

Dr. Manaji Suzuki, MD, Board Member Emeritus

Manaji is a graduate of St. Louis University, and the University of Missouri, Columbia School of Medicine for medical school, and the Johns Hopkins University Pediatric Residency Program. She is currently working for the Providence Physicians Group in Everett Washington as a General Pediatrician. Her affiliation with the Mona Foundation has been to serve on the Board of Directors for the last 4 years and as Secretary for 1 year. She has also traveled as a volunteer physician for medical mission projects to Honduras and Panama.

Manaji also works with the JACL, Japanese American Citizen's League, and has served as a Board member for 3 years. She is also a Nikkei Heritage Board member. Her research experience is in HIV transmission in Dental Equipment, and she is co-author of "Vertical transmission of HIV in neonates research", Washington University, published by Lancet in 1994.

Manaji's personal interests include hiking, snow shoeing, spending time with friends, salsa dancing and enjoying anything diverse and interactive.

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