Dianne Stone has more than 20 years of experience with senior centers and aging issues, primarily as the Director of the Newington Senior and Disabled Center in Newington, Connecticut. Stone has also worked, volunteered, and held leadership positions with a variety of organizations in Connecticut, including Connecticut AgeWell Collaborative, the ADA Coalition of Connecticut, Connecticut Medicaid Oversight Council, and the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity. She joined NCOA in January 2022 where she is focused on building capacity and engagement within the community-based organization network with special emphasis on senior centers. 

Amanda Krisher, MSW, LCSW, brings over 15 years of direct practice and program management experience to the National Council on Aging where she serves as the Associate Director for Behavioral Health in the Center for Healthy Aging. A seasoned professional in the older adult care industry, she previously was the Senior Director for a live virtual training program for older adult care professionals and a clinical social worker for a community health program and hospice organization. She received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Maryland School of Social Work in Baltimore and is a Licensed Certified Clinical Social Worker in Maryland and Virginia. As a leader in older adult care, she has presented at national conferences and statewide meetings.

Grant Merrell, MDiv came to LivingWorks Education following a five-year career in higher education and a fifteen-year career in nonprofit management that included places of worship, preschools, and community foundations. Passionate about suicide prevention, he brings the strength of being a connector – connecting people and organizations to resources and connecting individuals to their own roles in helping to create communities that are suicide-safer. Outside his role as the LivingWorks Suicide Prevention Manager for the Northeast quarter of the United States, Grant loves hiking, swimming, baking, and lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his husband, two children, and two senior rescue dogs.

Dr. Nicole Cadovius is a visionary leader in nonprofit, healthcare, and public sector transformation, driven by a deep passion for advancing mission-oriented work. She places people at the center of her approach, focusing on quality of life and empowering communities to thrive. Her dedication is reflected in her commitment to developing equitable systems that foster stability, growth, and opportunity. By blending strategic expertise with genuine personal connection, Dr. Cadovius ensures that every initiative not only achieves organizational goals but also enhances individual and community well-being, underscoring her belief in the transformative power of purpose-driven leadership. 

Core Expertise

• Enterprise transformation and change leadership
• Strategy-to-execution program design and delivery
• Cross-sector partnerships and stakeholder alignment
• Portfolio and performance management (data-driven outcomes)
• Equity-centered systems improvement
• Revenue diversification and sustainable program growth

Current Role
At the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Dr. Cadovius leads national initiatives including strategic initiatives for Mental Health First Aid, aligning strategy, partnerships, and implementation to advance scalable, data-driven programming. Her leadership has strengthened stakeholder engagement, diversified revenue, and improved program performance at scale. 

Leadership & Impact
Proven track record leading complex, cross-sector transformation efforts, advising executive leadership, and building high-performing teams. Recognized for aligning diverse stakeholders, embedding accountability and equity into strategy, and delivering sustainable, mission-driven results.

She is deeply committed to advancing systems that support growth, stability, well-being, and opportunity, bringing both professional expertise and personal connection to mission-driven work.   Dr. Cadovius has more than 30 years of volunteer experience with national and international non-profits and boards.

Bronwyn Keefe is Boston University School of Social Work’s (BUSSW) Assistant Dean of Workforce and Professional Development, Research Associate Professor, and Director of BUSSW’s Center for Aging and Disability Education and Research (CADER). She is dedicated to expanding access to high-quality educational programming for people who work in the aging and disability networks. Through CADER, Keefe is committed to strengthening the workforce that provides home and community-based support and services to older adults and people with disabilities through developing innovative, competency-based, practice-informed online training. Keefe has been funded on many behavioral health projects, focusing on building the capacity of providers and communities in understanding the importance of mental health, substance use, and developing age-friendly initiatives to improve the lives of older adults.

Marina Keers is a committed advocate for individual self-sufficiency. Marina was hired as the Executive Director of Hendricks County Senior Services in February 2012. Marina is a champion for the needs and desires of vulnerable people and aging adults in her community. She has a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Franklin College and a Master’s in Public Affairs from Indiana University. Marina serves on the board of Leadership Hendricks County and the Senior Center Coalition of Indiana.  

Melanie Lachman is the Program Coordinator for the award-winning UPSLIDE program at the Tallahassee Senior Center where she helps connect older adults with activities and programs with the goal of enhancing mental, emotional and physical health to provide a gateway for people to become socially engaged within the community and connected to other people.

Melanie, a licensed clinical social worker who holds a level II certification in trauma and resilience, has 24 years of experience doing individual and group counseling and community outreach. She has a special interest in trauma and is trained in EMDR. She came to the Senior Center from Big Bend Hospice where she worked for 14 years as a grief counselor in rural Wakulla and Franklin counties. Prior to that, Melanie worked as a substance abuse counselor in a women’s program and with at-risk youth at DISC Village.

In addition to her strong clinical counseling background, Melanie’s project development and public speaking skills make her an excellent fit to administer the UPSLIDE program and interface with local agencies to help identify at-risk adults in the community who might benefit from participation. Melanie is passionate about helping people realize their worth and reach their full potential regardless of age

Patrick J. Raue, PhD is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook in 1995.

Dr. Raue conducts NIMH-supported research on training non-specialists in behavioral interventions; digital mental health interventions; patient preferences and shared decision-making approaches for depression; and the effectiveness of psychotherapy for older adults.

Dr. Raue is Associate Director for Evidence-Based Psychosocial Interventions at the AIMS Center, and Director of the National Network of PST Clinicians, Trainers & Researchers. In these roles, he develops and leads implementation and training programs in a variety of behavioral health interventions.      

Amber Gum, Ph.D., is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She is also Professor and Psychologist in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, at USF Health. Dr. Gum conducts research to integrate mental health services and behavioral interventions into healthcare and aging service settings, and she provides integrated behavioral health services in adult primary care. She obtained her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas in 2002, and she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in mental health services research at the University of California, San Francisco in 2004. She has received research funding as Principal Investigator from the National Institute of Mental Health, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Research Retirement Foundation, and other sources, with current funding from NIMH and PCORI. In 2016, she was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. To date, she has authored or co-authored 66 peer-reviewed journal articles and 16 book chapters.