Our Team

Meet Our Amazing Team

True change takes place when our community comes together to hear one another, dream big, and share our unique skills and passions. We are grateful for our dynamic team who work together to support the well-being of children in foster and kinship care and their families.

Amara Staff

Administrative, Operations, and Finance

Our administrative team can be reached at amara@amarafamily.org.

Fahren Johnson Chief Executive Officer	Kelly Lenard-Holcomb Director of Human Resources & Operations	Stephen Lovingood Director of Finance
Dong Nam Chief Financial Officer	Steph Almeida Administrative Operations Coordinator	Julie Helmuth Staff Accountant
Carmetrus Parker Executive Assistant

External Relations

Our external relations team can be reached at amaragiving@amarafamily.org.

Sofie Aaron Corporate and Foundations Relations Officer	Marcia Jacobs Director of Communications marcia@amarafamily.org or 206.260.1718	Eya Lazaro Annual Giving Officer
Marisa Melton Major Donor Relations Officer	Nacllies J. Richards Director of Development

Programs

Jenna Abbassi Foster Care Specialist	Ben Berger Director of Behavioral Health	Brenda Bobadilla Caregiver Support Supervisor
Julianne Bukey Peterson Impact and Evaluation Officer	Karla Cabling Youth Development Specialist	Xuan Chung Chief Innovations & Program Officer
Korrena Cooper-Poe Youth Development Program Manager	Quenby Delgado Foster Care Specialist	Kate Ginn Director of Resource Care
Patrick Greeley Caregiver Support Specialist	Erin Goff Caregiver Support Case Aides	Mari Halpert Foster Care Specialist
Rahma Hassan Caregiver Support Specialist	Tash Haynes Caregiver Support Specialist	Julie Hoffman Early Childhood Court Program Coordinator II
Anne-Marie Holloway Caregiver Support Program Manager	Kristiana Jacinto Caregiver Support Case Aide	Amy Jacobsen Caregiver Peer Mentor
Bill Jones Certified Peer Counselor & Family Support Services Peer Navigator	Laura Kim Caregiver Support Case Aide	Harlie Ledezma Education and Enrichment Officer
Kae Lee Youth Development Specialist	Michelle Lopez Caregiver Support Specialist	Mandy Marcellis Caregiver Support Specialist
Anna McPhaden Caregiver Support Case Aide	Heather Mimms Licensing and Home Study Manager	Crystal Nambo Kinship Care Placement Manager
Stephanie Neil Director of Impact and Evaluation	Jenai Pamer Licensing and Home Study Specialist	Michelle Perry Lead Family Resource Coordinator
Siryntra Petersen Caregiver Support Case Aide	Tyeisha Sanders Director of Family Support	Mary Schlichter Foster Care Placement Manager
Emily Sigler Client Services and Compliance Officer	Masami Villa Caregiver Support Supervisor	Jenny von Veh Child Placement Coordinator
Me’Lisa Washington Caregiver Support Case Aide	Marissa Wilson Kinship Care Specialist

Ambassador Board

Willard DeRouen, Jr. , Co-Chair
Certified Peer Support Specialist We Care Daily Clinics/WRAP Facilitator/Director of Program Development Seed2Fork/Project Outreach Manager Western Washington Region

Jeannie Goody, Co-Chair
Principal Customer Success Consultant, Qualtrics

Sarah Buckingham

Elizabeth Holland
Program Director, United Indians of All Tribes

Alyssa Shipman
Senior Conservation Analyst, Tacoma Public Utilities

Amira Souikini

Kristen Wilson
MSW, LICSW | Early Relational Health Clinician