CURRENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stop the Silence is governed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors, which includes the efforts of special Advisors who support the organization’s mission and work.
Sandi Capuano Morrison, M.A., Chair – San Diego, CA
Sandi Capuano Morrison received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder in Psychology with a focus in Women’s Studies in 1996. Her commitment to domestic violence survivors began after volunteering at a battered women’s shelter as part of a course on Gandhi’s philosophy of ahimsa, nonviolent resistance, and satyagraha.
Sandi was a victim advocate at Boulder County Safehouse and then Children’s Counselor at Alternatives to Violence domestic violence shelter before moving to Boston in 1998 and graduating from Boston College with her Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology in 2000. It was at BC that Sandi became certified as a Batterer Intervention Program Facilitator and assisted with research on the process and efficacy of offender programs. She became the Program Director of the IMPACT Batterer Intervention Program and ran offender groups for 5 years in Boston suburbs.
After moving to San Diego in 2005, Sandi managed the countywide domestic violence & sexual assault 24-hour hotline & volunteer program and then the city of San Diego’s Rape Crisis Center at the Center for Community Solutions. In that position she was a member of both the San Diego Sexual Assault Response Team and the Sex Offender Management Council and became certified by California’s Office of Emergency Services as a Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault counselor. She was also a Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) volunteer.
Sandi is committed to empowerment-based, survivor-informed programs & processes as well as offender accountability. She has interests in Restorative Justice, Holistic Healing, Cultural Competency, Human Rights and Social Justice.
Pamela Pine, PhD, MPH, MAIA, CHES – Glenn Dale, MD
Dr. Pamela Pine, Stop the Silence Founder, CEO, and Board member, has been working in the area of national and international health and development and health communication for more than 25 years. Her primary focus has been on communicable and other life threatening diseases (TB, AIDS, malaria), chronic diseases, reproductive health, family planning, child survival, violence against women and children, and related issues, with a primary focus on vulnerable women and children. She has provided a full spectrum of public health assistance: program design, planning, fundraising, research, management, materials development, technical assistance, and evaluation. She is a driven leader who is known as extremely productive, highly communicative, fair, and honest and a consummate net-worker. She has worked diligently with numerous coalitions of corporate, faith-based, and philanthropic agencies to enact change in the U.S. and abroad from policy to grass roots organizing.
Having learned about the enormity and devastation of the problems of child sexual abuse, Pam founded Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse, Inc. (www.stopthesilence.org), this non-profit company focused on the comprehensive mitigation (prevention and treatment) of child sexual abuse (CSA) nationally and internationally, including a focus on orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC). She has overseen all aspects of the organization and was the Project Manager for the National Children’s Bench Book Project, an HHS, Ford Foundation, and DOJ-funded project focused on providing information to judges and other court-related personnel about CSA and trauma, as well as the Race to Stop the Silence and its and other media outreach, and numerous other programs and projects under the organization. In a very short period, Stop the Silence gained an international reputation.
Pam is on the Board of Directors and a member of the Media and Outreach and Policy Committees of the National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence (NPEIV), and is a continuing Executive Planning Committee member for the Institute of Violence, Abuse and Trauma’s (IVAT, a part of Alliant University) Annual Conference. Dr. Pine continues, too, to provide assistance to international health and development programs and projects. She is on staff with the Humanities, Philosophy, Religion and World Languages Programs at American Public University and previously held an Appointment with the College of Public Health, University of South Florida. Pam holds her PhD in Public Health Communication from the University of Maryland and her MPH in International Health from Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health. She speaks Arabic and French.
ASSOCIATES
Jillian Short, International Spokesperson/Ambassador – Hughesville, MD
Jill is the International Spokesperson for Stop the Silence® and the founder of Always a Voice® (www.alwaysavoice.com), a local and web-based support group, committed to provide encouragement and awareness to adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and other forms of trauma.
As a young child, Jill was subjected to sexual abuse until the age of seven. When she was twelve, she and her parents went to Micronesia as missionaries. She learned the language, embraced the culture, and eventually became interpreter for their mission church. Her abuse became a distant memory—buried and unaddressed. Years later, still deep in the clutches of her strict church affiliation, she discovered her children were being sexually abused. Her world crashed around her, resulting in PTSD and severe anxiety disorder. The lack of support—especially within the church—astounded her! She and her children were instructed to be silent and told to forgive and honor their abuser, even to the point of not pressing charges, stating that “speaking out about their abuse gave the church—and thus, Jesus Christ—a bad name”. Their abuser only served an 18-month sentence. Upon his release, he was brought back into church leadership.
Following intense therapy, Jill finally left her toxic church affiliation—and her marriage—and began the upward path toward what she now refers to as “active healing”. She was amazed to learn more about Child Sexual Abuse and its ongoing effects into adulthood. She surrounded herself with life-changing resources—and positive support.
Today, Jill is a court-certified translator/interpreter, co-owner of RJS Investments Inc., and an advocate with the CSA Survivor Force, a national media outreach group under Stop the Silence® (https://stopthesilence.org/csa-survivor-force/). She is honored to hold the title of Mrs. District of Columbia US Continental 2017. She is currently pursuing her MA in Counseling/Theology, has authored three books and is an avid speaker in Maryland and abroad. Her passion is to empower those who have no voice—or those just finding their voices—and to raise awareness on how to better recognize signs of abuse and how to combat precise issues/problems relating to the “fall out” of trauma. She is very happily remarried and her family is thriving—more than she would have thought possible! Her children have gone on to use their own voices through music, dance, art, and education–and some are directly fighting against child abuse and sex-trafficking.
Jill is committed to use her voice (through media, newspaper, and radio) to stop the silence and perpetuation of abuse “one person, one dream, one step, one leap at a time.”
Jill Stringer Short P.O. Box 325 Hughesville, MD 20637 alwaysavoice@gmail.com http://alwaysavoice.com 240-346-0932Lindsay Aspell Thomason, Associate – Austin, Texas
Lindsay Aspell Thomason, the owner and founder of The Nanny League, offers 20 years of proven expertise. From babysitter and mentor in her hometown outside of Philadelphia (Haddonfield, NJ), to studying Child Development & Psychology in college, childcare has long been an integral theme in her life. Her path to creating The Nanny League began after graduating Cum Laude from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School with a degree in Television, Radio & Film and Psychology. She started her career in entertainment as a Page at NBC Universal Burbank. She then went on to work directly within the company building relationships with filmmakers, relaying interview requests, coordinating travel, and handling talent. She provided a diverse range of public relations and marketing consultancy services for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Humanitas and Special Events. She acted as a show publicist, and assisted VP and Press Managers with administrative and operational responsibilities. Although her time working in the television and film industry was extraordinary, Lindsay decided to find her way back to her first love – working with children.
Hired as a live-in nanny for an affluent family in the Holmby Hills community, Lindsay took on a variety of roles: caregiver, teacher, chauffeur, personal shopper, party planner, photographer, assistant, and friend. It was here that she saw first hand the need for quality childcare. These mothers and fathers were bright, highly competent and successful, yet were unable to find the “right” nanny for their family. Having read and talked extensively to many successful people, she learned what a huge impact a particular nanny had on them. Oftentimes, this was the person they spent most of their day-to-day lives with and were dependent upon to make each day function smoothly. It made sense to Lindsay that she, too, would want only the very best person involved with her child – someone well educated, competent, creative, as well as loving and kind.
Lindsay enrolled at UCLA’s Extension Business Program with her ‘big idea’ to open a nanny service unlike any others currently available. It would be highly selective in its choice of nannies – insisting on a college education, dedication and love of children, as well as the many intangible characteristics that make up a quality person. Wanting to meld her collegiate background with her experience and love for children, The Nanny League was born in late 2010.
Since then, Lindsay has built a database of over a thousand professional, college-educated nannies and has matched hundreds of nannies with families throughout the United States. Lindsay was the recipient of the Los Angeles Executive Leadership Award in 2015. The Nanny League received the Los Angeles Best Business Award in the childcare industry for 2013, 2014 and 2015; the California Business Award 2016; and has been featured in various press including VoyageLA, New York Magazine, US Weekly, My Fox LA, and Celebrity Baby Scoop. She also serves as the Educational Ambassador for Belly Bandit; and has developed strong relationships with various national and local brands such as Mom.me, Club Momme, and more. Lindsay was most recently nominated for LA Business Journal’s 2017 Women’s Summit CEO of the Year.
The Nanny League prides itself on giving back to the community and philanthropy has also always played a huge part in Lindsay’s life. In 2011, The Nanny League partnered with the non-profit, Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse, Inc. From organizing fundraisers to hosting events such as, “Mommy’s Night Out,” the agency has helped raise thousands of dollars for this vital cause. Lindsay has most recently played an integral part in the development of an on-line training program to educate nannies about child sexual abuse prevention and mitigation. The Nanny League is the first-ever nanny agency to mandate this training for its members.
Lindsay currently resides is Austin, TX with her husband Eric and dog Evvie. She is dedicated to continuing her nationwide expansion as one of the best nanny matchmaker agencies in the US.
Lindsay Aspell Thomason The Nanny League info@thenannyleague.com http://www.thenannyleague.com 310-893-9355ADVISORS
Stuart Adam – New York City, NY
Stuart is the founder of Adam and Partners Investment Advisors, LLC, a New York based firm focusing primarily on providing investment advisory services for both US based and International entities, and also to families and individuals who are qualified investors.
Stuart brings over 30 years of experience in working with wealthy families and individuals, in the advancement of portfolio management, financial planning, and consulting services for families and individuals and with but not for the financial institutions.
Adam and Partners Investment Advisors are the “gatekeeper” and primary advisor to the family, offering training for the younger members of the family (21+ years of age) on the various segments and participants of the wealth management business, and providing quality investments at institutional pricing with high quality service and paid for by the family and individual.
Jeffrey Jordan – Falls Church, VA
Jeff is a seasoned nonprofit and for profit international development senior executive with demonstrated leadership skills and track record of achieving and surpassing programmatic goals and driving organizational change.
Currently, Jeff is the President and CEO of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) in Washington, D.C. and was most recently the Executive Vice President of the Catholic Medical Mission Board and the Director of their NYC office. Jeff’s technical experience spans both domestic and international applications in program development, policy communication and constituency building, institution building, and applied policy research and analysis for FP/RH and HIV/AIDS. Jeff is also active in international gender issues, and formerly the Chair of USAID’s Inter-Agency Gender Working Group.
Jeff’s areas of technical expertise include policy analysis and presentation training, participatory policy processes through civil society networks, GIS applications of health survey data, work on demographic linkages to related sectors including the environment and food security, and gender. In the area of HIV/AIDS, Jeff, under the Futures Group, managed the POLICY Project, served as the facilitator for eight African delegations at the Regional Conference on Building Political Commitment for HIV/AIDS in Benin (1999) and again at the ICASA Conference in Burkina Faso. In February 2003, Jeff served as a facilitator at the Europe/Eurasia Chief of Missions Meeting on HIV/AIDS. He was a member of the planning committee for Track E (Program and Policy) of the 2004 AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Field applications include work in Benin, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, India, Ivory Coast Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania, Ukraine and Zambia. Jeff speaks French.
Jeff holds a BA in Economics from Davidson College and an M.P.A. in International Development for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
Mildred Mohammed – Clinton, MD
After her children were kidnapped and her inability to go on living without them, she began the silent struggle of looking for them, knowing that if she exposed herself, John Allen Muhammad, the convicted and now executed DC Sniper, would locate her and kill her. She was triumphant in her struggle to get through those 18 months of not knowing where her children were and regained full custody of them. She fled from her estranged husband and moved to Maryland with the children. She was frightened during the horrific sniper shootings, sat through court proceedings during the trial, and last but not least, began regaining her strength to start a nonprofit organization to assist survivors of domestic violence. Keeping her promise within herself to help other survivors and with her own personal funds, Mildred began After The Trauma, Inc., as the Founder/Executive Director. (www.afterthetrauma.org)
Mildred has appeared on Larry King Live, The Tyra Banks Show, CNN, BET, Good Morning America, Cable TV interviews and various newspapers and magazine interviews, to include the Washington Post and Newsweek. She has spoken on various syndicated radio shows. She has appeared in many documentaries surrounding the DC Sniper case aired by TruTV, Discovery ID, MSNBC, A&E, CNN, Investigation Discovery and others. She has become a “National Spokesperson” for domestic violence and has been honored as being the keynote speaker, telling her story, for many conferences regarding domestic violence. She speaks to victims/survivors of domestic violence, law enforcements, advocates, judges, therapist, counselors, and medical professionals and at various universities. She is an advocate and accompanies victims & survivors to court. She has received many awards and certificates of recognition for her work in domestic violence. She is a consultant with the Office for Victims of Crime. Mildred’s book, ‘Scared Silent’, was released October 2009 by Simon and Schuster. She has also written a working journal, ‘A Survivor’s Journal’ specifically for victims and survivors to help with those anxieties that others may not understand. She is currently enrolled at Everest University and is expected to receive her degree in Criminal Justice in the fall.
Victor Vieth serves as the Executive Director of the National Child Protection Training Center (NCPTC), a state of the art training complex located on the campus of Winona State University (WSU). NCPTC includes five moot court rooms, four forensic interview rooms and a “mock house” in which to conduct simulated child abuse investigations. NCPTC staff provides intensive instruction for undergraduate students and current professionals in the field on how to better recognize, react, and respond to children who are being abused. The Center trains approximately 15,000 child protection professionals each year. Mr. Vieth has trained thousands of child-protection professionals from all 50 states, two U.S. Territories , and 17 countries on numerous topics pertaining to child abuse investigations, prosecutions and prevention. He gained national recognition for his work in addressing child abuse in small communities as a prosecutor in rural Minnesota. He has been named to the President’s Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. The Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar
Association named him one of the “21 Young Lawyers Leading us Into the 21st Century.” Mr. Vieth has been instrumental in implementing 22 state and international forensic interview training programs and dozens of undergraduate and graduate programs on child maltreatment.
Mr. Vieth has published countless articles related to the investigation, prosecution and prevention of child abuse and neglect. He is author of Unto the Third Generation, a bold initiative that outlines the necessary steps we must all take to eliminate child abuse in America in three generations. Mr. Vieth graduated magna cum laude from WSU and earned his Juris Doctor from Hamline University School of Law (HUSL). While studying at HUSL, he received the American Jurisprudence award for achievement in the study of Constitutional law and served as editor-in chief of the Law Review.