Debora Faith Darden, Co-Founder, and Chairperson of the Board
Debora has over 30 years of experience leading day to day operations and enhancing Accounting, Finance and HR functions to build better processes, enhance performance, improve employee experiences, and provide information that improves management’s ability to make timely and informed business decisions. She holds an AS with an emphasis in Accounting from Contra Costa College, a BS with a double emphasis in Finance and Operations Management from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She is also a mother and advocate for her 41-year-old autistic son. She currently serves as the Assistant President to the women’s group in her local church.
Irene Litherland, Co-Founder, Vice-Chairperson of the Board, and Treasurer
Irene has over 30 years of experience as a nonprofit financial director, controller, and consultant. She has a Masters degree in Public Administration. She is currently the Vice-Chairperson of the Local Advisory Committee on Self-Determination for the Regional Center of the East Bay (on which she has served for 4 years) and has been Coordinator of East Bay Parents Housing Network, a regional parent resource group, for the past 5 years. She was a member of the Developmental Disabilities Council of Alameda County for 13 years until June 2019 and was a member of the Board of SF Bay Area Autism Society for 4 years. She also has prior experience as an officer and member of Boards of Directors of other nonprofit organizations. She has a charming young adult son who has autism.
Anne Blenman Hare, Co-Founder, and Secretary
Anne Hare serves on the Board and is the Treasurer of the Autism Society-San Francisco Bay Area. She is a Program Manager and Associate for a research laboratory in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University and has extensive experience in high-level academic administration. She has a Masters in Japanese Studies with a concentration in Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan and has held positions in research, university admissions, nonprofits, and as an editor for academic and non-profit newsletters and publications. She is also a Master Gardener with the county of Santa Clara and can be found wandering through many bay area gardens. Based on the Peninsula, Anne has four children, including one grown son with autism.
Martha W. Knobler, Co-Founder and Assistant Secretary
Martha is a Marriage and Family Therapist with 36 years in private practice in Berkeley, California, working with individuals, couples, and families. She is the mother of a 24-year-old son with Autism. She has extensive experience observing and participating in various treatment approaches for her son and advocating for him with governmental and private service organizations. She is interested in helping to advance the participation and voice of adults with developmental/intellectual disabilities and their parents and families in improving services for that community.
Debra Lobel, Co-Founder, Board Member and Director of Information Technology
Debra and her partner of 29 years are the parents of two special needs adult children who still live at home. One is intellectually disabled. The other is autistic. As a parent of these children, Debra has had many challenges and opportunities to explore and obtain unique resources, including therapists, schools, camps, music lessons, hobbies, and more, for each child’s individual ability to lead happy and fulfilled lives. She owned her own business and earned an MBA in Technology Management while working full-time in the tech field for 45 years until retiring in 2015.
Nina Spiegelman, Co-Founder and Board Member
Nina is the parent of a 23-year-old son with autism and has been an active participant in statewide and local developmental disability advocacy efforts. She has served on the Board of and is currently the Projects Director for, Disability Voices United, a statewide advocacy organization directed by and for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. She currently serves on the Board of the Alameda County Developmental Disabilities Council and is an active member of the East Bay Parents Housing Network, family support, and education group, and the East Bay Stakeholder Team of the Kelsey/Together We Can Do More, an inclusive housing initiative. Nina has recently retired from her position as an Associate Regional Counsel in the Office of Regional Counsel at the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office based in San Francisco. For over 30 years she supervised attorneys providing legal support for the agency’s implementation and enforcement of federal environmental statutes.