IFOPA Board of Directors and Officers
Jeannie Peeper
President and Founder
Retired Board Member
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I am an adult with FOP. I graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1985 with a B.A. in Social Work. My incredible journey began when I met Dr. Michael Zasloff at the National Institutes of Health and learned that he had other patients with FOP. Contacting some of those patients gave me the incentive to start the International FOP Association, Inc. in 1988, first as a pen pal group and a means to raise funding for FOP research. I wanted to end the isolation of living with FOP. I met another person with FOP for the first time at age 31 -- what an extraordinary difference that made to my life! The first FOP Connection newsletter was published in January 1989 to connect the 11 founding IFOPA members and today the same publication serves 677 members worldwide. I am now retired from my full-time involvement in the day-to-day activities of the organization and as a board member. I continue to serve as President and spokesperson.
Sara Olsen
Chairman of the Board
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My nephew, Hayden Pheif, was diagnosed with FOP six years ago. I have more than 15 years of operational experience in a series of industries, including real estate development, interior design and high technology. For the past seven years, I have focused on real estate development, most recently completing an $11 million conversion of a vacant hospital building on Central Park North in Manhattan. In 1999, I started HauteDecor, a web-based portal for Interior Designers and Architects, and raised more than $12 million in venture financing for the company. I spent seven years in high technology, primarily with Macromedia, where I was responsible for a $35 million P&L -- more than 30 percent of the company's revenue. I hold a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. I look forward to working with the Board to create a plan for the organization that will help us meet our challenging fundraising and programmatic goals over the next two years, which in turn will allow us to continue to fund research for a treatment and cure, as well as continue to serve our community in meaningful ways.
Patrick Doerr
Vice-Chairman
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I was diagnosed with FOP at six months of age and am now 26. I was relatively unaffected until about two weeks before my 17th birthday. As the degree to which I am affected has increased, so too has my desire to be more intimately involved with the on-going struggle to find a cure for FOP and be involved in the international community for both those effected and affected by FOP. I graduated with a B.A. in Business Management with a minor in Economics from Franklin and Marshall College in 2004. I am currently an accountant with Main Line Health System, which operates five hospitals in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. My goals this year are to work with the other Board Members to increase fundraising and international awareness for FOP. Increasing funds raised is of paramount importance to driving the research to find treatments and a cure as well as support and grow our international presence.
Malcolm Munro
Secretary
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My granddaughter, Miranda Friz, was diagnosed with FOP in 2007, at age two years and four months. My daughter, Karen Munro (Miranda's mom), is currently working to establish a new Canadian FOP charity to be known as the Canadian FOP Network. I have a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. I recently retired from my academic career at the University of Calgary in Canada, where I also spent many years in senior administrative positions. I recently completed six years as a vice president and board member of a 4000-member academic association. My responsibilities as vice president included working with national and international academic groups interested in hosting one of our two annual academic conferences. I was also responsible for interpreting and maintaining the association's charter and bylaws and for ensuring the smooth functioning of the association's "Council", i.e., board. I would like to work with FOP associations outside the U.S.A. and communicate the needs of regional associations to the IFOPA Board. Likewise, I would like to communicate and explain the actions of the IFOPA Board to those same regional associations. In addition, I hope to launch an innovative fundraising effort in the coming months.
Gail Weakland
Treasurer
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My name is Gail Weakland and I live in Ellicott City, Maryland. I am licensed as a certified public accountant and also as a certified financial planner. I have worked in public accounting since 1983 and became an owner in Huber & Weakland, P.C. in 1993. The Company provides accounting, tax and auditing services to businesses, individuals and not-for-profit organizations. In 1999, Huber, Weakland & Associations, Inc. was established to provide financial planning and investment advisory services. Our family has been blessed with six grandchildren, one of whom is Justin Henke. Justin lives in Middletown, Delaware and in 2006, at age 6, was diagnosed with FOP. In the past two years, I have met several other FOP families here in the Mid-Atlantic area at FOP fundraising events and have met some of the staff at the FOP lab at the University of Pennsylvania. These individuals display the determined dedication necessary to find a cure for FOP. We are so grateful for them. I would be honored to serve as a member of the IFOPA Board. In addition to serving as an accounting reporting resource, I am interested in exploring additional fundraising methods for the IFOPA.
Daniela Becker
Board Member
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My name is Daniela Becker, and I am from Erlangen, Germany, but have lived in Orlando, Florida for the past four years. I am a student at the Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business in Winter Park, Florida, where I am pursuing my M.B.A. Prior to starting my M.B.A., I completed my B.A. in International Relations, also at Rollins College. In addition to my studies, I have interned in several departments including Human Resources, Strategic Planning & Controlling, and Communications at Siemens AG in Germany. I also have previous experience as a Research Assistant for the Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. In the past, I have been an active volunteer in various nonprofit organizations across Orlando and Central Florida. I learned about IFOPA through the Rollins College Philanthropy Center and am honored to serve as a member of the Board. I look forward to working with the Board to help IFOPA continue its outstanding work in funding research to find a cure for FOP.
Amanda Cali
Board Member
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I am the proud mother of two sons, one being my 19-year-old son, Ian, who has FOP. I have volunteered for the IFOPA and worked with the FOP community since my son's diagnosis 16 years ago, and I am honored to be serving on the current Board. I have a B.A. in Events Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University and professionally I have been an entrepreneur and event organizer, as well as involved with strategic and organizational planning for both small and large businesses and non profit organizations. My passion to fundraise for the IFOPA and the Ian Cali Fund, both of which help support FOP research at the University of Pennsylvania has lead me to meet many wonderful people in 16 years. I have been privileged to serve as IFOPA Chairman of the Board and as a Board Member for the IFOPA in the past. As an active member of the FOP community, I have been involved with the planning and running of several meetings, such as two IFOPA organizational meetings, and the 2000 and 2007 International Symposiums. I feel privileged to have worked with the international family organizations in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Italy in various capacities with their meeting planning, workshops and Dr. Kaplan's clinics. My commitment to educate people about FOP includes participation at "IFOPA's Friendraiser for FOP" in Washington D.C., and as a guest of the AAOS Capitol Hill Days. Some of my most rewarding work comes from hosting FOP mothers' retreats, counseling families through difficult times, and supporting the development of the LIFE Awards, the IFOPA Medical Binders and International Presidents Council. I look forward to working as a member of the IFOPA Board of Directors. I will do all I can to best serve the IFOPA membership and secure the needed funds to keep FOP research moving forward & the IFOPA membership programs supported.
Mark Gambaiana
Board Member
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Our family became members of the FOP community in March 2009, when our grandson, Lincoln Wheelock, was diagnosed with the condition. I am joining forces with those dedicated to this cause to expand awareness, help continue the high level of service to FOP families the IFOPA has provided in the past, and generate gift resources to accelerate treatments (and eventually cure) for FOP. Since 1985, I have been involved in the advancement activities of various colleges and universities, holding positions in public relations, alumni relations and fundraising departments. Currently, I am the Vice President for University Advancement at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. One of my responsibilities at Truman is to guide the university through its first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, a $30 million initiative entitled "Bright Minds Bright Futures". Previously, I served as alumni director and major gifts officer at Morningside College (my alma mater) in Sioux City, Iowa; Director of Development at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa; and a fundraising consultant with the firm of Gonser Gerber Tinker Stuhr in Naperville, Illinois.
Joseph Kitterman, M.D.
Board Member
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My grandson, Matthew Horick, was diagnosed with FOP in 2000, when he was 17. I am a retired physician who spent his entire career as a full-time faculty member of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), as a physician-scientist doing clinical work in neonatal intensive care, research in lung physiology and teaching medical students and post-graduate physicians. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley and my medical degree from McGill University. After postgraduate training at UCSF, I joined the faculty there in 1970 and retired in 2007. At the 2000 International Symposium on FOP, I learned many with FOP had received incorrect diagnoses. I then led a research study showing that, because of the lack of knowledge about FOP among physicians, most individuals are initially given erroneous diagnoses, often with harmful and permanent complications. The results of the study were published in the international journal, Pediatrics. My goals as a Board Member will be to support and help continue the outstanding work of the IFOPA, provide the Board with the unique perspective of a physician-scientist who has a family member with FOP, and increase awareness of FOP among physicians and the general public to decrease the likelihood of diagnostic errors and inappropriate care for individuals with FOP.
Michael B. Man
Board Member
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I am 62 years old and have been married to my wife, Carol, for 41 years. I have two sons: One is an attorney in Washington, D.C., and the other is a sales manager for Dell Computers in Oklahoma City, U.S.A. My third son, Spencer Barnett Man, was diagnosed with FOP at age 2; he passed away in 1991. In 1994, I started the Spencer Barnett Man Foundation in his honor to help fund FOP research. Career-wise, I have been a registered stockbroker and commodities broker for the last 33 years and have worked with companies like DuPont, E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley. I have also been a registered investment advisor for the last six years and a V.P. of Corporate Projects with a major charitable 501(c)(3) feeding agency for the last seven years. I earned a degree in Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 1969, am a long-standing member of my local Methodist church, and enjoy playing tennis in my free time.
Nancy Sando
Board Member
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I was diagnosed with FOP at age 5 and currently live in Petoskey, Michigan. As the IFOPA was being organized, I held a variety of positions including the Vice President's position for ten years. My late husband, Andy, and I owned and operated a variety of small businesses. I have a background in computer programming and have dedicated my life to helping people find ways to enrich their own lives and the community in which they live. I have also authored a few helpful guides for dealing with FOP. I have an unusual insight regarding FOP. Not only have I risen to the challenge of dealing with the physical limitations of FOP, but I also was witness to how it affected my husband. You could say I've "been on both sides of the bed". I am hopeful that I can bring knowledge and experience so the IFOPA can remain strong in supporting its members and its research.
Jennifer Snow
Board Member
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I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to IFOPA members as well as update the FOP community about my family. My name is Jennifer Snow and I live in Santa Maria, California. I am the proud mom of two wonderful daughters, Stephanie, age 18, and Ashley, age 14. My husband, Bob, and I stay busy raising two daughters, as well as working for our small family-owned construction company. Our daughter, Stephanie, was diagnosed with FOP at the age of three, and we were as devastated as any family dealing with this new diagnosis. We took our grief to our community, where we have been blessed by its love, prayers and support of our annual fundraising efforts to "Find-A-Cure" for FOP for the past 16 years. I have also been honored to previously serve on the IFOPA board for many years. After fulfilling my IFOPA board term and assisting with the planning of the 2007 Symposium, Stephanie became very ill with a secondary neurologic condition. Stephanie was treated at UCSF Children's Hospital from September 2007 until April of this year, where she was hospitalized a majority of that time period. Although we are still working on understanding the cause and better treatments for this new condition, Stephanie is doing much better. I look forward to working on the IFOPA board again as I am excited to assist in mentoring the young adults of our community (such as my daughter, Stephanie), to continue the mission of the IFOPA that Jeannie Peeper incepted over 20 years ago. I also look forward to continuing our fundraising efforts, as well as working with other FOP members and their families to insure the funding needed to continue research to fulfill ultimate mission - to FIND A CURE!
