E-mail Our Staff
| Gail Kear | Executive Director |
| Marianne Cavanaugh-Wozniak | Administrative Services Coordinator |
| Dana Craig | Outreach Coordinator |
| Jill Doran | Community Advocacy Coordinator |
| Kim Tarkowski | Consumer Services Coordinator |
| Jackie Cole | Communications Access Advocate |
| Chuck Smith | Independent Living Advocate |
| Rickielee Pelo | Community Living Advocate |
| Stacey Slicer | Vision Access Advocate |
| Karen Harding | Receptionist - Pontiac office |
| Vicky Hogan | Secretary |
| Albert Jones | Custodian |
About Our Staff
LIFE Center for Independent Living is governed and
operated by a majority of persons with disabilities. Ninety-two percent
of our staff are persons with significant disabilities.
Gail Kear
Executive Director
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 201 (v/tty )
E-Mail: gail@lifecil.org
Gail Kear has served as Executive Director since 1996. She has a significant disability. Her responsibilities include planning and direction of the Center, personnel management, budgeting and fiscal management, and representing the Center to the public and to its funders. Her education includes a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a master's degree plus doctoral coursework in Rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University. Gail has worked for self-sufficiency and independence of persons with disabilities since 1975. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living and is a member of the National Council on Independent Living and the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois. Gail is married, has two teen children, and enjoys reading, gardening, travel, camping, bicycling, and snorkeling.
Marianne Cavanaugh-Wozniak
Administrative Services Coordinator
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 233
E-Mail: marianne@lifecil.org
Marianne Cavanaugh-Wozniak has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2000. Her responsibilities include office management, purchasing, supervising the loan equipment program, and some public relations and fundraising functions. Marianne attended college, and has worked five years in the secretarial field and five years as Program Director of the local Girl Scout Council. Marianne is a lifetime member of Girl Scouts, a member of the St. Patrick's Society of Peoria, McLean County Genealogical Society, McLean County Volunteer Coordinators Association, Central Illinois Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Bloomington/ Normal Chapter of the Association of Women in Communications, and LIFE Center for Independent Living. She is married, has four children and enjoys genealogy, scrapbooking, and reading.
Dana Craig
Outreach Coordinator
Phone: 815/844-1132 (v/tty)
E-Mail: dana@lifecil.org
Text Pager: danacraig@tmail.com
Dana Craig has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2002. She has a significant disability. Dana's responsibilities include supervising the Communication Access program; managing the Livingston County branch office and coordinating outreach to Livingston County residents with disabilities. She provides advocacy, information and referral, peer mentoring, and teaches independent living skills. Dana attended Illinois State University and graduated from Lincoln Community College. She has worked as a teacher's aide with children with disabilities for six years. She is a member of the Bloomington/Normal Deaf Club. Dana is married and has three sons. She loves to do a variety of crafts and to socialize.
Jill Doran
Community Advocacy Coordinator
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 203
E-Mail: jill@lifecil.org
Jill Doran has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2000. She has a significant disability. Her responsibilities include supervising the Personal Assistant and Community Reintegration programs; advocating for an accessible built environment, providing technical assistance on the ADA and accessibility standards, and teaching persons with disabilities how they can participate in government and advocate for the civil rights of persons with disabilities. Jill has an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts, and worked over 18 years in the communication field. She is active in her hometown of Gibson City. Jill serves as Past-President of the Gibson Community Baseball League Board and is Co-Director of the Miss Ford County Fair Queen Pageant. She is married, has two children, and enjoys sports, boating, fishing, movies, and reading.
Kim Tarkowski
Consumer Services Coordinator
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 204
E-Mail: kim@lifecil.org
Kim Tarkowski has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2000. She is a person with a significant disability. Kim's responsibilities include the supervision of the Vision Access program; and the development and implementation of the Youth Program that is tailored to meet the needs of youth with disabilities between the ages of 14 and 24. She also assists parents of youth with disabilities in the understanding of their youth's Individualized Education Plan. This is achieved in a number of different ways: information and referral services; parent training and mentoring; reviewing student records; and providing guidance and support through the IEP process. Kim has a Bachelor's degree plus Master's coursework in human services. She has worked in Independent Living, Parent Advocacy, and other human services since 1977. Interestingly, Kim was the first Program Director and the second Executive Director of LIFE Center. She has come full circle back to our Center. She has been a longtime volunteer with PATH in Bloomington. Kim is the parent of three children, and is the proud owner of her Seeing Eye Dog, Naples. She enjoys reading, walking, cooking, and spending time with her family.
Jackie Cole
Communications Access Advocate
Phone: 309/663-8806 (tty)
E-Mail: jackie@lifecil.org
Jackie Cole has served as Communications Access Advocate since 2004. She has a significant disability. Her responsibilities include advocating for accessible communications, referral of sign language interpreters and CART writers, teaching sign language, consulting on assistive devices for persons with hearing loss, and facilitating support groups for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Jackie graduated from the Illinois School for the Deaf and attended Waubonsee Community College and Illinois Central College. Jackie has two children, and enjoys computers and socializing with the Deaf. She is active in the Bloomington-Normal Deaf Club and Telecommunicators of Central Illinois.
Vicky Hogan
Secretary
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 201
E-Mail: vicky@lifecil.org
Vicky has served on LIFE Center's staff as Secretary since 2005. Vicky has 17 years experience in the property management/real estate field, with approximately six years of that being involved with Section 8 housing for low income and/or persons with disabilities. She has worked many years in secretarial positions and is an inactive Licensed Practical Nurse. She has volunteered as Secretary and President in Unit 5 PTOs and as an editor for subdivision and school newsletters. She recently took time off from the working world to re-evaluate her circumstances since the loss of her 47 year-old husband through cancer. She is the mother of three, grandmother of two. Her interests include spending time with her family, cake decorating, baking, reading and writing.
Karen Harding
Receptionist - Pontiac office
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 201
E-Mail: kharding@lifecil.org
Karen Harding has served as the Receptionist at the Pontiac branch office of LIFE Center through a program called Experience Works since 2004. She is a person with a significant disability. Through Experience Works, she has had other clerical positions. She is the mother of two grown sons. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and reading detective novels.
Rickielee Pelo
Community Living Advocate
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 227 (voice/TTY)
E-Mail: rickielee@lifecil.org
Rickielee has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2004. She is a person with a significant disability. Rickielee's responsibilities include recruiting and orienting persons who are interested in being employed as Personal Assistants (PAs), referring PA candidates to persons with disabilities who wish to employ a PA and assisting eligible individuals with disabilities to move out of nursing homes into their own homes. Rickielee has a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Business Administration and has had a variety of office and insurance jobs. She is married, has three children, and enjoys reading, travel and pottery painting.
Stacey Slicer
Vision Access Advocate
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 222
E-Mail: stacey@lifecil.org
Stacey has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2005. She is a person with a significant disability. Stacey's responsibilities include providing assistive devices, teaching independent living skills, training of diabetes management for seniors with vision loss, peer mentoring and providing information and referral. Stacey has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Counseling. She has been a volunteer with PATH in Bloomington since 2002. Stacey is the lucky owner of Gordon, a yellow Labrador guide dog. She enjoys reading, listening to music, dancing, movies, and socializing with friends.
Albert Jones, Jr.
Custodian
Albert Jones has served as part-time Custodian since 1999. He has a significant disability. Albert is responsible for cleaning, light maintenance, and snow removal. Albert graduated from the Illinois School for the Deaf. He is President of the Deaf Travel Foundation, is active in the Assembly of God church, and volunteers for several community organizations. Albert is married and has two grown sons. Albert enjoys cooking and barbecuing.
.
Alan Bedell - President
Tim Harshbarger - Vice President
Susan Gardner - Secretary
John Evans - Treasurer
David Corrington
Melissa Darnell
Erin Engle
Donna Evans
Nancy Littell
Jim Martin
George Meisenbach
Mike Ready
Anita Rogers
Walt Thigpen
Nick Ziemer
To contact a Board member, e-mail: board@lifecil.org
To express your interest in serving on the Board of Directors or on a Board Committee, or to nominate someone else for the Board, you may do one of the following:
• Click the Board Nomination button on the left side of this page.
• Send an e-mail to board@lifecil.org.
|
Gail Kear
Executive Director
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 201 (v/tty )
E-Mail: gail@lifecil.org
Gail Kear has served as Executive Director since 1996. She has a significant disability. Her responsibilities include planning and direction of the Center, personnel management, budgeting and fiscal management, and representing the Center to the public and to its funders. Her education includes a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a master's degree plus doctoral coursework in Rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University. Gail has worked for self-sufficiency and independence of persons with disabilities since 1975. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living and is a member of the National Council on Independent Living and the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois. Gail is married, has two teen children, and enjoys reading, gardening, travel, camping, bicycling, and snorkeling.
Marianne Cavanaugh-Wozniak
Administrative Services Coordinator
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 233
E-Mail: marianne@lifecil.org
Marianne Cavanaugh-Wozniak has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2000. Her responsibilities include office management, purchasing, supervising the loan equipment program, and some public relations and fundraising functions. Marianne attended college, and has worked five years in the secretarial field and five years as Program Director of the local Girl Scout Council. Marianne is a lifetime member of Girl Scouts, a member of the St. Patrick's Society of Peoria, McLean County Genealogical Society, McLean County Volunteer Coordinators Association, Central Illinois Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Bloomington/ Normal Chapter of the Association of Women in Communications, and LIFE Center for Independent Living. She is married, has four children and enjoys genealogy, scrapbooking, and reading.
Dana Craig
Outreach Coordinator
Phone: 815/844-1132 (v/tty)
E-Mail: dana@lifecil.org
Text Pager: danacraig@tmail.com
Dana Craig has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2002. She has a significant disability. Dana's responsibilities include supervising the Communication Access program; managing the Livingston County branch office and coordinating outreach to Livingston County residents with disabilities. She provides advocacy, information and referral, peer mentoring, and teaches independent living skills. Dana attended Illinois State University and graduated from Lincoln Community College. She has worked as a teacher's aide with children with disabilities for six years. She is a member of the Bloomington/Normal Deaf Club. Dana is married and has three sons. She loves to do a variety of crafts and to socialize.
Jill Doran
Community Advocacy Coordinator
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 203
E-Mail: jill@lifecil.org
Jill Doran has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2000. She has a significant disability. Her responsibilities include supervising the Personal Assistant and Community Reintegration programs; advocating for an accessible built environment, providing technical assistance on the ADA and accessibility standards, and teaching persons with disabilities how they can participate in government and advocate for the civil rights of persons with disabilities. Jill has an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts, and worked over 18 years in the communication field. She is active in her hometown of Gibson City. Jill serves as Past-President of the Gibson Community Baseball League Board and is Co-Director of the Miss Ford County Fair Queen Pageant. She is married, has two children, and enjoys sports, boating, fishing, movies, and reading.
Kim Tarkowski
Consumer Services Coordinator
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 204
E-Mail: kim@lifecil.org
Kim Tarkowski has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2000. She is a person with a significant disability. Kim's responsibilities include the supervision of the Vision Access program; and the development and implementation of the Youth Program that is tailored to meet the needs of youth with disabilities between the ages of 14 and 24. She also assists parents of youth with disabilities in the understanding of their youth's Individualized Education Plan. This is achieved in a number of different ways: information and referral services; parent training and mentoring; reviewing student records; and providing guidance and support through the IEP process. Kim has a Bachelor's degree plus Master's coursework in human services. She has worked in Independent Living, Parent Advocacy, and other human services since 1977. Interestingly, Kim was the first Program Director and the second Executive Director of LIFE Center. She has come full circle back to our Center. She has been a longtime volunteer with PATH in Bloomington. Kim is the parent of three children, and is the proud owner of her Seeing Eye Dog, Naples. She enjoys reading, walking, cooking, and spending time with her family.
Jackie Cole
Communications Access Advocate
Phone: 309/663-8806 (tty)
E-Mail: jackie@lifecil.org
Jackie Cole has served as Communications Access Advocate since 2004. She has a significant disability. Her responsibilities include advocating for accessible communications, referral of sign language interpreters and CART writers, teaching sign language, consulting on assistive devices for persons with hearing loss, and facilitating support groups for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Jackie graduated from the Illinois School for the Deaf and attended Waubonsee Community College and Illinois Central College. Jackie has two children, and enjoys computers and socializing with the Deaf. She is active in the Bloomington-Normal Deaf Club and Telecommunicators of Central Illinois.
Vicky Hogan
Secretary
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 201
E-Mail: vicky@lifecil.org
Vicky has served on LIFE Center's staff as Secretary since 2005. Vicky has 17 years experience in the property management/real estate field, with approximately six years of that being involved with Section 8 housing for low income and/or persons with disabilities. She has worked many years in secretarial positions and is an inactive Licensed Practical Nurse. She has volunteered as Secretary and President in Unit 5 PTOs and as an editor for subdivision and school newsletters. She recently took time off from the working world to re-evaluate her circumstances since the loss of her 47 year-old husband through cancer. She is the mother of three, grandmother of two. Her interests include spending time with her family, cake decorating, baking, reading and writing.
Karen Harding
Receptionist - Pontiac office
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 201
E-Mail: kharding@lifecil.org
Karen Harding has served as the Receptionist at the Pontiac branch office of LIFE Center through a program called Experience Works since 2004. She is a person with a significant disability. Through Experience Works, she has had other clerical positions. She is the mother of two grown sons. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and reading detective novels.
Rickielee Pelo
Community Living Advocate
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 227 (voice/TTY)
E-Mail: rickielee@lifecil.org
Rickielee has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2004. She is a person with a significant disability. Rickielee's responsibilities include recruiting and orienting persons who are interested in being employed as Personal Assistants (PAs), referring PA candidates to persons with disabilities who wish to employ a PA and assisting eligible individuals with disabilities to move out of nursing homes into their own homes. Rickielee has a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Business Administration and has had a variety of office and insurance jobs. She is married, has three children, and enjoys reading, travel and pottery painting.
Stacey Slicer
Vision Access Advocate
Phone: 309/663-5433, ext. 222
E-Mail: stacey@lifecil.org
Stacey has served on LIFE Center's staff since 2005. She is a person with a significant disability. Stacey's responsibilities include providing assistive devices, teaching independent living skills, training of diabetes management for seniors with vision loss, peer mentoring and providing information and referral. Stacey has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Counseling. She has been a volunteer with PATH in Bloomington since 2002. Stacey is the lucky owner of Gordon, a yellow Labrador guide dog. She enjoys reading, listening to music, dancing, movies, and socializing with friends.
Albert Jones, Jr.
Custodian
Albert Jones has served as part-time Custodian since 1999. He has a significant disability. Albert is responsible for cleaning, light maintenance, and snow removal. Albert graduated from the Illinois School for the Deaf. He is President of the Deaf Travel Foundation, is active in the Assembly of God church, and volunteers for several community organizations. Albert is married and has two grown sons. Albert enjoys cooking and barbecuing.
.
About Our Board of Directors
LIFE Center for Independent Living is governed and operated by a majority of persons with disabilities. Eighty-six percent of members of our Board of Directors are persons with significant disabilities.Tim Harshbarger - Vice President
Susan Gardner - Secretary
John Evans - Treasurer
David Corrington
Melissa Darnell
Erin Engle
Donna Evans
Nancy Littell
Jim Martin
George Meisenbach
Mike Ready
Anita Rogers
Walt Thigpen
Nick Ziemer
To contact a Board member, e-mail: board@lifecil.org
To express your interest in serving on the Board of Directors or on a Board Committee, or to nominate someone else for the Board, you may do one of the following:
• Click the Board Nomination button on the left side of this page.
• Send an e-mail to board@lifecil.org.
|