BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Committee Carol Oswald President Wanda Olson Treasurer Chrissa Merron Vice President Amy Kotkin Secretary

Board Members   JoAnne D'Aleo Dale Davis Ellen Murphy  Sheri Stickley Sara Werder Marsha Yankelev

Co-Founders Charlotte Frank Christine M. Millen

Executive Committee

Carol Oswald (President)

Carol Oswald has been a member of the Central Ohio Chapter of TTN since December of 2009. She worked for IBM for 24 years in various technical, sales and management capacities. She was a Principal in their consulting business, and managed one of their technical resource centers. She took a buy out package, and enjoyed the chance to pursue her interest in wellness and self care. She got her license in massage therapy, opened an office with a business partner, and provided classroom space for others to teach yoga and continuing education.  She became actively involved in TTN and hosted several meetings in her classroom space.

Early in 2011, Carol closed her massage office, wanting to simplify her work life, and hoping to create space for something new. Her timing was good. The founding member and Chapter Lead decided it was time to step down in May of that year, so Carol took on this new responsibility. She loves working with the wonderful women she has met through TTN.

Carol is passionate about self care, massage, yoga, and naturopathy, and enjoys cycling on the many rail-trails around Ohio on her recumbent bike. Her favorite cycling destinations outside of Ohio are the Niagara Parkway and around the Washington DC area.

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Chrissa Merron, M.Ed. (Vice-President)

Chrissa’s career has spanned more than 30 years as an organization and change practitioner in roles as consultant, leadership manager, educator and trainer.  Her background includes consulting to Fortune 100 corporations, health care and educational institutions, and government agencies.  Her expertise lies in organization development, coaching, organizational change, strategic planning, training curriculum design and delivery, team effectiveness, and communications issues.

Currently an independent organizational change consultant, Chrissa previously worked at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Thomas Jefferson University overseeing employee and management development efforts as well as organizational change consultation services.

Long active in community and professional activities, Chrissa has served on the boards of directors of several associations, among them the Organization Development Network, The Philadelphia Human Resource Planning Society, and ActionAIDS. Chrissa is also on the Steering Committee of Philadelphia’s Transition Network, an organization that has played an invaluable role in helping her through her career transition as she defines the next phase of her life.

She also loves to travel, spend time with her family, including 4 terrific grandchildren, and re-discover her enthusiasm for being a Phillies’ fan.

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Wanda Olson (Treasurer)

Wanda joined the New York City chapter of TTN in early 2013, after retiring from a 31-year long career at the international law firm of Cleary Gottlieb.  In her legal career, Wanda practiced international finance, specializing in the representation of foreign governments in restructuring their bank debt and in financing, refinancing and managing their capital markets debt.  Wanda was elected to partnership in 1990 and served in various leadership positions at her firm, including a term on the firm’s executive committee, and was recognized for her expertise by various legal publications.  She is most proud of her mentorship of younger attorneys at the firm, including dozens of foreign lawyers that she worked with over the years.  

Amy Kotkin (Secretary)

Amy Kotkin enjoyed a wide-ranging, 39-year career in educational programming at the Smithsonian Institution before ‘rewiring’ in 2014.  From 1994-2013 she served as director of Smithsonian Journeys, producing more than 250 expert-led tours to all seven continents annually.  For decades prior to her directorship, Amy designed one-of-a kind themed tours and produced lectures, seminars and concerts under the Smithsonian banner in more than 100 cities throughout the United States and abroad.

Amy joined the Board in January, 2017 and now serves on the Governance Committee.  She is also on the leadership team of the DC Chapter, and heads up DC’s active Impact program.  In addition to her work for TTN, Amy maintains and active involvement with the Smithsonian as Co-Chair of The Smithsonian Alumni and as a Videoconference Presenter at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where she creates and presents distance learning programs that teach American history through art to students of all ages.  Amy indulges her passion for theater and writing as a Drama Reviewer for DC Metro Theatre Arts and studies at the Alliance Française.  She and her husband Larry Lawrence are avid explorers who spend as much time as possible traveling and studying in France.

Amy holds a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in American Studies, and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in American Civilization.

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Board Members

JoAnne D’Aleo 

JoAnne is a member of TTN's National Board, and just completed her tenure as TTN's VP of Strategic Planning, as part of the Executive Committee. JoAnne recently relocated back to Atlanta, where she first began her work with TTN as one of the founders and Co-Chairs of TTN’s Atlanta Chapter. Her interest in ​TTN began several years ago, when she began to contemplate what life will look like at the point of  retirement. TTN has been both a source of inspiration and support along her journey.
 
JoAnne has spent over 30 years in the IT industry. She has enjoyed a successful career that encompasses a record of strategic leadership within highly successful sales and marketing organizations.  She has organized and led global sales and marketing teams for both start-up and large-scale corporations and most recently was VP of Business Development for a global multinational IT services organization. Seizing the opportunity to transition to the nonprofit sector in 2015, JoAnne secured an Encore Fellowship, which led to her position with a nonprofit focused on workforce development for workers 55+. 
 
In addition to her work with TTN, JoAnne volunteers at women's shelters, where she counsels women in recovery on taking new steps in starting new careers and new chapters in their lives. She developed a program that supported job readiness and career preparation for one of the major human services organizations in Atlanta which is still in use today. 

With her relocation back to Atlanta, JoAnne is looking  forward to continuing her work with TTN,  with the support and friendship of the inspiring women of TTN.

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Dale Davis

Dale’s professional career spans over 30 years in the field of education. After her initial start as a teacher on the elementary level, she transitioned into guidance and worked as an elementary school guidance counselor for over 20 years. In addition to providing support to students and parents in regular and special education, she developed and implemented Conflict Resolution and Social Skill Programs, which she maintained in ten different elementary schools. Always ready for a challenge and new growth, Dale went back for a second Masters degree to become an administrator and worked on the Regional level in decision-making areas of Pupil Personnel, where she issued support and training for the region’s guidance counselors and administrative staff.

After retiring, Dale served as a consultant and expert on “best practices” for administrators’ and counselors’ school support programs. In 2007, consultancy funding suddenly dried up and Dale was faced with her own crisis of transition and reinvention. After reading every book she could find on the subject, she embarked on a path to personal fulfillment. While searching for a new phase of work, Dale discovered that her husband’s business was in need of organizational support. After training herself on new computer programs and familiarizing herself with business trends in an unfamiliar industry, Dale went into partnership with her husband and now enjoys her own success as an entrepreneur.

Missing community, Dale joined TTN/Long Island and was thrilled to find women who share her challenges and desire for growth. She joined a discussion group that provided the emotional and solution- driven support needed during times of transition and is an active participant to this day. Before long, Dale was encouraged to join the Program Committee and went on to become its Chairperson, while simultaneously working diligently on Long Island’s Steering Committee. Dale holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the City College of NY, a Masters of Science in Guidance and School Counseling from Hunter College of NY and a Masters of Science in Administration and Supervision from Touro College of NY.

For creative fulfillment, Dale is a patron of the arts and can be found taking in local and city art shows, museum exhibits and the theatre. She is also a passionate knitter and fondly recalls one of her first TTN endeavors of displaying her work at a NYC TTN Creativity Fair. Dale and her husband Martin have two adult children, Lindsay and Justin, who each reside in New York City.

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Ellen Murphy

Ellen Murphy joined The Transition Network in 2006 and has been active in the New York Chapter in many roles, including serving as the first chair of the Steering Committee for the New York City Chapter.  She also served on the Member Services, Peer Group and Special Interest Group Committees.  After a number of career moves, Ellen found she had friends in lots of places but needed to find a network where she had decided to settle after retiring – NYC.  Ellen is a member of peer and special interest groups and appreciates the value that TTN has provided to her life.  As a long time TTN member, Ellen has come to know members both in her city and across the country and enjoyed attending the national meetings that TTN held in past years.  

Ellen retired in 2005 after a 32 year career with the Internal Revenue Service where she worked in Washington DC, Dallas and finally New York City.  In Washington, Ellen was the National Director of Public Affairs.  In Dallas and New York, she was responsible for all IRS operations in North Texas and then Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. After she retired (and sorted all the photos into albums!), Ellen began working with a non-profit which provides services to adults with developmental disabilities where she is the Corporate Compliance Officer. 

Ellen is a native of Birmingham, Alabama but is a New Yorker by choice. She lives in Brooklyn Heights and loves all the theater, opera, concerts, museums, restaurants and general craziness that the Big Apple offers.  She also enjoys traveling as much as she can and cooking is a passion.  

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Sheri Stickley

When she found TTN’s website in 2012, Sheri felt immediate kinship with the organization and joined as a national member.  Her Breaking Free Group has forged the strong friendships she was looking for, and still meets monthly after two years. TTN’s resources, plus support of strong, smart women impacting their communities is why she’s a member, and she’s excited to serve on the board.

Sheri enjoyed a 30+ year career in technology-based economic development.  In her government leadership roles at the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, she was responsible for program design, strategic planning and budgets from $4 million to $300 million.  She developed nationally-recognized programs to spur growth of an innovation economy, working with constituencies from business, education, science, finance and government, and colleagues across the country.  She built coalitions from diverse constituencies, formed effective public/private partnerships and launched successful start-up ventures. She also served as Vice President of SSTI, the Columbus, Ohio-based national organization for the technology-based economic development profession.

After retiring from the State, Sheri immediately launched an encore career as President and CEO of sister nonprofits the Oklahoma Bioscience Association and Oklahoma Bioscience Institute. She finally succeeded in actually retiring in 2017, after a stint as principal of her own consulting firm. 

Sheri and her husband Karl live in Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City, where their daughter and grandson live nearby. She is a long-time Bible teacher and an elder at Edmond’s First Presbyterian Church. She volunteers for Generation Citizen, enjoys traveling, reading, history, taking classes, staying on top of public policy and current events, and spending time at the family’s Colorado cabin. 





Sara Werder

Sara found TTN’s NYC Chapter to be invaluable in her transition when she moved from Scarsdale to New York City in 2016. She is delighted to have the opportunity to serve on the Board of this unique organization. She is also a member of the NYC Member Services Committee and the Explore NYC Committee. 

In her career as a tax lawyer, one of Sara’s specialties was the federal rules relating to nonprofits. She received her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her law degree from the University of Michigan (where she met her husband). 

Sara has been an active volunteer for many years since she stopped practicing law after her two children were born. She currently serves on the board of directors of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. She has previously served on the boards of the Scarsdale Public Library, the Junior League of Central Westchester, the Scarsdale League of Women Voters, Girls Inc of Westchester County, and Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service.

Sara’s interests include literature, theater and traveling with her husband. She has an extensive cookbook collection, but now prefers trying all the different restaurants in NYC!  

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Marsha Yankelev

Marsha joined the Philadelphia Chapter of TTN in late 2013 after retiring from a 37 year career at IBM to pursue her Second Act.  While at IBM, Marsha worked in six locations spanning Information Technology, Sales, Consulting and Services, Industry/Executive Marketing and multiple management and leadership positions.  Across this diverse career, Marsha often found herself on the leading edge of developing new businesses and organizations, and leading successful cross functional teams. 
 
Working 80 hours/week and being a single mother of three young adults did not offer much time to think about retirement or have local friends. TTN came into her life at just the right time and has been a continuous source of inspiration, new friendships, rewarding volunteer experiences, transition skills and support.  Marsha is currently part of the Philadelphia Chapter Steering Committee as the Programs Chair, and also serves as a Welcome Ambassador and Peer Group liaison.  Previously she was Vice Chair on the Marketing and Communications Committee, responsible for monthly newsletters and website updates. She joined the National Board in 2020.

In addition to her work with TTN, Marsha volunteers at the Chester County Hospital, Chester County Volunteer English Program and other local non-profit organizations.   

In her free time, Marsha enjoys book club, Mah Jongg, cultural events, cooking, yoga, biking, traveling and tackling new athletic challenges.  She is devoted to her partner, Michael, their children, grandchildren and a large extended family.  Her motto:  Be Bold, Stay Sharp, Be Kind, Get Off the Sidelines.

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