Board of Directors

Bill Turenne Bill Turenne
Chair

In 2005, President Bush appointed Bill to serve on the Advisory Committee for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. Throughout his career Bill has served on many non-profit boards, including The Public Affairs Council, The Multiple Sclerosis Association, and the Tomas Rivera Center, an institute of policy studies affecting Hispanic Americans.

Bill retired from Eli Lilly and Company in 1995 after 31 years with the company. He then formed a public affairs and business consulting firm that specializes in organizational development, particularly in the integration of strategic business planning with public affairs programs for healthcare client organizations, and state and federal government. Since 2001, he has served as a consultant to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

A native of Danvers, Massachusetts, Bill received a BS degree from the University of Connecticut in 1962, and attended Boston College Graduate School of Management (1967 - 1970).

 

Katherine Freund Katherine Freund
President

Founder of the Independent Transportation Network, and President and Executive Director of ITNAmerica. Katherine has a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy from the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She served on the Advisory Committee for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, as a National Transit Institute Fellow and for nine years on the Transportation Research Board's Committee on the Safe Mobility of Seniors. Currently, she chairs TRB's Joint Subcommittee on Transportation Options for Seniors. Katherine received the 2006 Maxwell Pollack Award from the Gerontological Society of America, a 2006 award for Leadership in Innovative Enterprise Ideas from the Social Enterprise Alliance, the 2004 Archstone Award for Excellence in Program Innovation from the American Public Health Association, and the Giraffe Award for sticking her neck out for the common good.

 

John Alexander John Alexander
Secretary

John is the founding chairman of the ITN board. He has maintained an active and supportive interest in the project for over ten years.

For 25 years, John served as the most senior information systems executive with Unum Corporation, MCI, Citibank, New York Stock Exchange, Reynolds Metals and the Midwest Stock Exchange.

John provides advisory services to startup and evolving technology companies with Business Technology Consulting. With CEO Counselors, he offers advice to chief executives about managing information technology so that the company gains competitive advantage from its investments, and provides venture capital and transition assistance.

 

Mark Filler Mark Filler
Treasurer

Mark Filler, CPA/ABV, CBA, CVA, leads the litigation and claims support practice at Filler & Associates in Portland, Maine. He has been in public accounting since 1968, helping small business entrepreneurs solve their tax and business problems.

From 1986 to 1994, Mark taught the Dale Carnegie Management Seminar to over 250 local business owners and managers. This experience gave him a deeper awareness of how small businesses function and the "people problems" they face. The AICPA has awarded him two certificates in educational achievement, one in Tax Planning and Advising, and the other in Business Valuation.

 

Clayton Fong Clayton Fong
Board Member

Clayton Fong has been active in the Asian Pacific American community throughout the nation for the past 15 years, and is currently the President/Chief Executive Officer of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of elder Asian American and Pacific Islanders at the national and local levels.

Previously he served in numerous senior management positions at the White House and with the Governor of California, including White House Presidential Personnel, and Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, where he managed staff responsible for outreach to women, ethnic groups and numerous business and professional groups. Clayton also served as Deputy Director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, as well as the Governor of California's liaison to the Asian Pacific American communities.

He has significant experience in the area of health policy as a fellow with the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California San Francisco, and the Children's Research Institute of California. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Health, Arts and Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a former member of the President's Commission on White House Fellows, Chairman of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, Alzheimer's Association of Western Washington, and the Advisory Board for the University of Washington School of Nursing.

 

Dr. Richard K. Giffen Dr. Richard K. Giffen
Board Member

Dick served as executive director of the Presbytery of Elizabeth in New Jersey, working with about 20,000 members in the greater NYC region for 13 years, before retiring to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina in 1995, where he served as Parish Associate of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church from 1996 through 2002.

Recognizing the need of older adults for transportation, he formed a non-profit, applied to ITNAmerica and was first chairperson of the trustees of what eventually became ITNCharlestonTrident. From January to June 2007, Dick was director of the newly formed venture, working with a staff of four and building membership, volunteer and financial support, so that after six busy months, the affiliate achieved 1,000 rides.

Dick was recognized in 2005 for his work by the State of South Carolina as a "Palmetto Patriot" and in 2007 by the Lowcountry Senior Network with their annual "Lifetime Achievement Award." He was born in Egypt of medical mission parents, and was educated on Long Island, at Muskingum College, Pittsburgh Seminary and the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Larry Israelite, PhD Larry Israelite, PhD
Board Member

Larry Israelite is the vice president and manager of human resource development at Liberty Mutual. Prior to Liberty Mutual, Larry held learning management positions in a variety of industries. He has worked for Pitney Bowes, the Forum Corporation, John Hancock Financial Services, Oxford Health Plans, and the Digital Equipment Corporation.

Larry is the editor of "Lies About Learning," a 2006 publication of ASTD Press, and he contributed chapters to "Elliot Masie's Learning Rants, Raves, and Reflections: A Collection of Passionate and Professional Perspectives" (Pfeiffer, 2005), and "The AMA Handbook of E-Learning Effective Design, Implementation, and Technology Solutions" (AMACOM, 2003).

A graduate of Washington College, Larry received an MA in Instructional Media and a PhD in Educational Technology, both from the Arizona State University.

 

T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, PhD, MPH T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, PhD, MPH
Board Member

T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, PhD, MPH, is a public health and transportation scientist, serving as North American Director of the Make Roads Safe Campaign for Global Road Safety and Director of Road Safety for the FIA Foundation, an international non-profit organization based in London. Her previous positions include NHTSA Scientist, AAA National Director of Traffic Safety Policy, Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Research Associate, and CDC Community Guide Fellow. She authored the seat belt section of the US Guide to Community Preventive Services, helped create mobility tools for older populations such as Roadwise Review and CarFit, and was a 2005 Presidential Appointee to the White House Conference on Aging.

Born in Vietnam, she is a graduate of Rice University, studied at La Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in Chile, and earned Master of Public Health and PhD degrees from the University of Texas. Dr. Dinh-Zarr has received the US DOT Outstanding Contribution to Traffic Safety Recognition Award, the CDC Outstanding Scientific Contribution to Public Health Award and the US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award. Dr. Dinh-Zarr is a member of various Transportation Research Board Committees at the National Academies of Science and has testified before the US Congress on road safety and public health. She speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.