Biographies

Bingham C. Jamison, CFA

Bingham Jamison served four years on active duty as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and served two combat tours in Iraq. He writes and speaks on veterans’ issues and is a member of the military advisory board of Veterans Healing Initiative, a nonprofit organization based in Greenville, SC that provides veterans access to treatment for substance abuse and PTSD. He also writes for Time.com’s Battleland Blog.

Margaret Stone

Margaret Stone is chairman, president and founder of Veterans Healing Initiative. Founded in 2009, VHI is the nation’s only non_profit organization focused exclusively on providing veterans access to treatment for substance abuse and trauma and providing funds for those veterans who are not able to pay for treatment. Ms. Stone has appeared on NBC New York Nightly News and Fox 5 TV and writes a blog for the Huffington Post.

Hon. Robert T. Russell, Jr.

Judge Robert Russell is an Associate Judge for Buffalo City Court
and serves by appointment, as an Acting Erie County Court Judge. In
January of 2008, he created and began presiding over this Country’s first
“Veterans’ Treatment Court”, in collaboration with the Western New York
Health Care Network, Western New York Veterans Project, and with a host
of volunteers veterans that serves as Mentors.

Neil Smith

Neil Smith is the former President and General Manager of the New York Rangers Hockey Club and the architect of the 1993-1994 Stanley Cup Champion Team. His 11 years running the club is one of the most successful and memorable periods in team history. He was named General Manager in 1989 and in 1992, was promoted to President and General Manager.

Andy Pucher

Andy Pucher is Vice President of Global Operations Management for Disney CORE Services, a division of The Walt Disney Company.  In this role, Andy oversees the management of Disney’s global Corporate properties in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Andy worked for ABC, Inc. from 1984 until 2001 when he moved to Disney, the parent company of ABC.  His last position with ABC was Vice President of East Coast Administration.

Lisa M. Najavits, PhD

Lisa M. Najavits, PhD is Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine; Lecturer, Harvard Medical School; clinical psychologist at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System; and psychologist at McLean Hospital. She is author of the books Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse (2002) and A Woman’s Addiction Workbook (New Haringer Press; 2002), as well as over 125 professional publications.

Vice Admiral John G. Morgan, Jr.

With an economics degree from the University of Virginia, John entered the U.S. Navy in 1972 and for the next 36 years was steeped in the practical side of planning, execution, and organizational leadership. On Sept. 11, 2001, John was commanding 10,000 men and women of the USS Enterprise carrier battle group, just then exiting the Strait of Hormuz. Upon getting word of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center he immediately turned the group—on his own authority—to be first in the theater of operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Polly McCall, M.A., LCSW

Polly McCall graduated from New York University with a degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, and from Columbia University School of Social Work.  Ms. McCall served in the Employee Assistance Program for District 97, the New York City workers union, as a counselor and also developed programs and interventions; this was during the crack epidemic of the late Eighties. Ms. McCall then became Clinical Director of Freedom Institute, an aftercare agency in New York City, treating substance abusers and their families.

David C. Lewis, M.D.,

David Lewis, M.D. is a Professor Emeritus of Community Health and Medicine and the Donald G. Millar Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. In 1982, he founded, and for eighteen years directed, the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Dr. Lewis is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Medical School. Trained in Internal Medicine, he is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Doug Johnson

Doug Johnson was one of the mainstays of television news in NYC. Beginning in 1969, Johnson worked for WABC TV. He served as anchor, reporter, talk show host, and producer for several decades and was the winner of six Emmys. Johnson covered everything from the death of John Lennon to the nuclear crisis at Three Mile Island, and for much of his career specialized in politics and covering the financial world. In his first book, former New York Mayor Ed Koch said “Doug Johnson is one of the most informed and balanced television reporters in this city.”

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