Women Trailblazers Podcast

Sarah Ross joined the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin in 2023 as the Director of the Women’s Fund of Portage County. She works with a dedicated volunteer advisory board to build grant-making programs that support local non-profit organizations that center Portage County women and issues important to women. Philanthropy is a career shift for Sarah and is in response to the incredible support and mentorship she has experienced from women leaders and friends in the region. Her vision for Portage County is for every women to be unbounded and unrestricted to pursue the life they choose.

In another life, Sarah is an award-winning scenic, puppet, properties, and costume designer with credits at Forward Theater Company, Renaissance Theaterworks, American Blues Theater, Marriott Theater Lincolnshire, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Joffrey Ballet, The Second City, Paramount Theater, Shattered Globe Theater, and Theater at the Center among others. As an artist and designer, Sarah advocates for robust arts access for all to build empathy, curiosity and belongingness that strengthen community connections and civil discourse.

Nerissa Nelson is a librarian/professor at UWSP with over 30 years in the library profession in corporate and academic settings. At UWSP, she has served in shared governance leadership roles and is an active member of the AFT-affiliated faculty/academic staff union, SPARC. Previously, Nerissa coordinated the Women’s & Gender Studies program at UWSP for three years and served on its advisory council. Appointed by Gov. Tony Evers in 2019, she now serves as Vice Chair of the Wisconsin Women’s Council.

Outside academia, Nerissa teaches ballet to adults and is pursuing a certification to teach ballet to seniors. With a diverse background, including performing as a professional ballet dancer, and working as a corporate information analyst, she is politically engaged at the state and local levels, advocating for better and improved policies, especially for women. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Journalism (Columbia College, Chicago) and Library and Information Studies (UW-Madison), respectively, and a master’s degree in Communication with a focus on media studies, specifically the effects of media concentration on the quality of local news (UWSP).

Pratima Gandhi, vice chancellor for Business Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, is a financial officer with 20 years of academic experience.

Gandhi began her role as UW-Stevens Point’s chief financial officer in June 2020 after serving as the chief financial officer and treasurer at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., since 1993. While at Bradley, she provided leadership and operational management for the university’s financial, business and facilities functions, including a budget of $230 million and $110 million in construction projects.

Her philosophy helps her look at higher education as a whole, addressing and planning for challenges such as financial issues, changing student demographics and a national pandemic.

The vice chancellor for business affairs leads about 160 full-time employees in a division that includes Facility Services, Financial Operations, Budget and Planning, Human Resources, Capital Planning and Budget, Risk Management, Sustainability, Parking Services and Police and Security Services. As the university’s chief financial officer, Gandhi is responsible for UW-Stevens Point’s operating budget and serves on the chancellor’s executive team.

Angie Heuck, Uplift founder and director, is a champion of women’s rights, empowerment and encouragement. After stepping away from a career in strategic communications and foundation management, Angie founded Uplift after seeing individual need for direct financial assistance and witnessing three women in her own life experience crisis. Named Portage County Business Council’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Angie draws from her deep well of management and foundation experience that has equipped her for success, including her roles as Ministry Health Care’s Director of Foundation and Development, Senior Manager of Marketing Communications at Joerns Healthcare and owning and operating her own marketing agency, Advantage Communications and Design. Angie has uplifted countless women through her mentorship and leadership. Though she may be happiest when she is serving and mentoring others, in her free time, you can find her reading historical fiction on the beach, or spending time with her husband, Mark, and her two adult children, as well as her two dogs.

Lark Lewis (she/her) is based in Washington, D.C. (but originally from Stevens Point) where she works in content and digital strategy, currently as the Senior Manager, Creative & Digital Strategies at the National Women’s Law Center. She was a founding board member of Uplift and considers herself a vocal and passionate advocate for women and women’s rights. Outside of her work and advocacy, she enjoys taking long walks through the city with friends, reading, and teaching classes at barre3.

Tracy is the author of Wild Hair, A Courageous Woman’s Guide to a Bold and Authentic Career where she shares her no-nonsense, empowering lessons on how women can use the power of authentic choice to create the career they love. Tracy is a genuine, passionate, and compelling speaker on the topics of authenticity, leadership, women and career, and diversity and inclusion.

Cheryl Schreier ’79, is a retired Superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial and passionate advocate for the protection of national parks and natural resources. She has worked at 10 different national park units throughout her career, and now serves as a member of the Midwest Regional Advisory Council for the National Parks and Conservation Association and Vice President of the Executive Council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

Abbey Krumrie ’10, has devoted her career to the conservation and education of raptors. Abbey worked with several environmental education groups including Lake Superior Zoo, National Eagle Center and Raptor Education Group Inc. before co-founding River Valley Raptors Inc. with her husband in 2017.

Bobbi Kubish B.S. ’96, M.S. ’01, works to energize the next generation of natural resources and agriculture professionals. She currently serves as the Director of Educational Programming for the Food + Farm Exploration Center in Plover, Wis., supporting the center’s programming development and outreach initiatives. Before taking on this role, she enjoyed a rewarding career at UWSP for 23 years spanning various roles in the College of Natural Resources.

Dr. Alexa Posny ’74, former senior vice president of state and federal program for Renaissance Learning, has over three decades of experience in education spanning from classroom teacher (at the elementary, middle and high school levels) to chief state school officer in Kansas to assistant secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, she was appointed as the director of the Office of Special Education Programs for the U.S. Department of Education, was the deputy commisioner of education with the Kansas State Department of Education, state director of special education, director of special education for the Shawnee Mission School District and director of the cirriculuum and instruction specialty option as part of the Title 1 Technical Assistance Center (TAC) network of TACs across the United States

Christine Russell ’07 serves as Director of Health & Wellness Programs with the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. She brings over 15 years of experience supporting and administering health and wellness programming for hospital systems, global pharmaceutical companies, and national health management organizations, bringing greater health, wellness, and outcomes to employees and families. Christine is also a practitioner with training as a fitness instructor and wellness coach, rounded out by her experience with program implementation, data analytics, marketing, and communications, and leading strategic initiatives. Christine’s passion for community impact has inspired her local work in Greater Madison to support underserved individuals and their families through maternal care, financial, and physical well-being. Her transition from corporate wellness to community health drives her commitment to further support her own community.

Lauren Conaboy ’05 is the Vice President of National Policy at Centerstone, a nonprofit health system specializing in mental health and substance use disorder treatments. As Vice President of National Policy, Conaboy works to advance policy and regulatory initiatives to accelerate access to affordable, patient-centered behavioral health services that are rooted in the best science of care. Through her advocacy, Conaboy has directly influenced the passage of several bills including passing legislation to create the nation’s first ever three digit dialing code for suicide prevention (9-8-8) as well as directly influenced several provisions of the 2018 SUPPORT Act, a bill designed to combat the nation’s opioid crisis. 

Prior to joining the Centerstone team, Conaboy worked as the Government Affairs Director for Seven Counties Services in Kentucky, where she advanced policies to increase access to addiction treatment services, engaged in the state’s 1115 waiver process, and co-chaired a committee that modernized the state’s telehealth regulations for Medicaid. 

In addition to over a decade of experience running state and national public policy and advocacy campaigns, Conaboy has also worked in the clinical realm as a marriage and family therapist. In 2019 Conaboy was recognized by Business Insider as a top DC Health Policy Power Player. 

Conaboy graduated from the University of Louisville with dual master’s degrees in Clinical Social Work and Marriage & Family Therapy and from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. 

Deanna Singh is a renowned speaker and trailblazer in leadership excellence, energizing audiences worldwide with her dynamic presence. As a highly esteemed author, educator, and business leader, she is committed to making the world more meaningfully connected, willing to build or break systems to create positive change.As Founder and Chief Change Agent of Flying Elephant, Deanna leads five social ventures working towards positive impact across education, healthcare, and entrepreneurship. She authored six award-winning books, including Actions Speak Louder and Purposeful Hustle, and owns the Uplifting Mansion, a historic Milwaukee landmark that fosters innovation and professional development.

With degrees from Fordham, Georgetown, and UW-Madison, Deanna has been recognized as one of the community’s most influential 40 Under 40 Leaders, a Woman of Inspiration, and an African American Woman Everyone Should Know by Forbes. She is an inspiration and powerful force for leadership transformation.

Erin Redman is an associate professor at the School of Education and program director of the educational sustainability doctoral program at University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point (UWSP). During her time at UWSP, she has crafted a transdisciplinary framework for the educational sustainability program and has supported more than one hundred students through their doctoral journey. Prior to joining UWSP, she was Research Professor at the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University and a Research Associate at Leuphana University of Luneburg. She has led sustainability education programs for in-service teachers across the United States, Ireland, Mexico, and Germany. She was also a sustainability professor at the National University in Mexico where her research focused on the knowledge-behavior gap, particularly with regards to waste and food behaviors.

Dr. Liz Potter-Nelson ’20 is an Assistant Professor of Education Foundations at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she teaches courses in the School of Education to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to teaching, Potter-Nelson conducts research in sustainability education with a focus on how educators, at all levels, holistically incorporate sustainability into their courses through the content they teach, and the pedagogies they use. Prior to joining the faculty at UWSP, Potter-Nelson was an assistant professor at the University of Maine at Farmington, and a Postdoctoral Associate in the Environmental Solutions Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also has over 15 years of experience in public schools as a high school science teacher and administrator. Potter-Nelson has degrees in Educational Sustainability (Ed.D. University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point), Science Education (M.A.T. Iowa State University) and Physics (B.S. Iowa State University).