With over 20 years in healthcare leadership, Valerie Holloway began her career in hospital public relations. She has served as a physician relations coordinator advancing to Director, Corporate Vice-president of Marketing, System Vice-president of Customer Service, and Vice-president at a 500-bed major medical center with oversight for quality, patient satisfaction, ancillary service departments, and volunteer services.

In addition to her healthcare experience, Valerie has worked in fundraising and not-for-profit management and served as a consultant in strategic planning and a leadership coach. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master’s degree in Management and Leadership from Webster University.

Valerie lives in Melbourne, Florida with husband Darrell, an aerospace engineer, has an adult daughter who works in maternal health, and recently became a grandmother.

Valerie feels everything she has done professionally has led her to this position and her ability to lead a team that can have far-reaching impact inmaking childbirth safe.

Bio coming soon.

Kelly Breese brings nearly 25 years of accounting experience to lead the Preeclampsia Foundation accounting department as their Comptroller. Kelly oversees the external accounting firm for the Foundation, ensuring accuracy of payroll, accounts payable and receivable, state and federal tax filings, and preparation of financial statements. She ensures integrity in the financial reporting of the Foundation by maintaining the accounting policies and procedures across all of the Foundation’s departments and mission areas. Kelly earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Finance from California State University – Sacramento in 2000. Kelly previously served as the Foundation’s Accounting Manager for almost six years after fifteen years working as the CFO and Operations Manager of her husband’s telecommunication company.

In addition to working with the Foundation, Kelly volunteers on the Board of her community HOA, providing financial oversite and assistance. Her three now-adult children still keep her very busy, but in her spare time, she enjoys travel with her husband, practicing daily yoga and pilates, working on home improvement projects, and solving word puzzles.

Bio coming soon.

Chris McGahee joined the Preeclampsia Foundation in 2018 as the Director of Development, and works with the donors, volunteers, industry partners, grantors, and more who support the important work of the Foundation. Chris has more than 33 years of healthcare experience in pre-hospital EMS, hospital emergency, clinical laboratory, and the corporate marketing communications, public relations, and fundraising fields. He has supported the marketing communications needs of a large, multi-hospital integrated health and is especially skilled at utilizing a variety of communications platforms and messaging strategies to create long-term, beneficial relationships. Chris has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Organization Management from Eastern Florida State College, and has earned numerous marketing, communications and advertising awards from the Florida Hospital Association and the American Advertising Federation.

Laney Poye serves as the Director of Communications and Engagement for the Preeclampsia Foundation, overseeing the Foundation's digital and traditional communications process. Her primary responsibilities include leading the Foundation's communication department for the development, implementation and evaluation of the Foundation's annual communications plan. She supports all aspects of the Foundation's programmatic, executiv,e and development teams, ensuring that the three pillars of its mission (Community, Research, and Health Care Improvements) remain at the heart of the Foundation's work. Laney enjoys overseeing the development of scientifically accurate and accessible educational content in English and in Spanish for www.preeclampsia.org as the Foundation's webmaster.

Laney spent almost a decade helping to grow the Preeclampsia Foundation into the robust organization that it is today, beginning in 2009. She served for many years as the Foundation's Director of Community Relations, handling all of the external engagement with stakeholders, including overseeing the development and management of the Foundation's top fundraising event, the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia, creating digital content for the Foundation's social media platform, and assisting with research studies on patient engagement and the psychological impact of traumatic pregnancy experiences.

Laney earned her bachelor's and master's degrees, magna cum laude, from Florida State University in International Affairs, where she specialized in women's health issues in low-resource settings. She is a member of MENSA, the National Public Health Information Coalition, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She also serves as a representative voice for women who have experienced infertility and pregnancy and infant loss. Laney is a voracious reader and movie buff who enjoys spending time with her husband Matt and their rainbow babies Adelaide & Zander in sunny Viera, Florida.

Rolanda Hatcher-Gallop is the media relations specialist for the Preeclampsia Foundation. She collaborates with local and national media to promote and convey the Foundation’s mission, programs, and initiatives such as the Re-Connect Tour 2022 and the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia. An award-winning veteran journalist, Rolanda has more than 30 years of experience in media, starting her career as a news reporter before going on to be an editor, freelance writer, digital content creator, media specialist, communication strategist, and speech writer. Her editorial work has appeared in such publications as The State, Florida Today, Spaces, Essence, and Signature Bride. She also enjoys working as a community organizer specializing in strategic messaging for non-profit organizations.  

Additionally, Rolanda is a full-time communications instructor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. She is the founding editor of the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts magazine, COPLA Connections. Her academic research interests include business and professional communication technologies, message and media strategy, and narrative engagement. She co-chairs Florida Tech’s annual African American Read-In event and serves as faculty advisor to the school’s Black Student Union, being named the university's 2020 Student Organization Advisor of the Year for her work with the group.

Rolanda resides in Palm Bay, Florida, with her husband, journalist J.D. Gallop, and their two Shih Tzus.

Emily Chaddock is the National Events Manager for the Preeclampsia Foundation, working primarily on the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia, the signature event for the Foundation. Her primary focus is enabling our volunteer Promise Walk chairs, volunteer committees, and other advocates to optimize their community engagement and fundraising events. Emily brings a wealth of peer-to-peer fundraising event experience to the team, having previously served as the southwestern regional development manager for the Alzheimer's Association, where she helped over see the Walk to End Alzheimer's and the Longest Day New Mexico, as well as many other supporting events.

Emily has a bachelor's degree in individualized studies with a minor in communication from New Mexico State University, with certifications in digital graphics and web design.

Emily is a preeclampsia survivor who delivered her daughter at 27 weeks, after experiencing complete vision loss and kidney failure due to severe preeclampsia. Her daughter had a long difficult NICU stay, but is thankfully now a thriving preschooler. In her free time, Emily serves as a volunteer for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, sits on the board of the Las Cruces Chamber Ballet, and was recently crowned Mrs. Las Cruces 2024. She lives in New Mexico with her husband and daughter.

Amari Jarrell is the Communications Coordinator for the Preeclampsia Foundation, primarily assisting with the creation of content for the website and digital platforms and supporting community outreach. Amari’s passion for research and writing led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University in journalism. She is currently finishing her Master’s degree in public relations from Full Sail University. Originally from Palm Bay, Florida, in her spare time, Amari enjoys videography, yoga, and concerts.

Courtney Smith is the Foundation's part-time social media coordinator, assisting with the Foundation's robust digital communications. Her primary responsibilities include developing and implementing social media content that meets the needs of preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome survivors, families, the medical community, and more. 

Courtney survived preeclampsia with severe features during the birth of her first child, an intrauterine growth restriction diagnosis, preterm delivery, emergency c-section surgery and her daughter had admission to the NICU. Courtney now shares her story to raise awareness about preeclampsia and the long-term physical, emotional and mental effects and about the maternal health crisis. She also serves as a volunteer ambassador with the 140 over 90 Run which benefits the Preeclampsia Foundation.

She lives in Idaho with her husband and daughter.

Bio coming soon!

Crystal Phillips is the Administrative Assistant for the Preeclampsia Foundation, assisting all departments to execute the mission. She handles all of the Foundation's incoming correspondence and ensures our community gets connected to the right team members when they reach out to our info@preeclampsia.org email. Crystal also handles the Foundation's database management.

Crystal brings over 20 years of experience in Administration and Office Management, including her previous military service in the Marine Corps. Most recently she served as the Office Manager of a local cyber-security company. She has extensive data entry and administrative support experience ranging from military, to doctors' offices, educational services, and cyber-security.

Crystal works out of our Melbourne headquarters, living nearby with her four children and two rescued dogs.

Nicole Purnell is the Program Director  of the MoMMA's Voices program of the Preeclampsia Foundation and a maternal health advocate based in North Texas. Her life was tragically changed in 2005 when preeclampsia and HELLP cause multiple organ failure, placenta abruption and resulted in the stillbirth of her son at 34 weeks gestation. She found the Preeclampsia Foundation in the following months and soon began volunteering.  For ten years, Nicole chaired the Dallas Promise Walk for Preeclampsia while filling other volunteer roles such as regional coach, participated in the Patient Support Network and contributed to the newsletter. In 2015, the Purnell’s welcomed a daughter after a successful preeclampsia free pregnancy.  

After 15 years in the printing industry as a project manager for automotive clients, Nicole joined the staff at the Preeclampsia Foundation as the MoMMA’s Voices Coalition Program Manager. MoMMA’s (Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Advocates) Voices is the first-ever maternal health patient advocacy coalition established in 2018, to amplify the voices of those who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth complications or loss - especially those who have been historically marginalized - ensuring they are equipped and activated as partners with providers and researchers to improve maternal health outcomes.

She also serves on the Executive Committee and Family Engagement Committee of the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC) and Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Committee for the National Quality Forum (NQF).

Bekah Bischoff serves as the Program Manager, Training for the MoMMA's Voices program of the Preeclampsia Foundation, assisting and working with patient family partners with lived experience and healthcare providers, hospitals, medical facilities, and other quality improvement partners to provide training on lived experience integration into quality improvement. She enjoys using her years of professional experience in education to implement change through the MoMMA's Voices Lived Experience Integration™ framework. She interacts with our Patient Family Partners to help prepare them for engagement opportunities.

Following her own near-death experience and postpartum recovery with the birth of her second child due to severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, Bekah is passionate about helping moms identify and heal from their traumatic birth experiences. She recognizes the importance of sitting beside each hurting mother in the isolation that comes with pregnancy trauma. Her work centers on helping empower these women to transform their pain to purpose. In 2018, she collaborated with the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) for legislative policy work, where she learned how much she loved meeting with policymakers to advocate for maternal health legislation and to ensure mothers are given a seat at the table. She specializes in storytelling for advocacy.

She calls Louisville, KY home where she lives with her husband Joseph, her two elementary-aged children, and two adopted babies, who have taught her the capacity of love our hearts are able to hold is immeasurable. 

Rhonda Sims serves as the Program Manager for Outreach and Engagement with the MoMMA's Voices program of the Preeclampsia Foundation, where she develops and nurtures organizational partnerships to support the growth of the program's quality improvement work. Rhonda started her maternal health activist journey after suffering from severe depression and anxiety following the tragic loss of two friends during and after childbirth from preeclampsia. Since this experience, she began intentionally advocating and creating space to facilitate conversation and education for fair maternal health practices with a strong voice for women of color.

Prior to joining MoMMA's Voices' program team, Rhonda owned and operated a full-service real estate team for eight years, where she served as operations manager. In this role, she advocated for fair law practices for realtors and pushed legislative impact for affordable housing for families to protect and promote homeownership. Rhonda also brings grant management experience working with the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce through education and policy impact.

Rhonda currently resides in Columbia, South Carolina with her spouse and four children as a military spouse and blended family. During her “freedom time,” she enjoys decorating spaces, shopping for artwork, listening to jazz music, hiking in nature, going to brunch with her girl tribe, and watching Home Alone on repeat with her family.

Jennifer Mikenas is the Program Coordinator for the MoMMA’s Voices program of the Preeclampsia Foundation, providing patient family partner matchmaking services and data analysis. She brings extensive professional experience in education and finance, having previously served as a mathematics educator for twenty years. As a MoMMA’s Voices program coordinator, she connects healthcare provider quality improvement teams together with certified patient family partners to provide opportunities to engage patients in maternal health change. She also contributes to the data analysis and sustainability of the program’s numerous grant funders.

Jennifer’s own personal experience drives her passion for this cause, as a representative voice for families who experience fertility challenges, pregnancy loss, and stillbirth. She works extensively as a Florida Ambassador for Count the Kicks and volunteer with PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy to end preventable stillbirth, and currently serves on the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Committee (FIMR) for Brevard County, Florida.

Jennifer is an avid Seminole fan with bachelor’s degrees in finance and management from Florida State University. In her free time, she enjoys reading, true crime podcasts, jigsaw puzzles and traveling. She lives in Indialantic, Florida with her husband and black labrador, Otis.

Daneille Dalberry-Henderson is the Administrative Assistant for the MoMMA’s Voices Program of the Preeclampsia Foundation, providing support and assistance to all team members of the program. She has over 5 years of administrative experience, previously serving a local home health care agency and the Florida Department of Children and Families. Daneille earned her Bachelor's Degree in Communication, with a concentration in Public Advocacy from the University of South Florida.

Her life drastically changed in 2019 when she was informed that her unborn child had a rare complication, which led to 3 fetal surgeries and a year-long stay in the NICU for her son. Following were years of many ER visits, long hospital stays, and a long list of new diagnoses for her firstborn. As a mother and caretaker of a medically complex child with disabilities, Daneille has faced many experiences that ignited her passion for amplifying the voices of mothers facing mental health issues, isolation, and navigating life with children with medical challenges. Also, as a postpartum preeclampsia survivor from the birth of her second-born, she recognizes that there are more challenges than solutions that women and mothers face during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. She chose to take her suffering and turn it into a solution by contributing what she can to help combat the many challenges that mothers and babies face every day.

Daneille enjoys binge-watching Netflix shows and spending time with her husband and three children in Tampa, FL.

Carrie MacMillan is the Project Coordinator for the Preeclampsia Foundation, handling the Preeclampsia Foundation's Cuff Kit program.

Carrie brings over 15 years experience in hospitality and office management and finance industries to the Foundation’s team, having previously served as the general manager of a hotel before stepping into this role.

Carrie lives with her lovely wife Heather and is a proud mom to 4 children and grandmother to 3 incredible grandchildren.

Julie Scott Allen serves as an outside consultant and government relations director for the Preeclampsia Foundation, advocating for preeclampsia research and funding to treat and develop a cure for preeclampsia. Her work for the Foundation led to the successful passage of the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act to establish and grow maternal mortality review committees throughout the U.S. Julie has worked to advance legislative, regulatory and advocacy agendas for both non-profit and for-profit clients and national organizations in DC for over two decades. Her strong policy knowledge and political instincts, along with her experience navigating Congress and the Executive Branch, make her a key partner for foundations, business leaders, association executives, and advocacy organizations alike. Julie has represented foundations, companies, associations, and other non-profit organizations on a range of health care and other matters, including, disease and patient advocacy organizations health and hospital systems, health care practitioners, pharmacies, clinical laboratories, life sciences companies, and medical device manufacturers and suppliers.

Julie previously served as the Senior Vice President at the District Policy Group/Drinker Biddle for 9 years. Before that she was the Vice President and Managing Director at Thompson Advisory Group, a federal marketing and lobbying firm that she helped to establish. Prior to launching the firm, she worked as a Vice President at the Jefferson Consulting Group, helping clients grow their business within the federal market. Earlier in her career, Julie lobbied for health providers, including the American Dental Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Julie earned her bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Marymount University. In addition to her love of politics and creative problem solving, Julie enjoys kayaking and kickboxing. Julie lives in Virginia with her two active sons and two equally active Westies.

VeeAnn Argyle is the Preeclampsia Foundation Research & Registry Manager, managing a variety of patient-centric research initiatives. Her work brings together preeclampsia survivors and researchers to engage in the common purpose of advancing knowledge and treatment of preeclampsia. VeeAnn executes new and ongoing research projects utilizing data from the Preeclampsia Registry, conducts data analysis and visualization, and manages Registry data for quality assurance.

VeeAnn brings over 20 years' experience in the genetic research industry working on women’s reproductive disorders, birth defects, and spinal disorders. She is an author and contributor to numerous scientific publications, journals, poster presentations, and abstracts, who has received several peer-recognition awards at scientific meetings. She has a passion for giving individuals and families hope for a better future through research.

In addition to her research activities, VeeAnn enjoys gardening, graphic design, nature photography, entertaining, handicrafts, cooking, genealogy, travel, reading, and collecting new hobbies. She lives and works in Salt Lake City, UT.