Board of Directors

Denise Balzano
Jessica Bourgeois
Brook Carlon
Debby Cochran
Jessica L. Greis Edwardson
Bryan Gibson
Patricia Harrison
Bootsie Humenansky

As a founding Director of The Safe Children Foundation, Denise Balzano continues her more than 20 years of volunteer activities in support of child abuse treatment and prevention programs in Virginia. Professionally, she has worked on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and at Balzano Associates, Inc.  She has served on Board of the Children’s Advocacy Centers for the past 5 years.

Jess Bourgeois is a seasoned marketing professional with a degree in Marketing from George Mason University. With 16 years of experience in SaaS technology, Jess has excelled in running field and demand marketing programs targeting both private and public sector organizations. Her expertise spans across various channels including events, social media, email marketing, and more. Beyond her professional endeavors, Jess has chaired SafeSpot events such as the 2022 and 2023 Passion for Fashion, and volunteered for a previous SafeSpot 5K Race. Jess resides in Herndon, VA, with her husband Beau and their three kids, Gabby, Christian, and Daniel.

Brook Carlon has spent more than 25 years leading talent-related areas for businesses in technology and health care related industries.  She currently serves as the CHRO for Kastle Systems based in Falls Church, Virginia.  Improving the lives of children is important for Ms. Carlon, whether through teenage apprentice programs, volunteering in the elementary school where her daughter is a third grade teacher or employing teens at her local ice cream shop.  Ms. Carlon received her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and her MBA from Regis University.

Deborah Cochran, of Cochran and Allen, has 30 years of experience assisting individuals, families and small business owners with all of their estate planning needs. Debby has also been selected as one of the best Trusts & Estates attorneys by The Best Lawyers in America for the 2005-2018 editions. Debby graduated with honors from Franklin and Marshall College, and received her JD from George Washington University Law School, with high honors.

Jessica L. Greis Edwardson was a prosecutor for twelve years in Fairfax County, Virginia, and specialized in the prosecution of crimes against children, specifically sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.  Prior to becoming a prosecutor Jessica advocated for domestic violence victims and their children as an attorney with Potomac Legal Aid and Legal Services of Northern Virginia. Jessica continues her advocacy for children, including as a consultant for the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In 2012 Bryan Gibson was the Supervisor of the Child Abuse Unit for the Fairfax County Police Department.  In his role, he was instrumental in ensuring a smooth transition from the County’s first children’s advocacy center to SafeSpot CAC. During the first year of efforts to create SafeSpot, he led the police department in creating a forensic interview and observation rooms for use during the interim between the closing of the former center and the opening of SafeSpot’s first office. He ensured that the MOU was signed by all County partners, so that the new organization could become a member of the National Children’s Alliance and apply for its first grant from the Virginia Department of Social Services.  His efforts brought recognition from the statewide CACVA.  After retiring from the police department, Bryan began a second career with the Fairfax County Schools, also protecting children from abuse.

Patricia Harrison has over 40 years of experience working in the health and human services field, with 32 years of service in Fairfax County Government. From 2009 to till her retirement in 2018, she served as Fairfax County, Deputy County Executive and was responsible for overseeing the county’s Health and Human Service system of 9 agencies and relationships with over 75 nonprofit organizations. During her tenure, she grew the county’s capacity to provide a system of care and trauma-informed practices across the child, youth and family serving system. In retirement she continues to promote the use of therapeutic approaches to improve the life of vulnerable people through her work with various nonprofit organizations and teaching recreation therapy at George Mason University.

Bootsie Humenansky is a founding Director of SafeSpot and is currently serving on the state Board of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Virginia, a member of the Fairfax County Blue Ribbon Committee and Allies in Prevention.  She has been a long-time community advocate for children, especially those who have been abused or neglected.

Annette’s interest and charities have always been in support of women and children’s causes.  Part of her 35 years in technology culminated as Director of Philanthropy for Cisco Systems where she researched the challenges in getting more girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) career paths.  In addition, she supported a project establishing 340 plus Cisco Networking Academies in Sub-Saharan Africa where a 30% female enrollment was a critical component in approval of an academy.  From 2006 to 2016 Annette was a member of the INOVA Health Foundation where her interest was in the Women’s and Children’s Hospitals.  She currently owns and runs Kerlin’ s Mid-Atlantic Dist. Inc. a certified Woman Owned Business.

Michelle Kingsley graduated George Washington University in 1981 with a degree in marketing. Over the years Michelle has been involved in both school and community events in different volunteer capacities. Michelle has supported SafeSpot since its inception by chairing the very first fundraiser race as well as co-chairing SafeSpot’s Champions for Children golf tournament for two years. In addition, she helped create SafeSpot’s Junior Board of young professionals.

Andy Klaff is an Executive Managing Director for Newmark, a global commercial real estate company.  For almost 30 years, Mr. Klaff has provided corporate relocation services for a diverse client base, including technology, financial, non-profit, and government contract companies.  In addition, he has represented numerous regional developers and institutions in marketing and leasing their Class “A” office projects in Northern Virginia. Mr. Klaff lives in Reston, Virginia with his wife, Christin and children, Ryan, Colin, and Annie.

Lauren Kushin graduated from James Madison University and went on to get her MBA from George Mason University. She focused on Mergers & Acquisitions and Marketing Communications in the government contractor space before transitioning to serving her community and raising a family. Lauren’s philanthropic efforts are geared toward helping her community’s most vulnerable children. She serves on SafeSpot’s Board of Directors with a primary focus on fundraising in support of child abuse treatment and prevention. Additionally Lauren is supportive of animal rescue organizations and children’s health.

Armen is currently the CEO of United Business Technologies, the largest independent Canon dealer in the Southeast Region.  Armen stared with the Xerox Corporation and has spent thirty-seven successful years in the copier industry.  Under his guidance, the company prospered into one of Canon’s top independent dealers.  Armen graduated from Penn State in 1964 with a BS in Business Administration.  He earned an MBA in Finance from Pace University in 1974.

Claudia Manoogian has lived in Fairfax County since 1978.  She was active at all levels of her children’s schools serving on the PTA.  She worked as a Recruiting/Hiring director for Capitol Office Solutions for 10 years before retiring and moving to McLean.  She became a member of a local charity that worked to raise funds for primarily DC schools and Military families.  Over the years the charity raised over 1M dollars.  She continues to support children’s issues by serving on the SafeSpot Board.

Mr. Masino is the CFO at Kastle Systems International, a leader in managed security systems. Former CFO of ASG Security and long-time advocate for child abuse causes, Ralph Masino has been a part of fundraising efforts in support of SafeSpot since its inception in 2013.  In 2016 he created and chaired the very successful Champions for Children golf tournament. Ralph has been a finalist for both the Washington Business Journal and Northern Virginia Technology Council’s CFO of the Year. He holds a BS in Accounting from The American University.

Prior to staying home with her three children, Jacquelyn McVey graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  She spent 6 years working in the telecommunications industry as a management consultant across North America and Australia.  Today, she serves as a co-chair of SafeSpot’s annual Passion for Fashion fundraiser in Northern Virginia.

Described as an “outstanding member of the Northern Virginia community,” Marge Odeen is a founding member of CharityWorks that provides money for education and child-related causes. Her endeavors on behalf of the Women’s Center, Fairfax Inova Foundation and child abuse treatment and prevention programs are marked by her desire to “give something back” to the community and to get others involved.

Phil Odeen is the retired CEO of TRW and has served on a number of corporate boards.  He has been active with several Northern Virginia charitable and cultural organizations and currently chairs the Henry M Jackson Foundation and the Lost Tree Village Foundation.   Phil and his wife Marge actively supported the Virginia Childhelp village and the Northern Virginia advocacy center.   Phil also served on the national Childhelp Board.

Catie Price is a retired litigation attorney whose practice focused on family law issues.  A graduate of the University of Virginia and the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at William and Mary, Catie has a special interest in service to children and families which naturally led to a family law practice focused on achieving goals that best served those interests.  She currently works in the area of grant reporting and acquisition with Second Story (formerly Alternative House), a local non-profit with a mission focused on assisting youth at critical points in their lives, including short-term assistance to teens in crisis, long-term housing assistance and life skills education in support of youth and young mothers, and community after school programs and resource centers supporting families.

Charlie Price retired from the FBI after serving as a Special Agent for more than 28 years.  An expert in interviews and interrogations, Charlie obtained confessions that resulted in the convictions of a wide-variety of subjects, including three sitting members of Congress, numerous corporate executives, and a spy.  He received the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence in HUMINT (human intelligence), the bureau’s highest award, for interviews/interrogations he conducted on classified national security matters while deployed to Afghanistan. After retiring from the FBI, Charlie created and led a corporate investigations practice at a consulting firm, was the Chief Security Officer of a Fortune 500 company, and served as the Chief Strategy Officer of a privately-held company that owns and manages over $4 billion in real estate.

Dr. Clishia Taylor is the President/CEO of American Health Care Professional of Virginia. A co-founder of Bless My People Foundation that meets health care needs in the US and around the world, she has a commitment to making a difference in the lives of children who have suffered from abuse.

Randy Turk was a high school English teacher, a newspaper reporter, and then a civil and white collar criminal defense trial lawyer for 40 years before joining the Safespot Board. He spent 20 years as Partner at Miller Cassidy Larocca & Lewin, followed by 24 years as Partner at Baker Botts LLC. Randy has extensive leadership experience working not only with teens, but with major corporate boards and executives, state and federal politicians and senior government officials in civil and criminal trials throughout the country, in Congressional hearings on Capital Hill, and in internal corporate investigations throughout the world. He holds a BA in English from Princeton University, an MA in Communications from Stanford University, and a JD from Georgetown University Law School.