Andrea With
Community Leader
Andrea first joined L’Arche in 2022. They’ve always been interested in creating spaces where people can be fully known and appreciated in their differences, and so being welcomed into community in L’Arche felt a lot like coming home. Andrea has worked as a TA for students with Autism at Summit Academy in her hometown of Buffalo, NY, as well as a Customized Employment Specialist for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities at JCFS, before becoming the Day Support Manager in L’Arche Chicago. In each role, Andrea has been struck by the ways that being committed to understanding and caring for each other radically transforms not just lives but whole communities, and hoped for nothing more than to nurture this care in her hometown. Andrea is honored to be transformed by their relationships at L’Arche, and believes these relationships, lived out loud, have the power to transform Buffalo.
Board of Directors
Maggie Buckley is a co-founder of Transforming Care. For many years, she worked as a School Psychologist in an urban school district while completing a Ph.D. in Human Development, studying development within a broad cultural context, with particular emphasis on examining the ideologies that impact our systems of care for individuals with disabilities. Maggie uses her personal, professional, and educational experience to facilitate Transforming Care’s Intentional Communities of Care Work Group. She served on the Board of Parent Network in its initial year over 35 years ago. Maggie also designed and wrote grants for a respite program as part of the Bornhava Preschool, an inclusive program for preschool students with disabilities. She has authored two book chapters, From risk to resilience: Promoting positive family adaptation through Self Determination in Mental Health and Wellness Supports for Youth with IDD and Where Do Families Turn: Adults with Disabilities in a Care(less) Culture in Driving social innovation: How unexpected leadership is transforming society. (2022). Maggie is the parent of two adult daughters. Her daughter Carly has Down syndrome.
Paul Cesana co-founded Transforming Care and became the Board Chair in 2016. Paul holds an LMSW and a Certificate in Mental Health service Administration. He has extensive experience in the field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Paul served as the Executive Director of the Resource Center, the largest agency serving people with developmental disabilities in Chautauqua County NY. Paul’s leadership at the Resource Center for over twenty years allowed the agency to thrive in always changing and sometimes threatening funding and regulatory environments. Paul’s knowledge, skill, and expertise in all areas including program design, implementation, regulations, and funding intricacies is awe inspiring. Paul’s management style and very real concern for others were a constant source of inspiration for the Resource Center staff. Additionally, Paul was actively committed to several organizations including but not limited to past president of the Board of the New York State Rehabilitation Association, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Conference of Community Supports and Employment Services and the ARC of USA National Council of executive Directors. Paul is active in the Episcopalian Faith Community. He is the father of two adult sons.
Tish Brady joined the board of Transforming Care in 2016 and currently serves as the board secretary. Tish served as the Chief Operating Officer of Catholic Charities in Buffalo, NY for 18 years, until her retirement in 2018. In that capacity, Tish was credited with the expansion of the range of services to families. Through her efforts, Catholic Charities was awarded the administration of the Women’s Infants and Children’s Nutritional Program (WIC) for Erie and Chautauqua’s Counties. Tish obtained a grant to introduce new methods and strategies to support families of Alzheimer’s patients. Tish’s areas of expertise include clinical behavioral health, innovative program design, organizational management, partnerships with federal, state, and local entities, outcomes identification and delivery, contract negotiation, and service delivery compliance. Tish is a graduate of Leadership Buffalo and was named one of Buffalo Business’s First Most Influential Women. Tish has been actively involved in her community, serving on the Town of Brant Planning Board, chair of the DeVeau Scholarship Fund of Niagara University, a member of the Whiting Foundation and the New York State Council of Family and Child Care Agencies. Tish is active in her Episcopalian Faith Community. She is the mother of two adult sons.
Rowan Ketchum joined the Transforming Care Board as Treasurer at the start of 2019 with over a year of prior board experience for another small local 501(c)(3) that serves those with disabilities and special needs. He is a Certified Public Accountant and works as a Supervising Tax Senior at LVBW Accountants and Consultants. Growing up in a small rural town near Rochester, Rowan was raised as a Christian and served his church as drummer for the youth group’s worship team.
Beth Vandenberg is a board member and part of the Intentional Communities of Care Work Group As a life-long churchgoer and an active member in her congregation, Beth has served in positions of leadership in her own congregation and at the Presbytery level. Her knowledge of Henri Nouwen and his work with spirituality and caregiving coupled with her 43 years of experience caring for people as a clinical nurse specialist in the area of behavioral health, has encouraged her commitment to the development of Intentional care communities in the Buffalo, NY area. Her personal relationships with friends and family have heightened her awareness of the importance of a broad network of support and concern for the development and growth of a rich life for all people, regardless of their abilities.
Tashawn Faison chairs the Fundraising and Resource Development Committee. Tashawn joined the board in 2018. She has a bachelor’s degree in information technology as well as several IT certificates. Tashawn is currently an Account Relations Manager with a nonprofit fundraising CRM software company. She is active in the church and community with memberships in the Buffalo Urban League, the Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals, the NAACP, and the Junior League. Tashawn serves as support parent volunteer/advocate at the WNY Parent to Parent Network. Tashawn has two young adult sons; her youngest has a developmental disability.
Emily Mondschein is the proud mother of two boys, one who was born with Down syndrome. She holds a master’s degree in education and has founded two not-for-profits that serve individuals with Down syndrome.
Emily currently serves as the Executive Director for GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers in Buffalo, NY. She is also a leader of and member on multiple councils, both local and national, that support individuals with disabilities. Emily has advocated to Congress on behalf of individuals and is active on the local and national advocacy front.
Emily has worked with Oishei Children’s Hospital to launch a Down syndrome program within the Robert Warner, MD Rehabilitation Center.
She is also a co-author of “Down Syndrome: Inclusive Education Guidelines”, the only education guidance document that exists within the Unites States.
The Rev. Dr. Sarah M. Rieth is a retired Episcopal priest who has served in multiple settings with people living with disabilities. Her first professional experience after she was ordained in 1977 was as a temporary chaplain at a state residential facility for people living with developmental disabilities. This was at a time when deinstitutionalization was beginning; Sarah met with local citizens about developing group homes in town. Sarah served as a pastoral psychotherapist for many years as well as serving at various congregations in Western New York and in North Carolina. She served as priest in charge of a congregation of Deaf adults and children, and has, whenever possible in each of her congregations, always included in worship leadership people with disabilities.
