Missy Alexander is the Director of Education at The Parents’ Place of Maryland, has been with the organization since 2002. She is the mother of an adult daughter with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, who was educated in the St. Mary’s County Public Schools for her entire academic career. She is the Co-Chair of the St. Mary’s County Local Management Board, serving as a community member. She is an active member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), serving on its Board of Directors where she was the first advocate to serve as Board Chair. Missy’s approach in working with families is driven by the firm belief that parents are the best advocates for their children, and she provides them with the information, support and encouragement to empower them to do so.

Selene Almazan, Esq. (MD) has been a member of COPAA since its inception in 1998.  Selene was on the Board of Directors from 2003-2014.  She has represented students and families for nearly 30 years.  Selene is a former Supervising Attorney for the Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland where she represented children in the foster care system, including representation in special education matters. For nearly 23 years, Selene represented parents in special education matters with a primary focus on least restrictive environment (LRE) issues at the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education.  Since September 2014, Selene has been the Legal Director for the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) where she supports the work of the Amicus Committee as well as works on federal and local policy issues.  Since May 2015 Selene maintains a private practice focusing on parent and student representation in special education matters, including LRE. She represents families at IEP team meetings, state complaint proceedings, mediations, due process hearings, suspension/expulsion proceedings and federal court proceedings, including matters involving violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. She has extensive experience training families, teachers, school administrators, attorneys and advocates on legal issues related to special education law as well as disability discrimination issues.

David Beinke, former Director of Advocacy with the Cirkiel Law Group from 97-2021, now Advocate Nomad, provides a unique brand of support for children with disabilities and fellow advocates in their educational and community environment in the state of Texas and beyond in his “ Hotel Prius” After serving in the Marines, his career path started when he began working at Denton State School in 1977 in the Texas mental health/intellectual disability system.

Dr. Crumm is a longtime COPAA board member who leads COPAA's curriculum advisory group and is as a Special Education Advocate Training (SEAT) 2.0 instructor.  Eileen works as the Executive Director of a nonprofit in northern California that serves families of children with developmental delays, disabilities, social emotional concerns and special health care needs.  Eileen and the multicultural, multilingual peer parent staff work with about 2500 families a year,  helping with community services including IEPs and IFSPs.   Eileen participates in Family Voices of California, Help Me Grow Alameda County and the Family Resource Center Network of California.   She has worked for the local Parent Training and Information Center (DREDF), as a special education advocate in private practice, and as a university professor.  Eileen is the proud parent of two young adults, one with physical disabilities.

Cynthia Daniels Hall (NC), is the parent of children with diagnoses on the autism spectrum.  Cynthia is a special education advocate and owner of Every Child Solutions, a special education advocacy business. Cynthia is an COPAA board member, a Black American female born in the southeast, raised in the northeast, and now lives in North Carolina.  As a person who was raised in a family of educators, and as the parent of young adults with disabilities, she understands the process from a unique and personal perspective.  Cynthia understands how the inconsistent implementation of special education laws by public school systems affects parents and their children. As a military spouse, having lived in six states, she realizes that when helping parents obtain a free appropriate public education for their children in the least restrictive environment, any solution must be tailored to their individual child and their situation.  Cynthia interest in serving on COPAA's Board and as Chair of the Advocate committee is non-attorney special education advocate training that promotes the development of knowledge and skills to support, inform, and empower parent participation in the special education process.

Monika Jones, J.D., (CA),  is the visionary founder of The Brain Recovery Project: Childhood Epilepsy Surgery Foundation where she serves as its CEO. After her first son, Henry, surgery to remove the left half of his brain to stop drug-resistant seizures, she and her husband Brad founded The Brain Recovery Project to initiate and fund research to better understand neurorehabilitation and other issues after brain surgery to stop seizures. The organization's programs include a special education advocacy program which provides ten free hours of free IEP help for the parents of the community of children the organization serves. Monika served as the principal investigator under a R13 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support the 2014 scientific symposium on brain plasticity, hemispheric specialization, and neuro-rehabilitation after cerebral hemispherectomy. For most of her professional career, Monika was a litigator representing corporations in various matters, including lawsuits brought by employees, insurance coverage disputes, trademark infringement, or other contractual disputes. Monika is a graduate University of California at Los Angeles and received her juris doctorate from the University of Southern California, where she was class president. She is a founding board member of Watkins VITAL Care Program, an innovative new program that offers an educational environment for adults with moderate-to-severe autism who have aged out of the school system. She has served on the board of Portals, one of the oldest and largest mental health organizations in Los Angeles which offers mental health services in Central and South Los Angeles. Ms. Jones no longer practices law, focusing all her efforts on improving the quality of life, including educational opportunities, for children impacted by brain surgery to stop seizures.

Jennifer D. Laviano, (CT) holds a B.A. in English Literature from Skidmore College and earned her J.D., cum laude, from Quinnipiac University School of Law. Jennifer Laviano is an attorney in private practice in Connecticut who focuses on the representation of children and adolescents under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Her representation includes attendance at IEP team meetings and mediation and zealous advocacy in litigation in due process hearings and federal court. Attorney Laviano is a regular presenter, locally and nationally, on the Civil Rights of students with disabilities, and is the co-author of the popular book, Your Special Education Rights: What Your School District Isn't Telling You.

Mallory Finn Legg is the director of Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law), a community-based program of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Project HEAL is Maryland's only comprehensive medical-legal partnership, which provides advocacy and legal services for low- and moderate-income children with disabilities who receive clinical services at Kennedy Krieger.

Mallory earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Delaware and a Juris Doctor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She interned at Project HEAL during her second and third years of law school, and started as a staff attorney in August 2014. In April 2015, Mallory received an award for dedication to her law school's public interest organization, the Maryland Public Interest Law Project. Mallory is on the board of the Collaborative Project of Maryland. Mallory is on the development committee and is a co-chair of the membership committee for the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. Mallory received The Daily Record's Leading Women Award in December 2017 and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Young Professional Award in November 2017.

Maureen van Stone, Esq., MS (MD), is a COPAA board member and the Director of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) at Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) and the founding director of Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law), a MCDD community-based program. Project HEAL is Maryland’s only comprehensive medical-legal partnership, which provides advocacy and civil legal services to low- and moderate-income families and children with disabilities who receive clinical services at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Maureen is an associate in the Department of Mental Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and affiliate faculty in the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. Maureen is a member of Kennedy Krieger Institute’s ethics program. Maureen earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in developmental psychology at The Johns Hopkins University, and a Juris Doctor at Whittier Law School, with a concentration on children’s legal issues. Prior to law school, Maureen worked as a clinician on the Neurobehavioral Unit in the Department of Behavioral Psychology at KKI for six years. Maureen is a graduate of the Leadership Maryland Class of 2012, received the 2021 Leader in Diversity award from the Baltimore Business Journal, and received the following awards from Maryland’s business and legal newspaper, The Daily Record: 2018 & 2013 Maryland’s Top 100 Women award, 2017 Innovator of the Year, 2014 Very Important Professionals award, 2012 Leadership in Law award, and 2011 Leading Women award.

Julie Swanson is in private practice as a special education advocate in Connecticut. After her son was diagnosed with autism, Ms. Swanson decided to change careers and returned to school to obtain an additional degree as a Disability Specialist. Her practice is exclusively dedicated to helping parents of children with disabilities obtain appropriate special education services. Ms. Swanson’s website, yourspecialchild.com, is dedicated to the everyday needs of children who have autism spectrum disorders.

Anne Treimanis is an attorney whose practice is limited to Special Education issues, Section 504 matters, Americans with Disabilities Act violations, disability discrimination cases, adult disability services, and LGBTQ issues. Her mission is to zealously advocate for individuals with disabilities, focusing on appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. She empowers parents and professionals with information and skills to ensure that all students have access to high quality education. Treimanis empowers self-advocates with the strategies they need to take their rightful place in our community. She teaches a graduate class in special education law, she presents internationally, and is the author of Do Not Tweet at an IEP Meeting… and other tips and strategies to negotiate special education services. Meet Treimanis at www.spedlawyers.com.

Diane Willcutts works throughout Connecticut, helping families to navigate the special education, Section 504, and Birth to Three processes.  Using strategic thinking, courtesy, and clear communication, Diane provides skilled advocacy services on behalf of children with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.  Over the past 20 years, she has supported families of children who have dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, ADHD, language disorders, dyspraxia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, PANDAS, Tourette Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other unique learning needs.  She has worked with teams in over 70 Connecticut school districts.

In addition to her work on private cases, Diane also served as a state-appointed surrogate parent, advocating for students with disabilities who are in foster care.

Diane is a member of numerous organizations supporting children, including the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), CT Families for the Effective Treatment of Autism, the International Dyslexia Association, and the Council for Exceptional Children.  She previously served as president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Connecticut and as a member of the board of directors for COPAA.

To help her clients keep up-to-date with information impacting their children, Diane participates in ongoing professional development related to special education law and instruction of children with disabilities.  She has completed over 700 hours of training through Wrightslaw, the COPAA, the Learning Disabilities Association of Connecticut, the Autism Spectrum Resource Center, Orton-Gillingham, and the Connecticut and Massachusetts bar associations.  Diane is a former instructor for the  COPAA's renowned SEAT courses.  

Diane’s previous professional experience included work in research and program development through the University of Connecticut Department of Psychology.  Both there and at Rutgers University, she taught courses in statistics and research design, providing her with a practical foundation for understanding and interpreting education research that describes methods of assessment or instruction.  

She has also facilitated focus groups, developed user-friendly education manuals, implemented and monitored education programs, presented at national and international conferences, and co-authored articles published in peer-reviewed journals. 

Ann Simun, Psy.D. has been working professionally with children with learning and behavioral challenges since 1989. She is a licensed psychologist (PSY20113), with a specialization in neuropsychology. She is also a credentialed and experienced School Counselor, School Psychologist, and Licensed Educational Psychologist, making her eligible to conduct IEEs for school district matters. 

Dr. Simun is a member of the American Psychological Association, National Academy of Neuropsychology, and International Neuropsychological Society. She regularly presents at conferences nationwide and provides training for school districts, parents, advocates, and nonprofit disability agencies. Dr. Simun conducts neuropsychological and psychoeducational assessments, provides expert witness and consultation services, conducts formal observations, and teaches psychoeducational assessment at the graduate level.