Board of Directors

Jenna Connors, Chair

Georgetown, MA

Jenna lives in Georgetown, MA with her husband, Tim, and their children, Riley and Parker. She has proudly worked for Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. in Peabody, MA since 2003. During her time with Expeditors, she has worked in various logistics roles ranging from operations to account management to product management. Currently, she is the Sales Operations Manager and works part-time to focus on that much sought after “work-life balance.”

Jenna is very passionate about fundraising. Since 2015, Jenna has served on the Executive Board of the Georgetown PTA supporting inclusion and diversity in her local community in Massachusetts. In this role, she has been chair of many fundraising events and has had the opportunity to work with community leaders to increase profits by parlaying creativity with her sales and marketing background. Since 2012, Jenna has been the fundraising campaign manager for a very successful charity golf event overseeing all aspects of the event and working closely with vendors, sponsors, volunteers and key corporate and local community leaders.

Nevus Outreach has been a constant in the Connors family providing support, education, community and fostering life-long relationships. Jenna’s daughter, Riley, was born in 2010 with 40% of her body covered with very small to large Congenital Melanocytic Nevi. Riley was also born with Neurocutaneous Melanocytosis and has been asymptomatic since 2012. Riley is a happy, healthy girl that loves to laugh, act and play with her friends, brother and two Boston Terriers. As a family, they have attended every Nevus Outreach conference since July 2010 and will continue to attend as long as they are able.

Jenna is very excited to be a member of Nevus Outreach and share her knowledge and personal experience to help other families impacted by this rare condition.

Wiatt Bowers, Vice Chair

Jacksonville, FL

Wiatt Bowers is an urban planner with over 25 years of experience. He has worked in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tallahassee, Tampa, and Jacksonville. 

A nevus owner, Wiatt grew up in the Baltimore-Washington area. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Temple University in 1993 and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University on 1996.

Wiatt attended the first Nevus Outreach conference in Orlando in 1998, and is honored to now be serving on the board. In addition to NOI, he is involved in the following organizations:

• Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association – President Elect
• Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida
• Congregation Ahavath Chesed
• Florida State University Hillel Foundation

Cristy Irvin Phillips, Secretary

Brooklyn, New York

Cristy Irvin Phillips lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Jackson and two children, including a four-year-old nevus owner.  Originally from Tampa, Florida, she attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and law school at NYU University School of Law.  After spending almost a decade at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Cristy recently became Deputy General Counsel for 1/0 Capital, a venture capital fund and start-up incubator, where she provides legal advice to fintech start-up companies in a variety of industries, including healthcare.Cristy and her family attended the 2016 and 2018 Nevus Outreach conferences and she is deeply grateful to the organization for the advice and support it has provided.  She looks forward to advancing the mission and goals of Nevus Outreach through her service on the board.

Oliver Holmes, Treasurer

Charlotte, NC

Oliver Holmes, a native of North Carolina, is the new treasurer of the Nevus Outreach Board of Directors.  He holds an MBA from Kennesaw State University and spent 10 years in commercial banking and in 2016 co-founded a private equity firm.  He and his wife Trish live in North Carolina and their daughter, August Rose, age 2, has a nevus on her skull.  "I've seen first hand what this organization and this community does to support those affected, and I am excited to be a small part of that mission," he says. Oliver will chair the finance committee and serve as Treasurer of the Board. We are excited to welcome Oliver to this role!

Maggie Mangold

Vinton, IA

Maggie Mangold is a physician practicing rural Family Medicine in her hometown of Vinton, Iowa. She received her Medical Doctorate degree from the University of Iowa and completed residency at the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation. Prior to that she received her Bachelors of Arts from Cornell College, majoring in Biochemistry. She is an active participant in local health boards and community volunteer projects and enjoys camping, reading, and entertaining. 

She and her husband, Jeff are busy with their three boys — Hugh, Reid, and Theo. Reid was born in 2010 with a bathing trunk and scalp nevus and was later diagnosed with NCM. Nevus Outreach has been an important part of their journey since they connected with the organization hours after Reid’s birth. They have attended five Nevus Outreach conferences and feel this has been invaluable to both them and their children. Maggie is honored to get to serve and give back to Nevus Outreach. 

Lisa O'Bryan

Olathe, Kansas

Lisa O’Bryan is Director of Business Optimization for Black & Veatch, an engineering and construction company headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas where she has worked for 12 years.  She lives in Olathe, KS her husband, Shane, and daughters Rylee and Madelyn, and their Shih Tzu, Cooper.  Lisa was born and raised in Kansas and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Emporia State University and her Master’s in Management from Baker University.The O’Bryan family loves spending time at the lake and traveling.  Rylee, their BTN owner, recently moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to attend college so the family spends a lot of time in Florida these days.  The family also enjoys giving back to the community in Kansas City through volunteering with Christmas in October, Harvesters, and Lisa’s involvement as a Girl Scout leader.Nevus Outreach linked the O’Bryan family to other Nevus families when Rylee was 7 and they have been conference attendees and supporters ever since.  Now that Rylee is pursuing her Nursing career in Pediatrics (chosen in large part due to her removal experience), Lisa is excited to join the Board of Directors and wants to give back to other families in the way that they received support when they first learned of Nevus Outreach.

Matthew Rogers

Kansas City, KS

Matthew Rogers currently lives in Kansas City and works as an Engineer for Kiewit, a large contractor. Matthew is originally from Fort Worth, Texas and attended the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. In his free time, Matthew plays soccer, runs marathons, enjoys backpacking and camping trips, and volunteers at his childhood church camp with his cousin and roommate.

Matthew was born with a cape nevus and has many satellites and larger nevi covering his body. One of the things he is most grateful for is that his parents found Nevus Outreach early on – he attended the first conference in 1998 and has been to all conferences since.

Being a part of the larger Nevus Outreach family as a child helped both Matthew and his family adapt to the challenges of living with CMN; connections made through Nevus Outreach have built in him a positive outlook on life and given him the confidence to pursue his dreams. Nevus Outreach has also given him lifelong friends that continue to provide comfort, joy, and support as he has grown. Matthew values the moments where he has shared his experiences with others while learning from their stories as well; his hope is to create opportunities for kids who are growing up in similar circumstances to help them navigate their young lives.

Matthew is proud to be on the Board of Directors for Nevus Outreach and intends to serve the organization as a nevus owner and advocate for its mission of Awareness, Support and Research.

Andrea Bischoff

Dayton, OH

Andrea Bischoff is a clinical psychologist practicing in Dayton, Ohio. She earned her Doctorate of Psychology from Wright State University and has spent most of her career practicing in primary care. She resides in Waynesville, Ohio with her husband, Kyle Behymer, and their three children, James, Audrey, and Evelyn. Evelyn was born in 2014 with a bathing trunk nevus. Andrea was connected with Nevus Outreach shortly after Evelyn's birth and experienced the organization as a place of valuable information, social support, and most importantly hope. Andrea is thrilled to join the Board of Directors, help Nevus Outreach carry out its mission, and continue to give back to the community.

Erik Gregory

Los Angeles, CA

Erik Gregory is a data scientist, currently a senior staff data scientist at Meta, with experience working in both very small and very large organizations. In 2020, Erik and his lovely wife Amira became parents to a daughter born with GCMN. Within a few hours of their daughter's birth, they found Nevus Outreach. The community showed the new parents there is support available to understand how to help their daughter deal with a few challenges that might arise with her condition. The Gregorys have learned so much from Nevus Outreach and want to give back in any way they can. Erik is excited to apply his skills and learn more as a board member for Nevus Outreach.

Merilee Vance

Whittier, CA

Merilee was born and raised in Southern California and is happy to be back to the sunny California weather after doing a quick 25-year stint in central Montana. She lives with her husband, Dustin, and three daughters, Cali, Brooklyn, and Macy. Merilee received her ASN and BSN from Montana State University - Northern in Registered Nursing and has recently graduated with her Masters in Nurse-Midwifery from Frontier Nursing University. She loves anything that has to do with Disneyland, the Dodgers, and traveling. She has a passion for Nevus Outreach, as her daughter, Brooklyn, was born with a nevus. She served on the Board of Directors from 2014-2020 and recently joined again in 2023. She has volunteered in many parts of the organization such as all areas of the conference, helping launch the Regional Groups, and serving on several committees. She is currently the Conference Committee Chair and is so excited to serve Nevus Outreach and all it’s wonderful members.

Cara Dolchin

Philadelphia, PA

Cara Dolchin is a Certified Public Accountant having received her bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Maryland. She works at KPMG in the Accounting Advisory Services (AAS) practice specializing in business divestments and the related implications. In her role, she helps clients address various complex accounting matters.

Cara grew up in South Jersey and recently moved back after residing in Philadelphia for over a decade. She lives with her husband Zach, their two kids, Winnie and Asher, and their bernadoodle, Galaxy. Winnie was born in 2021 with a bathing trunk nevus and satellites. Cara and her family are grateful that they found Nevus Outreach soon after Winnie was born as the organization has been such an incredible source of support. Cara currently serves on the Finance Committee and is looking forward to working with the other amazing Board Members to help carry out the mission of this wonderful organization.