Leadership: Board of Directors

Amy Squires, Alexandria, Virginia
Chairman
Amy Squires consults with federal agencies on business strategy and performance management. Her interest in CFS stems from her concern for her sister and close friends who have been debilitated to varying degrees by the illness. Before joining the Association’s Board in 2007, Squires participated in two Lobby Day events and provided pro bono support to the Association’s long-range planning efforts. Her background is in public administration and public policy; she has worked at the federal Office of Management and Budget and as a consultant to numerous federal and state agencies. Learn more about Amy through her Catalyst profile.

Vicki Boies, PsyD, Chicago, Illinois
Vice Chairman
Vicki Boies and her husband Bill have been active supporters of the Association since 1995, out of concern for their daughter, who has been ill for more than 20 years. She received her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Brown University, her Master of Arts from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, where she was on the faculty for several years. Boies spent most of her career as a clinical psychologist in private practice in Chicago before retiring in 2010. Prior to joining the board, she served on numerous local boards and commissions, including most recently as president of a community mental health board with taxing and grant-giving authority.

Lynn Royster, Ph.D., Dallas, Texas
Secretary
Lynn, a professor at DePaul University with a background in law, conflict management and transpersonal psychology. Lynn developed the Chronic Illness Initiative at DePaul, a program that helps students with medical issues complete their degree, and served as the program’s director for 10 years. She served on the CFIDS Association Board of Directors from 2003 – 2009 during which time she held a variety of positions including chair of the Long Range Planning Committee, Nominating Committee Chair and Board Vice Chair. She is currently serving as Secretary and a member of the Executive Committee. Lynn’s son, Patrick, has had CFS for more than 25 years. Learn more about Lynn through her Catalyst profile.

Kevin Frick, San Carlos, California
Treasurer
Kevin Frick is a co-founder and general partner of Serent Capital, a private equity fund that invests in high-growth businesses and brings business-building capabilities to help accelerate the success of those businesses. Prior to founding Serent Capital, he was a partner in McKinsey & Company’s Palo Alto office, working with technology companies on corporate strategy, sales and marketing and portfolio management. Frick graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar (top 10 percent) of Stanford University's Master of Business Administration program and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, Michelle Thies, have been actively pursuing a solution to her CFS symptoms for more than 10 years.

Maryam Aghamirzadeh, Los Gatos, California
Maryam, an engineer by training, has had in depth experience in general management, strategic and tactical planning, services, sales, marketing and operations management with both startups and Fortune 50 companies. Her most recent position prior to her retirement last year was as Vice President of Services Solutions for Cisco. Maryam holds an MBA from Portland State University and a BA in electrical engineering from Oregon State University. In 2006, Maryam received both a YWCA of Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award which recognizes outstanding achievements of the area’s executive women and an Oregon Stater Distinguished Engineer Award for contributions to the engineering profession. Maryam’s connection to CFS is through her younger sister.

Diane Bean, Bethesda, Maryland
Diane Reimer Bean is a retired career Foreign Service officer and attorney who is serving on the Association’s board for a second time. She is married to fellow retired Foreign Service officer James W. (Jim) Bean; they have two adult children, daughter Lauren and son Galen. Lauren became seriously ill with CFS as a teenager following a bout of mono and Lyme disease and continues to live at home. Galen is healthy and independent.

During her 23 years as a diplomat, Bean developed significant expertise in the areas of U.S. citizen services overseas, visa/immigration policy, counterterrorism, international economic policy and congressional affairs. She and Jim were posted overseas to Mexico City, Mexico; Bonn, Germany; and Tel Aviv, Israel, during their careers. She also had numerous domestic assignments, especially after 1998, when Lauren's illness prevented the family from serving overseas. Bean received several U.S. Department of State awards during her career, and she and Jim continue to work part-time in retired status for the State Department.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she worked as an attorney for the (former) U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and the State Department's Passport Services, an assistant attorney general and a clerk for the Colorado Supreme Court in her native state of Colorado. She is a graduate of Stanford University (B.A.) and the University of Denver College of Law (J.D.). In addition to her service on the board and part-time work, she, Jim and Lauren split their time between Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colo.

Beth Garfield, Los Angeles, California
Beth Garfield was a mother with a one-year-old child and a full-time job when CFS hit in 1985. She took time off to try to recover and eventually went back to work part-time. In 1987, Garfield started her own law firm, specializing in the representation of unions and employment law, which gave her the flexibility to take the time she needed to manage her illness and eventually return to full-time work.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with distinction from Stanford University, where she served as student body president. Garfield earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. She is a past member of the Los Angeles District Community College Board of Directors. At Stanford, Garfield co-chairs the Special Gifts Committee for the Class of 1974 and serves on the Advisory Panel of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research.

In 1989, she went to see a doctor who was treating CFS with a medicine normally used to treat depression. She says it was a miracle drug for her. Garfield was symptom-free for 22 years before relapsing in February 2011. She joined the Association and the board later that year, spurred, in part, by the focus on research. Learn more about Beth through her Catalyst profile.

Michael Greenwell, Atlanta, Georgia
Michael is an expert in communications and public health. Currently Vice President of ICF International, he served for 14 years as the communications director for two large centers within CDC: the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Michael serves on numerous boards including the American Heart Association and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, and has served as a senior consultant to the Arthritis Foundation, the CFIDS Association and the Interstitial Cystitis Association.

K. Kimberly McCleary, Charlotte, North Carolina
McCleary is the Association’s president & chief executive officer. Since 1991, she has directed the Association’s education, public policy and research programs. McCleary also serves on the Association’s board and all of its standing committees. While she participates in virtually every aspect of the organization’s operations, McCleary is most actively involved in efforts to secure a dedicated and effective response from the federal government to this disease. She was one of Redbook magazine’s 2001 “Mothers and Shakers,” honored for her contributions to health care. She met her husband, Kofi, through former board member Wilhelmina Jenkins (he is her son), so she also has family ties to CFS.

Pamela Laird, San Francisco and Occidental, California
Pamela graduated from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University as well as earned her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management in an accelerated program. She has a background in strategic marketing and brand management having spent her career at Proctor & Gamble, The Clorox Company, DHL and later founded p.s.l. marketing resources, for which she was named 1991 San Francisco Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and earned a place in Who’s Who of American Women. Pam served on the Boards of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Advocates for Women and Leadership San Francisco. In the early 1990s she closed her firm when she became ill with CFS. In 2011, after 13 years of writing lessons, seven years of accumulating credits, Pam received her MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State University. She tweets @pam. Learn more about Pam through her Catalyst profile.

Terry Tyler, M.D., Owensboro, Kentucky
Terry was a private practice diagnostic radiologist for 35 years. In addition to medical knowledge, Terry brings a business background, having built his own diagnostic imaging center business which he sold to a local hospital in 2008. Subsequently, he was a member of the hospital administration as the Chief Outpatient Diagnostics Officer until retiring in 2012. He has worked with other nonprofits including JDRF and the International Bluegrass Music Museum. Terry’s daughter has had CFS for 12 years.

Christine Williams, M.Ed., Chevy Chase, MD
Christine Williams recently retired from the federal government after a 30-year career in health policy and health services research. She was diagnosed with CFS in February 2009. With support from colleagues, friends and family, she was able to work full time until June 2011.

Williams currently provides support to the Mitchell Scholarship in Maine. She is a special advisor on CFS to the Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

She served as the Agency’s director for strategic partnerships (2007 – 2011) and director of the Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer (1995 – 2006). During her tenure at AHRQ, Williams also represented the Agency on a number of HHS committees including the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC) and the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health – Cessation Subcommittee (co-chair). She served as HHS campaign manager for the 2001 and 2010 Combined Federal Campaigns.

From l982 – 1994, Williams served as the senior health policy advisor to former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-ME.). She represented Mitchell during the development of and negotiations for comprehensive health care reform legislation in 1993 and 1994, and initiated legislation in Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care, public health and outcomes research.

Williams has extensive experience working with a broad range of health care stakeholders including clinicians, health systems, purchasers, consumer and patient advocacy organizations and public policymakers to translate research into practice and to inform public policy. Chris holds her Bachelor of Science and Master of Education from Boston University. Learn more about Chris through her Catalyst profile.

Page updated March 22, 2013