Our people make us great! Learn more about the team that keeps Zebra Crossings going.
Executive Director
Deb Taylor is Zebra Crossings third executive director, and joined with 30 years of not-for-profit experience, working and volunteering for health care organizations in Maine. After living and working in Southern Maine her entire life, Deb and her husband moved to the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, ready for a change of pace and new professional endeavors. With a long history of commitment to working with and providing leadership for mission driven organizations, Deb is excited to be a member of the Zebra Crossings team.
Deb’s first job was as a counselor-in-training at a summer camp, and she eventually worked as the waterfront director at two different summer camps. Deb loves the Zebra Crossings mission and believes in the importance of youth social and recreational opportunities and the long-term, positive impact they can have on a child’s life.
Deb holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Maine and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern Maine. She presently serves as Chair of Mercy Hospital’s Board of Trustees and as a trustee for Northern Light Home Care and Hospice. Deb loves spending time with family and friends, especially her husband, two adult children and three dogs, and enjoys a good road trip, golfing, walking on trails, and being out on the lake — winter, spring, summer or fall. Deb is passionate about helping people and organizations achieve their fullest potential and looks forward to engaging the Seacoast NH community (and beyond) in Zebra Crossings’ mission.
Program Director
Curtis Hines comes to us from the summer camp world, previously serving as the assistant director of Windsor Mountain. Curtis loves being outdoors, playing with children, and building community. You might find him walking his dog on Hampton beach, hiking the trails of Pawtuckaway state park, or eating delicious food in downtown Portsmouth. Curtis is excited to serve the Zebra Crossings community and can’t wait to see you at one of our programs!
Administrative Coordinator
Kristen comes to Zebra Crossings with extensive experience in administrative support and bookkeeping. In recent years she has focused on helping streamline administrative tasks and billing for a few small businesses to allow them to focus on and expand the services they provide. She enjoys helping others be successful and looks forward to opportunities to learn new things in the process.
Kristen lives in NH with her husband and children. She enjoys spending her free time at home with her family, gardening when the weather is nice and relaxing on the couch when it is not. Kristen is excited to be a part of the Zebra Crossings team.
Volunteer Medical Director
Dr. Ryan Johnson is affiliated with Dover Pediatrics and Wentworth Douglass Hospital. As Zebra Crossings volunteer Medical Director, Ryan provides standing orders and guidance for our medical volunteers and he serves on our Health Network Committee.
Are you interested in being part of our mission as a Committee or Board Member? Please contact us! We would like to speak with you and share more about ways you can make a difference in the lives of our kids and families!
(She/Her/Hers)
Realtor – Keller Williams Realty, Portsmouth, NH
Eileen is a Realtor in Maine and NH and is also the Operations Manager for a Team of Real Estate Agents. Eileen has an environmental degree from Rutgers University and prior to entering the real estate profession was a Town Planner in York, Maine; an environmental regulatory manager; and a community outreach professional for The Museums of Old York. She is also currently a volunteer with the York Public Library Association.
Eileen’s first association with Zebra Crossings was in the organization’s first year, when her daughter, Lila, born with serious congenital heart defects, became a participant in Zebra Crossings programs. She attended Zebra Crossings camps over an 8 year period and later was part of Zebra Crossings’ first leadership training program for teens which she considers a formative experience in her life.
Eileen loves the history of the Seacoast area and its maritime roots which is visible everywhere in the old houses, lobster boats, and water vistas. As part of a commercial fishing family, Eileen is passionate about the preservation of the natural environment, both land and marine. Eileen considers herself a lifelong learner and enjoys history, museums, reading, and Googling everything for more information!
Eileen loves spending time, especially family game nights, with her two children. Her son, Sam, is a 4th generation lobsterman in York Harbor, Maine. Her daughter, Lila, a recent graduate of Culinary Institute of America, is a pastry chef.
Branding Matters
Tim Guen is the Principal of Branding Matters, a branding and marketing strategy consultancy. Over the course of his career, Tim has held leadership positions in many different organizations ranging from large multi-national corporations (Procter & Gamble, Mars Inc., Irving Oil) to small entrepreneurial companies. He strongly advocates Peter Drucker’s wise counsel that “businesses have only two functions – marketing and innovation” and has built a consulting practice on these pillars for the last 10 years. Reflective of his teaching style, Tim has served as adjunct faculty in the Marketing Communications department at Emerson College and been a guest lecturer at several Higher Ed institutions in the Boston area.
Since moving to New Hampshire in 2003, Tim has worked with many non-profit organizations including RiverWoods (two-term Board of Trustees) and the Children’s Museum of NH (Board of Directors). As a consultant he has recently worked with the Dover Adult Learning Center, Land For Good, and the Asian-American Civic Association.
Tim is a graduate of Bowdoin College with an executive MBA certificate from Babson.
Ken Schleicher is a Connecticut native who moved to Salem, MA in the early 1980’s and finally transitioned to Exeter, NH twenty-four years ago. Ken has been married for 39 years and has two sons in their twenties (and two dogs). He enjoys mountain biking, motorcycles, golf, tennis, skiing and pretty much anything outdoors. He especially loved being involved with school programs for his two sons from Grammar through High School and looks forward to becoming involved in the Zebra Crossings programs. While Ken has spent time helping other non-profit organizations, specifically the United Way, Destination Imagination, Hobb’s House in Hampton and Executive Service Corps, he now has the flexibility to join the Board of Zebra Crossings as our newest Board member.
Ken’s background is in accounting and finance. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science in Business degree and he subsequently obtained his MBA from Boston College. During the last three+ decades, Ken has been a Senior Director of Finance for Lechmere (a major east coast retailer through the early 90’s), Assistant Controller for The Timberland Co. and currently (and happily) self employed as a finance and accounting consultant.
(She/Her/Hers)
Mass General for Children at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital; Camp Meridian
Leigh is thrilled to join the Board of Zebra Crossings, and has worked with our organization since its inception. She is currently the Executive Director of Camp Meridian, a camp for children with congenital heart conditions, and has been a volunteer for camp for 20 years. Over the years, Leigh has collaborated on many projects with the Zebra Crossings team in which she has seen the beauty of Zebra Crossing’s impact on children with chronic medical conditions.
Leigh is also the Practice Manager of Mass General for Children at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. This is a multi-disciplinary specialty practice (formerly Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth) with the exact population to benefit from the work of Zebra Crossings. In her work at the hospital, she is on the committee to promote diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the organization, volunteers at PRIDE events and has spent a decade on the committee to assess community health needs for the hospital to focus on. She also volunteers for the Seacoast Community Fridge in Kittery, ME which reduces food insecurity for people in the community. She loves living on the Seacoast and enjoys spending time with family and friends, going to the beach, traveling and cooking for others.
Barb Petersen has spent more than 15 years in the health and wellness sector encouraging and developing communities around healthy living and wellness. Whether working with individuals with Parkinson’s disease, inspiring beginner runners, or motivating high school athletes, she has made creating community around healthy living a priority. She even attempted an exercise program for dog owners and their dogs! For the last five years, Barb also has worked within the technology sector and has witnessed the potential of technology to further and better understand individual health and wellness goals – an area she is eager to continue exploring.
Barb recently spent several years volunteering on the regional advisory committee for Comfort Zone Camp, a non-profit that supports children and their families through the grief process. Through doing multiple fundraising events, marketing, networking and attending camps, Barb developed a passion for nonprofit causes and a knowledge base of nonprofit operations that she looks forward to applying at Zebra Crossing to help further its impact.
In her free time Barb can be found hiking, biking, kayaking, skiing and, well… anything active and outside. She also enjoys landscape photography and spending time with friends and family.
Portfolio Manager at AmeriCorps
Sarah grew up in northern New Hampshire, received her BA in anthropology at Franklin Pierce University, and moved to the Seacoast after graduating to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA at United Way of the Greater Seacoast. After her year of service she was hired by the parent organization, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, where she spent seven years holding various leadership roles primarily focused on volunteer engagement, fundraising, and board development.
Sarah recently returned to her roots and is working for AmeriCorps as a Portfolio Manager on their Northeast Team where she is the relationship, partnership, and grant manager for approximately 30 federal grants for AmeriCorps programs in the state of New York. She is also currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at UNH.
Sarah lives in Dover, NH where she enjoys volunteering for local nonprofits, canvassing for local/state/national campaigns, traveling and backpacking, going to concerts, baking, reading, and watching way too much television.
NH Division of Public Health (Asthma Control and Tobacco Prevention)
For the past eight years, Tanya has worked for the State of New Hampshire’s Division of Public Health Services as the Asthma Control Program Manager, where she reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The main goal of her program is to reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to asthma. It is through this role where Tanya first learned of Zebra Crossings and the tremendous impact their programming provides children and families who are learning to better manage pediatric asthma. Most recently, she has accepted the position of the Administrator in the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program where she will support both the Asthma & Tobacco Programs. Prior to her work in Public Health, she worked in refugee resettlement where she managed the state and federal employment programs designed to assist newly arrived refugees and asylees gain economic self-sufficiency through employment within their first six months of residency. Tanya also served on American Library Association’s NH Leadership Board of Directors from Jan.2018- Jan.2021.
Tanya has a Bachelors in Human Services and a Masters in Organizational Management and Leadership. When not working, Tanya can be found hanging out with her son, their “unadoptable” cat who started out slightly terrifying and has since turned into an absolute sweetheart, as well as his brother Conrad, their chickens, ducks, fish, and newly adopted tortoise. Tanya is also obsessed with children’s literature and is currently dreaming of writing a series of educational books to normalize chronic disease for kids.
Ph.D., C.A.P.E.
Michelle Grenier, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized expert in the field of inclusion and physical education. She has co-authored several publications including Physical Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Approach; Physical Education for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities; and Universal Design for Learning in Physical Education. Dr. Grenier is faculty emerita at the University of New Hampshire, having served as coordinator of the Adapted Physical Education program and is currently an adjunct faculty at the University of South Carolina in the M.S. in Adapted Physical Education. Dr. Grenier is past president of the National Consortium of Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities (NCPEID) and a board member of the New Hampshire State Health and Physical Education Association. She is thrilled to be working with Zebra Crossings and looks forward to hands on engagement with participants in upcoming programs.
We rely on volunteers to help run our programs. We are always looking for great folks to donate their time. screened and trained to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our participants.
The efforts of Zebra Crossings are supported by our generous sponsors, both individual and business. Want to join the ranks?
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