JKBF Board of Directors
Sallie Bernard, President
Sallie became a mental health advocate when her son Jamie died from suicide in 2010. Sallie co-founded JKBF to help address suicidality and to honor the creative legacy of Jamie and others like him. Since 2013, Sallie has served on the board of the Aspen Hope Center, which provides innovative and effective crisis services in the western region of Colorado.
Sallie has been an autism advocate since 1996. She was the board president of Cure Autism Now, served on the board of Autism Speaks, and is the board president of SafeMinds. Sallie served on the science committees and reviewed grants at each organization. Sallie’s son Bill has autism, and she founded Ascendigo Autism Services in 2004 in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Aspen to provide the same outdoor adventure opportunities for children with autism that typically developing children enjoy. Ascendigo now offers summer camps, winter ski lessons, comprehensive year-round adult services, transition programs, and behavior therapy.
Sallie spent over 20 years in the marketing business before devoting herself full time to non-profit activities in 2005. She graduated with honors from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, in 1979. Sallie has resided in Aspen, Colorado since 2002 and enjoys the Colorado outdoors.
Tom Bernard, Treasurer
Tom Bernard had a 30-year career in global finance before retiring in Aspen, Colorado to devote himself to writing and philanthropy. He has served on several corporate and nonprofit boards, and was board president of Aspen Words, the literary arm of the Aspen Institute. Tom is a published author. With Sallie, Tom co-founded Extreme Sports Camp, now known as Ascendigo, offering summer and winter recreational opportunities to children and adults on the autism spectrum. Tom is Jamie’s dad and co-founder of JKBF, as well as the father of Bill and Fred.Ba
Brad Stevenson, Secretary
Brad Stevenson is the CEO of Aligned Insight, Inc., a Colorado Public Benefit Corporation offering purpose-driven advisory and business development consulting. In addition to his hands on experience as an organizational leader, Brad has worked in premier consulting organizations and supported clients from Fortune 20 multi-nationals to local non-profits and startups. Brad was Executive Producer of a documentary film focused on purpose, passion and perseverance in the context of limited time to live, then co-launched Spark Purpose, a non-profit delivering programs that blend storytelling with curricula in support of individuals and teams to accelerate purpose-driven work and solutions. He prioritizes building, leading and advising organizations that have unique value propositions and promise for enhancing life in meaningful ways.
Fred Bernard, Director
Fred Bernard is Jamie’s brother and a doctoral student in clinical psychology. He has received graduate-level training in psychological research and clinical psychology at The New School for Social Research in Manhattan and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Chicago. Fred has worked in clinical or human services positions for a number of years, including as a counselor, social worker, diagnostician, mental health helpline operator, and paraprofessional therapist. In many of these positions, he has worked with a number of individuals evincing depression and suicidal ideation. His life’s work is to understand and help alleviate mental distress such as that experienced by Jamie and so many others.
Susan Parmelee, LCSW, Director
Susan Parmelee, LCSW, is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Wellness & Prevention Center, a community and school-based non-profit providing easy-to-access, low-fee mental health interventions and prevention education in Orange County, California for over 6 years. Susan has been a mental health social worker for seventeen years, with experience spanning inpatient mental health hospitals, Med-I-Cal Clinics, program development, and homelessness advocacy. Susan believes in empowering community to bring about positive change and is an advocate for youth and families. One of her main passions is developing youth leaders to address issues surrounding mental health and addiction, training them in providing peer supports. Prior to her career in mental health, Susan worked in hotel design and project management and raised three children with her husband Brian while living overseas on the Caribbean island of Nevis. Susan holds an MSW from San Diego State University and a BS in Hotel Administration from Cornell University, and is a registered clinician in the state of California.
Brett Robinson, DVM, Director
Brett Robinson is an equine veterinarian practicing in the San Diego area. She received her BA in psychology from Georgetown University and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. Brett’s friendship with Jamie was formed while they worked together as camp counselors at Extreme Sports Camp (now Ascendigo), a summer camp for kids with autism which aims to build confidence and connections through shared outdoor adventures. The CDC reports an elevated suicide rate among veterinarians, and Brett has experienced the loss of veterinary friends and colleagues. Her desire to honor Jamie’s legacy, combined with this connection to suicide, underly her commitment to the goals of JKBF.
Lorann Stallones, MPH, PhD, Director
Dr. Stallones has a background in cultural anthropology, public health, and epidemiology and is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Colorado School of Public Health and in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University. Dr. Stallones was the founding director of the MPH program of the Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State, and has published on a variety of health, mental health, and public health topics, including suicide, with a focus on rural and farming populations. Lorann brings both professional expertise and personal commitment to the foundation’s mission, having lost an adult son to suicide in 2010.