Vicky Bush-Joseph - Vice Chair
Vicky was the volunteer Midwest Regional Leader for Together Women Rise and is a member of the Rise Book Club Committee. She traveled with Rise to India in 2023, to Guatemala in 2020, and to Bhutan in 2019. Vicky is a retired attorney and was in-house counsel for AT&T and Illinois Bell before starting her own law practice with two other women that specialized in adoptions and reproductive technology like surrogacy and egg donation. She also taught a class on adoption law at Loyola's Law School for many years. Vicky lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband of over 40 years where they raised three children. Their daughter lives and works in DC and their oldest son, his wife, and their three small children live in Alexandria, Virginia while their youngest son lives in Denver. Vicky served on the Advisory Council for World Bicycle Relief, which provides bicycles to girl students and home health care workers in Colombia and Zambia. She is also a member of the League of Women Voters, a volunteer for Election Protection through the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and active with Chicago Impact Grants, a giving circle that awards grants of $100,000 each to four Chicago not-for-profit organizations. Vicky loves to read, bike, garden, cook, and eat and drink her way around the world.Follow
Kathy Fitts - Treasurer
Kathy has been a member of Together Women Rise’s GA, Marietta-1 chapter since 2013. She joined the Finance Committee as an advisory member in 2016. In 2018, she joined the Board of Directors as Treasurer. Kathy has spent over 35 years as a financial executive in corporate America. In 2016, she transitioned to a consultant role. She specializes in financial and accounting projects supporting chief financial officers. As a child of a career Army Officer, Kathy was born in Germany and has lived all over the U.S. including Hawaii. These culturally diverse life experiences formed her world view very early on. Her desire to work for better outcomes for women and girls led to her involvement with Together Women Rise. She is an avid world traveler which works out well, since her two grown children have moved across the country to the west coast.Follow
Betsy Teutsch - Secretary
Betsy Teutsch, from Philadelphia, PA, learned about Together Women Rise as a Board Member of Shining Hope for Communities, a 2011 Together Women Rise Grantee. She spoke at three Delaware Valley Together Women Rise chapter dinners and came away so impressed she pitched the idea of starting a local chapter in her monthly Weavers Way Food Co-op column. To her amazement, three (now four) chapters launched. These four chapters continue to thrive, nurturing friendships and local solidarity as well as supporting global women and girls. As a writer, Betsy is a Solutions-Focused Storyteller concentrating on greener living, sustainable low-tech, humanitarian engineering, and women’s empowerment. Her book, 100 Under $100: Tools for Empowering Global Women, features many Together Women Rise initiatives that exemplify integrated approaches for women to escape extreme poverty and bring their families and communities along with them. Her second book is another compilation of effective tools, with the Postharvest Education Foundation, titled 100 Under $100: Tools for Reducing Postharvest Losses. Halving postharvest loss and waste, Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, offers female farmers (who make up over 50% of the Global South’s smallholder farmers) great opportunities to address both food insecurity and poverty. Betsy, a grandmother of four, just welcomed identical twin grandsons who live in Philadelphia. Newly retired, she has a new gig: taking care of them one day each week. She is a native of Fargo, North Dakota.Follow
Margot Bradley
Margot Bradley belongs to two Together Women Rise chapters: one in Ambler, PA and the other in Ponte Vedra, Florida, the closest chapter to her winter home in St Augustine. She travels south each winter with her wife, 2 dogs, and their flock of chickens. Margot joined the Grants Partnership Committee following a 2019 Rise trip to Kenya where she visited five grantees and became a sponsor for a rural Kenyan girl who just graduated from high school at the top of her class and has received a full scholarship to college. Margot holds a Masters in Maternal Child Health from the University of Pennsylvania and practiced as a nurse-midwife in the Philadelphia area. She also has a Masters in Organization Development specializing in nonprofit strategic planning and BOD development. She is a founder and former CEO of a nonprofit, sustainable, organic farm and farmer education program that celebrated its 20th year in 2023. Margot’s attraction to Together Women Rise was based on our founding principle of community fundraising, and she is committed to expanding Rise's community in order to make a larger impact. She is passionately committed to reproductive rights, recognizing that access to quality sexual and reproductive health care is essential for women to take their place as equals in global society.Follow
Kerri Howard
Kerri has over two decades of experience in corporate finance, primarily in leading global treasury functions. In her current role as Treasurer at Aramark, she leads the team responsible for the public company’s treasury operations, debt financing, and financial planning across the hospitality company’s operations in 18 countries. Always passionate about gender equality, Kerri feels this is an opportune time for her to join the board of an organization with a mission to which she is fully dedicated. Her experiences have given her a wide-reaching professional network and she speaks enthusiastically about new ideas for both internal giving and external fundraising. Although this is Kerri’s first experience serving on the board of a non-profit organization, she has extensive experience working with them, most notably serving as a team captain for the MS Society’s annual bicycling fundraiser. Balancing her family and her career, Kerri currently splits her time between Chicago and Philadelphia.Follow
Susan Klein-Rothschild
Susan brings more than 40 years’ experience working in the fields of child abuse and neglect, public health, and education. She has led non-profit and governmental organizations and worked as a consultant and trainer in more than 20 states. Her life’s work has focused on improving the lives of the most vulnerable and mentoring leaders who serve those populations. Susan holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and she serves as a commissioner on the Public Engagement Commission in Goleta, California. Susan joined a Together Women Rise chapter in 2021 when she left full-time work as Managing Director of Programs in Executive Education at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Susan felt an immediate connection with the mission and vision of Together Women Rise. With the removal of barriers, education, and support, women successfully provide a safe and healthy environment for themselves and their children! Susan continues to work on a part-time basis while also enjoying the great outdoors of the Santa Barbara area, traveling internationally, and contributing to the local community. Susan has two adult children, three grandchildren, and a husband who appreciates her zest for life. Follow
Colleen Kill
Colleen joined Together Women Rise in 2015 as a Chapter Leader in Southern California and has been an active volunteer with the organization ever since. She has served as Regional Leader in the West Region, Mentor in Southern California, and currently serves as Chair of our Regional Leaders Committee. Colleen's experience includes 28 years in the Pharma and Biotech world. She lives in Kelowna, BC.Follow
Rachel Peterson
Rachel Peterson has been a part of Together Women Rise since 2012, when she co-founded the Hudson, Ohio chapter with her mother. She currently works as a contemporary fiction author and marketing executive in the technology industry, and in her spare time she lends her marketing skills to causes devoted to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. In addition to her work with Together Women Rise, Rachel speaks publicly on issues of gender equality and women’s leadership in the workplace, with presentations at events hosted by Columbia University, Miami University of Ohio and The Economist. Rachel is an avid reader and equestrian and loves spending time in nature with her husband Ken, their dog Olive, and her horse, Hope.Follow
Srividya (Vidya) Prakash
Vidya is deeply committed to achieving gender equity by investing in and advising programs that support women's health, education, and livelihoods. She has been a member of the Fremont CA chapter since 2019, and has volunteered on the Grants Selection Committee since 2021 and more recently, on the Grants Partnership Committee. Vidya has over 20 years of experience in global public health, business strategy consulting, nonprofit management, renewable energy, and investing. She started her career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she also helped establish the Global Public Health Practice. After a career break, she worked with sPower-AES in commercial asset management for solar and wind renewable projects. As the CEO of Antara International, she set up the US 501(c)(3) organization to support their India partner in delivering grassroots maternal and child health programs in India. She currently divides her time between nonprofit consulting (focus on strengthening governance, strategy, and monitoring and learning), grantmaking for a family fund, and commercial real estate investing. Originally from Mumbai, India, Vidya studied economics and business management, and is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She continues to have deep family and nonprofit ties in India, and has traveled across Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America for work. She has lived in California since 2000, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her husband, son, daughter and two wonderful canine children. She is an active client service volunteer with Maitri, a Bay Area nonprofit serving victims of domestic violence, and a Leadership Circle member of Neythri, serving professional South Asian women. She also serves on the boards of the Akanksha Fund (working in education for underserved children in India) and Antara International (working in maternal and child health in India). Outside of work, Vidya loves spoiling her dogs, gardening, yoga and art, or dreaming up travel holidays.Follow
Melinda Silverstein
Melinda Silverstein is a member of Together Women Rise’s CA, Santa Cruz-2 chapter.For over 30 years Melinda has devoted her career, with an emphasis in executive management and development, to helping people through working at non-for-profits. She received a B.A. in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and a Masters in Public Health from San Jose State University. She has been an executive manager using program management, strategic goal setting, and targeted fundraising to transform organizations and build sustainability. She has a long track record of managing resource development, major gift solicitation, and donor stewardship. Melinda recently retired after 18 years as the Executive Director of the Cabrillo College Foundation where the organization flourished even in tough economic times and was recognized as one of the model leaders in the Community College system. One of the cornerstone innovative programs of CCF is Women’s Educational Success (WES) -- a grant program to help women students who experience unexpected emergencies stay in school and graduate. The annual WES campaigns built a loyal, broad, and diverse donor group who provide substantial funding and are committed to making a difference in women’s lives.
Melinda also worked in development in the Health Sciences of UCSC, served as the Executive Director of United Way for Santa Cruz County, and was an adjunct faculty member of the Health Sciences Department at San Jose State University.
Melinda’s husband of 37 years is a tennis teacher and they live in Santa Cruz, California. Their twin grown daughters have chosen careers to work in non-profits to make the world a better place. Melinda is an avid hiker, book club member, and traveler, and is passionate about playing her viola in orchestras, chamber groups, and recently with a bluegrass group.Follow
