FOSTERING HEROES FOUNDATION
EMPOWERING foster YOUTH WITH THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A GREAT LIFE
OUR EXECUTIVE BOARD
Jeff
COURY
Co-Founder
Jeff is a dedicated father, husband and entrepreneur. Jeff (and his entire family) have been dedicated to the mission of helping youth in the foster care system for well over two decades. Whether it be shoe drives, donating time at adulting summits to investing time at Cowboy Camp; Jeff can be found leading the charge on the positive impact on foster youth throughout the Valley of the Sun. When Jeff isn’t focused on impacting foster youth, he can be found training for runs and triathlons, spending time with his wife, Kirsten, and their three amazing daughters and investing time in his contracting and roofing company, Citrus Grove Companies.
Craig
Katzowksy
Co-Founder
Craig is a dedicated father, grandfather, husband and retired entrepreneur. Craig has been interacting with youth in the foster care system for over a decade; leading Cowboy Camp for the past 6 years. Craigs dedication for an entire month to foster youth profoundly impacts 250+ youth every year. Many of the youth know Craig as the big teddy bear; always willing to lend a loving ear followed with real world advice to help guide them on their journey into adulthood. As a retired entrepreneur, Craig is dedicated to investing time in overseeing the scalable growth and reach of Fostering Heroes Foundation. When Craig isn’t pouring his wisdom and positivity into the youth he loves to help or playing cowboy at the Flying E Ranch for Cowboy Camp, he can be found working out and hitting the heavy bag, spending time in Chicago with his kids and grandkids and enjoying retirement with his wife, Bella.
Ryan
Parker
Co-Founder
Ryan is a dedicated father, husband and entrepreneur. Ryan has been interacting with the foster youth group home non-profit world for over a decade; utilizing his network to gather needed supplies for group homes across the Valley. As President of Fostering Heroes Foundation, it is Ryan’s personal mission to oversee the strategic growth and performance of FHF. When not investing time into FHF, Ryan can be found working on his marketing company, Xpleo Media, or playing one of the guitars from his online guitar shop, Pedal.ly. Ryan finds a special kind of happiness behind a drum kit, playing the guitar or jamming with his daughter Faith, mountain biking or hiking with his wife, Cathy.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lynne
Carey
Lynne is currently the vice president of Relationship Events and Strategic Partnerships at the home office of the Alzheimer’s Association. Lynne has extensive strategic experience in nonprofits and has worked in various development functions with increasing levels of responsibility, including major gifts, board relations, peer to peer fundraising and corporate relations.
Lynne has a successful and proven track record in fundraising, having secured multiple gifts of $1 million or more, through engaging high-level volunteers and celebrities and develop best-in-class partnerships on a global, national and multi-regional level. She has been instrumental in creating and executing some of the Association’s most successful events and fundraising partnerships including Part the Cloud (the largest single day fundraiser for the Association), Rita Hayworth Galas in Chicago and New York, Inspire Napa Valley, Dance Party to End ALZ with Brad and Kimberly Williams Paisley and Fork it Alzheimer’s in Bridgehampton, NY
Under Lynne’s leadership, the Alzheimer’s Association successfully completed a fundraising challenge to raise $35 million through the Part the Cloud initiative in 2020 doubling Part the Cloud research funding to over $69 million since 2013. Part the Cloud funds high-risk, high-reward research aimed at treatments for Alzheimer’s and other dementia. After initial funding from Part the Cloud, grant recipients have gone on to receive more than $1.2 billion dollars in follow-on funding from the federal government, venture capital firms and other sources.
Lynne has a bachelor’s degree in Communication and a master’s degree in Journalism from Marquette University. She currently resides in Marana, Arizona with her fiancé Tom and their dog Nikita.
Katrina
Thurman
Social impact executive leader with 25 years of experience designing and leading meaningful human service programs across the U.S. Having led projects and organizations in small rural communities as well as large urban centers, Katrina is focused on identifying the unique tools and practices that help break the cycle of poverty for everyone. From newborns to teenagers to homeless adults to seniors – Katrina has expertise across housing and homeless services, education, afterschool programs, workforce development, crisis services, behavioral health care, and more. With over a decade reporting directly to a nonprofit board of directors, Katrina brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit governance, strategic planning, community relations and brand management, nonprofit mergers & acquisitions, grants management, fund development, budget and fiscal planning, and organizational communication.
Sarah
Shepard
Sarah Shepard has lived in Arizona most of her life, having been raised in the cowboy town of Payson. After graduating from the University of Washington she began her marketing career in late 2015 with StringCan Interactive. Since then, she has become a COO and partner in the organization, along with Founder + CEO Jay Feitlinger. Sarah’s passions and strengths in the organization lie in developing and implementing strategic marketing and operations growth plans. These plans developed and continue to promote organizational wellbeing in an increasingly agile and flexible team dedicated to delivering excellence with empathy. Passionate about ensuring the internal and external clients are consistently guided and supported by servant leadership, Sarah continues to innovate and enhance healthy organizational, client-centric, and personal initiatives. She lives in Scottsdale and is a certified yoga instructor. She and her spouse Michael are both yoga and fitness enthusiasts who are willing to do an extra class for a nice charcuterie board.
Chuck
Mitchell
Chuck’s career spanned over 30 years with Microsoft as a chief software engineer. Having part of the design and implementation of windows 95. Since Chuck’s retirement, he has and continues to be an avid mountain bike enthusiast. Chuck is currently a valley big brother and his passion for underprivileged children is second to none. Chuck holds a bachelors’ degree as a software engineer from ASU. He and his wife Cara along with their 3 Frenchie’s enjoy the beautiful sun Arizona has to offer where they call home.
Rick
Stoddard
High performing executive with over 40 years of business experience as an entrepreneur, founder, business leader, mentor and a trusted adviser. A history of successfully working with technology & software companies, from Enterprise customers to start-ups.
A servant leader, who uses his past experiences in the corporate and startup world to assist entrepreneurs realize their dreams in the growth of their companies.
A resident of Arizona for 25 years, Rick has a passion for quality job creation in the Arizona ecosystem. He has developed connections with an extensive network of professionals who share the vision of making Arizona a great place to live & work.
Ryan
Boldan
Ryan is a seasoned business executive with over 30 years of experience in training and development, product line management, marketing & E-Commerce, Dealer/Reseller Channel Relations, and E-learning programs.
Currently, Ryan serves as the Global Learning Solutions Director for Picote Solutions, a leading provider of trenchless rehabilitation solutions worldwide.
Prior to joining Picote Solutions, Ryan held leadership roles at several companies, including HammerHead Trenchless and Northern Arizona University’s College of Business. During Ryan’s tenure at HammerHead Trenchless, he played a key role in the development and execution of the company’s growth strategy including launching their CIPP lining division, E-commerce platform, and training center, leading to a significant increase in revenue and profitability.
In addition to their corporate experience, Ryan has also served on several non-profit and community boards, including the NAU Technology Task Force, Northern Arizona Training Consortium, NAU Professional Development Committee and the NAU Staff Advisory Council. Ryan holds a Master of Science in Management (MSM) from Northern Arizona University.
