AATLF Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Susan Tachau

President

Susan Tachau recently retired as CEO of Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF), an organization she co-founded in 1998. With the support of PATF’s Board of Directors and friends, Susan founded Appalachian Assistive Technology Loan Fund and served as its first executive director. Susan has been active in the disability field for 42 years and continues to consult on projects related to access to affordable financing, assistive technology, housing, and employment for people with disabilities. She serves on the Boards of the National Disability Finance Coalition and the PA Statewide Independent Living Council, and is a member of the PA Employment First Oversight Commission. Susan received her BA from Colorado College and her MA from Rutgers University. In 2013, she received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Colorado College; and in 2021, she received the Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance, Opportunity Finance Network. She is the mother of an adult son who has a disability. Susan was born and raised in Louisville and has many family members who live in Kentucky.

Sybille Damas

Vice President

Sybille Damas is the Managing Director of Human Resources at United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, which supports local nonprofits to work to end poverty and to expand opportunities so that every person in the community can thrive. Sybille has over two decades of experience in social services, human resources, and organizational management through her prior roles as Chief Operations Officer at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, and as Director of Operations at Ballinger, an architectural, engineering, and design firm. Her contributions to the non-profit sector have been recognized with several awards, including the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2019 Woman of Distinction Award and Metro Philadelphia’s Philly Power Woman 2021. She has an MSW from Temple University and is a SHRM-certified Human Resources professional.

Carla Mannings

Treasurer

Carla Mannings is Chief Investment and Impact Officer at Partners for the Common Good. She has served as a director on boards for the Opportunity Finance Network and National Disability Finance Coalition. Carla has spent more than a decade in the CDFI industry, advancing economic justice and opportunity for low-income people and communities, including in the Appalachian region. She holds a BA degree from Howard University and an MBA from Brenau University.

Mitch Bilker

Board Co-Secretary

Mitch Bilker is the Treasurer for the Hearing Loss Association of America as well as the Senior Director of Finance and Administration at the Curtis Institute of Music. He also serves as President of Glenn Rose Homeowners’ Association and is Co-Chair Walk Day and Registration Chair for the Walk4Hearing. Mitch recently served as the Treasurer of the AATLF Board and the Chair of the Finance Committee. He holds a BS in Accounting and Finance and an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology. He is Deaf/hard of hearing.

Jeffrey W. Cooper

Co-Secretary

Jeff Cooper is Executive Director of the DREAM Partnership, which assists universities in establishing programs for students with intellectual disabilities and also provides scholarships. From 2001 to 2017 Jeff was President/CEO of UCP Central PA, a $32M non-profit advocacy and service organization of 1300 staff supporting children and adults with disabilities. He retired from the United States Air Force in 2001, as a Colonel. In his last assignment he was Chief of Medical Logistics (support of medical peacetime, aeromedical, and wartime operations). Jeff has a MBA from Florida State University and a MS in Logistics Engineering. He is a graduate of Air War College and Harvard’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management. Jeff and his wife Rayna (a registered dietician) have two daughters, Spring (Associate Professor CUNY) and Shayna (special education teacher in Boulder CO).

Additional Directors

Ryan Creech

Board Director

Ryan Creech serves as the Technical Assistance Coordinator at the University of Kentucky’s Human Development Institute. In that role, Ryan helps research projects create materials that are usable by people of all abilities. Ryan served with the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation as an Assistive Technology Specialist for 12 years, helping Kentuckians with disabilities realize their employment goals. Ryan holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Communication Arts from the University of the Cumberlands. Ryan also brings lived experience to the Board, experiencing spastic paraplegia resulting from an ATV accident in 2007.

Kenneth Jones

Board Director

Kenneth Jones is a retired teacher from the Kentucky School for the Blind, where he spent nearly 40 years. While serving as a teacher, he also sat on various statewide boards, such as the State Advisory Panel for Exceptional Children, Office for the Blind State Rehabilitation Council, and Interagency Council for Exceptional Children, and as Treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind in Kentucky. He serves as the President of the Kentucky Assistive Technology Loan Corporation. Kenneth received both his BS and graduate degree for Teacher Certification from the University of Louisville. Kenneth has low vision.

Heidi Sheehan

Vice President of Finance

Heidi is currently the Vice President of Finance at the Barber National Institute, an organization that meets the needs of children and adults with autism, an intellectual disability, and/or behavioral health disabilities. She began her career in public accounting and subsequently worked in several industries, focusing on non-profit, mission-based organizations. She became a founding family to establish the Montessori Regional Charter School in Erie, PA, which provides a tuition-free Montessori education. She served as the founding Treasurer for the Board and subsequently, Business Manager at the school. She then became the founding Director of Finance for the Erie Catholic School System with the Diocese of Erie, combining six individual parochial elementary schools into one standardized financial and educational system. Eventually, the opportunity presented itself to be a part of the newest community college in the United States as the founding Controller. She was the first full-time, permanent employee for the Erie County Community College of PA. She was an instrumental part of the implementation team, installing and configuring an ERP software system for various business functions, including IT, finance, student services and human resources. When not working, Heidi enjoys performing and choreographing for the local community theater, gardening, and traveling with her family. Heidi graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Accounting and earned her MBA from DePaul University. She also serves on PATF’s Board of Directors and is the Treasurer for the Erie Playhouse board