Marc Chiodo leads North-Star Care’s finance department and has over 7 years of financial experience, working for regional accounting and consulting firms. Prior to North-Star Care, Marc served as a Manager at HDH Advisors, LLC, an Atlanta based consulting firm focused on business valuation and litigation support services. Marc has a BA in Finance from Michigan State University and is a Certified Valuation Analyst.

Jay Kelley leads North-Star Care’s product department and has over 15 years of healthcare product development experience, working for both startup and Fortune 50 companies. Prior to North-Star Care, Jay served as the Director of Digital Experience for HCA Healthcare and has extensive experience with web application development, digital marketing, clinical interoperability, data management, consumer analytics, and more.

Jay has a bachelors degree in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University and masters in information systems from Northwestern University.

Evelyn DeJesus, VP of Clinical Operations, adds over two decades of nursing experience and leadership to the team. Through her career, she has focused on developing models of care that transform the patient experience and improve outcomes. Evelyn previously was the Director of Nursing for a division of 200 interdisciplinary healthcare professionals at Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to many leadership roles, Evelyn has held several Clinical Nurse Instructor roles most recently at the University of Connecticut. Her executive leadership experience drives high standards of care by employing evidenced based practices to ensure a culture of accountability, commitment, and patient safety. Evelyn has a BSN, a Masters in Nursing Management and Executive Leadership, and she is Nurse Executive Board Certified.

Louis Pompeo leads North-Star Care’s Business Development department and has over a decade of working experience in executive leadership roles, specifically within the substance abuse treatment field in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Most recently, Louis worked as VP of Sales for a market leading healthcare technology company. Louis is passionate about reaching out to individuals and families suffering from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and finding ways to help.

Lisa’s goal at North-Star Care is to make each patient’s journey as smooth and seamless as possible. She is a Registered Nurse with 17 years of experience in healthcare. Lisa started her career in elder care before moving to the Neurosciences department of her local hospital. After years of bedside nursing, she transitioned to working as a private duty nurse while simultaneously working at a not-for-profit Community Outreach organization. Mental health issues, substance abuse, and AUD were prevalent in her outreach work and she sought more focus with this patient population. North-Star Care has given her the opportunity to work with those suffering from alcohol use disorder (AUD); an opportunity to make a difference.

Director of Peer Support, Mary Kate Farley has over a decade of experience working as a “Peer,” certified both in Intentional Peer Support and as a Recovery Coach in MA. With her own experience in alcohol use recovery, Mary Kate relishes this opportunity to reimagine the addiction treatment system through a social justice lens and to advocate for the wellness of people working in the field who courageously share their experiences to move toward their own, and ultimately collective, healing. 

Mary Kate is also a writer, Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher and completed a Kripalu Yoga Teacher training in 2006 while working at an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab. Her own wellness journey includes: yoga, 12 steps, writing for recovery, cannabinoids, Buddhist recovery and more. She has a BA in History from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she says some of her most profound learning came from Marching Band. 

Inspired by 20 years in the worlds of medicine and yoga, Erica bridges her unique experiences as a Physician Assistant and Yoga Therapist to share a holistic perspective of health and wellness.   Having started her career in direct patient care, she progressed to clinical education and has written and developed innovative, evidence-based treatment protocols for some of the largest OBOT programs in the country.  When she’s not deep into clinical writing and teaching addiction treatment, you can find Erica on her mat, teaching mindfulness and self-discovery, or on a trail in the mountains with her family. 

Betsy has 25+ years of experience across various industries with a key focus on education and healthcare. A common theme throughout her career has been a unique ability to establish, develop and maintain key relationships with individuals and organizations regardless of the setting. Specifically impacted by her work with at-risk high school students, Betsy relishes the opportunity to connect people with programs and opportunities to help them access the appropriate resources when they are most in need. Betsy has a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University.

With over a decade of digital strategy experience, Richard Sparkman is excited to bring his robust skillset to North-Star Care as the Director of Digital Marketing. Having served a diverse clientele of Fortune 500 companies and internationally recognized entertainers, Richard has extensive experience working within the ever-changing digital landscape – and beyond. Driven by purpose and a desire to enact real change, he is obsessed with all aspects of the educational storytelling, thoughtful design, and data analysis . Richard holds numerous industry certifications, and his work has been featured and published internationally.

Jason Renninger is a person with lived experience of both Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health challenges. Jason struggled for years to recover from these problems, learning over time that trauma was driving these challenges. Jason has been a professional peer specialist for over 12 years, guiding other people through their challenges of substance use and mental health challenges. Jason was trained in supportive employment and education through Rutgers University, using that training to support people to return to competitive employment or educational settings. Jason is an advocate for change in substance use treatment, centered around non-traditional harm reduction models.

Dr Maher is a holistic medical doctor with a medical degree from Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU)  and residency at University of California, San Francisco.  She has been supporting patients with pain and addiction for 20 years. She has expertise in interdisciplinary care including psychology, nutrition, lifestyle change, mind-body health, and more.  She is a certified GAPS nutritionist and has lead group cleanses and individual care to optimize health.  She has studied taught yoga for over 20 years, and has taught classes including sound healing, meditation and breathing.  She uses her clinical experience to teach clinicians to provide compassionate and patient-centered care through a course at OHSU.  She is thrilled to be a part of the North Star Care team.