Board Member Bios

Carrie Chizuk is a learning and development professional with a passion for developing leaders, forming impactful teams, and facilitating training. As the Director of Learning and Development at DePaul, based in Rochester, NY, she supports coaching and leadership development, career development, learning opportunities, training creation, LMS management, and DEI initiatives. Carrie has gained valuable experience and perspective through a decade of learning & development and two decades of leadership experience, mostly in non-profit organizations, so she can significantly impact the lives of those she supports.

Carrie has a MS in Leadership & Organizational Change from Nazareth University, a BS in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, and a coaching certification from the Leadership Coaching Certification Program.

Carrie enjoys riding her bike around Rochester, performing improv, and game nights with family and friends.

Leanne E. Reed is the CEO of Hubbub Solutions. She brings a unique blend of humor, candid truth, and expertise to her clients. Presently, her company, Hubbub Solutions, provides coaching for executives, leaders, and teams. The core of her work is creating courageous conversations, high performance competencies and transforming through transitions.  Consultation on organizational development and branding is also provided.

Leanne’s leadership experience includes corporate and not for profit sectors as well as launching three businesses of her own. While in senior leadership roles she was responsible for culture change, organization development, strategic planning and implementation, quality improvement, change management, succession planning,  leader and team development, training, fundraising, community relations and marketing.

Community involvement has included serving on ten boards, teaching at Nazareth College and committee work for over 30 organizations. Leanne is a Certified Leadership/Life Coach, Certified Career Management Coach, Certified Behavioral Analyst and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Melissa Chinnock is an Instructional Designer with a background in management, operations, and training. A Rochester native and an alumna of Boston University and RIT, Melissa is passionate about learning. She currently works for Calero, where she’s using her background to reimagine the employee onboarding experience and role-based skills training. In her spare time, Melissa is the former board president and current music librarian for the Rochester Women’s Community Chorus. 

Brandon Kotler is a teacher, trainer, facilitator with over 20 years in the Learning and Development space. Brandon has worked with students in the higher education and rehabilitation sectors, while coaching adult learners as a career advisor and corporate trainer. Brandon focuses on the learner’s experience: seeking to instill fun and enthusiasm while exploring skill development and resource utilization. He also enjoys the outdoors, kayaking, and taking his Labradoodle Sadie Mae for walks.  

Stacy Bannister has over 25 years as an educational leader. She is a professional development facilitator and DiSC Certified Trainer with a strong background in leadership development, communication, and adult learning. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Learning and Professional Development at Heritage Christian Services, where she designs and delivers high-impact, interactive learning experiences that strengthen leadership capacity, improve workplace relationships, and support organizational effectiveness. Stacy holds a Master of Science in Secondary Education and a Certificate in Media and Technology in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Melissa Huang is a learning and development leader with more than eight years of experience in instructional design, operations training, and enterprise learning systems. She currently leads Medline’s Operations elearning development team as a Training Manager, where she drives initiatives that strengthen compliance, safety, and performance across diverse audiences.

Melissa specializes in translating complex operational processes into engaging, measurable learning experiences. Her expertise includes eLearning development (Articulate Storyline, Rise, and Vyond), accessibility, and AI-enabled content design. She has led the development of scenario-based digital training programs and implemented strategies that increase engagement and support workforce retention.

She holds two master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—one in Classics and one in Library and Information Science. Her academic background informs her structured, research-driven approach to learning design and knowledge management.

Outside of work, Melissa enjoys road biking around Rochester and hosting board game nights with friends.

John Ventresca is a learning consultant, strategist, and designer with nearly 20 years of experience in learning and development. He started his custom learning solutions company, Unit One Learning, in 2018. His work, with some of the largest companies in the world and higher education institutions, including Meta (Facebook), Bank of America, Nissan, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, and Cornell University, has been recognized numerous times.

John has a BA in Communication from American University and an MBA from the University of Rochester Simon Business School. He is a member of Strong Memorial Hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, a volunteer for the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation and a healthcare public speaker and patient advocate.

Hans vonGehlen is a graduate of the Technical University of Darmstadt [TH] with a dual degree in Business and Engineering and a business veteran with more than 30 years of experience. He is the owner or founding partner of several local small businesses such as the German School of Rochester, HELIX Mfg. Inc., FairCraft Brauhaus and HGS Electronics Inc. Previously he served as a high-profile manager at BROSE and VALEO, then as a consultant for Topline and ARGO Consulting before starting his own firm EMPOWR Group / AXXELL Consulting. He is a mentor, author and Personal Leadership Coach.

Hans further served in many functions with local organizations, among others as past Director for Economic Development for the Webster Chamber of Commerce, past President of the Rochester Professional Consultants Network and as the current VP of Finance for the Rochester Chapter of the Association for Talent Development. Hans is certified in Lean Management, has a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, is certified as a Coach, Business Development Consultant, Train the Trainer, and Instructional Designer. He designs and facilitates workshops and webinars and coaches groups and individuals.

Hans has a passion for business and people alike and loves to help them thrive. His traits are accessibility, compassion and candor paired with creative problem-solving and leadership as he is able to rapidly analyze complex scenarios and lay them out in simple terms.

In his free time, he loves to travel, hike, sail, dance, build and fix stuff, and hang out with friends.