Board of Directors

Estrellita “Lo” Berry, MA, serves as President and CEO of REACHUP, Inc. Lo is an Affiliate Faculty, University of South Florida, College of Public Health, Department of Community and Family Health and the Immediate Past President of the National Healthy Start Association Board of Directors. She is Project Director and Principal Investigator for Central Hillsborough (Federal) Healthy Start and Co-Investigator of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health grant program, Toward Eliminating Disparities in Maternal and Child Health Population. Lo received her undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychology and Masters in Education and Community Counseling at the University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana. She is a wife, mother and proud grandmother.

James N. Wilkerson, Jr. is an Investment Advisor Representative with Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc., as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER. His area of expertise is tax-free retirement strategies, and he provides complimentary services in the form of one on one meetings, seminars and forums. A retired Navy Lieutenant Commander and licensed minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ he resides in Brandon with his wife Valerie where he has operated his own business in financial services since retiring from active military service.

Marcia McKingley-Lewis is a Healthcare Consultant and Executive & Business Coach as well as the principal owner of Kingdom Creative Solutions Inc. A certified business coach, she specializes in advising business leaders on everything from strategy and human capital management to leadership transformation, coaching, career transitions and team performance.

Jeff Goolsby is a Shareholder of Moore Stephens Lovelace, PA, Certified Public Accountants. He has over 15 years of public and private industry auditing and accounting experience, focused on healthcare, senior housing, real estate, employee benefit plans, and not-for-profit organizations. He received his B.S. (summa cum laude) and M.S. Degrees in Accounting from Florida State University and is a C.P.A., Certified Public Accountant, licensed in Florida. He is published in Florida CPA Today and is a frequent presenter on issues impacting not-for-profit organizations. Jeff lives in South Tampa with his wife Crystal, and daughter, Bailey.

Taisha J. Ortiz is a former Central Hillsborough Healthy Start (CHHS) consumer who became part of the Program with her first pregnancy in 2014. She served as a Community Consortium/Peer Support Group translator, breastfeeding support leader, and Community Consortium Co-Chair and alternate co-chair. In 2018, as co-chair of CHHS, Taisha traveled to Washington DC to speak to legislators to request continued funding of REACHUP, Inc./CHHS. She is currently the voice behind Todo Mujer, a podcast that
informs and empowers women in their motherhood journey.
The podcast also provides tools and support to help women achieve their goals as entrepreneurs, mothers, and wives as well as promoting their spiritual growth. Taisha is an active leader at her church, CCI Tampa, and is a wife and mother of 2.

Patrick Cannon provides strategic communications planning for nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible businesses. Dr. Cannon has over a decade of experience in health care advocacy and research and over fifteen years of professional communication experience. He earned his doctorate in Communication at the University of South Florida, his Master’s at the University of Arkansas, and Bachelor’s at the University of Chicago.

Pauline McNeil Rivers, PhD, is an organization development and learning consultant and workforce development coach with over 25 years of experience in consulting, training, and instructional design and development. In addition to serving as administrative pastor of Plant City Christian Center, Dr. Rivers is the president of the Board of Directors for Building Strong Families, Inc., a community-supported nonprofit 501c(3) organization. Dr. Rivers is a Green-Belt certified in Six Sigma, holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Florida.

Sophia Hector, MPH, CPH attended the University of South Florida where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and her Master’s Degree in Public Health. Sophia Hector is currently the STD Program Manager for the Florida Department of Health-Hillsborough County (FDOH-HC). Sophia previously supervised the Family Planning Title X Program, Community Dental Program and School Based Dental Sealant Program. Before that, Sophia was the evaluator for the CDC’S Strategic Alliance for Health Collaborative in FDOH-HC. During this initiative, Sophia helped develop the Anytime, Anywhere breastfeeding campaign, tobacco free policies for public housing and mentored communities on CDC’S CHANGE tool. Prior to working in Hillsborough, Sophia was the Director for the Office of Healthy Lifestyles in Florida Department of Health-Charlotte County.

Gloria Walters real estate career started in 2006, she worked at an investment company that rehabbed blighted homes across Tampa Bay. These projects ranged from complete rehabs to cash flow rentals. Gloria expanded her services to provide Buyer and Seller representation for any real estate project ranging from an investment or second home acquisition, corporate relocation, first time home purchase, or home sale. As a Realtor®, Gloria takes pride in helping families and businesses meet their real estate goals and love every aspect of the real estate arena.

Adam Vreeland is a strategic benefits consultant with a unique management background in human resources and accounting; he specializes in providing small and large companies with creative solutions to lower employer costs while maintaining competitive employee benefits. Previously the Chief Financial Officer at AJT Management Services as well as the Executive Director of HR at Medpace, Inc., Adam prides himself on having a firm understanding of the day-to-day business challenges from both a financial and an employee relations perspective. He was appointed to the REACHUP Board of Directors in July 2022.

Naazneen Pal is a true public health advocate with many years of public health, clinical research, and health policy experience. Her accolades include publications as well as community outreach within the state of Florida. She is a native to the Tampa Bay area and has attained her Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Health Education from the University of South Florida. Her career has spanned from academia at USF to public health practice at the Florida Department of Health. Some of her most recent and notable efforts include partaking in the Florida Healthy Communities Workplan with a focus on overcoming food insecurity issues in our community; development of Hillsborough’s Health Equity Plan - outlining health disparities and project implementation to reduce those disparities; and most recently being awarded a large federally funded grant by the CDC to improve the public health infrastructure in our community and nation. During the crisis of the pandemic, she was one of our county’s Epidemiologist, focusing on leading mitigation and prevention efforts in schools and neighboring organizations as well as running infectious disease clinical trials and research at Tampa General Hospital. She strives for continuous collaboration with community organizations to strengthen partnerships and achieve shared public health goals.

Stephen Pearson began his current role at U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command on April 17, 2017. He is responsible for managing a multitude of HR and Administrative related topics that resides at a 2-Star General Officer’s, Marine Corps headquarters. Daily, he can be seen coordinating and working alongside active duty service members, Civil Service employees and Contracting personnel as a common practice at the worksite.
He is a Michigan native, born in Detroit where he was raised and graduated from Benedictine High School. He received his Bachelors degree in Marketing from National Louis University in 1996. Later, Stephen would earn his Masters degree in Business Management from University of Phoenix in 2002.
Stephen is humbled to reveal that he has served our nation with a distinguished 28 year Marine Corps career. Retired at the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4; with his last assignment as a Manpower /Personnel Planner for the Marine Corps. Since retiring from the military in 2011, Stephen has been steadfast in the belief of, “always strive to make your surroundings better than how you found it”.
A few highlights of Stephen’s career include:
Quality Assurance Manager. He implemented internal control procedures within a local command headquarters that supported the practices of Headquarters Marine Corps Internal Procedures (MICP).
Information/Security Manager. He was assigned as the first non-active duty servicemember to serve as the Security Manager Representative. Successfully taught more than 500 personnel on the proper techniques of safeguarding and the protection of both sensitive and classified information.
Human Resources Officer (military). Served as the Director of the HR department stationed overseas, a staff comprised 13 Officers, 17 Senior Enlisted, 150 Enlisted, 5 Civil Service employees, and 18 Okinawa National employees. Together our ‘team’ provided administrative support to well over 36 commands, and 14,000 service personnel and their families.
Stephen enjoys spending quality time socializing with family and friends; and he especially enjoys traveling with his wife, Sandy.

Elana is a Tampa native and the owner of Greenway Law Firm, P.A., a business, intellectual property, and personal injury law firm located in the Tampa Bay Area. She is a graduate of Florida State University, and Howard University School of Law. Elana routinely assists creatives and companies in various transactions, and helps clients protect, manage, and enforce their intellectual property. She also has litigated personal injury and trademark disputes in state and federal courts. Outside of work, Elana enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and extended family.