Board Leadership - NAMI Alabama (2024)

Connie is the President of the NAMI Alabama Board of Directors. Connie found NAMI via a Family-to-Family class. She has since trained as a program leader for several NAMI programs. Connie enjoys spending time in her pottery studio, spoiling her grandkids and traveling the country with her husband in their RV.

Stacy serves as the 1st Vice- Pesident of the NAMI Alabama Board. She is an associate professor of psychology at Auburn University at Montgomery. She also serves as faculty advisor for the NAMI on Campus club at AUM. Stacy also writes novels and enjoys volunteering and hiking.

Joel is the 2nd Vice President of the NAMI Alabama Board. He is Associate Professor at Troy University in the Department of Education’s Division of Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Interpreter Training. Dr. Willis completed his Ph.D. at Auburn University. He is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Alabama as well as a nationally certified counselor and holds a national certification as a rehabilitation counselor. His experience includes community rehabilitation programs, student disability services, employment specialist, and addiction counseling.

Kym is the NAMI Alabama Treasurer. She serves as the Director of Communications at Frazer Church. Kym is an avid runner and dog mom who loves watching her daughter play soccer.

Ida serves as the Secretary of the NAMI Alabama Board and was the former president of NAMI Mobile. She has been involved with NAMI for over 15 years and enjoys talking about NAMI in her community. Ida likes taking walks with her dog, Dinero, going to the movies and the gym.

Frank Barger was elected Probate Judge of Madison County in 2018 and began his current term in January 2019. His experience is vast having presided over more than 3,000 cases, with in-depth hands-on work in all facets of Court operation. Barger is focused on tackling the mental health crisis by developing a model Court for involuntary commitments, implementing procedures to protect our seniors and children, and safeguarding secure and transparent elections.

Allison Boyd serves as a member of the NAMI Alabama Board. She is the Probate Judge in Shelby County but began her involvement with NAMI after seeing the excellent services her local NAMI Shelby provided to participants and family members of the Shelby County Mental Health Court. She enjoys running and watching her children play sports and participate in theater.

Joy became involved with NAMI Birmingham in 2013, by way of a Family–to-Family Class, after her daughter was diagnosed with a mental illness. She served as the President of the NAMI Birmingham board for five years. Joy earned her Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and her Master’s in Education from Purdue University. Prior to her retirement, Joy was a gifted teacher for 32 years, teaching in Crown Point, IN and the Birmingham School System.

Jacqueline Feldman, MD is a Professor Emerita with the School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She retired in July, 2014, as the Patrick H. Linton endowed professor, the Medical Director of the UAB Community Psychiatry Program, the Executive Director of the UAB Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center, the Director of the Division of Public Psychiatry, and the Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs. Since retiring, Dr. Feldman has continued to provide clinical and administrative services for the department, has been named to the Medicaid Regional Care Organization Citizens Advisory Board and Provider Standards Board. Dr. Feldman has been listed numerous times in “Best Doctors in America” and named by NAMI twice as an Exemplary Psychiatrist.

Ethel serves as President of NAMI Montgomery. She worked many years for NAMI Alabama after retiring from the State of Alabama, Medicaid, and retiring from the USDA Forest Service. A friend convinced Ethel to answer the telephone for NAMI Alabama two weeks during a television campaign that featured NAMI. Those two weeks stretched into many years of serve to NAMI. Ethel enjoys volunteering for multiple organizations and decorative painting.

Affectionately known as SueNAMI, Sue Guffey first became aware of NAMI while living in Ohio. Upon moving to Alabama, she discovered Centre was missing a vital tool in it mental health system – a NAMI affiliate. So Sue founded NAMI Centre and served as President for several years. Sue is a retired teacher, mother, wife, and grandmother.

Officer Hollingsworth is the Crisis Intervention/ Mental Health Officer Training Coordinator for the Huntsville Police Department. He has 35 years law enforcement experience with 15 years as a hostage negotiator and currently a certified mental health officer in Madison County.

Cedric is an Investigator with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and is currently assigned to COMPACT2020, a program designed to educate and prevent drug use among students in the Shelby County public school system. Cedric is a Veteran of the United States Army and a two time graduate of Alabama State University where he received his BS Degree in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice in 1992 and a MS Degree in Mental Health Counseling in 2009. He also holds Instructor certifications as a Crisis Intervention Team Trainer and Mental Health First Aid Trainer, where he teaches first responder’s and other members of the community how to deal with a person experiencing a mental health crisis.

Jackie is the Program Coordinator for NAMI Shoals. She is also a Family Support Group State Trainer for NAMI Alabama. Jackie has her Bachelor's degree in Behavioral Science from Athens State and a Master's degree in Social Work from Alabama A&M University.

Anne Penney serves on the NAMI AL board and is Vice-President of NAMI East Alabama. She is a retired community mental health center director who grew up with a father with serious mental illness. Anne and her husband live in Auburn. They have one son, a practicing attorney in Birmingham, a wonderful daughter-in-law and a new baby granddaughter.

Dennis Shannon is President of NAMI East Alabama and a member of the NAMI Alabama Board. He retired as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences after nearly 29 years at Auburn University and previously served as agronomist in Nigeria, Congo and Haiti. NAMI has been an important part of his life over the past 16 or 17 years because of the support that he received from affiliate members when his family was in crisis and the understanding that he gained from taking Family to Family.

Allison is the President of NAMI Mobile. She obtained her undergraduate degree in French and Sociology from Tulane University. She went on to attend Louisiana State University, where she earned her Juris Doctor cum laude. While in law school, Allison studied in Lyon, France and is fluent in conversational French. Allison is an attorney with Maynard Cooper’s Cybersecurity & Privacy practice group where sheassists clients with cybersecurity risk assessments, cybersecurity incident response planning, cybersecurity and privacy compliance, and data breach response.

Ron chairs the NAMI Alabama Strategic Planning Committee. He is an author and works with clients globally on leadership, performance improvement, and measuring business impact. Ron is a NAMI Shelby family support facilitator and an officer with the Cahaba Valley Elks. He is a 10-year Veteran of the Marine Corps. Ron enjoys trips to foreign countries with his granddaughters and family.

Jimmy’s passion is in advocating for persons living with mental illness wrongly incarcerated and in working for diversion programs in this area. Jimmy has practiced law for more than 40 years. He received his BS at the U. S. Military Academy and his JD, cum laude at Cumberland School of Law. Jimmy served as a Boy Scout leader for 30 years, a Scoutmaster for 14 years, and as a Cubmaster for four years. Mental Health Summit, focusing on CIT and crisis response systems. Jimmy is also a NAMI Alabama Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a past president of the board.

Lifetime Board Member - Ruthie is a longtime NAMI member. She served multiple terms as the President of the former NAMI Coffee County affiliate Ruthie was married to the late Reverend Joe Warren and is very active in her church were she teaches Sunday School and sings in the choir.

Lifetime Board Member

Lifetime Board Member

Lifetime Board Member

Lifetime Board Member