Structure
How is the Parent Corps Structured?

Why do I believe this program will succeed where others have failed? The answer is obvious: great support, proper training, and dedicated professionals working at local, state and national levels.

~Bill Lamkey, Principal, Riverton High School, Riverton, Illinois

The structure of the Parent Corps is a single, national entity funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service and private sources and created and administered by National Families in Action (NFIA), a nonprofit organization. The Corporation is the federal agency that supports volunteerism in the nation.

The Parent Corps structure consists of NFIA headquarters staff, Parent Leaders, Assistant Parent Leaders, State Partners, State Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators. Most are paid; some are volunteers.

Parent Leaders

NFIA recruits, trains, and manages one Parent Leader per school. Parent Leaders may work as volunteers or part-time or full-time employees of NFIA. Their job is to educate all parents in their child’s school and mobilize them into prevention activities. Parent Leaders must be the parent (defined as anyone who has the primary responsibility for raising a child) of a child who is attending the high school, middle school, or elementary school where the Parent Leader serves.

Assistant Parent Leaders

Some Parent Leaders, especially in larger schools, enhance the Parent Corps by recruiting Assistant Parent Leaders to serve as captains of the grade-level their children attend. These enthusiastic volunteers reach out to all parents who have children in that grade.

State Partners

Through a competitive process, NFIA recruits one nonprofit organization per state as its State Partner to help build the Parent Corps there. Partners must be nonprofit organizations with experience in working with parents to prevent drug abuse, and they must have a strong, established presence in their states and communities.

State Coordinators

NFIA and each State Partner jointly recruit a State Coordinator who is employed and managed by NFIA and works out of the State Partner’s office. State Coordinators have two primary responsibilities: 1) raise funds to increase the number of Parent Leaders in their states; and 2) manage Parent Leaders in their states.

Assistant Coordinators

NFIA and each State Coordinator jointly recruit Assistant Coordinators who are employed and managed by NFIA, are connected to the State Partner’s office, and help the State Coordinator manage Parent Leaders in specific regions of the state. One State or Assistant Coordinator manages up to 20 Parent Leaders.

NFIA Headquarters Staff

• President and CEO Sue Rusche is a co-founder of NFIA, of the Addiction Studies Program for Journalists and State Legislators, and of the Parent Corps. She oversees all aspects of NFIA and its projects.

• Executive Vice President and COO Paula Kemp handles the day-to-day administration of the office and oversees human resources. She served on NFIA’s Board of Directors for three years before joining the staff in 1986.

• Vice President of Organizational Development Phillip Deal works on infrastructure development and fundraising to expand the Parent Corps.

• Vice President of Research and Technology Curtis Meek is responsible for coordinating Parent Corps programmatic issues with the RTI evaluation, developing and implementing other Parent Corps research, assisting with the Addiction Studies Program, and overseeing all technological aspects of the organization.

• Vice President and National Coordinator William Carter joined the staff after serving on the Board for 11 years. He is responsible for managing all Parent Leaders in the field and will manage all State Coordinators in the future as the responsibility for managing Parent Leaders is transferred to them.

• Vice President of Finance Carol Reeder manages the finances of the organization, creates monthly financial statements for the Board of Directors, creates and tracks all budgets, and oversees all financial reporting requirements.

• Controller Eric Dickerson prepares payroll and accounts payable, and maintains all financial data. NFIA has engaged a co-employer, Staffing Concepts, Inc., which has the capacity to meet the varying legal and tax requirements for payroll in all 50 states.

• Jackie Krizmanich is NFIA’s Executive Assistant, assisting Ms. Rusche and Ms. Kemp.

• Andi Strimban is NFIA’s Administrative Assistant. She assists all other staff.

Currently, all paid Parent Leaders are managed by NFIA’s Vice President and National Coordinator from NFIA’s headquarters office in Atlanta. As the Parent Corps grows, NFIA will develop a management training component to train all State and Assistant Coordinators in fund raising and management tasks. NFIA’s National Coordinator, and an Assistant National Coordinator who will be added, will manage State Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators.

NFIA Board of Directors

NFIA is governed by a Board of Directors, which meets every other month. Board members are:

Officers

• William F. Carter, Chair
Vice President and National Coordinator, National Families in Action. See bio in Executive Bios.

• Sarah O’Brien, Vice Chair
Ms. O’Brien is CFO & COO of the Dental Division of Eastman Kodak Company. At NFIA, she co-chairs the development cabinet, is a member of the board’s audit committee, and has been a board member since 2004.

• William Fox, Vice President
Mr. Fox retired as Vice President of Fundraising at Emory University. During his long tenure at Emory, Mr. Fox was responsible for raising more than $2 billion to enable the university’s stunning growth. He has been a member of the board since 2005.

• George R. Vrana, Treasurer
Mr. Vrana is a Partner with Ernst & Young. He chairs the audit committee and has been treasurer and a board member since 1981.

• Charles B. Bedford, Secretary,
Mr. Bedford retired as Executive Director of the University Center in Georgia. He has been a board member since 1989.

Directors

• Sue Rusche
President and CEO, National Families in Action. See bio in Executive Bios.

• Paula C. Kemp
Executive Vice President and COO, National Families in Action. See bio in Executive Bios.

• William F. Carter
Vice President and National Coordinator, National Families in Action. See bio in Executive Bios.

• William H. Avery
Mr. Avery, a Partner with the law firm Alston & Bird, is a graduate of Georgia Tech and Emory University Law School. He has been a board member since 1977.

• Harold E. Craig
Mr. Craig is Vice President for Economic Development at Atlanta Technical College and a graduate of Leadership Atlanta. He served as project director of NFIA’s inner-city programs from 1990-1999 and has been a board member since 2001.

• Garry Guan
Mr. Guan is Proprietor of Asian American Media Group, Inc., a marketing advisory board member for MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority), and chairman of the board of the Atlanta Association of Interpreters and Translators. Providing NFIA with networking in the Asian community, he has been a board member since 2004.

• Herbert F. (Ted) Johnson
Mr. Johnson is Regional Vice President of Primerica Financial Services. His affiliation with NFIA began while he was director of Emory libraries, where he facilitated the development of NFIA’s Information Center. He has been a board member since 1980.

• Gwendolyn Mayfield
Ms. Mayfield, retired Administrator for Atlanta Public Schools, is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta. As principal of Fowler Elementary School during the Inner-City Families in Action grant years of the 1990s, she offered insight for working in school environments. She has been a board member since 1996.

• Jairo Rivera
Mr. Rivera is Vice President for Development, Latin America, for Sanswire, Inc. He has provided significant networking contacts to the Hispanic community for NFIA and has served on the board since 2004.

• Betty Sembler.
Ms. Sembler is founder of the Drug Free America Foundation and the Save our Society from Drugs (S.O.S.). She served our country, along with her husband, Mel, who was United States Ambassador to Italy from 2001 through 2005. She has been a board member since 2004.

• Maryann Wyatt
Ms. Wyatt, who works at the Methodist Children’s Home, served for 11 years in the Armed Forces. She is often called upon as a public speaker to talk about the impact of alcohol and drugs on the life and death of her 14-year-old daughter in a drunk-driving crash. She has been a board member since 2005.