Kevin Fisher, National Alliance on Mental Illness
Kevin Fischer is the Executive Director of NAMI Michigan. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. A retired businessman, Kevin joined NAMI as a volunteer in 2011 after his oldest son Dominique was diagnosed with a mental illness in late 2007 and was lost to suicide in 2010. After serving on the NAMI Michigan Board of Directors as the NAMIWalks Chairperson for two years, and as Board Vice-President for two years, Kevin accepted the role of Executive Director in 2014.
A mental health and suicide prevention advocate, Kevin is the founder and Director of The Dominique Fischer Memorial Foundation, serves on the Board of Directors of several behavioral health organizations throughout Michigan, including Governor Whitmer’s Suicide Prevention Commission, the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) Mental Health Diversion Council and Behavioral Health Advisory Council (BHAC), Disability Rights Michigan’s (DRM) Protection & Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) Advisory Board, and is a member of the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) International Board of Directors. Quoted as saying “this is his last job; his last fight,” Kevin is dedicated to eliminating the stigma of mental illness, which he considers the leading barrier to the early diagnoses and treatment, which leads to better outcomes for all.
Dr. Eve Miller, Director of Research for FranklinCovey Education
Dr. Eve Miller has been the Director of Research for FranklinCovey Education for six years, in which time she led the development of a system for measuring schoolwide SEL, assisted major universities conducting studies demonstrating the impact of the Leader in Me, and designed an equity-focused professional development training for teachers.
Eve is an experienced cognitive neuroscientist with fifteen years of applied work in the genetics, healthcare, military intelligence, and education fields. Eve’s applied work in education grew from her doctoral research exploring how learning environments can be altered to improve learning outcomes for a broader range of learners.
Eve’s experience in the field of education involves teaching as well. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Utah where she has taught six different courses within the Psychology Department; Research Methods, Statistics for Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, and Cognition in the Wild. She loves teaching and considers each assignment a new opportunity to introduce growing minds to the exciting worlds within research and psychology
Tom Lietz, Associate Director of Training & Development – MASSP
Tom joined MASSP as its Associate Director in July 2022 after serving as the principal of Utica High School for 8 years. Prior to Utica High, Tom was the Head of School for the Utica Academy for International Studies, an IB World School, Associate Principal for Heritage Jr. High, was director of Chinese Language Programs at Utica Community Schools and was a History and Speech and Debate teacher at Eisenhower HS. While Principal at Utica High, Tom served on the MASSP Board of Directors, representing Region 9 in Macomb County, was an AVID principal leading equity work focused on elevating underrepresented students, and was a passionate advocate for student voice and student mental health.
Tom earned his Bachelors of Arts Degree from Wayne State University with a co-curricular Major in K-12 Education and History with a Minor in Communication. He attended Wayne State again for Graduate School, earning a Masters Degree in Communication and currently working on his PhD in K-12 Administration at Michigan State University