About Us

Board Officers

Board President

Michelle Crabtree
Centerville City Schools

Michelle Crabtree is a wife, mother, teacher, and childhood cancer advocate who is grateful for A Special Wish Foundation. Michelle has been happily married to her husband, Jason, for 23 years. Together they have three beautiful daughters, Kayleigh, Kari, and Kaycee. Michelle enjoys watching their daughters dance, run, and perform gymnastics competitively. She is one of their biggest fans! She loves the time her family spends together hiking, relaxing, and sitting by the campfire under the stars. She always looks forward to exploring new places with them each camping season. Michelle is a second grade teacher who has taught in Centerville for 22 years. Teaching is her passion and she loves being able to make a difference for others. Michelle and Jason’s eldest daughter, Kayleigh, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was 8 years old. After two and a half years of treatment and eight years later, Kayleigh is now a happy, healthy, 18 year old, and 10 year survivor. Kayleigh was granted a wish by A Special Wish Foundation in the summer of 2011. Kayleigh, Michelle, and their entire family are grateful for A Special Wish and all of the generous people who help make dreams come true for children with life threatening illnesses. Their trip to New York City to meet author Jane O’Connor will always be a special memory that brought a glimmer of hope and happiness during a very difficult time. Michelle is ecstatic to be a member of the board for the Dayton chapter of A Special Wish Foundation so she can help give back to this amazing organization.

Immediate Past-President

Abigail Riedel
Dayton Children's Hospital

Board Vice-President

Secretary

Jayne Lachey Gmeiner
Dayton Children's Hospital

Nursing Leader for over 3 decades Jayne Lachey Gmeiner, MS, RN, NEA-BC has had the opportunity to serve in progressive nursing leadership roles in both the adult and pediatric acute care environments. Jayne’s clinical experience serving as an adult cardiovascular and intensive care Clinical Nurse provided a great foundation for future leadership roles. Current responsibilities for patient care leadership include: strategic planning for the nursing division, supporting the patient and family experience performance improvement and providing oversight of financial management for the nursing division. Provides operational oversight for all inpatient units including general pediatrics, hematology/oncology, pediatric intensive care and intermediate care units, newborn intensive care unit, perioperative surgical services (2), anesthesia services, hospitalist service, the emergency departments(2), urgent cares(2), retail clinics, nursing excellence, Magnet Sustainment, IV therapy, Respiratory Therapy Service and Children’s Home Care of Dayton.Jayne’s strong foundation is based on creating a practice environment that supports patient and staff advocacy, Shared Leadership foundations, interprofessional collaboration and a constant goal for performance and process improvement. She has been successful in working in environments that have supported 4 Magnet Designations/Redesignations at Dayton Children's and Miami Valley Hospital. I also serve as Current President Elect of the Ohio Organization of Nurse Leaders (OONL) and has served on the OONL Board since 2009. Also served in past as President of the Dayton Chapter and as the OONL liaison to the Ohio Nursing Association Summit.

Fun facts: Jayne likes to relax at the beach and loves watching college football and basketball

Treaurer

Elizabeth "Liz" Downer
Flagel Huber Flagel

Liz is a tax manager at Flagel Huber Flagel in Dayton focusing on family and closely held businesses. She assists clients with federal, state, and local tax compliance, planning, and consulting for corporations, S corporations, partnerships, and individuals across a variety of industries. Liz started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cincinnati focusing on international tax planning and compliance for multinational corporations. She is a CPA in the state of Ohio as well as a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Ohio Society of CPAs.

Fun facts: Liz and her husband love to travel and stay active. They enjoy hiking, biking, mountaineering, skiing, and photography.

Board Members

Amy Cook
Sprint

Mukund G. Dole M.D.
Dayton Children’s Hospital

Dr. Mukund G. Dole is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Dayton Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University. He is Medical Director of the West Central Ohio Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center in Dayton.Dr. Mukund G. Dole is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Dayton Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University. He is Medical Director of the West Central Ohio Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center in Dayton.Dr. Dole obtained his medical degree from the University of Bombay and received his General Pediatrics training at Children’s Hospital of Louisiana and LSU Medical Center, New Orleans, LA. He completed his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology- Oncology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He is board certified in both General Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.Besides being a general hematologist-oncologist, Dr. Dole specializes in management of Sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies. Dr. Dole leads the Sickle Cell center and newborn screening program for hemoglobinopathies based at Dayton Children’s Hospital. Along with other members of his department, he remains an active participant in clinical trials conducted by Children’s Oncology Group (COG) for managing children with cancer.

Fun Facts: Dr. Dole's hobbies include golfing, photography, gardening and spending time with family and friends.

Rebecca Gulden
Sinclair Broadcasting Group

Rebecca Gulden is currently the News Director at Dayton 24/7 Now. She has been with the station since 2015. Rebecca grew up in Miami County and graduated from Tippecanoe High School. She went on to attend Bowling Green State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. After graduating in 2005 she took her first producing job in Knoxville, TN then made her way to Charlotte, NC where she stayed for 6 years. In 2013 she returned to the Buckeye state working in Columbus before jumping at the opportunity to come back to the Miami Valley.When she’s not at work she enjoys hiking, playing tennis, spending time with family (especially her twin nephews and niece), and traveling. She loves participating in everything Dayton and the surrounding area has to offer and is privileged to be part of such an amazing organization.

Fun Facts: Rebecca won a regional Emmy for Spot News in 2018 and even though Rebecca works in TV News, she hates being on camera!

Anne Keeton
Freund Freeze & Arnold

Anne is committed to the local legal and Dayton communities and is excited to join the Board with Special Wish. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the Dayton Bar Association, and is former President of the Carl D. Kessler Inn of Court. Named among the Dayton Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2014, Anne served on the Associate Board for the Dayton Art Institute and the Dayton Children’s Hospital Women’s Board. Anne is a shareholder with Freund Freeze & Arnold, a wife to Mark, and a mom of two boys who love to fish.

Fun Facts: Anne and her husband, Mark, are both from Kentucky but met at the University of Virginia. Needless to say, the Keetons are avid basketball fans.

Brandon McClain
Montgomery County Recorder

Brandon C. McClain is the Recorder of Montgomery County. He was appointed in March 2018, elected in November of that same year to fill the unexpired term and re-elected to a 4-year term in 2020. Recorder McClain graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, the University of Cincinnati with a Master of Science in Criminal Justice and the University of Dayton School of Law with a Juris Doctor. He is also a veteran, having served as a non-commissioned officer in the Army National Guard, achieving the rank of Sergeant prior to being honorably discharged. Mr. McClain is admitted to the practice of law in the state of Ohio, as well as the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the United States Tax Court. His legal experience varies from being an Acting Judge and Magistrate in the Dayton Municipal Court, to being an Assistant Public Defender in the Montgomery County Public Defender's Office. Beginning in 2019, Mr. McClain has served as an Adjunct Law Professor at the University of Dayton School of Law specializing in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Since becoming Recorder, Mr. McClain has initiated three key programs: E-recording (electronic document recording), the Veterans Identification Card Program and the Fraud Alert Notification System. In recognition of his efforts as Recorder, Mr. McClain has been accepted into the State of Ohio Leadership Institute (The Ohio State University, 2021) and has received the National Association of Social Workers Region 7 Public Elected Official of the Year Award (NASW, 2020), the Herman Zerger Veteran of the Year Award (ODP, 2019), the Top Ten African-American Male Award (Parity, Inc., 2019), the Forty Under 40 Award (the Dayton Business Journal, 2019), the Joseph Cinque Award (University of Dayton, 2018) and has been inducted into the Dayton Bar Association Foundation Fellowship (Dayton Bar Association, 2019). In addition to his elected duties, Mr. McClain is a member of the Ohio Recorders Association; serves on the Sinclair Community College (SCC) Paralegal Program Advisory Committee, the SCC Real Estate Advisory Committee, the Ohio Recorders Association Legislative Committee, the Dayton Mediation Center Board of Directors, the Single Parents Rock Board of Directors; the Special Wish Foundation Dayton Board of Directors; and is the Chairman of the Montgomery County Data Processing Board. McClain is also a proud member of the Rotary Club of Dayton and a founding member of the Northmont Kiwanis Club.

Fun Facts: Brandon is an avid chess player and loves karaoke- especially if he doesn't know any words to the song. Brandon also really enjoys abstract paintings because they show something different to each observer.

Janet Moland Headhot.jpg Janet Moland
Retired- State Farm

Janet spent thirty years as a State Farm Agent, first with an office in downtown Dayton and then in Centerville. Since retirement, Janet spends a lot of time traveling and seeing the world and frequently we takes her grandson, Gage Sutton, with her. Janet has been a member of Center Stage Show Choir for 30 plus years, 20 of them as director. She continues singing and dancing with the group with performances every Christmas and spring. Past involvements include co-founding Gift Of Life Fund to benefit organ donation. Janet was president for 25 years and the fund is now managed by the Miami Valley Hospital Foundation. She was an early member of the Downtown Dayton Association, a member of the Dayton Ballet Board, currently a sustainer in the Junior League of Dayton and a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae, as well as a past president and state officer.

Carol Murray
Dayton Children’s Hospital

Carol is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Dayton Children's Hospital in the TCU. She has spent my entire nursing care specializing in caring for children and their families with life threating and altering conditions requiring technology dependence to optimize health. Carol has been a Daytonian her entire life graduating from Chaminade Julienne High School, Wright State University with a BSN in 1990 and an MS in nursing in 2012. She started at Dayton Children's in 1989 as a nursing assistant and has had the opportunity to have many positions, such as Clinical Educator, Nurse Manager, and Nurse Recruiter to allow for professional growth. Carol's passion is advocating for children with special health care needs and their families to promote quality of life. She has been able to share her expertise through presentations at local and national professional conferences.

Fun Facts: Carol loves the great outdoors, has seven siblings and claims to have no dance moves!

Dylan Romans
Brady Ware & Company

Dylan Romans is an Audit and Accounting Manager with Brady Ware and Company, working with organizations and companies throughout the Dayton region since 2015. Dylan grew up in Fairborn, where he resides today with his wife of 5 years, Megan. Dylan attended Wright State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and Master of Accountancy in 2014 and 2015. Dylan previously served on the Associate Board for the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. When he’s not at work, Dylan enjoys spending time with his family, enjoying the outdoors, playing volleyball, and traveling.

Fun Facts: Dylan has a goal of traveling to all 50 states and as of 2021 he is almost halfway there! He loves the Dayton area’s craft breweries and spends most of his weekends checking them out.

Charles Manker
(emeritus)

Ruth Wiles
(emeritus)

Advisory Board Members

Mr. Gary Auman

Judge Anthony (Tony) Capizzi - Chair

Ms. Jana Collier

Ms. Deborah Feldman

Mr. Derek Forward

Judge Jeffrey Froelich - Past-Chair

Mr. Jim Heikes

Ms. Helen Jones-Kelley, Esq.

Mr. Brian McNiece

Mr. Tony Oritz

Mr. David Roer, M.D.

Mr. Craig S. Thiele, M.D.

A Special Wish Foundation Staff

Executive Director

David Seyer
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937.641.4267

Wish & Marketing Director

Tyler Gregory
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937.641.4265

Administrative Manager

Judi Newell
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937.641.4263