Amy Sutton is Chief Executive Officer of Crossroads4Hope, A Network of Cancer Support (CR4H). Since assuming this role in 2012, her focus has been on transforming the organization through innovative approaches that update traditional models of psychosocial support for the realities of today’s complex and costly cancer journey. Her passion for the mission comes from professional and personal experiences seeing the challenges facing patients, caregivers, and family members coping with a health crisis. As a result, she is deeply committed to reducing the burden of cancer, especially on the most vulnerable members of our communities.

Ms. Sutton has over 25 years in leadership positions within for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and has worked across healthcare, human services, and manufacturing industries. She has participated on international and national committees taking on large-scale change and health initiatives. Her entrepreneurial approach has helped to create dynamic environments focused on empowering individuals to achieve exceptional results. She has experience facilitating organization-wide change initiatives, and coaching executives, individuals, and teams to achieve high performance results. She has been successful in establishing and implementing strategies to increase revenue, capability, and effectiveness.

Laura Atwell has nearly 30 years of experience in the fundraising, marketing and planning. Throughout her career she has specialized capital campaign fundraising and directing major gift programs in education, health care and social service organizations.  

Prior to joining Crossroads4Hope, Laura held leadership development roles at Physicians for Human Rights, She Runs It as well as serving as the Chief Development Officer at  Team Rubicon, a veteran led disaster relief organization where she grew a nascent fundraising program of $2.5 million and 1.5 people to a team of 10 and raising $47 million.  She has also led major gift and capital campaign efforts at Overlook Foundation and New-York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center as part of the $1 billion NYPH Campaign “To Realize Medicine’s Promise” and the $750 million “Advancing the Clinical Mission” campaign for Weill Cornell Medical College, leading a team of 14. For 10 years, she served as Assistant Vice President with Ghiorsi & Sorrenti, Inc., where she served a diverse client group and conducted campaign planning studies and served as resident campaign director for organizations with multi-million-dollar goals.  

Her writing has appeared in Fund Raising Magazine, and she has been a featured speaker at numerous conferences including the Annual Global NGO Expo, Engage for Good, Ellevate Network’s Annual Philanthropy Day Summit, and the New England Association of Health Care Philanthropy conferences.  Ms. Atwell has a degree in Journalism and Political Science from West Virginia University and holds a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Illinois.    

Katherine Schaible is a licensed social worker and joined Crossroads4Hope in 2015. As Senior. Director, Program & Impact, Ms. Schaible is responsible for both the strategic vision and daily operations of Crossroads4Hope’s comprehensive program of support. She has been the driving force behind the growth of our Support4Families and Outreach programs. Ms. Schaible is bilingual and provides individual support to Crossroads4Hope’s members in both English and Spanish and facilitates several support groups. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Siena College and a Master’s in Social Work from Boston University with specializations in Group Dynamics and Trauma-Informed Practice. Prior to joining Crossroads4Hope, Ms. Schaible lived for several years in Ecuador, where she co-founded and operated an after-school program for neglected children. She draws on this expertise every day in her role at Crossroads4Hope as the point of contact for Spanish-speaking members and in her role overseeing the expansion of our mission through diverse and vulnerable communities.

Ann Kent has over 20 years of professional experience in business development and marketing, with the past five years being in non-profit development and marketing work. She joined Crossroads4Hope in June, 2022 as Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations and has a degree in English from Colby College.

Rachel Werner joined Crossroads4Hope in May 2020 as a Child and Youth Program Coordinator, providing direct services to families facing cancer. In 2021, she was named Outreach and Program Manager, managing the Support4Families and Outreach initiatives. Ms. Werner is a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) with clinical and administrative experience ranging from work in hospital settings, educational organizations, and international non-profits. She graduated from Monmouth University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and later obtained her master’s degree in child life from Bank Street College of Education. Ms. Werner completed her clinical education experiences at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and Winthrop University Medical Center, now NYU Winthrop Hospital.  After obtaining her certification, she spent two years living and working in Israel where she created and implemented a child life position at Save a Child’s Heart, a non-profit organization providing life-saving cardiac care for children from developing countries.

In addition, she has used her clinical skills on medical missions in both Ethiopia and India. Ms. Werner is passionate about widening the reach of psychosocial care around the world and has spent time educating students and advocating for the expansion of services in the United States, Israel, and Romania. She has also presented about her work on both regional and international platforms.  Ms. Werner continues her work towards this mission through Child Life United, an organization focused on supporting the growth of psychosocial care services internationally while providing professionals and students opportunities to learn from locally sustained efforts, as the Director of Child Life United Together, Child Life United’s virtual education, networking, and professional development platform.

Caitlin Novelli is a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) with over fifteen years clinical experience providing family- centered psychosocial support in various hospital settings.  She graduated from Wesley College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After graduation, Ms. Novelli worked at Weisman Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital as a Child Life Assistant before completing her clinical internship there. Upon obtaining her certification, she started at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where she had an eleven-year tenure working in inpatient, outpatient, and same day surgery settings. Throughout her career at CHOP, she advocated for, developed, and implemented programming to meet the social, emotional, and developmental needs of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease population.

She has additional training in Child Life Disaster Relief where she is a certified volunteer and has served as Local Program Manager for the Philadelphia Region. As a Life is Good Playmaker, Ms. Novelli aims to harness the power of optimism to help children heal.

Kyle Jachim received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Kean University in 2016 and pursed higher education where he graduated with his master’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers University in 2019. Kyle has volunteered at various cancer-related organizations prior to joining the Crossroads4Hope team in 2020. During his master’s program, Kyle interned at Crossroads4Hope, previously known as Cancer Support Community Central New Jersey and on the oncology unit at Saint Peter’s University Hospital.

Siclali Flores is a Bilingual public health educator who is active on the ground in our outreach communities and manages the day-to-day outreach initiatives and scheduling. She graduated from William Paterson University with a BA in Public Health Education in May, 2021.

Jennifer Kershima-Biam manages the day-to-day outreach initiatives and scheduling. She earned MPH from University of Sheffield, UK and BSc Human Anatomy from University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. Jennifer has extensive experience working in public health, starting in Nigeria working on HIV prevention and care programs before spending 5 years in the UK supporting the Somali Community. Prior to moving to the United States in 2017, Jennifer worked for the UN Joint Health and Nutrition Program in Somalia for two years. She moved to the United States in 2017 and joined Crossroads4Hope in 2022.

Before joining Crossroads4Hope Christine Walker was employed in the healthcare industry at a fast-paced large NJ based Cardiology group before staying home to raise her family.  During this time Chris was an active community member volunteering her time as a Board Member at Highland Swim Club, Parent Youth Ministry Volunteer Lead at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, PTA Health and Wellness Representative for the United for a Cause 5K/Family Fun Run fundraiser benefiting the YMCA Livestrong Program and Local HS Scholarship Fund.  Chris joined Crossroads4Hope in 2018 and has served as both Volunteer Coordinator and Administrative Support to the office and overall program. Volunteer projects include coordinating corporate partnerships, students or individual adults at signature events and community programs. Chris aids the growing mission by supporting program staff in their daily operations and welcomes new members to monitor engagement across all program areas.

Jessica Olivara received her bachelor’s degree in Bachelor of Arts Degree in Family and Child Studies Concentration on Human Services and her Minor in Psychology from Montclair State University and her Masters in Social Work from Rutgers University in 2015.

Upon graduation from MSU, Jessica started to work as an Interim Administrative Specialist where she was part of the Children in Court (CIC) team. She coordinated the Child Review Board and was responsible for reviewing DCP&P placement plans and making recommendations to the court with regards to family reunification.  In 2009 Jessica started to work at Community Coordinated Child Care CCCC.  During her 14 years of working at CCCC Jessica has worked in many different positions from FCC Inspectors, Resource and Referrals, and NJ Infant and Toddler Specialist and draws from deep knowledge of the immigrant experience of children in the court system.

Jessica’s role as a Bilingual Social Worker allows her to help Spanish-speaking individuals and families impacted by cancer. She is passionate about breaking the cultural stigma in the Spanish community and motivated to help the Latino/Hispanic community learn more about cancer.  Jessica is originally from Trujillo, Peru and came to the United States in 1999 with her family.

Kami hails from NJ and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She has extensive fundraising experience working for both small and national non-profit organizations. Making a difference is what she’s about.

From a young age, Hillary grew up cooking alongside my grandmother and mother, creating dishes that were both healthy and delicious. Two things stood out. First, an undeniable link between what we eat and our overall feeling of health and wellness. Second, delicious foods and nutritious foods are not mutually exclusive.

Hillary’s cooking hobby evolved into a passion for nutrition as she pursued formal studies on the biochemistry and medicinal value of foods at Cornell University. Based on this knowledge and training, Hillary devoted my career to helping others live life to their fullest potential through their food choices.

Hillary completed her undergraduate education at Cornell University in Education and Nutritional Sciences, her master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition at New York University, and board certification in oncology nutrition through the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Her past roles have included Nutrition Manager at Northwell Health’s Cancer Institute, Professor of Nutrition at Hofstra University, and owner and founder of Hillary Sachs Nutrition, LLC. Hillary is a regular speaker at nutrition conferences and health seminars.

Hillary has counseled and educated hundreds of people at various stages of their cancer journeys on the impact their nutrition has on their treatment and overall well-being. She works one-on-one with patients post-diagnosis-as well as those looking to optimize their health to prevent cancer- to design and implement sustainable and actionable oncology nutrition plans.