LGBT Aging Issues Network (LAIN) Council 2012

Brian de Vries, Ph.D.

Brian de Vries is professor of gerontology at San Fran­cisco State University with an adjunct appointment at the University of Alberta. He received his doctorate in life-span developmental psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1988 and was a post-doctoral fellow at both Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and the University of Southern California. He is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and Board member of the American Society on Aging (ASA) and co-Chair of the LGBT Aging Issues Network constituent group.

Dr. de Vries served on the Institute of Medicine’s Board on the Health of Select Populations Committee authoring the recently released acclaimed book: The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.   Dr. de Vries is former editor of Sexuality Research and Social Policy (2007-2011) and a former associate editor of The International Journal of Aging and Human Development (2000-2006). He has served as guest editor of Omega: Journal of Death and Dying (1997 and 2004) and as a guest co-editor of Generations (2001). He is currently guest-editing an issue of the Journal of Homosexuality. 

In addition, he has edited four books, including Kinship Bereavement in Later Life (1997), End of Life Issues (1999), Narrative Gerontology (2001), and Gay and Lesbian Aging (2004); he has authored or co-authored over 80 journal articles and book chapters and he has given over 100 presentations to professional audiences on a variety of topics such as the social and psychological well-being of midlife and older LGBT persons, friendships and social relationships across the adult life course, as well as end of life issues and bereavement. 

Nancy K. Bereano

Nancy K. Bereano has lived in upstate Ithaca, New York (Tompkins County), for over forty years and has been a grassroots activist for much of that time.

Formerly the editor and publisher of Firebrand Books (1985-2000), an award-winning feminist and lesbian publishing house, she is also trained as an Executive Coach.

She is a founding member of the Tompkins County Working Group on LGBT Aging, and the principal developer of the Working Group’s “Share the Care”* for the LGBT Community project.

She was instrumental in the successful passage of both city and county sexual orientation/gender identity anti-discrimination laws, and currently sits as a community representative on the City of Ithaca’s Workforce Diversity Committee. Her long history of anti-racism and pro-entitlement program organizing includes recent training as a facilitator for the Multicultural Resource Center’s Talking Circles on Race and Racism. She was involved as a volunteer with Palliative and Hospicare Services of Tompkins County for almost a decade, including two years as co-chair of Women Swimmin’, the organization’s principal fundraising event which, in 2008, netted over a quarter of a million dollars.

She has been recognized and received numerous awards for her work in both the publishing and civic arenas. These include: the Lambda Literary Publisher’s Service Award (1995), the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission LGBT Award (1998), the Publishing Triangle Leadership Award (2007), the Outstanding Contribution by a Senior Citizen Award from the Tompkins County Office for the Aging (2008), and a Cornell University Public Service Center Civic Fellowship in support of her work on “Share the Care” for the LGBT Community (2009).

Nancy K. Bereano has been a member of the LAIN Leadership Council since 2008.

*Share the Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill by Cappy Capossela and Sheila Warnock (Simon and Schuster, 1995)

Greg Case

Greg Case is currently Director of the Office of Home and Community-Based Services at the U.S. Administration on Aging.  In that capacity he and his staff support State and Area Agencies on Aging and local aging providers in the design and implementation of supports and services designed to facilitate aging in place.  In addition Greg serves as the lead for activities related to housing with supportive services,  the Community Innovations for Aging in Place (CIAIP) initiative, the National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment, HIV/AIDS and the National Technical Assistance Resource Center for LGBT Elders. 

Greg has worked in the field of aging for over 30 years and has a Master of Arts degree in Human Development from the University of Illinois. 

Barbara Howard, M.B.A.

Barbara Howard, Director, Education, MetLife Bank Reverse Mortgage Division in Westport, CT. is responsible for the department that oversees the education, training and consultation services for internal and external audiences on aging, retirement and retirement funding issues.  Prior to joining MetLife Bank, Barbara worked as the Director, Gerontology for the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

Prior to joining MetLife in 2002, Barbara was employed as a Human Resources Generalist.  She holds a BS in Accounting from Mercy College, an MBA in Finance from Pace University, a Certificate in Human Resources Management from Fairfield University, a Certificate in Gerontology from Norwalk Community College.  She is pursuing a M.A. in Gerontology from the University of Southern California.

Barbara is an active member of the American Society on Aging joining their Board of Directors in 2011, is a board member of the Southwest CT Area Agency on Aging, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Norwalk Senior Center. 

Cathy Croghan, MS, MPH, RN

Cathy Croghan is a Public Health Nurse with 20 years of experience in public health management, and frequently publishes and speaks on topics related to elder health and safety. 

She currently serves on the American Society of Aging’s LGBT Aging Issues Network (LAIN) Leadership Council, National LGBT Aging Roundtable, National LGBT Aging Resource Center's Advisory Council, and Friends of the Ramsey County Libraries Board of Directors.  Cathy is the Chair of the LAIN Editorial Board and Training to Serve Board of Directors.

Lisa Krinsky LICSW

Lisa Krinsky LICSW, is the Director of the LGBT Aging Project in Boston.

She is a social worker with twenty years of experience in community based elder services.  She has been an active member of the LGBT Aging Project since it’s inception in 2001, and became the organization’s Director in 2004.  In that capacity, Lisa developed and leads the Aging Project’s Open Door Program, which she designed to enhance aging service providers’ capacity to be welcoming to LGBT older adults and caregivers. Lisa frequently consults with mainstream aging service providers about cultural competency with LGBT older adults.  She also presents nationally on policy and practice issues facing LGBT older adults and caregivers.

Lisa earned her MSW in Clinical Social Work from Simmons School of Social Work and a Certificate in Non Profit Management and Leadership from the BU School of Management.

She is the Co-Chair of the LGBT Shared Interest Group for the Massachusetts Chapter of NASW and a Leadership Council member for the LGBT Aging Issues Network (LAIN) of the American Society on Aging.

Lisa was a 2011 finalist for the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award and is a 2012 Social Innovator in Healthy Aging in Root Cause’s Social Innovation Forum.

Terri Worman

Terri Worman is an Associate State Director for Advocacy and Outreach for the Illinois AARP Office in Chicago. She works on education and advocacy projects and community organizing activities on a broad range of strategic issues for AARP and has been with AARP for 16 years. 

She is currently the co-chair of the Advisory Board for Chicago Lesbian Community Care Project of Howard Brown as well as the past co-chair of the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Aging. Terri is a 2004 Inductee into the Mayor of Chicago’s Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, as well as the recipient of the 2006 Allan Morrow Award from the National Gay Lesbian Task Force for Excellence in LGBT Aging Service.

Terri is also a national member of the American Society on Aging and the co-chair for the Leadership Council of  LAIN (LGBT Aging Issues Network) and the former Editorial Board chair for OutWord, the newsletter of LAIN.

Terri holds a BA degree in History and Women’s Studies from Indiana University and is a classically trained professional violinist.

Greg Link, MA

Greg Link is an Aging Services Program Specialist with the U.S. Administration on Aging. He is the Federal program officer for the National Family Caregiver Support Program and the Lifespan Respite Care Program.  In that capacity, he provides general oversight and technical assistance to the aging network on matters pertaining to the implementation of those programs as well as family caregiver support programs and policies, the Older Americans Act and other aging and long-term services and support issues.

Before coming to AoA, Greg worked at the National Association of State Units on Aging where he provided technical assistance and training states on family care giving, consumer direction and transportation. Greg has also worked at the community level as a case manager and social services manager at Senior Friendship Centers in Fort Myers Florida. There, he oversaw the social services staff and the delivery of services funded by the Older Americans Act, state funds and Medicaid waivers.

Greg holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Arts in Government from Johns Hopkins University.

Catherine Thurston

Catherine Thurston is the Senior Director for Programs at Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE), where she oversees all social services and community-based programming.  Since coming to SAGE, Catherine has overseen the launches of both the nation’s first federally-funded National Resource Center on LGBT Aging as well as the nation’s first senior center devoted to LGBT older adults.

Ms. Thurston has worked in the fields of aging and mental health for twenty-four years. Prior to joining SAGE in 2005, she was the Director of Alzheimer’s Programs at Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn.  The first decade of Ms. Thurston’s career was spent at one of the nation’s first geriatric mobile mental health programs, providing case management and psychotherapy to homebound frail older adults.

Catherine has been published in the areas of aging and dementia as well as LGBT Aging.  She is a member of the LGBT Aging Issues Leadership Council and was recently appointed to the steering committee of the National Resource Center on Nutrition and Aging.

Ms. Thurston holds a Masters in Social Work from Hunter College.

Richard Gollance

Richard Gollance is a psychotherapist in private practice in Studio City and Los Angeles.  In addition to his individual work with clients who range in age from 23 to 101, he has facilitated support groups for gay men caring for aging parents, life review groups for older gay men, as well as eldercare support groups for mainstream caregivers.  Richard earned a Masters Degrees in Gerontology and Social Work at University of Southern California.  

Richard is a past Co-Chair of LAIN and a past Chair of the Board of Directors of Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing, Los Angeles. For four years, he wrote a regular column on issues for midlife and older gay men for OUT Magazine and the website OUT.com.  He co-wrote a chapter on “The Older Gay Man” in Positively Gay, 3rd Edition (2001), edited by Betty Berzon, Ph.D.

Before returning to school to pursue his current career, Richard had extensive experience as a writer and writer/producer for some of the most successful television series of the 1980s and 1990s, including Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey, and Beverly Hills, 90210.  He is a GLAAD Media Award winner for his controversial AIDS episode of the NBC primetime series Lifestories.

Richard has been a gay activist and an AIDS activist for over 40 years, including work with the Gay Activists Alliance in New York, the Gay Community Services Center, Los Angeles (which later became The Gay and Lesbian Center), and AIDS Project, Los Angeles.  He chaired the ad hoc committee of the Writers Guild of America, West, that won same-sex domestic partner health coverage for Guild members, the first Hollywood union and the second multi-employer union nationally to offer such benefits.  He produced and moderated the first LGBT-themed radio show (for KPFK-FM) in Southern California from 1971-1973.  His May, 1973 article “I’m Proud to Be a Sissy” was included in Democracy in Print: The Best of The Progressive Magazine 1909-2009, published in 2009 by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Richard lives in Sherman Oaks, California, with his partner of 19 years and their three dogs. He is 62 years old.