Board of Directors

Rick Rollens

Rollens Consulting
Parent of a child with autism

Rick Rollens was Secretary of the California State Senate. When his young son was diagnosed with autism, Rollens' life changed completely, and he began to devote his working hours to the investigation of autism. He co-founded Families for Early Autism Treatment and helped establish the UC Davis MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders). Rick has raised over $70 million dollars to fund research efforts aimed at the cause and the cure for autism.

Kathryn Dobel

Special Education Attorney

For more than twenty-five years, Kathryn has represented families of special needs children with a specialization in autism law. She is committed to preserving children with autism 's state and federal rights to a free, appropriate, public education and has prevailed in countless due process cases representing families of children with autism.

Vivian David

Clinical Director
Stepping Stones Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Vivian David has a PsyD and MA in Clinical Psychology and is the CEO and Clinical Director of a center that designs individualized behavioral and educational programs for individuals with autism and related disorders.

Dale Roat

Director of Customer Relations, Carnegie Research
Parent of a child with autism

Christopher Escher

Director of Marketing, Google
Parent of a child with autism

Christopher is Director of Marketing at Google. Previous to Google, Christopher worked at Apple, Talk City, Responsys, and Cunningham Communications as a writer, creative director, manager, spokesperson, and lots of other communications-related roles. He has an MA in English Literature from Stanford and studied at Oxford and Cambridge.

Jason A. Wolowitz

Certified Public Accountant
Business and Accounting Instructor at Gavilan College

Michele Waterman

Founder & CEO of Autism Education Network
Parent of a child with autism

Michele Waterman is the founder and executive director of the Autism Education Network, a 501 (3) (c) non profit organization. Before the Network, she worked in the field of business communications as a top sales executive for both Lucent Technologies and Nortel Communications.  Her experience includes co-ownership of Power Source, a manufacturer representative firm distributing power and electrical products which produced over 100 million dollars in annual sales. She received a B.A. in Speech Communications from San Jose State University in 1996 and studied abroad for a year in Aix-en-Provence, France at L' Académie d'Aix-Marseille, Institut d'Études Françaises pour Étudiants Étrangers (IEFEE).  

Craig Waterman

CFO of Autism Education Network
Parent of a child with autism

Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Honorary Board Member

Director of Autism Research Institute
Parent of a child with autism

A research psychologist, Dr. Rimland has studied the relationship between nutrition and retardation, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, delinquency and, primarily, autism since the mid-1960's. He is director of theAutism Research Review International, and founder of the Autism Society of America. His book Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior is credited with dramatically altering the field of psychiatry with the recognition that autism is a biological disorder, not an emotional illness. Dr. Rimland served as the chief technical advisor for the Academy-award winning film Rainman.