Our staff
Joyce Millard Hoie
Executive Director
As Executive Director since 2000, Joyce directs the activities of a comprehensive parent center in its mission to improve the lives of children with disabilities by providing families with information, training, advocacy, parent support, and leadership development. Joyce is committed to promoting effective partnerships with our state and community agencies, professionals, volunteers, donors, corporate sponsors, and many others who help Raising Special Kids support families. Joyce came up through the ranks as a parent volunteer when the organization was first known as Pilot Parents, and served on its Board of Directors. After living in Virginia for four years, she moved back to Arizona to become Executive Director. Joyce currently serves on several boards and state commissions including First Things First, Arizona’s statewide initiative for early childhood health and education, and the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council. Before joining Raising Special Kids, she earned a graduate degree in public administration and started her career in higher education. Joyce is married and the mother of four children, including one son with autism.
Peggy Storrs
Director of Operations
Peggy has been on the front lines helping parents of children since 1979 when she and her husband, Don were in our second graduating class of Volunteer Parents. Since she joined the staff more than 22 years ago, Peggy was for many years the virtual "voice" of our organization as the first point of contact for thousands of callers. She has introduced many parents and professionals to our programs and continues to serve as Director of Operations and Information Systems Manager. She and Don are parents of a young adult who has Cerebral Palsy.
Vickie French
Assistant Executive Director
Vickie and her husband, Steve, have 4 children. Their oldest son was in the newborn intensive care the first month of his life because of pneumonia of undetermined cause which resulted in chronic asthma. Their youngest son has had 2 heart surgeries; the first at one week old to save his life and another at 6 months old. He was later diagnosed with autism at the age of 2.
Vickie first became involved with Raising Special Kids in 1997 because she contacted them to request information about autism. She later became a parent to parent volunteer in 1998 and joined the board of directors in 2002. Vickie is excited to be involved in Raising Special Kids now as an employee helping other parents in the same ways she has been helped.
Vickie is an active volunteer in the disability community and won the Arizona Disability Expo’s 2008 Brandy Liston Disability Advocacy Award. She has an Associate Arts degree from Mesa Community College and has attended Arizona State University. Vickie is a volunteer for Joni and Friends International Disability Ministry on their Disability Ministry Conference planning team that teaches churches how to include and minister to individuals and families who are affected by disability. She also volunteers in the faith community speaking at churches and conferences telling her family’s story and the importance of including people who have disabilities in their church families. Vickie and her husband Steve regularly speak at Golden Gate Theological Seminary to future pastors and church leaders telling them their story and emphasizing the need for churches to have an Intentional Disability Ministry, explaining that people with disabilities are a valuable part of their congregation and have something to contribute.
Janna Murrell
Director of Family Support
Janna Murrell became a volunteer with Raising Special Kids six years ago, after experiencing first hand the value of Parent to Parent support when her son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Janna now is excited to be working with families, coordinating parent to parent connections and assisting in training parents to become volunteers themselves.
Janna is married, with three children and has worked in the non profit arena for 12 years.
Kathleen Collins
Family Support Specialist
Kathleen started as a volunteer with Raising Special Kids in 2003, then moved on to join the Parent Support team and the Education and Training team in 2006. She works with families and professionals in Northern Arizona. Kathleen has had a passion for supporting parents for more than a decade. She believes that with so many parents out there no one should have to travel the road of raising a child with special needs alone. She is dedicated to helping collaboration between parents and professionals.
Kathleen is a mother of two children — one with autism, and one with specific learning disabilities. Kathleen also sits on several boards in Northern Arizona that deal with special needs and is very active in the Autism Society of America.
Dolores Herrera- Habla Espanol
Family Support Specialist
Dolores has been advocating for Spanish speaking families for six years. She has been a member of the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Council (DDAC) for four years and a member of the Arizona Spina Bifida Associations Board of Directors for two years. She has served on The Division of Developmental Disabilities' Support Coordinator Core Training Parent Panel and is a past-president of Grupo de Apoyo Ninos Especiales (GANE).
Dolores began working with Raising Special Kids as a volunteer and is the mother of 4 children including a son who has Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
Marissa Huth
Communications Coordinator and Newsletter Editor
Marissa implements communications to public audiences from Raising Special Kids through various media including printed newsletters, group emails, website, an annual Report to the Community and other publications. She has worked in communications, photography, writing and editing for more than 20 years, including six years at a nonprofit, before teaming with Raising Special Kids in 2004. She is passionate about "getting the word out" to families and believes firmly in the power of a well-informed parent. Marissa is the parent of two children with unique needs, one is diagnosed with autism.
Lydia Martinez - Habla Espanol
Administrative Assistant
Lydia is your first contact when calling Raising Special Kids. She processes the referrals to ensure your request is met in a timely manner. Lydia is our newest member and brings over 30 years of administrative experience to Raising Special Kids. Her primary goal is to ensure that her customer’s needs are met. While this arena is new to her, she is "in awe" of the families that call in daily and the service Raising Special Kids provides to the community. Lydia is dedicated to the mission of helping families, and she continually strives to meet and exceed the needs of our clients.
Vicky Rozich
Family Support Specialist, Education & Training
Vicky Rozich joined the Parent Training and Information team in the summer of 2008. Her journey with Raising Special Kids began in 2003 as a Parent to Parent volunteer. She has participated in many Parent Panels for Raising Special Kids presenting a family perspective on raising a child with a disability to students and post graduate professionals in special education and medicine. She enjoys helping parents and professionals understand the physical and emotional demands of raising a child with severe multiple disabilities. Prior to joining the staff of Raising Special Kids, Vicky had an extensive history of leading adult education, classes at her church and the Area Agency on Aging. She deeply values her new role in educating, training and supporting parents through the special education process.
Vicky and her husband Jim have two children, a teenage boy and a middle school age daughter who has cerebral palsy, seizures, feeding and orthopedic issues and medical fragility. Vicky enjoys hiking, playing with her children and pets, and supporting the art and music community in the valley.
Nannette Salasek
Parent Leadership Facilitator
Nannette Salasek became a volunteer for Raising Special Kids in 2004 after experiencing the amazing help of Parent to Parent support with her daughter that was born with Spina Bifida. Nannette is now excited to be working at Raising Special Kids to help recruit and train parent volunteers, help maintain records, and coordinate parent leadership activities. She recognizes the great value of working with a staff made up of parents that know first hand the amazing journey of raising a child with special healthcare needs.
In 1998 Nannette graduated from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, with a bachelor's degree in Social Work.
Nannette and her husband, Ched, have 5 beautiful children named Andrew, Monica, Anne, Lillian, and Matthew. She has enjoyed staying at home with their children, and volunteering regularly for Raising Special Kids, their school, and parish community. Their third child, Anne, is a happy and loving six year old girl who bravely takes on the many challenges of living with Spina Bifida. Nannette is passionate about providing support to families, and letting them know they are not alone in the journey of advocacy for their children with special needs.
Heather Snider
Financial Analyst
Heather has been helping with the finances at Raising Special Kids since 2005 and has stayed with us as a telecommuter through several out-of-state moves. She manages Monthly Financial Statements, audit preparation & special projects. Heather holds a 4-year degree in Accounting from Binghamton University and has worked in the industry from 1994 to the present.
Carrie Swearengin
Project Coordinator
I grew up in Phoenix with three siblings, one of which has a severe mental illness. Recognizing the impact a child’s disability can have on a family, and the impact that families have on ensuring continued opportunities for children with disabilities, my goals include working to help build and strengthen families.
I started volunteering with Raising Special Kids several years ago while I was working in the foster care/adoption field, and I am so pleased to have the privilege of working full time with an organization I respect so much. As the Project Coordinator for large conferences and a Family Support Specialist assisting families of children with behavior challenges and mental illness, I have opportunities to work with parents and professionals in many capacities.
I have recently been appointed to the Foster Care Review Board in Maricopa County, and I am part of the Special Friends mentoring program which matches mentors with youth in foster care. I love to spend my free time with family, friends and my 90 lb. Labrador, Charlie. I also enjoy traveling across the beautiful state of Arizona and beyond!
Christopher Tiffany
Family Support Specialist
Chris came to Raising Special Kids from the public school system in central Phoenix where he was a dedicated Special Education teacher and facilitator. Chris and his wife, Paulina, are parents to their only son who was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2. Bringing his knowledge of Special Education as an educator and as a parent, Chris is dedicated to the mission of supporting and helping families who are raising children, of all ages, with special needs.
Alice Villarreal - Habla Espanol
Family Support Specialist
Alice’s journey began in 1999 with the Department of Education/Exceptional Student Services. She worked with the Parent Information Network Specialist (PINS) and Child Find Coordinator to support and provide information to families of children with disabilities in English and Spanish. In 2003 she was presented with the award of Employee of the Quarter by the Department of Education.
She is involved with community service in her church. Her heart has always been open to helping others. As a member of Raising Special Kids, she is looking forward to expanding outreach to the Hispanic community to provide training in Spanish and helping support families of children with disabilities and special health care needs. Alice has a family member who was diagnosed with Autism at age 18 months.
Robert Snyder
Parent Training and Information Center Project Staff
Pilot Parents of Southern Arizona (southern Arizona)
Robert covers the 9 southern counties of Arizona by providing information, consultation, and workshops to the families with special needs children. Robert has been with Pilot Parents since moving to Arizona 7 years ago.
Robert began his career in special ed with the inception of PL 94-142, now know as IDEA. Robert has been a classroom teacher, principal, supervisor of Sp Ed programs, regional consultant for two of Ohio’s regional special ed centers, as well as visiting instructor at 2 universities.
Robert’s passion has always been for the children and their families, seeing that the students are provided an appropriate education.