Our Board of Directors
Executive Board
Hannah Andrews (President) was born in Chicago and was adopted as an infant during the Baby Scoop Era. She was raised on a Midwestern farm with two older adoptee brothers. In 2018, a chance meeting with an author birthmother sent Hannah in search of her own history. She found more questions than answers, but found guidance and community from fellow triad members. She joined the AKA board to provide that same support to others. Hannah is a writer, pianist & pet enthusiast . She lives in San Diego, CA with her dog Josie and three Pussycats .
Brooke Randolph, LMHC, LPC, LPCC-S, (Vice President) is a therapist, author, speaker, and trainer. She is founder and Executive Director of Counseling at The Green House, a boutique group practice with therapists focused on working with the adoption constellation in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. She is a contributing author to Adoption Therapy: Perspectives from Clients and Clinicians on Processing and Healing Post-Adoption Issues (2014), and the organizing editor of It’s Not About You: Understanding Adoptee Search, Reunion, & Open Adoption (2017). She has also authored a series of children's workbooks and adoption education materials for parents and therapists. Brooke is a single adoptive mom, kinship care guardian, and loud and proud rugby mom. She works to maintain an open intercountry adoption and is a committed adoptee advocate. Brooke is passionate about promoting excellence in therapy, family preservation, and openness in adoption.
Stacey Gatlin, (Treasurer) a passionate servant leader, recently transitioned her corporate experience in operations, leadership, and talent management into entrepreneurship and advocacy.
Stacey was compelled to rewrite the narrative around Black adoption and fostering after adopting her son. She created Yes We Adopt to enlighten the Black community on the crucial need for Black adoptive and foster parents and to counteract negative stereotypes. Through this platform, she also created the Yes We Adopt: Black Voices Amplified Summit a powerful event uniting the community through advocacy, education, and shared experiences. Additionally, she serves as a CASA in New Jersey, advocating for children in foster care.
Beyond her advocacy work, Stacey is the founder of Victory Concierge, a lifestyle management company, providing online business management services to executives and small businesses. In her previous career, she enjoyed over 15 years with Johnson & Johnson where she leveraged her network to drive results, operational improvement, and develop talent.
Stacey holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Rutgers School of Engineering. She finds joy in quality time with her husband and son, and laughter with family and friends, all accompanied by good food, music, and vino.
Stacey was compelled to rewrite the narrative around Black adoption and fostering after adopting her son. She created Yes We Adopt to enlighten the Black community on the crucial need for Black adoptive and foster parents and to counteract negative stereotypes. Through this platform, she also created the Yes We Adopt: Black Voices Amplified Summit a powerful event uniting the community through advocacy, education, and shared experiences. Additionally, she serves as a CASA in New Jersey, advocating for children in foster care.
Beyond her advocacy work, Stacey is the founder of Victory Concierge, a lifestyle management company, providing online business management services to executives and small businesses. In her previous career, she enjoyed over 15 years with Johnson & Johnson where she leveraged her network to drive results, operational improvement, and develop talent.
Stacey holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Rutgers School of Engineering. She finds joy in quality time with her husband and son, and laughter with family and friends, all accompanied by good food, music, and vino.
Kathleen Shea Kirstein, (Secretary) is a Late Discovery Adoptee (baby scoop era, domestic, same race, closed adoption) who also discovered years later via DNA testing that bio dad was not bio dad. She is a retired nurse and mother of two sons who live in New Hampshire. She has illustrated three children's books, which can be found under the author's name. D Ann Hollon. Kathleen published essays called Dear Mother and Blown Off Course in Severance Magazine. She enjoys reading, writing, painting, drawing and playing Mahjong. Her claim to fame, in addition to her fabulous hugs, is creating all the cards for her co-workers, whatever the occasion. Upon her retirement, she left the unit a year's worth of birthday cards. Since learning of her adoption, Kathleen has been collecting first names as an example she can be found on Facebook as Wendy Kathleen Janet.
Directors
Bruce Porth (Member-at-Large) was born in Chicago near the end of the baby scoop era and adopted at 10 days old into a family that was well-intentioned but lacked critical knowledge and insight in how to raise an adopted child. He started coming out of the fog in the late 90's and eventually reunited with his birth family in 1998 and maintains a relationship that continues to expand and grow. It was in 2020 when Bruce found the broader adoptee community and a deeper level of awareness and healing became available. He discovered how essential the support of the adoptee community is in moving through the stages of healing from adoption grief and loss and came to AKA through attendance of the Male Adoptee Group. Bruce is passionate about promoting truth and transparency in adoption and hopes to give back to the community by raising awareness within the adoption constellation of the complex challenges that come with relinquishment. Bruce has a M.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and has worked in the semiconductor industry for 30 years. He is married with two daughters and lives in Vermont.
Dr. Abigail Hasberry (Member-at-Large) splits residence in both San Antonio, Texas, and Baltimore, Maryland. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a board-certified coach, and holds a Texas school superintendent certification. Abby has earned a B.S. in African American studies and sociology, a M.A.in teaching, K-12, a M.Ed. in counseling and development-marriage and family counseling, a M.S.in industrial & organizational psychology and evidence-based coaching, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. Dr. Hasberry, a former educator and charter school founding principal, currently works as a therapist and an executive leadership coach. Abby has published on identity development and has been on several podcasts, conference keynotes, and webinars speaking on adoption, identity development, wellness, and supporting teens with anxiety. Abby is a domestic transracial adoptee in reunion, and a birth mom, also in reunion. Abby's memoir, Adopting Privilege, was released in February of 2025.
Lisa McBroom-Johnson, MBA (Member-at-Large) was born and raised in North Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is currently working towards her second Masters In Social Work. Lisa is employed with the Children’s Home Society in NC which provides Adoption Services, Foster Care, and Intensive Family Preservation to families. Adoption is very near and dear to Lisa’s heart as she was adopted at 2 months old and placed into a beautiful family. At a very early age, her parents shared that she was adopted. At the age of 52, Lisa was gifted an Ancestry DNA kit from her son. It was then that she learned of her biological parents. She continues to explore and navigate the relationships with both the maternal and paternal families.
Jean Widner, (Member-at-Large) is a domestic adoptee born and raised in Washington State in 1965, and currently lives in Nevada with her husband and two dogs. She only recently joined the adoption community in 2021 after searching for and finding her birth mother, which inspired her to write and research a book still in progress, https://adoptionparadox.com/. Her adoptive parents now passed, she had a mostly positive experience being raised by them, however her mother was addicted to drugs and alcohol during her early formative years. Through writing she works to heal her internal wounds, but also pursues the larger stories and struggles left untold about adoption. In AKA she found support groups, safety, and a wealth of knowledge from likeminded people facing similar struggles. She has a Bachelor’s Degree and along with her husband she has built and sold two e-commerce companies. She is also the owner of a paid small-town news blog and enjoys traveling, reading and cooking. Still not acknowledged by her first mother, she wishes to serve the adoption community by lending her talents where she can to assist the AKA organization and others in their journeys.
Taya Reed, (Member-at-Large) is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Supervisor with over 15 years of therapeutic experience. She established her private practice, Sound House Therapy, PLLC, four years ago. Adopted in 1970 during the Baby Scoop Era through the LA County Adoption Agency, Taya's personal experience as a same-race domestic adoptee has profoundly shaped her professional journey. Taya is a US Armed Forces veteran and served in the Gulf War.
She was the co-host of the podcast "I Found Her" alongside her birth mother, and was inspired by this experience to create an adoptee-guided journal, which she plans to publish in 2025. Taya presented at the Adoption Knowledge Affiliates conference and participated in an Adoption Mosaic panel discussion. She has participated in multiple writing groups such as Migrating Towards Wholeness: Rewriting Adoption Narratives in the Constellation with Dr. Liz DeBetta and Adoptee Voices with Sara Easterly. Reuniting with both of her birth parents provided first-hand experience of adoption's complexities, shaping her into a compassionate and effective advocate and therapist for fellow adoptees.
She was the co-host of the podcast "I Found Her" alongside her birth mother, and was inspired by this experience to create an adoptee-guided journal, which she plans to publish in 2025. Taya presented at the Adoption Knowledge Affiliates conference and participated in an Adoption Mosaic panel discussion. She has participated in multiple writing groups such as Migrating Towards Wholeness: Rewriting Adoption Narratives in the Constellation with Dr. Liz DeBetta and Adoptee Voices with Sara Easterly. Reuniting with both of her birth parents provided first-hand experience of adoption's complexities, shaping her into a compassionate and effective advocate and therapist for fellow adoptees.
Lindsay Livingston, (Member-at-Large) served as the co-chair of the Adoption Knowledge Affiliates conference in 2023. As an accomplished marketing professional with over decade of experience in brand marketing, she’s led initiatives in content, creative, community, events, and communications for billion-dollar brands. Lindsay is a passionate storyteller dedicated to leveraging her unique perspective as an adoptee with tenured corporate marketing expertise to elevate this organization's mission while providing meaningful support, and empowerment, to those touched by adoption.
Max Weinberg PhD, (Member-at-Large) is excited to join the AKA Board. He is a transracial adoptive parent of two teenagers who lives in Chicagoland.
Max is an experienced educator with a 25-year career that has included various roles, including teacher, principal, and school leadership coach.
Max runs Belonging (www.belonging.education), an educational advising practice dedicated to strengthening student belonging at school through direct training and advocacy. Max’s passion for strengthening school belonging stems from personal experiences as a student and parent advocating for his children in school systems.
Max holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Concordia University—Chicago. He also holds his Special Educator (LBS1) license and is completing his certification in English as a Second Language.
Max is an experienced educator with a 25-year career that has included various roles, including teacher, principal, and school leadership coach.
Max runs Belonging (www.belonging.education), an educational advising practice dedicated to strengthening student belonging at school through direct training and advocacy. Max’s passion for strengthening school belonging stems from personal experiences as a student and parent advocating for his children in school systems.
Max holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Concordia University—Chicago. He also holds his Special Educator (LBS1) license and is completing his certification in English as a Second Language.
Dr. Liz DeBetta, (Member-at-Large) is a scholar-artist-activist and Founder of Migrating Toward Wholeness©, a transformative program that empowers adoptees and women who have experienced trauma to heal and reclaim their narratives through creative writing and storytelling. As an adoptee herself, she brings a deeply personal perspective to her work, which emphasizes the power of personal narratives in fostering resilience, connection, and self-acceptance. She holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on creative writing, feminist critical theory, and social justice, which informs her innovative approach to blending art and activism. She is the author of Adult Adoptees and Writing to Heal: Migrating Toward Wholeness and the award-winning creator of the one-woman show Un-M-Othered, which delves into the complexities of adoption and patriarchy, offering audiences a powerful exploration of identity and healing through performance. Dr. DeBetta’s interdisciplinary approach combines creative expression, social justice, and personal healing to inspire individual and collective transformation.
Committee Chairs
Conference: Brooke Randolph
Education: Jean Widner
Business Development: Lindsay Livingston
Peer Support Facilitator: Bruce Porth
Education: Jean Widner
Business Development: Lindsay Livingston
Peer Support Facilitator: Bruce Porth
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