Wellness House of Annapolis is fortunate to have dedicated, qualified professionals on our Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and staff who believe deeply in our mission.
DR. KELLY SULLIVAN, MD, FACS
FOUNDER & BOARD MEMBER EMERITUS
Dr. Kelly Sullivan is the Founder of Wellness House of Annapolis. She is a board-certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons, and is Medical Director of the Sullivan Surgery & Spa and the Surgery Center of Annapolis. She holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. and medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Sullivan founded Wellness House after witnessing among her clients a great need in our community for services that support individuals touched by cancer in a way that provides connectivity, strength, and healing. She is active in community service and is the recipient of many awards for her professional work and community involvement, including the People’s Physician Choice Award, Maryland’s Top 100 Women Award, Anne Arundel County CASA Community Leadership Award, Kevin E. Reichardt Foundation Award, What’s Up Top Docs, and Castle Connolly Top Docs.
Tom Simmons
Board President
Thomas Simmons is a Partner with Liff, Walsh & Simmons, the Director of the Real Estate Practice Group, and a member of the Business Law, and Commercial Finance Practice Groups. An engaged member of the Anne Arundel community, he has served on the boards of several local organizations and currently also serves on the Board of Directors for the Building Traditions Society for the Anne Arundel Medical Center Foundation. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College and obtained his Juris Doctor at Florida State University College of Law.
Marina Taft Hardy
Vice President
Marina Taft Hardy is Senior Counsel at Imperium Global Advisors, leading the firm’s state and local government relations and political strategy practices.
Marina is a widely respected and influential advocate and political strategist. As the head of Imperium’s state and local government relations practice, she focuses on helping companies and organizations gain traction with policy makers in state governments.
Marina’s public sector and private sector experience at the state and local level lend a deep understanding to agency and legislative processes. As a political strategist, Marina has helped start and lead winning political and grassroots campaigns. Prior to joining Imperium, Marina founded and directed Taft Hardy & Associates, a boutique government relations and political advisory firm. While running her own business, Marina successfully lobbied on major healthcare, economic development and transportation issues. She also has experience advising clients in the financial services, real estate and energy industries.
She has held positions at leading companies such as Southeast Toyota Distributors, Southwest Airlines, and Clear Channel Outdoor. As a political strategist, Marina is best known for her work as the co-founder of Change Maryland alongside now Governor Larry Hogan. She utilized her experiences and relationships to build a platform advocating for small business, economic growth, fiscal responsibility and government accountability. Marina served as Finance Director for Hogan for Maryland, the first successful publicly financed gubernatorial campaign in Maryland state history, where she was instrumental in qualifying the campaign to receive public financing. Marina then founded and ran the state’s first successful super PAC, whose summer Gonzalez poll is considered the “game changer” of the 2014 gubernatorial election of Governor Larry Hogan.
Marina has served as a Board Member of many leading organizations, including the BWI Business Partnership, the American Advertising Federation of Baltimore and the Greater Washington Urban League.
Marina graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Honor’s Program at Mount St. Mary’s University and earned her Juris Doctor at Nova Southeastern University. She is admitted to the bar in the State of Maryland.
Jane Torano
Jane Torano joined the Wellness House of Annapolis as a member and volunteer in November 2022. Since that time, Jane has served on the WOW Launch Party Committee, donating her time and “Healing Waters” art to raise money for this wonderful cause, along with volunteering weekly in-house and with the Kids’ Coping Program Camp. She is committed to supporting its mission and vision in the years to come.
Jane’s prior experience lends itself to her passionate involvement at the Wellness House. After graduating from The College of Wooster, Jane worked for many years as a hospital administrator at The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Wilmer Institute. She served on the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study’s Executive Committee, writing grants and supporting cancer patients and their families through diagnosis and treatment. Jane then switched careers and pursued her teaching certification and graduate studies in reading at Towson University. She taught at The Duke School for Children, in Baltimore County Public Schools, and at Indian Creek School for many years. She also served on the Executive Committee and as Co-Chair of the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) Annual Conference at Baltimore’s Convention Center. Jane has been self-employed in “retirement” as a homeschool teacher, tutor, college consultant and artist (exhibiting as a member of the MD Federation of Art).
Jane’s “skill set” feels like the perfect fit at the Wellness House, and she is inspired by the dedication, vision, compassion, talent and dynamism of both staff and volunteers. Not only does Jane draw upon her own experience supporting cancer patients, but her perspective has been shaped by her long marriage to Angel (“Ted”) Torano, who has served the Annapolis community as a Radiation Oncologist at Anne Arundel Medical Center for thirty years.
Dr. Benjamin Bridges
Benjamin Bridges, MD, joined the board of Wellness House of Annapolis in August 2021. After completing his medical school at the University of Tennessee in 2001, Dr. Bridges went on to complete his internship at the University of Maryland and his fellowship at the University of Maryland’s Marlene & Stewart Greenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. Before joining Maryland Oncology Hematology, Dr. Bridges practiced at St. Luke’s Cancer Institute in Boise, Idaho, for 11 years where he served as Chairman of the Department of Oncology, Research Director for the Cancer Institute, and medical director for St. Luke’s Cancer Institute in Meridian, Idaho. In his role as Research Director for the Cancer Institute, he served as a principal investigator for the Pacific Cancer Research Consortium, one of the largest National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Programs in the country.
Rob Calhan
Rob Calhan is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and of Annapolis High School and lives in Arnold, Maryland with his wife Melissa and daughter Julia. Rob joined his business partner, Artie Hendricks, over 8 years ago and launched Landmark Roofing, located in Severna Park, Maryland. They are local philanthropists who are always looking for ways to assist non-profit organizations and other entities to help make our communities a better place to live. Rob with Landmark Roofing has donated in support of local non-profits including the Wellness House of Annapolis for the last few years.
Rob’s wife, Melissa, was an au pair to the Jeff and Amy McKnight family when Jeff was very involved as an early board member and supporter of the Wellness House of Annapolis. Rob and Melissa saw Jeff’s involvement in the early years and development of the Wellness House and they knew they liked the mission of the organization.
Rob has seen firsthand how the organization supports those in need. From Artie Hendricks’ nephew who went to summer camp that the Wellness House provided, to seeing how the Wellness House supported his chief marketing officer’s daughter and family during Katherine Mueller’s cancer journey, including grief counseling. Rob sees the value in Wellness House of Annapolis and assisting with the growth and supporting the mission of helping families that are dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Christopher “CJ” Jensen
Christopher Jensen – known to most as CJ – is a passionate entrepreneur with a long track record of success. A former practicing attorney with expertise in the cannabis, legal technology services and outsourcing industry, CJ has a successful track record of driving revenue and building companies in both publicly and privately held environments. CJ co-founded Mana Supply Holdings, a multi-state cannabis operation, in 2016. He helped found and currently serves as a Board member and officer of the National Cannabis Roundtable.
CJ was voted the “Cannabis Industry Rising Star” at the Cannabis Dealmakers Summit in 2019. At the height of the Great Recession, in 2008, CJ founded TrustPoint International, a legal services firm providing support in all phases of the discovery process, from his basement. CJ served as President and Founding Partner, playing an integral role in building the company to $60 million in revenue in four years with 13 locations across the U.S and doing business around the world. As President, CJ played a critical role in the procurement and management of talent for every business function, while also overseeing several mergers and acquisitions, prior to selling his interest in 2013. In addition to launching the Maryland-based Mana Supply Holdings in 2015, CJ has since focused on investing in and advising early-stage companies on how to navigate challenging areas of scale and achieve strong growth.
He is native of low-country South Carolina and a Double Deacon, having received both his B.A. in English Literature and his J.D. from Wake Forest University. CJ is passionate about spending time with his two amazing kids, listening to live music, hiking, camping, and watching baseball. In fact, he is a minority owner of a minor league baseball team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Tricia Lehmann
Patricia Lehmann, a senior account executive with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, has over 40 years of experience in the health insurance industry, managing the large municipal accounts out of the CareFirst district office in Annapolis. She is also a board member at Hospice, executive committee member of the YWCA of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County, and member of Anne Arundel Women Giving Together. Tricia holds a bachelor’s degree in business, management, marketing, and related support services from the University of Maryland.
Melanie Quinn
Melanie has worked in the event and marketing industry for over 20 years. She owned an upscale baby boutique in Annapolis and worked as the event coordinator for the Lighthouse Shelter. Since 2011, she has been the Director of Events for What’s Up? Media. Melanie is a proud alumna of UMBC, holding a bachelor’s degree in Art History.
David Sovinski
David Sovinski joined Wellness House as a board member in Spring 2022, serving as an advisor and project manager for construction of a new facility. His role includes serving as liaison between the owner, architect / engineer, and builder for the project.
David’s background includes construction project management and supervision on large commercial and high-rise projects in New York City, Houston and Dallas, Texas, and Chicago, IL. He also served as National Director of Engineering, Research and Industry Development for the International Masonry Institute. After retirement, David is focused on education and service, teaching construction management at Anne Arundel Community College and serving on the board of several community nonprofits.
Liz Thibodeau
Liz Thibodeau is a career veteran in the digital media field. Since forming her company, Thibodeau Media Group, in 2016, she has established client relationships that run the gamut from nonprofits to big corporations that specialize in medical media production with a focus on medical video production. Liz has lived in and around Annapolis since 1994 with her family and is passionate about the causes of health and wellness, the environment, women’s rights, and youth. Liz graduated Cum Laude from Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Public Communication with a degree in video production and telecommunication management.
Chris Zoeller
Chris Zoeller, VP, Relationship Manager at CFG Bank joined the board at Wellness House of Annapolis to lead efforts in expanding the footprint of our organization from Anne Arundel County to include the Baltimore Metro area. At CFG Bank, his philanthropy work includes forging and maintaining relationships with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore, including a seat on their Envision Committee, and The Living Classrooms Foundation.
In his personal time, Chris has enjoyed coaching his three children in soccer and softball, as well as attending their football games and Irish dance competitions. He also loves golf as well as softball, given his role as captain of varsity baseball at Franklin and Marshall College where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management. In addition, he completed his banking education at Maryland Banking School through the Maryland Bankers Association where he graduated with honors.