Meet the Team
Staff and Board of Directors
Elizabeth Humphreys
Executive Director
Elizabeth is the founder and Executive Director of Mind What Matters. She got involved in the Alzheimer’s community when her mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She saw the critical need for respite care for the many Americans who simply can not afford it and are faced with increased health problems due to the demands of caregiving.
With the help of a small driven team and a powerhouse Board of Directors, Liz and her team are making a positive impact on families affected by Alzheimer’s and other related diseases across the country.
Jonathan Pears
Marketing Director
Jonathan Pears has over ten years of experience helping agencies, artists, nonprofits and brands reach their business and creative goals. Jonathan is a Nashville native and works to deliver cross functional teams that deliver campaigns, assets and initiatives that help Mind What Matters reach their target audience both in terms of the new generation of caregivers as well as a wide range of donors.
Nikki DeLoach
Jessica Guthrie
Dan Jaworski
Dr. Annie Fenn
John Paul White
Matt Moore
Drew Fann
John Bennet Waters
Travis Macy
Dr. Edward Park
Hart Weatherford
Edward O'Day
Karen Bernstein
Thomas M. Holland, MD, MS
Nikki DeLoach
Actress, Producer, Advocate, Activist
Nikki is an actress, producer, advocate, activist and is the co-founder of the blog What We Are which is for women about women.
She has been in countless Hallmark movies and won a People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Cable TV Comedy” and was nominated for “Favorite Dramedy”.
Nikki is on the board of Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, which provided life saving care for her son. She is also a teacher at UCLA and Warner Loughlin Studios. She is a celebrity spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Association and has a very personal tie to the disease; Her father is currently battling a rare form of dementia called Pick's Disease.
Nikki lives with her husband Ryan and two boys Bennett and Hudson in Los Angeles.
Dan Jaworski
Ironman Competitor and Public Personality
Dan Jaworski spent his professional career managing international equity portfolios for pension funds, endowments, and corporations. These days you’ll find him training for Ironman races.
With a passion for basketball, he has coached at the High School level and for Special Olympics. Committed to improving education for at-risk communities, he served as Board Chair of Elevate Orlando.
Dan has been married to his amazing wife Julie for 33 years and has two incredible kids, Griffin and Elsa.
Dr. Annie Fenn
Founder of Brain Health Kitchen
Dr. Annie Fenn is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who after 20 years of practicing medicine in Jackson, WY decided to study culinary arts in Mexico, Italy, and at the Culinary Institute of America in order to help make people healthier by changing what they eat.
She went on to found the Brain Health Kitchen, an evidence-based online resource about how and what to eat to resist cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Fenn lectures frequently all over the world and is a highly visible expert including being a board member of HFC, working with Maria Shriver and the Women’s Alzheimer’s movement to host events to fund grants for female specific dementia research, and serving on the Scientific Advisory Council for the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation.
She has two college-aged boys Nick and Jack and splits her time between Jackson WY and New Mexico with her husband Jon. Her mother is currently fighting Alzheimer’s.
John Paul White
Singer/Songwriter and Record Label Owner
John Paul White is a Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter who proudly resides in Florence, Alabama. As one half of the critically acclaimed The Civil Wars, White toured the world and introduced millions to his music. Now, he’s a co-founder of Single Lock Records, an independent record label based in the Shoals.
John Paul White has released three solo albums to date and continues to write with songwriters and artists all over the world.
Matt Moore
Author, Entrepreneur, Host, Adventurer
As a renaissance man, Moore's work has garnered critical acclaim as far reaching as the BBC and CBC to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Tribune, People, Southern Living, Redbook, Esquire, Men's Journal, TODAY, CBS, VH1, FOX, Hallmark, The Art of Manliness, and countless others.
Moore’s latest work Serial Griller, has also bestselling status and recognition from nearly every major outlet in the industry including TODAY, CBS Saturday Morning, FOX, PEOPLE, PARADE, and others.
When he is not cooking, traveling, or writing, Moore is busy running EastWest Bottlers, a boutique fragrance and apothecary company he founded in 2011. To date, Moore maintains a distribution of over 200 retail specialty stores where his fragrances and books are sold. He has negotiated distribution and license agreement in over 30 countries, including big-box stores such as Belk, Dillards, and Bloomingdales – securing license products for Fortune 500 brands, as well as luxury European brands. He lives in Nashville with his wife Callie and their two girls Vivienne and Everly.
Drew Fann
Business Developer
Drew is an active member of the Alzheimer's community in Nashville and was the Founding Chair of the Tennessee Chapter Alzheimer's Association Young ProfessionALZ Board.
Drew was the assistant athletic director for Vanderbilt University where he also played baseball for 4 years as a student. He lost both of his grandmothers to Alzheimer’s and has seen first hand how devastating the disease can be.
Drew is currently a Director of Business Development at Relode in Nashville Tennessee, where he resides with his wife, Ali. When he’s not working you can find him traveling, organizing corn hole tournaments and cheering on the Titans.
Travis Macy
Speaker, Author, Professional Endurance Athlete
Finisher of over 130 ultra endurance events in 17 countries, Travis Macy is a speaker, author, coach, and professional endurance athlete.
He is the author of The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion's 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life, and he set a previous record for Leadman, an epic endurance event consisting of a trail running marathon, 50-mile mountain bike race, Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, 10k road run, and Leadville 100 Run, all above 10,200' in the Rocky Mountains.
Travis lives with his wife and two young children in the mountains around Evergreen, Colorado.
John Bennet Waters
Businessman and Philanthropist
John Bennet is the father of the founder of Mind What Matters, Elizabeth Humphreys. He is now retired from a life of business management opportunities, but still dabbles in a family business, volunteer work, and church leadership roles in the Episcopal Church.
He received a BBA from Tulane University, where he was also commissioned an Ensign in the US Navy and served in the Viet Nam war. He has been president of an air charter company, flight school and fixed based operator; two insurance companies; an insurance holding company; and a vending and food service company and construction company. He also served as a senior human resource consultant at LIMRA, a life insurance marketing, research, and training company.
His last career was 15 years as Executive VP of Finance and Administration of the Seminary of the Southwest, an Episcopal Seminary in Austin, TX. He currently lives in Nashville and tries his best to keep up with his children and 6 grandchildren. John is a pilot, a sailor, an avid griller, and enjoys walking his dog Opie.
Dr. Edward Park
Founder of NeuroReserve Inc.
Dr. Edward Park is Founder and President of NeuroReserve, a preventive health and nutrition company focused on healthy brain aging. Ed’s family history of neurodegenerative disease and dementia (his father) led to his mission to improve brain health, where he realized the powerful role nutrition and dietary patterns can play in protecting people from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other age-related brain diseases.
Ed’s background covers over 15 years in nutritional therapeutics, biotechnology, and medical devices. At Alcresta Therapeutics, he led R&D, testing, and regulatory approval of first-in-class products to treat people malnourished by cystic fibrosis, short bowel syndrome, pancreatic cancer, and preterm birth. Earlier, he advised major pharmaceutical companies and foundations as an R&D consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Health Industries Advisory.
Ed earned a Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he also holds a M.S. and M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ed resides in the Southern Nevada with his wife Jenn and three children, TJ, JR, and Julianna.
Edward O’Day
I'm currently a board member for The Visitation Hospital in Haiti. The Visitation Hospital Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to provide healthcare for the people of Haiti and to empower them to pursue their basic right to health care and health education. The Foundation is based in Nashville, TN, and was founded in 1999.
I'm currently an Ambassador for The Alzheimer's Association of Middle TN. My path into advocacy work started during my mothers five year battle with Alzheimer’s. I was Senator Lamar Alexander's Ambassador for three years and I am currently, Senator Hagerty's Ambassador on behalf of the Alzheimer's Association.
I've taken multiple trips to DC to meet with congressional leaders to talk about the importance of Alzheimer’s legislation and research funding through the NIH for Alzheimer's and other dementia related illnesses. My caregiving journey ended when my mother lost her battle with Alzheimer’s in 2019 but It's my greatest honor to advocate on behalf of her. I’m determined to speak up on behalf of the millions of others who are or will struggle through similar experiences.
Dr. Karen Bernstein
Entrepreneur and artist
Karen Bernstein, Ph.D. is co-founder and chairman of BioCentury Inc., the leading provider of analytical insight and data for the biopharmaceutical industry. She has worked in biopharma since 1987 and is a director at Ovid Theraputics Inc., which is focused on developing drugs for epilepsies and other rare brain disorders, and at Codiak BioSciences Inc., which is pioneering exosome research and development to create an entirely new class of medicines.
Karen is on the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute and serves on the board of overseers of Scripps Research. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University, and a B.A. in politics from Brandeis University. In 2005, the annual gathering of biotechnology chief executive officers at the Biotech Meeting in Laguna Niguel California inducted Karen into their Hall of Fame, citing her lifetime contribution to the biotech community. In 2007, she received a special recognition award at the American Liver Foundation’s Salute to Excellence, honoring individuals who have made outstanding contributions to biotechnology and medical innovation. In 2013 she was named as one of the 100 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Business Journal and in 2015, Scientific American named her as one of the WorldVIEW 100 most influential people in biotech today. Karen Is married to Dave Flores and together with their two huskies they live in Nashville and cheer on the Preds regularly.
Thomas M. Holland , MD, MS
Physician Scientist, Instructor
Thomas is an instructor and physician scientist investigating the impact of lifestyle modifications on chronic diseases of aging at Rush Medical College and the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging. He has expertise in general acute care clinical knowledge and lifestyle medicine (nutrition, physical activity, cognitive activities, etc.) and aging research, specifically related to neuro-degenerative diseases: e.g. Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementia’s, cognition, cardio-vascular disease, oncology and various other chronic diseases of aging.
Thomas’s newest areas of interest include pharmacy-epidemiology and best practices for implementation of lifestyle modifications in primary care and the community to help improve public health.
Tom is extremely active as an invited lecturer and presenter throughout the Alzheimer’s and Brain Health space and has been published frequently with articles on nutrition and risks of developing Alzheimer’s. He also has had the opportunity to create and implement the REDcap MIND diet trial FFQ into an additional 3 trials and one language while serving as the project director.
Hart Weatherford
Banker, Entrepreneur
Hart is the founder and president of Farmington Mortgage, now Capstar Mortgage. He founded Farmington Mortgage to create a local boutique mortgage bank with superlative service on a local level and grew it into a top ten mortgage lender in the State of Tennessee. Currently, Hart is the EVP over Capstar Mortgage, which has grown to nearly $1 Billion. He serves on the Board of Directors for Wealth Access, a financial technology company and has served in various other leadership roles within the Mortgage Bankers Association including Vice President and Treasurer. He’s is a past member of the Young Leaders Council of Nashville, Phoenix Club and Entrepreneurs Organization. Hart was also been named one of the future leaders for the Mortgage Bakers Association of America and recognized in the Nashville Business Journals top 40 under 40. He holds a degree from University of Tennessee and is a natural leader. Together with his wife Beth and their three children, he lives in Nashville and plays an active role in its community.
Jessica Guthrie
Caregiver, Advocate & Consultant
Jessica C. Guthrie is a visionary leader dedicated to reshaping the landscape of caregiving. With over ten years of caregiving experience, she champions the cause of providing dignified, respectful, and compassionate care for loved ones. She believes in the power of deep empathy, patience, and unwavering curiosity, even in the face of adversity.
As a caregiver of her mother living with Alzheimer’s Disease, Jessica has observed the challenges faced by families, particularly those caring for individuals with dementia. She emphasizes the need for a fundamental shift in the way caregiving is approached, involving individuals, families, and healthcare professionals working in synergy. Through her platform "Career & Caregiving Collide™," Jessica shares her insights and pioneering ideas, guiding others in navigating the intersection of their professional careers and caregiving responsibilities. Her mission is to amplify diverse caregiving narratives and ensure caregivers feel fully supported.
Jessica brings over 13 years of experience in the education and non-profit management & leadership fields. She is now using her experiences to drive her own entrepreneurial efforts to create a better, more equipped world for caregivers and their loved ones. She received her degree in Sociology & Education Policy at Dartmouth College and Master’s degree in Educational Leadership & Policy from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
You can learn more about Jessica and her caregiving journey at www.jessicacguthrie.com or follow her on Instagram @CareerCaregivingCollide.