Who We Are
Friends is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization (EIN: 94-3295898) dedicated to providing support and education to young people who stutter, their families, and professionals, through annual conferences, one-day workshops, and outreach. Friends events provide workshops for children, adolescents, parents and adults who stutter. Some topics addressed during our workshops include self-advocacy, self-disclosure, navigating middle school, navigating high school and college, bullying, teasing, successful academic outcomes, successful career outcomes, navigating employment issues, interviewing skills, diversity in the workplace, educating our peers in academic and employment environments. Workshops for parents include discussing how best to support your child, advocating for your child, working with schools to ensure academic success, how to talk about stuttering with your child, family, school and extended families. Our vision is to help build a world in which all young people who stutter feel empowered to communicate whenever, wherever, and however they want to.
Our Story
In 1997, Friends was founded by Lee Caggiano, a parent of a child who stutters, and John Ahlbach, an adult who stutters, to meet the need for organized support and education for young people who stutter, their families, and professionals. Over the years, we have expanded into a national organization that hosts a large annual convention each July, regional one-day events across the country, and monthly virtual groups. In addition to empowering people who stutter and their families, we also provide invaluable education to SLPs and graduate students.
Executive Director
Caryn Herring, PhD, CCC-SLP
Caryn Herring is a person who stutters and a speech-language pathologist. Caryn met Lee in 2010 and has been involved with Friends ever since. Caryn served as the Chairperson on the Friends Board of Directors for 5 years and is proud to follow in Lee’s footsteps as the current Executive Director of Friends. She graduated with her PhD from Michigan State University, her MS from Purdue University, and her BA from the University of Pittsburgh. Caryn’s research interests include the process of desensitization, reducing adverse impact, and enhancing accessibility for people who stutter. Caryn has presented at conferences and Universities across the country as well as taught and clinically supervised undergraduate and graduate students at Michigan State University, The University of Pittsburgh, Gannon University, and Duquesne University.
Board Members
Tricia Zebrowski
Board Chair
Tricia Zebrowski is a long-time volunteer with Friends and has been a presenter and facilitator for many annual conventions, one-day workshops and virtual parent groups. In recent years she organized the Graduate Student Training Program at the annual convention. Tricia is a speech-language therapist and Professor Read more
Eric Jackson
Vice Chair
Eric Jackson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a person who stutters, speech-language pathologist, and Assistant Professor at NYU, where he conducts research on stuttering. He is a long-time supporter and volunteer for Friends.
Arin Sheeler
Secretary
Arin Sheeler is a proud parent of a young boy who stutters. Her family found Friends through The Ohio State University One-Day Conference in 2018, and attended their first Annual Convention in Chicago in 2019. Her husband and 3 children live in Columbus, Ohio, and both Arin and her husband work for The Ohio State University. She is a Speech Read more
Brad Steinberg
Treasurer
Brad Steinberg, CPA, CEPA, is the proud father of a son who stutters whose life was profoundly impacted by a Friends Annual Convention. A serial entrepreneur and business advisor, he enjoys helping owners achieve their goals. He lives in IL with his wife and two children and is honored to help families find the community his family found in Friends.
Rick Arenas
Board Member
Rick Arenas is a person who stutters and a parent of a child who stutters. He works at the University of New Mexico as an associate professor where he teaches and conducts research in the area of stuttering. He is honored to be able to be part of Friends. The organization does an amazing job supporting young people who stutter and their families.
Adannaya Brown
Board Member
Adannaya Brown (she/her) is a parent of a person who stutters, dedicated advocate, friend, and student of the stuttering community. A relentless chaser of joy, her favorite pastimes are reading, dancing, and staring at the sky. She lives with her husband, four children, and two dogs in Aurora, Colorado.
Evan Kestenbaum
Board Member
Evan is a lifelong entrepreneur, data geek, and person who stutters who has co-founded and led several successful businesses, primarily within the eyecare industry. Evan now supports a broad range of mission-driven businesses, including Friends, and aims to help other entrepreneurs who stutter. After years in New York, Evan now lives in Read more
Joel Korte
Board Member
Joel Korte is a person who stutters and the owner of Chase Bliss, a Minneapolis based company that designs and manufactures guitar pedals.
Roisin McManus
Board Member
Róisín McManus is a stutterer, nurse practitioner and mother. She has been involved with Friends since 2010, and still gets chills witnessing its impact on kids, families, adults and therapists. She works as a nurse practitioner specializing in palliative care, and lives in Providence, RI with her husband, daughter and extended family.
Mark O'Malia
Board Member
Mark O’Malia, M.S., CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist and person who stutters. He is a full-time clinician at The American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) in NYC, working with people who stutter across the lifespan.
Ryan Pollard
Board Member
Ryan Pollard, Ph.D. CCC-SLP BCS-F is a stutterer, speech-language pathologist, and clinical professor at the University of Colorado Boulder where he trains graduate students and teaches courses in stuttering, disability studies, counseling and other areas. Over the past several years he’s volunteered or worked for Friends, the Stuttering Read more
Anthony Saleh
Board Member
I am the proud parent of a daughter who stutters and eternally grateful to the entire Friends organization for providing so much support, knowledge, and comfort to our entire family. Friends has been life changing for us and we are so privileged to be part of this phenomenal organization!
Friends Staff
Nic Brow
One Day Events Director
Nic Brow M.A., CCC-SLP works as a speech language pathologist at the Sisskin Stuttering Center and as an Adjunct Faculty at George Washington University. He has worked as a speech therapist within multiple public schools with students from the preschool to high school level.Read more
Noura Embabi
Director of Operations
Noura Embabi is a PhD student in sociology and a former speech-language pathologist passionate about stuttering support and advocacy. She attended her first Friends conference in 2014 and feels proud to be a part of the wonderful Friends community.
Amanda Johnson
Event Planner
Amanda is a proud parent to a son who stutters. Based in the Washington, DC area, she has been a professional Meeting and Event planner for two decades. She brings together both her passion for events and the love for the Friends community.
Jenny McGuire
Annual Convention Manager
Jenny McGuire is a person who stutters and a vociferous advocate for the stuttering community. Jenny worked as an art therapist with pediatric hematology and oncology patients and their families. She found deep gratification in this work for innumerable reasons, the main Jenny has brought that spirit of community healing to her own stuttering journey, and has transformed from being deeply shameful and covert (masking her stutter) to a proud PWS. She finds great joy in working with various stuttering organizations to help others find wholeness and embrace their stutter as part of their identity. Jenny is thrilled to join the Friends family as the Annual Convention Manager, as she has experienced first hand the transformative power of the Friends community.Read more
Hallie Mintz
Director of Content and Engagement
Hallie Mintz, M.S. CCC-SLP is the owner of Philly Speech Services, a private practice in the greater Philadelphia area, where she works with children of all ages and abilities. Hallie has a passion for supporting children and adolescents who stutter by encouraging confidentRead more
Haley Warner
Convention Auction
Haley Warner, M.S. CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist and currently pursuing her PhD in the stuttering and vvariability (savvy) lab at New York University. She attended her first Friends Annual Convention in Chicago in 2019 and is passionate about the important work Friends does.