Board Chair and Select Current Board Members Elected to Additional Three-year Terms CHICAGO , Oct. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- At its recent annual meeting in Chicago , the Easterseals National Board of Directors named disability advocate and Founder & CEO of The Split Second Foundation (SSF) Mark Raymond, Jr. , to its board for a three-year term.
Additionally, Genevieve M. (Genny) Winter was reelected Board Chair, and current board members including Second Vice Chair Wanda Hill , RPH, J.D.
, Vice President, GlaxoSmithKline; Pooja Rahman , J.D.; and Dr.
Kaveh Safavi , M.D., J.
D., Senior Managing Director of Global Health at Accenture, were unanimously elected to additional three-year terms. A resident of New Orleans , Raymond's commitment to disability advocacy was intensified following a shallow diving accident in 2016 in which he damaged the vertebrae at the base of his neck and lost the ability to walk.
Shortly thereafter, he founded The Split Second Foundation, a nonprofit healthcare startup based in New Orleans which promotes the holistic wellness of individuals with disabilities through fitness programs designed to improve mobility and strength, mental health services, case management, resource navigation, and advocacy. With a deep-rooted history of community service, Raymond has played a vital role in advancing a number of equity-centered initiatives across the Greater New Orléans area. He serves as Chairman of the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) New Orleans Board of Co.