Meet our Dedicated Board
Thank you to the talented, smart and dedicated people who answered the call to help the Adam's House mission.
We are grateful to have you represent Adam's House and be a part of our advisory board. Your input is invaluable!
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Darsh Mariyappa brings to the AH board his extensive experience and network in global banking, markets, and educational non-profits.
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With over 30 years experience with global financial institutions in currency and interest rate markets, Darsh’s latest banking role was Head of Global Markets for Bank of Ireland’s US business. Darsh most recently started new ventures in the FinTech space , launching an FX and International Payments advisory practice with PainePacific and joining OFX as Head of Strategic Partnerships North America.
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Near Bangalore, India, Darsh and his family have created many schools for village children, the most recent in his dear Mom’s memory, Dr. Shantha Mariyappa Convent an English Medium School for needy children in and around Avverahalli Village, Channapatna Taluk.
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Locally, Darsh is a volunteer tennis coach for Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and is involved with Social Venture Partners.
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Darsh lives in Weston CT with his wife Carolyn, father Boppa, children Cole, Aden and Evan, and guard dogs Winnie and Sophie.
Darsh Mariyappa
Danielle Carlson
Danielle is currently the neuromuscular outpatient clinical research coordinator at Yale University. Her passion for advancing medicine in hopes to save and improve lives is what brought her to the East Coast. Originally from Minnesota, she came from doing research with the University of Minnesota’s Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Psychiatry. This passion developed as a result of losing her father to Hodgkin’s lymphoma while she was in high school. When introduced to Adam’s House, she knew she had to get involved. She wished Adam’s House would have been available to her during her own loss as an adolescent. Outside of research and medicine, Danielle was a longtime volunteer at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, as well as Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities. Supporting youth development in the community is near and dear to her heart.
Danielle lives in Fairfield, CT with her two dogs, Frank and George, and her two cats, William and Harry. She enjoys hiking with her dogs, improving her golf game and being at the beach.
Kevin Atterberry
Kevin Atterberry is currently a full stack web developer for Peralta Design, a digital marketing and creative agency located in Shelton. Kevin uses his knowledge of programming along with his attention to detail and passion for problem solving to build custom solutions for businesses and entrepreneurs. Kevin is also licensed to sell life insurance in the states of Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and is currently studying for his Series 6 & 63 so he can become FINRA licensed.
Outside of work, Kevin has always had a passion for giving back and connecting with his community. Since Kevin was 12 he’s been volunteering in food pantries, participating in toy drives, and supporting local groups and nonprofits all over Fairfield county and the valley. Kevin is currently the vice-chair for the Greater Valley Chamber’s young professionals networking group FUEL and the vice-chair of their technology council TIED. Kevin loves meeting new people and making connections, especially when there is food involved.
Lisa Bisson
Lisa Bisson is the Director of Community Outreach for Wesley Village in Shelton. Wesley Village is a non-profit community offering independent, assisted and memory support living options for seniors. In addition, Wesley Village also has a skilled nursing home which provides short term rehabilitation and long term care.
Lisa has spent much of her career working for local non-profits including Griffin Hospital and the March of Dimes. She has volunteered and served on board with area organizations including the Derby-Shelton Rotary, United Way, Junior Achievement, and the Valley Chamber of Commerce. Her connections with area corporations and community leaders allows her to spread the word and gather support for programs in need.
Lisa lives in Shelton with her husband Scott who is the assistant chief of the Fairfield Fire Department. Her daughter Meg, a recent FIG volunteer at Adam’s House, is at Syracuse University majoring in Child Psychology. Her son Joseph attends St. Joseph High School in Trumbull.
Patti Moonan
When I heard about Adam's House, an organization that offers free peer support to children and their parents/guardians who are coping with the loss of a loved one, I knew I wanted to become involved. A few years back, when I suddenly became a widow, there was no place like Adam's House for me to bring my children, ages 17, 14 and 9. This was the piece that was missing for us; as peer support is so important in normalizing grief and assisting in navigating a whole new world without your loved one. Since becoming involved with Adam's House in 2021, I have served as a friend in Grief, assisting in the running of a support group for the Middles, children ages 7-12 years, and as a Peer to Peer Fundraiser as part of the Great Give. Recently, I was asked to become a member of the Board of Adam's House which was an honor I gladly accepted.
My professional background as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, having worked with clients ages 5-85, has allowed me to see the effects of grief first hand not only on the individual but on the family and community systems as well. In December of 2012, I was a therapist at an agency in Sandy Hook, CT and for the next 4 1/2 years my clinical focus was to provide clinical counseling services to those who experienced a mass community trauma with the loss of 20 young children and 6 school personnel due to a school shooting. As such, I am trained in various empirical models that address traumatic grief and to this day my clinical practice is primarily focused in this area.
I am a resident of Shelton, CT and am currently serving my second term as a member of the Shelton Board of Education.
Scott Luntz
Scott Luntz has served as a volunteer at Adam’s House to help as a FIG in 2 programs. Also, he is a mentor volunteer at the Shelton middle and high schools and assists students with their day-to-day problems and to expose them to future career opportunities. With over 30 years of experience founding and running multimillion dollar businesses, he has a vast amount of management and entrepreneurial experience. Scott has sat on six for-profit boards of directors (three as Vice- Chairman) that were subsequently successfully sold to private equity firms. He has earned a B.S. from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from University of Chicago.
Belinda Wutke
I am a proud volunteer of the Adam's House team. When I initially started as a FIG I never imagined how passionate I would be about what we do here. Being witness to the growth and change I have seen in the families that attend has been an honor.
I became a nurse in 2004 and loved my work. I started off my career working in long term and short term care facilities and ended up overseeing a medical practice that specialized in urology. Both jobs taught me so much about the importance of always trying to see from another person's view.
In 2012, I decided to devote my time to helping my husband open our restaurants and pursue his dreams. I spent much of my time promoting our Monday Matters fundraising nights.
The business has grown over the years and our family has too. We have 4 amazing children who I have been home with for the past few years. Adrianna, 16, Arabella, my niece, is 10 years old, Carmela, 5 and Philip is 2. We also have a 5 year old German Shepard named Axl and a 2 year old cat, Duffy who loves to torture Axl. We enjoy being outside, especially during the warmer months when we can have barbecues and go swimming.
Shawna Vallillo
The path that has led me to a chair on the Adam’s house board has been daunting at times. I was introduced to the program after the devastating loss of my oldest son Damien in 2019. I was a busy Mom of 3, selling real estate and attending PTO meetings while also finding time to volunteer at local organizations.
One day my life changed with a single phone call, the Army never calls, but they called that day and told me that my son was found unresponsive in the barracks. I numbly remember navigating the planning of his services, the impending holidays for the family, and even a memorial celebration almost a year later to celebrate what would have been his 21st Birthday.
There were many facets to my child, and finding a way to honor him and his memory has always felt necessary but nothing ever “fit”. After participating in the grieving hearts program with my family, and being asked to serve on the board, I found a home for that at Adam’s house. This is the perfect way to be able to make a difference in others lives and honor the whole person.
I reside in Shelton with my husband Vincent. My daughter Vivianna is a talented artist attending
Shelton high school who is planning on attending college to pursue her passion. My youngest son Vincent is a budding musician who is currently battling a brain tumor that took his vision in 2018. I don’t know why people are given the challenges we are, but I do know that each one we have faced as a family has made us stronger and we have been able to turn that pain and loss
into light and healing for others. I read a quote once that said “one day telling the story of what you went through will become the pages of someone else's survival guide.” And it's so very true, so I am telling my story in the hopes of helping to heal.
A licensed clinical social worker with over a decade of experience working with families and individuals in educational, non-profit, outpatient and, government settings. These roles have afforded her the opportunity to work with people of various socio-economic backgrounds throughout the states of New York and Connecticut.
As a therapist in private practice, Chantel focuses on bettering the client as well as the community she serves. Her desire to help her community flourish led her to start a non-profit where she held prom dress drives and provided scholarships for high school seniors in her hometown. Since moving to Connecticut in 2018, she has continued to serve the city of Danbury by hosting prom dress drives as well as community baby showers and college scholarships.
Chantel decided to join the board of directors because the mission and work Adam’s House is doing closely align with her passion and community service endeavors. Chantel previously served as a board member with Safe Halls Project when living in New York. She holds a bachelors degree in psychology, a masters degree in social work, and is currently pursuing her doctorate in social work. She is trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She is excited to bring her clinical expertise and event planning skills to the board of directors.
Chantel currently lives in Danbury, Connecticut with her husband, two sons, and two dogs.
Chantel Herron-Elliott
Michelle Jukoski
Michelle is a Senior Vice President and National HR Technology Practice Leader for HUB International. With over 25 years of industry experience, Michelle is an industry thought leader and subject matter expert in the HR Technology space. She is responsible for strategic oversight of HUB’s National HR Technology Practice, managing vendor relations, delivery of internal platform solutions, consulting support for sales, complex client HR Tech needs and new initiatives.
Michelle is a HUB Woman’s Network Ambassador, member of the HR Technology industry Advisory Collective and is an active member of several industry Broker Advisory boards. She is a past-President of the New Hampshire Association of Health Underwriters. Michelle received her BA in Business Management and Marketing from Notre Dame College. She recently relocated to Milford, CT after living in NH for over 25 years. She resides with her son Zach, Senior at Unity College, daughter Zoe, Junior at Fairfield University, two pugs (Duke & Daisy) and cat (Addie).
In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, the beach, walking, kayaking, and cooking for family and friends. Michelle is thrilled to be a part of Adam’s House and supporting and furthering its mission to support grieving families.
Our Small but Mighty Staff
Lygia Davenport Wilson
Lygia Davenport Wilson grew up in New York City. She attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, studied abroad in South Africa, and volunteered at an elementary school in Cape Town. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in International Studies, from Trinity College, in Hartford Connecticut, and studied abroad in Trinidad, West Indies where she wrote her senior thesis and volunteered at a local high school.
Her passion for helping others manifested in college, where she became a lifelong member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, and continued to serve the community. After college, she volunteered in Mexico, building homes for those less fortunate. Through this work, she earned a trip to attend a volunteer summit in London to represent the United States.
She returned to New York, and led a project building over 10 homes in the neighborhood in which she grew up, through Habitat for Humanity. After becoming a mother, she continued her educational path, and earned a Masters Degree in Education: Curriculum and Instruction. She worked in a private educational setting working with students ranging in age from preschool through eighth grade. In addition, she served as the Assistant Director of an educational consulting firm, advocating for families of students covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
After years of building relationships with those students, she and her family moved to New Haven, Connecticut. In New Haven, she has worked in the public school and nonprofit sectors. She is actively involved in her children’s school and extracurricular communities, and continues her own educational journey pursuing graduate studies in the field of technology. She is very excited to join the Adam's House organization, to work with the team to further the mission.
Allison Wysota is a proud, dedicated mom to three sons, Andrew, Austin and Addison. Before taking time to raise her sons, Allison was a teacher at the School for Language in Bellmore, NY. After she completed her Master’s in Speech Pathology at Adelphi University, she opened a private practice, providing services to speech-impaired children in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, NY.
After the unexpected passing of her husband, Adam Wysota, Allison found it challenging to find support for her family struggling to deal with their grief. Her search led her to decide to establish The Adam Wysota Foundation in 2012 to honor Adam’s memory by creating a center, called Adam’s House, to help other grieving families. Her vision is to offer grief education and peer support programs to children and their families in a comfortable home setting. Allison facilitates the "Helping Hearts Heal" program and her hope is that with Adam’s House, no family and especially, no child will ever grieve without the support of a caring community.
Allison Wysota
Founder and Executive Director
Sarah Domena
Director of Corporate Relations
and Community Outreach
Throughout her career, Domena was instrumental in assisting medical device start-ups market and launch surgical equipment from product inception to full commercialization. After spending over a decade working in customer relations and marketing for multimillion dollar organizations, Sarah broke away to focus on her family. When she re-entered the workforce, she wanted her new career to be purposeful and impactful. This led her to Adam’s House, where she will pursue a passion of working for, and with, people in crisis. It is through Adam’s House people can find healthy ways to cope with their loss, to strengthen themselves and their relationships, so they can become complete, whole, and safe. “I am honored to use my Marketing and Business knowledge, coupled with my love of people, to share the Adam’s House mission and work diligently to help families and children cope with their grief in a positive and constructive manner.” In her spare time, Sarah enjoys spending time with her husband Jay; three boys, Noah, Wesley, and Adam; her cat, Gordy and dog, Cannon. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Communications from Southern Connecticut State University and an MBA from Albertus Magnus College. Sarah is also a One Hope Wine representative, a Certified Personal Trainer, an avid Spinning enthusiast and Fitness Instructor, and maintains a multitude of certifications. She can be contacted directly at communityoutreach@adamshousect.org
Director of Development
Now Hiring!