Our Team
OUR STAFF OUR BOARD WORK WITH US
Our staff members bring diversity in experience and skills, but share two qualities:La genuine appreciation for the unique personalities of our participants and a commitment to helping them succeed every day, and throughout their lives.
Cindy O'Donnell
Program Manager
Cindy O’Donnell has extensive experience in special education. She was the Chairperson of the Special Education Department at Schaumburg High School, where she worked for over 30 years. She has a BS in Special Education and an MS in Educational Administration. She retired from teaching a year ago and Our Place is thrilled that Cindy has chosen to return to work with us
Contact Cindy-
co'donnell@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Michelle Patzke
Administration Manager
Michelle joined the Our Place staff in 2013 after spending over 10 years working as a lawyer before beginning a career for a hedge fund in Chicago. That work did not satisfy her soul and after a brief stint on the Our Place Board she joined the staff as a Job Coach and Administration Manager.
Contact Michelle -
mpatzke@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Sara O'Keefe
Program Supervisor
Sara joined Our Place in October 2016. She has an MSW and BSW from Loyola and James Madison University, respectively. Sara brings a wealth of experience to her job at Our Place. She has worked in camps for children with autism, managed community relations and even helped with fundraisers in previous positions and internships.
Contact Sara-
so’keefe@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Riley Dahiya
Program Leader
Riley graduated from Illinois State University in 2018 where she received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Riley worked for NSSRA in high school and continued working with individuals with disabilities throughout college. She is very excited to be part of the team at Our Place.
Contact Riley -
rdahiya@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Aidan Guimond
Senior Program Leader
Aidan started as a volunteer for Our Place in the winter of 2016. When a part time position opened at the beginning of 2017, Aidan jumped at the opportunity and soon his part time job became a full time one. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and majored in psychology and minored in educational psychology and human relations.
Contact Aidan -aguimond@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Catherine Hattendorf
Senior Program Leader
Catherine has 10 years of experience in Special Education. She has volunteered with individuals with disabilities since high school and worked for the NSSRA throughout high school and college. She received her BS in Special Education from Northern Illinois University after which she worked in schools and then an adult day program as a counselor. Catherine started her work with Our Place in the fall of 2017 and has enjoyed working here ever since.
Contact Catherine-
chattendorf@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Jack Hattendorf
Program Leader
Jack started as a volunteer for Our Place in the winter of 2018. A part time position opened up a few months later and he was thrilled that he was asked to become a part of the team. Soon after, Jack was taken on as a full time staff member and is really enjoying the Our Place life. He got his Associate in Arts from Oakton Community College and is looking forward to continuing his education and learning new things every day at both Our Place and in school.
Contact Jack-
jhattendorf@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Sterling Humphrey
Senior Program Leader
Sterling has been working with young adults with developmental disabilities for over 15 years. Before coming to Our Place in 2011, he worked as a teacher’s aide at New Trier High School. He attended Loyola Academy High School where he played football and basketball and received an Associate’s Degree from Grand Canyon University.
Contact Sterling -
shumphrey@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Emily Kerzner
Senior Program Leader
Emily has been with Our Place from the beginning. She was inspired to become a volunteer in 2010 by her brother, Josh—a participant. Since she was young, Emily has known that her dream when she grew up would be to work with people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to live her dream at Our Place. Emily is currently completing her studies to become a speech-language pathologist.
Contact Emily-
estern@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Jamie Weller
Senior Program Leader
Jamie began as a volunteer at our Place in the winter of 2013 and eventually became a full time staff member. Jamie received is BA in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is interested in psychology because he loves understanding how people’s minds function. He finds working with individuals with developmental disabilities incredibly rewarding.
Contact Jamie-
jweller@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Frank Kisslinger
Senior Support Coordinator
Frank joined Our Place after a career as a librarian and corporate information manager, where he worked in a wide range of libraries from corporate real estate to public elementary schools. Frank is the Senior Support Coordinator, which means he helps out with administrative and development areas as well as technical and computer related functions. Frank has a BA in History from Kalamazoo College and an MLS from the University of Missouri. When Frank is not at Our Place, he can typically be found at the Old Town School of Folk Music discovering new genres and helping out at weekend concerts.
Contact Frank-
fkisslinger@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
Brittany Mussen
Program Leader
Brittany leads programs that focus on individual growth and is inspired by how accepting and open the Our Place community is. Her favorite program is Book Club, because it’s the program that she sees participants growing the most in and where it allows her to work more one on one with the participants. Brittany also has a background in planning events for non-profits including Up ‘til Dawn, a campus wide event which benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She is a graduate of Illinois State University.
Contact Brittany-
bmussen@ourplaceofnewtrier.org
