Meet the Team: Our Dedicated Board of Directors
The SayWhatClub Board of Directors can be reached by email at: swcboard@saywhatclub.org
Bet Whitcomb
President
I am a retired public high school math teacher who lives in Northfield, Massachusetts. I have three grown children and four rapidly growing grandchildren. I started to lose my hearing in my 20’s due to otosclerosis, a condition I inherited from my mother. Luckily for me hearing aid technology has kept pace with my worsening hearing loss. My loss is now severe to profound across all frequencies. I wear two powerful BTE hearing aids and have been told that I am on a path towards a CI, though it may be years before I get there.
I joined SWC in January of 2003. I remember the day very well. It was a day of in-service training for teachers and I was having an extremely rough time trying to hear anything that was said. On the verge of tears, I went to my principal and told him I couldn’t do this anymore. He excused me from the training and suggested that I go online and see if I could find any resources that may help me. What I found was SWC. I joined immediately and was placed on Forum. By that summer I was a list rep on Forum, a position I have held ever since, until joining the BOD.
Ann Marie Picardo
Secretary
I have a progressive hearing loss that began in my late 30’s. By the time I was 61, I reached the point where hearing aids were no longer giving me much speech comprehension so I moved forward with getting a CI in my left ear.
Getting a CI has been a blessing for me. I’m so grateful for this amazing technology.
I joined SWC in 2016 and prior to joining the BOD was a CI List Rep. I’ve attended several conventions and have enjoyed them.
I’m also a member of the Hearing Loss Association of America and am currently the President of HLAA Morris County Chapter. I have also served on the board of the Hearing Loss Association of America – New Jersey State Association.
While living with hearing loss is challenging it also has a positive side. It’s allowed me to meet some wonderful people that have become friends.
I’m retired from a long career in the music business and am a life-long resident of New Jersey.
Ilene Morales
Treasurer
My hearing loss and tinnitus began when I had high fevers with measles at age 8. I was not tested until I was in college and got my first hearing aid then as well. I have a ski slope loss in both ears that goes to profound in the high tones.
I managed for a long time, adding a second aid years later, but as I got older it was more difficult to follow conversations. Audiologists suggested a cochlear implant, but I knew no one who had one and it seemed like a very drastic action. I attended the 2016 HLAA convention in Washington DC, in an effort to learn more about cochlear implants. I asked someone I met there for ways to meet others with hearing loss. She told me about the Say What Club, and I signed up right away. The support I received was instrumental in my decision to go ahead with an implant in January 2020. I did so well with the first side that I did my other ear in December 2020. I love my brand, Advanced Bionics and am a mentor for them. I speak to potential candidates regularly to assist on their journeys.
For the past 44 years, I have worked at a non-profit community based organization, in a variety of roles. I am currently a financial compliance coordinator. I am a lifelong New Yorker, love to read and travel.
Dawn Linder
I was born prematurely, which resulted in my having a hearing loss but it was only recognized when I was 4. In those days deaf children weren’t allowed to learn sign language. Instead, I went to an oral training program to learn to speak and read lips. For school, I was mainstreamed; I always sat in the front row so I could read the teacher’s lips. Yes – it was challenging.
I was married in my early 20’s and had 3 children. Eleven years later we were divorced. Today I’m remarried with 3 stepchildren and 7 grandchildren.
I’ve had several jobs, but I especially loved working for a nonprofit organization that worked with individuals with developmental disabilities. Another job I loved was working for the state of Illinois where I assessed housing discrimination for people with hearing loss.
I’ve done volunteer work for ALDA in Chicago and now in Indiana where we live today. In addition, I’m working on forming a hearing loss support group in Indiana.
I will say though, that my most rewarding job is watching my grandchildren.
My husband and I enjoy traveling and especially love going to hearing loss conventions to be with our friends, yes, our tribe.
Donna McNary
Hello! I’m excited to introduce myself. I am a newly retired special education teacher from the Madison, Wisconsin area. I grew up on a dairy farm in southern MN. I’m married and we have 4 married daughters and 3 granddaughters.
My hearing loss was first detected in my 20’s when I was taking an audiology course for my Bachelor’s Degree in Communicative Disorders. In this course we practiced giving hearing tests to each other. My hearing loss at that time was a mild bilateral sensory hearing loss in the very high frequencies. From there my hearing loss continued to deteriorate. I began wearing hearing aids in my late 30’s and received cochlear implants in 2013 & 2017. Many have said that after being implanted they ‘got their life back’; and it was true for me too. I feel blessed!
I found Say What Club around 2009 when I was looking for hearing support and for anyone that understood what I was going through. I went to my first SWC Convention in Salt Lake City in 2012. I am so thankful that I found SWC because I not only found support and understanding; but I found life long friendships and family.
I have volunteered with Say What Club in the following capacities: List rep representative for the World and CI lists, volunteer and leader with the Silent Auction, and convention co-treasurer. I’m excited for this new role.
Mary Ann Livesey
My hearing loss likely began when I was eighteen months old and fell on cement stairs and hit my head. My balance was off for a few days. Hearing loss was diagnosed later with severe to profound in one ear and mild to moderate cookie-bite loss in the other ear. My hearing was stable until I was hit in the forehead with a softball line drive in my mid thirties. Six months later I was diagnosed with bilateral enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome, the cause of both my hearing loss and poor balance. During my forties my hearing started slowly dropping in both ears and I am now bimodal with one cochlear implant and one hearing aid. I live in Vancouver, Canada and work as a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I am involved in various groups advocating for accessibility and inclusion for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. I have also been studying ASL for the last five years, recently more intensely. I found the SayWhatClub in 2023 and attended the convention in Vancouver. Last year, I travelled to New England to attend the convention in Springfield. I enjoy meeting and connecting with other people who understand the struggles of hearing loss, in particular those with low hearing. I love to travel and participate in water sports. My husband and children are all hearing.
Deanne Pedroni
In 2015, after noticing a problem with my hearing and balance, I went to my local ENT. An MRI was ordered and showed that I have bilateral acoustic neuromas. I was referred to Stanford and started ‘watch and wait’ to see what changes would occur. The neuromas grew and cyberknife (radiation) was needed. After the treatments, my hearing degraded further – my left ear lost almost all hearing, and the right was steady at 60 percent. Hearing aids became part of my life with a CROS to adjust for that loss. In 2023, my right ear started following my left, and I started my journey to a cochlear. I got a cochlear in 2024 and am thrilled with the results. I realized I needed help. My isolation was increasing, and my family life suffered. I started searching for alternatives. I found speech reading classes which led to finding the Say What Club and HLAA. I feel much more able to handle my day-to-day life with hearing loss. While my journey is not done, a second cochlear is likely in my future, I am thankful to have found groups that are supportive and helpful in my journey. I spent the last 40+ years in technology. I have worked in the telco, financial and security industries making sure their systems work and work well. I am retired and enjoying life with my husband, children and grandchildren. I am an avid crafter and continually get myself into more projects than I can manage, but enjoying it – everything from sewing, quilting, gardening, knitting, baking – sourdough is a passion, ceramics and more.
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