The HLAA-NYSA 2025 Calendar year begins January 1st & ends December 31st
Name: Steve Wolfert BOD Term: present to 2026
Position: President
Steve Wolfert, is the past president of HLAA Westchester. He first became involved in the hearing loss community when his son Brendan was diagnosed with profound hearing loss 30 years ago – first as a member of HLAA Westchester and as chairperson for the Westchester Rockland/Walk4Hearing. He learned how important it is to advocate for yourself or a family member to secure professional help and accommodations at school and at work.
Steve earned a BA degree in Economics from American University and an MBA in Finance from Baruch College. Professionally, he has served as the head of marketing, advertising and communications for leading insurance and financial services organizations, and also practices in the commercial real estate field in New York City. Steve lives in Irvington, NY with his wife Andrea. His two sons, Brendan and David, live in White Plains, NY and Austin, TX respectively.
Name: Susan Miller BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Vice President, Leader of the Chapter Development Committee
Sue Miller (HLAA-NYSA Upstate Chapter Coordinator) is a member of the Rochester Chapter and has been involved with SHHH/HLAA since September of 1983, when she first met Rocky Stone. Nine hard-of-hearing Rochesterians met at her house on November 1, 1983, to discuss forming an SHHH group and all agreed it was a great idea. Sue has also been active on the State and National level of HLAA since the beginning of its existence. She has worn behind-the-ear hearing aids for sixty-four years and considers them to be miracle workers. On a personal level, she attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. While there, she met her husband, Scott, and in April of 2023, they celebrated their 63rd anniversary! They have three adult sons and daughters-in-law, a fabulous bunch of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And of course, she thinks they are all adorable. Sue loves to read, attend church, and volunteers at a local hospice on Fridays. She and her husband also enjoy traveling and seeing the world. In addition to her family, she has an incredible passion for HLAA and how it’s helping people live better with their hearing loss.
Name: Tom Corteville BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Treasurer
Tom Corteville was born and raised in Palmyra, NY and now resides in Penfield, NY. He has a wife named Holly. Together they have two children. The oldest is Bennett, age 19, and he is freshman in college. Their youngest is Haley, age 15, and she is a sophomore in high school. Some of Tom’s favorite pastimes are gardening and camping. Professionally Tom is a licensed CPA and has an extensive wealth of experience. He is currently working as a consultant for various firms. He also serves on the board of directors of the HLAA Rochester Chapter as the Treasurer. He also is a committee leader of the Rochester Chapter Finance Committee Group. He does not have hearing loss but has a strong desire to help those with hearing loss and volunteer his expertise.
Name: Kathy Gates BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Recording Secretary
Colonel (Retired) Kathy Gates was born in Glens Falls, New York. In 1983, she enlisted in the Army Reserves and served as an Ammunition Stock Control Accounting Specialist for four years and promoted to the rank of Sergeant. She was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Hearing Science from State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh in 1984. In 1986, she earned her Master of Arts degree in Audiology from the University of Maryland at College Park. She served as an active duty Army Audiologist for twenty six years and was stationed at many Army Installations in the United States and in Nuremberg Germany. Her last tour was serving as the Integrated Service Chief, Audiology and Speech Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. During this tour she also served as the Army Surgeon General’s senior consultant on hearing health. Dr. Gates was instrumental in changing the scope of the Army hearing conservation services from an occupational exposure risk to a population
Name: Mary Kate Owens BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Corresponding Secretary
Mary Kate Owens, serves currently as President of the Albany Chapter of HLAA. She retired in 2017 from the NYS Office of Court Administration as a Budget Analyst with 30 years of service. She wears a BAHA for single sided deafness. She is a member of the HLAA NYS Advocacy Committee and also serves as President of the League of Women Voters of Albany County.
Name: Pete Fackler BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Past President
Pete Fackler graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and from the University of Michigan with an MBA. Following a five-year tenure with the audit staff of Price Waterhouse & Co. (now, PwC) he embarked on a 30-plus year career in higher education executive positions. While he is now retired, Pete maintains his ongoing professional interests in capital markets and investment decision-making and also serves as a member of the finance committee of the Maine Health Access Foundation.
Pete has been a community advocate working on behalf of people with hearing loss. He was a part of the original team of the HLAA Board of Directors working under the leadership of Board Chair Anne Pope to introduce the Walk4Hearing in support of HLAA. Working with the HLAA Rochester, New York, Chapter, Pete played a leadership role in bringing closed captions to live theater productions in the region. He served two terms on the HLAA Board of Directors, from 2006 to 2013 and then rejoined the board in 2017. Pete is the past HLAA-NYS Association president, past treasurer and past chair of the HLAA Board of Directors.
HLAA NYSA Board of Directors Members (BOD)
Rotating three (3) year terms (Alphabetical order)
Name: Jerry Bergman BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board member, Leader of the Advocacy & Legislative Committee
Jerry Bergman is a retired public executive who experienced progressive hearing loss toward the end of his career. He has two cochlear implants.
In 2009, Jerry joined the Hearing Loss Association of America. A member of the New York City Chapter, he is past chair of the Hearing Loop Committee. He founded the Hearing Accommodation Task Force of New York in 2011 to advocate for hearing accessibility. His work led to the adoption in 2017 of a NYC law requiring major construction and renovation projects receiving City funds to include assistive listening technology.
Jerry helped found the New York State Coalition of the Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Legislative Advocates to raise understanding of deafness among state officials and encourage policies and services needed by the three communities.
He serves on New York State’s Disability Advisory Council (in the Division of Human Rights) and Hearing Aid Dispensing Advisory Board (in the Department of State’s Licensing Division).
He received the Hearing Loss Association’s Marcia Dugan Advocacy Award at HLAA’s 2019 National Convention.
Name: Daniel Brooks BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member, Leader of the Membership Committee
Dan Brooks was born with a severe to profound hearing loss and was not diagnosed until he was almost four (4) years of age. He is the youngest of five (5) children and grew up in the countryside of Penfield, New York. In the beginning parts of his life, he was put through the system to receive therapy in an effort to become mainstreamed so he could receive higher education and ultimately live a “normal” life in the hearing world. With much support of his parents and others around him, he was able to achieve just that and graduated from S.U.N.Y at Buffalo with a Bachelor’s of Arts in 1996. Throughout his life he learned how to use various assistive devices, public assistance, trial & error and other techniques to navigate everyday life both personal and professional. Now he is sharing his struggles and successes with others with hearing loss so they too can learn to better cope with hearing loss in everyday life. He is the past President of Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Rochester Chapter and serves on its Board of Directors. He is very active within the Rochester Chapter and is one of the trainers of the Demo Center. He is also a Chair of the Hospital Healthcare Technology Task Force. There he is leading a research pilot study of the Healthcare Communication Tool-Kit. A tool-kit created by a community based research group with hearing loss trying to help those with hearing loss to navigate the hospital setting. The Task Force is also providing information & training to the hospital staff treating or caring for those with hearing loss. His goal in life is to provide research, support, education and advocacy on the topic of hearing loss. Hopefully with his efforts and others, he (WE) will play a major role in creating more awareness in all the communities statewide to help create a better tomorrow for those with hearing loss.
Name: Florence Butler BOD Term: present to 2026
Position: Board Member
Florence “Fluffy” Butler is a long time member of the Mid-Hudson Chapter. Fluffy served for many years on the New York State Hearing Aid Dispensing Advisory Board (HADAB) as the public member who is a hearing aid user. As a HADAB member she often was in the face of the opposing views of the audiologists and hearing aid dispensers, she inspired others to join her in raising the voice of consumers in the board’s deliberations.
Name: Eric Freeman
Position: Board Member BOD Term: present to 2027
Eric Freeman is an advocate for the needs of better hearing, Eric serves on the NYS Advisory Board for Hearing Aid Dispensers and is a board member of the Hearing Health Care Alliance of NY. Hearing Loss is a silent disability that effects millions and goes untreated. His focus is on what hearing loss, treatment through amplification is and how it effects a person’s total body health and communication with family and friends.
Area of expertise are hearing evaluations to determine amplification needs, Consultation and customized fitting of appropriate hearing devises. Service for most makes and models of hearing aids. Hearing protection and custom earmolds.
Name: Kassey Granger BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member, Leader of the Event & Fundraising Committee
Kassey Granger first learned she had hearing loss when she was in first grade. She didn’t do anything about it until she was in her 20’s. At that time she only wore one hearing aid because the other ear lost most of its word recognition. Being fitted with a hearing aid in that ear didn’t help. In 2010, she received her first cochlear implant. The cochlear implant was such a success that she loved it and wish she had done it sooner. In 2014, the second ear was implanted. Since her first implant, she had such a strong desire to help others understand that cochlear implants has improved so much that she worked with Cochlear America to help start a support group in Albany. To this day she still is a volunteer for Cochlear America. Also in 2010 she started teaching sign language to adults and children. She has decided to devote some of her time in other areas so she no longer teaches ASL. She also is a volunteer at her local Elks Lodge. Her full-time job is with CapTel captioning telephone. She is the outreach person for New York State and Vermont. She grew up with CapTel captioning telephones in the household because her mother and grandmother both used CapTel and so did she. So it was a perfect fit when CapTel offered her a job 11 years ago. It has been a pleasure to have served as President of the HLAA New York State Association!
Name: Eric Matson BOD Term: present to 2025
Position: Board Member
Eric Matson represents the Rochester Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, where he is an active member of both their Education & Outreach and Technology Committees. Before retiring, he was the Principal Engineer of Carrier Corp.’s Global Operations Group, tasked with technology application at 106 factories and 30 major distributorships all around the globe. He’s a former Million Mile Flier on 4 different airlines, and has lived in England and Singapore for over 12 years. Eric had to retire when his hearing loss prevented proper telephone use, and he has since become much attuned to the affliction’s forms, causes and technology-based “solutions”. Eric is NOT an audiologist, but he works alongside of several, has a lot of personal experience, and perhaps best of all… he doesn’t sell anything!
Name: Gloria Matthews-England BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member, Social Media Wizard, Former VP (2025)
Gloria Matthews-England has been hard of hearing since the age of four (30+ years). She understands the ups and downs of mainstream education and has firsthand experience of the IEP process. As a life-long self-advocate, she has stood up for herself while educating those she came into contact with to better understand how to communicate with her best. Currently, she is an Community Advisor at VuSpeech (Vu LLC.), a smart technology start-up. Before she joined VuSpeech, she previously worked at Deaf Access Services, a program of People Inc. as Community Education and Outreach Coordinator. She is originally from Ossining, NY and has been living in WNY for 20 years. She graduated from The College of Westchester (White Plains, NY), with an Associate Degree in Business Administration-Accounting/Computer Applications in 2005 Magna Cum Laude with Honors. Gloria plans on finishing her bachelor degree in Business Administration with a minor in Community and Human Services at Empire State College to better help serve the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities. Gloria has been recognized as a HearStrong Champion (2014), a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society, a current board member for the Buffalo Implant (cochlear) Group, Buffalo’s Walk4Hearing Treasurer and 2022-2024 Walk Chair, Certified Mental Health First Aid responder, Certified First Aid/CPR/AED, a social media manager, a breast cancer survivor and an avid self-advocate/advocate for those with hearing loss. Gloria enjoys walking, jogging, art, writing and reading. She is experienced in website development & organization, content, social media, event planning, educational programming, blogging, marketing, bookkeeping and more.
Name: Dr. Joseph Perino BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member
Dr. Joseph Perino, currently lives in NY on Long Island in Great River which is in Suffolk County. At one time there was a Suffolk chapter, and he attended a few meetings. However, that has long been dissolved and the nearest chapter is not so nearby. Therefore, he is not involved in a chapter at this time.
He lost most of his hearing at the age of eleven due to meningitis. He went to school before the disability laws were passed. He took two years of lip-reading lessons in 7th and 8th grades and he went through school without any of his teachers giving him any special treatment. He acquired his first hearing aid when he was a junior in college. He holds the following degrees: BA, MA, MBA, and Ph.D.
He is currently a practicing psychologist in NY. He recently reduced his practice to two days per week. He has taught many courses over the years and years ago he made a presentation at an HLAA convention in PA.
During the winter he travels back and forth from NY to his second home on Marco Island, FL. He spends a good amount of time fishing both in NY and FL
Name: Anne Pope BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member
Anne Pope is past chair and former member of the board of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA); a former member of the HLAA-NYS board; a former president and honorary board member of the HLAA New York City Chapter.
After experiencing major hearing loss more than thirty-five years ago, Anne authored “Hear: Solutions, Skills, and Sources for People with Hearing Loss,” published in 1997 by Dorling Kindersley. She was the lead author for a chapter on the benefits of support groups in “Adult Audiologic Rehabilitation,” a textbook for audiology doctoral students, published in 2009 and edited by Joseph Montano, Ed.D and Jaclyn Spitzer, Ph.D. She was a member of a holistic health panel that educated hearing health professionals about the impact of hearing loss in people’s lives and the need to consider more than the technical requirements of hearing aids. She served on a panel at Weill Cornell Medical School devoted to the education of medical students about the needs of people with hearing loss.
A former human resources executive, Anne holds a master’s degree in business policy from Columbia University Business School’s Executive Program. She has addressed consumers, health professionals, and corporations on the impact of hearing loss and the importance of treatment.
Name: Carolyn Tanen BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member, Branding Artist
Carolyn Tanen, was born with a severe to profound hearing loss and was diagnosed at age three. Her parents put her into years of speech therapy after being fitted with a hearing aid in her right ear. The left side was not able to benefit with an aid. Carolyn was mainstreamed in NYC Public School through sixth grade. She spent two years at St. Philip & James Catholic School. She graduated St. Catherine’s Academy High School. She received her Associate Degree in Business from Westchester Community College. She continued her studies and received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Paralegal Studies and her Master’s in Library Science from St. John’s University.
Carolyn received a cochlear implant in 2009 which resulted in complications and was re-implanted a year later. Carolyn joined a cochlear support group and auditory therapy at the Center for Hearing and Communication which led her to the HLAA NYC chapter. She helped in their first Walk4Hearing event in 2010. Since residing in Westchester County she has been an active member of the HLAA Westchester Chapter for the past 11 years and is a Cochlear Americas volunteer as well.
Carolyn is currently an Archives Librarian for the U.S. Court of Appeals Library for the Second Circuit in New York City.
Name: Dr. Debra Trees BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member
Dr. Debra Trees is an audiologist who has been working in the Capital Region of NYS for the past 40 years. She is a member of HLAA Albany Chapter and is one of the profession advisors of the local group.
Debra uses hearing aids and presently is in her own private practice in Albany since 2020. She graduated from The College of St. Rose, Syracuse University and Central Michigan University. Debra lives in Albany with her husband.
Name: Dr.Lindsay Vanvolkinburg BOD Term: present to 2027
Position: Board Member
Dr. Lindsay Vanvolkinburg is a native of WNY, she grew up in Marilla and attended Canisius College where she graduated in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Dr. Vanvolkinburg achieved her lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian in 2010 when she graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. After graduation, she moved back home and started her career as a mixed animal veterinarian working on both small and large animals. Dr. Vanvolkinburg originally joined the staff of Brighton Eggert in 2012, left to work in another practice for a short time in 2016, and returned in the fall of 2017! Dr. Vanvolkinburg has a special interest in surgery and dentistry, and in her free time enjoys reading, painting, traveling with her husband Randy, and hanging out at home doing crafty projects with her golden retriever Allie, four cats Wyatt, Amelia, Jace, and Tessa, and guinea pig, Hermione. Three years ago, Lindsay and Randy had a son, Colton, who is three years old. Colton failed the Newborn Hearing Screening and wears light blue hearing aids.
Name: Deborah Wolfe BOD Term: present to 2025
Position: Board Member
Debbie Dolgin Wolfe, I am a long time member of the Westchester Chapter for 20 plus years. I have served on the Westchester Board for 12 + years in different roles. Served as Secretary, President and Vice President and Program Chairperson for the monthly meetings. I am advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing community. I serve on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Task Force in Rockland County. I recently retired from Jawonio, as Day Habilitation Instructor. It is non for profit agency that specializes in People with Developmental Disabilities and Special Needs in Rockland County. Was born with severe to profound hearing loss and not diagnosed till age 3. Had language delay and had years of extensive speech therapy till high school years. Was fitted with hearing aids since age 4. I was mainstreamed in regular schools in Ardsley, Westchester County. I have bilateral Cochlear Implants. I have an Associate in Arts Degree from Centenary College.
Name: “Someone” from the Albany Chapter or Area
Position: Board Member BOD Term: present to 2024
Empty Seat, We are actively seeking a person from the HLAA Albany Chapter or area of Albany. If you are interested in filling this seat please contact our Past President, Kassey Granger at: hlaa.newyorkstate@gmail.com