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Our Board
Warren Cook
President and Treasurer
"I am motivated to be working with Valo–an organization on the front lines of supporting the emotional resilience of Maine teens. I look forward to helping Valo build in their capacity to help teens understand themselves and each other, as they build their life’s path in our complex world."
Warren recently moved back to Maine where he lived and worked for 30 years as a business and non-profit leader. He brings with him a wide range of experience from running several organizations in various industries. He has chaired school and hospital boards, and the Maine Community Foundation. Warren also co-founded two non-profits, Common Good Ventures and Maine Network Partners. He continues to be interested in leadership and coaching young leaders. Warren is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and served in the Marines in Vietnam. He has been married for 53 years to his wife Brammie, has a daughter and a son, and 6 grandchildren.
Sally Thomas
Secretary
“I am energized and grateful to be part of a proactive organization that envisions, enables, and equips today’s teens with practical and emotional skills that validate and kindle their unique selves with an ever widening lens to how they might enrich the world all their lives.”
Since her own children declared their innate theology as tiny sage ones, Sally has been attuned to the spiritual wisdom children offer in this wondrous world. She completed her Doctor of Ministry at Eden Seminary in St. Louis in 2022 and recently relocated to Freeport with her husband, Bill. Her doctoral and current research focuses on how sharing stories–even the most simple–enhance our connectedness to one another in our digitally complex world. Sally has been sitting with circles of children and their families using Godly Play for 20-some years and has enjoyed working as an RN & Nurse Practitioner. Sally and Bill are the parents of 2 adult daughters and welcomed their first grandchild this summer.
Nancy Kennedy
"I believe safe, intentional, reflective spaces can be powerful mediums for young people to discover, engage with, and give expression to their authentic voices. Valo honors this sacred work and the role that caring adults can play in bearing witness to youth on their path to living their own light."
Nancy is the Vice President for Camp Chewonki in Wiscasset, Maine, which teaches and encourages life-long learning in nature. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies from the University of Maine, a Master of Divinity from Bangor Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies from the University of New Hampshire. Nancy served several Congregational Churches and was a professor before returning to Maine where she has been providing leadership to summer camp programs for 10+ years.
Samuel Coleman
“Valo’s holistic and intersectional approach is creating a new system for young people. By meeting participants where they are and helping them to develop behaviors focused on community building and fostering emotional wellbeing, Valo is laying the foundation for change in a generations-long mental health crisis. I am thrilled and humbled to be a part of this work.”
Sam has worked in the marketing industry for 7+ years at companies like L.L. Bean and Johnny’s Selected Seeds. He hopes to utilize his expertise by helping Valo share its story and message to further the reach of the organization. Growing up in southern Maine, Sam faced his own struggles with mental health and wants to ensure young people today know about Valo’s work and have access to it. Prior to his career in marketing, Sam was an educator and worked with kids in summer camps and schools, seeing first-hand the power that intentional conversation and connection can have.
Mary Bachman DeSilva
"As the mother of three teens, each day I observe firsthand the gifts, prospects, and downright hard challenges experienced by youth in this time. I welcome the opportunity to use my energy and skills to help strengthen and sustain the Valo experience going forward."
Mary is the Associate Director for Research at the University of New England’s Center for Excellence in Public Health and continues her applied research related to child and family health in resource-limited contexts, particularly mental health among adolescents and older youth. She is blessed to be the proud mom of three teenagers, two dogs, and several colonies of honeybees, all of whom are proving more independent, complex, and fun than she ever could have imagined.
Fiona Chace-Donahue
"The values and ways of being that I learned through Valo have been integral to my personal growth and relationship development, and I am delighted to be supporting the work of an organization that has so positively impacted my life."
Fiona is a 5th generation Mainer and an alum of Valo's first retreat group. She studied neuroscience at Mount Holyoke College and is a founding member of the Peer Advisory Board for pediatric chronic pain workshop at Boston Children's Hospital. While pursuing her career in healthcare, Fiona has spent time working in patient care, conducting education research, and substitute teaching. After graduating from college in 2020, Fiona lived in Washington, Virginia, and Arizona before landing in North Carolina where she currently lives with her husband and their gigantic cat, Pimento.