The Project Cuddle® Board of Directors

Ed Idell - President
Ed Idell is an attorney admitted in California, New York and Florida. He works at a general practice law firm in Los Angeles, where he’s lived for 30 years after moving from the East Coast. He attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook and received his law degree from the University of Miami Law School. His law practice concentrates on commercial law, business litigation, creditors’ rights and appeals.

Ed became involved with Project Cuddle about ten years ago when he was introduced to Debbe Magnusen and read her first book. Up to that point, like many others, he was not aware of the magnitude of the problem of baby abandonment and what could be done to prevent it. He soon became a board member and currently serves as board president. He is deeply committed to Project Cuddle’s mission of providing counseling to pregnant women in crisis and its school program of educating teens about safe and legal alternatives to abandoning a baby, and is currently focused on expanding awareness and funding of Project Cuddle and its work. He welcomes direct contact at eidell@roadrunner.com

Ed is active with other charitable organizations, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where he’s coached its West LA marathon training / fundraising team and with which he’s completed at least ten marathons and hopes to finish at least ten more. Maybe a Project Cuddle marathon is in the future.

Bill May – Vice President
Bill is a Certified Public Accountant and has practiced in Pasadena, California for 35 years. He owns May Consulting Groups, Inc., a C.P.A. firm specializing in small closely held companies, partnerships, non-profits, trusts and income taxes. He served in the U.S. Army and attended California State University at Los Angeles using the G.I. Bill. He graduated with a Bachelors degree in business/accounting.

Bill and his wife Pat have lived in Pasadena for 37 years. Son Scott May is the executive chef and part owner of Charcuterie Bistro in Sierra Madre, Daughter Lynn Harris is a pharmaceutical representative living in Arcadia with husband Michael and daughter Samantha Grace.

Bill and Pat got involved with Project Cuddle with they met Debbe in 1997. They put on the annual Flip Flop Formal fundraiser in Pasadena area.

Bill is also a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board and the AAF Rose Aquatic Center Board of Directors. He is the past president of the Exchange Club of Pasadena and a 30 year member of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.

Mary Marshall VanGerwen – Secretary/Treasurer
Mary is the Director of Catering for the Doubletree Club Hotel. She coordinates, supervises, and directs all aspects of the Catering department as well as provides total guest satisfaction for all local and group related functions.

Mary attended Long Beach City College and majored in Journalism. She has also volunteered for Southern California Drug and Alcohol Program Baby Step Inn where she wrote monthly newsletter and helped organize picnics and other activities.

Mary is involved with Project Cuddle because she believes in the cause and wants to help in Debbe’s efforts to stop baby abandonment.

Gary Eisenberger
Gary is the co-founder of Karma Tequila, an ultra-premium 100% agave spirit, based in Malibu, CA.  Gary is also involved with a new hair treatment product, called the Brazilian Blowout and a partner in the Argyle Salon and Spa in West Hollywood, CA. Previously, Gary was one of the co-founders/VP of Alternate Channel Sales for PAETEC Communications, a $1.6 billion dollar national telecommunication/data company.

Gary attended the University of Bridgeport in CT and focused on 'Business and Marketing' as a major.  Gary decided to not complete his Bachelors degree and focus on his entrepreneurial endeavors.

Gary currently serves on the board of Kids Courage and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and wants to use his time and expertise to work with an organization such as Project Cuddle. The idea of assisting an organization whose 'hearts and energy' go into saving every babies life, is the most rewarding

Stacy Sarian-Luhrs
Stacy is a stay at home mother to two young children. Stacy is a resident of southern Orange County where she enjoys spending time with her family at the beach, at their homes in the desert and in the local mountains and traveling with her two young children and husband.

Stacy attended Arizona State University where she graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. She went on to Graduate School at Azusa Pacific University where she attained an MA in Curriculum and Instruction of Education and became an elementary school teacher in Southern California.
Stacy became involved with Project Cuddle after a high risk pregnancy she experienced. After learning the statistics of babies that are abandoned and how Project Cuddle works to save them she wanted to be involved and help in any way that she could. She is so proud to be serving on a board for an organization that helps so many babies and creates so many families. The work that Project Cuddle does is unlike any other organization and her hope for it is that it will become an organization that everyone knows about.

Jenann Shemisa
Jenann Shemisa is an Attorney with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Irvine, California, practicing primarily in the areas of banking, commercial lending and litigation.  Ms. Shemisa has worked in the Banking and Financial Industry for over fifteen years, and has held positions as Vice President and General Counsel for Axiom Investments, Inc., in Los Angeles, California, and Vice President and Assistant Counsel for KeyBank National Association in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to joining the FDIC, Ms. Shemisa was Vice President and General Counsel for Lakeshore Learning Materials, a privately held company in Carson, California, that specialized in the manufacturing, retailing and distribution of children’s educational products.  Ms. Shemisa earned her B.A. Degree in Liberal Studies, Pre-Law from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, and her Juris Doctorate Degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio.  She is a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel and a member of the American Bar Association.
 
Forest Witcraft, an American teacher and scholar wrote, “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."  When you are a first year law student, you have all of these grandiose ideas about making a positive difference and changing the world around you. Protecting children, who are too small to have a voice of their own, has always been important to me.  Project Cuddle affords me the ability to use my skills to do just that, and to help this organization create possibilities, and opportunities, for so many women, children and families. I know that the world is definitely different because Project Cuddle, and its people, are important in the lives of so many children, and I am proud and honored to be a part of that.

Michele McDonough
Michele is a corporate rainmaker in the area of sales, marketing, training and business development with a successful track record in leadership positions with proven results with Fortune 100 companies, e-commerce ventures and startup organizations operating in a wide range of consumer products with multinational experience and market intelligence. Michele is currently the president of McDonough Consulting.

Michele graduated from the University of Florida and was a Big Sister volunteer.

Michele read an article in a magazine about 7 years ago and knew she wanted to be a part of Project Cuddle. She was heavily screened by the board and it took her some time to get approved, but she has loved every day being part of Debbe’s dream.

Frank Lozano
Frank is a TV & Radio Host, Documentary Filmmaker and Director of Media at Valencia Hills Community Church

Frank has been involved with media industry for almost 30 years and non-profit work has been a huge part of his career. As a host of his own radio and television programs in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Antonio and others, Frank was always involved with some sort of charity work and how he found out about Project Cuddle.

After working with over 200 different non-profit organizations in some sort of way, it was Project Cuddle that tugged on Frank's heart the most. His passion for helping others zeroed in on Debbe Magnusen and Project Cuddle's life-saving efforts. Frank has served as Master of Ceremonies for almost every Project Cuddle event for the past 8 years and has even served as Board President. Frank continues his love for helping others which now includes non-profit organizations in not only the states, but now also Haiti, Brazil and most recently Nigeria.

Email : info@projectcuddle.org