Meet the SPAN Staff

We Live What We Do!

SPAN’s staff members don’t just work here—about 70% of our employees first received support for their children through SPAN workshops, trainings, conferences, and other events before coming to work with us. Many started as SPAN Resource Parent (SRP) volunteers before becoming part- or full-time employees. So when families call on SPAN for help, they can know they are working with people who not only care, but who have “been there” and have the desire to help others as they were once helped themselves.

Diana Autin

Executive Director

Diana is an attorney who has used her legal knowledge to help train and support parents and parent leaders as advocates for their children and families as they navigate the education, health, mental health, child welfare, and other systems. Diana brings the voices of parents, families, and communities to the table on a number of state and national advisory committees on health and education. Diana is a graduate of University of Michigan Law School and studied economic development and management/ organizational leadership at Columbia University as a Revson Fellow. Diana has participated in several national leadership programs including serving as an Advocacy Institute Senior Leadership Fellow. She is the adoptive mother of four children, from diverse cultures, and also a proud grandmother. A Cajun and Native American, Diana is deeply committed to cultural reciprocity and language access.

Danielle Green

Chief Operating Officer

Danielle joins the SPAN team as the Chief Operations Officer. With over 20 years of comprehensive experience in operations and logistics, her passion is in helping organizations fulfill their mission by balancing thought partnership and strategic vision. Danielle received an M.S. in Business and Information Systems from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and a B.A. in Music from William Paterson University. She is currently pursuing her Psy.D in Leadership Psychology at William James College. In her spare time, Danielle shares a variety of creative pursuits with her daughter in New Jersey.

Management Team

Carolyn Hayer

Senior Program Director of National and Regional Projects

Carolyn Hayer has been working in the field of advocacy for over thirty years. As the parent of an adult with autism who has successfully navigated the challenges of transition to adulthood, she brings both her personal and professional experience to her work. Carolyn also serves as Director of the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR). As the CPIR Director, Carolyn and her team work to provide information and products to build capacity of close to 100 Parent Centers across the country who assist and serve families of youth with disabilities. In her various roles at SPAN, Carolyn conducts presentations at the local, state and national levels on topics related to health and education advocacy, family-professional partnerships, and family and youth leadership development. She previously served as Co-Director of multiple projects supporting parent centers to address issues from reaching and supporting underserved families to non-profit management to building capacity to reach, serve, and grow leadership skills of diverse youth and young adults with disabilities.

Carolyn also volunteers at all levels- from local leadership to national advocacy. She has served in leadership roles with the PTA, multiple education foundations, her local school board, NJ State Special Education Advisory Council, Disability Rights NJ Board of Directors, Arc of NJ Governmental Affairs Committee, and as a Governor appointee to the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities and the NJ State Rehabilitation Council. Carolyn is a recipient of the Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Nu Chapter Community Service Recognition Award, the Arc of Bergen & Passaic Professional of the Year Award and the Hackensack Education Foundation Distinguished Citizen Award.

Peg Kinsell

Director of SPAN Public Policy

Peg Kinsell is the Policy Director at SPAN Parent Advocacy Network working on both state and federal issues. She also provides technical assistance for NEPACT the regional and CPIR the national parent technical assistance centers on juvenile justice as well as military connected students. As a USAF veteran and former military spouse Ms. Kinsell has a special expertise working with military families. She is the director of the Military Family Support 360 Project at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst which supports military connected children and youth with disabilities and/or special healthcare needs throughout New Jersey.

Ms. Kinsell is a member of the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities and in that role chairs the subcommittee on children and youth. Additionally, she sits on multiple, national regional and state committees and task forces.

Jeanne McMahon

Senior Program Director, State Projects

Jeanne McMahon joined SPAN in 2016 and serves as Senior Director of State and Local programs where she oversees human service, maternal child health, education and child welfare and advocacy related-projects as well as SPAN’s COVID-19 vaccine promotion initiatives, parent engagement, improving birth outcomes/preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities activities. Jeanne also represents SPAN on state-level task forces, committees, and workgroups. Prior to joining SPAN, Jeanne served as the Deputy Director of the Early Intervention Service Coordination (EISC) at Public Health Solutions (PHS), where she oversaw Early Intervention Service Coordination across the five boroughs of New York City. Prior to joining PHS, Jeanne served as the National Program Director at the What to Expect Foundation, where she directed the national expansion of a prenatal health literacy program. Jeanne also spent a decade directing programs at Hudson Perinatal Consortium in New Jersey. Jeanne holds a Bachelors of Arts from City University of New York at Hunter College and a Masters in Public Health from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Roy Maynard

Director of Finance

Roy Maynard has 30 years’ experience as an Auditor, Financial Consultant Analysis, Tax Professional and Accountant. He specialize in assisting companies save thousands of dollars on their accounting systems, either by introducing a new cost efficient accounting system or by reducing their accounting overhead cost, which in turn enables management to concentrate more of their resources on their income generating activities. He started working in the Financial and Accounting field during his first and second year of college, at which time he was hired by a CPA firm to do audits and bookkeeping, The hands on experience he received, while attending college and still in his early years proved to be very valuable, it allowed him to better understand the theory of accounting, while doing the practical. He was approved and qualified, by the state of New York, and NASBA, in 2011 to sit for the CPA Exam. Roy currently oversees the accounting and financial matters for the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network for the past 24 years and 6 months.