Board of Directors
Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding Board of Directors
Nancy Barber – Co-Chair
Nancy is a second-generation Tucson native who is married to the love of her life and high school sweetheart, Ron Barber. She has two daughters, two sons-in-law and five grandchildren. Nancy is a retired postpartum doula and facilitates a weekly mom/baby support group. After the Tucson shooting on January 8, 2011, in which Ron was injured, she helped create the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding.
Emily Nottingham – Co-Chair
Emily retired after a 30-year career with the City of Tucson, and currently provides consulting services in affordable housing and community development. She holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University and serves on several community boards. She is the proud mother of two sons, including Gabe Zimmerman, who was killed on January 8, 2011, in the shooting that resulted in the formation of the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding.
Ann-Eve Pederson – Treasurer
Ann-Eve is president of the Arizona Education Network, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by parents to advocate for schoolchildren. She is the former city editor of the Arizona Daily Star and managing editor for news/business of the Tucson Citizen. A Tucson native, she received her B.A. from Brown University.
Crissi Barber Blake
Crissi, an R.N. and international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC), works in the Tucson community with young families through her business, Milk and Honey, which provides in-home lactation support in the prenatal and postpartum period. She also works in the hospital setting as a nurse for mothers and new babies. After her father, Ron Barber, was shot on January 8th, 2011, she and her family helped create the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding. Crissi and her husband, Jason, a firefighter, have two children.
Jenny Barber Douglas
Jenny is director of Second Street Children’s School, where she and her three children also attended preschool. Jenny has been working with young children and their families in Tucson for more than 20 years. Since her family started the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding in 2011, Jenny has dedicated her time to the End of Bullying Task Force. She also is a member-at-large on the board of the Southern Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children (SAZAEYC), and was the 2012 recipient of the SAZAEYC Francis Miller Community Action on Behalf of Young Children Award. Jenny and her husband, Gawain, are raising three children.
Sheri Bauman
Sheri, Ph.D., is professor and director of the Counseling and Mental Health Program in the department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies at the University of Arizona. Prior to earning her doctorate in 1999, she was a teacher and school counselor in public schools for 30 years. Sheri’s research focuses on bullying and cyberbullying, a topic about which she has published three books, numerous chapters and many articles in scholarly journals.
Joseph Blair
Joseph is the current president/executive director of the Blair Charity Group in Tucson. Prior to forming the Blair Charity Group, Joseph also formed and drove the Arizona Basketball Alumni Foundation. He has been involved in the nonprofit sector of Southern Arizona for the last 20 years, obtaining both local and national accolades for his leadership and programming.
C.J. Karamargin
C.J. has served as Pima Community College’s vice chancellor for public information and federal government relations since August 2011. He served as communications director for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona from 2007-2011. C.J. has more than a dozen years experience as a newspaper reporter and editor in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. He covered politics for the Arizona Daily Star from 2002-2006, and was an assistant city editor and reporter for the Tucson Citizen from 2000-2002 and again in 2006. C.J. received degrees in liberal arts from Mitchell College in New London, CT; and in journalism and history from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT.
Suzanne McFarlin
A board certified coach specializing in executive and leadership coaching, Suzanne is executive director of Greater Tucson Leadership, a community leadership program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Michigan.
H. Clarke Romans
Clarke, Ph.D., is executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona (NAMISA). He also serves on the boards of the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, and the Mental Health America of Arizona, Phoenix. A member of the Mayor’s Mental Health Task Force for the city of Tucson, Clarke is a family member who has been involved with mental illness advocacy since 1979.
