Board of Directors

Bethany Bacci, JD – Vice-President

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Partner, Stoel Rives, LLP

Bethany specializes in Employee Benefits law at Stoel Rives LLP in Portland and has experience serving on non-profit boards. She believes in the critical importance of mental health and is passionate about enabling access to services and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. Bethany enjoys spending time with her dogs, family and friends.

Cheryl Carbone, MS

Software Solutions Sales

Cheryl works for thinkstep Inc., a Sphera company, as a product sales engineer and sustainability solution project manager. She has worked in legal profession, as a bookkeeper, and has fundraised for a school system. She was PTA President for two years and Boosters Club President for two years. She brings strong writing and math skills to the group, but mostly a passion to do whatever is needed. Cheryl holds an M.S. in Materials Engineering from Oregon State University and a B.A. in Psychology.

Carla Gonzales

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Organizational Development/DEI Consultant and Community Organizer

Carla brings over thirty years of knowledge, experience, and public service in the areas of child and adolescent mental health, public health, human resources, and organizational and quality systems development and redesign; approaching all these areas through an equity lens framework. Carla is also a passionate and active community organizer for two organizations. She is a strategy leader in a Tri-County Alliance, chairing an antiracism action team and a health equity legislative action team, as well as a member of a Portland-focused coalition. Carla is also an avid reader, arts lover and a Certified Master Gardener.

Antonio Gomez, MBA

Pronouns: He/him/his

Program Manager of Community Health Promotion for Providence Health & Services

Antonio is  program Manager of Community Health Promotion for Providence. He and his family have lived in Vancouver, Washington for over 20 years. Antonio spent several years in Engineering R&D, new product development and volunteering with the community prior to venturing into health systems. He draws upon his life experience as a Latino immigrant, education and professional experience to serve those in most need.

Antonio is passionate about working with communities, particularly underserved and diverse, to listen and understand their needs in order to design collaborative sustainable strategies to address those needs, and increasing access to linguistic and culturally appropriate mental and emotional health services.

Sharon Johnson

Retired Development Director

Sharon brings more than 20 years development and fundraising experience to the NCC Board, including work with All Classical Public Media, the Portland Art Museum, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and the Friends of Washington Park Zoo.

Rick Murie – Treasurer

Pronouns: He/him/his

Realtor, Realty Pro

Rick is a native of Portland and life-long resident of the Pacific Northwest. He currently lives in Vancouver, Washington. Rick and his children are former clients of the Center. His friendship with Center staff and support of its work has continued in the years since.

Rick is a residential real estate broker practicing in the Portland Metropolitan Area including Southwest Washington. His prior work experience includes eight-years as a field auditor and audit supervisor for the Washington State Auditor’s Office and 30-years in financial and cost accounting management for private corporations in technology and alternative energy.

Fr. Rick Paperini

Catholic Priest

Fr. Rick has earned degrees from Portland State University, Mt. Angel Seminary, Notre Dame University, and the University of Portland. He’s served at a number of parishes after his ordination, at Central Catholic High School as faculty, and at Mt. Angel Seminary College as formation director and president-rector. Fr. Rick is not exactly a “new” Board member for NCC. He was there at the beginning, when NCC was just an idea, having been part of the coalition of parishes involved in the Center’s founding, and serving on its very first Board. Fr. Rick has also been on the Board of Oregon Catholic Press for the last eight years. He enjoys reading (especially novels), music, traveling, and daily walks.

Nancie Potter, JD, LMFT – President

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Retired Lawyer and Therapist

After a long career as a lawyer, Nancie Potter shifted gears to become a mental health care provider. She joined NCC as a clinical intern and stayed on as a therapist after she received her master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. Now retired from clinical practice, she continues to volunteer at NCC, providing workshops and teaching marriage preparation classes. Nancie and her husband Carl have six children and six grandchildren. She is passionate about mental health issues and social justice, and she enjoys reading, listening to music, yoga, and spending time outdoors.

Julie Rowland, PhD – Past President

Retired Professor, Concordia University

Julie has been teaching mathematics at Concordia since 1979. She’s also coached volleyball and softball, served as Athletic Director, Director of Resident Living and advisors to many groups, including the Hawaii club. She travels annually to New Orleans with a group of students over Spring Break to do community service. Along with her work at Concordia, Julie is a Lay Associate of the Servite Sisters and loves to spend time with her many nieces and nephews.

Sr. Lisa Sheridan – Member Corporation Representative

Associate Memberships Director, Servants of Mary

Sr. Lisa, OSM, LPC is a co-founder of NCC. She began as Business Administrator, the only support staff member to the therapists. This position helped develop in her a deep awareness of the many unmet needs in mental health as she worked with intake, insurance companies and the finances of the Center. Lisa temporarily left the Center to earn her Masters in Counseling Psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and specialized in gerontology. She returned to the Center serving as a therapist and assisting in the daily operations of the Center until 2007, when she was offered a position with the Servants of Mary. Sr. Lisa is the representative of NCC’s Member Corporation.

Mary H. Tobin

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Marketing and Communications Professional

For more than two decades, Mary has developed results-driven marketing communications initiatives for some of the world’s largest technology enterprises. She is passionate about expanding access to mental health services and education that helps to break through stigmas that remain all too prevalent. In her spare time, Mary enjoyed travel with her family, yoga, and riding her horse, Maverick.

Ken Willett – Secretary

Pronouns: He/him/his

Retired CEO, Ignis Systems Corporation

Ken has been an entrepreneur and technologist in Portland since his cofounding of Mentor Graphics Corporation in 1981. He has managed software development for numerous businesses, most recently in Healthcare Information Technology. He founded Ignis Systems Corporation, a Healthcare IT company, in 2000, selling the business to Liaison Technologies in 2013. He is currently an investor and advisor to the Oregon Angel Fund, a local venture capital firm.

Ken’s wife Debby is a nurse volunteer at NCC. They live in Northeast Portland with their labradoodle Annabelle. They enjoy traveling and spending time at the beach and the mountains.

Erin Peters

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Executive Director, The Northwest Catholic Counseling Center

Before joining NCC as Executive Director, Erin spent 15 years at SOLV, developing community environmental programs and engaging thousands of volunteers around Oregon. Her background also includes news production at KGW-TV in Portland, teaching high school English in Kisii, Kenya and serving as Special Advisor on Community Environmental Projects to the Kingdom of Bhutan.