JENNIFER ELLIS
Friendship Ark
Board Chair

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Science in Child and Family Services from Iowa State University. She joined Friendship Ark as the Executive Director in 2014. Prior to that, she had worked in community-based services for individuals with disabilities since 2001 at Genesis Development.  Throughout her career, she has held many different positions, working directly with individuals with disabilities as well as in administration. She is passionate about helping others to reach their full potential through servant leadership. Jennifer currently serves on the Adult Advisory Committee for the CICS Region.  She is a member of the Ames Rotary Club and has been on the board since July 2022.  

Jennifer and her husband of 19 years, Paul, live in Ogden, IA, and have two daughters and their black lab, Ace. Jennifer enjoys spending time with family and friends, being outside working in her yard or garden, traveling, and watching the Iowa State Cyclones.

TIFFANY MARLETTE
Imagine the Possibilities
Vice Chair

Tiffany Marlette began her career as a Direct Support Professional and HCBS Coordinator, establishing herself as a dedicated advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. Since 2011, she has consistently pursued opportunities to empower those she serves.

Starting in direct care, Tiffany gradually expanded her expertise to include compliance, strategic planning, and operations. Her comprehensive understanding of these various facets of the industry prepared her for increasing levels of responsibility and leadership.

In January 2025, Tiffany assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at Imagine the Possibilities—an organization formed through the merger of three independent entities that shared the mission of empowering people to reach individual achievement across the spectrum of life. Under her leadership, she has spearheaded additional mergers and acquisitions, guided by her conviction that "we are all better together." Today, Imagine the Possibilities serves individuals with disabilities across 27 Iowa counties.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Tiffany has extended her advocacy through service on numerous local and state committees, amplifying her positive influence in the field.

Tiffany approaches her work with the goal of positively impacting every team she encounters. Her career is dedicated to empowering people to live their best lives, which fuels her passion for dynamic environments where collaborative problem-solving thrives. She has developed particular expertise in program development, operations management, and strategic organizational mergers and acquisitions. As a lifelong learner, she continuously seeks opportunities to enhance her skills and embrace new challenges.

Outside of work, Tiffany enjoys family life with her husband Nick and their three children—two boys and one girl—along with their two boxers. The Marlette family treasures their summer camping trips, live music events, and quality time together. They remain committed to making a positive difference in their community through both professional endeavors and personal involvement.

 SUSAN MARTIN
Optimae Life Services
At-Large

Susan Martin is a licensed independent social worker (LISW) and accomplished human services senior executive with more than 30 years of experience in supporting people with a wide array of disabilities, helping them attain the life they desire. Susan currently serves as chief executive officer, overseeing and supporting five of Optimae’s six regions, as well as quality improvement, electronic health records, knowledge acquisition and transfer and risk management. Prior to her CEO role, Susan served as chief operating officer, Optimae Services. She also serves on the Optimae Board of Directors, which she joined in 2012.

Susan joined Optimae in 1998, when it operated as ResCare, Inc., as the director of central Iowa mental health services. She since has served in various roles including regional clinical director, associate vice president and associate regional director. She has also been a motivational and educational speaker for the past decade and continues to speak across the country. 

Prior to Optimae, Susan worked as a psychiatric social worker at VAMC in Knoxville and as home health care social worker at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. She served as a medical social worker at Burlington Medical Center and Des Moines General Hospital and was an adjunct professor for the University of Iowa from 2003 to 2010.

MONICA BARTLETT
Nishna Productions
Director At-Large

MARCY DAVIS 
Candeo
Director At-Large

Marcy spent eleven years in hotel and restaurant management in Dallas Texas before transitioning into the Human Service industry. While working on her master’s degree, she worked at Dallas MHMR (now the Dallas Authority) as an Employment Specialist. This was her first experience supporting adults with disabilities to find and maintain employment in the community. Her work as an employment consultant took advantage of both her business background and her passion for people. During the five years at Dallas MHMR, she later worked with the Employment Services Director to redesign the entire county wide employment programs and later was selected as a Regional Team Leader over one of the five newly formed regional employment teams.

At the same time as her employment at Dallas MHMR, Marcy provided contract work on the Texas Sheltered Work Conversion Grant. This work involved traveling around Texas to sheltered workshops to provide training to sheltered work staff to prepare them to provide supported employment services and to work with leadership to develop employment services. Under a private contract, Marcy worked with Kevin Edwards to provide employment services consulting to the state of North Carolina and again, they traveled to employment providers to train staff and consult on workshop conversion efforts.

After completing the master’s degree, Marcy relocated to Ankeny, Iowa (1996) as the CEO at Candeo (then Creative Community Options). At this time Candeo served approximately fourteen (14) individuals and employed seventeen (17) staff and, over time grew extensively, adding BI and Habilitation to the existing ID services.  In 2023, Candeo added our IRSH services.

During her employment at Candeo, Marcy also worked for the Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL) for several years. For this work, she traveled around the nation providing either Personal Outcome Measures Training (POM), recertifying POM interviewers or serving on accreditation teams. This work was done between 1988 and 1992.

Marcy is married to Terry; they have three adult daughters and two granddaughters. Terry and Marcy enjoy gardening, biking trails, camping and hanging out with family.

CYNTHIA STEIDL BISHOP
Eyerly Ball Community Mental Health Services 
At-Large

Cynthia Steidl Bishop is the Chief Executive Officer at Eyerly Ball Community Mental Health Services.

JENNIFER MCCABE
Opportunities Unlimited
Director At-Large

MARC HINES
Crossroads, Inc.
At-Large

Marc Hines is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Crossroads, Inc. in Muscatine, Iowa. In a previous life, he worked as the Associate Director of Community Outreach and Advocacy at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics as part of the Intellectual Disability-Mental Illness team in the Department of Psychiatry. Going back further, his job titles contained fewer words: Director of Supported Living, Employment Coordinator, SCL Coordinator, SCL Supervisor, and Direct Support Professional—all at Systems Unlimited in Iowa City. 

In total, Marc has 20 years of experience supporting people with dual diagnosis (i.e., intellectual disability and mental illness). He’s passionate about staff training, educating clinicians on the needs of the ID/MI population, and telling the world about the value of direct support professionals. 

When he’s not working, Marc spends time with his wife, Kathryn, and their son, Ira. 

DIANE BRECHT
Abbe - UPH
At Large

Past Chair