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

Monica Bartlett earned her bachelor’s degree in human resource management and master’s degree in public administration.  She began her career with Nishna Productions, Inc. in 2006, working in business development for the vocational program.  Over the years, she worked her way up through the organization, serving as Director of Day Services and Director of Operations, prior to assuming the role of Executive Director in 2025.  Monica looks forward to leading Nishna Productions into the future, continuing to grow and expand services to individuals in Southwest Iowa.  She is dedicated to providing the best quality services to individuals, so that they may live their best lives as independently as possible in the community of their choice. 

Monica has been involved with several organizations, committees, and work groups over the years, most recently, joining the board of directors for the association and serving on the Disability Services Advisory Council for District 4.  She is actively engaged in advocacy efforts with legislators, being a voice for people with disabilities and community providers.  Monica has a strong belief that we all have a responsibility to work hard to make a difference in the lives of those around us, and to make a difference in our community for a better future.

Outside of work, Monica enjoys spending time with her husband Joe, and traveling to visit their family.  She also enjoys working in the yard and tending her flowers in the spring and summer months, reading, vacationing, particularly to the Ozarks, and supporting her nephew and niece, cheering them on in their various sporting events.

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

Diane has more than 40 years of experience working as a nurse and leader in the non-profit world in a variety of leadership roles and currently serves her organization as the Vice President of Innovation and Clinical Services.  In her role she has been instrumental in the development of and expansion of services for individuals living with brain health conditions, intellectual and developmental disabilities and brain injuries.  She has helped her organization and the communities in which she has worked develop new and innovative services especially in the rural communities.  She has worked tirelessly to educate communities and legislators on the need for services and funding supports so that all people can live in the community of their choice. 

Diane has been a part of the development and expansion of crisis services in Eastern Iowa.  Working collaborative with other community partners to develop the Linn County Mental Health Access Center and GuideLink Access Center in Johnson County.  This collaboration has provided a new access point with no wrong door for individuals in crisis and has helped to reduce barriers to access to services for not only the local communities but across the state. 

Diane continues to work hard at creating programs to fill the gaps in our system of care.  She currently serves on the Mental Health and Disabilities Services Commission and chairs the East Central Region Advisory Committee.  She is dedicated to reducing the stigma of brain health conditions and dedicated to the continued development of services for individuals in need.

Diane first joined the IACP Board as chair of the Residential Advisory Committee in 2015 and 2016.  She was elected to a 3 year at-large position in 2017.  She was elected again in 2021 to serve as the Residential Advisory Chair. She has been a member of the IACP Membership Committee and also is a member of the IACP Nominations Committee.  Diane was awarded the Executive of the Year Award from IACP in 2021. 

Diane’s personal lived experience with family members struggling with brain health conditions and suicide creates an intense desire to change the way that brain health care is treated.  She believes that we need to provide health care for brain health in the same manner that we do physical health.  We need to ensure that anyone living with brain health conditions receives the care they need in a respectful and caring manner and we need to create environments where it is OK to talk about it.

Diane has been married to her high school sweetheart, Pete, for over 4 decades. One of her greatest joys is spending time with her 9 grandchildren, and she looks forward each summer to Grandma Camp where parents aren’t allowed to interfere with Grandma and the camp events with all the grand kids. 

Past Chair