LIFT Board of Directors

Board of Directors
LIFT™ has a diverse, talented, and dedicated board whose aim is to make LIFT sustainable, widely available, and more prominent in the lives of today's and tomorrow's leaders. Please take a few minutes to meet our board of directors.

M.J. Benton
Description of member.

Christopher Bridges
Description of member.

Juleann Bukovchik
Juleann became involved with LIFT™ in 2006 when she met Chris on the Board of another non-profit, Call to Action, but has been studying and living loving leadership longer. Juleann graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Leadership. In 1997 Juleann was chosen as one of seventy-five college women leaders from the U.S. to participate in a "Women As Leaders" program in Washington D.C. Juleann has worked in Washington D.C. and southern California on economic, environmental, and education liberation campaigns. Juleann has been training for thirteen years with communication expert, Mona Miller, while working as an audit and tax consultant in public accounting for nine years at two of the "Big 4" firms, and four years prior in private accounting.

Juleann is currently operating as a Soul Doctor and teacher while earning the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Spirituality from her master teacher Sri Kaleshwar. She is an eternal student of life and a certified teacher of ancient palm leaf manuscript knowledge.

Penny Davis
Penny is Chair of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology (AzFCT), a non-profit which provides opportunities to explore progressive religious ideas through lectures and workshops. She has worked with Chris Loving on the AzFCT Board since he became an active member in 2004.

Penny received a Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a Master’s degree from Northwestern University, where she continued to teach in the Speech Pathology Department. She is a certified trainer for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and has consulted with corporations, schools and churches. She has served on the executive boards of a variety of non-profits, including the Friends of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the Sheldon Theater, and numerous churches. Penny participates in Operation Smile missions throughout the world.

Kareen Kreutziger
Kareen became involved with LIFT™ when it was first introduced to the College of Engineering at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) in the fall of 2003. Since her introduction to LIFT™, Kareen has contributed to the success and growth of the program as a participant, the first president of University of Washington’s LIFT™ chapter, and now as an active member of the Board of Directors.

Kareen is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington in the Center for Cardiovascular Biology. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY) and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). She is a recipient of a Whitaker Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering and is a past President of the University of Rochester's Tau Beta Pi chapter (New York Kappa). Kareen also currently serves as board chair for the Washington Women’s Lacrosse Umpire Association.

Gretchen Lorenzi
Gretchen was introduced to LIFT™, and after attending one seminar at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), she volunteered to become a LIFT™ facilitator. She eventually became the coordinator for the LIFT™ program at the University of Michigan.

Gretchen currently works for the United States government on issues focused on reducing the development, proliferation and threat of use of weapons of mass destruction. Gretchen holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Caltech (Pasadena, CA) and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Michigan and is the recipient of a 2002 Fulbright Fellowship.

Phil Lorenzi
Phil attended his first LIFT™ seminar at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) in 2002 and quickly recognized the importance of the LIFT™ message; by fall of that year he joined the ranks of the volunteer facilitators.

Phil is currently a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, where his research focus is pharmacology and pharmacogenomics. Phil holds a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from Loyola University Chicago (Chicago, IL) and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Michigan.

Chris Loving, Founder
Description of member.

Linda Peasley
Linda has been involved with LIFT™ since it's arrival at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) in the Department of Human Genetics in 1997. Linda has been an integral part of the development of several programs for faculty and students and has been instrumental in her support of LIFT's expansion to other colleges and universities.

Linda is currently the Chief Department Administrator for the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. Linda currently holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Business Administration. With over thirty years of experience at the University of Michigan, Linda is a past recipient the University of Michigan's Distinguished Research Administrator Award and a Distinguished Leadership Award. Linda also servers as the current President of Board of Directors of the Community Theatre of Howell.

Brian Schultz
Brian became involved with LIFT™ in 1996 when he attended a series of workshops for resident advisers at Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO). He currently serves as an officer for LIFT’s University of Washington chapter (Seattle, WA).

Brian is a student in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Washington, performing research in gene therapy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science both from Washington University, St. Louis. Prior to being accepted in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Washington, Brian worked as a computer programmer and senior a software team coordinator on the Mouse Genome Project at the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center.

Clair Sullivan
Clair became involved with LIFT™ after attending a series of workshops for graduate students in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI).

Clair currently works as a program manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Clair currently holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Astrophysics from the University of Michigan.

Michael Sullivan
Michael became involved with LIFT™ in 2001 after attending a meeting with his wife Clair at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). With a strong background in Human Resources and Organizational Development, Michael was extremely interested in the work being done by LIFT™ and its potential impacts in both education and business.

Michael currently works as the Manager of Employee Relations with iDirect Technologies in Herndon, Virginia. Prior to working with iDirect, Michael's human resources career has been focused on supporting technology organizations, most recently at Los Alamos National Laboratory and in the computer software industry. Michael holds a Bachelor's degree in Human Resources from the University of Michigan and a Masters degree in Organizational Development from Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI).

Joyce Yen
Joyce became involved with LIFT™ in 1997 when Chris Loving offered a graduate student seminar on communication skills in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). Recognizing the value of work offered by LIFT™, Joyce served as the Institute Coordinator at the University of Michigan from 1997 to 2000 and was instrumental in the development of leadership curriculum. In 2003, following her move to the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change, Joyce brought LIFT™ to the University of Washington.

Joyce is currently employed at the University of Washington as Program/Research Manager for the University of Washington's NSF-funded ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change. Prior to working in this role, Joyce served as an assistant professor in Industrial Engineering. Joyce holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.