Kim Garner (President)
Kim has been passionate about adoption since she was young, and after she married her husband, Wes, they began to adopt children. Their first daughter was born in Vietnam, they then had a son by birth, adopted a girl domestically and a boy from Ethiopia. After becoming an adoption advocate and serving as Vice President of OURS Through Adoption support group, she decided to make her passion her work. Kim believes it is every child's right to have a loving and nurturing home. She also has amazing respect and admiration for the birthmothers who make the difficult choice to place their children for adoption. Kim hopes to help others understand adoption and to realize what a precious gift it is.
Laurie Resch (Executive Director)
In 1992, Laurie received her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Psychology and Human Development. In 1994, Laurie received her Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee specializing in the areas of marital therapy, adolescents and alcohol and drug abuse issues. Laurie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of Wisconsin.
Laurie has been the Executive Director of Community Adoption Center since 2008. Prior to joining the Community Adoption Center team, Laurie had over 15 years of experience in the area of non-profit community based social work. For 11 of those 15 years, Laurie was the Crisis Services Director for Brown, Shawano and Sheboygan counties in Wisconsin. In addition to her work in crisis intervention, Laurie was the Administrator of an 18 bed Community Based Residential Facility (CBRF) for chronically mentally ill adults.
Until 8 months ago, Laurie was a lifelong resident of Green Bay, however in February of 2011 Laurie moved to the Milwaukee area to become the Executive Director/CEO of Adoption Choice, Inc., a sister agency of Community Adoption Center. Laurie continues to oversee operations in the Madison and Green Bay Community Adoption Center offices, however she is now in the Milwaukee area full-time. Laurie's parents as well as her 24 year old daughter continue to reside in Green Bay. Laurie enjoys working out, traveling, reading, and spending time with those she loves.
While Laurie has always been passionate about helping others and social work in general, she has become an outspoken advocate of adoption as it benefits all members of the triad, birth parents, the child and the adoptive parents. While Laurie's focus remains on running all three offices, she very much enjoys working directly with birth parents and clinically supervising all adoption counselors and social workers.
Angie Flannery (Assistant Director)
Angie received her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1990. She is a certified social worker in the State of Wisconsin as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor, receiving her Master’s Degree in Community Counseling in 2007 from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Angie has worked and volunteered in a variety of settings over the past 20 years providing extensive experience with families and children, parenting, mental health issues, and abuse victims. Angie has served on the executive board of the Wisconsin Counseling Association for the past 6 years.
In her free time, Angie enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 children, gardening, reading, and volunteering at her daughter's school. Angie believes that adoption is a real option for both adoptive families and birthparents and enjoys being a part of that process.
Linda Troyer (Social Worker)
Linda Troyer has been a social worker at Community Adoption Center for the past 24 years. In addition to being a parent to four adult adoptees, she is a grandmother to three young children ages seven, four, and eighteen months. She and husband Michael are long-time adoption advocates in Wisconsin and were instrumental in forming Ours Through Adoption, Inc.support group and starting the annual adoption conference sponsored by Ours. In her free time, Linda enjoys collecting anything old, reading, cottage time and being with their family pets, grandchildren, and adult children.
Traci Belongia (Adoption Counselor)
Traci has been a part-time adoption counselor at Community Adoption Center since 2009. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay in 2001 with her Bachelors degree in Social Change and Development with an emphasis in Women’s Studies and a minor in Sociology. Traci went on to obtain her Masters degree in Counseling from Lakeland College in August of 2009.
Traci was previously employed at a Community Based Residential Facility for adults with chronic mental illness as the Assistant Director as well a being an on site social worker for her clients. Traci also has worked as an on call crisis counselor at the Crisis Center.
Traci enjoys working with both the adoptive families as well as birth parents. She has always had a passion for children and worked as a nanny in the Green Bay area while she was completing her undergraduate degree.
Traci and her husband struggled with infertility for many years and with the help of fertility treatments she and her husband were able to conceive their two wonderful children. Traci enjoys being able to be at home mom to her 4 year old son Mitchell and her ten month old daughter Abigail three days a week. She enjoys spending time camping, volunteering at her son's school and going to Brewer and Packer games. Traci also enjoys running, scrap booking, and spending quality time with her family and friends. She is also training to run her first half marathon this srping.
Lisa Bero (Administrative Assistant)
Lisa graduated from Concordia University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice Management and Sociology. She is also a degreed and licensed paralegal and is a certified instructor through Wisconsin Technical Colleges. She has also completed Master level coursework in the MBA and MSW programs. Lisa comes to us with 12 years of experience in the legal community working in both the private sector as well as for the local government. She has served on multiple committees at the YMCA and is also a member of the National Paralegal Association, National Federation of Paralegal Associations and the National Association of Legal Assistants.
Dawn Summers (International Coordinator)
Dawn graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. She received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Dominican University in May of 2010. Dawn has previously worked in a variety of settings. She was previously an early childhood teacher and also worked with adolescent males in residential treatment as an individual and group counselor. Before coming onto CAC, Dawn worked as an adoption worker at an agency focusing on international adoptions. In her free time, Dawn enjoys reading, spending time with her family, watching movies, and travelling.
Tammy Markee-Mayas (Administrative Assistant)
Tammy received her Associate’s Degree in Marketing from Madison College in 2009 and now shares that talent with the agency whenever asked to. Tammy prides herself on ensuring that all clients are treated like good friends, that documents are processed accurately and in the timeliest fashion, that all families get what they need when they need it, and being able to assist in whatever capacity is needed of her.
Brenda Kohler (Social Worker)
