Board Member Bios

Carrie Chizuk is a learning and development professional with a passion for developing leaders, forming impactful teams, and facilitating training. As the Director of Learning and Development at DePaul, based in Rochester, NY, she supports coaching and leadership development, career development, learning opportunities, training creation, LMS management, and DEI initiatives. Carrie has gained valuable experience and perspective through a decade of learning & development and two decades of leadership experience, mostly in non-profit organizations, so she can significantly impact the lives of those she supports.

Carrie has a MS in Leadership & Organizational Change from Nazareth University, a BS in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, and a coaching certification from the Leadership Coaching Certification Program.

Carrie enjoys riding her bike around Rochester, performing improv, and game nights with family and friends.

Melissa Chinnock is an Instructional Designer with a background in management, operations, and training. A Rochester native and an alumna of Boston University and RIT, Melissa is passionate about learning. She currently works for Calero, where she’s using her background to reimagine the employee onboarding experience and role-based skills training. In her spare time, Melissa is the former board president and current music librarian for the Rochester Women’s Community Chorus. 

Melissa Huang is a learning and development leader with more than eight years of experience in instructional design, operations training, and enterprise learning systems. She currently leads Medline’s Operations elearning development team as a Training Manager, where she drives initiatives that strengthen compliance, safety, and performance across diverse audiences.

Melissa specializes in translating complex operational processes into engaging, measurable learning experiences. Her expertise includes eLearning development (Articulate Storyline, Rise, and Vyond), accessibility, and AI-enabled content design. She has led the development of scenario-based digital training programs and implemented strategies that increase engagement and support workforce retention.

She holds two master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—one in Classics and one in Library and Information Science. Her academic background informs her structured, research-driven approach to learning design and knowledge management.

Outside of work, Melissa enjoys road biking around Rochester and hosting board game nights with friends.

Laurie Wiest is the Chief Engagement Officer at The Summit Federal Credit Union, where she leads member services, human resources, learning and development, organizational culture, employee engagement, team values and talent strategy initiatives. Throughout her career, Laurie has been passionate about helping individuals, teams, and organizations reach their full potential through leadership development, coaching, and culture transformation.

At The Summit, Laurie has led organization-wide initiatives focused on employee experience/engagement, employee and leadership development, succession planning, onboarding, and culture-building, helping create an environment where employees are empowered to learn, grow, and contribute their best work. 

Laurie is a recognized advocate for inclusive leadership and workforce development. She has guided cross-functional teams in effective teamwork and strategic planning efforts, developed learning frameworks that support both individual and organizational growth, and championed practices that strengthen collaboration, innovation, and employee engagement.

Laurie is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and holds a Certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell University through Credit Union Executive Society (CUES). She is certified in Everything DiSC Workplace (Wiley) and Crucial Conversations. In recognition of her leadership and business partnership, Laurie was honored with the 2017 Human Resources Executive of the Year - Outstanding Business Partner Award by the National Human Resources Association (NHRA), Rochester Chapter.

Outside of work, Laurie lives in Brockport, New York, with her husband, Chris, and their Goldendoodle, Josie. She is the proud mother of two sons, Connor and Eric, and was delighted to become a grandmother in 2026.  She enjoys camping, kayaking, fishing, biking, hiking, and gardening. 

Brandon Kotler is a teacher, trainer, facilitator with over 20 years in the Learning and Development space. Brandon has worked with students in the higher education and rehabilitation sectors, while coaching adult learners as a career advisor and corporate trainer. Brandon focuses on the learner’s experience: seeking to instill fun and enthusiasm while exploring skill development and resource utilization. He also enjoys the outdoors, kayaking, and taking his Labradoodle Sadie Mae for walks.  

John Ventresca is a learning consultant, strategist, and designer with nearly 20 years of experience in learning and development. He started his custom learning solutions company, Unit One Learning, in 2018. His work, with some of the largest companies in the world and higher education institutions, including Meta (Facebook), Bank of America, Nissan, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, and Cornell University, has been recognized numerous times.

John has a BA in Communication from American University and an MBA from the University of Rochester Simon Business School. He is a member of Strong Memorial Hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, a volunteer for the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation and a healthcare public speaker and patient advocate.

Leanne E. Reed is the CEO of Hubbub Solutions. She brings a unique blend of humor, candid truth, and expertise to her clients. Presently, her company, Hubbub Solutions, provides coaching for executives, leaders, and teams. The core of her work is creating courageous conversations, high performance competencies and transforming through transitions.  Consultation on organizational development and branding is also provided.

Leanne’s leadership experience includes corporate and not for profit sectors as well as launching three businesses of her own. While in senior leadership roles she was responsible for culture change, organization development, strategic planning and implementation, quality improvement, change management, succession planning,  leader and team development, training, fundraising, community relations and marketing.

Community involvement has included serving on ten boards, teaching at Nazareth College and committee work for over 30 organizations. Leanne is a Certified Leadership/Life Coach, Certified Career Management Coach, Certified Behavioral Analyst and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.