Board of directors
Dr. Leon Kelly, president: Leon is a board-certified forensic pathologist and the coroner, chief medical examiner and deputy medical director of El Paso County. His statewide work as a medical expert has included service on the Child Fatality Prevention System State Review Team, and he co-founded the county’s Child Fatality Review Team to help lead local suicide prevention efforts. Leon also teaches at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Taline (Ty) Meredith, vice president: Ty is the chief executive officer for Peak View Behavioral Health. She has over 18 years’ experience in hospital operations, business development, social services and mental health, and holds an MBA. Ty has previously served as vice chair on the board of directors at Pikes Peak Suicide Prevention Partnership and currently volunteers as a leader for the Boy Scouts of America. She believes strongly in providing needed quality mental health programs for Colorado residents and advocating for community access to care.
Rob Levis, treasurer: Rob is president of Levis Consulting, a Colorado Springs-based forensic accounting practice. He is a CPA and has a B.S. and Master of Accounting degrees from the University of Florida. Rob specializes in business appraisals and economic loss quantification in litigated disputes. He is a graduate of NAMI's Family-to-Family program.
Julie Papa, secretary: Julie is a mother of three and an attorney with Papa Law PLLC, where she concentrates her practice on estate planning, estate administration and business. She holds BSFS and JD degrees from Georgetown University and has served as parliamentarian of the board of the National Charity League Colorado Springs Chapter. Julie has also volunteered with Care and Share Food Bank, Junior Achievement and other local nonprofits.
Tamara Cannafax: Tamara is a marketing project manager at Pikes Peak Community College. Having lived with major depression and anxiety for over 20 years, Tamara began her recovery in 2016, when she attended NAMI’s Peer-to-Peer class and Connection Support Group. Eager to pay it forward and help others on the journey to mental health recovery, she became a dedicated volunteer and is a certified Connection facilitator and Peer-to-Peer leader and state trainer.
Andrew Cooper: Andrew, a Colorado Springs Fire Department lieutenant, is currently CSFD’s Community Officer in the Community and Public Health Division. He has been a paramedic for 20 years and a CSFD firefighter for the last 15 years. Andrew supervises the Community Response Teams (CRT), which offer mobile mental health response, and collaborates with community partners around youth suicide prevention, overdose prevention and lethal means access.
Billie Ratliff: Billie is the director of behavioral health at UCHealth Memorial Hospital. A licensed clinical social worker, Billie has worked in the behavioral health realm for 37 years. In 2010, Billie helped restructure Memorial’s model for delivery of best-practice care to behavioral health patients in an acute medical setting. She is active on numerous committees related to helping people with behavioral health disorders.
Juan Recinos: Juan is chief operations officer of Bright Futures Psychiatry, a private mental health practice serving children and adults in Colorado Springs. He has also served as chief strategy officer at AspenPointe (now Diversus Health) and as director of operations for Valley Wide Health System in Alamosa. Juan has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in healthcare administration from Chapman University.
Tyra Sandoval: Tyra has lived in Colorado Springs since 1986. She’s the mother of four and a licensed real estate broker with RE/Max Properties, Inc. Prior to her real estate career, she was a fundraiser with Pikes Peak Hospice and The Alzheimer’s Association. Tyra’s been involved with local nonprofits including Newborn Hope, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Early Childhood Connections, the Children’s Literacy Center, Habitat for Humanity, the Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 PTO Board, and the Junior League of Colorado Springs.