ALDA Board 2026

To contact anyone on the Board, please use www.alda.org/contact  Thank you

 

Diane McDonagh – President

I am honored to serve as your President of ALDA for 2025-2026. Born deaf, I began my educational journey at oral schools for the deaf but found my true voice when I learned ASL at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. This pivotal experience shaped my path, leading me to McKinley High School, where I studied alongside hearing students despite the absence of interpreters. Growing up as an Army brat, my family moved every four years, immersing me in diverse cultures across Chicago, Long Island, Germany, Texas, and Hawaii, instilling a deep appreciation for resilience and adaptability.

Since joining ALDA in 2016, I’ve felt a profound sense of belonging within this incredible community. Over the years, I’ve served as Region II Director, ALDA Representative, and Registration Chair, and I am now proud to take on the role of President. My academic background includes a BA and MA from California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and I am proud to have established the first ASL program at NHCC, which continues to thrive today. After 44 fulfilling years of service, I retired in May 2024, but my passion for advocating for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community remains steadfast.

As President, my vision is to expand ALDA’s reach by fostering inclusivity, increasing awareness of our mission, and embracing innovative technologies to enhance communication and accessibility. I am deeply committed to building a sense of belonging for both longtime and new members. I also cherish my family—my two grown-up children and six wonderful grandchildren—who inspire my efforts to create a world with fewer barriers to communication. I look forward to collaborating with you to strengthen and grow our ALDA community.

 

Lisa Harbour – Vice President

I am thrilled to be serving ALDA on the Board of Directors. I was born hearing and lost my hearing at age 8 after a blow to the head from a baseball bat. Found out many years later that I have EVAS (Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome). I received a cochlear implant in 1999 that ultimately failed. So, one awesome hearing aid gets me through this crazy thing called life.

 

Laura Sinclair – Past President
I have been attending most ALDAcons as a member for 12 years serving the more recent four as President and Regional Director 1.
Prior to finding ALDA, I served 12 years on the NH Commission on Hearing Loss and six years appointed to the NH Board of Licensure
for Sign Language Interpreters as the Oral-Deaf member. I worked with NH state legislators several years to pass the 2011 bill mandating
private insurers to cover hearing aids for all ages. As a CODA and late-deafened adult, finding my “ALDA family” naturally progressed to
forming and leading the ALDA Seacoast NH Group in 2018. Receiving a $10K grant during the pandemic allowed our group to dispense an
assemblage of communication tools for the underserved deaf/hard of hearing population, most notably the ClearMask and Visual
Communication cards in five languages for individuals, medical and emergency responders. Outreach to grow a membership based on
building awareness and advocacy strategies drives me to keep current on technology.

During progressive, genetic deafness I raised two children with my husband of 40 years. Not fluent in ASL, I use CART, T-coil and now
Bluetooth with cochlear implants (2012/2014). We enjoy long trips on our Yamaha Tracer where I use a Sena helmet system to
communicate.

 

Joe Linder – Treasurer
Deaf since birth, Joe attended oral training classes starting at age 3 for a three-year period before being mainstreamed in a neighborhood school beginning with the first grade.  In spite of a lack of interpreters, Joe earned honors at the high school level. Following graduation, Joe attended the University of Notre Dame for four years and majored in Accounting. Immediately upon graduation, Joe started his banking career with Harris Trust & Savings Bank (aka BMO Harris Bank N.A.).  During that time, Joe served international and domestic corporate clients with lending and cash management needs and also earned an MBA degree in Finance through DePaul University.  

Joe has actively participated in ALDAcon conventions since his initial national convention in 2013 at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Joe has been a board member of the ALDA Chicago Chapter since 2010, including a 5-year stint as president.  Prior to getting involved with ALDA, Joe participated in various other organizations as a board member, namely HANDS organization, a Chicago-based deaf advocacy organization, during the 1990s including a stint as treasurer, and with Mendac organization, which helps with school-aged deaf children with mental health treatment, during the 2000s.  For the past 6 years, Joe has volunteered his time assisting deafened individuals with their income tax returns through the Chicago Hearing Society.

Joe is looking forward to using his financial background with the bank as well as his experience in other volunteer positions to benefit the ALDA national organization.

 

Tina Childress – Secretary
Board Secretary Tina Childress, Au.D., CCC-A is an educational audiologist in mainstream and residential school settings, a technology and social media aficionado, a late-deafened adult fluent in ASL, and a bilateral cochlear implant recipient. With her unique perspective and passion for sharing information through social media, she is a sought out international presenter on a variety of topics but especially Hearing Assistive Technology, apps, cochlear implants, advocacy and effective strategies for coping with hearing loss. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign and the University of Memphis, and she has won a number of awards, including the Nancy Lee McKinley Leadership Mentoring Award, I. King Jordan Award for Distinguished Achievement, Cheryl DeConde Johnson Award, and the Oticon Focus on People Award Winner – Hearing Care Practitioner. Dr. Childress serves on many local and national boards and committees, including the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (National Advisory Group Member), Deaf Kids Code (Board Member), and Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc – TDI (Member at Large).  She is a strong advocate for accessibility and disseminating resources.

 

Debra Bare-Rogers – Region 1 Director

Debra was diagnosed with dual sensorineural hearing loss 13 years ago and has worked hard to adapt her communication. Advocating daily to better understand others and raise awareness has been a central focus. Her involvement includes serving on hearing loss-related boards in California and Maine, collaborating with groups such as the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), and various local organizations.

Her professional background includes outreach and education on phone relay services, captioning (yes, please!), amplified devices, and other tools to improve communication access. As a grant strategist working with a diverse range of nonprofits, she leverages her personal experience to help organizations secure funding and implement programs that make a difference.

In her role as Region 1 Director, her goal is to support individuals facing difficulties, connect them with valuable resources, and raise awareness within communities and agencies. Her dedication to advocacy and accessibility aims to empower the hard of hearing and deaf community through collaboration with key organizations and stakeholders.

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Judith Greaves experienced a rare autoimmune disease that led to her losing all hearing in her mid-life. Now, she’s quite comfortable embracing her D/deaf identity, though she acknowledges it was a journey. She first connected with the Deaf community at Rochester CON in 2007 and felt it was a great fit. In 2010, while wintering in Florida, she stumbled upon ALDA Suncoast. She served on the board from 2014 to 2020. Her time volunteering with the Deaf Literacy Centre in Safety Harbour helped her fully integrate into the Deaf community and sparked a passion for painting party art and Deaf Visual Interpretation Art (DeVIA).

In June 2025, Judith was appointed as RD2 interim director and was elected in November 2025, where she’s currently leading the ALDA Ontario group in her district.

 

Kim Mettache – Region 3 Director
I am thrilled to be back on the ALDA board as your RD3.  I have served as RD2 and secretary in the past.  I am currently the President of ALDA Suncoast, and served as President of ALDA Northwest Indiana before moving to Florida in 1999.   I am married to Tahar, mother of 4 children, grandmother of 7.  I have bilateral CI’s, and I practice my ASL as much as I can with my ALDA friends. I have been a member of ALDA since 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

Tremmel Watson – Region 4 Director

Tremmel Watson is a Public Policy Advocate for Disability Rights California, the state’s federally mandated Protection and Advocacy system. His advocacy is informed by lived experience, including early medical challenges and the onset of hearing loss following a near-drowning incident, which shape his “Whatever Works” approach to communication access.

Tremmel advances systemic change through both legislative and legal advocacy. In 2025, he provided advocacy before the California Senate Standing Committee on Health, contributing to efforts that resulted in the inclusion of hearing aids within California’s Essential Health Benefits benchmark plan. That same year, he was involved in federal litigation that led to a settlement establishing enforceable requirements for professional communication access, reinforcing the role of Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART).

He serves as a Director for the Global Alliance of Speech-to-Text Captioning, the only trade organization solely dedicated to the captioning industry, and represents the Alliance within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network. From 2024 to 2025, he served as a Subject Matter Expert for the Federal Communications Commission’s Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) Caption Quality Metrics Working Group. He also works as a consultant with the Prison Law Office, focusing on communication access for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in correctional settings.

Outside of his professional work, Tremmel enjoys time with his Cane Corso, Zeus, a loyal companion who keeps him active and grounded.