We at Active Across America, the creators of Get Active Today, are not the experts in health nor in how to incorporate health and fitness into schools, workplaces and communities…so using the CDC’s Coordinated School Health model, we assembled experts in the fields of health, fitness, nutrition, school administration, coaching, workforce wellness and community outreach to direct content and provide insight on what works- based on their real world experience.
Matthew Byers
Academic Educator, Administrator & Athletic Director
Jennifer Casey, RD, CD
Food Educator
Gerald L Ignace Indian Health Center
Laure DeMattia, DO
DeMattia Medical Group, LLC
Assistant Clinical Professor
Dept of Family and Community Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Amy Friese, CFF ("Chief Fun Facilitator")
Owner Fitness for EveryBODY, LLC
Brett Fuller
Curriculum Specialist for Wellness & Prevention
Milwaukee Public Schools
Martina Gollin-Graves, MSW, APSW
Community Outreach Coordinator
Mental Health America of Wisconsin
Chad Hoffman
Physical Education Instructor
Wauwatosa School District
David Nelson, PhD, MS
Fellow and Instructor
Center for Healthy Communities
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Kristine Regner, RN
Health Coach
DeMattia Medical Group, LLC
Matthew Byers
Academic Educator, Administrator & Athletic Director
Matt has over twenty years experience working in academic, athletic, and co-curricular settings. He offers insight from the classroom, school administration and an "on the field" perspective.
A graduate of Concordia University, he earned his Masters Degree from Mount Mary College and Cooperative Teaching Certification from Marquette University. Matt is a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
Jennifer Casey, RD, CD
Food Educator
Gerald L Ignace Indian Health Center
Jennifer is a food educator dedicated to helping people make healthy choices for themselves, their communities, and the planet. At the Gerald L Ignace Indian Health Center, Milwaukee’s urban American Indian health center, she conducts individual nutrition educations, teaches weekly cooking classes, oversees the garden program, and performs community outreach that promotes diabetes prevention and control. As a good food advocate, she is active volunteer for Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast, currently serving as the Food Biodiversity committee chair. She is a member of the Wisconsin Organic Advisory Council as of 2010 and helped to organize Milwaukee’s Eat Local Challenge from 2007-2009.
Before entering the field of nutrition, Jennifer was a professional cook; working in restaurants, operating a small pastry business at a farmer's market, and catering backstage at a music venue as well as for private clients. Schooled at the Natural Gourmet Cookery Institute in NYC, her cooking philosophy comes from a whole foods perspective. Her formal nutrition studies began at the University of Vermont, culminating in a degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Laure DeMattia, DO,
DeMattia Medical Group, LLC
Assistant Clinical Professor
Dept of Family and Community Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
A board-certified family physician, Dr. Laure DeMattia maintains a steadfast commitment to her overarching goal as a medical professional: to better the community by partnering with individuals and families in their quest for a healthier lifestyle. She has years of experience caring for children and adults, including many with weight-related concerns, and has recently focused her practice on specialized care surrounding obesity, lipid management and cardio-metabolic disorders. Dr. DeMattia collaborates with various professionals to offer health and wellness programs at the Washington Heights-based offices of DeMattia Medical Group.
An Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dr. DeMattia is published nationally and internationally in peer reviewed journals. Her work includes a chapter titled Childhood Obesity Prevention: Successful Community-Based Efforts, published in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science which recently served as the basis for a presentation to the US Senate. Dr. DeMattia has long advocated that the community must work together to change children's food and activity environments.
Amy Friese, CFF ("Chief Fun Facilitator")
Owner Fitness for EveryBODY, LLC
Amy Friese has turned her lifelong passion for health and fitness into a career. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology she worked at prestigious investment and non-profit organizations for several years. It wasn’t until January, 2008 that she truly began to fulfill her dream of helping others discover their own “inner athlete.” Amy created Fitness for EveryBODY, LLC, offering exceptional personal training, yoga, fitness boot camps and nutritional counseling dedicated to improving the fitness level and overall life satisfaction of its clients.
Amy has numerous certifications, including: American Council on Exercise (ACE) Certified Personal Trainer, YogaFit Certified Yoga Instructor, and CPR/AED. She is currently pursuing her 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher Certification through YogaFit, Adventure Boot Camp Certification and ACE Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant Certification.
In addition to running her business Amy enjoys reading fitness magazines, watching science fiction movies with her husband, caring for their five parrots and traveling the world.
Brett Fuller
Curriculum Specialist for Wellness & Prevention
Milwaukee Public Schools
Brett is the director of the Milwaukee Public Schools Wellness and Prevention Office (WPO). Brett has a MAE - Director of Instruction from Marian College of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and a BAE - Physical Education (K-12) University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. The WPO includes the MPS Health and Physical Education departments, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and other grant funded programs. The mission of the office is to support the physical, social, emotional, and academic development of all students. As the director of the WPO Brett directs curriculum alignment with district and state standards, coordinates multiple safe and drug free school programs, manages multiple federal, state and private grants, and is the lead grant writer for the WPO. Brett is also on the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Health for Wisconsin.
Martina Gollin-Graves, MSW, APSW
Community Outreach Coordinator
Mental Health America of Wisconsin
Martina Gollin-Graves is the Community Outreach Coordinator with Mental Health America of Wisconsin (MHA). Ms. Gollin-Graves develops and provides local and statewide mental health presentations, conferences and training for businesses, community organizations and schools. She participates in collaborative projects, assists in new program initiatives and coordinates the Survivors of Suicide Support groups hosted by MHA. Ms. Gollin-Graves previously worked with families in the Invisible Children’s Program through MHA. She provided advocacy and education for parents and children with mental illness; crisis stabilization; and facilitation of psycho-education groups.
Chad Hoffman
Physical Education Instructor
Wauwatosa School District
Chad brings over ten years experience teaching elementary school Physical Education. Chad focuses on giving each student a positive learning experience to help them understand the importance and long-term benefits of physical activity.
Chad earned his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master's in Education from Viterbo University. He also has SDPE Certification (Specially Designed Physical Education) to help engage and promote success of special needs students participating in the PE curriculum. In addition, Chad has coaching experience coaching at the middle school level.
David Nelson, PhD, MS
Fellow and Instructor
Center for Healthy Communities
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Nelson has eleven years of experience in working with communities in Maine and Wisconsin as a principal investigator and Co-principal investigator on a number of funded projects through federal, state, and local programs. He completed a three-year a post-doctoral fellowship in the area of community based participatory research and recently accepted a position as assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Center for Healthy Communities at MCW. During his time in Milwaukee, Nelson has completed an assessment of three neighborhoods concerning physical activity and nutrition, worked on a team that developed a diabetes education curriculum for Spanish speaking individuals taught by community health workers. Most recently, he led an effort that resulted in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reduce childhood obesity at the eight United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee (UNCOM).
Kristine Regner, RN
Health Coach
DeMattia Medical Group, LLC
Kristine has worked as a nurse within hospital systems for many years when she determined that she would like to empower patients to make healthier choices in place of only being able to help care for them after the poor choices have been made. She embarked on an educational journey to get certification for being a Health Coach, which she uses to help assess people’s life choices and encourage minor changes to improve their outcomes in a healthy manner.s
Kristine has 17 years of experience as an acute care registered nurse for Wheaton Franciscan. She has seen firsthand how the results of poor lifestyle choices are becoming one of the most common reasons for hospital admissions. It is through this experience that she gained a passion for empowering people to become proactive in achieving healthy, active lifestyles. She currently works as a Health Coach, Wellness Project Coordinator and RN at DeMattia Medical Group. She is also working for Noble Diagnostics offering pre-employment physicals for various companies.