Board
Sr. Julie Schwab, OP
President
Julie has a B.S.E. in Elementary Education and Special Education, an MA in Theology and an MA in Sustainability. Some of her professional experiences include: grade school teacher, chaplain for individuals with AIDS, solidarity accompaniment in Guatemala, co-director of a center for people who were experiencing homelessness, and most recently service on the leadership team for the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation. She served as an executive board member on the Recovery Coalition of Dane County (RCDC).
Steve Ellsworth
Vice President
Steve is a graduate of UW-Madison with a degree in Public Health-Education. His professional experience includes: fund raising responsibilities for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, numerous sales & marketing positions in the areas of insurance and investment products, money processing equipment & electronic medical records software.
Steve is also a former teacher, basketball coach, U.S. Army medic and spiritual mentor. He has facilitated multiple spirituality retreats for persons in recovery and for the general population of seekers.
He brings to the board a long-term commitment to assisting those among us desiring freedom from addiction as a means of creating a path to a more peaceful, serene, and fruitful existence.
Susan Herbst
Secretary
Susan Herbst retired in 2010 after 15 years as the Parking Manager at the Dane County Regional Airport. Previous to that, she worked for 25 years in four different WI counties in service, administration and supervisory positions. Suzi grew up in a small WI town and saw the prevalence of alcohol as a child and teenager in the 50’s and 60’s. She saw alcohol abuse destroy the lives of family and friends. The next generations have now added illegal drugs to the family disease of alcoholism. Her son’s legal prescription drug use, led to a heroin addiction. She was treasurer of the Madison Never Alone Nar-Anon support group for numerous years and continues attendance at weekly meetings to help others living the nightmare of family with drug addiction. She joined the grassroots group of parents in 2017 to form Restoring Roots, grateful her son was alive and free from opiate addiction. She is passionate about the vision of RR and wants a place for other parents to send their children – a place of HOPE where they too can “get their old kid back”.
Katherine Kamp
Treasurer
Katherine Kamp retired in March 2020 from her position as the executive director of the Wisconsin Partnership Housing Development, Inc. (WPHD). The mission of WPHD focused on increasing access to affordable housing. WPHD worked with other nonprofits and for-profit developers to create a wide range of housing from multi-family rental units to single family homes for sale. Prior to serving at WPHD, Ms. Kamp was the executive director of the Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities where she developed over 150-units of affordable housing, including new development of a 10-unit affordable rental project, and a 32-unit permanent supportive housing project in an abandoned downtown manufacturing facility.
She served as a vice president at Lewin/ICF, a large Washington, D.C. policy consulting firm. Ms. Kamp has a BA from Kalamazoo College and an MPP from University of Michigan. She also completed the Achieving Excellence in Community Development program at the Harvard Kennedy School, a two-year program to develop leaders in the area of community revitalization and affordable housing. Ms. Kamp continues to serve as the president of the Board of Cinnaire Lending, a national CDFI and is on the City/County Homeless Issues Committee for Madison/Dane County.
Charles A. Tubbs Sr.
Board Member
Charles A. Tubbs Sr., is the director of Dane County Emergency Management. He leads a department of professionals who are responsible for Dane County’s effective disaster response and recovery efforts in support of local overnments and the Dane County Emergency Management programs. He retired from law enforcement after serving nearly 40 years. He served in four other distinguished positions including: interim chief of police for Beloit Police Department, deputy chief of police for Beloit Police Department, administrator of the State of Wisconsin Division of Juvenile Corrections and chief of police for Wisconsin State Capitol Police.
He was appointed to the State of Wisconsin Law Enforcement Standards Board by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. He serves as an honorary commander of the 115th Fighter Wing Civil Engineer Squadron in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. He serves nationally as an adjunct instructor, observer and controller for the United States Department of Homeland Security and FEMA Integrated Emergency Management Courses. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from Mount Senario College. He continued training at the Law Enforcement Executive Development Institute of the FBI National Academy with a concentration in diversity and hate crime education through the United States Department of Justice. He is an expert in areas of homeland security, law enforcement, emergency management and human relations. His capacity to relate to all people and situations is as robust as his ability to manage diverse administrative tasks. His ability to be a bridge in conflictual race issues is unwavering. He believes that when we lift up those who are less fortunate, we lift up the entire community.
Michelle Kullmann
Board Member
Michelle Kullmann has been active in the Madison business and non-profit community since graduating from the UW - Madison School of Business in 1990. Her experience ranges from sales, sales management and general management at Adams Outdoor Advertising, co-ownership of Brava Magazine, Director of Corporate Partnerships for Overture Center for the Arts and ownership of the local Play It Again Sports franchise. Michelle’s life was forever changed in November of 2021 when her youngest of two sons passed away in his UW-Milwaukee dorm room after taking what he thought was a Percocet pill but turned out that it was 100% fentanyl. Michelle immediately went into action educating friends, family, and lawmakers on the fentanyl crisis advocating for more education and awareness that One Pill Can Kill. Michelle has since met many parents who spent tens of thousands of dollars on treatment for their children with a substance use disorder only to have them die from a fentanyl poisoning. She believes strongly in the Restoring Roots life saving mission to offer long term recovery housing.
Kenneth R. Bradbury
Board Member
Before retiring in 2022, Ken served as Wisconsin State Geologist and Director of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. He earned his PhD from UW-Madison and had a 40-year career with the UW-Madison Division of Extension. Ken has long experience in applied teaching, public outreach, and working with local, state, and federal government agencies. Ken has served on numerous state and national advisory committees. He also brings to the board the personal experience of losing a family member to opiate addiction and understands the associated issues of ongoing treatment, housing, and support.
Jacqueline Landess, MD, JD
Advisory Board Member
Dr. Landess is a psychiatrist at Mendota Mental Health Institute with training in adult, child and forensic psychiatry. She earned her medical and law degrees at Vanderbilt University and Indiana University, respectively; and completed her post-graduate training at Northwestern University and University of Colorado. She has used her dual training in medicine and the law to study and serve individuals with psychiatric illness who are justice-involved. She has worked in both jails and prisons, and served as a consultant to a felony mental health court. She also has worked on various advocacy and public policy initiatives that aim to improve access to healthcare services for minority and underserved populations.
Dr. Landess specializes in the treatment of serious mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder, co-occurring substance use disorders, mood and psychotic illnesses. Her treatment approach combines psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and other modalities with a focus on identifying and bolstering an individual’s resilience, strengths, purpose, meaning and values in order to promote mastery of the person’s unique life stressors, improve self-esteem and build lasting, satisfying relationships with others.
Ritu Bhatnagar, MD, MPH
Advisory Board Member
Dr. Bhatnagar is a psychiatrist specializing in treating addictions and currently serves as medical director for NewStart at UnityPoint Health – Meriter. She has a special interest in integrative medicine, including mindfulness training, hypnosis and yoga. Dr. Bhatnagar believes in looking at the whole picture in which the person with the addiction is living. Dr. Bhatnagar enjoys a team-based approach, where the patient, physician and therapists all work together for a positive outcome. She graduated from University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and did her residency in psychiatry and fellowship at University of Wisconsin – Madison.