Board of Directors
Listed in alphabetical order by last name. Please feel free to contact members of our board with questions about MaleSurvivor.
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Officers President: Curtis St. John
Ann Boyer |
Past Presidents By-Laws Advisory Board of Directors |
Curtis St. John, President
Born and raised on the south side of Poughkeepsie New York, Curtis St. John is the youngest of four children. Growing up in his neighborhood during an era when doors were left unlocked, Curtis lead what seemed to be a normal and happy childhood, but in the year 1979 Curtis began quietly holding a secret he would keep for years. A secret causing him great pain, one he would try desperately to forget.
In the spring and summer of 1979 at the age of ten, Curtis was tutored by Poughkeepsie Middle School teacher Albert Fentress; a pillar of the community with an award winning style of teaching that included dressing in civil war uniforms and taking students on historical tours around the world. Fentress took advantage of Curtis during these tutoring sessions, using his power position with Curtis to change the tutoring sessions from those of nurture and trust, into ones of sex. Curtis kept the abuse a secret, feeling that nobody would believe a ten-year-old boy who claimed such a good man could commit such a crime... yet Fentress went on to commit a crime that would shock a community and end Curtis’s abuse.
One August night of that same year, Fentress Lured an eighteen-year-old boy into his house and tied him up at gunpoint in the basement. After sexually assaulting the boy, Fentress sexually mutilated and cannibalized the youth. Fentress was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the next twenty-three years in various mental institutions.
At the time Curtis felt his troubles were over, however, he was mistaken and grew up with life challenges that are all too typical for adult victims of childhood sexual abuse such as: alcoholism, low self-confidence, and relationship issues. Yet amazingly, Curtis never associated these issues with the sexual abuse until twenty-three years later. In 2001, Curtis found out Fentress was petitioning the State of New York for his release, claiming to be cured.
Curtis made the decision to take an active role by calling the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office to tell his story. Over the course of the next year, he played a key role in Fentress’ retention hearings, where his critical testimony revealed that Fentress was a pedophile as well as a murderer. Rather than gaining freedom, Fentress was moved to a maximum-security psychiatric institution.
At the time, New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer said of Curtis, “[He is] a true hero. His only interest was to protect others from being victimized by Fentress. He came forward despite great pain to himself and his family. He deserves our enduring respect and gratitude.”
Curtis has since recovered from his trauma and says he is the happiest person he knows. He now works to help other male survivors and their families understand the negative patterns sexual abuse causes in adult life by actively encouraging victims to face their fears and problems and to advocate for public understanding and acceptance. He is National President, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of MaleSurvivor: National Organization against Male Sexual Victimization, St. John is a member of the Dutchess County Sex Offender Management Project, one of eleven counties in the nation awarded a grant from the US Office of Justice Programs to study sex offender management systems. He has been a speaker at The Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program (SAVI) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, The NYPD Special Victim Division’s Sex Crimes Intervention Course, and has appeared on national syndicated radio programs, and serves on the Task Force Committee for the Violence against Women Grant award to Purchase College, where he is employed as Director of Operations for the Conservatory of Music.
“Many men suffer from post traumatic stress issues and isolate themselves from the rest of the world.” St. John says. “These men do not connect their abuse with their adult challenges of depression and alcohol issues. We need to show those who suffer in silence that they are not alone and there are so many others like them out there. Those who can speak need to speak for those who cannot... My ultimate goal is to bring the healing of these men out of the shadows where they have been stigmatized into silence.”
Stephen Vincent, Secretary
Stephen Vincent, a California native, had lived all over the United States while he was growing up and currently lives in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. Steve went to four high schools in four different states, graduated with honors, and then went on to study geophysics at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Steve has been in the laser and laser optics related fields since the early seventies and still enjoys it very much.
Steve is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. He kept it a secret for over 38 years until about his fiftieth birthday. He was in crisis and sought out counseling and went through the emotional rollercoaster of recovery. He no longer feels alone in the world, ashamed of what happened to him when he was unable to do anything substantive to stop it.
Steve joined MaleSurvivor early on in his recovery and came to the realization that "Forgiveness has nothing to do with forgiving the perpetrator but everything to do with forgiving yourself." "MaleSurvivor is a wonderful organization whose purpose is to help men who have been abused recover their lives."
Steve enjoys time with his partner, his two adult daughters, his sons-in-law and his two grandchildren as well as activities like motorcycling, reading, landscaping, travel, and showing and breeding his AKC/UKC champion Toy Fox Terriers.
Kenneth Followell, Treasurer (Florida):
A graduate of Milligan college with a BA in Psychology and Bible,
Mr.
Daniel Blausey, MA, LCAT, ATR-BC
Daniel, an Ohio native, is a motivated and dedicated New York City based non-profit/mental health administrator and clinician with over 16 years of diverse clinical and management experience. Career settings include community based organizations, AIDS service organization, and school based settings with urban clients in New York City, Miami, and Newark, NJ. Professional credentials include: MA- Art Therapy, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (2006), Board Certified (1998), Registered Art Therapist (1997). He has demonstrated a strong commitment to serving survivors of trauma, including sexual abuse and assault. Capacities include roles as director, supervisor, and art psychotherapist. Areas of specific interest and professional experience include reduction of sexual risk taking (HIV/AIDS prevention), sexual identity, and childhood sexual abuse/assault.
Throughout his healing journey from the impact of childhood sexual abuse/sexual assault, Daniel has gained strength, support, and wisdom from the survivor community and the art making process. As an art therapist, he is greatly aware of the healing strength of the creative arts. Additionally, as a gay, survivor/therapist he is intensely invested in destroying the myths, stigma, and helplessness associated with male sexual assault and abuse.
Howard Milton was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA graduated
from Widener University Chester, PA and Wesley Theol Seminary,
Washington DC with post-graduate work in clinical psychology from
Millersville University, Millersville, PA . Howard is a male survivor
of sexual abuse from 8-13 years of age. Currently he is the President
and Therapist for Milton Mental Health Services which provides mental
health programs and services for children and adolescents.
Milton specializes in providing therapy for male sexual abuse
survivors, comprising 90% of his cases. Milton has provided seminars
and training through North America on the treatment and recovery of
childhood sexual abuse. His concerns include being able to provide
quality effective caring counseling and therapy for all childhood
sexual abuse survivors, provide support and hope that survivors are not
alone, and that education and support is received by parents, families,
educators, social service workers, youth workers and others helping
childhood sexual abuse survivors towards recovery.
Jorge Ramirez, PhD
Dr. Jorge C. G. Ramirez has over 25 years of research, development and leadership experience in software engineering, data mining and intelligent systems. He has led domestic and international development projects in academia and companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 500. Outside of his professional life, he has over 20 years of experience volunteering for and with non-profit and charitable organizations, including 6 years of Board level experience for two international organizations (not including MaleSurvivor).
Dr. Ramirez received his PhD from the University of Texas at Arlington, his MS in Computer Science from the University of Louisville, and his BS with honors in Information and Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has published numerous monographs, book chapters and professional papers, as well as having his private sector work reviewed in DM Review. He resides in Santa Cruz County, CA with his life partner of 6 years.
Joseph Romano was born on January 28th, 1974 in Flushing, Queens. He now resides in Albertson, New York with his wife Sheyla, son Joseph Jr. and daughter Isabella.
Mr. Romano is a certified public accountant and a graduate of St. Johns University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 1995.
In 1995, after college, he began employment at the accounting firm of Presti & Naegele, where he is currently a partner. The firm has offices in New York City and Long Island, employs 10 accountants and has a varied client base in multiple industries. The firm currently has in excess of 500 small business clients and 1,000 individual clients as well as multiple estates and trusts. He is a Certified Quickbooks ProAdvisor as well as Certified Quickbooks Point-of-Sale advisor and is extremely knowledgeable with most Quickbooks products.
He has served on the board of advisors of a major credit card processing company, is a member of the Knights of Columbus and other various charitable organizations.
I grew up in and around Detroit, Michigan. I was sexually "molested" by a 14 or 15 year old boy when I was seven, the memory of which I sometimes forgot and usually doubted until I returned to therapy for a second time in 1998. I then joined MaleSurvivor, became active on the Steering Committee for the 2001 Conference where I also presented two workshops. In 2003 I joined the MaleSurvivor Board of Directors, have been the editor of Men Speak Out, the quarterly newsletter of MaleSurvivor, and from 2005-2007 I was President of that Board.
After graduating college I left from the University of Chicago to attend medical school at Stanford, then went on to a residency in psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. By this time I was married and had two young sons, now grown. I also did a fellowship in Social and Community Psychiatry at Einstein and dedicated my career to working in public psychiatry for the next twenty-five years. I also began practicing psychiatry privately often with patients and families with severe and chronic major psychiatric illness or with personality disorders. I completed training in the psychoanalytic treatment of personality disorders at the Masterson Institute in New York and am a faculty member of that Institute.
I have organized a course (Men Sexually Abused as Boys: Meanings, Consequences, and Treatments) for the annual Meetings of the American Psychiatric Association, introducing the topic of male sexual abuse and its treatment to this major organization along with the participation of four MaleSurvivor members, including three Board members. The course was given three times from 2003-2005. I continue to practice office-based psychiatry now with special interest and renewed expertise in treating male survivors.
Marc Spindelman
Marc Spindelman, an Associate Professor of Law at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, Spindelman clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and was an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York City. After leaving Wall Street, he was a Reginald F. Lewis Fellow for Law Teaching at Harvard Law School, taught as a Visiting Instructor at the University of Michigan Law School, and spent two years as a Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics and Health Policy at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. While a Greenwall Fellow, Professor Spindelman was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, a Faculty Associate at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Research Fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Since joining the faculty at the Moritz College of Law, Spindelman has also been a Visiting Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center (Spring '05), and at the University of Michigan Law School (AY '07-'08). His recent scholarship focuses on certain problems of inequality, chiefly in the context of sex and death. (Copies of his recent scholarly work, including his work on same-sex sexual violence and injury, are available online here: http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/bios.php?ID=47.) He regularly teaches courses on Family Law, Bioethics and Public Health Ethics, Health Law, and Sexual Violence.
Karen J. Terry, PHD
KAREN J. TERRY, PH.D., is an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Deputy Executive Officer of the doctoral program in criminal justice, CUNY. She holds a doctorate in Criminology from Cambridge University and is a member of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration. Her research interests revolve around treatment, management and supervision of sex offenders, and she is currently the Principal Investigator of a study assessing the causes and context of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests. She teaches undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level classes on Sex Crimes. Among her publications is the book Sexual Offenses and Offenders: Theory, Practice and Policy and Registration and Community Notification: A "Megan's Law" Sourcebook.
Victor Vieth
Victor Vieth graduated magna cum laude from Winona State University and earned his Juris Doctor from Hamline University School of Law. During law school, Mr. Vieth served as editor-in-chief of the law review and received the American Jurisprudence award for achievement in the study of Constitutional law. From 1988-1997, Mr. Vieth worked as a prosecutor in rural Minnesota where he gained national recognition for his work to address child abuse in small communities. He is a recipient of Distinguished Alumni Awards from both Hamline University School of Law and Winona State University. He has been named to the President's Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. The Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association named him one of "21 Young Lawyers Leading us Into the 21st Century." Mr. Vieth is the author of numerous articles pertaining to issues of child abuse and domestic violence. He is also the author of Unto the Third Generation, a bold initiative that has as its goal the elimination of child abuse in the United States over the course of a century.
In 1997, Mr. Vieth joined the staff of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse. From 1997-1999, Mr. Vieth worked as a Senior Attorney with the National Center, providing technical assistance and training to prosecutors around the country. In 1998, Mr. Vieth launched Finding Words: Interviewing Children and Preparing for Court in Savannah, Georgia which taught the copyrighted RATAC protocol (developed by CornerHouse in Minneapolia, Minnesota). Over 400 applications for the 40 spaces for the course. As a result, Mr. Vieth created Half-A-Nation by 2010 where individual states could bring the Finding Words program to their state, learn to teach the program under the guidance of APRI and CornerHouse, and then continue to teach the program locally to better reach more child protection professionals and more children. As of 2005, nine states have been certified in the Finding Words program, two states are in the process of being certified, and three states have been accepted to the course for 2006. The program is on course for having half the nation certified in Finding Words by the end of the decade.
In 1999, Mr. Vieth became Director of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse. In August 2003, APRI appointed Mr. Vieth to serve as the first director of the National Child Protection Training Center and the doors to NCPTC were opened on the campus of Winona State University. NCPTC handles training and technical assistance involving dependency, neglect and termination of parental rights matters involving child abuse, as well as development of curriculums to teach college students on how to investigate and handle child abuse cases. In 2004, APRI appointed Mr. Vieth to serve as the Director of Child Abuse Programs and oversee both Centers. In 2005, NCPTC launched two civil child protection national conferences: ChildProtect is a 5-day trial advocacy course for civil child protection attorneys and will take 30 students through an intensive termination of parental rights trial; and When Child Abuse Hits Home is a multidisciplinary training for investigating and prosecuting dependency and termination matters.
Mr. Vieth has trained professionals from all 50 states, two U.S. Territories, and 17 countries on numerous topics involving child abuse investigations, prosecutions, trial strategies, and prevention methods. Mr. Vieth has further given the keynote address on "Unto The Third Generation: A Call to End Child Abuse in the United States within 120 Years." This revolutionary scholarly work has been delivered to over 10,000 child protection professionals in all 50 states and is scheduled to be published in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma in 2005. Mr. Vieth has published countless articles related to the investigation, prosecution and prevention of child abuse and neglect.
