Michelle has always had a passion for working with kids! It began while growing up with an older sister with disabilities, which sparked her participation in organizations such as Best Buddies, Miracle League, Special Olympics, etc. Michelle continued this passion while working at Wisconsin Lions Camp for several summers. She knew that, wherever life took her, she would be working with kids.

Michelle completed her academic career, completing a Masters in Social Work at UWGB. She began her career journey in outpatient counseling, when she quickly realized she missed activity and movement of working with kids. It wasn’t until she began working with the at-risk population that she truly found her niche. Michelle’s career became more of a lifestyle and began to thrive in the work she did.

Michelle and her husband welcomed their second child in April. Between a toddler, a baby, and two dogs, the house is always filled with laughter and joy. Together, they enjoy time outside and going on mini-adventures around the area.

Trainings: Handle with Care

Louie Ortiz graduated from the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) in 2008 with an Associate of Arts and Sciences Degree in Business Administration. He is a first-generation college student who grew up primarily on the Oneida reservation but now lives in Green Bay.

After receiving his two-year degree from CMN, Louie continued his educational journey and graduated in 2012 from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB). There he triple-majored in Economics, Public Administration, Environmental Policy and Planning, and received a certificate from the Environmental Management Institute of Business.

Some highlights of his educational and professional experience include volunteering for the Menominee Indian Economic Development Authority in 2010. In 2011, to honor of Native American Heritage month, Luis took on the leadership role of planning a Social Dance at UWGB’s Richard Mathue Center. Luis was selected by his supervisors in 2014 to participate in the Shirley Daly Leadership Academy. He was selected as a guest speaker at the STEM Academy for Renewable Energy and Research Conference in 2015. In 2017, Luis studied abroad in Chile researching their economic and environmental issues and strategies to combat them. In the spring of 2015, Mr. Ortiz was selected as a Master’s Degree Fellow by the American Indian College Fund. Luis is currently waiting on the final approval of his capstone project to get his master’s degree in Sustainable Management. In February of 2022, Mr. Ortiz was awarded his substitute teaching certification from the Green Bay public school district. Louie is recently a first-time father and is enjoying all the wonderful things fatherhood has to offer.

Trainings: Handle with Care

Ben was raised “up north” in the small town of Oconto, but has lived in the Green Bay area for the past 16 years. He attended UW-Green Bay and has a degree in Social Work.

Ben has worked in a variety of settings: in-home therapy for children with autism, case management in treatment level foster care, community based and alternative educational services for a wide range of at-risk youth for the majority of his career. It is truly rewarding for him to “lync” with a child/family and see them stabilize, grow and achieve.

Trainings: Handle with Care Instructor

Nikki is married with two boys. Her oldest son is a freshman at University of Eau Claire majoring in Sports Journalism. Her youngest is a sophomore at Bay Port. Nikki enjoys spending time with her family & friends, being outdoors and going up north to their cabin. When she’s at their cabin, you can find her family swimming, four wheeling, taking bike rides, playing corn hole etc. She especially enjoys watching her sons play sports they love.

She grew up in Ledgeview and graduated from De Pere High School in 2000. For as long as Nikki can remember she has always enjoyed working with children from all ages, mostly school age. Her education background is in early childhood education, as well as childhood development. Nikki has always enjoyed learning about the activities that encourage development and meet behavioral needs of students.

Trainings: Handle with Care

Chelsea graduated from UW Madison in 2013 with a Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education. After a few years of hands-on experience in the classroom in two different school districts (one in New Berlin, Wisconsin and the other in Berlin, Connecticut), Chelsea decided to go back to school. At UW Oshkosh, she earned a Master's degree in Educational Leadership along with a principal license and director of instruction license in 2020. After 9 years of teaching in a "traditional classroom," Chelsea is eager to apply her experiences as an educator to LYNC Academy; She is looking forward to the individualized and student-centered approach LYNC uses to serve and support its students.

In addition to being passionate about her role as a teacher, Chelsea is passionate about her role as a mom! When she is not in the classroom, she is spending time with her husband and three young children (ages 5, 4, and 1). She loves playing outdoors with her family, game nights, watching Survivor with her husband, traveling, and reading a good book.

Trainings: Handle With Care

In addition to his decades-long work in the accounting field, Paul was a Treatment Foster Care provider for 18 struggling youth over an 11 year period. Paul enjoys the connections he has maintained with several of these boys and girls as they have moved to adulthood. Paul has also published multiple inspirational and self-help books. These experiences connect his 'work in the office' directly to the students served by LYNC Academy.

Recreationally, Paul is a naturalist and lover of remote regions on the planet. Ideal vacation destinations would include national parks, the Amazon rainforest and the Guatemalan jungle. His favorite quote/lesson is; "We are what we think, having become what we thought." ~Gautama Buddha

Meredith Bieri is the founder of Be Soul Good, LLC, a social impact company dedicated to the betterment of society. Meredith’s entrepreneurial journey is full of successes, failures, false starts, bad luck, beautiful humans, amazing mentors, and exciting innovation.

Meredith lives and breathes the idea that building your legacy requires continuous work on being a better human being and helping the others do the same. Be Soul Good is a vehicle for humans and communities to use commerce for change. The humanity experience, a social impact product line, retail store, social impact vending machine program and a Peer Humanity program designed to help struggling individuals with the tough barriers that life challenges us with.

Besides being the founder of LYNC Academy, Meredith will participate in the execution of the caregiver/parenting component. As a former teen Mom and absolute mess of a human being, Meredith has insight to the struggles caregivers face in taking care of children while just trying to survive.

She has started a total of five ventures, three of which were not the next great idea but served as valuable lessons, education, and opportunity to ensure Be Soul Good and LYNC Academy are sustainable, successful and evoke a community awareness shift.

Meredith is a human magnet and has been blessed to have the most talented individuals working with her in her companies. None of it would be possible without the Be Soul Good and LYNC Academy Teams. She celebrates 17 years of marriage to Wayne, the one healthy adult that provided her stability during her most trying times for 17 years. Together they have 4 Children ranging in age from 4 ½ to 27 and have been licensed foster parents and respite providers. While the OG Famjamlandia (the name of their family unit) are thick as thieves, Meredith and Wayne consider many people part of their family. They both live and breathe the statement “How Can I Help?”

Trainings: Handle with Care

Casey Coughlin grew up in La Crosse, WI. He is a husband and father of two young children. Casey graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2002, a Master of Art Therapy from the University of Wisconsin-Superior in 2007, and a Master of Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2016.

Casey has worked in the field of human services for over 20 years. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in the cross section of mental illness and trauma, and childhood development. Casey's passion is in applying his expertise to generating K-12 students' success in non-traditional school environments, and translating this success to a more traditional school environment.

Trainings: Handle With Care

Macy Booth is a recent graduate from UW-Madison in which she double majored in Social Welfare and Gender and Women’s Studies. She is passionate about community engagement and wellbeing. During her undergrad time she interned with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin as a fundraising intern for the Fall 2022 midterm elections. In addition she spent her final undergraduate semester as a coding research assistant for the Center for Research on Gender and Women’s Studies.

As a recent graduate she is looking forward to contributing some fresh ideas and perspectives to the LYNC team and the world of education.

In her free time Macy loves to read, listen to podcasts, and spend time with her 10 year old pug Buddha.

Jackie Korth brings over two decades of executive management experience, partnering with the employee work force in multiple states, with responsibility for over 300 employees. Jackie processes a wealth of business leadership, ownership, technology, analytics, sales, and marketing. Jackie has worked in Fortune 500 & 100 companies throughout her career. Today, Jackie uses her experience and expertise to work with companies to identify critical gaps provides recommendations, and implements innovative solutions to meet or exceed current and future growth objectives. Jackie launched a consultant business, and non-profit several years ago. Jackie is an advocate of many needs in her community of which she supports as well as served on several boards Jake’s Network of Hope, Airadigm Communications, currently is President, of Fox Cities Act of Kindness, Inc.