Meet the Board

Patricia Artis is the driving force behind the organization. She has a B.S. in Sociology from MacMurray College. She has over 30 years’ experience as a foster parent in Washoe County and has seen firsthand the struggle of youth aging out of the foster care system. She and her husband Gary have been the owners and directors of R House Community Treatment Home since 1989, providing a structured, home-like environment for children and youth requiring a higher level of care than is provided in regular foster care. She is well known in her community for her commitment to children and youth and has established a positive reputation within the child welfare community. Her years of experience make her an asset to both the youth that will be served and the community.

Aaron Levine (CPA), with over 23 years of extensive experience in Management, Deal Negotiation, Sales, Compliance, Business Development, Revenue Assurance, and Financial and Investigative Analysis, brings a wealth of business and cultural acumen to Monai Village. His professional journey encompasses global, multi-segment, and multi-industry connections, with significant time spent in APJ, China, LATAM, and EMEA, working closely with a diverse range of customers, local internal teams, and partners. In his current role as a World Wide Sales Lead for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Aaron adeptly manages annual cloud revenue of $100 million for Global Financial Services and Life Science companies. His consistent success in surpassing revenue targets and performance metrics in the corporate world translates seamlessly to meeting and exceeding the unique needs of our youth clients at Monai Village. Aaron's unwavering commitment to the community aligns perfectly with the Monai mission, focused on breaking the cycle of abandonment and creating opportunities for young adults to thrive in the real world.

JoAnn Behrman-Lippert, Ph.D., Psychologist and Trauma Consultant, has 40 years of experience working with missing and exploited children, victims of crime, and assessing threats of violence and harassment. She specializes in the treatment of these issues. She also serves as a forensic consultant and evaluator in criminal and civil actions involving child abduction and exploitation, child abuse, violence, and allegations of harassment and hostile work environments,. Dr. Lippert has been a consultant to municipal, county, and federal law enforcement agencies since 1985.
She has also been a frequent consultant and faculty member in U.S. Department of Justice
training and research programs including Reunification of Missing Children, the Missing and Exploited Children Action Program (MCAP). In 1992 she helped develop the reunification protocol for reuniting missing children with their families. In 1999 she completed a five-year research and development grant for the U. S. Department of Justice on treatment models and family trauma response to missing children who have been recovered and to their families.
Beginning in the late 1980s she was part of a consulting group that assessed threats of violence in the workplace and helped in developing protocols for evaluating persons making threats and the workplace milieu with follow up case management services. She maintains a private practice in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada treating children, adolescents, and their families as well as victims of crime.

Alice Ledesma has worked as a social worker for the Human Services Agency in Washoe County for 32 years.  She has had various assignments including foster and child care licensing, foster care placements, supervision of several units including adoptions, clinical services, residential care contracts, family support services, independent living initiatives, and investigations.  She has been a program coordinator for the agency and is currently the Children's Services Division Director.  She has and does serve on numerous boards in our community that address early education and learning, youth homelessness, national standards for foster and child care assessment, family court practices, and child safety in our community.  She is currently working with the California Youth Law program to address issues in quality parenting for children in foster care as well as juvenile justice reform.  Alice is a native Nevadan and received her degrees at the University of Nevada, Reno.  She has been married to her husband for 32 years and they have two children, both of whom are in college.  She is an avid baseball fan and enjoys all aspects of the game from Little League to the professionals.  As she prepares for retirement from the government sector, she is excited to devote more time to changing the "idea" of child welfare and its processes so that families feel more support and understanding of the system.  She has a passion for older youth in the system and their transition into adult life and responsibilities with the foundation of relationships and understanding their needs in place.  

Terri has had many roles - wife and mom being the most important over the last 35 years!  Vocationally, she is a Professional Civil Engineer and has had a career with Washoe County and the City of Reno.  Terri and her son started training in martial arts 20 years ago.   It was through martial arts that she met Pat Artis, the founder of Monai Village.  Terri recognizes the need and value of the goals of Monai Village and hopes to contribute to the success of the organization.

Aaron Levine
Wes Chewjalearn