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Rogers Clayton
Founder
About
Rogers had the vision to build an organization to truly live out the mission of helping parents and children with autism to access opportunities to achieve transformational results in their lives. He and his wife are the parents of seven children which provided a great deal of inspiration for the founding of JoyBridge. He enjoys building a culture of joy, excellence and service in an enterprise to help people achieve results beyond their wildest expectations. In his 25 year career, Rogers has built and led successful teams and organizations in multiple arenas. Prior to founding JoyBridge in 2020, he was the CEO of The Escape Game, a national company focused on creating and delivering amazing experiences. He is delighted to now be helping children with autism to reach their brightest future at JoyBridge.
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Michael Cairnes
Chief Executive Officer
About
Mike is foremost a father of an autistic son, and therefore, is highly passionate about JoyBridge Kids. He has a proven track record of building and executing visionary strategies across multiple sectors. Prior to JoyBridge Kids, Mike was CEO of Kirkland’s, and before that, President at Michaels, Inc. In addition, Mike is Chairman of the Board for BrightStone, a non-profit organization that is a life-long learning and work program for adults with special needs – there he helped engineer a new expansive center and residential program. He is also on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics of Tennessee where he facilitated their future strategy which includes bringing the USA Games to Nashville in 2030. At each stop, Mike strives to pioneer and galvanize processes and people to achieve off-the-charts performance. Helping children with autism is not just a passion for him, it’s personal. He strives to create an experience for your child that he’d want for his own. And while doing so, create an inclusive and special environment that honors and develops our clinicians to heights that are beyond their imagination.
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Spencer Cummings
Vice President of Finance and Revenue Cycle
About
Spencer Cummings, our VP of Finance and Revenue Cycle, leads all aspects of finance, accounting and revenue cycle functions at JoyBridge. Before joining JoyBridge in 2022, Spencer worked over 15 years for a diverse range of organizations in both the public and private sectors leading accounting, FP&A, capital planning, and strategic finance. Spencer holds a Master’s of Business Administration and CPA license with the state of Tennessee. A native of Nashville, he loves spending time with his wife and two active boys at Radnor Lake, hiking the trails at the Warner parks, or spending the weekend in East Tennessee.
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Nicole Kanew
Vice President of Clinical Operations
About
Dr. Nicole Kanew is the VP of Clinical Operations where she supports the JoyBridge Clinical Directors and Support Staff in facilitating change initiatives and to develop processes and systems to improve workplace culture and employee performance.
Before joining JoyBridge Kids, Nicole served as the lead behavior analyst for a public school district in Tennessee where she assisted with implementation of a behaviorally focused multi-tiered system of support to reduce challenging behaviors, with a heavy focus on staff training and support. She also has a wide range of experience with in-home and clinic based applied behavior analytic therapy and has operated a group home for children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has a passion for training practitioners in clinical behavior analytic methods, growing their soft skills to support their technicians and caregivers, and assisting with building a culture that promotes innovation and excellence while providing passionate care for others.
She is a graduate of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology where her focus included application of applied behavior analysis with couples, training of parents/caregivers, and social validity measures.
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Abby Blissard
Vice President of Human Resources
About
Abby Blissard is an HR professional with over 10 years’ experience in Human Resources. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Middle Tennessee State University. Her areas of expertise include recruitment, employee recognition, employee retention, training, compensation, and performance management. She has proven success in creating cultures of collaboration and implementing change to achieve workforce excellence. She has a track record of coaching in the areas of transformational leadership, team building, and managing change. Abby enjoys spending time with her husband and their two children. She enjoys being outdoors, traveling and loves her animals.