Board of Directors

I was born in Hagerstown, Md. on October 6, 1952. I'm blessed to have three sons, two grandsons and a beautiful granddaughter. I'm a Coast Guard veteran, serving from 1971 to 1975, stationed for most of my enlistment in Portsmouth, Va.  At the time of my cancer diagnosis I had been in the Fire Department for 42 years. I retired as Chief of the Hagerstown Fire Department in June 2015. My laryngectomee was on September 18, 2012 and I now use a TEP to speak. I'm a member of the Laryngectomee Club of Montgomery County, MD., the Firefighter Cancer Support Network and also attend the John Hopkins Hospital SPOHNC Meetings in Lutherville, Md. My cancer was determined to be directly related to my career as a firefighter and it's now my mission to educate firefighters everywhere I can, about cancer awareness, prevention and how to mitigate carcinogen exposure. My passions are cooking, making wine and antique fire apparatus restoration.

I was born on January 5, 1969 in Long Island, NY, and spent my first ten years in Brooklyn, NY. My family moved to suburban New Jersey in 1979, where I spent the majority of my life. I have 2 adult children, Nicole and Joseph, and am expecting my first grandchild in August of this year. After going through a divorce last year, I have been enjoying rediscovering myself, and spending my time traveling between my family in New Jersey and close friends in Virginia.

My past employment history is dominated by work in the automotive industry. My career began when I was only 17, as I assisted my father with running his Sunoco gas station, and continued when I moved on to handling the accounting for a local automotive repair shop. After a career hiatus to raise my children, in 2002 I began employment with a large, high-end automotive dealership as a Warranty Administrator, and my past experience allowed me to quickly work my way up to Service Manager. In this position, I was directly responsible for payroll, scheduling, accounts payable and receivable for my department, and customer satisfaction. I continued my employment in similar positions at several different high-end automotive dealerships up until my cancer diagnosis. It was in these positions that I was able to develop valuable skills that I believe will make me a strong candidate for Treasurer.

I had my laryngectomy in January of 2017, followed by radiation treatment ending in April 2017. Since then, I have been looking for ways to give back to the lary community and help people facing this surgery and the journey that follows. I belong to many head and neck cancer groups as well as laryngectomy groups both in the online community and in my daily life. I enjoy contributing to the recovery of others who are struggling with the issues that are unique to us as a community, as I benefited so much in those early days from the help of others who really understood what I was going through. It would be an honor to continue to give back to the community that has helped me in so many ways by becoming Treasurer for the IAL. 

CindyLee Gordish is a Speech-Language Pathologist with Sentara Health-care in Norfolk, VA. She graduated from Old Dominion University in 1998 and currently provides diagnostic and therapeutic services to both acute-care and outpatient populations. Cindy specializes in the care of patients with head/neck cancer. She follows laryngectomees throughout the continuum of care, from pre-op care through outpatient post-laryngectomy voice restoration. Cindy participated in the 2017 and 2018 IAL Annual Meeting/Voice Institute by providing a variety of lectures during the conferences. She received the Shirley J. Salmon IAL Clinician Award in 2017, and also served as the Assistant Director for the Voice Institute in 2018.

Cora Jackson-Fossett is the managing editor for the Los Angeles Sentinel and L.A. Watts Times newspapers. In this capacity, she oversees the production of both publications, which reach more than 300,000 people each week. She also writes news articles on a wide range of community, government and faith-based activities. For the past five years, she has won awards for her work from the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which is comprised of 230 Black-owned newspapers in the United States.  

Previously, she worked 15 years as the public affairs director for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works where she planned, developed and implemented strategic communications programs. She directed several award-winning projects and earned five L.A. Emmy nominations for public works videos and DVDs.

Jackson-Fossett also worked as a principal public relations representative for Los Angeles International Airport and public affairs specialist at the Chicago and Long Beach postal facilities. Jackson-Fossett retired in 2014 after 36 years of government service.

Currently, she serves on the L.A. County 211 Board of Directors, the SEIU 721 Retirees Leadership Council and the NAACP Beverly Hills/Hollywood Chapter Theatre Committee. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Crenshaw Manor Homeowners Association, Mothers in Action, and the 10th District Women’s Steering Committee

She united with Brookins-Kirkland Community A.M.E. Church in 1987 and currently serves as a Sunday School teacher, Public Relations Commission chair and on the Board of Stewards under Pastor Mary S. Minor.

A native of Gary, IN, Jackson-Fossett earned a bachelor’s degree at Indiana University, completed graduate courses at Columbia College, and received an honorary doctorate in Philosophy from California University of Theology.

Jackson-Fossett is a laryngectomee, that is, she speaks without a voice box.  She was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer in June 2020, had two surgeries in July and August to remove the tumor, and completed radiation and chemotherapy treatments in October. 

Initially learning to speak with an electrolarynx, she received her TEP voice prosthesis in December 2020 and has been progressively improving her speech to where she now speaks using a hands-free HME.  She is active in NuVoices LA and her experience as a laryngectomee is chronicled at nuvoicesla.org under Member Spotlight.

Alissa Yeargin is honored to return for her second year as a Voice Institute faculty member. She graduated summa cum laude from Clemson University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2009 with a Master of Science and Rehabilitation degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa Academic Honor Society and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in speech-language pathology from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

Alissa began working for Prisma Health in 2009 in adult acute care and later joined Greenville Ear, Nose and Throat Associates in March 2012. She specializes in evaluation and treatment of adult and adolescent voice, upper airway and swallowing disorders, as well as rehabilitation of communication and swallowing for patients with head and neck cancer. Alissa enjoys training future speech-language pathologists and educating the community about vocal health and risk factors for head and neck cancers.

I was born on February 12, 1992 in Fremont, NE. Moved to Omaha at 19 to pursue my career in Cosmetology. I worked for SportClips Haircuts for 9 years. On September 3, 2015 I had my laryngectomy at the age of 23. Six weeks later, I married my husband, Justin. I underwent radiation immediately after. I am a self taught esophageal speaker. I have 3 daughters, two of which were born after my laryngectomy. In our free time, my family and I enjoy playing board games, sports and traveling. September 2018 I was diagnosed with metastatic disease. Motivated to continue living, I've had multiple surgeries and treatment courses.

In 2019, I was a patient panelist at my first symposium in Omaha. That really  gave me a new purpose in life: to help others like me. I was a part of a virtual patient panel as well in 2020. More recently I was a patient panelist again during the Bill Brummel screening of "Can you hear my voice?" in Omaha. I had the opportunity to participate in the Conversations with the Experts segment.

I found a lot of knowledge and guidance through virtual support groups when I was diagnosed. Now I try to offer my knowledge, guidance, support and experiences to others in support groups. I occasionally get the opportunity to meet with a person prior to their laryngectomy or after. I love helping people!

Kevin has been a laryngectomee for 21 years. He lives In Barrie, Ontario, about 50 miles North of Toronto, and uses a patient-changeable voice prosthesis to speak.

While Kevin does attend a support group and does do patient visits, being a laryngectomee is really a secondary aspect of his existence. The vast majority of his time is spent working with the Developmentally Disabled Community. He coaches with two Special Olympics Alpine Racing teams, sits on two government advisory committees, and chairs the Special Education Advisory Committee for a mid-sized school board of approximately 60k students. 

Kevin is an avid motorcyclist who has traveled to the IAL conferences via motorcycle in Kansas City, Durham, Buffalo, and Virginia.

Born in Tampa, FL, 7-17-1947, but raised in Wyoming since I was a few months old until I left home at seventeen to join the Navy.  Served in the US Navy from 9/64 to 7/68, with Viet Nam service aboard the USS Yorktown (CVS-10), discharged as BM3 (E-4).

Primary career in foreign trade as a licensed customs broker.  Owned and operated my own customs brokerage business from Aug of 1984 until retirement in October of 2014.  I have written and self-published one book of poetry about the foreign trade business, called: "Strange Customs".  I also wrote "The Silent Partner" and "The Silent Knight", books about my experiences as a lary.

I am a member of a dozen or more lary support groups and created the travel support group "Lary Travel Group" as well as acting as admin on "Food for Warriors", a Facebook support group for larys with eating/swallowing difficulties.

I was married to Shelley for nearly 56 years until her passing in May of 2023.  Two daughters, plus one 'adopted' daughter. Two grandchildren, plus two 'adopted' grandchildren.

I have lived mostly in So. California since 1969, and currently reside in Inglewood, CA.

My hobby is making decorative stickers for my HME, which I share with any other larys who want them.

Kim Webster is a Northwestern University graduate and has been practicing in the field of SLP for over 30 years. She has worked in many settings but focused her career for over 20 years at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery where she worked with many patients with HNC. She is now Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of SLP and Audiology at Towson University. She also founded the SPOHNC (Support for People with Oral and HNC) chapter at JH/Baltimore in 2004 which is still going strong. She has taught, published and presented locally and nationally on speech and swallowing rehabilitation related to HNC. In her free time, she loves to travel, kayak, read and foster cats!