Bios
Kristen Bronson
Kristen Bronson got her start in the volunteering world spending time amongst the wild animals at the Boston Science Museum cleaning cages and becoming fast friends with Daisy and Petunia, the ever so charming resident opossums. From that point on, she found great joy in giving, donating art for charity-driven art shows, and becoming an avid, charged supporter of women and children who have suffered abuse. She is an avid supporter of the Defenders of Wildlife project to rescue wolves and maintain their integrity and ecosystem.
Kristen is now the President of Quiltface Inc. She is eagerly embracing her role as company owner, but simultaneously taking on her role as philanthropist via the Foundation for Open Creation. Her main initiative and hope is to uplift people and animals who have temporarily lost their strength. Kristen knows from personal experience that even when it seems otherwise, with proper nurturing, one can rise again.
Heather Jordan
Heather Jordan is a graduate of The New School University, Eugene Lang College in NYC. Her studies concentrated in Creative Writing, Literature, and Fine Art. After graduating in 2000, she worked as a stylist in NYC specializing in theatrical wardrobe and makeup. In 2004, Heather collaborated on a runway performance that soon became the fashion label Anie Rexe. After producing two collections and two independent fashion shows, she then participated in several group shows for young designers. Heather then became involved with the film, Vodka Rocks, written and directed by John Rubino, where she was the chief Costume Designer. This lead to several other film projects, and another feature film, A Book of Truth and A Book of Lies, written and directed by Misha Dostrov. Presently Heather is working as a freelance designer and consultant. She is also in production on a new collection for Anie Rexe.
Heather started her career in charity work in 2005, volunteering with Mustaches for Kids, an organization which supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Heather is very excited to be working with the Foundation for Open Creation. It is an opportunity that will allow her to challenge concepts of beauty and form, as well as help others see their inner strength by diminishing exterior stereotypes.
Autumn Horton
Autumn Horton began working with under served populations in 1996 at Bradford Health Services, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Mobile, Al. She assessed level of care and facilitated placement. Although Bradford is a private facility, most of her time was spent finding resources for indigent, uninsured patients which required patience, creativity, and serious elbow grease. She then progressed to the Marketing Department where she educated emergency room staffs, physicians, probation officers, and the general public about addiction and appropriate solutions.
In 2000 Autumn recognized her need for inspiration and moved to NYC. After many years of searching for her purpose, she was introduced to yoga and was instantly smitten. She plans to complete yoga teacher training and infuse her practice with her love of music.
When Hurricane Katrina hit her hometown of New Orleans, LA in August 2005, Autumn was called to action. She volunteered with Habitat for Humanity twice over the next two years, and during that experience truly felt the power of community. She hopes to translate those feelings of humility and generosity through the Foundation for Open Creation. Autumn is thrilled to be involved in this irreverent, beautiful project.
Dan Burgess
The career of Dan Burgess has encompassed two main areas: the education of health care professionals; and the review of quality systems. Now as Vice President, Education, Global Operations and Development for the American Academy of CME he is able to combine these two areas of expertise in the provision of quality education.
Dan started his career in education, responsible for the development plans of a department of quality systems auditors. As a qualified auditor himself, both in the GxP's, (Laboratory, Manufacturing and Clinical) and international standards (ISO) he has often said that a quality audit is in itself a trip around the educational cycle.
Once established as an expert in this area and regularly providing training programs around the globe Dan moved in two ways: over into curricula development for medical staff across twenty-seven countries; and from his base in the UK to the USA.
"I was promoted to develop educational systems to improve educational outcomes where the needs had been identified through audit".
Traveling widely and seeing many quality and accreditation systems first hand, Dan was active in the design, provision and tracking of education for Pfizer's internal medical staff across these countries and for health care professionals involved in the design and management of clinical trials. This stage in his career gave the chance to demonstrate innovation in both publications and film work with recognition for his publication of SYNAPSE and awards for the use of new media in interactive curricula.
Dan's next move was brought about by a combination of industry changes, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), and mergers within Pfizer. Moving rapidly into CME full time, and the development of industry strategies to narrow independently identified health care gaps. Dan was a key player in the development of Pfizer's initial CME systems to meet OIG audit requirements and responsible for the coordination of activities in many therapeutic areas - Urology, Respiratory (COPD/ Smoking Cessation), Cardiovascular, and Oncology.
Becoming increasingly frustrated by the negative perceptions of industry Dan is back in the provision of quality education as Vice President, Education, Global Operations and Development of the American Academy of CME, a non profit educational foundation who's mission is to identify global gaps in health care delivery and address these gaps through education, where he is making a difference in the perception of educational provision to health care providers and the positive impact on patient health.