Serving the Tampa Bay region since 2014

William Atkinson

Person in long term recovery since 2006. Co-founder of the Recovery Epicenter Foundation and Executive Director. CRRA, CRSS, CRPS Trainer.

John Wittman

John Wittman is the Chief Operating Officer of the Recovery Epicenter Foundation, where he supports the organization's mission to provide peer support, eliminate stigma, and empower individuals and families on their journey to healing. With a background in business operations and administration, John brings valuable insight and perspective to the board. He is especially passionate about recovery and believes in building a meaningful, purpose-driven life beyond abstinence — an approach that supports long-term sobriety and overall well-being. In addition to his professional experience in the telecommunications industry, John is in long-term recovery and is committed to expanding access to the Foundation's peer support services, community outreach, and public awareness efforts. He is proud to contribute to the continued growth and impact of the Recovery Epicenter Foundation.

Lindsey McKeown

Person in long term recovery since 2017, Chief Financial Officer, and Human Resources. CRRA, CRPS, CRPS Trainer and Supervisor.

Stephanie DiMarco

Person in long term recovery since 2020, Outreach Director. CRPS.

Karah Balentine

Person in long term recovery since 2023, Peer Respite Director. CRPS and CRRA in training.

Amanda Pettay

Board Chair

Amanda Pettay is a person in long-term recovery, sober since May 2014, whose journey has looked a lot like life itself — messy, transformative, and never walked alone. In the years since getting sober, Amanda has lost jobs, weathered major traumatic life events, launched a business, and bought a home. Through every one of those moments — the hard ones and the triumphant ones — the recovery community was there. Not just as a safety net in difficult times, but as a mirror in the good ones, reflecting back the strength and lessons she had quietly been building all along.

That lived experience is what brought Amanda to the board of Recovery Epicenter Foundation. When she attended a Tampa Bay Lightning Recovery Night and saw REF's work up close — the peer connections, the presence, the proof that community changes lives — she recognized something familiar in it. Today, as Board Chair, she brings both her personal story and her professional background as a financial and tax strategist to help REF grow its mission across the Tampa Bay region. Recovery showed Amanda how to love herself, how to give back, and what it truly means to be held by a community that refuses to let you go it alone. She lives that out daily — alongside her rescue dog Banjo, who, if you ask anyone who knows them, is very much part of the team.

Dominic Grefsrud

Board Vice Chair

Dominic wants to be a conduit of change and a beacon of hope to those struggling with substance abuse and mental health conditions. He has constantly said that he does this work to prevent people from making the same mistakes he did — if he can encourage change in someone's life, those mistakes were not in vain.

As part of community outreach in the addiction field and co-founder of an intervention and sober transport company, Dominic brings a great passion to his role of helping those struggling with addiction. Before his days of helping others find treatment, he was the one who needed help. Dominic's addiction started early, at the age of 14. By adulthood, substances had taken over his life. He lost everything, but with the help of others, he was able to change his fate.

Once in recovery, Dominic found himself with the drive to help people who are struggling with addiction. He took part in a three-part docuseries to share his story and let others know they are not alone. He shows everyone that you can change and have a happy life — no matter the evils you are struggling with today, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Today, you can find Dominic enjoying his hobbies of fixing cars, mudding, and Jeep clubs. He has over eight years of clean time and enjoys everything his hard work has earned him. Dominic is happily married and working his dream job by giving back and providing crucial support to those on their recovery journey.

Dan Wood

Board Treasurer

Dan has been in recovery since 2019 and credits sober living in Los Angeles with helping him turn his life around after years of trying. Early recovery was humbling. It meant starting again from scratch, accepting help and learning how much of a difference the right support, offered at the right time, can make. Dan remains deeply thankful to those who helped him rebuild his life and aims to provide that same opportunity for others. He never forgets that, for many people, one setback can be the difference between stability and life on the street. He came very close himself. That awareness drives his commitment to recovery, housing and community work.

Professionally, Dan is a Chartered Public Sector Accountant with a background in public finance, audit, operations and governance. In 2020, he joined the leadership team at SHARE! (Self-Help & Recovery Exchange) in Los Angeles, one of the county's main support organizations, overseeing operations across an organization that hosted hundreds of self-help groups and operated peer respite and recovery housing programs.

Originally from Worcester, UK, Dan has lived in St. Pete since 2022 with his wife and son. St. Pete and Pinellas are now at the heart of his community work. He has served on boards and committees across housing, homelessness and recovery, and is a proud graduate of the Leadership St. Pete Class of 2025, where he continues to serve on the Planning Committee. Through that work, he has built connections across local government, education, business, nonprofits and community services.

Dan also holds the provisional Certified Recovery Residence Administrator (CRRA-P) credential, issued by the Florida Certification Board. At REF, he brings together lived experience, financial oversight, an understanding of how critical these services are to the community, and a belief that recovery should remain accessible to anyone ready to take the next step.

John Wittman

Board Secretary

John Wittman is a dedicated board member of the Recovery Epicenter Foundation, where he supports the organization's mission to provide peer support, eliminate stigma, and empower individuals and families on their journey to healing. With a background in business operations and administration, John brings valuable insight and perspective to the board. He is especially passionate about recovery and believes in building a meaningful, purpose-driven life beyond abstinence — an approach that supports long-term sobriety and overall well-being. In addition to his professional experience in the telecommunications industry, John is in long-term recovery and is committed to expanding access to the Foundation's peer support services, community outreach, and public awareness efforts. He is proud to contribute to the continued growth and impact of the Recovery Epicenter Foundation.

Josh Dirscherl

Board Member

Joshua is the owner and Managing Director of Recovery Resolutions, a recovery residence program operating in the Tampa Bay region, and was the original regional director of the Pinellas and Pasco Oxford Recovery homes in Florida from 2022 to 2025 before leaving to pursue his own program. As a person in long-term recovery and a recovery infrastructure entrepreneur, he has opened over 30 recovery homes in central Florida, creating over 1,000 beds for individuals seeking a safe and supportive living environment to recover. He provides additional support through job opportunities for people in early recovery to become self-supporting through home remodeling and construction efforts. Josh is active in the recovery community, passionate about helping people with the dis-ease we share.

Josh Naaman

Board Member

Josh Naaman is the CEO & Founder of Naaman Creative and Co-Founder of OppKo, where he focuses on the strategic leadership, design, and growth of businesses. He works at the intersection of intentional creativity, technology, software, legacy branding, and effective marketing systems, helping founders and organizations think through what they are building, and why it matters to their long-term goals. His background spans design, digital strategy, education, and entrepreneurship, with years spent advising startups, nonprofits, and established companies as they grow and evolve.

Josh's approach centers on structure, intention, and long-term alignment. He's known for helping leaders zoom out, ask better questions, and design businesses that are both meaningful and sustainable. Outside of work, Josh focuses on his own recovery and is a drummer, a husband, and a dad to two daughters. Family, music, and building things that last are at the core of how he leads, both professionally and personally.

Joseph Mercier

Board Member

A person in long-term recovery since July 2024, Joe was once a participant and resident of the recovery homes within The Recovery Epicenter Foundation during his own journey through addiction. He is deeply grateful for all the Foundation has done for him and his family and views serving on the Board as an absolute honor and an opportunity to give back what was so freely given to him.

Joe currently works on the leadership team at The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in St. Petersburg, a proud partner of The Recovery Epicenter Foundation. He brings a faith-based perspective to the Board, along with a deep belief in the transformative power of the Twelve Steps and the spiritual principles that we rally around in the rooms of recovery.

Joe believes that if the work can help even just one lost man or woman believe that their life is still redeemable and that hope is possible, then every effort is worth it.

Jess Simonds

Board Member

Jess Simonds knows what it feels like to build a life that looks successful on the outside while quietly falling apart underneath it. Her recovery journey forced her to confront addiction, people-pleasing, survival mode, and the realization that she had spent years making choices around what everyone else needed while slowly losing connection with herself. Recovery began with stepping away from drugs and alcohol, but it evolved into something much bigger than sobriety. It became the first time Jess truly understood that she had permission to choose differently, rebuild her life, and decide for herself what came next.

That experience changed the way she sees addiction, recovery, and transformation. Jess believes people are more than the substance they used, the behavior they are trying to change, or the label someone placed on them. She has been involved with SMART Recovery for approximately seven years as both a participant and facilitator and is a certified SMART Recovery facilitator. Her work is practical, nonjudgmental, and rooted in helping people understand what is happening beneath the behavior rather than responding with shame. She is also the author of This Is My Becoming: The Phoenix Within, a book centered on transformation, self-trust, and rebuilding after personal upheaval.

After more than 20 years in finance, accounting, operations and corporate leadership, Jess had the privilege of working alongside business owners and entrepreneurs at many different stages of growth. She saw firsthand what strong financial strategy could do for a business. Jess founded The Next Chapter Solutions to bring that same level of CFO insight to small business owners who may not otherwise have access to it. Her approach is to meet businesses where they are, help owners understand what their numbers are saying, and build a realistic path toward their next chapter. Whether she is looking at a financial statement or a human behavior, Jess tends to ask the same question: What is really happening underneath the surface?

At the Recovery Epicenter Foundation Jess leads through lived recovery experience, financial and operational leadership, SMART facilitation, education and entrepreneurship. Jess also maintains a genuine belief in people's ability to change. She is especially passionate about reducing stigma and expanding accessible recovery resources. Jess's mission is helping build pathways that support sobriety, stability, identity, purpose, connection, and a life people want to stay present for.

Tracy McCartney

Board Member

Tracy McCartney is an entrepreneur, financial leader, and person in long-term recovery whose passion for service, leadership, and community impact drives both her professional work and personal mission. Since beginning her recovery journey on September 5, 2022, Tracy has embraced a purpose-driven commitment to giving back, supporting others in sobriety, and empowering individuals to recognize their potential for growth and leadership. As the owner of Sunspire Consulting LLC, she combines more than 15 years of financial and operational leadership experience with an entrepreneurial mindset and a deep commitment to helping businesses and mission-driven organizations thrive. Through financial consulting, service work, and speaking engagements at treatment centers, Tracy strives to strengthen organizations, develop future leaders, and help create meaningful, lasting change in the communities they serve.

Through her financial consulting work, Tracy partners with business owners, executive teams, and organizational leaders to strengthen financial oversight, improve internal controls, enhance financial transparency, and implement processes that promote accountability and long-term stability. Her expertise includes budgeting and forecasting, cash flow management, financial reporting, operational improvement, financial policies and procedures, and strategic financial planning. She is passionate about helping mission-driven organizations steward their resources responsibly so they can focus on the people, programs, and communities they serve.

Beyond the numbers, Tracy is committed to building leadership at every level. She believes in sharing knowledge, mentoring others, creating opportunities for professional growth, and equipping individuals with the tools and confidence to take ownership of their roles. Through hands-on training, collaboration, and encouragement, she helps develop stronger teams and cultivates an environment where others can grow into leadership with integrity, accountability, and purpose. Her leadership philosophy is grounded in the belief that success is most meaningful when it creates opportunities for others to succeed as well.

Tracy approaches her work with integrity, compassion, and a genuine commitment to helping organizations and individuals reach their full potential. By combining executive-level financial insight with approachable, collaborative leadership, she strives to build sustainable organizations, strengthen the people behind their missions, and create a lasting, positive impact in the communities they serve.