Board Members

Susan Pete

President, Founder

Sue Pete, founder, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Innovation in Healthcare toward Social Equity from Grand Valley State University. Her past work experiences have been in healthcare as a Nursing Technician with inpatient Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant patients. Sue's passion for pediatric healthcare started when she was a patient herself; when she was 14 she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She is an advocate for social equity in healthcare and enjoys sharing her knowledge by helping others understand the barriers that contribute to social inequities, especially in the healthcare setting. While she holds a job with Farmers Insurance, she considers Connect to Care her passion.  In the community, Sue volunteers her time coaching soccer, participates in passing out blessing bags to the homeless, is involved in Alumni relations at Grand Valley and participates in other organized opportunities to volunteer throughout the community.

Meghan Raven

Vice President, Director of Branding

Meghan Raven, board of directors, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Visual and Critical Studies. She has 11 years as an Industrial Designer, working for Bissell, Stryker and Steelcase. She has spent the majority of her career in front-end innovation processes and as a user advocate. Her passion for this organization comes from being a long term guest of a hospitality house with her late daughter, Loghan, who had congenital heart deformities. Meghan’s experiences in consumer advocacy, design thinking processes, and as advocate for her own family, bring a unique perspective to serving the community’s hospitality needs.

Jennifer Sutherby

Secretary/Treasurer, Director of Risk

Jennifer Sutherby holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in corporate finance from Central Michigan University.  Her current position is Vice President and Commercial Portfolio Manager Senior for Huntington Bank. She believes that a good banking relationship helps companies grow, which leads to hiring more people and keeping the economy going! She also holds experience in finance and human resource leadership where she prepared financials and budgets, as well as writing some bank policies and procedures. She is a member of The Risk Management Association and in the past has served as a local President and as a member of the national committee on the Chapters and Membership Council. Starting as a youth, she has also served in a variety of positions at Job’s Daughters International at both local and state levels. Jennifer believes that Connect to Care is truly utilizing the communities' resources to not only help those in need, but build relationships that will have impacts on future generations.

Christine Lentine

Director of Strategic Planning

Christine Lentine is the Operations Director at Kids' Food Basket. Graduating from Aquinas College with a degree in Business Administration and Community Leadership, she has worked for a variety of nonprofits in training, administration, programming, fund development, and community outreach. Christine acquired her Certificate in Fundraising Management from Indiana University's School of Philanthropy in 2012 and her Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional designation in 2016. She was a 2014 class member of Leadership Advantage by the Center for Community Leadership and served as President on the Aquinas College Alumni Association Board. She currently volunteers with the Dominican Friars and serves on the Board of Directors for Connect to Care.

Ashley Diekema

Director of Grants & Fundraising

Ashley Diekema holds a degree in Child Development and has been working with children in the professional setting since 2011. In the fall of 2017, Ashley began taking online grant writing courses to expand her knowledge with the development/fundraising side of nonprofits and she is excited to bring the new skills she’s learned to Connect to Care. Her leap of faith recently landed her a new career doing events and fundraising for CLC Network, a local Christian organization equipping congregations and schools with purposeful, innovative inclusion of persons with varied abilities. Before her career switch, she was a Child Life Assistant at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital for over three years providing normalization to the hospital setting through therapeutic play to patients and their families. She also holds experience walking alongside children in their grief journey after the loss of a loved one and working to end child sexual abuse through educating our kids about body safety.