Board Members




Michelle Stark, Founder & President Matanya's Hope
Michelle Stark was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved to Illinois with her family when she was 13 years old.

Michelle is founder and president of Matanya’s Hope. She founded the 501(c)(3) organization in 2005 after returning from a safari to Kenya, East Africa. Stark states, “The visit to Kenya changed my life. I never knew how I would serve this world, but since I was a little girl, I prayed that there would be a way for God to use me. When I felt the calling to found Matanya’s Hope, I knew that my prayers had been answered.”

Michelle has given everything in her power to help the poor children of Kenya breakthrough the walls of poverty by providing them with alternatives to this harsh and desperate lifestyle. Stark sees education as the most important weapon of all against world problems: poverty only being one of them.

She spends several months each year in Kenya where she works one on one with the hundreds of children who seek help from Matanya’s Hope. She lives with the local people and tells us, “I have learned that money does not define wealth. Heart does. The people in Kenya have little to give me besides their love and prayers, but they are the most beautiful people I have ever met.”

It is Michelle’s dream to build several schools in Kenya so that these children can have a better chance at life. We take so many of these opportunities for granted here, but something as simple as a blackboard and chalk is considered a precious commodity if not a treasure in some of these rural villages. If we can send the children to good boarding schools”, Stark says, “they will have a chance to compete with the most privileged students…because money doesn’t buy brains.” “It is time that the poor are recognized as human beings with potential and purpose in this world. We can do that by giving them a chance. They have to do the work.” Stark tells us that by building schools for Matanya’s Hope, the organization will have better access to the students throughout the year…thus improving all aspects of their education – both academically, spiritually and emotionally.”

In addition to Matanya’s Hope, Michelle works as a massage therapist. She is passionate about serving people and making this world better through the gift of compassion.

Michelle is the proud mother of Sean Slutsky, who’s achievements in life have never ceased to amaze her.

Michelle attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and the Art Institute of Chicago. She graduated with a BA in fine arts.


Anthony J. Medonia, Treasurer

Practice Areas
Advanced estate planning, corporate law, succession planning, and taxation

Credentials
Tony is both a certified public accountant and attorney. In 1990, he received his Juris Doctorate from John Marshall Law School, where he now teaches Estate and Trusts, and Taxes of Estates and Trusts as an adjunct faculty member. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in accountancy from the University of Illinois in 1985.

Tony thrives on tough legal and financial challenges—the kind of complex problems that require elegant strategies to achieve success. He believes that success requires a personal approach to the law as well as detailed planning, so he has created a service-oriented practice in which lawyers become trusted and valuable business and wealth-preservation resources to their clients.

Tony speaks frequently at a variety of professional seminars, serves on the Planned Giving Committee and Board of Advisors of Catholic Charities of Chicago, and is a member of the Justinian Society of Lawyers. He is coauthor of Generations: Planning Your Legacy, a book on effective estate planning.




Jeanette Contreras, Board Secretary

Jeanette graduated High School in 1982 from Bloom Trail. Following High School, Jeanette attended Prairie State College where she was on the Presidents list. Upon graduation, Jeanette earned her Legal Secretarial A.A.S. credentials.

Currently, Jeanette works for Miller Metals Service Corporation in University Park, Illinois. She holds the positions of Customer Service Manager, Quality Assurance Manager, Safety Department and ISO 9000 Internal Auditor.

/She has a great interest in travel softball, where she coached teams for 24 years. She was also secretary to the Glenwood Softball Board in 1990. Today, Jeanette coaches and supports her daughter’s serious involvement with the sport.

Jeannette also enjoys crafing, sewing and bible study.

Alfonso Smith

Alfonso Smith has over 32 years of experience in the Data Processing field. A graduate of Control Data Corporation in the late 70’s, Al has had a distinguished career, spending 12 years with Merrill Lynch and the past 16 years with SunGard where he has dedicated his career and talents. As Vice President of Global Development for Stream GMI, he has traveled world wide building a Global development team lending his technical computer knowledge and skills to enhance their own, while also meeting with an array of leading Global institutions designing and advancing Stream GMI to meet their business needs. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries, including the world’s 25 largest financial services companies.

SunGard one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.

With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 472 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented five times.

Al currently sponsors 3 Matanya’s Hope students. His passion to give back to community is based upon his desire to honor those who have helped him throughout his career. He is a dedicated and active member of his church, serving as Sunday School Superintendent for 18+ years and serves on the Steward Board whose main responsibility is to ensure spiritual growth at the church is achieved.

He is an active outdoorsman, featuring numerous awards for his new founded techniques in logging, tubing and what he has proudly coined: sinking the ship. While he plans to make a trip to Kenya this July, Mr. Smith realizes that the children he sponsors may or may not be ready to experience his love of the sport.




Cyril B. Embil, MA, MBA

Cyril Embil was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, later immigrating to the United States in 1992. In 2000, Cyril graduated from Northern Illinois University, with a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics/French degree, which included studies at Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium. Cyril has since earned two graduate degrees from Northern Illinois University, Master of Arts in International Relations and Master of Business Administration.

Prior to serving on the Board for Matanya’s Hope, Cyril was employed by Northern Illinois University as a Graduate Assistant and Teaching Assistant, and was a Fraternal Consultant for College Councils with the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council in New Haven, Connecticut. Cyril currently serves as System Coordinator for Career Development System, an Illinois State Education Cooperative. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, Phi Beta Delta, an honor society for international scholars and an Evans Scholar.




Barry Miller

Barry Miller is both an Attorney at Law and founder of Patria Partners, a real estate development and property management company on Chicago’s South side. In 1998 we began our mission to rehabilitate the South Side’s classic homes to their former splendor. As more people realize the great values on the historic South Side, Patria continues to grow and now comprises more than 200 rental units, 100 full-time employees and 70 owned properties.

Barry has served on the Matanya’s Hope Board of Directors as full fledged member and legal advisor since 2008. He sponsors Margaret, a top performing student in Kenya, who without his help, would be forced to abandon her dreams of going to high school and university.


Dr. Katherine M. Howard, EdD MAPC MSM LPC
Since she was a small child, Dr. Katherine Howard has had a passion for Africa. One of her earliest memories is being told she draws her trees funny. She did not understand why. Many months later, after seeing a picture of an Acacia tree in a magazine, she knew she was right: “See, that IS how trees are supposed to look”.

When young Katherine heard African tribal music for the first time, it was as if she was hearing music so familiar and natural that it felt like she was recalling her own memories from a childhood she didn’t experience.

Dr. Howard holds Doctorate in Education; Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Counselor Education and Supervision. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Illinois and also holds both a Master of Arts in Professional Counseling and a Master of Science in Management. As an educator, Dr. Howard shares her passion for teaching and counseling. A naturally gifted teacher charged with enthusiasm and energy, Dr. Howard creates a positive learning environment that encourages participation and exploration of learning concepts. She, herself, is also a life-long learner seeking to learn with and from her students.

In the field of counseling, Dr. Howard has focused much of her attention on the use of written intervention tools as therapeutic measures. In the Internet world of blogs, chats, bulletin boards, etc., Dr. Howard is deciphering the patterns and finding the healing connections that will continue to change and shape the field of counseling. She believes that more individuals can benefit from this ever-improving technology.

Dr. Howard is knowledgeable in the field of managing personal change; especially regarding the transitions in a woman's life. For the past several years, she has lead many Internet and in-person support forums dealing with issues ranging from parenting to depression. A strong advocate for women empowering themselves and other women, she also recognizes the growing need for women to help men find strength in their changing roles in society. As a mother herself, Dr. Howard sees the turmoil and uncertainty that our youth face in understanding what it means to be a male or female in today’s society.

In the area of professional skills and professional skill building, Dr. Howard has helped spearhead several related movements at the college level. Using custom rubrics these skills are then able to be evaluated with the results used to continue developing course curriculum.

Dr. Howard has been instrumental in developing the assessment of student learning initiative at the Illinois Institute of Art – Schaumburg to a level that has received nationally recognized accreditation approval and recommendation.

Dr. Howard is a dynamic speaker, using humor and a light-hearted approach to present a wide array of personal and professional skill building topics.

Dr. Howard and her three children are co-sponsoring Patrick Muriuki, a high school student who would have had no choice but to watch his dreams vanish – without receiving an academic scholarship through Matanya’s Hope. Dr. Howard was also instrumental in providing a scholarship for a member of the Matanya’s Hope Kenyan team to attend a Digital Photography Certificate Program at The Illinois Institute or Art in Schaumburg. Dr. Howard has grown one internet group (Facebook) membership of Matanya’s Hope from 3 members to 170 members within a two-month period of time. She is a leading member of the following Matanya’s Hope committees: Strategic Planning, Finance, and Grant Writing and is an active participant in many others committees.