Chairman
Abu Yilla received his master's and doctorate degrees from Texas Woman's University, and two bachelor's degrees from the University of Nottingham, England and the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and has been at the institution since the fall of 1996. Dr Yilla instructs undergraduate teacher preparation classes. His research focus is the explication of the lives of individuals with disabilities, elite disability sport, and in particular, wheelchair basketball. He also serves on a number of boards and advisory councils. Dr. Yilla has presented extensively throughout the USA and internationally including in Canada, Germany, Mexico, Poland, and Taiwan. He is a Paralympic medalist, has won 16 national championships in wheelchair basketball (8 in Great Britain as a player; 5 as a player, and 3 as an administrator in the United States), and has coached national and international championships in wheelchair rugby

Secretary
Henk Kool earned his master's degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and his MBA from Baylor University. He is currently a Product Manager at Halliburton (an oilfield services company). Henk became involved in disability awareness and disability sport to support his son who has Spina Bifida. Henk's extensive international business experience and new product development knowledge are an asset to RISE Adventures.

Treasurer
Gabriel Dominguez earned his master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center at Dallas. He is currently working with the Department of Assistance and Rehabilitation Services (DARS), Division for Blind Services (DBS). His experience in working with blind and visually impaired individuals will be used to help RISE Adventures adapted activities to meet the needs of that population.

Lea Stewart earned her bachelor's degree in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation and a minor in Psychology from Brigham Young University in 2003. While in college, Lea served as an intern in the Recreation Department at Craig Hospital where she had once been a patient. At the age of 17, Lea was involved in a motor vehicle accident which left her with a C-7 spinal cord injury as a quadriplegic. While in rehabilitation she was introduced to Therapeutic Recreation as a treatment modality, at this time she decided to pursue a career as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS). After graduating she moved to Dallas, Texas to begin her career as a CTRS on a spinal cord injury team at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation. Lea enjoys a variety of leisure activities herself, such as: water skiing, handcycling, jet skiing, camping, and more! It is her hope to be involved in the community as a therapist to help improve the quality of life for spinal cord injured individuals and those with a variety of disabilities through adapted recreational activities.

Jacque Stauffer earned her bachelor's degree in Special Education and master's degree in Kinesiology from Texas Woman's University. While in college, she worked in the Denton Autism Program and taught Adapted Physical Education at Ann Windle School. Jacque now teaches Adapted Physical Education for Little Elm ISD. Adapted PE is a program designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities who cannot fully participate in general physical education. Also in Little Elm ISD, she works with students in a special education transition program who are between the ages of 18 and 22 years old. In addition to teaching, Jacque coaches competitive gymnastics and a special-needs cheer squad in Frisco, TX. She is currently serving as an officer in the Air Force Reserve.

Wayne Holt is a Senior Mortgage Consultant for TexasLending.com. Wayne has had a disability since he was two and a half years old, after a fireplace fell on top of him and caused a spinal cord injury. Since then, he has had more than 50 surgeries, a large number of which were performed at Scottish Rite Hospital. Later on, he had his right leg amputated due to knee injuries. Wayne walks on custom made crutches and does not let anything stop him from pursuing an active and normal life. He volunteers his time to skiing clinics for individuals with disabilities, providing demonstrations and instruction. He works closely with Metroplex Adaptive Water Sports (MAWS) and RISE Adventures, encouraging people with disabilities to water-ski and be active in sports and in life. His proactive approach to life and positive attitude are reflected by the name of his boat "Wake Up and Live!"

Curt Simonds attended the University of Kansas while playing Ice Hockey and earned an associate's of Real Estate Law from Rock Hurst College. Curt began his career in real estate with Musty Family Housing. He later worked as a sales representative for Invacare Corporation, the world largest wheelchair manufacturer, and achieved 100% of sales targets for several years in a row. After leaving Invacare, Curt launched a new branch of Allumed Medical in the Dallas area in 2001.

Jackie Bartels earned her bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from The University of Texas at Arlington where she attended on a full-ride wheelchair tennis scholarship. She would like to pursue graduate studies in rehabilitation counseling for children and adults living with disabilities. Jackie is currently part of RISE Adventures where her goal is to advocate attitudinal and architectural barriers and promote courage to help adapt and overcome adversity. As Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2007, Jackie attends events throughout the state of Texas and the United States promoting disability awareness and serving as a spokeswoman for people with disabilities. Her platform focuses on promoting the importance of attitude; to make all people, not just people with disabilities but people of all abilities aware that although they may have some obvious differences on the outside, they also have a lot in common and that given the right attitude anything is possible. Jackie was born and raised in rural Nebraska. At age 13 she was helping her grandparents fix a broken windmill at their family farm when she fell about 20 feet. Jackie sustained a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed from the waist down. From the onset of her disability, Jackie has remained active; nothing has gotten in her way. In high school she tried out and made the cheerleading squad. She is also active in adaptive snow and water skiing and wheelchair basketball.

Charles Moses began his healthcare career in 1970 as a representative for a national pharmaceutical company where he excelled in managing sales associates, administering training programs and developing sales territories. In 1987 Charles left corporate life to found and preside over a successful home medical supply company whose mission was to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Upon retiring in 2004, Charles has continued his philanthropy as a participant, advocate and donor for causes that affect people with disabilities. Charles envisions working with the RISE board to establish an all-inclusive program that will allow every individual to achieve full potential.

Kerry Morris received a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Tarleton State University in 1991 prior to entering the Marine Corps where he achieved the rank as Captain as an Artillery officer. After leaving the Marine Corps in 1996, he achieved one of his goals of sailing through the Florida Keys and Bahamas for a season before going to work for General Motors in Detroit Michigan as a maintenance supervisor at an engine plant. In March 2000, he fractured 5 vertebrae while racing superbike motorcycles at Texas World Speedway in Bryan Texas, which left him paralyzed at level T2. His initial rehabilitation was done at Baylor Institute of Rehabilitation with additional rehab at Dallas VA Medical Center before returning to work at General Motors 4 months after his injury. Always a competitor and extreme sports athlete, he was re-introduced to scuba diving in the Baylor swimming pool 5 weeks after his injury while still in rehab and within a year was back snow skiing, snowmobiling, handcycling, hunting, kayaking, downhill cycling and riding ATV motorcycles. Since then, he has added water skiing and sailing to his active list of sports- two events that he had competed in, prior to his injury, on the collegiate and professional levels respectively. Since 2001, he has participated in many disabled sports programs and organizations, Disabled Veterans Summer Wheelchair Games, and has competed annually in the Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic and has been a member of Disabled Sports USA for 7 years. As the RISE sailing program director, his mission is not only to introduce people with physical disabilities to the sport of sailing but to help develop their skills through the program to compete on the national, international, and paralympic level if they so desire.

Rick Brauer attended the University of Texas at Austin where he participated in many wheelchair sports. He left college to pursue a career with Xerox that spanned 20 years. Currently, Rick is employed full time with Pepsi Business Solutions Group based in Plano, TX. There he is a member of EnAble, a group within PepsiCo that is dedicated to creating a more inclusive environment for people with different abilities. Rick was born in Orange, TX in 1961. In 1977 he was in an auto accident which caused a complete paralysis at T12. He refers to this as the beginning of his second life. He took up SCUBA diving, fishing, marshal arts, and even historical recreation for fun. By assisting RISE Adventures, he feels he can share his life experience with others, hoping to show that anyone can achieve their dreams when they try. "Life is for living, so experience it."