Dave Marr
Dave has previously served as Global Head for Hilton’s Full-Service Brands category, which included over 1200 hotels in more than 100 countries. In this role, he was responsible for the strategic direction and growth of Hilton’s five full-service brands. He has also worked for Marriott and Starwood Hotels & Resorts in various sales, marketing, and brand leadership roles, including Global Brand Leader for Sheraton and Tribute Portfolio.
He has an extensive background in leading brand development strategy and positioning, sales, marketing, and owner relations. He has also led brand operations and provided product development and brand definition in areas including Food & Beverage, Innovation and Wellness. He has a proven track record of success, generating strong growth for large scale global brands.
Dave is excited to be working with Jen and the Inspiring Comfort team to create a culture of care in our world today. He sees a clear correlation between his career in hospitality — where the focus is on taking care of guests and creating a culture where both customers and employees feel seen, understood and cared for — with Inspiring Comfort’s mission of creating a culture of care.
Kelly Shannon
Kelly Shannon (she/her, they/them) believes in the power of care, connection, and creativity in shaping the world, and has dedicated her life and career to doing so. Kelly graduated from Muhlenberg College with a dual degree in English and Theatre, with a focus in Performance Studies - seeing human behavior through the lens of performance.
With this focus, Kelly spent three years working and training with Double Edge Theatre, an experimental theatre company, farm, and art community center whose mission is to prioritize imagination in times of creative, emotional, spiritual, and political uncertainty. At Double Edge, she witnessed first-hand how art brings community together. Within that community, she sharpened her creative eye while working within devising, physical theatre, design, archiving, outreach, and facilitation.
Kelly started her work with Inspiring Comfort in early 2019, right before the launch of Paws to Comfort, coordinating marketing and fundraising initiatives and creating content. Comfort, she believes, is not a passive noun, but an actionable verb, capable of transforming and connecting people and communities across the globe. She is thrilled to re-join the team as the Sales & Marketing Manager and as a Certified Trainer.
Lauren Terry
Lauren began her career establishing in-house creative services for a sports marketing company and non-profit fundraising agency. Determined to streamline processes, reduce costs and promote stronger brand consistency, she was able to manage, design and produce artwork for internal teams more collaboratively and efficiently. Lauren then decided to start her own business — Terry Design Co. which afforded her the opportunity to secure a variety of clients that spanned many different industries.
Eventually, she was thrilled to jump back into the corporate environment. Joining the newly developed in-house studio of a top hospitality brand was an amazing opportunity to work with a team of top designers while expanding technical skill sets and developing creative for over 17 brands.
Lauren is currently working for a core group of clients which includes Inspiring Comfort!
Katie Schluth
Katie is a recent alum of Georgetown University and a research assistant in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She is originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania and currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Katie hopes to pursue a career in infectious disease epidemiology, ideally with a focus on HIV/AIDS. In her spare time, she enjoys running, reading, writing, and going to concerts (though she’s been happy to put that last interest on hold for the time being!). She is so excited and grateful to be a member of the Inspiring Comfort team!
Jill Bornstein
Is a Co-Founder and from 2016 - 2020 served as the CFO and Operations Leader for Inspiring Comfort. She continues to support the team and further cultivate human care and connection as a member of the company’s Advisory Board. In 2021 she founded UpNext Leadership and Executive Coaching where in addition to one to one coaching through her signature CARES Leadership Framework, she offers Inspiring Comfort Signature Programs and Workshops to her clients so they can experience the power of comfort
Using her past experiences as a Fortune 50 Finance Executive, Community Leader and President of several Non-Profit Boards she was instrumental to the early stages of Inspiring Comfort where she was able to provide her financial expertise, strategic leadership and focus on operational excellence. She was the critical connector to Inspiring Comfort’s scientific advisor Dr. David DeSteno and to ensuring Paws To Comfort was fully funded through Kickstarter, edited to superior standards and brought to print and market successfully. Over the years she has embraced the philosophy that if people would intentionally take a few extra minutes every day to think about the person they are interacting with it would make the world a better place. By asking them how they are, connecting and seeing them as a person not just a store clerk, a policy or adversary, intentional compassionate connections can be made.
Jill currently serves on the boards of the USA Swimming Foundation, RVNAHealth and Tiger Hollow Inc. She is an ICF- AFTP ACC Certified Executive Coach, Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist and QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainer.
Mary Perry
Mary loves the quote “Broken crayons still color” as it speaks directly to the hope that she sees in the world. Her strong Christian faith is her foundation as she attempts to live out her life purpose – to intentionally add value and connect with people to make a difference in their lives.
An accomplished Marketing Executive with more than 30 years in Marketing Agency Management at Ryan Partnership, Mary defined success by creating and building strong teams and client relationships to reach enterprise goals. She built and retained these teams by hiring, developing, coaching and motivating skilled professionals. Her high energy and Servant Leadership style combined to create a dynamic, productive and unified environment for all.
She values family and friends, an enthusiastic attitude, making a difference in those around her and listening and walking with others experiencing challenges in their lives. Her positive approach allows her to easily command a room and speak in front of audiences of all sizes.
A true Baby Boomer, Mary’s second season has already produced a Life Coaching practice specializing in growth and hope coaching. A certified John Maxwell Team Member, her coaching, speaking and training topics focus on determining one’s purpose and being intentional in life. Additionally she is the Founder of a non-profit, A Place for Hope and Healing dedicated to serving Compassionate Responders (First Responders, Clergy, Teachers, Healthcare and Mental Health providers). Her Christian Ministry work includes Stephen Ministry, Prayer Ministry and Church leadership.
This passion is her fuel for co-founding Inspiring Comfort. She believes that the time is now for all of us to look up, and intentionally connect in love with those around us who are carrying burdens and troubles. She has seen story after story of love and connection combining to truly change lives and is excited to do our part to reverse the trend of the loneliness and social isolation epidemic we are seeing every day.
LinkedIn: Mary Perry
Skye Quinn
Skye Quinn is the Senior Design Coordinator at TIME, where she has been involved in producing its iconic weekly covers since 2005.
During her tenure at TIME, Skye has styled several TIME book projects including Mindfulness, How Dogs Think, The Science of Emotions, Secrets of Longer Living, Discovering Heaven: How Our Visions of the Afterlife Shape How We Live Today, the 100 Most Influential Images of All Time and over a dozen others.
In addition to her work at TIME, she has also designed and photo-edited books for Simon & Schuster and Random House.
She was attracted to working with Jen on Paws to Comfort seeing the need to communicate the role that dogs play in teaching us all how to comfort others and realizing that everyone around her could benefit from learning this skill. In the fall of 2019 she joined Inspiring Comfort as a Senior partner.
A graduate of Dartmouth College, Skye has a MA in Graphic Communications Management and Technology from NYU.
For the past nine years, Skye has served on the Board of Directors for Irish American Writers and Artists, a non-profit organization committed to encouraging peaceful positive social change in all oppressed and struggling communities by fostering outreach, solidarity, understanding and active cooperation through the arts.
Skye lives in Peekskill, New York with her husband Tony.