Meet the Newly Inducted Emeriti Circle
Please join us in welcoming our newest members of the Emeriti Circle. The impact of these individuals cannot be overstated. Learn about them below!
Purpose of the Emeriti Circle
The Emeriti Circle serves a vital role in ensuring the ongoing success and growth of the Affiliate Network. It exists to:
- Honor the Contributions of Retired Leaders: The Emeriti Circle acknowledges those who played a key role in advancing FASD awareness, education, and support. These leaders, on whose shoulders the current generation stands, are essential to preserving the spirit and mission of the Affiliate Network.
- Ensure Continuity: Retired leaders offer invaluable insights and memories that help bridge the past and future. Their experiences and connections, both within and outside the FASD network, provide institutional memory, ensuring that the knowledge they’ve built doesn’t fade with time.
- Access to Wisdom: The perspectives, ideas, and expertise of retired Affiliate Network leaders are a priceless resource. Through the Emeriti Circle, their knowledge remains accessible, enriching the work of FASD United and the Affiliate Network.
- Foster Enduring Relationships: This initiative maintains a lasting connection between these leaders, FASD United, and the broader Affiliate Community, providing them with a continued role in the movement they helped shape.
Eileen Bisgard, JD
Eileen B Bisgard, JD represented children in the Colorado Juvenile courts for over 30 years prior to her retirement in 2012. As foster and then adoptive parents of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, she and her husband became early advocates and trainers in the field of FASD. Eileen was instrumental in founding NOFAS Colorado and later merging it with similar non-profits to form Illuminate Colorado. She served as Project Director for two consecutive Seventeenth Judicial District FASD Projects funded by the FASD Center for Excellence. Eileen represented Colorado in the NOFAS Affiliate Network for many years and served on the ICCFASD Justice Issues Work Group. Eileen was awarded the NOFAS Affiliate Circle of Excellence Award in 2018 and Colorado’s Lori Moriarity Leadership Award in 2019.
Judge Susan Shepard Carlson (ret.)
Susan Shepard Carlson, J.D., is a former board chair of FASD United and past chair of its Legislative and Policy Committee. A former First Lady of Minnesota (1991–1999), she is also a retired Hennepin County Juvenile Court judicial officer. Her work on the Governor’s Taskforce on FAS helped secure nearly $7 million in annual funding for FASD services in Minnesota.
Over more than 25 years, she has led national FASD advocacy, policy, and training efforts, including co-leading the adoption of the ABA’s FASD resolution in 2012. She authored Tools for Success, a guide for juvenile justice professionals, and directed an FASD screening pilot in Minnesota’s juvenile courts. Carlson also founded MOFAS (now Proof Alliance), the first state FASD affiliate, and rejoined the FASD United Board in 2018 to lead efforts for the FASD Respect Act. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law.
Judge Michael Jeffery (ret.)
Michael Jeffery moved to Utqiagvik, Alaska in 1977 to open the Alaska Legal Services Corporation office. After nearly six years, he was appointed the North Slope’s first Superior Court Judge, serving for 32 years until retiring in 2014 upon reaching the constitutional age limit. Since 1996, he has focused on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and its impact on the justice system, advocating for more informed and equitable legal practices. His work has earned recognition from media outlets and organizations such as the Alaska Federation of Natives. He helped establish FASD as a mitigating factor in sentencing and contributed to Alaska’s FASD 5-Year Plan. He has provided FASD training across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. A board member of the Alaska Center for FASD and liaison to NOFAS’s Affiliate Network, he continues his advocacy through education and community service. He graduated from Stanford University and Yale Law School.
Ann S. Yabusaki, PhD, LMFT
Dr. Ann Yabusaki is a founding member of the Hawaii Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Action Group and has over 35 years of experience in psychology and family therapy. Her work focuses on families, adolescence, substance use, and culturally informed care. She served as a faculty member and administrator for several schools of psychology, helped create a Doctor of Psychology program founded on cultural perspectives, consulted with the federal government, and trained bilingual and bicultural therapists and therapists in training in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2015, she founded the Hawaii FASD Action Group to improve services for affected youth, helping it grow into a nonprofit that now provides statewide education and support.
