Jessica Wald, MA CCC-SLP,  has been a medical Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) for the past 20 years. She earned her  Masters Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of MN -Twin Cities. While in graduate school, Jessica completed a student internship with a MnCAN aphasia conversation group. This experience helped ignite her passion and interest in working with individuals with aphasia. Jessica has  worked in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient settings and specifically enjoys connecting with individuals with aphasia and their family members with a goal of improving communication and essentially quality of life! She has over 10 years experience in a leadership position at United Hospital and currently a casual SLP at multiple Allina Hospitals.

In August of 2023, Jessica was named MnCAN Co-Executive Director of Advancement and Operations; she will continue to facilitate MnCAN aphasia groups.  She has a passion for education and has taught classes on empathy, communication and patient experience, helped to supervise graduate students and mentor many SLPs alongside her colleagues.

Jessica looks forward to bringing her clinical experience, her strong sense of compassion and humor to MnCAN in order to improve functional communication skills and life participation to MnCAN’s communication group participants.

Jeannie Bridgeman holds a BS in accounting and business administration with an emphasis in computer science and graphic arts.  Jeannie has over 25 years’ experience in accounting, financial analysis and development for private, public, nonprofit and governmental organizations.  She has demonstrated success in grant writing and administration, fundraising, marketing, donor development and acting as a communication liaison to nonprofit boards.  Jeannie was Director of Finance for a large nonprofit when she had a stroke in October 2019.  Jeannie is a stroke survivor with aphasia and has been involved with MnCAN programs since her stroke.  She recently participated in the development of a new MnCAN program, Confident Communicators Gavel Club, and serves as its President and co-facilitator. On becoming a board member, Jeannie states “when I saw how much MnCAN was helping me on my recovery I wanted to be part of the organization in a meaningful way and wanted to get back to using those skills I had developed in my 30 years in nonprofits.”

Linda received her PhD in Communication Disorders in 1987 from the University of Minnesota.  Prior to that, Linda worked at the University of Southern California at a speech clinic specializing in the treatment of stuttering for 10 years.  Linda joined 3M as a research assistant in 1988  in the department developing the first cochlear implant and digital hearing aids.  After that experience, she decided research was her calling and has worked  in a variety of academic and clinical research settings ever since.  Linda has expertise in outcomes research and program management and is eager to work with MnCAN on expanding their outcomes assessment capability and applying for grant funding.  Linda is excited by the approach MnCAN takes in helping stroke survivors and their caregivers achieve their communication goals and enjoy meaningful social interaction and interpersonal relationships.

Garry Woessner, MA-CCC, MBA, CAS is a speech-language pathologist and has been in the field of medical rehabilitation for over 30 years in a variety of settings.  As a therapist, he worked with aphasia and other neurologic disorders at Sister Kenny Institute, Gillette Children’s Hospital and Regions Hospital in St Paul.  As an administrator, he held various positions, including Director of Physical Medicine at North Memorial Medical Center, and Regional Director of Rehabilitation at Benedictine Health System.  He was also a Director at LarsenAllen, LLC accounting and consulting firm in Minneapolis.  For the past 29 years, Mr. Woessner has been a surveyor for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and has travelled the world applying quality and performance improvement standards to rehabilitation programs.  In addition to CARF surveying and consulting, Mr. Woessner’s current activities include serving as a certification and licensing inspector on behalf of Medicare.  Mr Woessner was previously involved with aphasia groups through the MN Stroke Association as a facilitator for one of the early conversation groups and is proud to work once again on behalf of persons experiencing communication challenges due to aphasia through MnCAN.

Jane earned her MBA from University of St. Thomas and BS in Genetics and Cellular Biology from University of Minnesota.  She is passionate about the Environment and co-founded a non-profit organization addressing water quality on Lake Minnetonka.  For the past 20 years, she has worked with physicians’ treatment of acute ischemic stroke, providing technical support during the procedure to remove the clot blocking the artery in the brain.  Jane has a robust background in sales, marketing, and clinical education.  The skills she brings from other non-profit organizations in fundraising, program awareness, and connecting will undoubtedly benefit MnCAN.