Executive Board
Lance Allred
Courage & Grit 501(c)3 was founded by Lance Allred, the first deaf player in NBA History.
Lance was born legally deaf, with 80 percent hearing loss, into a fringe polygamist commune in rural Montana, where he and his family lived until managing to escape when Lance was 13. In speech therapy until he was 15, with his characteristic courage and grit, Lance eventually overcame tremendous odds and obstacles to join the Cleveland Cavaliers, making the NBA at the age of 27, where the average age of a league rookie is 20. Unable to play with his hearing aids in, one of Lance’s driving motivators to never give up on his dream of playing in the NBA was that he knew he would earn a platform for so many other marginalized voices.
Lance is a sought-after speaker, leadership consultant and best-selling author, and now travels the world speaking to corporations, schools and nonprofits on Leadership, Perseverance and Grit, while bringing his curriculum to use through Courage & Grit 501(c)3. His TEDx talk “What is your polygamy?” has been viewed more than 4.5 million times. Lance speaks on a variety of topics including perseverance, leadership, and body language and communication.
Dr. Jaynee Poulson, PhD
Director of Curriculum
Dr. Poulson is a nationally sought after Consultant, Coach and Trainer at the highest executive levels with invaluable operating and application experience. Her recent TEDx on how to give pain a REAL purpose was inspired by the Surgeon General’s call to action asking America for help with an “urgent health crisis” along with her desire to have open discussions to help remove stigmas around mental health. She has an Executive Leadership certificate from Cornell University, and is a nationally certified Professional Parent Trainer.
As the founder of The Give Back Program she works with corporations to give back to nonprofits and communities. Poulson has worked with schools as a k-12 comprehensive guidance counselor, served on the state PTA board as the Health Commissioner, and worked as a licensed mental health counselor in treatment centers specializing in addiction, and eating disorders treating thousands of girls, and their families.
Shelly Fyant
Director Hydroponic Farming, Food Sovereignty
Shelly Fyant is Bitterroot Salish and resides on the Flathead Indian Reservation (CSKT) in the Flathead Lake region of Western Montana. She served on the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribal Council for 8 years, and most recently as Chairwoman from January 2020-December 2021. She is now currently running for United States Representative for the State of Montana in 2024. Shelly is passionate about Food Sovereignty and will be leading the greenhouse/hydroponic farming initiative of Courage and Grit within its geothermal locations to produce highest quality organic food that will be used in our restaurants, youth and wellness retreats as well as farmer markets.
Shelly is passionate about sports and sees how they serve as a bridge between communities, nations and tribes, and is committed to bridging the divides that are stalling the evolution of our humanity. Shelly will be instrumental in helping Courage and Grit and its curriculum be accessible to first nation tribal communities throughout the United States.
David Munshine
David Munshine, is a no-nonsense consultant, strategist and leader in transformational fundraising, communications and nonprofit management. After noteworthy achievement as a development, associate and executive director in the education and health sectors, David has been consulting since 2001. He has worked with some 150 charities spanning every nonprofit sector, ranging from new initiatives to large, complex health systems and universities. David’s energy is matched only by his passion for creating positive change.
Key issues include fierce competition for major gifts and donor loyalty; building strong staff and volunteer teams; and breaking through the noise to deliver messages that move people to take action.
David is a member of the Forbes Business Council and a noted speaker and trainer.
Denise Lynch
Director of Innovation
Denise Lynch is the founder of Clear Mind Institute, owner of the Utah School of Hypnotherapy, and a certified NGH trainer. She is vice president of Snap Synapse, a consulting company specializing in Organizational Learning and Development through behavioral design.
Her offerings emphasize the use of personal practices to promote inner-sustainability and community connection, as well as environmental awareness and sustainable lifestyle.
Denise utilizes personal and group empowerment methods through Positive Psychology, NLP, focus practices, meditation, stress management, and guided visualization journeys. She also brings to us the HEALTH RHYTHMS Group Empowerment Drumming experience. Health Rhythms is a research-based program developed by Neurologist Dr. Barry Bitman and music therapist Christine Stevens.
Denise is currently an executive board member of the Pax Natura philanthropic group.
Pam Hayes, as the Founder of Stand4Kind501(c)3, has been a long-standing advocate for children, and through STand4Kind, will be partnering with Lance Allred and Courage and Grit to develop resilience curriculum and will be and positioning Lance to speak to schools across the country. In 2011 she founded the Student Services program which ensures that children have a voice in preventing bullying and violence in our communities through the means of technology and education. She worked diligently to see this grow into the Student Safety Alliance. Pam was key in growing the Stand4Kind initiative through which school assemblies are performed to empower students to stop bullying with kindness.
In April of 2014 Pam helped to form the Utah Anti Bullying Coalition. As a board member and Program Director, Pam works to bring assemblies to help stop bullying to Utah schools. She has devoted her work to promoting awareness of bullying and the approaches proven to prevent it. She advocates for prevention of bullying and works to bring students, parents, teachers, and the community together in supporting school- and community-based bullying prevention initiatives. The Utah Anti-Bullying Coalition provides a teaching kick-off assembly, anonymous text or call tip line, training for students, parents, school staff and sets up student-led Ambassador Clubs which create competitions to promote kindness in the school. 2015 Pam provided technology and assist for the first state mobile app and web crisis line for Utah serving over 600,000 students. Pam works with leaders in technology and corporations to promote kindness and help students.
Carrie is an inspirational human defying the odds everyday as an adult living with Cystic Fibrosis. She helps people step into their fullest living everyday in her work as co-founder and regional director of Clear Mortgage, but loves to use the financial landscape as an opportunity to empower others in their emotional wellness and self-development. Carrie donates portions of her every single one of her closings to help research Cystic Fibrosis and is passionate about the nonprofit sector. In spite of her physical challenges, Carrie was also a star point guard for her high school basketball team and is eager to see her love of basketball and emotional wellness come together through her service on the board. Carrie will be instrumental in helping Courage and Grit secure effective loans, grants, donations and future collaborating partners, while also ensuring Courage and Grit remains in compliance with all rules and regulations regarding nonprofit maneuvers.
With over 30 years in Addiction/Trauma Recovery Facilitation and Facility Management, Ron brings a holistic approach to the field of addiction. He will be bringing his expertise in the collaborative efforts of the youth educational programs of Courage and Grit into alignment with the partnering Recovery Centers that he will spearheading as the Director of Operations.
Sparrow (Tsalagi/Wyandot) is the founder of Healing the Circle Workshops. With over 30 years of continued sobriety, she has developed and conducts workshops throughout Southern California for both Native and non-Native communities that assist adults and adolescents, affected by drugs, alcohol, eating disorders and mental illness by incorporating curriculum, traditional arts and spirituality as tools for change, growth and recovery.
Rachelle has been Lance’s personal and business CPA for nearly a decade since his retirement from professional basketball and has helped in guiding his strategy in developing the vision for Courage and Grit. Rachelle will serve as CPA and head director of budget, finance and IRS compliance. Rachelle has over 20 years as a CPA with an Masters in Business Administration and currently is a partner at Layton and Associates in Bountiful, Utah.
Jordan has been operating mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities for over a decade. Jordan has ownership experience in operating all levels of care within the continuum of treatment. Jordan traveled the United States playing basketball as a youth until suffering, a severe knee injury his senior year and losing his scholarship opportunities. Still holding a passiong for basketball hence his alignment with Lance Allred and Courage and Grit, Jordan switched gears into pursuing human health education. During his knee rehab Jordan became dependent, and furthermore addicted to the opioids and soon found himself homeless and lost nearly everything to his addiction. After years of outpatient therapy and medicated, assisted treatment, Jordan decided to enter a holistic rehab facility! Jordan continued his collegiate studies and received a counseling degree from the University of Utah. Jordan worked at an integrated health clinic and learn from many great doctors and physicians how to combine an eastern and western medicine to provide optimal. He has developed a proprietary amino acid, and vitamin therapy protocol to accelerate the healing of people in recovery to target the reward deficiency syndromes.
TRUSTED ADVISORS
Lew Cramer- CEO Colliers Utah
With decades of experience within the international business and real estate sectors, Lew Cramer is one of the more well-connected economic development professionals in the Intermountain West helping Colliers clients grow, expand and succeed. Since 2013, he has helped lead the largest full-service commercial real estate company in the Intermountain West as CEO of Colliers | Utah. For the past five years, he has also served as a Utah State Transportation Commissioner, with responsibilities to assist and review the Utah Department of Transportation activities and its almost $3 billion annual budget to plan, build and operate Utah’s growing multi-modal transportation systems.
Earlier and as founding president and CEO, Lew led World Trade Center Utah from 2006 through 2013 at the request of Utah Governors Jon Huntsman and Gary Herbert. With his talented colleagues and strategic partners, he enhanced Utah’s international expansion by assisting Utah firms in connecting with global business opportunities, a method he employs today at Colliers. The success of Lew’s vision and efforts is shown in Utah’s position as the only state in the nation with positive export growth every year for the past decade, including tripling Utah’s global exports during that time. He also currently serves as one of three Americans on the international board of the World Trade Centers Association, comprising 300+ World Trade Centers in about 100 countries around the world.
During the George H.W. Bush administration, Lew served as Director-General of the U.S. Commercial Service, leading the activities of 1,400 commercial officers at over 100 embassies worldwide and 65 offices throughout the United States with the main focus of increasing U.S. exports and expanding international trade opportunities for American companies overseas. In the Reagan Administration, Lew served as a White House Fellow, as well as a sub-cabinet officer in the U.S. Department of Commerce, including as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and then as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, involved in numerous international trade negotiations worldwide.
During his many years in Washington, D.C., Lew was also international Vice President of US WEST (a Regional Bell Operating Company) as part of the senior-level team that developed major telecommunications projects in over 20 countries that were valued at over $15 billion with 5 million customers when merged with AT&T in 2000. Lew has also practiced real estate law in Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay area. For many years, he taught real estate law at the University of Southern California and international business at Georgetown University.
Brandon Fugal- Chairman Colliers Utah
Brandon D. Fugal is a prominent business leader, recognized as a market leader nationwide, previous EY Entrepreneur of the Year – Western Region and Chairman and co-owner of Colliers International in Utah.
Before merging and partnering with Colliers International, Brandon was co-founder and owner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors, where his leadership was critical to the firm being recognized for 14 years in a row as the number one operator internationally with 30 offices in 11 states, and where he was recognized as the #1 agent globally. Colliers International is the number one commercial real estate firm in the Intermountain West, and one of leading commercial real estate firms in the world. Brandon was recently named 2022 CCIM Utah Office Broker of the Year, for which he has been recognized for the majority of the past decade.
Brandon has developed a sterling reputation as a trusted advisor, entrepreneur and business infrastructure expert on a national, regional and localized basis. Recognized as an authority in business, he has been interviewed and featured in numerous publications. In addition to his commercial real estate endeavors, Fugal is an active entrepreneur and investor, co-founding and leading companies including Cypher, Axcend and Texas Growth Fund. His special projects include the development and master planning of 1,250 acres on the North Shore of Oahu, the 512 acre Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, Evermore Park in Pleasant Grove and the 120 acre Thanksgiving Development in Lehi.