Agust

Talent Coach

Bentzion

Chief Executive Talent

A Rabbi, a Dreamer, and a Native Charlottean walk into ZABS Place. Sounds like a joke but actually it’s Bentzion (or Rabbi Ben as we call him). As Chief Executive Talent, Rabbi Ben wears many hats at ZABS. You might find him pitching ZABS to a crowd of 1,000, chatting with a potential donor, or arranging a truck load of donated furniture from a showroom in High Point, NC. Whatever he’s doing it’s with enough passion for 10 people!

Fun Fact: Bentzion’s dream job is to be a pilot!

Lisa

Snow Globe Shaker

Snow globes are beautiful until the glitter settles. Then they’re kinda boring. Lisa makes sure to shake things up just enough so the glitter swirls again! She’s all about opportunity and making magic happen at ZABS Place. She’s also the one who helps you find that special something when you happen to stumble in “just to look around.”

Fun Fact: Lisa has Super Talents! She’s been Director of a Preschool, Head of a Retail Store, and even Director of a Children’s Museum.

Inspirational Fact: ZABS Place is named after Lisa’s son Zachary who passed away from Leukemia when he was 19.

Rochel

ZABSaholic-in-Chief

Worker-bee. Workaholic. Workhorse. Call it what you want, but this girl is ALWAYS working. Pricing clothes, ringing up a customer, fixing furniture, upcycling a “curb-find”, are all things Rochel does on the side. Her main job of course is being the Director of ZABS Place!

Fun Fact: Rochel is sometimes called the “Girl on the Plane” thanks to an interesting experience she had on (you guessed it) an airplane back in the summer of 2017.

Will Adams

Board Member

As Senior VP and Head of Sales, Will oversees LendingTree’s sales and client management across multiple channels of lending and banking while also serving as an advisor and board member in the FinTech world. He has over 25 years of experience in lending with the majority of his career focused on sales strategy and leadership. Will is married with two children and has lived in the Charlotte area for over 30 years. After being amazed by the special talents of his son with Autism, Will developed a passion to serve the special needs community. 

Fun Fact: Will enjoys vacationing with his family, watching baseball, working around the yard and coaching baseball.

Scott Brennan

Board Member

Strategy, operations, finance, technology consulting, Fortune 500 companies… Sounds like we’re cramming for a business degree midterm. Actually, we’re talking about Scott’s career of over 32 years. But that’s not all! He’s a Partner with Social Venture Partners and a retiree from Accenture. He is on the board of several nonprofits including SVP Charlotte and GenOne Charlotte.

Fun Fact: Scott has three grown children and has called Charlotte home for over 20 years. 

Darius Chase

Board Member

Currently serving as Relationship Manager for South State Bank specializing in health care and commercial banking, Darius has over 19 years of experience serving clients in a variety of banking roles. He also is a Board Member for Loaves and Fishes of Charlotte. Darius believes that everyone has their own individual talents and should have the opportunity to realize their dreams of leading meaningful lives.

Fun Fact: Darius and his wife have two daughters and he’s a Charlotte Sports fan.

Jenny Dye

Board Chair

After retiring from a career in accounting, Jenny began volunteering with a wide variety of non-profits. She’s a partner with Social Venture Partners-Charlotte and loves learning about all the inspiring stories that come from ZABS Place.

Fun Fact: Jenny enjoys playing tennis, reading and traveling.

Mica Gadhia

Board Member

Mica is a published author (Open in the Front), award winning illustrator (Love Notes to My Body), and an active local artist for more than a decade. She’s proudest of raising her two beautiful boys, one of whom has autism. Mica is a recent empty nester and she still isn’t sure how to feel about it. She spends her work days supporting our local international community at International House.

Fun Fact: Mica has four cats (Bonnie, Millie, Sam-Sam, and Squiggles) and three neighborhood cats who visit her backyard daily. 

Caren Gale

Co-Founder and Board Member

Caren is a true Mamma Bear! She won’t rest until all her cubs are cared for. Caren became a special needs advocate when her son was diagnosed with Autism at age 2. She realized that with a little encouragement and support, anyone and everyone can succeed. Today, Caren is the Chief Advocate and Community Liaison for ZABS Place.

Fun Fact: Caren is an incredible best story-teller and her cub son Jonathan was the first employee at ZABS Place!

Charles Gale

Co-Founder and Board Member

After switching careers with his family’s move to Charlotte, Charlie taught at the Fletcher School for nine years before retiring after the 2019 school year. After his son with Autism expressed interest in having a job after high school, Charles and his wife Caren realized they needed to help prepare him to enter the working world. They realized they were not alone and that job training was a need for thousands of other young adults in the Charlotte area. After meeting with the Groners, they set out to make this plan a reality for their son and many others.

Fun Fact: Charles lived in L.A. and worked in the film industry for 25 years.

Henry Lander

Past Board Chair

Henry is an undercover Magician. He excels at analyzing complex situations and magically creates actionable plans to help organizations achieve their goals. On second thought, maybe he’s a Ninja! As a Six Sigma Black Belt he uses Change Management techniques to simplify and improve problem analysis, decision making, and planning. It’s better than a knock-out punch! Take that complex situation! 

Fun Fact: Henry is a native of Venezuela and has a real passion for supporting Latinx-led businesses.

Jon Massachi

Board Member

As a native of Charlotte, Jon is very involved in the local community. Jon graduated from ECU in 2007 and began his career with BB&T (now Truist) where he is now a top-producer in residential mortgages. Jon is an original board member of ZABS Place and loves to see the amazing things that ZABS provides to our community.

Fun Fact: Jon was born with Cerebral Palsy and he’s never let it get in the way of his dreams. 

Barbara Rein

Board Member