WHO
WE ARE
Board of
Directors
Megan Brown
Co-Founder, Board President, & Executive Director
meganbrown@hopefoundnea.org
Megan is a Jonesboro native who graduated from Arkansas State University and is a Licensed Social Worker.
In 2009 while living in Nashville, she first learned about human trafficking and then began working for Free for Life International and interned with End Slavery TN. She returned to Jonesboro in 2011 and served as the NEA Area Representative for PATH (Partners Against Trafficking Humans) until 2015.
Megan is a frequent speaker on human trafficking awareness and prevention to churches, schools, civic and non-profit groups in NE Arkansas.
Megan continues to work with law enforcement, social service providers and other nonprofits to develop a strategic response to the human trafficking occurring in NEA. Megan’s dream is to one day build a survivor restoration campus for survivors of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
Megan is married to Ralo Brown and they have 3 children, Jude, Ruby Rae, and Raleigh Mae.
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Billy McKenzie
Secretary
Billy is a Pro Bono coordinator with Legal Aid of Arkansas. She joined the board of Hope Found in July of 2020. Her hope for our organization is to continue to get local and state recognition as we shed light on Human Trafficking.
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Lexanne Horton
Treasurer
Lexanne is Vice-President, Controller of Ritter Communications. Prior to Ritter, she had 24 years of experience in health care in financial and executive roles. She has served on various boards in her career for services to at-risk children and is a trained facilitator to lead support groups for abuse survivors. Lexanne’s desire for Hope Found of Northeast Arkansas this year is that they can capitalize on the awareness they have raised and partnerships developed to begin to expose trafficking situations and provide those victims with the resources to escape both the physical and emotional bondage created by trafficking. She also wants to continue to educate at-risk youth in the community that are at highest risk of being trafficked.
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Mary Sellers
Co-Founder
Mary is married to Chris Sellers and has five amazing daughters and five grandbabies. She is the General Manager of Honey Baked Ham in Jonesboro. Mary wants to see Hope Found expand into surrounding communities and increase awareness and education in these areas.
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Miranda Ballard
Co-Founder
Miranda is married to Tanner Ballard and lives here in Jonesboro. She works as a Mortgage Banker at Encore Bank. She hopes Hope Found can continue to grow into a bigger footprint this next year to help educate more communities on human trafficking.
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Donna Wheeler
Donna is married to Randy Wheeler. She is the owner of Pinnacle Marketing & Advertising, since 2017. Pinnacle Marketing is a member of the Arkansas Better Business Bureau, the Jonesboro Chamber of Commerce, Promotional Products Association International, Advertising Industry Mastermind Group and the Promo EQP Buying Group. Before owning her own business, she was the Territory Sales Manager for Tiger Correctional Services, and was previously a Store Manager for Gordons Jewelers. She is the Children's Church Director of Awaken Church in Jonesboro. She previously served on the Philanthropy Board with the American Red Cross and with the March of Dimes.
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Elisha Pillow-Daugherty
Elisha is the owner of Sorrel’s Wholesale and lives in Paragould. She also holds the title of Mrs. Southeast International where her platform is human trafficking. She is married to Brad and they have 4 teenagers, 3 boys and 1 girl. She joined our board in January 2022.
Breanna Phillips
Breanna is lifelong native of Northeast Arkansas. She attended Arkansas State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance. She has spent the last twelve years in finance/banking and currently works as a Commercial and Market Support Specialist at First Horizon Bank. She enjoys being a partner in growing businesses in Northeast Arkansas. Her career in banking has allowed her to serve in numerous charities and causes throughout the region. She is especially passionate about community service due to the influence of family and friends who have spent their lives in law enforcement, military, and public service. Breanna’s passion has led her to volunteer for CASA of the 2nd Judicial District and Hope Found, which provides a voice for victims of human trafficking. Breanna is inspired daily by God, her family, and friends. She enjoys being outdoors, playing tennis, and spending time with her dogs, Ali and Izzie.
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Wallace “Lee” Aspinwall, Jr.
Lee has B.S. in History that he received from ASU in 1991. He is married to the former Renee Daniels of Paragould (30 yrs married as of 7/22.) They have two children – Cade (married to Emma) of Brentwood, TN & Lindlee (married to Lee DenBraber) of Peoria, IL. He has 30 years in sales and currently Regional Sales Manager at Tech Friends, Inc. He is a follower of Jesus Christ and enjoys multiple outdoor activities and supporting his community in various ways.
Advisory
Board
Audra King
Co-Founder
Audra and her husband of 15 years own a local bakery in Jonesboro called Southern Confections. They have two beautiful daughters, Collins and Charlie. Audra hopes our notoriety within the community continues to increase as a reliable organization regarding information about human trafficking and that we continue to make connections with other organizations that will help us better serve future victims.
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Sherrie Mitchell
Sherrie is a Senior Casework Manager for Congressman Rick Crawford’s District Office. She hopes to see an improved relationship with area law enforcement so that each officer is aware of the resources Hope Found provides in the community. As a result, law enforcement will increase the number of victims they refer to Hope Found.
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Lea Ann Stidham
Lea Ann is a supervisor with the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division. She has held that position for 22 years and supervises 9 child abuse investigators in the 2nd Judicial District (Greene, Craighead, Crittenden, Clay, Poinsett and Mississippi), plus, Cross counties in Arkansas. Her division works closely with law enforcement, the Division of Children and Family Services and Hope Found when working with trafficking victims. I look forward to participating in training and bringing awareness to our community through Hope Found.
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Melanie Mata
Since her first encounter of human trafficking in 2009, Melanie has spent the past 10 years educating healthcare professionals and the public on its occurrence within our communities. She has served as the ad-hoc committee chair with Michigan Trauma Nurse Council for Nurses against Human Trafficking. She has developed a hospital based guideline in 2010 that has been utilized at a Level I Trauma Center in Flint, Michigan on identifying potential victims of human trafficking, through her role as trauma administrator. She has worked with Amy Allen, victim specialist from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, on providing one of the first conferences, in Michigan, directed to healthcare professionals on victims of human trafficking. She has presented at local, regional and national conferences on human trafficking. She was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson as a commissioner to the Arkansas Child Abuse/Rape/Domestic Violence Commission in 2019 to provide expertise on human trafficking. Through her role as Assistant Professor of Nursing, at Arkansas State University, she has provided education to nursing students on human trafficking and how to screen victims and refer to services. She is currently writing a case summary for publication that involves human trafficking. In order for Human Trafficking to be identified, healthcare professionals need to be aware and feel comfortable in reporting. Her goal for our community is to partner with our healthcare systems to develop guidelines which help to identify these potential victims and refer to appropriate services for assistance.
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Jen Vincent
Jen is a Chaplain of the Jonesboro Police Department, which is a voluntary position. She is also an ordained minister. She likes to be available to Megan Brown when all of our Board Members are not available for advice or assistance with a trafficking victim.
She is hopeful that local police departments will work more closely with Hope Found so that we are able to contact these victims immediately. Hope Found is doing amazing work now and their help is immeasurable to our state.
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