InCharge Debt Solutions Board of Trustees

These experienced professionals with diverse backgrounds are elected to two-year terms of office as members of the InCharge Debt Solutions Board of Trustees.

Robert J. Ruiz, Esquire

Robert J. Ruiz, Esquire has served as a Trustee since February 2012.

Mr. Ruiz is an attorney with over 35 years of experience in government and public interest law. His career includes service as Solicitor General for the State of Illinois, National President of the Hispanic National Bar Association as well as being a founding member and officer of the National Hispanic Prosecutors Association and the Illinois Association of Hispanic State Employees.

In education, Robert serves as a member of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. He has served on the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO), Chairman of the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities, Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, and the Foundation for Podiatric Education. He has served on the University of Illinois Alumni Board, the DePaul College of Law Visiting Committee and the Committee on Continuing Education for the Law Institute of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Metro History Education Center and the USO of Illinois.

Ruiz is an alumni of the prestigious Leadership Greater Chicago Program. He is a graduate of the DePaul Law School and the University of Illinois Chicago.

Nancy Samson

Nancy Samson is a dynamic senior leader with over 25 years of experience driving strategic revenue growth and transforming business units and organizations. Passionate about crafting innovative strategies, building talented teams, expanding market presence, and forging key partnerships, Nancy excels at delivering sustainable profitability.

Throughout her career, Nancy has held various leadership roles within the timeshare hospitality industry, including in sales, marketing, call center operations, and events. Her entrepreneurial mindset, expertise, and ability to execute on both new and existing programs have made her a highly valued leader in the industry.

Currently, Nancy serves as the Vice President of New Member Journey at Hilton Grand Vacations, where she and her team focus on significantly improving customer experience and retention. Together, they deliver measurable results and drive sustainable improvements—key elements in the competitive hospitality environment.

Nancy resides in Orlando, Florida, with her daughter.

Julie Swift

Julie Swift is a seasoned leader and visionary in the Foodservice industry, leveraging over 30 years of experience in senior and executive roles at industry giants such as French’s Foods, McCormick, and Advantage Solutions. As the owner of Julie-Swift LLC, she empowers clients with strategic insights and tailored solutions to maximize their effectiveness in the marketplace.

Beyond her consulting work, Julie is the Founder of the Foodservice Women’s Alliance, a national nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender gap in Foodservice—an imbalance that is even more pronounced for women of color. Under her leadership, FWA champions equity, mentorship, and advocacy to create pathways for women at all levels of the industry.

Julie’s leadership extends beyond business strategy to advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in the corporate space. She served as an inaugural DEIB Board Member with Advantage Solutions, driving initiatives that foster a more inclusive and representative workforce.

Julie is also a sought-after speaker at industry events, corporate forums, and leadership gatherings, where she shares her expertise on market strategy, gender equity, and inclusive leadership.

With a career built on impact, innovation, and advocacy, Julie continues to shape the future of Foodservice, ensuring it becomes a more equitable and effective space for businesses and the professionals who drive them forward.

Carey Tarbell

Carey Tarbell has served as a Trustee since February of 2014.

Carey, Executive Vice President & Chief Client Officer of VOX Global, leads the firm’s financial services and crisis practice groups. She has more than 20 years’ experience as an issue-advocacy communications strategist and coalition manager for large corporations, associations, small businesses, community groups and non-profits. Carey’s unique expertise has helped various industries achieve their most important public policy objectives.

Carey has extensive experience in crisis communications. In recent years she has worked with a global corporate client on a highly publicized OIG investigation and assisted a major firearm manufacturer in its communications during a national recall. She has also worked for several years with a global auto manufacturer on contentious labor issues. Carey has extensive expertise in the related areas of litigation communications, stakeholder engagement and reputation management, including providing strategic communications counsel to Pokémon toys and Vinson & Elkins, Enron’s principal law firm.

On the financial front, Carey works with a variety of our largest financial services clients and leads communications strategy for a large, multi-year coalition of financial services companies focused on interchange regulation. She has also worked closely with these entities on a multitude of data security and reputation management issues.

Prior to joining VOX, Carey served as executive director of The National Journal’s Policy Council, an issue advocacy membership of nearly 100 leading organizations including corporations, trade associations, think tanks and nonprofits.

Earlier in her career, Carey served as executive vice president in the Washington, DC office of Powell Tate|Weber Shandwick. Over the span of her 13 year tenure with the firm she managed many of the firm’s largest and most complex clients. Highlights include launching and managing multi-year reputation management campaigns for two separate coalitions of financial services providers.

She managed a comprehensive issue advocacy campaign for a coalition of financial services companies seeking permanent reauthorization of federal preemption provisions in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Favorable legislation was enacted at the completion of the campaign.

Additionally, Carey coordinated a multi-year public affairs campaign for a large financial services coalition seeking reform of federal personal bankruptcy laws. A survey of congressional staff at the time named the reform effort one of the year’s most effective campaigns.

Carey began her public affairs career in the Public Law Policy division of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld. A Washington, D.C. native, she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from George Mason University.

Jeffrey Tassey

In 2004, Jeffrey A. Tassey formed the government relations firm of ‘Tassey & Associates’ which specializes in issue, coalition and legislative risk management involving complex, unpopular issues, with a concentration on financial services, bankruptcy, and legal reform issues.

Prior to the establishment of Tassey & Associates, Mr. Tassey served as a partner at Williams & Jensen where he led the firm’s Practice Group for Financial and Judicial Reform Issues. Previously, Mr. Tassey held the position of Executive Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs for the American Financial Services Association.

Mr. Tassey spent nine years as a senior Congressional staffer, serving as Counsel to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer and Monetary Affairs of House Committee on Government Operations, and as Banking Counsel to the Honorable Doug Barnard, Jr.  Leading up to his Congressional career, Mr. Tassey received a Public Affairs Fellowship from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and completed his fellowship at the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress.

In January, 2001, Mr. Tassey was named to the Bush Administration transition team to provide advice to the Treasury Department on financial issues and appointments. In 2004, the Hill newspaper named him as one of the top financial services lobbyists.

Mr. Tassey received a BA in History from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio and a JD from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He was awarded a Public Affairs Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Patricia A. “Trish” Wexler

Patricia Wexler has served as a Trustee since February 2011, and is currently serving as the Board of Trustees Chairman.

Trish Wexler is a Managing Director in Corporate Communications at JPMorgan Chase and has served as Chief Communications Officer for Chase Consumer & Community Banking. She and her team help protect and enhance the reputation of Chase and its leaders, keep employees informed and engaged, and bring the Chase brand to life internally and externally. Her responsibilities include media relations, public affairs, internal communications, and social media, and she has served as a primary media spokesperson for the business.

Trish, who joined the firm in August 2013, has worked in crisis communications and public affairs for nearly 20 years specializing in financial services legislative and regulatory. Most recently, Trish was a Senior Partner at VOX Global, a public affairs firm she helped to build.

Trish graduated from the University of Richmond where she studied International Studies, Japanese and Mathematics. She lives in Rye, New York with her husband and two sons.

Monika J. Wilczak, PhD

Monika Wilczak serves as Chairwoman and is a savvy, growth-oriented executive with expertise in artificial intelligence and data analytics. She’s been delivering exceptional results to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies for the past 25+ years.

Monika has worked in diverse segments (B2C, B2B, B2E) and verticals (Financial Services, Energy/Utilities, Technology) at leading companies including Bloomberg, CITI, JP Morgan Chase, Accenture and Ernst & Young. She is currently an executive advisor to the US Government.

Monika holds a PhD and Master of Science in Statistics and Operations Research from NYU Stern School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Methods from the Warsaw School of Economics.

Kareema Goodwin, MBA

Kareema Goodwin is a strategic, self-motivated, and results-driven leader with an array of experience in sales strategy, sales analytics, and marketing execution. With 25 years of Food Industry expertise, she has continually over-delivered financial objectives, posting quantifiable results, which propelled her career. She holds an MBA from The University of IL, a certification in Pricing Strategy from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and is a certified Maslow Coach Leader.  

As the President of The Ryan Group, Kareema successfully implemented new strategies to grow the client base, increase revenues from existing clients, and establish strategic partnerships with complementary Sales & Marketing agencies. Kareema gained the expertise to expand the organization through many years of development. The majority of her career (14 years) was thoughtfully crafted with professional training at The Kellogg Company. She has led and worked globally within various sales, execution strategy, and marketing functions, including but not limited to global sales, national distribution, commercial chains, and international export. 

Kareema is passionate about professional development and is an active member of her community. She serves as a board member of The Foodservice Women’s Alliance and The WALK Project. She volunteers her time as a panelist for the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart Educational Program, is a member of Women’s Foodservice Forum, and continuously mentors young recruits entering the Foodservice Industry.

James DiStefano, JD, MBA

James DiStefano is an accomplished human resources executive and in-house employment counsel with more than 20 years of experience leading HR strategy, compliance, employee relations, and organizational change across healthcare, technology, research, and global organizations.

Currently serving as Vice President and Internal Absence Management Practice Leader at The Alera Group, he advises multi-state employers on complex leave management, ADA and FMLA compliance, and workforce policy strategy. Previously, as Vice President of Human Resources and In-House Employment Counsel at Entertainment Benefits Group, he led performance management modernization, executive employment law training, immigration strategy, and workforce transition initiatives.

James holds a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, bringing a unique blend of legal expertise and strategic HR leadership.