To achieve her mission, Laura has brought together a group of Tampa Bay women from many backgrounds and subject matter expertise. Together, they evangelize the mission of Angels for Change in their personal and professional lives. Joined by Laura, and their passion for guardianship as mothers, this team will help solve the drug shortage crisis.

LAURA BRAY,
CHIEF CHANGE MAKER

Laura Bray is Chief Change Maker and founder of Angels for Change. Founded in October 2019, Angels for Change is a global volunteer supported non-profit organization dedicated to Ensuring Access to Life Saving Drugs. Their mission is to end drug shortages through advocacy, awareness, and a resilient supply chain.
Since their founding Laura has advocated on behalf of patients on hold from treatment because of a lifesaving drug shortage and worked within the supply chain to build drug shortage awareness, proactive solutions, and resolve patient and hospital level shortages.
Laura has worked as an Adjunct Business Professor at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa Florida since 2004. Prior to Academia, Laura worked in Marketing Strategy and Small Business Management and Consulting. She graduated from University of Florida with a BSBA and from University of South Florida with a MBA. She lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, Mike, and their three children Shelby, Abby and Cooper.

Volunteer Board of DIRECTORS

Melanie bonanno, Director of Advocacy

Melanie Parrish Bonanno is the Senior Director of Employment Legal for Publix Super Markets, Inc. She has worked as an attorney for Publix since 2003, and has served in her current role since 2016, leading a team of lawyers, directors, managers and investigators. Melanie serves as a Commissioner on the Florida Commission on the Status of Women and previously served on Enterprise Florida Board of Directors and the Advisory Board for the Emergency Care Help Organization. In 2014, Melanie was awarded the Most Powerful & Influential Woman by the National Diversity Council. In 2022, she won the Mr. George Community Service Award which recognizes Publix associates who exemplify a commitment to service.
Melanie’s life has been touched by cancer. Her mother passed away from lung cancer, her aunt passed away from brain cancer and her father passed away from pancreatic cancer.
Melanie has three children: Aldo, Amelia and Robby. During a class field trip, Melanie overheard Laura on the phone pleading with a manufacturer for the potentially life-saving drug Abby needed and Melanie asked if she could help. This began Melanie’s journey with Angels for Change.

stephanie martin, Director of Legal

Stephanie Martin is a Tampa attorney and partner at the law firm of Lieser Skaff Alexander PLLC. She is board-certified in Real Estate Law by the Florida Bar, and her legal practice consists of both litigation and transactional matters. She has extensive experience in real estate litigation, commercial and business litigation, and financial services litigation.

Stephanie was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. She attended college at Marquette University, graduating with an Honors Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in 2003. After college, she attended law school at the University of Notre Dame and graduated with her Juris Doctor in 2006. After graduation, she relocated to Florida, was admitted to the Florida Bar, and began practicing law. Stephanie has lived and worked in the Tampa-area since 2009.

In addition to an active legal practice, Stephanie has a full family life as wife and mother to seven children. Stephanie is active in her community, committed to providing pro bono legal service to those in need, and is involved in her church and children’s schools. Stephanie met the Bray family through her children and is committed to fighting alongside them to address the life-saving drug shortage crisis.

Diane Masiello,
Director of communications

Diane Masiello is a writing teacher and freelance writer. She has been married to her husband, John—an anesthesiologist--for over 25 years and has two teenage daughters. She earned a Ph.D. in English Education from New York University in 2000, and has taught writing at New York University, Nova Southeastern University, and the University of Tampa. She currently teaches at The Academy of the Holy Names. She has served in board positions at a free medical clinic, a local surgery center, and her children’s schools. Diane met Laura Bray through their parish, where they often volunteered together.
Diane joined Angels for Change because she wanted to help tell the organization’s story and the stories of those warriors Angels for Change has helped. Diane lost her mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer in 1998, a dear friend to an aggressive breast cancer in 2023, and one of her daughter’s middle-school classmates to osteosarcoma in 2018. She has seen many of her friends beat cancer, as well. She knows receiving a diagnosis is hard enough; to compound that difficulty with news that the medicine the patient needs is on shortage is a cruelty that she is passionate about eliminating from patient’s lives. Diane has also seen her husband deal with drug shortages in his profession as an anesthesiologist, and knows how much stress these shortages put on doctors, as well. Laura Bray says that “No patient should ever hear, and no doctor should ever have to say, ‘We don’t have the medicine to save your life.’” Having witnessed the struggles of both patients and doctors caught in drug shortage situations, she is committed to ending them once and for all.

Florencia Norris, secretary

Florencia Norris is Vice President of Operations for R & F Delivery, Inc. Prior to this role, she spent 17 years as an elementary educator for Hillsborough County Public Schools.
Florencia resides in the Tampa area with her husband and two children. She is honored to work alongside the amazing individuals at Angels for Change who are creating solutions to the global wide issue of drug shortages.

austin simon, Director of Marketing

As the Executive Director for March of Dimes Greater Tampa Bay Area, Austin has significant expertise in fundraising, donor cultivation, strategic planning, revenue development, staff and volunteer management and marketing.
Austin is far too familiar with cancer, her grandmother passed away from Multiple Myeloma and her mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with a blood cancer.
Austin received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and her Master of Science from Florida State University. When she’s not fueling philanthropic giving, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, reading, Gator football and true-crime podcasts.

Alison verges walters, Director of operations

Alison Verges Walters is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Angels for Change, Inc and acts as the Director of Operations. Alison is a founding Board Member and an integral part of the success of Angels for Change, Inc.
Alison is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and in her day job is the Director of Compliance at Markoff Law LLC. She received her B.A. in Communications from Loyola University New Orleans in 1999 and J.D. from Loyola University of New Orleans School of Law in 2003. Alison is the Chair of the Florida Bar Small Claims Rules Committee, past president of the Florida Creditors Bar Association and a former long term board member of the National Creditors Bar Association.
Alison is married to Todd and they have one daughter, Jillian (who is a close friend and former classmate of Abby's). She loves all things Disney, New Orleans Saints and LSU football.

Volunteer Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is made up of industry professionals passionate about Angel for Change’s mission and helping achieve our goals of ending life-saving drug shortages. Each diverse member possesses the highest personal and professional integrity and values, holds thoughtful leadership with strategic insight in their respective fields.