BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Leah Dabaghian
President
Leah is a Certified Child Life Specialist with over 20 years of experience working with children and families at several San Antonio Children’s Hospitals. She is a graduate of Baylor University and has been dedicated to helping children and families cope with challenging healthcare experiences. Her work with Pediatric Oncology patients connected her with Camp Discovery in 2002, where she served as program director for 10 years.
Currently Leah works as a Certified Child Life Specialist at Baptist Children's Hospital at North Central in San Antonio. She is married to her husband Rob, and together they are raising three girls, Brooklyn, Sydney, and Savannah.
Karen Torges
Vice President & Secretary
Karen Torges “KT” currently serves as Vice President of the Board for Discovery Camps. She has over thirty-five years of experience in non-profit management, strategic planning, relationship and project management, and collaborations. She has worked extensively with volunteer groups at the local, state and national level on multiple public health issues.
KT helped initiate Camp Discovery and had the pleasure of working directly with the program for its first sixteen years. She’s been engaged as leadership with the Discovery Camps board for the past nine years and is proud of the expansion of this important effort to reach and serve more special children and their families.
Karen currently serves as Community Engagement Director for CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, a nationwide nonprofit that works to bring communities, non-profits and businesses together around a shared commitment of better health and wellbeing.
Maria Falcon-Cantrill
Dr. Falcon-Cantrill grew up in Converse, Texas and graduated from Judson High School. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of the Incarnate Word and her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
She also completed a residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the UT Health Science Center. Dr. Falcon-Cantrill is currently a Pediatric Hematologist and Oncologist at Methodist Children’s Hospital in San Antonio. She started volunteering at Camp Discovery as a camp physician in 2010.
Don Gregory
Don has been involved with Camp Discovery since 2004. At the time, he was working with a San Antonio based company that was very supportive of the camp. Part of his job was to volunteer at Camp Discovery. The job was temporary but the relationship with Camp Discovery will be for a lifetime. The first 10 years were spent as a cabin counselor with Red Boys (7-8 year-old campers). After that, Don moved to the job of preparing previous campers to transition to the role of cabin counselor. Currently he is overseeing Digital Discovery, a camper photography experience. Over the years, he has served on the planning committee for Camp Discovery and is honored to sit on the board of directors of VisionWorks.
Don lives in the Round Rock, TX area with his lovely wife Ruth.
Bill Martin
Bill Martin is a retired YMCA Executive with 30 years of experience leading and developing new YMCA’s in San Antonio and Houston. In 1984, as the Director of YMCA Camp Flaming Arrow, he assisted the American Cancer Society (ACS) develop the first Camp Discovery Program. He and his staff worked with ACS to design the program, provide the framework and facilities for delivering the program.
Howie Nestel
Howie Nestel has been creating an extraordinary life by serving through non-profit leadership and philanthropy in his position as Founder and President of San Antonio-based Sharkmatic Advertising over the past 30 years. He has provided sales and marketing services to more than 1,500 companies nationwide including Coca-Cola, DuPont, MTV, and Procter & Gamble, as well as to prominent local & regional businesses including Brake Check, Methodist Healthcare, and The Wash Tub.
Marketing is Howie’s professional passion, but he has also launched and owned more than 20 small businesses. These enterprises provided a range of services including meal prep, video production, screen-printing, and automobile brokering.
Howie is a proud father of 3 children. He is fluent in English and Spanish. He graduated from the University of Texas Business School in Austin and has lived and worked in Canada, Central America, Europe, Israel, Mexico, and the United States. In addition to running Sharkmatic, Howie holds leadership positions with numerous non-profit organizations and has donated his time, his talents, and collaborated with more than 100 nonprofits. Of all his charitable endeavors, Howie is very proud of his legacy of launching and leading the largest annual collection drive for the homeless in San Antonio, called Gotcha Covered, which is now celebrating its 28th year.
Keaton Frieberg
Keaton Frieberg is an attorney and a partner at Texas Suits Law. Keaton wears many hats, as he is also an owner of "To The Moon Moving" based in New Braunfels, Texas.
Keaton earned his bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico, and attended St. Mary's University, where he earned his Juris Doctorate.
Keaton is deeply engaged in his community and passionately invests his time in mentoring high school students in San Antonio. He serves as a mentor in a "Shark Tank"-style class, where he helps prepare students for the intricacies of the startup process.
Emad Guirguis
Emad Guirguis founded SimpliBookkeeping in 2019 with one goal in mind, to help companies and organizations grow and focus on what they do best. He takes on the work that most do not have the time to do and because of his dedication and niche to help small companies and organizations, many continue to grow and flourish.
As part of a growing industry and company, he strives and continuously supports his clients and their networks. By helping these businesses and organizations with a sound structure and basis, it has led to stability and growth for them.
Sarah Permenter
Experienced Human Resources Director with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. Skilled in Customer Service, Data Analysis, Management, and Teaching. Strong human resources professional with a Master of Education - MEd focused in Elementary Education from Texas State University.
Melissa K. Reed
Melissa is a San Antonio native and graduate of Churchill High School. She received her Business degree from Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi and has 20 years of successful business and nonprofit experience.
As the previous Executive Director of a large family foundation, she has a well-rounded skill set in foundation management and honed talents in financial management and public relations. She has a strong passion for helping children and, while at the foundation, she helped initiate Camp BraveHearts.
Melissa has spent her career working in nonprofit development and fundraising, which allows for a great understanding of what the community needs and the ability to help organizations achieve their goals. She currently owns a grant writing and consulting business, as well as, serves on the development team for SJRC Texas/ Belong, assisting with the expansion into Community-Based Foster Care.
Johnny Primomo
President
Johnny Primomo is a retired United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio. He previously served as a volunteer and then as a member of the Board of Directors for the Children’s Shelter of San Antonio. He also volunteered with the Child Life Department on the hematology/oncology floor at Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, formerly Christus Santa Rosa Hospital.
Johnny began as a volunteer at Camp Discovery in 1990 and has served as a cabin counselor, ropes course facilitator, and Camp Co-Director.
Daniel Guerrero
A native of San Marcos, Hon. Dr. Daniel Guerrero, MSLC, Ed.D. is a Distinguished Alumnus of San Marcos High School, holds multiple certificates from Austin Community College, a Bachelor of Mass Communications from Texas State University, a Master of Organizational Leadership and Change, and a Doctorate of Leadership and Higher Education from St. Edward’s University.
Daniel previously served as the Assistant Dean of Students for Student Development and Leadership Programs at Texas State University. He taught Global Business and Leadership as an adjunct professor at the McCoy College of Business. Daniel is currently the MBA Program Chair and an Assistant Professor of Business at Concordia University - Texas.
In addition to his faculty role, he is a senior consultant for J.L. Powers & Associates, serving clients in energy efficiency, wastewater infrastructure, and sustainability industries. He is focused on becoming an environmental, sustainability, and governance expert for his clients.
Daniel served six years as mayor of San Marcos and is currently a gubernatorial appointee to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. Daniel is a trained family law mediator and a board member for Addressing Cancer Together, Karana Rising (a nonprofit which supports the recovery of victims of human trafficking), and Camp Discovery (a youth cancer nonprofit).
Daniel is a 40-year cancer survivor, an avid world traveler, a Blue October fanatic, a certified NAUI scuba diver, and enjoys spending time with his rescued pets, Winter (dog), Diego (tortoise), Chiquito (tortoise), and Poquito (tortoise).
