THE FORCE BEHIND
THE ARMY OF SURVIVORS
As survivors of sexual abuse, our founders were joined together through incredibly traumatic circumstances. They lifted each other up in their darkest moments, and now they want to be the support all survivors of sexual assault and abuse desperately need.
Created by survivors of sexual assault that was enabled by Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and the US Olympic Committee, The Army of Survivors was founded by a diverse pool of athletes competing at all levels: gymnasts, divers, runners, softball players, volleyball players, and more. Our unique history allows us to bring awareness to the systemic problem of sexual abuse of athletes; our goal is to end this culture of abuse by ensuring all parties are held accountable, creating transparency in reporting, building an environment where athletes do not fear retaliation when reporting abuse, and advocating for change to protect survivors.
Our Team
JULIE ANN RIVERS-COCHRAN, MSW (she/her)
Executive Director
Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran, MSW, is an international leader in the field of the prevention and intervention of abuse in sports. She is the Executive Director of The Army of Survivors (TAOS), whose mission is to bring awareness, accountability, and transparency to sexual violence against athletes at all levels. Over 20 years ago, Julie Ann began her career in the movement to end gender-based violence by providing direct services and advocacy for survivors at Alternatives for Battered Women (now the Willow Center) of Rochester, NY. Prior to TAOS, she worked for the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma and Mental Health and as President and Founder for Blackbird Consulting for Nonprofits, a consultancy committed to helping nonprofit organizations carry out their mission while best serving their constituency. As a survivor of childhood trauma, Julie Ann is a fierce advocate whose personal experience with the impact of sexual assault and domestic violence has translated into a lifelong goal of listening to and then advocating for survivors while holding perpetrators and the systems that support them accountable.
Julie Ann holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Florida State University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications/Journalism from St. John Fisher College, and an Executive Certificate in Transformational Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. She is an Academic Advisory Board Member and Faculty for the International Olympic Committee Safeguarding Officer in Sport Program, a member of the SafeSport International Advisory Committee, and Chair of the SSI Athlete Advisory Group.
KACEY LONG, MSW (she/her)
Director of Programs
Kacey Long, MSW joined The Army of Survivors as the Director of Programs in 2022. She has worked in the field of sexual violence for over a decade, and she identifies as a queer survivor and former athlete. Her career in sexual violence has addressed systemic, familial, and individual needs related to interpersonal violence, child sexual abuse, and/or sexual violence. In the last ten years she has centered her labor on projects and development around Title IX policies, athlete advocacy, queer survivors, and how sociopolitical identities and policies impact survivors of sexual violence. Kacey has also served various state, local, and national nonprofits as an educator on culturally affirming and trauma responsive best practices and has served as an expert witness within court proceedings regarding sexual violence, child abuse, and the intersection of socially constructed identities. Prior to joining TAOS, she oversaw 16 child advocacy centers in the state of Georgia where she assisted nonprofits in technical assistance around child sexual exploitation responses. She has served as a member of Georgia’s Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force, and she has been a board member of several local nonprofits in the Southeast dedicated to ending sexual violence and addressing the needs of queer populations in the South. She founded and led the first queer affirming, all gender sports league for youth and adults in Northeast Georgia. Kacey holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan.
Dominique Davis (She/Her)
Executive Assistant
Dominique works as the Executive Assistant for TAOS. Her goal is to support the team by making sure the day-to-day operations run as efficiently as possible. She is a mother, yogi, climber and all around adventure seeker.
Her passion and commitment to TAOS’ mission comes from being an athlete-survivor of sexual assault while she was an elite gymnast. This launched her journey into advocacy work surrounding sports and athletes.
She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition then finished her 200HR yoga teacher training in Atlanta in 2018. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Southeastern Climbers Coalition and chairs their Equitable Access Committee.
Dom has helped her local community understand the barriers that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and other underrepresented climbers face in outdoor spaces and actively promotes the importance of climbing areas being a refuge for all climbers to recreate without fear of discrimination. She is passionate about creating a more inclusive and diverse community in the outdoors for her kids and future generations.
Emily Austin (She/Her)
Senior Policy and Advocacy Specialist
Emily Austin, J.D., is the Founder and President of Pivot Advocacy, P.C. Pivot Advocacy, P.C. is committed to community and institutional change for ending gender-based violence and promoting social justice through educating people within systems, developing supportive and in-house methods to confront and end oppression and harassment, and creating tools for the promotion of healthy communities, workplaces, and families. She works as a consultant to bring thoughtful, authentic change to systems, organizations, and individuals to end gender-based violence. She graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Women’s Studies and English. Emily received her law degree from USC, Gould School of Law. She was previously the Senior Policy and Advocacy Associate for ValorUS (formerly the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault). While there, she worked on improving system responses to sexual assault in such areas as college/university, incarcerated populations, and workplace through both state and national policy.
She has developed trainings and workshops on responding to sexual violence and domestic violence for law enforcement officers, businesses, wardens and incarcerated settings, as well as K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. She had developed trainings and workshops on trauma-informed care and approaches for systemic change for schools/universities, businesses, unions, law enforcement, legal advocates, parents/guardians, and community organizations. Following law school, Emily worked at the California Women’s Law Center to improve school responses to gender-based violence, including direct representation of survivors and policy development. She worked at Peace Over Violence as Director of Policy, where she developed state legislation, researched child sexual abuse, created prevention curricula, and built community collaborations. She currently works on projects around trauma-informed support and advocacy from a survivor-driven lens, campus training for Title IX and response to sexual violence, community organizing strategies to end violence, engaging survivor voice in policy advocacy, international and national systems reform to support athlete survivors of abuse, and strategy development for state and national responses to sexual assault and gender-based violence.
Sally Schaeffer (She/Her)
Senior Legislative Advocate
Bringing nearly 25 years of experience, Sally Schaeffer is founder and owner of Uncorked Advocates, a federal government relations firm started in 2017. Among her current clients are some of the largest nonprofits and philanthropic associations in the country, including American Heart Association, YWCA USA, Covenant House International, United Philanthropy Forum, Prevent Child Abuse America, and Association of Fundraising Professionals. She also supports nonprofits focused on preventing and addressing gender-based violence such as The Army of Survivors and Futures Without Violence.
Previous to starting her own firm, Sally represented more than 500 nonprofits and foundations as the Government Relations Director at Independent Sector. She also served as the Washington advocate for Girls Scouts of the USA. Sally started her career on Capitol Hill working for former Rep. Louise Slaughter as her Legislative Director and then Chief of Staff.
Ms. Schaeffer holds a B.A. in Political Science from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Fel’s School of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sally is the past President of the nonpartisan Women’s Congressional Golf Association, and member of Women in Government Relations. She has been named by The Hill as a Top Lobbyist for 2021, 2022, and 2023 and also named Top 100 Lobbyist in 2022 by The National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics.
our board
GRACE FRENCH (she/her)
President and Founder
DR. DANIELLE MOORE (she/her)
Vice President and Founder
Dr. Moore is an adjunct professor for The Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s Criminology department. She has learned through her experience as a Nassar survivor that going through the judicial process is traumatic in itself, thus one of her career goals is to train others, and to make that process more seamless for other survivors and their families. Dr. Moore has previous experience working as a Victim and Witness Crisis Counselor with the Department of Prosecuting Attorneys with the city and county of Honolulu. She also has experience working in correctional facilities, providing individual and group psychotherapy, trauma therapy, and conducting forensic and psychological assessments. Dr. Moore completed her Doctorate in Clinical and Forensic Psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (ISPP), Master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology at ISPP, Master’s degree in forensic psychology at the University of North Dakota, and her undergraduate degree in psychology at Central Michigan University. Dr. Moore has received The Foundation for Global Sports Development’s 2018 Humanitarian Award, the 2018 Arthur Ashe Award for Courage from ESPN, and the 2018 Glamour Women of the Year award. Through TAOS, she looks forward to using her personal and professional experience to help change the culture of sport, where the voices of the athletes are heard and listened to, and the mental and physical health of the athlete is a priority.
Janelle Hill (She/Her)
Secretary
Janelle Hill, APRN, PMHNP-BC is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She is the owner/founder of Refuge Mental Health Services and has over 12 years of experience in psychiatry. Janelle obtained her Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Nursing from the College of Saint Mary in 2012 and Master’s Degree in Science from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in 2016. Janelle served as the legislative liaison for UNMC during her college career and has remained involved and an avid advocate against sexual abuse and violence on the local and national level since that time.
Janelle competed on the collegiate level in both basketball and volleyball and is a survivor of sexual abuse by her college coach. As a result of her experience, Janelle is passionate about helping other survivors find their voice and live healthy, meaningful lives. She is committed to increasing awareness regarding the prevalence of sexual abuse and is passionate about shifting the culture of sports to one that is trauma-informed and athlete centered. Janelle currently serves her local community by providing courses to survivors of sexual abuse and uses her skills as a spoken word artist as another form of advocacy. Listeners have described her as an artist that says the words everyone is thinking, but too afraid to speak. Janelle is dedicated to daily inspire, empower, motivate, and lead others along their healing journey through compassion, authenticity, and positivity.
MARY CAIN (she/her)
Board Director
Mary Cain is the founder of the nonprofit and professional running team, Atalanta NYC. Atalanta NYC employs professional female runners to serve as mentors for young girls while building both their career skills and training full-time. After sharing her story with the world in a 2019 NY Times Op-Ed, Mary has dedicated her career to driving change in sport, with an emphasis on athlete well-being and gender equity.
DWIGHT HICKS (he/him)
Board Director
San Francisco Forty Niners Super Bowl defensive star Dwight Hicks began his stellar career at the University of Michigan in 1974, where he received All-Big Ten Conference Honors in 1976, 1977 and All American honors in 1977. He gained national recognition for outstanding personal performances in the 1976 Orange Bowl and during back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances in 1977-78. Dwight signed with the San Francisco Forty Niners in 1979, as a free safety and was voted by his peers as the team’s defensive captain from 1983-85. His outstanding play led him to four consecutive Pro Bowl appearances from 1981 to 1984. Dwight also led his team in interceptions in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983. Dwight played a pivotal role in the 49er’s Super Bowl XVI victory in 1981. In 1984, the unstoppable “Dwight Hicks and the Hot Licks” (the entire secondary) made the Pro Bowl and won Super Bowl XIX (the second of two Super Bowl rings for him). Dwight was selected as a member of the 49er’s “All Time Team” by the San Francisco Chronicle. After a phenomenal career on the field, Dwight is now creating a successful career in the entertainment industry. He has most recently finished working with Berkeley Repertory’s Artistic Director Tony Caccone and Playwright KJ Sanchez on the phenomenal Living document called X’s and O’s a Football Love Story which had runs in Berkeley Repertory Theater and Center Stage Theater in Baltimore. Dwight has been in several national commercials. He co-anchored and added his football expertise to the Bay Area’s highly rated KTVU-FOX 49er’s post game show, The Point After, for two seasons. Dwight appears at fundraising events for charitable organizations and participates in celebrity golf tournaments benefitting at risk youth, veterans, and healthcare organizations. He is currently working with Persevere, an organization that trains those who are incarcerated to write code and place them in jobs. Dwight is also sought after as a motivational speaker with positive results for corporations utilizing his tale
DEVI JAGS (SHE/HER)
Board Director
Devi Jags is an Entrepreneur, Writer, and Activist. She is co-founder of an Indian food brand called Sambar Kitchen and her work can be seen through her endeavors such as Chatty Monks Brewing, The Sparkle Community, and much more. Devi holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and has been published in The Washington Post, Vogue India, Teen Vogue, Women’s Health, Bon Appétit, and more. She was a 2023 Winter Resident of the Tin House Publishers Workshop and has been interviewed by The Washington Post, Unit3d Podcast, and Newsy for her advocacy work in Title IX and sexual violence prevention.
As an activist, Devi empowers survivors of gender-based violence and helps students navigate the complexities of Title IX through education, writing workshops, and campaign organizing. In her writing, Devi shares stories of mental health in sports, and body politics issues in the NCAA.
She uses the power of storytelling to elevate others, create social change, and above all, find solidarity for herself.
ALEXANDER S. RUSEK (he/him)
Board Director
Alexander S. Rusek is an attorney with Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, PC in Lansing, Michigan. Mr. Rusek’s practice focuses on complex mass action and class action civil litigation, business law & litigation, criminal law, and appellate law. Mr. Rusek has represented established businesses, new businesses, non-profits, professionals, and individuals involved in multi-party, mass action, and class action litigation. Mr. Rusek is a graduate of Oakland University and Michigan State University College of Law, cum laude. Mr. Rusek is currently a Director of The Army of Survivors, Inc., Treasurer of the Ingham County Bar Association, Past-President of the Ingham County Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, former Chairperson and Treasurer of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners Equal Opportunity Committee, former board member of the Michigan State University College of Law Alumni Association, and a member of multiple local and national bar associations, including the State Bar of Michigan Litigation Section’s Governing Council. Mr. Rusek is a 2018 recipient of the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce 10 Over the Next 10 Award, a 2018 recipient of Oakland University’s Young Alumni 10 Within 10 Award, and a 2016 recipient of the Ingham County Bar Association Top 5 Under 35 Award. He has authored multiple articles that have appeared in American Bar Association and State Bar of Michigan publications and the Ingham County Bar Association’s BRIEFS, including his recent article “An Introduction to Trauma-Informed Lawyering” published in the State Bar of Michigan’s Litigation Journal.
With Founding Board Members: Honorable Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, Senator Curtis Hertel Jr., Sara Teristi, Olivia Venuto and Louise Montag.
volunteers
CATE MCGEADY (She/her)
Public Relations Strategist
Cate McGeady recently re-joined The Army of Survivors (TAOS) as the organization’s volunteer PR Strategist. As an original TAOS team member, Cate is excited to be back supporting and generating greater awareness for the organization’s mission. Cate brings with her eight years of experience working with a range of clients including ADT, iRobot, Olympus Imaging and JetBlue. She has established strong relationships with and secured placements in publications like Modern Healthcare, Digital Trends, Mashable, TechCrunch, Vogue, USA Today, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Cate attended Michigan State University where she was a member of the varsity rowing team. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with a concentration in creative writing, and cognate focuses on communications and art history. Cate is currently attending Lesley University in Cambridge Massachusetts as a creative writing MFA candidate and is slated to graduate in June of 2022. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and going to the beach with her husband Harrison and their dogs Darcy and Hattie, both named for fictional characters.
REYAN TUCK (SHE/HER)
Volunteer
Reyan Tuck was a Division 1 softball player at the University of New Mexico; she received her Bachelors in Psychology in 2022 and recently completed her Masters in Project Management. Reyan is from Portland, OR., and has played competitively since she was young. As a survivor herself, Reyan is very passionate about women’s rights and wants to spend her life advocating for equality in sports. Reyan has been an active leader in many different advocacy programs, and her experiences and skills are an important part of the advocacy team. Reyan is dedicated and passionate about advocating for women’s health and wants to use her voice to create change through public policy.
interns
Jordan Maged (she/her)
Intern
Jordan Maged is an incoming fourth-year student at the George Washington University pursuing a BS in business administration with a concentration in sport management. Before the Army of Survivors, Jordan worked as an intern with Celebrity Advisors where she worked one on one with the CEO and Founder to help him launch his book. In high school, Jordan was a 4-year Varsity tennis athlete, alongside she played basketball and managed the Varsity Baseball team. In her free time, Jordan enjoys watching sports, especially attending Washington Wizards games, spending time with her family & friends, and traveling.
