About Us
Founding Motivation
TrustedRiders was founded out of personal experience which showed a distressing gap in NEMT service. TrustedRiders was borne out of those events and the realization that this long standing impediment to health care was a problem for many patients, as well as their families, friends, neighbors, and caregivers.
In 2010, the Co-Founder’s mother, no longer driving from her home in CT, had knee replacement surgery and was scheduled for a follow-up visit. She reached out for help to the care manager who had been hired, because her son lived 300+ miles away, and was told to “take the van,” unescorted. The appointment went well, but when she went out to the street to see if the van had come back for the ride home, she tripped over some construction debris, fell and injured her prosthetic knee. The wound got infected and sepsis set in; she lost her leg, developed dementia, and was soon gone. Our Co-Founder asked himself, “Would it have been so hard to have someone there to make sure Mom got settled and had a safe trip?”
Our other Co-Founder saw her father, 1200+ miles away, and members of his independent and assisted living communities struggle with transportation to both preventative and urgent healthcare and other essential services, when he had to give up his car and needed assistance to walk while using a walker.
Management Team and Personnel
Alan Lopatin
Co-founder and CEO
Alan has worked on aging and multigenerational issues for more than three decades and currently serves as a member of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) and chaired LCAO's 2016 "Seniors Decide" Presidential Forum Task Force. As General Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, Alan provided lead staffing for reauthorization of the Older Americans Act and other significant human services public policy. As Director of the Washington Office of the National Senior Corps Association, he has worked to promote productive aging and community services. Alan is President of Ledge Counsel, Inc., B.A., Yale University; J.D., Washington College of Law, American University. Alan works from Washington, D.C.
Tess Scannell
Training and Technical Assistance Advisor
Tess has over five decades actively engaged with policy, advocacy, program development and management in senior service, older workers, aging, public welfare, child welfare, intergenerational issues, volunteering and human services. Director, National Senior Corps (8 years); Director, The Corporation for National and Community Service (14 years), The Child League of America (9 years), Director, Generational United: A National Coalition on Intergenerational Issues and Programs (5 years); Green Thumb, a national contractor for Title V, Older Americans Act, Older Worker Program; Area Agency on Aging, Assistant Director and Director of the Older Workers Program. Current Board Member, National Senior Corps Association. B.A. University of Delaware, M.S.W. University of Pennsylvania. Tess works from Newport, ME.
Bianca Grant
Administrator and Systems Manager
Owner of Back Office System Specialists, Bianca believes in aligning back offices to save time, money, and increase productivity. With a background in education and 20+ years of experience in administrative support, Bianca transitioned from being an educator to becoming a passionate entrepreneur. She advocates for digital literacy and uses technology to build and scale businesses effectively with an administrative support firm specializing in assisting service-based nonprofits. She focuses on eliminating administrative overwhelm through efficient business organization and automation services, building a well-structured back office for sustainability. Bianca works from Dallas, TX.
Deborah Kayton Michals
Co-founder and COO
Deborah has developed professional and creative human resource programming and training, with emphasis on the relationship between movement, cognitive function and social determinants of health. For over three decades, she has created and directed programs at institutions including the Educational Alliance social service agency, New York City 14th and 92nd St Y’s, NAEYC, OMEP International, Edulearn Barcelona, Yale University, Moving Senior Arts, HeadStart Association and New York, NY, Fairfield County CT and Westchester County NY public resources. Deborah is President of Learn With Action LLC, and author of the “Active Learning” series (Gryphon House/Kaplan). B.A., Yale University; M.F.A,, New York University. Deborah works from Greenwich, CT.
Angela Roberts
Program Coordinator
Angela served most recently as the deputy director of the Senior Corps programs, overseeing the governance of federal investments in volunteer programs for individuals ages 55 and over. She has more than 25 years of experience in program development and implementation, strategic planning, and helping community-based programs develop methods to measure the outcomes of their work. B.S. George Mason University, M.S.W. University of Maryland. Angela works from Sterling, VA.
Ben Michals
Technical Director
Ben is a programmer, web designer, social media content creator at TrustedRiders, associate producer Trivium Interactive, 2020-23 content creator with collaborations with Google, HBOMax, Reddit, BandLab, Possible Finance, and others; 2020-22 official first 100 Instagram Reels Designated Content Creator. B.A, computer science, Brown University. Ben works from Boston, MA.