Melissa Steward

Melissa oversees the FatherSOURCE Resource Center, Graphic Design Staff, and Program Support Services at NFI. She received her BA from George Mason University in Communication, and also holds Certificates in Graphic and Web Design from Montgomery College. Prior to NFI, Melissa worked at MarketBridge, a Marketing Consulting firm providing go-to-market strategy and execution for Fortune 500 clients in the technology, healthcare, and financial industries. For several years prior, she was Marketing Director for a McDonald's franchisee, where she managed local store marketing and community outreach for 18 McDonald's locations.  Melissa lives in Germantown, Maryland with her husband, and two Maine Coon cats.

Nick Smarrelli

Nick joined NFI in 2012 as the Resource Center Manager. He received his BA in Communication with a minor in Marketing Management from Salisbury University in 2009. While attending SU, he was part of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) where he served as Vice President of Public Relations his senior year. Previously, Nick has worked in distribution and retail management. Nick lives in Frederick, Maryland with his fiancée, Kayleigh, and German Shepherd, Kona.

Michael Yudt

Michael Yudt joined National Fatherhood Initiative in 2003. As Senior Director of Program Support Services, Michael provides training, technical assistance and consultation to any correctional system or facility, faith-based organization, community-based organization or government agency that is looking to support fathers. Michael is an expert trainer on the InsideOut Dad™ and 24/7 Dad curricula. InsideOut Dad is the nation’s largest evidence-based re-entry program for incarcerated fathers and 24/7 Dad is NFI’s most comprehensive curricula geared towards the community setting.

In addition to his training expertise, Michael has taken the lead on creating new resources for fathers, including How to Connect with Your Children and Family After Release and Igniting Father-Child Relationships: Sharing Favorites Fosters Connections.

As part of his undergraduate work, he studied history and political theory for one semester at an Oxford University-affiliated program. Michael and his wife Kelly reside in Frederick, Maryland and they are the proud parents of three boys, ages 4, 2 and a newborn. Michael is an Elder and an active leader in the Men’s Ministry at his church, in addition to serving as a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Tim Red

Tim Red currently serves as Senior Military Program Support Consultant. He works with fathers, families, and family support programs on military installations nationwide.

Tim joined NFI after 30 years of military service with the last twenty in an Active Duty status. He served four years as the State Family Program Director for the Texas National Guard. At the end of his career he was mobilized and then deployed overseas in support of the Kosovo Peacekeeping mission for seventeen months.  Tim and his wife Paula have four kids: Travis, Nathan, Zach and Nikki. He enjoys watching his kids play baseball, tennis and soccer.

Ave Mulhern

Ave Mulhern currently serves as Senior Program Support Consultant at NFI.  Passionate about improving the well being of children & families, Ave assists, educates and trains individuals & organizations seeking to start or expand fatherhood programming, services, and knowledge.

After a long and successful career with Verizon where her work experience included management roles in Finance and Marketing as well as Training Specialist for Workforce Development, Ave joined National Fatherhood Initiative in October 2006 and served as director of NFI’s Responsible Fatherhood Capacity Building Initiative (NRFCBI), a five-year initiative funded by the Office of Family Assistance at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that helped 119 local community-based and faith-based organizations improve their organizational, program, and leadership capacity as well as increasing connections within and beyond their communities.

Ave and her husband Joe have been married since 1975 and live in Willow Grove, PA. They have two children, Meghan and Joseph and two grandchildren.

Jack Kammer

Jack joined NFI's Program Support Team in 2012, with a background in Social Work and Corrections. Previously, in 1983 Jack started a weekly radio show called “In a Man’s Shoes” at a station near Baltimore. Originally, it was mostly about communication and fairness between men and women, with an eye on romance and relationships. But it didn’t take long for Jack to realize that serious, even life-and-death social issues were involved in what was really going on in men’s lives. Fatherhood emerged as a central issue; articulating and advocating the critical importance of fatherhood for healthy communities became Jack’s passion.

In 2005 Jack left his day job as an IT analyst and trainer in Washington DC to go back to school in a three-year MBA/MSW program at the University of Maryland. Subsequently he spent a year as a Correctional Officer in the Baltimore City Detention Center and another year as a Parole & Probation Agent in central Baltimore. What he saw and heard in those two jobs confirmed the connection between male gender issues – especially the problems facing fatherhood in our culture – and problems of crime, violence, educational underachievement, unemployment, substance abuse, mental illness, suicide and others. His focus at NFI will be on fatherhood programming opportunities primarily in DC, Maryland and Virginia, but he will also support and lead efforts nationally to expand NFI’s work in the Corrections field.