Board Members
Karita M Hummer, LCSW, BCD
Founder & President of FACTR
Karita has extensive professional experience in working on behalf refugees and immigrants who are victims of war trauma and psycho-political torture. She has been the Clinical Director for the Eastern European Service Agency (EESA), an agency serving refugees and immigrants from Former Yugoslavia, Russia and Eastern Europe.
As Clinical Director, Ms. Hummer also mentored the African Community Health Institute, a newly formed nonprofit organization, in the development of their own mental health services on behalf of refugees and vulnerable immigrants who have migrated to the United States from all parts of Africa.
She has founded the Footprints Guild micro-enterprise program to promote and serve refugee artisans and vendors of artisan products in the San Francisco Bay area. Karita Hummer also has a private practice as a Clinical Social Worker in San Jose, where she conducts psychotherapy with children and adults and provides consultation.
She has been a Mental Health Program Consultant for the Bosnian-Herzegovinian USA Cultural Association (BHUCA) www.bhuca.org, coordinating two Bosnian film festivals. She was a founder of the Cleo Eulau Center, Solutions to Child and Adolescent Trauma in Palo Alto and Executive Director of the Children's Psychological Trauma Center, San Francisco.
Karita Hummer graduated with an MSW degree from the University of Pittsburgh, 1964 and received a Certificate from the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Program, 1979. She has lectured widely on the subject of Childhood Bereavement, Divorce, Psychological Trauma and Refugee Mental Health.
Indira Anupindi, MSW( Eqv), MS,
Founder and COO of FACTR
Indira is a Social Worker with over fifteen years of experience working with Family and Children. She has chosen Social Work as a profession out of passion and is currently working for the Social Service Agency in California, USA as a Social Worker.
Indira has conducted extensive psycho-educational training & counseling of parents & children in various circumstances both in India and USA.
Indira was the Director for Women?s Development Department from 1995-98 in one the leading multi dimensional non profit organization in India and was responsible for coordinating various national and international workshops and seminars. She Prepared and presented reports for the organization in National & International Seminars & Workshops.
Prior to being a Director for the non profit organization organization Indira was working there as the Program coordinator from 1993-1995. Indira was the co-founder of ACCA (AWAREs Campaign for Cancer Awareness) and conducted an awareness campaigns about prevention and early treatment of cancer.
Indira specializes in crisis counseling and supportive therapy. Indira uses puppets to counsel with young clients.
Joseph L. Naegele, Attorney & Mediator
Director of FACTR
Joseph L. Naegele is a mediator and Counselor of Law for the Loyola Mediation Center in San Jose, CA, USA. He started his career working for the US Congress. He has over 25 years of practicing law in the private sector. He has over 23 years of Civil Litigation experience including judge and jury trials in areas including family law, contracts, personal injury and product liability.
Since 1995 he developed the Loyola Mediation Center, devoted to spirituality and mediation. He was a professor at Lincoln Law School and at present is Adjunct Professor in Mediation at Santa Clara Law School, Santa Clara California.
He graduated from UC Hastings Law School and worked for the Marin Public Defender and Sacramento District Attorney's Office.
Dr. Vitali Tikhonov
Director of FACTR
Dr. Tikhonov has over 20 years of experience in the field of nuclear science instrumentation and in optoelectronics and over three years of experience in the medical instrumentation field.
He has been an effective leader in many projects by leading technical teams and other engineers. He has experience in working with customers and has strong presentation skills.
He believes children have a natural gift to do drawing. He has an idea about promoting computer art (the graphic done by using Computers Media) for expressing oneself via art therapy.
He has Ph. D. in Physics and Mathematics- Specialty in Electronics for Nuclear Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He also has a M.S. in Electronics and Radio-physics with honor from Irkutsk State University. He has 52 Scientific Publications to his credit. He has one 1 US patent and 5 other patent applications pending.