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Board of Directors
 
Tania Keiser

Chairperson of the Board

Mrs. Keiser began her career in Health and Human Services over 15 years ago. During that time, she has had extensive experience assisting people with developmental disabilities in various capacities. Her involvement began when she volunteered at a Special Olympics event and witnessed the athlete’s dedication, ability and commitment to themselves and their goals. At that point, she realized it was something she wanted to continue to be a part of.  
 
Mrs. Keiser has worked in virtually every aspect of Rehabilitation Counseling, assisting individuals with disabilities. She has worked as a hands-on caregiver, Client Case Manager, as well as Group Home Manager and Administrator for several respected facilities. Tania has also had extensive experience as a Quality Assurance Specialist, monitoring the standards of care administered in various residential care homes. She also served a graduate school internship for the California State Department of Rehabilitation, which afforded her a thorough understanding and familiarity with the State agency.  
 
Tania has served on the Rehabilitation Advisory Board at CSUF (California State University, Fresno), and is a member of IARP (International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals), and NAFE (National Association of Female Executives). She is a certified QMRP Specialist (Qualified Mental Retardation Professional), as well as a certified CPR and First Aide instructor from the American Red Cross.  
 
In 1998, Mrs. Keiser was the recipient for the annual "Outstanding Efforts and Results" award at Loyd’s Liberty Homes, Inc. In 1999 she received the "Outstanding Voluntary Service" award for her contributions to Porterville Developmental Center, given to her by the Sequoia Area VIII Board. As the C.E.O. of Cypress ILS, Tania was honored in the "Manchester Who's Who of Executives" in 2002 for her leadership abilities, and is currently a featured member in the association's World Wide Registry.  
 
As the founder of Cypress ILS, Tania has utilized her extensive hands on experience and professional training to advocate for the rights of individuals with disabilities. It is upon these foundations that the driving philosophy of Informed Choice was built.

Board of Directors


Chad Keiser

Vice-Chairperson of the Board

Mr. Keiser brings over 16+ years of Leadership and Organization Development to Cypress ILS, and the developmentally disabled adult community we serve. Chad started his career with an $8 Billion dollar Fortune 500 Company, Automatic Data Processing (NYSE:ADP) which is best known as the leading provider of outsourced business solutions in the world. While at ADP, Chad consulted with hundreds of organizations of all sizes across the State of California and Nevada showing them how to harness their human capital, re-engineer their business processes, leverage technology and maximize market opportunities to acheive maximum results for their organization.  While at ADP, Chad was recognized through several National, Regional and Local Awards for his work and brings these same thought-leading business strategies to Cypress which has helped to fuel the year-over-year triple-digit growth - while substantially increasing the quality of service delivered. From this, Cypress has set new standards for Quality Care in the Independent Living Services industry.

 

In the late 1990's, Chad migrated into the Silicon Valley tech sector and helped to launch one of Silicon Valley's most successful IPO's for WebEx (NASDAQ:WEBX). As one of the earliest employees on-board in this hopeful start-up, Chad expanded his existing knowledge and experience in the nascent "live meeting" market to help lay the foundation for the Business and Channel Distribution program which would eventually be a significant strategic asset in the $3.2 Billion dollar acquisition of WebEx in March of 2007 by Cisco Systems. 

 

Mr. Keiser worked as the Director of Strategic Alliances for New York based IntraLinks in the multi-billion dollar loan syndication market, Director of Business and Channel Development for Presenter.com and was acting Vice-President of Axium International, a $1.2 Billion dollar Film and Entertainment company based in Los Angeles, Ca.

 

As an entrepreneur, Chad Founded and CEO'd "Digital Quotient" a Strategic Consulting firm which combined business process engineering on top of the Oracle Small Business technology platform. Chad had appeared in magazine articles alongside Oracle Software CEO Larry Ellison, and was recognized as the "Top Oracle Small Business Consultant" in 2002. It was at this juncture that Chad realized that no matter how good the strategy or technology - nothing was more important than "PEOPLE" in an organization.

 

With this realization, Chad and soon-to-be wife Tania Bechara-Keiser founded High Performance Development Group which provided Organization and Professional Development training, seminars and workshops to Organizations, Executives, and Professionals. The "dynamic-duo" has been trained and certified by top PhD's in the Org Dev field, and brings this training to the staff of Cypress ILS

 

Mr. Keiser earned his Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University in Business Administration: Marketing and played College Football and Club Hockey. He has received much recognition and awards for his work and charitable contributions. 

Board of Directors

 

Mark Bechara

Board Secretary

Mark E. Bechara has been a member of the CYPRESS ILS board of directors since 2002. He has worked in the field of education since 1998. He received his Master of Arts, with Honors, in TOFEL from the prestigious Teachers College, at Colubmia University in New York city. He also received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Suma Cum Laude from Trinity college at the renowned University of Toronto, Canada.  
 
Over the years, Mark has developed ESL teaching programs and supervised teachers in Japan, the Philippines, and in the United States. Throughout his endevors he has consistently worked to improve the opportunities for foreign nationals learning english as a second language. Mark has also donated his time to the House of Hope in Fresno, CA., where he volunteered as an instructor for high risk gang members working towards integration back to public high school. While at the House of Hope, Mark assisted these youth with raising their grades to acceptable standards where they could be mainstreamed back to public school, while also being an advocate for the students while working with the Juvenile courts as an advocate for the students. 
 
Since 2005, Mark has been an instructor at Professional Business College and Westchester Community College in New York City. He has also served as an editor of the Society for International Education Journal and has published various educational materials for the New York Times. Mark is the current director of the Pace University Community and Volunteer Mobilization AmeriCorps program in New York City which focuses on developing community based education, community service and civic participation. Mark is also fluent in Cantonese, French and Japanese.