OUR TEAM
Chris Gilbert (he/him/his)
Co-Chair
Christopher moved to Madison three years ago from a small town in Pennsylvania. He attended Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh which led him to a career in dentistry. Outside of work, he loves traveling the States and the world, is passionate about nature and the outdoors, and dabbles with music. He’s a dog dad to a Labrador retriever named Barney and can often be found exploring the local community.
Rona Neri (she/her/hers)
Pres House Liaison
Rona has lived in many places throughout the US and in Greece & Italy, but moved to Madison in 1994 to start a family. She is the proud mom of two adults: her son, Travis who lives and works in Boston and her daughter, Kyra, who just started her senior year of college in Virginia. She came to GatherX from the Pres House Board to serve as the liaison between the two, and quickly grew to love the GX team and mission. She lives in Waunakee with her sweet dog, Aggie, and works as a fine art nature photographer. Rona gets outside whenever she can to hike and photograph Wisconsin’s beautiful state natural areas and the wildlife that lives there, seeking images that inspire others to explore and preserve wild spaces. She loves to cook, travel, read, snuggle Aggie, and spend time with her friends and family. Her guiding belief is that Love Wins.
Sam Syta (she/her/hers)
Steering Team
Sam is a Wisconsin native, originally from Milwaukee. She moved to Madison in 2015 to complete her undergraduate degrees in psychology and neurobiology through UW-Madison. Sam recently completed a Master of Arts in Counseling through Northwestern University and currently works in the human service field, assisting the elderly and individuals with disabilities navigate the healthcare system. In her free time, Sam enjoys frequenting local coffee shops or going on outdoor adventures, such as kayaking on Lake Monona or exploring many of the Dane County dog parks, with her pup Finley.
Kay Weeden (she/her/hers)
Co-Chair
A proud west coast California-born transplant, Kay is also a very proud San Francisco Giants fan that has been in the Midwest for a few years now. She works in the healthcare field, and in her free time likes to hang out at the dog park, fish, explore local coffee shops, and best of all: cuddle on the couch, catching up on tv shows with her fiancé Nika and pups Ty, Vesper and Posey. Kay is an extreme extrovert, so if you see her out and about, don’t be afraid to say hey!
