Laura Whitaker, M. Ed., began her relationship with Extra Special People, Inc. by working as a counselor and, subsequently, a leadership team member in 2003.  With her passion for enhancing the lives of children with developmental disabilities and her specialized education in this field, Laura was selected as the director after the founder, Martha Wyllie’s sudden passing in 2004. She has found her dream job with ESP (or as she says, her dream job found her!).  As Executive Director, Laura uses her leadership and management strengths to manage staff, oversee multiple year-round programs and raise funds to run programs. Her favorite part of the job is getting to hug the many children who walk through the ESP doors.

Collis R. Jones holds the position of Vice President, U.S. Policy & Strategy, for John Deere Public Affairs in Washington, DC.  He leads the team responsible for managing U.S. federal and state government relations activities on behalf of Deere. These efforts are aimed at supporting legislation and public policies that are favorable to the interests of the company’s customers, employees and business partners.

Collis brings over 20 years of governmental strategic, tactical and policy development experience to this role and is one of Deere’s key contributors in delivering client-focused business initiatives within the organization. His 34-year career began at John Deere Financial and has included various marketing, sales and public policy leadership roles across the enterprise.

Collis serves on the Board of Directors for The Thurgood Marshall College Fund, The Congressional Award, Public Affairs Council, Government Relations Executive Council, North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Augustana College President’s Advisory Council and The FiscalNote Executive Institute Advisory Board.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. 

Deere & Company (www.JohnDeere.com) is a world leader in providing advanced products and services and is committed to the success of customers whose work is linked to the land - those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world's dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure. Since 1837, John Deere has delivered innovative products of superior quality built on a tradition of integrity.

Egan is a trail blazer and champion of the rights of persons with disabilities having served as a Special Olympics Sargent Shriver International Global Messenger and a Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Public Policy Fellow. He serves on several Boards and  represents individuals with Down syndrome on the NIH DS Consortium.  He is the author of “More Alike Than Different: My Life with Down Syndrome.” With over 20 years of competitive employment from a clerk position to a career of advocacy, he currently works at SourceAmerica as a Community Relations Coordinator in Vienna VA. 

Greg has built a career with best-in-class organizations in retail (TJX Companies, Pilot Travel Centers, H.E.B., and Thriftway), consumer products (Pepsico and Daymon Worldwide) and media information services (Reed Elsevier and Reed Business Information). In each of these great organizations he held key executive positions and has had global HR oversight for a combined 35+ years. His leadership approach is to lead and drive international excellence in HR, Succession Planning, Diversity & Inclusion, Executive Compensation, Organizational Development and Operational Practices; senior leadership support and alignment with the business values; and competencies and profitability strategies. He has international senior leadership experience in the UK, China, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Canada.  He has accomplished this by leading with integrity, passion and creating high performing teams with direct connections to the business and culture. In addition to HR leadership responsibilities, he has also led and managed business P&Ls, operations, sales teams on-and-offshore in a number of these organizations.

He is currently founder and owner of Sculpted Leaders, LLC. This top-to-top by referral only consulting practice drives change and increases organizational presence and profitability by one-on-one coaching of C-suite executives, and ensuring all Human Capital Talent, Organizational Development, Diversity & Inclusion, Executive Compensation, Executive Recruitment and HRIS Systems are aligned to the core business mission and strategy. He also consults closely with Private Equity organizations as they assess purchases and sale of portfolio assets. He is fluent in Spanish, a leading voice in diversity & inclusion and has significant board experience with for and not-for-profit organizations like EnsembleIQ, National Domestic Violence Hotline, Our Lady of the Lake University, Conexion and AVANCE as lead in succession planning, executive compensation and CEO recruitment.

Greg has been married for over 35 years to Cindy and they have 2 great kids; Rebecca, who lives in Los Angeles, CA and Greg Jr, who lives in the San Antonio area. Greg is also a scuba diver instructor, enjoys reading fiction/non-fiction, yoga and is into metal sculpting. Greg and Cindy currently live in Canyon Lake, Tx.