Our Board
Janet Duke
President & Founder
Janet Duke is Board Chair and founding member of the Strong Family Alliance and the parent of a lesbian daughter. When her daughter came out over two decades ago, Janet would have given anything to have information and resources to keep her child safe and her family intact. Since that time, Janet has helped countless families in transition. As board member of the Parents Reconciling Network, she supports parents of LGBTQ+ children. She is also a board member for the Reconciling Ministries Network working for full inclusion of LGBTQ+ in the United Methodist Church.
Janet spent 35 years in IBM sales, product development, and management where her work with international teams gave her a deep appreciation of racial, cultural, and social diversity. Retiring from IBM, she worked for 10 years coordinating programs and applicants for the non-profit Service Dogs Inc. Retiring from that (she has a problem retiring), she now focuses on LGBTQ+ family issues and enjoys hiking, time in the mountains, and working to certify her Labrador, Trust, as a therapy dog.
Kendra Wright
Founding Member
Kendra Wright is a founding member of Strong Family Alliance. Kendra is particularly interested in helping parents through the faith issues they have when their children come out.
Kendra has done online marketing since 1995 and founded her first company in 1998, first providing custom digital solutions for global brands and later developing a website and ticketing platform for events, venues, and destinations. A “serial entrepreneur,” Kendra has launched two other companies, an email marketing service and a website offering contemporary women’s gifts.
Kendra does inspirational speaking all over the country. She loves to travel and once spent a year in an RV with her husband, who remarkably she’s still married to; she lives with him and her son in Austin.
Shailagh Clarke, Ph.D.
Board Member
Shailagh Clarke, Ph.D. is the first board member of Strong Family Alliance. As a licensed psychologist in private practice, Shailagh has seen first-hand the struggle families experience when a child comes out. Her vision is that this site will be a resource that will help preserve these families.
Shailagh provides individual therapy, family therapy, and parent coaching for issues including ADHD, depression, generalized anxiety, OCD, panic, adjustment, relationship concerns, and career changes. She obtained her master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of North Texas and bachelor’s degree in Plan II and Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Shailagh lives in Lakeway, Texas with her partner and three children. After spending most of her life avoiding sports, she now enjoys playing tennis regularly.
Scott Collen
Board Member
Scott has always had a calling for volunteer work, especially centered around the LGBTQ population. Among other things, he has volunteered at youth homeless shelters, helps lead the feeding ministry at his church and is an active member of the Dallas HRC Federal Club. Having come out at the age of 40, Scott knows first-hand the challenging process and how important it is to have family accept you. Scott is thrilled to help save lives through his work on the Strong Family Alliance Board.
Professionally, Scott is a Sr. Account Executive with CoEnterprise, a boutique consulting firm focused in the area of supply chain and end-to-end analytics. He works with a variety of clients to assist them in improving their company with the use of data and analytics. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University.
Scott lives in Dallas, Texas with his husband David. He has two grown daughters, Amanda and Averi, both of whom live in the Dallas area. When not working or volunteering, Scott can usually be found swimming, cooking, traveling or petting their dog Ferguson.
Jennifer Gamewell, M.Ed, LPC, CCST, CPDPE
Board Member
Jennifer (pronouns she/her/hers) obtained her bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas, Austin and spent twenty years as a school counselor, primarily working within the middle school environment. During her time as a school counselor, she attended Texas A&M University earning a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology, which enabled her to start her own private practice in 2017, Gamewell Innovative Counseling, LLC.
Jennifer is highly experienced in assisting families, young adults, adolescents, and children with developmental, behavioral, social, and emotional issues. She provides gender affirming therapy for individuals who may be transgender, non-binary, or at any point along the gender spectrum. Her professional specialization involves working with individuals who are questioning, exploring, accepting, clarifying, or adapting to their identity.
Karen Reaume
Board Member
Karen has spent most of her spare time in official or unofficial ministry to youth and young adults. When her son came out in 2020 she knew it was time to take her LGBTQ+ advocacy work to a new level. She serves on the boards of Strong Family Alliance and Parents Reconciling Network, as she continues mentoring young adults and their parents navigating the coming out process.
Karen transitioned from a career in environmental, health and safety to seminary in 2017, graduating with her Masters of Divinity in 2020. She currently works as the seminary’s grants program manager as she pursues doctoral studies in the area of spiritual formation.
Karen has four grown children, three of whom are married, and when she’s not studying, they love hanging out, inventing new recipes, or binge-watching an eclectic mix of shows. She loves travel and the arts, but most of all she loves helping people discover their unique gifts and beauty.
Emilia Gura
Board Member
Emilia grew up in communist Bulgaria and moved to the US in the late 90s. Living and learning these two different cultures thought her to see the similarities in people rather than the differences and to embrace the differences with an open mind and loving and accepting heart.
She spent most of her professional career in finance. Her experience ranges from trading securities to private equity and most recently establishing and managing the finance and HR departments of her husband’s start-up companies.
Emilia has 3 pre-teen daughters who keep her busy with their sports and social life. When she is not working or “mommy-ing”, Emilia practices and teaches yoga and loves to jog, play tennis and paddleboard. Her goal in life is to see as much of the world as possible and expose her kids to various cultures so they grow up to be open-minded and accepting individuals.