Leadership, Advisor and Faculty Bios
David Goodman
Frank Esposito
Mitchell Talisman
Steven Clark
Laura Gramenelles
Michael Giudicissi
Marian Karpinski
Cynthia Trautwein
Peggy P. Clark
John Gilliland II
Joel Wittman
David Dickie

David Goodman,
CCSC Founder and President

David M. Goodman is Founder and President of Companion Connection Senior Care. Since 1985, he has focused on improving the quality of care for thousands of seniors and disabled persons. Goodman is highly respected as a visionary and an authority in the field of home care. Prior to starting Companion Connection Senior Care, Goodman founded and grew Expert Home Care into one of New Jersey's most successful home care agencies. After 20 years of dedicating his life to the well-being of New Jersey seniors, David utilized this wealth of experience and knowledge to partner with Frank Esposito and founded the Companion Connection Senior Care National Membership Organization. This membership organization is dedicated to teaching others how to start their own non-medical home care companies and begin filling the great demand for these services. Expert Home Care has since become the model for the National Membership Organization, where Goodman and Esposito have tested the success of different business concepts and marketing techniques prior to passing the knowledge on to their Members.

David, who has provided expert testimony in the home healthcare field, presently co-hosts (with Frank Esposito) Focus on Seniors Radio, a popular national radio talk show on senior care issues. He was featured in New Jersey Business News in 1998 as one of the Top 40 Business Leaders under 40 years old in New Jersey. He has also been recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine as well as the Wall Street Journal as a leading expert in the field of home health care. He frequently writes for various general interest and trade magazines on senior issues and home care. He serves on the legislative body of the New Jersey Continuity of Care and is an active member of the New Jersey Home Health Services Staffing Association. He is licensed as a Long-Term Care Insurance Specialist and as a Certified Senior Care Advisor.

Frank Esposito,
CCSA Executive Vice President

Frank M. Esposito has primary responsibility for all internal operations and administration of Companion Connection Senior Care. He first partnered with David Goodman in 1989 to open the second branch of Expert Home Care, a New Jersey licensed live-in home health care company that provides certified home health aides. This expansion enabled them to provide home care services in central New Jersey. Frank Esposito has been the Chief Operating Officer since the expansion.

With David Goodman, Frank is the co-host of Focus on Seniors Radio, which airs on WSradio.com, the Internet's #1 talk station. The show focuses on issues related to the care and well-being of seniors.

Prior to joining Expert Home Care, Frank had a career in the insurance industry as a sales executive with Phoenix Mutual Life. His leadership and organizational skills, strong work ethic, and many years of experience running a home health care agency make him well-suited to assist others in fulfilling their quest for business ownership.

A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Frank is a member of the National Home Care Association, the Case Management Society of America and the National Private Duty Association, for which he chairs the Community Education committee. Frank, who is married and has two children, enjoys spending leisure time with his family and keeping fit through various outdoor activities.

Mitchell Talisman
Technical Advisor, IT

Mitchell Talisman has acted as a technical advisor to Companion Connection Senior Care since the company was founded in 2003. He brings significant expertise in the application of computer technology to the needs of small businesses.

Mitchell's company, Talisman Consulting Group, helped design the original features of both the Companion Connection public Web site and of the members-only site. He set up the member forums, produced training materials on PC and software usage, designed internal email and database processing for CCSC and provided an overall vision of the ways that technology could assist both CCSC itself and the needs of its members. He provided advice on vendor selection, Web search optimization, contact management tools and all areas in which technology is used at Companion Connection.

Mitchell has worked in software development and consultancy over the past 25 years. After receiving Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Engineering from Columbia University, he embarked on a series of software projects in several fields. His experience includes building derivative pricing systems for Wall Street financial firms, designing and implementing a cell phone-based social networking service, as well as digital video processing applications and general software support and consultation.

Steven Clark
Public Relations Advisor

Steve provides public relations and marketing communications support to Companion Connection Senior Care and its members. He is president of Andover Communications, a public relations firm based in Fort Lee, NJ specializing in medical/health care, which he founded in 1989. Steve, who has over 25 years of experience in the field, was previously a prize-winning newspaper reporter and college journalism instructor. A graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications, he has written four non-fiction books and articles for many magazines on a range of different topics.

Laura Gramenelles, RN, BSN
State Licensing Support Specialist

Laura provides specialized expertise in the area of assisting members who must apply for licensure in order to become operational complete the necessary applications. Laura reviews the licensure application and makes appropriate recommendations for ensuring correct responses to the required licensure application.

Laura has wide ranging progressive experience in home care since 1985, including three years in management and seventeen years in consulting. Management experience includes responsibility for agency operations, clinical services and quality assurance. Consulting experience includes organizational and operations analysis, preparation for Medicare and JCAHO surveys, Medicare coverage and documentation training and the development of HIPAA implementation policies and tools. She is instumental in developing policies and procedures, job descriptions, employee performance evaluation tools, standardized care plans, quality assessment and improvement plans, and orientation programs. Previous home care positions and duties included Director of Quality Assurance, Director of Operations and Nursing Supervisor.

Michael Giudicissi
Bio coming soon

Marian Karpinski, RN
Education and Training Advisor

Marian Karpinski is President of Healing Arts Communications and is the writer and director of the Home Care Companion video/DVD series on caregiving and communication skills. With more than 30 years' experience as a registered nurse, including serving as a health care educator for the past 19 years, she is an invaluable resource to Companion Connection Senior Care.

She has dedicated her career to enhancing the wellbeing and skill level of family and professional care providers, helping them provide safe and compassionate care.

Cynthia Trautwein
Membership Support Specialist

Peggy P. Clark, CPA
Accounting Manager

Peggy P. Clark serves as Accounting Manager for Companion Connection Senior Care.

Peggy P. Clark, a senior accountant with DiGabriele, McNulty & Co., LLC, handles invoicing, vendor payments, cash reconciliations, and other accounting matters for Companion Connection Senior Care. Peggy earned her BS in accounting from Montclair State University, and has 20 years' experience in the accounting field, including cash handling, accounts payable, bookkeeping, tax return preparation, payroll and sales tax returns, and other aspects of public accounting. Known for her troubleshooting skills, she brings a wealth of experience to ensuring timely, accurate, and smooth processing of member matters.

John Gilliland II, J.D.
Legal Affairs Advisor

John Gilliland, Legal Affairs Advisor for Companion Connection Senior Care, is a nationally recognized expert in wage and hour and employment law, specializing in the health care industry. Mr. Gilliland is the senior partner of the Indianapolis, Indiana, law firm of Gilliland, Markette & Milligan LLP. His primary areas of practice are employment/labor law and health law. He is a frequent speaker and author concerning legal issues in home care. He is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, and the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.

Joel Wittman
Advisor, Mergers and Acquisitions

Joel Wittman is Founder and President of The Wittman Group, a consulting firm providing mergers and acquisitions and operations advisory services to companies in the home health care/post-acute health care sector. He serves as Advisor on Mergers & Acquisitions for Companion Connection Senior Care, and is a well-known expert in home healthcare/supplemental staffing, with more than 25 years' experience in the health care industry.

Joel's health care experience includes service as Chief Financial Officer of a 420-bed acute care hospital in New York City and the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, a $1 billion home health company. He was also Vice President of Health Care Services for a publicly traded home health care/supplemental medical staffing company that had more than 100 locations and generated $200 million in annual revenues. In the area of mergers and acquisitions in home health/medical staffing, Mr. Wittman served as Vice President of Telesis Mergers and Acquisitions, a Founder and Principal of The Braff Group, and has completed transactions that created approximately $750 million in enterprise value.

Mr. Wittman is a frequent speaker at national and regional home care/medical staffing conventions, seminars, and industry association meetings. He is an Adjunct Professor in Health Services Management at the Milano Graduate School of Public Administration of the New School University.

David Dickie, MBA
Special Advisor, Insurance

David Dickie is a Special Advisor on Home Care Insurance for Companion Connection Senior Care. As President of Solutions, the nation's largest insurance company for the home health care industry, members have a professional that understands startup companion companies and the necessary coverage they need.

David created Solutions to specifically assist the home care industry in obtaining the coverage they need. Most insurance companies do not understand the non-medical home care industry and do not want to insure a startup. David has unique insight in the industry and has enabled the non-medical home care industry to safely provide care to seniors with the knowledge that they are properly insured.

David holds both BA and MBA degrees.