ACT Board of Directors and Leadership Team

Don Gier graduated with his B.S. degree in Economics from the University of Maryland in 1986. Don spent 19 mid-level management years in the Semiconductor industry, most of those 19 years were spent in Maryland and California before settling in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Don currently co-owns and operates Sunshine Speech-Language Therapy Services, which was established in 2001 to provide pediatric speech therapy services in the natural home environment. Sunshine Speech has been an active member of Arizona Cooperative Therapies since 2006. Don has been actively involved with Arizona Cooperative Therapies since 2013 with a focus on finance and daily operations. 

Bio coming soon!

Kristin R. Chase, OTR graduated with her B.S. in Occupational Therapy from Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX. She was part of the Baylor University Medical Center therapy team for seven years. She then was employed as a Director of Rehabilitation in hospital settings in TX and AZ. After many years working in hospitals she was interested in returning to work with children. She took a position in AZ working as the Director of Children and Adult services serving individuals and their families with developmental disabilities and behavior health services for eleven years. In 2009 she founded A to Z Therapies. She was an active member of Arizona Cooperative Therapies from 2009 to 2023. Since selling her therapy business she enjoys working with early intervention in a consulting capacity. Kristin is pleased to serve on the ACT Board this term supporting ACT agencies that strive for excellence in the field of early intervention.

Leo Huppert earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at the University of New Mexico in 1987. He began his career working as a civilian in Logistics Management for the Department of the Air Force. When Williams Air Force Base closed in 1993, he moved into Aviation Management at Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport, eventually working as the Director of Development for the Airport Authority.

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In 2001, Leo and his wife Becky, started Huppert Pediatric Therapy Inc. In 2006, he partnered with four other small therapy companies to establish Arizona Cooperative Therapies. Leo has served in a number of capacities within the Cooperative; in addition to Huppert Pediatric Therapy staffing ACT's early intervention teams of professional providers, he also currently serves as ACT's General Manager. His interests outside of work include hiking, snow skiing and reading.

Susan Hodges earned her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Chicago State University and in 1987 became a licensed, registered pediatric therapist. With a career spanning the Midwest and Arizona, she has specialized in early intervention (birth to 3), providing direct services, mentoring, and supervision. Susan led the Comfort Feeding Clinic at Desert Valley Pediatric Therapy before joining ACT as their Quality Assurance and Monitoring Specialist in 2024 and advancing to Program Director in 2025. A passionate advocate for evidence-based coaching, she has achieved fidelity with The Family, Infant, and Preschool Program (FIPP) master teams, master coach, and is currently pursuing certification as an Early Intervention Fidelity Coach to ensure that ACT’s services remain aligned with best practices in early intervention and to ensure that the families ACT are fortunate to serve, receive consistent, high-quality, and empowering support tailored to their unique, prioritized outcomes.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon !

Kristin Hinkel holds a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Arizona State University (2002) and a Master’s degree in professional counseling from GCU (2020), bringing extensive experience in the early childhood field. Her background includes 10 years of teaching in title one schools, a year as a child development specialist at Cardon Children’s Medical Center, and 11 years as a Service Coordinator with Sunshine Therapy Services and ACT, during which she earned a Master Coach Certification. In April 2025, she advanced to ACT’s data specialist role, leveraging her comprehensive knowledge in child development, family work, early childhood education, data management, training, and mentoring to implement best practices in early intervention.

Susan discovered her passion for working with families and their young children as a parent volunteer in a Head Start classroom over 28 years ago. She studied Early Childhood Education at Central Arizona College. For most of the last 25 years, Susan has worked in Head Start, Early Head Start, Healthy Families and the Arizona Early Intervention Program. Susan’s experience includes program coordination, service coordination and direct service provision in an early intervention program serving medically fragile children.  Susan joined ACT in September 2018 as the Team Conference Coordinator for all of ACT’s TBEI Regions.

Bio coming soon!