Barbee Bennington comes to the Association with eight years of Alpha-1 Advocacy experience. She has been a member of the Association since 2002 when she began her six year position as support group leader for the Alphazonies. In 2008 she was the recipient of the Claude Baril Communications Award, in recognition of her contribution to enhancing communication for Alphas through the Alphazonies Newsletter. She has remained very active with the support group up to the present. Barbee has an extensive 30 year background in community volunteer service. Being able to be involved with the Alpha-1 community on a national, grassroots level has been a passion for Barbee since the death of her Alpha niece in 2000 and the diagnosis of her son as a ZZ.

 

Christian Carbonera is the Alpha-1 Association Executive Assistant. He is responsible for providing mission critical support under the leadership of the Executive Director and overseeing the logistics of the Association's committees. He holds a bachelor's degree in Foreign Languages and Communications, and began his career as an interpreter and translator. Christian's background in operations management and conducting training comes from his past tenure with the Federal Government and his previous experience in non-profit consulting.   He has been involved in leadership development programs and diversity initiatives. Christian is dedicated to the Association's mission and core values, and, above everything else, to serve the needs of all Alphas. 

 

Yakim Caraballo, better known as "Kim", is our Membership Database Coordinator. Kim's primary responsibility is to ensure that all of our members' information is kept up to date and accurate in our system. Kim sends out the membership and mailing list welcome packets. Kim is originally from New York where she worked as a Letter of Credit Analyst at a prominent insurance company and as an Assistant Project Manager for the Photoluminescent Division of a well known building maintenance supply company. Although she misses her days of shopping in Manhattan, she enjoys the Florida weather. Kim has won several awards as a fundraiser in previous years and is really happy to join us.