Krista Lorenz, Director, Co-Founder
Krista is blessed to be the mother of six children, both from birth and from foster care adoption, who keep her very busy. Krista has a strong passion to impact her own children, as well as, children in foster care in a positive way, to raise awareness about foster care/adoption, and to connect people of all ages through volunteerism to support others in a meaningful way. She and her husband, Howard, have seen the need first hand, as foster parents and now adoptive parents, for the community to come together to empower, encourage and enrich the lives of youth in foster care. Krista and Howard’s children were active in the development of Warm Welcomes Foster Care Outreach in the spring of 2013, and continue to be hands-on helpers in every way. Krista is also an occupational therapist working with children with disabilities help them maximize their abilities and quality of life. She is a graduate of Xavier University where she was a Service Fellow. It was during her time as a Service Fellow when she further developed her love for volunteerism and her desire to lead others in purposeful service. She is confident that all people have talents and skills that can and should be shared. Her children and husband are her motivation and faith is her guide. Email her at krista@warmwelcomes.org
Howard Lorenz, Organizational Development, Co-Founder
Howard is a program manager for the United States Air Force and has been with them since September of 2009. He manages teams with members at Department of Defense sites across the United States. He enjoys building relationships with his teammates while directing them toward accomplishing its missions for the Air Force. In addition to his program manager experience, he has over 8 years of experience in sales and customer service. Howard has been married to his wife Krista since 2000. They have 6 children together. In 2003, after their first child was born, they saw a notice in the church bulletin about international adoption and decided that they wanted to adopt a child. After years of waiting, planning, and having two additional children, they became foster parents in 2009. In 2012 they became the adoptive parents of 2 wonderful girls in 2012 and an amazing son in 2020. Although he felt his foster parenting days may be over, he wanted to continue to help children in foster care. When his wife, Krista, and his daughter, Leah, came up with the idea of Warm Welcomes Foster Care Outreach in 2013, he jumped at the opportunity to help. Email him at howie@warmwelcomes.org.
Allison Thorsen, Secretary
Allison graduated from Xavier University in 1998 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and Chemistry. She also received a Masters in Business Administration in 2001 from Xavier. Allison worked as a Principal Researcher for the Procter and Gamble Company. Currently, Allison is at home with her three children ages, 7, 4 and 1. She acts as the 2nd on the preschool school board her 4 year old attends. She has also served as President and Fundraising Committee Chair for the preschool. Allison is honored to be a part of Warm Welcomes and is looking forward to helping make a difference in the lives of foster children. Email her at allison@warmwelcomes.org
Jen Tierney, Treasurer
Jen Tierney discovered Warm Welcomes when a neighbor had a Christmas party and asked for donations of "personal care items to give to an organization that helped foster children". She instantly fell in love with the mission and vision and volunteered with her family when she could. She was honored to be asked to become part of the board in 2017. She is a wife and mother to three girls including a set of twins. She has said that God sent her twins to teach her patience but has recently realized that it was really to prepare her for teaching preschool. Because also in 2017 she became a preschool aide at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School in Kenwood after 12 years as a stay at home mom and "professional" volunteer at the girls school. It's a direction she never saw her life taking but loves it dearly. She is a graduate of the University of Dayton and her background is mostly office management/bookkeeping, including 10 years for the Kidney Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. She loves reading, shopping and all thing Jimmy Buffett having attended over 25 concerts. She believes that every child deserves to feel loved and safe and hopes that in some small way her work at Warm Welcomes will do just that.
Jean Nguyen, Board Member
Jean is a graduate of University of Cincinnati with dual bachelors in Elementary Education and History. She taught for six years and currently stays at home with her four children. She is active within her church teaching religious education classes and parish activities. She stays busy caring for children during the day and watching her children’s many sporting events and interests grow. She loves that she can help families as they grow with foster children through Warm Welcomes Foster Care Outreach. Email her at jean@warmwelcomes.org
Genie Groff, Board Member
Note all board members are volunteers, and receive no compensation while serving the Warm Welcomes Foster Care Outreach’s mission.
