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Executive Staff
Austin Carrigg
Austin Carrigg
Austin Carrigg
Chief Executive Officer
Austin has been an Active Duty Army spouse for 20 years. She is the parent of three children all of whom are registered in EFMP. Austin's advocacy work includes military issues surrounding Tricare and EFMP as well as civilian issues such as Medicaid and SNAP. In 2020 Austin Founded Exceptional Families of the Milita
Chief Executive Officer
Austin has been an Active Duty Army spouse for 20 years. She is the parent of three children all of whom are registered in EFMP. Austin's advocacy work includes military issues surrounding Tricare and EFMP as well as civilian issues such as Medicaid and SNAP. In 2020 Austin Founded Exceptional Families of the Military (EFM) after testifying before the House Armed Service Committee in an effort to unite the voices of military families like hers and raise their voices collectively. In 2019 Austin was named a board member of Ketotic Hypoglycemia International, subsequently, transitioning to staff and publishing Towards enhanced understanding of idiopathic ketotic hypoglycemia: a literature review and introduction of the patient organization, Ketotic Hypoglycemia International in Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases and Ketotic hypoglycemia in patients with Down syndrome in JIMD Reports. Austin was the Vice President and a founding board member of Little Lobbyists, an organization whose vision is to ensure that all children with complex medical needs have access to the health care, education, and community inclusion they need to thrive.
Dr. Jennifer Bittner
Austin Carrigg
Austin Carrigg
Executive Director
and
Lead Researcher
Co-Director of the Autism Advocacy Committee
Jennifer is an Active Duty Army spouse for eleven years. She has three children, two of which have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, and Language Receptive Disorder. Prior to joining EFM, Jennifer’s advocacy work focu
Executive Director
and
Lead Researcher
Co-Director of the Autism Advocacy Committee
Jennifer is an Active Duty Army spouse for eleven years. She has three children, two of which have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, and Language Receptive Disorder. Prior to joining EFM, Jennifer’s advocacy work focused on assisting Autism families with another organization for two years until she decided to dedicate her time advocating for military families. Before she was introduced to advocacy work, Jennifer was a previously practicing therapist with a specialty in child and adolescent counseling and she now works part time teaching psychology at the community college level. Jennifer hopes that her personal, work, and educational experiences will assist military families in areas of their lives where they need it the most.
Rebecca Emerson
Austin Carrigg
Rebecca Emerson
Associate Director
Rebecca is an Active Duty Army spouse. She is the parent of two children; one born typical, and one born with Down Syndrome. Rebecca retired from Active Duty in the Air Force and served in a variety of leadership and management roles. The bulk of her 23 year military experience was as a Government Contracting Offic
Associate Director
Rebecca is an Active Duty Army spouse. She is the parent of two children; one born typical, and one born with Down Syndrome. Rebecca retired from Active Duty in the Air Force and served in a variety of leadership and management roles. The bulk of her 23 year military experience was as a Government Contracting Officer. Rebecca has advocacy experience at the State level and has worked within DoD EFMP to expand outreach opportunities. She has a passion for assisting exceptional military families wherever they need it most. In 2022 Rebecca was named Fort Belvior Military Spouse of the Year.
Kirtley Adams
Kirtley Adams
Rebecca Emerson
Chief Operations Officer
Kirtley is an Active Duty Army spouse of 12 years. She has 3 children. Her son was diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech which led to an EFMP enrollment. While navigating the EFMP process, Tricare, and frequent moves it has led to her passion to help other families.
Holly Duncan
Kirtley Adams
Ashley Harris
Government Affairs and Family Advocacy Director
Co-Chair of Autism Family Advocacy Committee
Holly has been an Active Duty Air Force Spouse for 13 years. She is also a parent of 2 children on the autism spectrum. While navigating difficulties with TRICARE and EFMP herself is where she gained her passion to help other military families.
Government Affairs and Family Advocacy Director
Co-Chair of Autism Family Advocacy Committee
Holly has been an Active Duty Air Force Spouse for 13 years. She is also a parent of 2 children on the autism spectrum. While navigating difficulties with TRICARE and EFMP herself is where she gained her passion to help other military families. She has spoken to legislators and also had an article written about the Autism Care Demonstration changes. Through her advocacy efforts she strives to ensure military families get the services they need for their loved ones.
Ashley Harris
Kirtley Adams
Ashley Harris
Peer-to-Peer Support Director
Ashley is an Active Duty Air Force wife of 20+ years and the parent of 3 children. It was during her child’s rare disease diagnosis and journey, including navigating EFMP enrollment, Tricare and the EFMP assignment system that she realized our military families lacked support and information on a peer to peer
Peer-to-Peer Support Director
Ashley is an Active Duty Air Force wife of 20+ years and the parent of 3 children. It was during her child’s rare disease diagnosis and journey, including navigating EFMP enrollment, Tricare and the EFMP assignment system that she realized our military families lacked support and information on a peer to peer level, and thus her passion for peer mentoring and support was born. Her specialty is supporting and sharing knowledge and experience with families who are brand new to the EFMP community. She holds a Bachelor of Science in human development and family studies with minors in social welfare and child development.
Anna Spafford
Anna Spafford
Anna Spafford
Communications
Anna has been an active-duty spouse for 19 years. Her husband currently serves in the Space Force but was also active-duty Air Force before transferring. Anna has served in different volunteer positions over the years, including in a Key Spouse role and has always had a passion for helping other families. Over the course of
Communications
Anna has been an active-duty spouse for 19 years. Her husband currently serves in the Space Force but was also active-duty Air Force before transferring. Anna has served in different volunteer positions over the years, including in a Key Spouse role and has always had a passion for helping other families. Over the course of her husband’s career, Anna saw firsthand the difficulties of different EFMP families through her own experiences navigating accessing resources for her children, but also through helping other families navigate the system. Anna has several children who have different diagnoses, including Autism, and mental health disorders. Navigating the difficult autism and mental health resource landscape for her children and dealing with the headache that is the Exceptional Family Member Program has led her to decide that the best course of action was to join in advocating for our military families. So much is expected of our families with moves and deployments, and the military spouse bears a particular burden to keep the family unit thriving and our families deserve better care and a better system. Anna is currently finishing her Bachelor’s in English with an Emphasis in Professional Writing at Grand Canyon University. Anna believes in the power of military spouses and families banding together to bring about positive change and will work hard to support EFMP families in her role at EFM.
General Staff and Committees
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Special Education Case Manager and EFMP Bilingual Point of Contact
Ainée has been an Active-Duty Army spouse for 6 years. She has two children, one who is enrolled in the EFMP program. She is from El Paso, Texas and has received a bachelor’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies, a master’s degree in Special Education, and a master’s degre
Special Education Case Manager and EFMP Bilingual Point of Contact
Ainée has been an Active-Duty Army spouse for 6 years. She has two children, one who is enrolled in the EFMP program. She is from El Paso, Texas and has received a bachelor’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies, a master’s degree in Special Education, and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is a former Special Education teacher and has over 8 years of classroom teaching experience. Being an advocate for children with special needs has always been her calling. It is now her passion to become an advocate for families with children with special needs in our military community. Therefore, it was important for her to join EFM because the organization is so proactive in advocating for all EFMP families. Her goal is to support families in navigating through the school system as well as support bilingual families.
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Administradora de Educación Especial y Punto de Contacto Bilingüe de EFMP
Ainée es una esposa de un soldado del servicio activo por 6 años. Ella tiene dos hijos, incluyendo uno que está inscrito en el programa EFMP. Esta emocionada de ser parte de esta organización y trabajar con mujeres increíbles. Ella es de Tejas, recibío su titulo en Estudios Multidisciplinarios, su maestría en Educación Especial y su maestría en Administracion de Educacíon de la Universidad de Tejas en El Paso. Ella era maestra de Educación Especial y tiene más de 8 años de experiencia de instrucción. Para ella, su vocación siempre asido defender a los niños con discapacidades. Ahora, la pasión de Ainée es ayudar a las familias de la comunidad militar. Es importante para ella unirse con la organización EFM para ayudar a las familias con niños de EFMP en el sistema ecolar. Su objetivo es apoyar a las familias en la navegación a través del sistema escolar, así como apoyar a las familias bilingüe.
Carolyn Chase
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Lead Advocate of the Guard and Reserve Family Advocacy Committee
Carolyn is a military brat, a veteran, and the spouse of a National Guardsman. Carolyn is the 2020-2021 California National Guard Military Spouse of the Year and the 2022 Flordia National Guard Military Spouse of the Year. Carolyn has 4 children with 2 that would qualify for
Lead Advocate of the Guard and Reserve Family Advocacy Committee
Carolyn is a military brat, a veteran, and the spouse of a National Guardsman. Carolyn is the 2020-2021 California National Guard Military Spouse of the Year and the 2022 Flordia National Guard Military Spouse of the Year. Carolyn has 4 children with 2 that would qualify for EFMP if her spouse were active duty. She has spent over 18 years as volunteer, Key Volunteer, Key Volunteer Mentor, and now an exceptional Guard families advocate. She has participated as a Care Team member, Combined Council Representative, and liaison for the local Blood Center. She has spent the last 2 years building a team of advocates to aid in her mission to make the Exceptional Family Members Program accessible to Guard and Reserve families. A critical oversight is preventing families across all branches from gaining access to EFMP, preventing support for readiness, retention, and resiliency.
CASSANDRA WHEELER
Ainée Robles Ekudi
Christian campbell-carrigg
Legislative Assistant and
Autism Family Advocacy Committee
Cassandra is the spouse of a medically retired Army Veteran. She has 3 children, two of which have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She was introduced to Exceptional Families of the Military after the changes to the Autism Care Demonstration directly affected her son's
Legislative Assistant and
Autism Family Advocacy Committee
Cassandra is the spouse of a medically retired Army Veteran. She has 3 children, two of which have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She was introduced to Exceptional Families of the Military after the changes to the Autism Care Demonstration directly affected her son's access to ABA therapy. When she noticed her story was being echoed by many other TRICARE beneficiaries, she decided to use her son's story to advocate for change. Through her advocacy efforts, she hopes to give a voice to the most vulnerable members of military families. Cassandra hopes to put the faces of our children in front of people who can make a difference and use all of our stories to insight change
Christian campbell-carrigg
Christian campbell-carrigg
Christian campbell-carrigg
Legislative Assistant and
Advisor
Christian is originally from Tucson, Arizona, but has lived all over the United States because his father is Active Duty in the United States Army. After a family tragedy in 2020 Christian took a year off of school to be home with his family and competed 3 Congressional internships. Christian is currently
Legislative Assistant and
Advisor
Christian is originally from Tucson, Arizona, but has lived all over the United States because his father is Active Duty in the United States Army. After a family tragedy in 2020 Christian took a year off of school to be home with his family and competed 3 Congressional internships. Christian is currently a Sophomore at the University of the District of Columbia studying Political Science. Christian shares "I hope with my degree to get a job on Capitol Hill and possibly run for public office either as a Congressman or as a Senator."
AMY WADDILL
Christian campbell-carrigg
AMY WADDILL
General Volunteer
Amy is an active duty Navy spouse of 16 years with 2 children. During a hectic period of multiple cross-country moves, her oldest daughter was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. During this experience of navigating EFMP enrollment, Tricare & ECHO benefits, and special education services a desire grew to help other
General Volunteer
Amy is an active duty Navy spouse of 16 years with 2 children. During a hectic period of multiple cross-country moves, her oldest daughter was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. During this experience of navigating EFMP enrollment, Tricare & ECHO benefits, and special education services a desire grew to help other military families facing these challenges. Prior to joining EFM, Amy spent her time volunteering with multiple Navy spouse groups and Family Readiness Groups.
Amy passionately believes in supporting military families by readily sharing the resources available to them, and staying open to learning new things along the way. She is grateful to be a part of the EFM team as not only the COO but also a Navy branch advisor and a peer to peer support advisor to EFM's advocacy group.
