Leadership

Larry Kahn spent many years as a practicing attorney in Washington, DC and later in San Diego. During that time, he received professional recognition, as well as national print and electronic media recognition, for the results he achieved in certain cases. In 1991, Larry left his law partnership in Washington, DC to form Negotiated Solutions — an innovative legal firm comprised of nine attorneys with affordable fees and with its sole focus to resolve matters out of court. During his years in law practice and since, Larry has conducted seminars, taught courses, given presentations on negotiation techniques to a variety of civic, business, professional, and academic groups around the country.

In 2004, Larry established Help Now! as a non-profit corporation in Oregon and with the IRS. With his history of innovative legal work, he recognized the gap that existed between the “legal world” and the help the average person needs when in a crisis. His idea was to bring advocacy, previously only available to the wealthy in our society, to individuals and families in crisis but lacking the means (e.g., mental, physical, financial, cultural) to resolve those crises on their own. And Help Now! would not charge clients for its services but instead would rely on other sources of funding to support its work. Larry’s inspiration to form Help Now! was also personal. Larry has a severely disabled son who has benefited greatly from Larry’s ad hoc advocacy on his behalf over the years.

Because of the national uniqueness the services Help Now! provides, in 2020 and inspired from the crises created for millions of Americans by Covid and frequent natural disasters, Help Now! began the process of making its services available on a national level. Help Now!’s expansion has been featured in articles in a number of publications, the ABA (American Bar Association) Journal among them.

Besides forming Help Now! Advocacy, Larry has a history of volunteering his time to vulnerable members of society. While in the District of Columbia, he volunteered as a mentor in the District of Columbia Public Schools’ Mentors Program for at-risk youth. In San Diego, among other boards, Larry served as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Urban League. In Oregon, Larry served three terms and twelve years on a county mental health board which oversaw services provided to mentally ill county residents. He was also selected to serve on a state board with oversight of distribution
of health services in southern Oregon.

Larry holds a bachelor’s degree in honors economics taken at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a master of science in education also from Penn, and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Kelsey Feucht is a licensed Illinois attorney whose professional work has, until recently,
centered on legal work in the health care field.

Kelsey began her career providing legal advice on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act at Health Care Service Corporation. She later served as Associate General Counsel at Northwestern Medicine where she advised on a broad range of commercial matters as well as legal issues related to clinical operations and non-profit foundations.

Currently a stay-at-home mom, Kelsey remains committed to promoting community health and engagement through her role as an advocate and board member of Help Now! Advocacy.

Kelsey holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Emory University, where she received Phi Beta Kappa honors and earned both her Juris Doctor, cum laude, and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Michigan.

Ted Sachs spent his career in commercial finance, bank lending and financial consulting in Chicago. Major employers included GATX, CIT, Sanwa Business Credit/Bank of America, DKB Bank/Mizuho Group. He was also involved in secured lending and consulting to mid-sized private businesses during his professional career.

For 30 years, Ted was a board member with Youth Guidance, a non-profit working with high-risk youth in Chicago. Today Youth Guidance is nationally known for its Being A Man (BAM) program that gained the support and involvement of President Obama.

Ted holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an MBA in finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School. Prior to earning his MBA, Ted served as anti-submarine officer aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer. After receiving his MBA, Ted also became licensed as a CPA.

Zach Frisch can be described as a “serial entrepreneur.” Zach is focused on giving back, volunteering, and mentoring to help “heal the planet.”

With a background in finance from his undergraduate work and degree at Emory University, Zach initially worked on the International Securities Lending desk on Wall. Shortly thereafter, Zach was recruited to work for Trammell Crow in Colorado where he worked for two years, specializing on financing commercial real estate and developing commercial properties.

Wanting a new challenge, Zach moved to Brazil and worked for a telecom start up, VeloCom and was part of a small team that raised the largest private placement in Latin American history. At the same time, Zach assisted a preservationist protect land in the southern Amazon.

In 2006, Zach started Raindrop Partners to invest in and grow environmentally sustainable real estate, organic food, and wellness brands.  Since then, Zach has raised $10M of institutional equity, acquired land, attainable housing communities, and transformed an RV Park to an intentional community. Zach has gone on to invest in and acquire industrial, hospitality, land and other commercial real estate. He has acquired, scaled and sold several operating companies as well.

Besides his board service with Help Now! Advocacy, Zach is a board member of the Anti
Defamation League, an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship at Denver University’s Daniels School of Business, and a Community Fly Fishing volunteer.

Bonnie Pickering has held compensated and volunteer positions with various non-profit organizations around the country for 45 years.

For instance, when living in New Mexico and at the same time Bonnie held the position of state coordinator for the American Heart Association, she served as a volunteer advocate for Navajo women who were in abusive domestic situations. She did development work for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America when living in the Washington, D.C. In Oregon and while working as one of the top-selling real estate agents in southern Oregon and serving on the local board of realtors, Bonnie volunteered as a Rotarian, served as a United Way volunteer, and volunteered in support of various local festivals.

Bonnie has worked as an advocate at Help Now! for 12 years, currently serving as a senior advocate training and advising new advocates as they learn how to provide the organization’s services. Having a disabled daughter of her own, Bonnie appreciates the importance of the services that Help Now! offers to vulnerable populations unable to speak up for themselves when in crisis.

Bonnie holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado.

Peter Fechheimer has had two significant professional careers.

Starting in 1970, Peter was involved in the early days of the cable television industry spending 18 years managing cable systems around the country. In his last position, he was responsible for building and managing a state-of-the-art cable system that was among the first to use fiber optics. Peter was also involved with pay TV in the early years of that industry, helping both HBO and Showtime add their first subscribers.

Peter’s second career was in California’s Silicon Valley, where he worked with a number of large and small technology companies as their in-house recruiter. During that very competitive time in the industry, Peter helped his employers find and hire many highly-skilled software engineers.

Since retiring in Nashville, Peter has performed volunteer work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), is a member of the Davidson County Juvenile Court Review Board, serves on the board of his homeowner’s association and is an advisor to Help Now!

Peter received a bachelor’s degree in English from Roosevelt University in Chicago.