About Us
Overview
Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. was founded by Bob Cluett, Marilyn Lash, Roberta DePompei and Ron Savage. We publish practical, informative, and affordable materials on traumatic brain injury in children, youths, adults and veterans. Our audience includes families, persons with brain injuries, health care professionals, rehabilitation specialists, educators and community staff.
We have chosen authors who are experts in their fields to write on the neurological, psychological, communicative, psychosocial and educational impact of brain injuries among children, youth and adults.
The hallmark of our company is that we provide up to date, accurate and needed information on brain injury and concussion that is based on best practices and current research. But we take out the jargon and present it in user-friendly formats that can be readily understood and applied by clinicians, families and educators.
Services that Lash and Associates can provide for you!
Catalogs for upcoming conferences! Let us send you copies of our newest catalogs for your conference attendees. As a thank you, we can provide the conference with a few free samples from our product line.
Conference Speakers. Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. can provide speakers for your conference. Our authors are experts on the effects of brain injuries and concussions in adults and children. They travel all over the country speaking to educators, families, survivors, and clinicians.
Book Signings!!! We can arrange for our authors who are speaking at your conference to do a book signing.
Conference Booth. Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. exhibits at many conferences. We will provide attendees with a full range of information on brain injury.
Does your conference need advertising? Let us assist you with advertising for your conference on our website. Our team has been very successful in getting the word out about upcoming conferences!
CEU – Online Training Our trainers are excited about online training. This training will provide Continuing Educational Units (CEU) right from your computer. A certificate can be printed once the training has been completed. This training is ideal for nurses, educators, therapists, families, and psychologist. This training includes an outstanding group of trainers and authors.
Meet the Lash Team
Bob Cluett is the survivor of a childhood brain injury, Bob brings a special perspective as President of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. The skills that he developed during his corporate career of over 20 years in communication, marketing, direct mail advertising and sales now focus on publishing information about the consequences of brain injury among children, adolescents and young adults.
He is the former Chairman of the Board for the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina.
Marilyn Lash M.S.W., uses her social work experience and research in pediatric rehabilitation to develop sensitive and practical guides for families, educators, and professionals. Marilyn’s specialty is helping families cope with the emotional impact of brain injury and developing strategies for negotiating the complex service system. Now Director and Senior Editor of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc., she focuses on developing user friendly publications for families, educators, and clinicians.
Roberta DePompei, Ph.D., is Department Chairman, a Professor and Clinical Supervisor at the Speech and Hearing Center at the University of Akron in Ohio. She is a Vice President at Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc.
An advocate of the needs of youths with brain injuries and their families, she is on numerous national task forces and committees. Widely published and a national and international presenter, Dr. DePompei specializes in the impact of brain injury upon speech, language and communication. She is especially interested in developing transitional opportunities for youth as they progress through school and prepare for adulthood.
Ron Savage, Ed.D., is a founding partner and Vice President of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. He specializes in the impact of brain injury on behavior and learning in children and adolescents. His international recognition as author and presenter is based on practical experience as a rehabilitation clinician, educator and school administrator.
A leader in advocacy for children with brain injuries, Ron founded the Pediatric Task Force of the Brain Injury Association. He is a national leader in developing model programs and has given special attention to recognizing the effects of concussion among children, the consequences of brain injury upon behavior, and designing educational programs for students with brain injuries in the community.
Harvey E. Jacobs, Ph.D., Dr Jacobs has special expertise in behavioral rehabilitation for individuals with neurological, psychiatric, medical and developmental disorders. He is a national leader and expert in the treatment of behavior disorders following brain injury. His innovative programs have addressed community integration, social support networks, vocational rehabilitation, behavioral rehabilitation, and psychiatric rehabilitation. Throughout his practice, Dr. Jacobs has worked with persons of diverse ages ranging from pediatrics to geriatrics. A gifted writer and trainer, he is well known for his pragmatic approach to treatment in the community. In 2005, he joined Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc as Vice President & Director of Training.
Tonya Hellard joined the “Lash Team” in August of 2007. She and her husband are North Carolina natives, a true “Southern Girl”. Tonya serves as our Office Manager/Customer Service Department. Although she is new to Brain Injury, she enjoys learning about the business and loves working with our customers. Tonya is married to Chris and a mother to 2 children Ben (22) and Madi Rae (15). On her off times, Tonya enjoys quilting, teaching quilt classes, knitting, and ballroom dancing. The picture above was taken at Chris and Tonya’s competition in Asheville, NC.
Nick Vidal joined the company in November of 2008 as Director of Information Technology. Nick manages the brain injury blog on our website and oversees the Bookstore Program.
Nick had a successful management career on Wall Street working with Bear Stearns, SIAC, a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange, ADP, and the premier brokerage service bureau, Pershing and US Clearing / Fleet Securities. During this span he succeeded in account management, product development, operational support, new business ventures and Information Technology (IT).
Candace and Caitlyn Pease are Office Assistants and do everything from data entry to product fullfilment. Yes, they are identical twins and we still have trouble telling them apart. Both are attending college for a degree in nursing and have a special interest in brain injury.
Tuck and Buddy are the Welcome Staff at Lash and Associates. They keep a watchful eye on everything that goes on including the UPS and FedEx drivers. You might hear them in the background when you are on the phone with us.
Tuck is a 14 year old black lab born on the Island of Nantucket. Buddy is a 5 year old chocolate lab and came to us from a local farm in Wake Forest.
Lash & Associates Publishing/Training Inc.
on our 13th Anniversary
This year of 2009 marks the 13th anniversary of our company. It started as a wish and a dream by a few people who had a vision of founding a publishing company specializing in brain injury that was different than the academic and medical publishers. We started with three colleagues – Marilyn Lash, Roberta DePompei, and Ron Savage – who were experts in brain injury in children and youths. We had all written many articles for journals and textbooks and presented at conferences around the country. But we knew that something was missing.
We had all visited families in their homes and seen worn copies of articles on clinical practice and research studies that had been sent by well meaning professionals. Written in scientific and academic language, families were struggling to extract information they could use. When we had telephone calls from educators, we searched for articles with information that was useful, understandable and relevant. They were hard to find. Clinicians and therapists working in community programs were looking for therapeutic tools but didn’t have access to expensive journals and textbooks found in medical libraries. Even more disturbing was the scarcity of information on the effects of brain injury in children and youth. Most of what had been written was on adults with brain injury. This just didn’t make sense to us – what about the kids?
So we started writing. But we knew that we needed more than good information. We needed to know how to reach our intended audience of families, individuals, educators, advocates, and clinicians. Bob Cluett had heard us talk about our dream of founding a publishing company. He had the publishing expertise and encouragement that we needed. With his experience in advertising, direct mail marketing and publishing, we had the pieces we needed and we formed a partnership.
The company started in 1996 under the name of L&A Publishing. From the beginning, our goal was to develop products that were based on the best clinical practices and most recent research findings. But we wanted to do something different. We wanted to take out the jargon and present information in a style that was practical, user-friendly and could be immediately applied by readers. We came up with the format of what we called tip cards. These were pamphlets that summarized best practices and research findings and converted information into “tips” on questions to ask and strategies to use. Our first catalog had 4 tip cards. Who would have guessed that we would now have 34 tip cards for children and youth and 38 for adults? Then we started writing booklets that gave more depth and detail but followed the same model.
We quickly found a market for tip cards and booklets and we outgrew our space in our initial location in New Hampshire. Looking for a warmer climate, we moved to North Carolina in 1998 and also got our new name of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training, Inc. Once we had developed a comprehensive product line on brain injury in children and youths, we expanded to address the needs of adults with brain injury.
In 2005, we added a new partner, Harvey Jacobs, to help us further develop the adult line and to launch our new Training Division.
The company has continued to expand each year and our new catalog now has over 200 products including tip cards, books, manuals, DVDs, and training kits. We’ve come a long way since our first 4 tip cards! We now have distributors in Canada, Australia, China, Japan and England. With our growth, we have new challenges to keep up with the pace. We have built a new warehouse, added a customer service division, and redesigned our website. But our business today still operates on the same principles by which we started…
• practical information based on best practices and research
• user-friendly style and formats for multiple audiences
• affordable prices
• and most importantly, free advice for families and survivors.
We are constantly looking for the next great idea. We count on our customers to give us feedback on our products and to tell us what we need to do next. So let us hear from you.
Bob Cluett
President – Sales & Marketing
Marilyn Lash, M.S.W.
Vice President – Family Specialist & Senior Editor
Ron Savage, Ed.D.
Vice President – Rehabilitation and Educational Specialist
Roberta DePompei, Ph.D.
Vice President – Educational & Cognitive Communicative Specialist for Children
Harvey Jacobs, Ph.D.
Vice President – Director of Training & Behavioral Specialist for Adults
Tonya Hellard
Office Manager/Customer Service
Nick Vidal
Director Information Technology/Website Services
Lash & Associates Publishing/Training Inc.
708 Young Forest Drive, Wake Forest, NC 27587
Tel & Fax (919) 562-0015