Home2025 Candidates

2025 Board Candidates

President - elect candidate

Claire Schueler, MSOT, OTR/L

For over ten years, I’ve held various roles within the MOTA community. When I was an OT student, I became one of the two student representatives for MOTA at my university. During that time, I learned about the organization and its importance for advocating for occupational therapy. In 2014, I attended the revamp of the OT on the Hill Day in Missouri and discussed with politicians the importance of lowering outpatient copay for practitioners. I fell in love with the burst of energy I gained when advocating for our profession. In fall 2014, I served on the conference committee before graduating with my MSOT from Washington University in December 2014. In 2015, I joined the nominations committee and served as the chair in 2017, while also fulfilling the webmaster role. In 2017, I was selected as the Director of Practice. From 2019-2025, I have intermittently served as the Vice President. During my time with MOTA, I’ve created flyers, professional display designs, website revamps (or attempted to), and tablecloth layouts. I’ve organized the advocacy community of practice, created the new interdisciplinary healthcare coalition, and led district chair meetings. For me, MOTA is not just an organization, but something that has become part of my professional identity.

Statement of Intent

After volunteering with the MOTA Board for over a decade, I feel my dedication to MOTA has not dwindled. When I run for any office in MOTA, it’s not to add a line to my resume but rather to continue to serve the occupational therapy profession on a state level. For me, MOTA represents the past, present, and future of occupational therapy in Missouri. It is a continuous, fluid organization that we must protect and promote as occupational therapy practitioners. As president elect (and future president), I hope to grow continuity during election changes, nurture interprofessional collaboration for advocacy efforts (and more), foster our communities of practice while continuing to support the districts, and advocate for our profession as a whole.

Vice-president candidate

Christy Gorman

Christy Gorman is a dedicated Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) with a decade of experience. A 2015 graduate of Ozarks Technical College, Christy has spent her career primarily at Coxhealth Meyer Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital, where she focuses on inpatient rehabilitation while also contributing to acute care at Cox South.

Beyond her clinical work, Christy is actively involved in professional and community service. She previously served as the Director of Communications for MOTA from 2022 to 2024 and now lends her expertise to their Nominations and Scholarships Committee. Committed to making a difference in her community, Christy has also volunteered for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Out of the Darkness Walk Committee in Greene County for the past three years.

Statement of Intent

I am running for Vice President with the goal of helping find interested OTP’s to develop more Communities of Practice and helping find ways to support the MOTA districts. We have an excellent team of people who are assisting our association with all the behind the scenes work that needs to be done to keep communication flowing from the board to the members of MOTA. There are so many things happening-a bigger conference this fall, advocacy at the state and federal levels, planning for a bigger MOTA Hill Day next March-it’s a really good time to be involved.

I joined MOTA originally as Director of Communications so that I could be involved in expanding our influence both in area of practice and with policy decisions. MOTA needs to have many strong voices speaking up because OTP’s are in so many places where we can make a difference-whether in peds, mental health, rehabilitation, home health, etc. Becoming Vice President would give me the opportunity to further that goal of influencing more and more people to become involved, even in a small way, with our association and making it stronger than ever. We have the support and the right people in place to make that happen.

Director of Education Candidate

Wendy B. Stav, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Wendy B. Stav, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA received a BS in occupational therapy from Quinnipiac University and a PhD in occupational therapy from Nova Southeastern University. For more than 20 years her work focused on driving and community mobility and she was named to the AOTA Roster of Fellows in 2009 for her contributions to the practice area. Her true passion is occupation and its use in practice to generate better outcomes and enhanced connection with professional identity for occupational therapy practitioners. Her research in occupation-based practice has led to the development of a practice model, an assessment to measure practice, occupation-based clinic makeover studies, and exploration of the use of occupation-based assessments and practice across practice areas and populations. Wendy has worked in academia for 23 years with experience from the undergraduate level through doctoral level including mentorship of dissertation research. Dr. Stav serves as the Chair of the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at Saint Louis University.

Statement of Intent

I am running for MOTA Education Director because the profession of occupational therapy can only survive and thrive through our participation in education and continuing education related to the current science and latest trends. Professional and continuing education allows us to provide better clinical services, document more clearly, justify our contributions more soundly, and advocate for clients and the profession with more evidentiary support. In this role, I hope to ignite an interest and passion for education beyond the obligatory expectations.

Co-Director of Practice Candidates

Dr. Lindsay Bright, OTD, OTR/L

Dr. Lindsay Bright, OTD, OTR/L, is a practicing occupational therapist at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis and a passionate advocate for health policy and systems-level change. Her research on stroke rehabilitation disparities has led to multiple peer-reviewed publications, and her work as a with Amplify OT has helped hundreds of occupational therapy students and practitioners better understand billing, documentation, and Medicare policy. Dr. Bright actively contributes to the MOTA Advocacy Community of Practice and has presented at MOTA conferences on making advocacy feel accessible. Her mission is to show that policy change isn't reserved for experts. It's driven by everyday practitioners and students who care.

Statement of Intent

I am running for Co-Director of Practice to help amplify the voice of occupational therapy in Missouri and to ensure our profession is not only present, but influential, in policy discussions that shape access to care. I want to create a stronger culture of participation by empowering OTPs and students across Missouri to see themselves as part of the change. If elected, my goal is to continue building a strong interdisciplinary coalition that drives healthcare coverage forward in our state, especially as we navigate the ongoing Medicaid uncertainty. I believe in pooling our collective resources to become a louder, more unified voice that champions access to occupational therapy services across both urban and rural communities. Together, we can create a more equitable system and secure OT’s role in shaping Missouri’s healthcare future.

To me, MOTA represents pride, protection, and community. It’s comforting to know there’s an organization looking out for occupational therapy, fighting the behind-the-scenes battles so we can keep doing what we love. Being part of MOTA means standing alongside other practitioners, lifting each other up, and showing up for the future of our profession.

Maria Lindbergh, MOT, OTR/L, ECHM

Maria Lindbergh, MOT, OTR/L, ECHM is an occupational therapist with a background working in SNF, acute care, and as an entrepreneur focused on home modifications in the Kansas City area. She is a member of AOTA, NBCOT, KOTA, and MOTA serving as a volunteer in the Advocacy Community of Practice. Maria enjoys working with capstone and OTA students, taking part in AOTA’s Dementia Community of Practice, and sharing her passion for occupational therapy with anyone who will listen.

Statement of Intent

Throughout my occupational therapy career, I assumed that my position as a healthcare provider was stable and impervious to threats in all traditional settings. However, there have been many challenges during the 2025 Missouri legislative session and federal level since the beginning of this year:

HB 1024: Preventing State Funds for DEI Programs in Education
HB 742: Restricting State Expenditures on DEI Programs
HB 711: Open Enrollment for Children in Public Schools
Texas v. Becerra lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Section 504. (This suit was paused but there are ongoing accessibility challenges in the Texas v. Kennedy lawsuit.)Potential passage of the Big, Beautiful Bill Act that will result in 180,000-210,000 Missourians losing Medicaid coverage

The current Missouri and federal administrations activities are making our livelihoods as occupational therapy practitioners unpredictable and ineffective. We are a helping profession who work hard to assist people of all ages and abilities live their lives to the fullest. Instead of working with us to support our efforts, many legislators are working against us.

I'm running for Co-Director of Practice because of my desire to channel my existing passion for occupational therapy into action to advocate for our profession's needs and demand legislators to include our perspective in future legislation. In the next two years, I plan on growing the following endeavors that we've started in the Advocacy Community of Practice:

Interdisciplinary Advocacy State Coalition
Advocacy opportunities for MOTA members and non-members
OTP leadership on Missouri state boards and commissions

I will also continue to expand our efforts:

Raising occupational therapy awareness with Missouri legislators during MOTA Hill Day
Sending position papers to state and federal representatives
Working in conjunction with AOTA advocacy efforts
Advocating for the creation of a Director of Related Services within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
Promoting the ability for OTPs to authorize handicap accessible parking placards

Lindsay Bright, my fellow candidate for Co-Director of Practice, and I are looking forward to teaming up to amplify your voices! We look forward to working with you in every possible way to secure our profession's leadership position in healthcare in Missouri. We are impactful, driven OTPs!

Nominations and award committee Candidate

Tyler Hood

Tyler Hood is a third-year student at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine’s Occupational Therapy Program. He is service-driven and passionate about teaching, learning, environmental sustainability, and making a positive change in OT practice. He hopes to work in an innovative setting while continuing to promote positive change in OT to improve the profession’s prominence.

Statement of Intent

Serving on the Nominating and Awards Committee is important to Tyler because he deeply values recognizing and uplifting occupational therapy practitioners who demonstrate excellence, leadership, and service within our state and nation. As a student, he sees this as an invaluable opportunity to learn from the leaders who shape our profession and to gain firsthand experience by helping to lead the processes that promote integrity, inclusion, and representation within MOTA. He is passionate about contributing to the recognition of those who inspire others through their commitment, and he views this role as a meaningful step in his own development as a future leader in the occupational therapy profession.

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