Board of Directors

Maggie Immerfall is retired from CUNA Mutual Group where she served as the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. She also has executive-level experience in internal audit and major corporate transactions. She graduated from UW-Platteville with degrees in accounting and business finance. Her not-for-profit experience includes nine years on the Board of Directors of the UW Platteville Foundation, and six years as a member of the Audit Committee for Summit Credit Union.

Maggie and her husband, Dan, have lived in Madison for over 30 years. They have two grown children and recently welcomed their first grandchild.

Amy holds a M.S. in Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. Amy has a long career of setting goals and success indicators for the teams she manages, with an emphasis in Financial and Analytic Accounting. 2018 was Amy’s first year as a director.

Dave and his wife, Terri, have been volunteering at The River for several years. They both took on more active roles in 2016, serving on different committees. Dave is a graduate of UW-Madison with a BS in Civil Engineering. Since his graduation in 1980, Dave worked at Findorff for over 40 years. Dave and Terri have two daughters, Kate and Mackenzie.

Dan has been volunteering at The River for many years and joined our Board governance committee in 2020. He’s held multiple roles in HR leadership at American Family Insurance, Total Administrative Services Corporation, and Northwestern Mutual Life. He is currently with ATC.   

Dan grew up in Sun Prairie and still resides nearby with his wife, Tracy, and golden retriever, Charlie. Their grown children are also in the Madison area. Dan considers it an honor to work with an organization that is working to end hunger and build a stronger community. 

Syed Abbas serves as the Deputy Legislative Director for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). Prior to joining DHS, he was the Director of Education and Training at Slipstream, where he established a clear vision for the organization’s educational and training portfolio. His work focused on statewide workforce planning, equity and inclusion, and developing strategic partnerships with local nonprofits, municipalities, and the energy sector under President Biden’s Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts.

Previously, Syed was the President and Alder of the Madison Common Council, where he advocated for and developed key policies related to affordable housing, environmental sustainability, and public safety.

Before entering state service, he served on the board of the United States Green Building Council and held positions on various state and city committees. A committed servant leader, Syed also contributes to his community as a board member of The River Food Pantry and Adelante.

In recognition of his contributions, Syed received the 2021 Asian American Most Influential Leaders Award from Madison 365.

Syed holds two master’s degrees: one in Journalism and the other in Public Policy and Human Development from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Amy Barrilleaux directs communications for Clean Wisconsin and was recently appointed to the Public Affairs Council of the American Water Works Association. Amy’s background is in broadcast and print journalism; she led an award-winning news team as news director for WTDY Radio in Madison and has worked as a newspaper and television reporter, anchor and producer.

Amy and her family have had great experiences volunteering with The River and seeing firsthand the impact this critical organization makes in the lives of Madison families every day.  She is honored to serve on its board.

Barb Gosenheimer has lived in Madison for the past 9 years and has been a member of The River’s Governance Committee for the past 3 years.  She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Biomedical Engineering and an M.B.A.  For the past 25 years, Barb has worked in the medical device industry in progressively increasing roles of responsibility, and is currently the Director of Program Management for Fresenius Kabi, a global healthcare company.

Barb and her husband, Mike, have been very involved in non-profit organizations for the past 20+ years, including Society of Women Engineers, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Second Harvest, This Time Tomorrow Foundation, and The River.  On a break between jobs in 2022, Barb was able to volunteer extensively at The River, meeting and greeting the customers and personally seeing the benefit of this organization.

Susan Crawford is a Dane County judge. As a judge, Susan witnesses daily the harsh consequences of poverty, inequality, and trauma on families and individuals. She is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the community by serving on The River’s Board. Susan is married and has two adult children. She joined the Board in 2019.

Pat Gallagher is a native Madisonian and Oregon High School grad, and has worked in radio—pretty much nonstop and pretty much in Madison—since graduating from UW-Platteville.

After a four-year radio stint in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they spent much time exploring the east coast, Pat and his wife Laura returned home to Madison in 2019, where he can now be heard on Magic 98 and 106.7 The Resistance. Pat is an accomplished triathlete, having completed Ironman Wisconsin several times, as well as the Boston Marathon, the Chicago marathon, and a number of other marathons and triathlons, including one in Galway, Ireland. He’s also helped raise thousands of dollars—and awareness—for various charities as an MC, spokesperson, and volunteer, in fact, Pat was first introduced to The River Food Pantry several years ago when he was invited to act as emcee for the Harvest Dinner for Hunger.

Jennifer graduated from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business with a master’s degree in Business. She joined CUNA Mutual Group (now TruStage) in January 2009 and moved to the Madison area. She started volunteering at The River over 8 years ago. She quickly wanted to do more and joined the board, as she is passionate about eliminating food insecurity in Dane County.

Shay is passionate about serving our community and appreciates The River’s mission. He has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services. He has an MBA degree from Edgewood College and a B.S. in Economics from UW-Madison. He and his wife love to travel and are Wisconsin sports fans.

I’ve been a supporter of The River since day one. I can still vividly recall the first Friday night pantry session, where volunteers with varied, diverse backgrounds all coming together with the same mission, to serve. The relationships built between volunteers, as well as shoppers, is just incredible. Once, a shopper personally asked me to pray with him. As a man of faith, that moment has stuck with me over the years.

My wife, Shari, and I have seven grandchildren who are all very active in sports. We have a beautiful cottage in Wild Rose, where I happily spend many hours fishing. My father was my hero. He was trustworthy, caring and a great public servant.

Rhonda was officially named Executive Director of The River Food Pantry in December 2020. She seamlessly assumed the role of interim executive director in June 2020, a reason why The River has never missed a beat throughout the pandemic. She brings decades of leadership experience from the U.S. Army, Avon Products, and The River, where she has served more than 10 years in multiple director roles.

Read Rhonda’s full bio here.