Meet Our Board of Directors
PMTI is a non-profit educational organization incorporated in 1976. As a non-profit, our leadership is made up of highly skilled volunteer business people with a passion for the field of massage therapy and a great love for educating excellent massage therapists.Tam Gelman, Co-Chair
Tam Gelman graduated from PMTI in 2002. Tam is a member of PMTI’s teaching staff as a practical lead instructor in Clinical Applications and Integration and an assistant instructor in the Deep Tissue Practicum. Prior to her career as a massage therapist, Tam was a commercial mortgage banker and broker, forming her own company in 1992, and running one of the larger closing operations of its kind in the United States. After graduation from PMTI, she began a massage therapy practice, and in 2003, she opened Core, A Center for Wellness located in Kensington, MD where she and six other PMTI therapists enjoy sharing massage with the community.
For several months following her graduation, she interfaced with the Board of Directors acting as PMTI’s real estate consultant assisting the school with its relocation to 5028 Wisconsin Avenue. Tam joined the Board in 2003 and has served as the Board Treasurer since that time. Tam currently serves on the Board’s Executive, Evaluation, Finance and Grants Committees. She has been an active member of the MARCOM and Development Committees in years past. Tam says, “It brings me tremendous, heartfelt joy to be part of the PMTI community. I love sharing and teaching the transformational value of touch, and I am committed to promoting PMTI’s standard of excellence as a massage therapy educator.”
Missy Cross, Co-Chair
Missy Cross graduated from PMTI with the class of 02/02/02, and joined the Board of Directors in 2004 as the Staff Representative. Upon leaving the teaching staff at PMTI, Missy was invited to transition to a community member of the Board. She currently serves with Tam Gelman as the Board's co-Chair. Missy says she remains connected to PMTI because "When I first visited PMTI, I felt like I'd finally come home." She believes strongly in the importance of community, and strives to bring a sense of service to the PMTI community to her work with the Board.
Missy originally hails from Fayetteville, NY and graduated in 1989 from Grinnell College with a BA in Russian language and literature. She currently works as a senior instructional designer with the Windwalker Corporation and is responsible for designing computer-based training programs for the Army Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Her past professional pursuits have been heavily focused on teaching and training activities, to include managing educational exchanges, facilitating on a ropes course, teaching self-defense, delivering software training, and teaching level 2 practicum at PMTI.
Stephanie Benefield, Treasurer
Ms. Benefield is a graduate of the International Christian University in Tokyo, the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and the Potomac Massage Training Institute, Washington DC where she currently is serving as a member of the Board of Directors. Since 1979, she worked in the area of US-Japan relations.
After being injured and watching close friends face various stress related problems, Ms. Benefield pursued further education in learning how stress leads to injury and disease and how lifestyle modifications can prevent them. One method is therapeutic massage.
Ms. Benefield practices massage therapy and bodywork to balance her own life between management consulting work and the more grounded support she likes to provide to individuals through massage therapy. She uses Swedish, deep tissue, neuromuscular and lymphatic therapy massage methods as well as Reiki energy balancing to provide an intuitive bodywork experience which enhances wellness, improves physical activity, reduces stress, relieves pain and restores mobility of her clients.
Jean Briggs, Secretary
Jean Briggs L.M.T., NCTMB, recently left a long career working in the arts for a new opportunity to help others in the healing arts. Working at a leading integrative health clinic, she assists doctors and patients with their care and protocols for wellness. Here at PMTI Jean has assisted lead instructors for several years with all three levels in the practical classrooms as well as first level anatomy and physiology class. Her love of basic anatomy and physiology has lead to a deeper appreciation of the connectivity of systems to create sustainablity, balance, transformation and evolution. The transformation of energy in the body reflecting the larger paradigm of life has inspired her cultivation of Reiki as well as other forms of energy work. Jean is also Student Advisor for Level 3 students. In the fall of 2009, the staff elected Jean to the position of Staff Representative on the Board of Directors. Upon her arrival to the Board, the Board welcomed her talents by electing her as Secretary.
Jeff Gelman, Member
Jeff Gelman is an attorney with the District of Columbia law firm Saul Ewing LLP. Jeff's legal practice involves the local, regional and national representation of developers, lenders, property managers, investors and others in all aspects of acquiring, developing, financing and managing commercial and residential properties. His practice includes real estate finance and development law, housing law, condominium law, commercial law, corporate law, environmental regulations relating to real estate, commercial and multifamily mortgage conduits, bond financing, structured/securitized financing transactions, and regulatory compliance of various businesses. Jeff received his law degree from The National Law Center of George Washington University in 1984 and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1981 from Clark University with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and government. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and the Supreme Court of the United States, and is a member of the American Bar Association, where he is also a member of its Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law.
Jeff is also active in various community, civic and trade associations, including the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and serves as the Chair of the Housing Committee and as a Board Member of the District of Columbia Building Industry Association, as a Board Member of the Community Services Corporation of the District of Columbia Building Industry Association, as a former President and Board Member of Sarah’s Circle, a non-profit serving the housing needs of low-income seniors in Washington, D.C., and as a Board Member of Potomac Massage Training Institute, Inc. and chair of PMTI's Institutional Review Board. He has written and lectured on various topics involving real estate finance, development and affordable housing and has been recognized several times by the District of Columbia government for leadership in community service.