About The Mommies Network

The Mommies Network is a 501c(3) organization founded in April of 2005 by Heather Meininger along with a board of two additional members, Frances Bullock and Amanda Keys. Heather had founded CharlotteMommies (NC) three years earlier and knew that a need existed for mothers to connect with one another and support each other. The Mommies Network was created to help fill this need in cities across the United States. By the end of 2005, The Mommies Network parented eight communities in four states and had formed a partnership with Carolina Parenting, the publisher of three parenting magazines in North Carolina.

In January 2006, Amanda stepped down and Suzanne Johnston joined the board. The Mommies Network celebrated its first anniversary with a total of sixteen communities in seven states. 2006 brought changes to the organization, including a new partnerships with GoodSearch, a search engine powered by Yahoo!, and renewing the Carolina Parenting partnership. We also wrote a manual for new site administrators, added an Advisory Board to help with community management and moved to a new web server to better accommodate our growth. At the close of 2006 TMN had 27 communities.

In January of 2007, Frances stepped down and Rebecca Lange, founder of TriadMommies (NC), accepted the third position on the board. In March the first community for dads was opened, and The Dads Network was formed as a partner organization to support the unique needs of dads. By the end of the year we had over 60 communities with a combined membership of 12,741, a 193% increase over the prior year. In order to support this growth we added a team of Network Administrators (experienced site administrators who provides support and guidance to less experienced site administrators) and several Advisors (providing role-specific support to our communities). We also increased our Board of Directors to five people, adding Amy Sloan, founder of LakeNormanMommies (NC) and Amanda Anderson, Co-Site Administrator for RichmondMommies (VA), and hired our first employee, Rachelle Watkins, National Sponsorship Manager. We also moved to a new server, completed a major overhaul to the look and feel of our communities, and enhanced our security.

2008 was a big year. During the third quarter board member Amanda Anderson stepped down and was replaced by SLOCountyMommies (CA) Manager, Kristin Amundsen-Cubanski. We also added a 5-person Operations Board to handle the day-to-day needs of our Network. This board consists of Chelle Osborne, retired Site Administrator for UnionCountyMommies (NC), Heath McCoy, retired Site Administrator for CharlotteAreaDads (NC), April Rink, Site Administrator for SWPiedmontMommies (NC), Amy Blalock, Site Administrator for TriadMommies (NC) and Margie Gilbert, retired Site Administrator for SouthValleyMommies (CA). At the close of 2008 we had over 100 communities.

2009 will continue to bring substantial growth and changes to our organization. Operations Board member Heath McCoy stepped down and was replaced by Karin Amundsen, founder of VegasMommies (NV). We have purchased a second server to accommodate our growth and have additional technical enhancements planned. We look forward to welcoming new communities to our Network in 2009!

Rebecca Lange
Director
rebecca [at] themommiesnetwork [dot] org
Becky was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina in 1999 to attend Greensboro College. She graduated with a degree in Exceptional Child Studies. Becky has one daughter, Daniela, who was born in January, 2005. Becky served as the site administrator for our TriadMommies community for two years, "retiring" from this position in 2007 to focus on her duties for the Board. In her free time, Becky enjoys photography, reading and music.

Amy Sloan
Director
amy [at] themommiesnetwork [dot] org
Amy and her husband Gregg recently relocated to Columbus, Georgia from Cornelius, North Carolina. They have three children: Alexa, Hunter and Carter. She worked full time as a Marketing Director before she became a stay-at-home mom in 2003 and homeschools both her boys. Amy founded LakeNormanMommies (NC) and served as the site administrator for 18 months. She is now a member of our new ColumbusGAMommies (GA) community. She enjoys reading, redecorating, traveling and cross stitch.

Kristin Amundsen-Cubanski
Director
kristin [at] themommiesnetwork [dot] org
Kristin and her husband Tom live in San Luis Obispo, California with their three daughters: Autumn, Laura and Mae. She has Bachelors and Masters degress in Computer Science from California Polytechnic State University and works full-time from home as a software engineer. She is a member of SLOCountyMommies (CA) and served on the community management team for one year and as an area and support group moderator since its opening in March 2006. She enjoys photography, quilting, reading, music, geocaching, camping, learning new things, and hopes to get back to cycling sometime soon.