Staff
Teri Mayo, BA, LMT, Executive Director
tmayo@massagetherapyfoundation.org
Teri has owned rehabilitative practices for 29 years as a massage therapist, including a medical massage clinic that employed 19 therapists and staff. After a shift to health care administration with Swedish Medical Group and Seattle Children’s Hospital for several years, Teri was happy to move back into the word rehabilitative services when she joined Pushing Boundaries paralysis exercise therapy center in the fall of 2019 as their Executive Director. She also maintains a small private massage practice on the side.
Teri brings a background in business and team management, and professional mentoring; she enjoys bringing her strategic vision, business expertise, and non-profit board/fundraising experience to the Massage Therapy Foundation. She loves working with the clients, board, staff, and volunteers to help push MTF into the potential that lies ahead.
In her spare time, Teri enjoys listening to jazz, cooking, traveling, and hanging out with her spouse and two chocolate labs.
Niki Munk, PhD, LMT, Research Director
Dr. Munk is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences in Indiana University’s School of Health and Human Sciences at IUPUI, a non-practicing Kentucky licensed massage therapist, and member of the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health (ACIH) research work group. Dr. Munk is one of 13 international Fellows in ARCCIM’s International Complementary Medicine Research Leadership Program, co-investigator on the VA TOMCATT study, and former Practice and Education Sections Editor for the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Dr. Munk’s research explores real-world massage therapy for chronic pain and associated factors, trigger point self-care, massage for amputation related sequelae, and the reporting and impact of massage related case reports among other projects. Prior to beginning her gerontological doctoral pursuits in 2006, Dr. Munk worked as Program Director and a lead instructor for the Lexington Healing Arts Academy in Lexington, Kentucky. Discouraged by accessibility barriers to massage therapy faced by much of the population, she chose research and academia as a means to help bridge the accessibility gap reasoning that stronger evidence for the field will lead to increased routine 3rd party coverage for massage treatment. Niki has been volunteering with the Massage Therapy Foundation since 2011, joined the Board of Trustees in 2017, serving as Research Committee Chair until her move over to MTF Staff. Since 2021, Niki has led the relaunch of MTF’s MassageNet Practice-Based Research Network.
View Niki’s IUPUI bio here: https://shhs.iupui.edu/connect/directory/munk-niki.html
Annie LaCroix, MS, LMT, Associate Director – Operations
alacroix@massagetherapyfoundation.org
Annie has been a small business and nonprofit consultant for the last 10 years. Additionally, she is a massage school owner and educator. She has been in the massage therapy profession for the last twenty years. Throughout the course of her careers, Annie has volunteered with organizations including American Massage Therapy Foundation, Pushing Boundaries, Yellow Door, and Healwell.
Additionally, Annie has a Master’s of Science in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine.
Helen Smith, BA, Program Manager – Communications, Marketing and Content
hsmith@massagetherapyfoundation.org
Helen has headed up communications and marketing efforts for MTF since 2017. Her experience includes social media management, website design, digital art and design and the production of written materials. Her past professional experience includes retail sales management and co-ownership/management of a community art and music venue. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College, studying activism, world art, art history, printmaking, and feminist theory. She enjoys painting, reading, and crafting/upcycling.