Our Mission & Vision

Sandra Stanton brings a rare and powerful combination of movement science, entrepreneurship, digital strategy, and community health advocacy to her role as Executive Director of HealthyKS. A graduate of The Juilliard School (B.F.A.) and alumna of the North Carolina School of the Arts, Sandy built her career at the intersection of physical wellness and public engagement.

Sandy performed professionally as a principal dancer with Twyla Tharp's internationally acclaimed touring company, where she developed a deep understanding of how movement, discipline, and physical health transform lives. She subsequently taught Tharp repertoire at colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad, most recently serving as a Senior Lecturer at Hamilton College, where she designed and led curriculum connecting the performing arts with broader themes of health, embodiment, and human potential.

As founder and owner of her own private ballet and yoga instruction businesses, Sandy guided hundreds of students of all ages and abilities toward greater physical literacy, mindfulness, and lifelong wellness — the very principles that animate HealthyKS's mission. Her work as a small business owner also sharpened her instincts for community outreach, client engagement, and building sustainable programming from the ground up.

Sandy's leadership portfolio extends beyond the studio. As Director of Digital Marketing for an IT company, she developed and executed data-driven strategies encompassing content creation, brand development, social media, and public relations — equipping her with the digital fluency and communications expertise essential for advancing a statewide health initiative. Her ability to translate complex messages into compelling, accessible content positions her to amplify HealthyKS's reach across diverse communities throughout Kansas.

Sandy's life work reflects an unwavering belief that movement, wellness, and community connection are fundamental to human thriving — making her an ideal champion for a healthier Kansas.

John Pelicano brings nearly four decades of professional experience to his role as Development Manager at HealthyKS, where he leads the organization's efforts to cultivate the partnerships, donor relationships, and community investments that fuel a healthier Kansas.

Over the course of his career, John has built a reputation as a skilled connector — someone who understands that lasting change requires trust, sustained relationships, and a genuine commitment to the communities being served.

That philosophy has guided him across roles spanning organizational leadership, community engagement, and development strategy, and it remains the cornerstone of his work at HealthyKS. He brings to the role a practitioner's instinct for identifying shared interests between organizations and translating those connections into meaningful, mission-aligned collaboration.

As Development Manager, John plays a central role in advancing HealthyKS's capacity to grow — stewarding existing partnerships with member organizations, cultivating new funding relationships with public and private stakeholders, and helping to align resources with the priorities that matter most to South Carolinians' health and well-being. His approach to development is relational rather than transactional: he believes that funders, partners, and community leaders are most compelled not by pitch decks, but by authentic stories of impact and a shared sense of purpose.

John's nearly forty years of experience across organizational and community-facing roles give him a unique vantage point — he understands how institutions work, how communities think, and how to build the bridges between them that turn good intentions into lasting progress. At HealthyKS, he channels that experience every day in service of a mission he believes in deeply: that every South Carolinian deserves the opportunity to live a healthy, thriving life.

Don Stanton brings more than 25 years of wide-ranging professional experience to his role as Housing Liaison at HealthyKS — a career that spans real estate brokerage, property management, software development, technology support, training, and entrepreneurship. That breadth is precisely what makes him the right person to sit at the intersection of housing services, community partnerships, and the technology that ties them together.

As a former real estate broker and property manager, Don understands the housing landscape from the ground up — the barriers families face, the systems that serve them, and the gaps that too often fall through the cracks. His years as a programmer and tech support professional give him an uncommon ability to not only work within complex platforms, but to explain and teach them in ways that stick. And as an entrepreneur, he has consistently built things from scratch, rallied people around a shared purpose, and delivered results in environments where no roadmap existed.

At HealthyKS, Don serves as the primary bridge between the organization and its network of housing leads and housing navigators across Kansas. He trains partner agencies on the housing CRM and referral system, ensures that resources are equipped to use InSERVio® effectively, and works to grow the roster of housing providers listed within InSERVio® and on HealthyKS.org — so that more South Carolinians in need of stable housing can be connected to the right help, quickly and reliably.

Don believes that housing is the foundation from which every other aspect of health and well-being is built. His mission is to make sure that foundation is as strong, accessible, and well-coordinated as possible — one resource, one referral, and one trained navigator at a time.