Staff
Founder & Executive Director
Vice President, Axcend, Inc
Melissa Hinton, Founder & Chair of Loudoun Serenity House is a Loudoun County, Virginia resident and a recovery advocate with past experience working in the addiction treatment field. Melissa has 30+ years of personal recovery and is actively involved with women in the recovery community. In 2018, in partnership with Community Foundation of Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties, Melissa spearheaded an initiative to open the first women’s recovery house in Loudoun County. Loudoun Serenity House opened in the town of Leesburg, VA in October 2020 after the tragic loss of Melissa’s younger sister Rachel in 2019 from her addiction.
In her professional life, Melissa is Vice President of Axcend, Inc in Fairfax, Virginia. Her career background is in technology leadership as a trusted advisor to the Federal Government with a technical expertise as a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and a B.S. in Business Management. She has directed and led large project teams in the area of Enterprise Cloud Computing and Cyber Security.
Deputy Executive Director
Retired Tech Executive
​
John M. Wheeler is a retired global high-tech executive who spent over 30 years implementing software and services solutions and advising large customers to capitalize on major market, technology and business operations transitions at Accenture, LLP and Cisco Systems, Inc. In 2019, John founded, Rising Tide Solutions, LLC to help legacy industries transform their operations in an era of climate change to bring clean energy, smart infrastructure, sustainable agriculture and community solutions to market.
John has been active in the recovery community for over 35 years in both Chicago, Illinois, and Northern Virginia where he has helped numerous men address their addictions, work a program of recovery, and built the life skills to get back on the road of happy destiny. He joined the board of Loudoun Serenity House in 2021. After two and a half years on the Board of Directors as Vice Chair, John moved into a full-time role as Deputy Executive Director. John holds a BBA in International Business with honors from the University of Georgia – Terry College of Business, with post-graduate studies in Media Sciences at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and in Executive Leadership and Neuroscience at The Wharton School.
John also sits on the board of Keep Prince William Beautiful, is a member of the Prince William County Schools Superintendents Advisory Council on Sustainability and is a past member of the Board of Trustees for St. Andrews-Sewanee School.
Peer Navigator and House Operations Manager
Ann Marie joined Loudoun Serenity House in January 2022 as a volunteer peer recovery specialist. In June 2022, she was hired full-time as Peer Navigator.Ann Marie has extensive experience in nonprofit and government executive leadership roles successfully leading organizations in the areas of organizational development, team building and executive management. With 11 years of lived experience in recovery, Ann Marie earned her peer recovery certificate in January 2022 and passed her certified peer recovery specialist exam in November. Blending her skills and experience in both business and recovery is her passion today. In her role, Ann Marie helps create opportunities for those struggling with substance use disorder by overcoming barriers, building connections within the community and finding the resources needed to live their best life, one free from addiction.
Recovery Community Center Manager
For over 20 years, Nicole worked as a real estate broker/property manager while raising four children in Seattle, WA. Since moving to Virginia in 2017, Nicole has spent her time focused on her personal success journey of sobriety and recovery.
Nicole entered the recovery field to fight the stigma of substance use disorders through education and providing support to not only those who struggle with drug and alcohol use, but their families as well. Building connections with people who feel they have lost all hope is what she finds most rewarding about this work.