About Us

Blaine Annett is current Board Chair for Forever Footprints.  Blaine is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance, and is originally from Katy, Texas.  Blaine started a commercial real estate company, A Street Partners, with his brother, and today lives in Ladera Ranch, California with his wife Jennie and three children.  Blaine has background in business leadership, sales/marketing, and finance that helps Forever Footprints execute on its mission to serve, educate, and support families with pregnancy and infant loss.

When my wife was pregnant with our third child, Rush, everything was pretty normal for the most part.  Just as Jennie was entering her third trimester, something didn’t quite feel right, and she wasn’t feeling a lot of movement from Rush late one night.  The very next morning she went straight to the doctor just as they opened at 8 a.m. to get checked out to make sure everything was okay.  By 11 a.m. that day, she was having an emergency C-Section and delivering Rush at 28 weeks old.  For reasons unknown, Jennie had suffered a fetal maternal hemorrhage that resulted in Rush being born with severe blood loss and having to be resuscitated and given an immediate blood transfusion.  While in the NICU, Rush developed a severe brain bleed and passed away in our arms after 2.5 days.  Rush was a fighter but the extremely difficult delivery at just 28 weeks was too much to overcome.  It was through this experience that we found out about the Forever Footprints organization.  We still have our memory box that we have all of Rush’s belongings in, and we look through it as a family from time to time.  After Rush, we experienced a miscarriage, and having the education and support provided by Forever Footprints helped us get through that trying time as well.  I knew after going through such a deep, dark period and coming out on the other side that I wanted to get involved to help other families, so they wouldn’t feel so alone.  Getting the opportunity to serve on the board of Forever Footprints is such a blessing to help others in need while remembering and honoring our son Rush as well.

Aditya Swaminathan is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelors in Business Administration. He is a Managing Director at Ernst & Young (EY) within the Financial Services sector. He was born in India and grew up in Dubai before moving to the states for higher education. He is a sports enthusiast and even gave the professional tennis tour a run after college before settling into consulting. Aditya lives in Irvine with his wife, Cynthia, their son, Ari, and 15lb Yorkie, Chloe.

Elizabeth Pagliarini currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for Summit Healthcare REIT, Inc., a public non-traded REIT that invests in seniors housing real estate across the United States.

Ms. Pagliarini is a member of the Board of Directors of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ: FFWM), and serves on their audit, compensation, and nominating and governance committees. She also sits on the Mission Viejo, California City Council Investment Advisory Commission as well as the advisory board of the CFO Executive Summit. 

Ms. Pagliarini successfully broke the “glass ceiling” in her mid-twenties as chief executive officer and chairwoman of the board of an investment brokerage subsidiary of a public company in Beverly Hills, California. She also co-founded a boutique investment bank and registered broker-dealer.

Ms. Pagliarini received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Valparaiso University where she was honored with their highest academic award, the Presidential Scholarship. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), an advanced designation awarded by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners that focuses on fraud prevention, detection and deterrence.

In 2020, Ms. Pagliarini won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Orange County Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Awards after receiving nominations for CFO of the Year in both 2019 and 2020. She has also been named one of “20 Women to Watch” by OC Metro magazine and nominated for The Orange County Business Journal’s Women in Business Award. Additionally, she has been honored by Step Up Women’s Network as the recipient of their prestigious Commitment to Philanthropy Volunteer Award and by Forever Footprints as the winner of their Compassion Award.

Elizabeth and her husband, Robert, lost their son, Gavin Edward, when she was 8 months pregnant on December 31, 2004. She was so moved and inspired by the first OC Walk to Remember they attended, she knew she had to be involved in some way to help the thousands of parents that suffer a loss each year — especially following her negative experience in the hospital after her stillbirth. She is extremely proud to be a part of this amazing organization and is thrilled with its continued growth and extensive reach.

Mark F. von Rotz, CPA, is a tax and advisory services principal at CliftonLarsonAllen in Irvine, California. He is an income tax generalist, specializing in tax planning and compliance, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Mark heads the recruiting effort for the tax department at WNDE and speaks to college students about the profession, the firm and how to succeed in the industry. He earned a B.S. in Accounting from California State University, Fullerton in 1997 and earned his CPA designation in 2001. He lives in Orange with his wife and three children.

I am the proud dad to Joseph Thomas von Rotz, who was born and died on July 8, 2004. Volunteering for the organization since its founding has been an honor. After Joseph died it was hard to express my feelings, but being able to put time and effort to help the organization succeed has been a positive experience for me. Joseph was alive for only a short time, but he has impacted our family and so many other people in a positive way. I’m constantly amazed at the strength that families have after the loss of a baby. A quote that is very special to my wife and is representative of our love for Joseph is: “Sometimes love is for a moment. Sometimes love is for a lifetime. Sometimes a moment is a lifetime”.