Our Team
The Pushing Boundaries team consists of passionate, experienced and skilled exercise therapists, administrators, and support staff committed to attaining the ultimate goal of each client we serve.
Marty Frank, ACSM/HFS, CIFT/NCPAD, NASM-CPT
Exercise Therapist
Marty graduated in 2009 with an degree in Fitness. He is certified through the American College of Sports Medicine as a Health Fitness Specialist and Inclusive Fitness Trainer in collaboration with the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability as well as a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Marty believes that exercise is the purest and most effective remedy for the mind, body, and spirit and is dedicated to enhancing each individual's ability to achieve success both in fitness and in life.
Exercise Therapist
Aaron graduated with a degree in Kinesiology from Cal-Poly Tech and holds national certifications with both the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. For the past five years, Aaron has worked exclusively within the Physical Therapy rehabilitation environment and is excited to bring his expertise to Pushing Boundaries. As a Physical Therapy Technician, his interests lie in functional training and his goal is to be a positive, motivating, and critical member of our team. Aaron enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and camping with his wife and two dogs, so moving to the Northwest from California is a dream come true.
Suzette Hart
Development & Communications Manager
Suzette graduated with a degree in
Recreation Management, with emphasis in both Fitness and
Aquatics, from Eastern Washington University.
Her professional path has allowed her focus on making
a difference in an individual’s life.
She has thirteen years of experience in upper and
executive levels of management in the field of parks and
recreation for various types of local government entities.
She has also worked and volunteered in fundraising
for local non-profits since 2007, including leading a
capital campaign to support a park renovation in
Woodinville, fundraising to support live performing arts and
access to the arts for youth in the Bothell area, and grant
writing for her PTA.
In her spare time, Suzette and her husband enjoy day
trips with their two boys to explore the region and
swimming.
Tricia Lazzar
Executive Director
Since 2006, Tricia has brought to Pushing Boundaries her twenty years of marketing, advertising and strategic planning in various industries, as well as additional education in Exercise Science, Health and Wellness, and Medical Massage Therapy. As Executive Director since 2008, Tricia works on both the local and national level, promoting Pushing Boundaries and the recovery of function through exercise as well as increasing partnerships with businesses and organizations. With a strong commitment to the promotion of the comprehensive services this recovery center provides, Tricia ensures Pushing Boundaries will remain a vital piece to the continuum of care available in the Northwest. Pushing Boundaries now serves clients for five states.
If you are interested in having us present for your organization or would like to come by for a tour, please contact us at (425) 869-9506.
About the Founders
Sharon and Allan Northrup - (C7 - T1)
Allan has 30 years of experience as an owner of several companies. In 2001, he sustained a C7-T1 spinal cord injury in an automobile accident. After his release from the hospital, he and his family searched the Northwest for a facility that could provide more than a life of transferring in and out of a wheelchair. Finding nothing, he spent 18 months in San Diego in an aggressive exercise program. He worked out at three different facilities, five days a week, three hours a day including driving long distances to do water therapy and ride an electro stimulus bike.
Upon returning to Seattle in 2004, Allan and Sharon opened the non-profit exercise therapy center Pushing Boundaries to bring to the Northwest the same opportunities they had. To date, dozens of people have benefited from Allan and Sharon's efforts.
On November 11, 2011, Allan was taken away from us much too soon. All of us at Pushing Boundaries will carry on the mission, vision and values Allan and Sharon envisioned for the Northwest.
Pushing Boundaries Board of Directors
Pushing Boundaries is guided by a board with wide-ranging expertise, medical, legal, technological, business. They all have one thing in common… personal experience with paralysis. In addition to Allan Northrup, board members Dr. Ernest A. Franz and Bruce Hanson were diagnosed as tetraplegics, but are walking today thanks to intensive exercise therapy. If you are interested in becoming involved on a Board level, please contact our Executive Director.
