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Alumni

Sue Hildick

Presidio Institute Fellows

Sue Hildick

President
The Chalkboard Project


Sue Hildick, fourth generation Oregonian, is president of Foundations for a Better Oregon (FBO) and Chalkboard Project. As president, she leads a unique public charity formed as a collaboration of six of Oregon's leading foundations to work collectively to impact the state's most intractable public policy issues. Currently with a focus on improving public K-12 school in Oregon, Sue leads FBO's initiative, Chalkboard Project, to raise student achievement and help make Oregon among the top ten performing states in the country.

Sue has served as legislative director to former U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield; director of government relations at Oregon Health Sciences University; and CEO of the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross. She currently serves on the boards of the Women's Foundation of Oregon and Marylhurst University. Sue has chaired the board of New Leadership Oregon (NLO) at Portland State University and was awarded the 2009 Women Leader of the Year by NLO. She has also been honored for her distinguished service to the College of Urban and Public Affairs by leaders at Portland State University; was named Nonprofit CEO of the Year by the Portland Business Journal and was recognized in two separate years as one of Oregon's Fifty Great Leaders by Oregon Business Magazine. She was named to Oregon's top 40 under 40 early in her career and has been recognized as one of the Northwest's 100 most powerful women. She was one of 80 women leaders to be selected by O Magazine and the White House Project for a prestigious conference in 2008.

Sue holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and is currently completing a master's degree in business administration from Marylhurst University.


Sandra McAlister Ambrozy

Sandra McAlister Ambrozy

Senior Program Officer
The Kresge Foundation


Sandra is a Senior Program Officer and a member of The Kresge Foundation's Human Services program team. The Kresge Foundation seeks to build the vitality of American cities to ensure that people with low-incomes have full access to pathways of economic and social opportunity. Because the Foundation recognizes that urban vitality depends on the presence of a fully functional, integrated, and cohesive ecology of multiple systems, it invests in community development, higher education, health, arts and culture, human services, and environmental stewardship.

Sandra is a LEED Accredited Professional and previously staffed the Foundation's Green Building Initiative to encourage nonprofits to design environmentally-sustainable facilities.

She is currently a board member the Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, a membership organization that helps grantmakers advance strategies to create fair, prosperous, and sustainable regions and communities. Sandra is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce and an Advisory Board member of The Catalyst Fund for Nonprofits, a five-year fund established to support collaborations and mergers in the Boston area. In 2010 and 2011, she was a reviewer for HUD‘s Sustainable Communities and Regional Planning Grant Program.

She is a graduate of Tufts University in Massachusetts.


 

2016

 

Stephanie Andrews

Stephanie Andrews

2016 Fellow

Talent & Leadership Development Director
Bush Foundation


As Talent and Leadership Development Director at the Bush Foundation, Stephanie advances the Foundation's significant investments in building and supporting talent in the Upper Midwest. She leads human capital planning and provides coaching and support to Foundation staff, with the goal of amplifying the Foundation's community impact. She leads the Foundation's work with the Ron McKinley Philanthropy Fellowship, a multi-site program that provides an on-ramp into philanthropy for people traditionally underrepresented in the sector. Stephanie also provides programming support and individual coaching for the Bush Fellowship program, a 50-year old program that provides high potential leaders with generous and flexible funding to boost their leadership trajectory.

Prior to Bush, Stephanie served as deputy commissioner for Minnesota's Department of Management and Budget, the agency responsible for statewide policy in finance, budget and human resources. In that role, she led several statewide reform initiatives, successfully merging several state agencies and winning legislative authorization to replace the state's antiquated financial system. Earlier, she managed executive budget development on a wide range of issues, serving in three administrations. Her earlier experience also includes evaluating state welfare reform projects at Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts and legislative relations related to the food industry in both Washington D.C. and Minneapolis.

Stephanie earned her master's in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota. In 2005, she was a Humphrey Institute Policy Fellow in 2005.


Josh Bagley

Josh Bagley

2016 Fellow

Associate Director of Business Operations, Real Estate Development
The Presidio Trust


Josh Bagley serves as the Associate Director of Business Operations for the Presidio Trust, an innovative federal agency created to save the Presidio of San Francisco and transform it for a new national purpose. At the Presidio, Josh takes a leadership role in the planning, analysis and execution of challenging real estate projects and public/private partnerships. He directs all aspects of the real estate development process, including project planning, environmental and historic compliance, financial analysis, lease negotiations, permitting, and construction. In his time with the Presidio Trust, he has managed the rehabilitation of more than 300,000 square feet in 21 historic buildings. Recently, he completed the rehabilitation of a historic bachelor officer's quarters into the Inn at the Presidio – an award winning, LEED-Gold certified, 22-unit boutique hotel that provides the first overnight accommodations in the Presidio.

Prior to joining the Presidio Trust in 2005, Josh worked with Sedway/CBRE Consulting, a real estate consulting firm in San Francisco and Kosmont Partners, a real estate consulting firm in Los Angeles.

Josh lives in San Francisco, California with his wife and two children. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Southern California.


Recy Benjamin Dunn

Recy Benjamin Dunn

2016 Fellow

Chief Operating Officer
Yes Prep Public Schools


Recy is the Chief Operating Officer for YES Prep Public Schools, an open-enrollment public charter school system serving more than 10,000 students grades six through twelve across 15 campuses in Houston, TX. In this role, he leads system-wide operations, district partnerships, community engagement, and growth strategy. Recy formerly served as the Senior Executive Director for Cities at New Leaders, a national nonprofit that develops transformational school leaders. He managed and supported all city executive directors across 8 program sites nationally. Recy filled numerous roles at school districts, including the New York City Department of Education where he was the Executive Director of the Charter Schools Office, leading a team responsible for coordinating a portfolio of 136 charter schools. Recy also served as Executive Director of Early Childhood at the NYCDOE, managing early childhood initiatives citywide with a focus on Universal Prekindergarten. Previously, he worked at Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland and before that completed The Broad Residency in Urban Education while at the District of Columbia Public Schools. Prior to his education experience, Recy worked in the public and private sector in several organizations. Recy has an MBA and an MA in Education from Stanford, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, he completed his School District Leadership certification program at Bank Street College of Education.


Meredith Hansen

Meredith Hansen

2016 Fellow

Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Special Initiatives
City Year, Inc.


For more than a decade, Meredith Hansen has worked to expand and invigorate support for City Year, an education-focused nonprofit organization that mobilizes idealistic young people for a year of service in high-need schools, across the US and around the world. Serving in her current role as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Special Initiatives since 2010, Meredith helped lead a number of high-profile strategic events, including the organization's annual In School and On Track National Leadership Summit and its 25th Anniversary Gala in 2014. In addition to her work in the US, Meredith also serves as a primary liaison to City Year's international affiliates in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Leveraging her significant experience at City Year, she helps to build connections between the US, UK and South Africa in order to support growth in all three countries.

Meredith joined City Year in Boston in 2004, serving as a member of Care Force, a highly specialized event team that leads large-scale employee service days for corporate employees. She also worked in development, leading City Year's corporate partnerships team and supported the organization's early recruitment marketing and social media efforts.

Prior to City Year, Meredith worked with several nonprofits in Kansas City, MO, serving in public relations, volunteer management and development roles. She also was a Regional Representative for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Washington, D.C., where she led fundraising events across the Mid-Atlantic region.

Meredith currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with her husband. In her free time she enjoys volunteering with a variety of organizations, painting, and managing the needs of her very demanding (but loveable) dog and cat.


Dr Noël S Harmon

Dr Noël S Harmon

2016 Fellow

Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
Say Yes To Education


Noël Harmon is Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, for Say Yes To Education. In this capacity, she plays a central role in the organization's efforts to forge partnerships and to raise start-up capital – including from foundations and corporations. Among the goals of her work at Say Yes is to expand the Say Yes citywide strategy to additional communities. In seeking partnerships on behalf of Say Yes, Harmon works to identify and cultivate entities that share the organization's goals of high school graduation and post-secondary completion for all public school students in the communities that it serves. She also leads the organization's development strategy.

Harmon comes to Say Yes from the Brookings Institution where she was the Associate Director of the Global Cities Initiatives, a joint project of Brookings and JPMorgan Chase. Previously, she served as the Chief Program Officer and National Director of the Talent Dividend at CEOs for Cities. She led the National Talent Dividend Network and Prize, a joint initiative of Living Cities and CEOs for Cities, to foster post-secondary attainment, through cross-sector collaboration among more than 60 network cities. She has served as a senior research analyst at the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) where she managed several long-term national initiatives. She spent 10 years working in administration at post-secondary institutions including Hofstra University, University of Michigan, Western Illinois University, and four years in Athletic Student Services at the University of Iowa.

Harmon has held adjunct teaching positions at the University of Iowa and the Washington Center for Academic Programs in Washington DC for the past seven years, teaching "Citizenship in a Multicultural Society". She blogs frequently for the Huffington Post on issues related to diversity, higher education, and multi-sector collaboration. Harmon holds a PhD in Higher Education and a BA in English from the University of Iowa, and a MA in Student Affairs Administration from Ball State University.


Lara Farrell Hitchcock

Lara Farrell Hitchcock

2016 Fellow

Executive Director
YMCA of San Francisco


Lara is the Executive Director at the Presidio and Point Bonita YMCAs. She has 18 years' experience in the non-profit world (including 15 years with the YMCA of San Francisco) developing programs, initiatives, facilities, resources and staff teams. She has a strong background in organizational operations, financial development, and working with volunteer boards. She has also worked at The Nature Conservancy, the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, and the Columbia Land Conservancy.

Getting youth outdoors and engaging people in wellness in nature are two of Lara's passions. Most recently, as part of a national initiative between the National Park Service and YMCA, Lara led the San Francisco implementation as one of nine pilot cities in the U.S.; with the goal of engaging thousands of volunteers on public lands and providing hundreds of youth with outdoor day camp experiences in our national parks.

Lara also has a passion for organizational culture and leadership development, and looks for opportunities to pay attention to this in her work. As a national trainer for Y-USA, she leads staff through Workshops on Culture & Cause, Storytelling, Email Communication, and Intro and Advanced Fiscal Management. When she's not at work, Lara enjoys spending time with her husband and two young sons, running on the beautiful trails in the Presidio or Marin Headlands, or enjoying a book on a foggy day.


Elaine Ikeda

Elaine Ikeda

2016 Fellow

Executive Director
California Campus Compact


Since 2000, Elaine K. Ikeda has served as the Executive Director of California Campus Compact (a statewide coalition of 45 college and university presidents committed to helping students develop the values and skills of civic participation through involvement in service). After receiving her doctorate in higher education from UCLA in 1999, Elaine served as the Director of the UCLA Service Learning Clearinghouse Project. Elaine has worked in higher education for more than 20 years. She has over eighteen years of experience supervising volunteers in higher education and community settings, conducting research on service-learning, volunteerism and community service, and disseminating service-learning resource materials to the field. She has co-authored several journal articles and book chapters on service-learning and student development. Elaine has organized numerous conferences, dialogues and forums addressing the civic mission of education (for higher education and K-12), service learning and civic engagement. In 2004 Elaine was awarded the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group Service Learning and Experiential Education Award – for work and research in the area of Service Learning and Experiential Education. She holds a Master's degree in Public Health and has worked for public and not-for-profit community health agencies.


Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson

2016 Fellow

Executive Director
The Fairness Project


Ryan Johnson is the Executive Director of The Fairness Project. Prior to joining The Fairness Project, Ryan was a consultant and researcher helping a variety of firms and individuals create original content, think strategically around potential opportunities and identify levers for change.

Before his time as a consultant, Ryan worked with Andy Stern, the former President of SEIU, at the Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy at Columbia University on issues related to the future of work and labor policy. He has also worked at the Harvard Business School as the Interim Director of the Business and Environment Initiative (BEI), where he worked with the business school faculty to help establish the BEI's strategy and program portfolio.

Ryan lives in Palo Alto, CA with his wife, Alia Crum, a psychology professor at Stanford University. He holds a B.A. in government from Harvard College.


Nanci Luna Jimenez

Nanci Luna Jimenez

2016 Fellow

President
Luna Jimenez Seminars & Associates


Nanci Luna Jiménez is recognized regionally, nationally, and internationally for her highly effective and insightful training, inclusive facilitation, and dynamic speaking with groups of diverse ages, industries, and cultural backgrounds. At 26 years of age she founded Luna Jiménez Seminars & Associates (LJS) to put into practice her steadfast commitment to eliminate oppression with emotional healing. Through her unique programs she guides individuals in a process of transformation, releasing initiative and leadership to create a more just and equitable world.

Nanci's unique approach to diversity, inclusion and social justice continues the legacy of work started with Dr. Erica Sherover-Marcuse, who coined the term "unlearning racism," and continued by her mentor, Lillian Roybal Rose, M.Ed. This approach empowers participants to take pride in their own heritage as a means of building peer alliances with others—an approach that asks Non-Target group members to give up their dominance and feeling bad about themselves and asks Target group members to give up shame and powerlessness.

A Certified Professional Facilitator© since 2006, Nanci uniquely combines this training along with methodologies developed by the Institute for Cultural Affairs (ICA), an international organization which provides training and facilitation in participatory group leadership processes for sustained organizational and social change. She facilitates individuals and groups to look freshly at the roots of discouragement while supporting them to make transformational changes they envision through: emotional discharge; cross cultural communication; building group consensus; training in organizational equity and leadership development; coaching; and short/long term action planning and implementation.


Odetta Macleish-White

Odetta Macleish-White

2016 Fellow

Program Director, Enterprise Community Partners
Enterprise Community Partners


Odetta MacLeish-White is a Program Director with Enterprise Community Partners, working out of their Southeast market headquartered in Atlanta, GA. She works to support comprehensive community stabilization efforts around the country with a focus on equitable Transit Oriented Development initiatives and nonprofit capacity building in the state of Georgia and the Southeast. Prior to joining Enterprise, Ms. MacLeish-White served as a community development specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and was the staff director for Florida's Affordable Housing Study Commission. She discovered her love for affordable housing while working for a developer in Gainesville, Florida. Ms. MacLeish-White earned a juris doctorate and LLM in International Law from Duke University School of Law, and a bachelor's degree in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard-Radcliffe University.


Cheryl Markham

Cheryl Markham

2016 Fellow

Strategic Policy Advisor, Director's Office
King County Department of Community andHuman Services


Cheryl Markham is a Strategic Policy Advisor in the Director's Office of the King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS). In this capacity Cheryl is a leader in DCHS' Health and Human Services Transformation work, in which the County has the ambitious goal to move the dial such that the people of King County begin to experience significant gains in health and well-being by year 2020 because the community worked collectively to make the shift from a costly, crisis-oriented response to health and social problems, to one that focuses on prevention, embraces recovery, and eliminates disparities. At the center of this work Cheryl is the staff lead for DCHS as a founding partner, with Public Health Seattle-King County and the Seattle Foundation, of the Communities of Opportunity (COO) Initiative. COO is a collective impact initiative in which government agencies, foundations, other funders, non-profits, and community-based organizations and coalitions work together and with other cross sector partners to increase equity and reduce disparities in health and well-being outcomes at the intersections of health, housing and economic prosperity.

COO is focusing its work in communities located in the approximately 20% of the County with the worst outcomes in health and well-being. COO is uniting these communities and the supporting partners through a results based accountability framework. COO Seattle-King County has also been chosen as a Living Cities Integration Initiative Site, and Cheryl is leading the capital plan work with Living Cities, working across sectors and across jurisdictions to create innovative system-level approaches and financing tools in support of the COO agenda.

Cheryl has wide-ranging and extensive experience and expertise in affordable housing, homelessness and community development. Ms. Markham is a 1997 graduate of the City University of New York School of Law, where she concentrated in Housing Law and Community Development and has been a passionate advocate for homeless and low-income people, litigating numerous cases on behalf of low-income tenants and households, including fair housing cases. In 2000, Cheryl moved into public policy work at King County as a planner, and eventually, manager of the King County Housing and Community Development Program before moving into her current position. Cheryl is the co-chair of the Economic Development Committee of the National Association for County Community and Economic Development; a recipient of both the Exemplary Public Service Award and the Felix Fishman Fellowship of the National Association for Public Interest Law, and a 2003 recipient of the King County Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award. Cheryl received her BA from UCLA in 1988.


Dekonti Mends-Cole

Dekonti Mends-Cole

2016 Fellow

Director of Policy
Center for Community Progress


Dekonti Mends-Cole serves as the Director of Policy for the Center for Community Progress.

Prior to joining Center for Community Progress in September 2015, Dekonti worked in Detroit as the Deputy Director of Dispositions for the Detroit Land Bank Authority overseeing disposition, property management and compliance programs. In addition, she served as a fellow with the White House Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative embedded in the City of Detroit's Law Department.

Dekonti brings international experience and best practice having previously worked on local economic development projects in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa including infrastructure investment strategies in Iraq and Zambia for the United Nations and community development projects tied to the 2012 London Olympics.

She holds an MSc from London School of Economics in Urban Regeneration and Affordable Housing, a Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law Center, and a BA from University of Miami in International Studies and Economics.


Frank Mirabal

Frank Mirabal

2016 Fellow

Director of Collective Impact
Office of the Mayor, City of Albuquerque


Dr. Frank Mirabal was appointed by Mayor Richard J. Berry in 2014 to serve on his Executive Leadership Team as the Director of Collective Impact. In this role, Mirabal brings together cross-sector partners to creatively address the complex challenges the city faces. Over the last 18 months, Mirabal's leadership in collective impact efforts has led to the successful design and implementation of Launch to Learn, a nationally recognized summer learning initiative and the Molino Project, an emerging initiative focused on growing immigrant entrepreneurship in the Albuquerque metro area. Prior to his work in the Mayor's Office, Frank served as the President of Contigo Research, Policy & Strategy, a national consulting firm providing research, public policy and strategy services to governments, nonprofits, philanthropy and social enterprises. During his tenure at Contigo, Mirabal helped raise awareness and visibility of community schools, health care career pathways and integrated education/workforce collaboratives in New Mexico and across the country.

Dr. Mirabal earned a Ph.D at New Mexico State University in Educational Leadership and has both a Master's Degree in Public Administration and a BA in Communications and Journalism from the University of New Mexico.


Ana A Montero

Ana A Montero

2016 Fellow

Chief Operating Officer
American Red Cross Los Angeles Region


Ana Montero is the Chief Operating Officer of the American Red Cross Los Angeles, the second largest Red Cross region in the United States serving one of the country's most diverse communities and most vulnerable to multi-hazard disasters.

Ms. Montero's office serves more than 88 cities across the Los Angeles region, providing relief for victims of home fires, earthquakes, floods, hazardous material spills, accidents and other natural or man-made disasters. She is part of the executive team that leads the Red Cross' wide-ranging relief efforts in the greater LA area. These efforts can include sending a volunteer disaster action team to a house fire in the Antelope Valley, leading an earthquake preparedness class in Koreatown and helping Filipino-Americans connect with family in typhoon-stricken Philippines.

In order to serve the needs of such a vast, multi-ethnic population, Montero's ARC-LA office relies heavily on a culturally diverse network of volunteers, Community Ambassadors – volunteers who take responsibility for the neighborhoods where they live and work. As COO, Montero is responsible for overseeing the organization's overall operations and facilities, as well as leading various Red Cross programs including Service to the Armed Forces, International Services and the California Safe Corps program. Her work as the sponsor of the Prepare SoCal Campaign, involves prioritization and inclusion of communities most vulnerable to disasters, a significant percentage of which include the Hispanic market.

Montero has more than 20 years of management experience. Prior to joining the Red Cross in 2014, she served as New Jersey's Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, where she led a diverse team of more than 300 employees in the implementation of housing and economic development and community resource initiatives. Immediately following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Montero was appointed to lead the New Jersey Disaster Housing Task Force. In that capacity, she assembled a team of federal, state, non-profit and private sector partners to develop the state's immediate housing recovery relief strategy and coordinated with the Red Cross to assist individuals in transitioning from temporary to more permanent housing.

Montero has led workforce development efforts to provide grants for workforce initiatives to New Jersey companies. She also championed efforts to strengthen partnerships with local organizations, private industry leaders, county entities, higher-education and government agencies. These partnerships resulted in improved literacy levels, expansion of industry apprenticeships, and an increase of women and minorities gaining entry into the construction trades. She has honed her legal skills while serving in various roles to ensure equal employment opportunities and implement diversity initiatives.

Montero has a passion for bridging community partnerships resulting in strategic alliances and positive outcomes. She has been credited for her enthusiastic work on numerous statewide and National partnerships related to community organizing and redevelopment, disaster relief efforts, historic preservation, STEM initiatives, industry retention efforts and youth development programs. Montero holds a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law.


Michelle Ng

Michelle Ng

2016 Fellow

Community Engagement Leader
Ernst & Young


BIMichelle Ng currently serves as the Community Engagement Leader for the financial services practice of Ernst & Young LLP. She directs a portfolio of over 300 community engagement events annually with focus on skills-based volunteering programs in education, entrepreneurship and diversity and inclusiveness. She also serves as the co-chair of the Tri-State Pan Asian Professional Network (PAPN) and a member of the Americas PAPN Steering Committee at EY. In addition, she is a member of the Corporate Volunteers of New York and the Asian Affinity Roundtable.

Prior to her current role, Michelle served as an IT management consultant to Fortune 500 companies. She completed the Leadership New York program at Coro and the Leadership Academy program at Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. She is currently completing her doctoral dissertation in executive leadership with a research focus on cross-sector partnership in education innovation. She holds an MBA from Binghamton University School of Management and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a double major in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.O


Todd Shenk

Todd Shenk

2016 Fellow

Senior Director, Strategic Engagement and Initiatives
Casey Family Programs


Todd Shenk is Senior Director of Strategic Engagement and Initiatives at Casey Family Programs. Casey Family Programs is the nation's largest private operating foundation that is solely dedicated to safely eliminating the need for foster care and creating Communities of Hope across the United States. Todd is working to create cross-systems change that can help safely reduce the number of children in foster care, and ensure that all children grow up in supportive families and strong communities. From 2011-2014 Todd served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, working on issues at the intersection of housing, homelessness, and child welfare. Prior to joining Casey Family Programs more than 10 years ago, Todd served homeless youth at Covenant House Alaska, first as a case manager and then helping to create youth development opportunities in the broader Anchorage community. His interest in serving vulnerable youth and families began long before Covenant House. Todd first came to interior Alaska in 1992 to climb mountains for what he thought would be one summer, but his stay in Alaska lasted for more than 10 years. As the Director of Education at the Denali Education Center in Denali Park, Alaska, Todd developed educational programs for seniors, college-aged youth and at-risk children; focusing on connecting people through natural history, Alaskan Native culture, the arts, and wilderness. Todd has a Bachelor's of Science degree in Biology from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.


Evelyn Stark

Evelyn Stark

2016 Fellow

Assistant Vice President
Metlife Foundation


Evelyn Stark serves as Assistant Vice President for Financial Inclusion for MetLife Foundation. Her responsibilities include developing and managing MetLife Foundation's strategy for reaching more than 2million low-income people, globally, with access to high-quality financial services. She works with Foundation associates and corporate colleagues globally to achieve our grant-making goals and ensure impact on low-income customers.

Prior to joining MetLife in August 2013, Evelyn was a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation working on the savings and digital/mobile strategies of the Financial Services for the Poor group. From 2003 to 2008, Evelyn worked for USAID's office for MicroEnterprise Development and the World Bank's Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) focusing on the provision of financial services for the most vulnerable populations: post-conflict and disaster, very-poor households, and women and youth. From 1996 to 2003, Evelyn lived in Uganda, working throughout Sub-Saharan Africa implementing programs in financial inclusion, training and mentoring MFI staff and consultants on demand-side research and working with financial institutions to upgrade skills and the ability to serve low-income consumers. From 1989-1996, Evelyn managed US commercial real estate special asset portfolios for bank and non-bank financial institutions.

Evelyn received her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Economics from Bucknell University in 1989.

She serves on the board of D2DFund, a nonprofit organization focused on financial inclusion in the US. She formerly served on the Board of the ALS Association, Evergreen Chapter (Seattle).


Peggy Stewart

Peggy Stewart

2016 Fellow

Assistant Director of Culture, Arts and Nature
Chicago Park District


Peggy Stewart's work has been guided by Informal learning in gardens, museums, and parks - equitable to all- for nearly three decades. Her career has focused on service as evidenced by her years working in the non-profit sector at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Chicago Children's Museum, and now in the government sector at the Chicago Park District.

Currently serving as Assistant Director of Culture, Arts and Nature, Peggy oversees a department instrumental in developing and launching quality arts and nature offerings responsive to the needs of neighborhoods throughout the city. In her current role, she is responsible for providing camping, fishing, and other outdoor activities, forging partnerships with cultural institutions around the city, and providing music and theater performance series in neighborhoods. With a Masters Degree in Education specializing in Instructional Leadership, Peggy possesses a compelling vision of dynamic, meaningful experiences, and programs with appeal to broad audiences. She also played a key role in the development of Chicago Wilderness, an alliance of over 250 public-private-non-profit partners engaged in regional conservation.

With a strong team, Peggy has provided leadership for the "Night Out in the Parks" program, providing a robust series of free cultural engagement opportunity across the city. She believes that bringing people together to camp together, dance together, and learn together may change the perception of our cities and our place in them.


Lori Straus

Lori Straus

2016 Fellow

Program Manager
AARP Foundation


Lori Strauss works at AARP Foundation, AARP's charitable affiliate that helps vulnerable Americans 50+ to win back opportunity. As the program manager for BACK TO WORK 50+, her work focuses on increasing income through re-employment, increasing job skills for incumbent workers and improved access to public benefits like SNAP and health care programs.

Prior to joining the AARP Foundation, Lori worked as an AmeriCorps program officer at the Corporation for National and Community Service, the senior manager for the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs AmeriCorps program, and the director of the Colorado State University Upward Bound Program. She earned her bachelor's degree in sociology at Northland College, and her master's degree at Colorado State University.

Lori lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, son and daughter.


Jer Swigart

Jer Swigart

2016 Fellow

Co-Founding Director
The Global Immersion Project


Jer has worked in the field of peacemaking and conflict transformation since 2005 when he served as the communications liaison between international NGOs, the Pakistani military, and the United Nations in the aftermath of the Northern Pakistani earthquake. Informed by that experience, his twelve-year career as a faith leader in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his engagement within national and international conflicts, he co-founded The Global Immersion Project (TGIP). A peacemaking training organization, TGIP forms, equips, and mobilizes individuals and communities to enter any kind of conflict to heal rather than to win. He specializes in creating dynamic, collaborative spaces of integrative learning that forge unlikely partnerships, awaken the collective imagination, and move people beyond theory and into practice.

Jer is a thought leader who frequently teaches nationally and internationally in the areas of peacemaking and conflict transformation, faith and culture, practice-based formation methods, culture creating, and collaborative leadership.

He completed his undergrad at The University of Northwestern-St. Paul and his masters degree at Fuller Theological Seminary where he focused on leadership in peace and reconciliation and was the recipient of the prestigious David Allen Hubbard Award for character, academic, & professional excellence. He currently resides with his family in Bend, OR where, in addition to his role with TGIP, he teaches theology, justice, and innovative leadership at Kilns College and serves on Bend's Justice Commission. He is a contributing author to a handful of books, and writes for Huffington Post, Sojourners, and at jerswigart.com.


Jeffery T.D. Wallace, Jr.

Jeffery T.D. Wallace, Jr.

2016 Fellow

President
LeadersUp


Jeffery T.D. Wallace is a keen, innovative strategist that excels in organizational development, program design, management and evaluation. Wallace has the astute ability of constructing disruptive social innovations that are impact driven and results oriented. With over a decade of youth, community and economic development experience, Wallace has proven success in fundraising, board management and forging highly effective public-private partnerships.

As the Founding Executive Director and President of LeadersUp, he is charged with being both a visionary and architect – establishing the strategic framework for LeadersUp to fulfill its mission to create employer-led solutions for addressing youth disconnection that yield successful outcomes for both businesses and communities. Prior to spearheading LeadersUp, Wallace served over four years on the leadership team for one of the most influential civil rights organizations in the nation. In his role as Senior Program Officer and later as Chief of Staff at the Los Angeles Urban League, he built a Good to Great high performing organizational culture and led the human capital, programmatic architecture and policy agenda of the League's comprehensive community change initiative in South Los Angeles. His leadership resulted in increased delivery of vital education, public safety, public health and community development services to over 10,000 residents and stakeholders.

Wallace's acumen for designing and monitoring operational efficiencies and strategic planning allowed him to meet the needs of over 5,000 youth and young adult constituents as Senior Program Director of The Children, Youth and Collegiate Department for Berkeley Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. As a dedicated community advocate Jeffery continues to lead effective initiatives that are not only process-driven, but people oriented. In 2009, Wallace became the Western Region Executive Director of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. where he serves a membership base of over 5,000 college educated and professional African American men, spearheads the distribution of over $150,000 in annual scholarships, and empowers over 2,500 young men through effective leadership development programs.

Jeffery Wallace is a native of Richmond, California and proud graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters of Arts degree in Education. He is also an alumnus of the University of California Berkeley where he received his Masters of Science in Organizational Development.


 

2015

 

Renee Baiorunos

Renee Baiorunos

2015 Fellow

Director
Community Wealth Partners


Renee Baiorunos is a Director at Community Wealth Partners, a social sector consulting firm dedicated to working with leaders; organizations; and communities to solve problems at the magnitude they exist. As a Director, she oversees client engagements with a core focus on strategy design, implementation and collective impact. Ms. Baiorunos is currently leading a statewide collective impact initiative in Arizona. The goal of this collective of non-profits, foundations, state agencies and business leaders is to create an aligned, high-quality early childhood system so that all Arizona children have a solid foundation for success in school—and life—by age 8. Working with key stakeholders, she has helped this effort move to action by identifying and implementing sustainable structures and strategies to achieve its goals. Ms. Baiorunos' past engagements include creating a national influence strategy for KaBOOM! and building a sustainability initiative for Robert Wood Johnson's signature health care effort, Aligning Forces for Quality.

Prior to joining Community Wealth Partners in 2010, Ms. Baiorunos consulted with Fortune 500 companies on governance issues prioritized by executive boards and activist shareholders to advance governance practices and strategies. Prior to that, Ms. Baiorunos was with Edelman Public Relations' Corporate Social Responsibility practice where she focused on building public-private partnerships for clients and developing thought leadership for the practice. Ms. Baiorunos has a B.A. from the University of Florida and an MBA from Georgetown University.


Vincent Baxter

Vincent Baxter

2015 Fellow

Deputy Chief of Family Engagement
District of Columbia Public Schools


Vincent Baxter is Deputy Chief of Family Engagement at The District of Columbia Public Schools. He is responsible for equipping DCPS educators and families with the mindsets, skills, and resources needed to establish and sustain partnerships for student academic success. He leads a portfolio of district-wide community development initiatives that include: Scaling high quality opportunities for educator-facing family engagement professional development; Improving family access to student academic information; and Generating and distributing family-facing tools for supporting learning at home. During the fellowship, he will design and launch Partnerships for Action: an innovative initiative to help small teams of families and school staff develop and sustain skills for collaborative school leadership.

Vincent is a former public school teacher and principal. Prior to his current role, Vincent led TNTP's Talent Management work in the DC public charter school sector. He began his career in education as a classroom teacher and Peace Corps Volunteer in Grand Batanga, Cameroon. He holds a Doctorate of Education Policy from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from The University of Virginia. His family lives & learns in Brookland, DC.


Nicole Brown

Nicole Brown

2015 Fellow

Community Relations Manager
M-1 Rail


Nicole Brown is the Community Relations Manager for M-1 RAIL, the non-profit organization leading development of the $140 million Woodward Avenue Streetcar project. In this role, Brown is responsible for managing the projects resident, business and visitor civic engagement efforts. During her tenure, she has developed and managed the execution of a comprehensive public involvement strategy that connects stakeholders from across sectors, geographical boundaries, and social – economic, racial and gender lines to this transformative transportation project. Brown is responsible for the design and implementation of the M-1 RAIL Summer Internship Program, an integrated cross-sector youth workforce development program. Additionally she manages the coordination and delivery of business support services by community partners to small businesses impacted by the M-1 RAIL construction.

Most recently, Brown was the Communications and Partnerships Manager for the educational non-profit organization, Excellent Schools Detroit (ESD). While there, she managed community and stakeholder engagement strategies for several projects and the innovative social media program Ed Matters Here. Prior to joining ESD, Brown a served as the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI) /Living Cities Integration Initiative (LCII) Detroit program, the Woodward Corridor Initiative. During her tenure with the Initiative, she crafted effective community engagement strategies for a number of projects including the Whole Food Site Development Project, Midtown Detroit, Inc. Transit Oriented Design Strategy and The North End Reinvestment Strategy. Additionally, she developed several international award winning communications platforms for the initiative including it's highly regarded website (2011 Marcom Gold, Non-Profit Sector), 2011 Woodward Corridor Initiative Baseline Report (2011 Marcom Gold, Non-Profit Sector) and 2012 Woodward Corridor Initiative Annual Report (2012 Marcom Gold, Non-Profit Sector).

Brown began her career in community engagement with regional economic development non-profit, Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3). While there, she served as the Marketing and Communications Manager. Brown attended Eastern Michigan University where she studied Journalism and Public Relations.

A native Detroiter, Brown is deeply committed to the community and has served on a number of boards and committees including; Boys Hope Girls Hope Detroit, Community Development Advocates of Detroit, Detroit Synergy, Declare Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Michigan Community Resources, Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Regional News Hub and the World Economic Forum's Global Sharpers-Detroit Hub. In 2013, she was honored as one of the Michigan Chronicle's 40 under 40.


Robin Brulé

Robin Brulé

2015 Fellow

Vice President of Community Relations
Nusenda


Robin Brulé is a large-system service designer with a proven track record of mobilizing cross-sector partners to improve outcomes for New Mexicans. Currently, Robin serves as the Vice President of Community Relations and Assistant to the President at Nusenda Credit Union. In addition, Robin serves as an "executive on loan" from Nusenda to Mayor Richard J. Berry, City of Albuquerque, to help accelerate implementation and results in the areas of education, human services, economic and workforce development in her role as Chief Strategist for Albuquerque's Living Cities Integration Initiative.

As Vice President of Community Relations and Assistant to the President at Nusenda Credit Union she works collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders and diverse constituent groups to bolster and improve educational and economic opportunities for New Mexicans. One of her notable accomplishments in this role includes the Action Spotlight on Poverty award for the innovative Powering Success micro-assistance program that bundles short-term financial assistance and wraparound support services for disadvantaged students facing disenrollment from college. Powering Success has also been recognized as a promising practice for student persistence at the post-secondary level. In 2014 the National Association of Federal Credit Unions named her "Professional of the Year".

Robin's prior experience includes serving as strategic advisor to the New Mexico Children's Cabinet. Established in state statute, the New Mexico Children's Cabinet is comprised of 16 State Department Cabinet Secretaries, tasked with aligning, coordinating, and leveraging resources to maximize outcomes for children. In this capacity, her work was featured in the 2010 MIT article Government and Social Innovation as an effective model for leveraging and maximizing Federal and philanthropic funding to increase New Mexico's economic vitality. Prior to this advisor role, Robin also served as Executive Director of the Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) Foundation. Through Robin's leadership, CNM created the nationally recognized Center for Working Families initiative, which later evolved to become CNM Connect. The Center for Working Families initiative provides bundled services to low-income, first-generation college students to address non-academic barriers to educational success. Robin's work garnered the CNM Foundation recognition that includes the 2007 Association of Commerce & Industry's VIVA Award for Vision, Investment, Vitality and Action in the Community and a 2006 Ethics in Business Award.

In 2007, Robin was selected as an Annie E. Casey Foundation Fellow. Robin has been recognized locally and nationally for her work taking innovative ideas to scale and applying new tools and approaches to transform systems that serve vulnerable kids, families and communities. With a focus on measurable, results-driven, lasting improvements and outcomes, Robin has engineered, piloted, and scaled holistic, integrative, bundled service programs. She has testified before Congress on the role of financial capability, EITC, and IDA's to promote youth and adult education, workforce and economic success, as well as alternative strategies and delivery systems to strengthen the uptake and integration of these programs. She has been recognized as a New Mexico Power Broker, a Woman of Influence, and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award. She served on Governor Richardson's Poverty Reduction Task force and worked with NM Senators Bingaman and Domenici to improve legislation on savings mobilization and EITC outreach.


Allison Clements

Allison Clements

2015 Fellow

Senior Attorney and Director
Natural Resources Defense Council


Allison Clements is the Director of the Project for the Sustainable FERC Project housed at Natural Resources Defense Council. The Project represents a coalition of energy policy and environmental non-profit organizations at FERC and at the ISO/RTO level in pursuit of a sustainable and efficient transmission system that can accelerate deployment of renewable energy and demand-side resources. Allison also co-directs the Yale Law School and School of Forestry environmental protection clinic. Prior to joining the FERC Project, Allison spent three years as NRDC's Corporate Counsel while maintaining a policy practice in renewable energy deployment. Before joining NRDC, Allison worked as a project finance attorney at Chadbourne & Parke, LLP in New York, where she represented developers and lenders in the financings of traditional and renewable energy and biofuels facilities. Earlier, as an associate at Troutman Sanders, LLP, she advised utilities, independent power producers and other energy companies regarding Federal Energy Regulatory Commission law. Allison holds a B.S. in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan and a J.D., with honors, from the George Washington University Law School.


Cyndy Comerford

Cyndy Comerford

2015 Fellow

Manager of Planning, Policy & Analysis
San Francisco Department of Public Health, Environmental Health


Cyndy Comerford is the Planning, Policy & Analysis Manager at the San Francisco Department of Public Health in the Environmental Health Branch. She has a passion for public sector innovation and public policy with expertise in a wide range of urban issues gained through experience in government and civic engagement. Her work focuses on creating healthy cities. Cyndy manages planning and policy for the Environmental Health Branch and also directs the Department's Climate and Health Program and co-directs the Health Impact Assessment Program. She is currently working to reduce human trafficking, improve low income housing and prepare cities for the health impacts of climate change. Cyndy has a BA in Political Science and Economics from LaSalle University and a MA from San Francisco State University in Environmental Policy and Resource Management.


Kevin Cottrell

Kevin Cottrell

2015 Fellow

Director of Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives
German Marshall Fund


Kevin Cottrell is GMF's director of Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives, where he leads a team of experts and public diplomacy-oriented activities in 50 communities across the United States, Europe, and North Africa. Activities include the flagship Marshal Memorial Fellowship (MMF); Manfred Wörner Seminar (MWS); Asmus Fellowship; Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative; Marshal Seminars for Alumni; and the Transatlantic Leadership Seminar series. Cottrell also co-leads the Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues (BUILD) to advance the global engagement of cities through civic leadership and strategy.

Cottrell regularly advises and facilitates dialogue on international leadership exchange, leadership development, public diplomacy, diversity and inclusion, global engagement, and civil society-building strategies. Prior to GMF, Cottrell served as vice president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce overseeing business and civic leadership programs. He has also held leadership positions with LEAD San Diego, University of California San Diego, and San Diego State University addressing cross-border urban and civic leadership issues. Cottrell is a past recipient of the Senator Margaret Chase Smith Fellowship in public policy, a visiting scholar at Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City, and a 2008 Marshall Memorial Fellow. Cottrell is also a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.


Jorge Cruz

Jorge Cruz

2015 Fellow

Insurance Broker and Angel Investor
IEM


Jorge Rodrigo Cruz currently holds a diverse set of skills and career paths.

As an insurance broker and angel investor, he strives to share in the growth and responsibility with client base through rigorous due diligence.

Mr. Cruz has long dedicated himself to focusing in investing into his community through, education, commerce and social programs.

Through the ten years he spent in the auto industry, he developed a skill set to see beyond the now. He was the leading franchise owner for the Nissan brand in the state of Chihuahua, MX., as well as the Volvo brand.

His success in the auto industry allowed him to expand his Horizons to the insurance industry in El Paso Texas, where he also ventured into the solar energy industry in EL Paso TX in conjunction with Chihuahua, MX. (Energia y Agua Inc).

He has continued with a steady growth and successful business in the fitness industry in Monterrey Mexico (Viva Fitness)

Mr. Cruz has a vision that he feels can been enhanced in the leadership and entrepreneur sectors. He has been involvement in promoting innovation and business awareness from the local business region through the use of conventions such as: "IEM Interanacional de Empresarios" in the Border region of Texas and Chihuahua. These conventions have started an air of change in his community that he strives to perpetuate.

He attended the University of San Diego where he major in Business and earned a Master's degree in Sports Administration.

He is a proud husband and father of 3 children.

Mr. Cruz enjoys the outdoors and coordinates and sponsor's competitions in the coper mountains. (Primero Deportes and CRATOS).


Marco A. Davis

Marco A. Davis

2015 Fellow

Deputy Director
White House Initiative On Educational Excellence For Hispanics


Marco Davis joined the Initiative in January 2012. The Initiative seeks to increase educational opportunities and improve outcomes for Hispanics, building partnerships with stakeholders and communities nationwide to support its goals. He is also a frequent speaker on the Latino community, youth, leadership development, and public policy.

Prior to the Initiative, Davis was Director of Public Engagement at the Corporation for National and Community Service, leading the President's call to service - United We Serve, which includes the annual Martin Luther King National Day of Service and September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. Previously, he served as Director of Global Fellowship and also Regional Manager for Latin America at Ashoka's Youth Venture.

From 1994 to 2006, Mr. Davis worked at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. There, he was named Director of Leadership Development and created the Líderes Initiative, network for young leaders. He also managed Encuentro 2000 – And Beyond, an annual retreat for national Latina/o opinion leaders. Davis' career began as a leadership development counselor for Prep for Prep, Inc. in New York City, and as a staff member at the Center for Third World Organizing in Oakland, California.

Davis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Latin American Studies from Yale University, and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Originally from Mount Vernon, New York, he lives in the District of Columbia with his wife and daughter.


Bart Ferrell

Bart Ferrell

2015 Fellow

Director of Human Resources
Presidio Trust


Bart Ferrell serves as the Director of Human Resources for the Presidio Trust, an innovative federal agency created to save the Presidio of San Francisco and transform it for a new national purpose. Bart believes passionately in the Presidio Trust as a model of private-public partnerships for public benefit.

In 2013, the Presidio reached a crucial milestone by becoming financially self-sufficient. It is a milestone that, along with the Trust's record of accomplishment in revitalizing and repurposing the Presidio, proves that the multi-sector approach to saving the Presidio succeeded. Most important, it means that the Presidio is protected as a public place that delivers new benefits to the American people.

For over 30 years, Bart has worked in a variety of Human Resources Management arenas including the United States Peace Corps (Morocco/Burkina Faso/Washington, D.C.), U.S. Department of Interior (Bureau of Land Management), United States Treasury (San Francisco Mint), and the General Services Administration. As the Trust's Director of Human Resources, Bart provides strategic leadership in all areas of Human Resources for a 300+ workforce of professional, technical, administrative and skilled trade personnel. He also serves as the Trust's Designated Agency Ethics Official.

Bart is currently a resident of Marin County, California. He earned Bachelor's Degrees in Microbiology and Russian Language from the University of California, Davis.


Christina Garcia

Christina Garcia

2015 Fellow

Senior Program Officer, Youth
The James Irvine Foundation


Christina Garcia was appointed senior program officer for the Youth program in July 2015 where she is working to promote equitable outcomes for young people in California, with an initial focus on advancing the field of Linked Learning and adapting model elements to other sectors like higher education and/or workforce systems. Driven by her passion for social justice, equity, and multicultural models of community development, Christina has dedicated her cross-sector career to providing the critical resources that create opportunities for people who don't have them. Christina currently serves on the Board of Directors of Mercy Housing California and the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative.

Prior to joining Irvine, Christina worked for 3 years at the venture philanthropy fund, REDF, leading its development, communications, evaluation and learning, and field building initiatives. Previously, Christina spent a combined 5 years in San Francisco Mayor's Office and Redevelopment Agency, focusing on creating community-based economic development and workforce opportunities for low-income and at-risk individuals, families, and entrepreneurs. Christina began her work as a grant-maker and change agent at The Corporation for Supportive Housing, where she served in a variety of positions over 8 years training, convening, and investing in social service providers, affordable housing developers, and state and local government to adapt and scale the permanent supportive housing model nationally. In her spare time, she practices and teaches yoga, makes jam, cooks, and laughs… a lot.


Suzanne Graham

Suzanne Graham

2015 Fellow

President
Downtown Akron Partnership


Suzie serves as President and CEO of Downtown Akron Partnership, a non-profit dedicated to building the vibrancy and value of the center city Special Improvement District. She mobilizes positive partnerships and oversees the design and implementation of programs and services to improve the vitality of the neighborhood and anticipate its needs. Her work centers on the revitalization of the urban core and the importance of downtown as a key indicator of the health of the city. She facilitates efforts to enhance and promote downtown as an economic driver, hub for arts and culture, guardian of social equity, community gathering space and keeper of the city's sense of place. She works closely with government, corporate, education, non-profit, human services and small business stakeholders to assist their efforts, improve their experience and build the community. Prior to her work with the Partnership, Suzie served the City of Akron for 18 years in a number of capacities including coordinating Arts and Children's programs for the Office of the Mayor.

Suzie is honored to serve on the Coordinating Committee of the Summit County Arts and Culture Assessment Initiative and on the board of directors for Akron Roundtable, Akron Area Arts Alliance and Akron Civic Theatre. She is a graduate of Leadership Akron Class XXIX, recipient of the 2011 Human Values Award, 2012 GAR Glass Half Full Award, and recognized as a 2015 Inside Business Emerging Leader. She lives on the city's east side with her two children, Maddox and Zoe.


Susan Greenwell

Susan Greenwell

2015 Fellow

Senior Vice President, International Government Relations
Metlife


Susan Greenwell is senior vice president and head of international government relations at MetLife, a position she's held since November 2007. In her role, she serves as an advisor to the company's global business leaders and supports MetLife's position in all relevant political, regulatory and legislative arenas in nearly fifty countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Greenwell is also responsible for overseeing MetLife's relationships with international trade and industry associations.

Previously at MetLife, Greenwell served as vice president in the Office of the Chairman, President and CEO. She joined the company as chief of staff to the President of International in 2004.

Prior to joining MetLife, Greenwell held positions as program officer at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University, project coordinator at the American Forum for Global Education, and English instructor Xi'an Jiaotong University in China.

Greenwell serves on the Board of Directors of the Business Council for International Understanding, the Korea Society and the US-ASEAN Business Council, and is a member of the International Committee of the American Council of Life Insurers. She holds a masters degree in international affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and a bachelors degree in Asian studies from Furman University.


Jane Hodgdon

Jane Hodgdon

2015 Fellow

Education Program Specialist
U.S. Department of Education


Jane Hodgdon is an Education Program Specialist with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement, where she leads ED's "place-based" approach to community revitalization - an approach that recognizes what communities have long known: challenges of underperforming schools, rundown housing, neighborhood violence, and poor health are interconnected and require comprehensive solutions. Her portfolio includes the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative's Building Neighborhood Capacity Program and Program Integration Workgroup (which connects ED's Promise Neighborhoods, HUD's Choice Neighborhoods, DOJ's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation, and HHS' Community Health Centers); Promise Zones; the White House Council on Strong Cities Strong Communities; the Ladders of Opportunity Initiative; partnerships with My Brother's Keeper and Performance Partnership Pilots; and operationalizing ED's new place-based team. Common across all of these efforts is the need for strong partnerships within and between levels of government and service; Jane is recognized for her experience in building strong, results-focused collaborations among diverse partners.

Jane earned her Bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After four years of teaching in Denver and Colorado Springs, Jane returned to the East Coast as a graduate student in the University of Maryland's Masters of Applied Anthropology program. She brings her skills as a teacher and anthropologist to her work with students, families, schools, communities, and various levels of government.


Danielle Holly

Danielle Holly

2015 Fellow

CEO
Common Impact


Danielle Holly is dedicated to supporting pathways for individuals to meaningfully contribute to the challenges that face their local communities. She envisions a global workforce of employees that are able to bring their values and personal mission to their day jobs, integrate healthy and sustainable personal lives and, as a result, have the drive and energy to engage in the challenges that impact their community.

Danielle is currently the CEO of Common Impact, a national organization that strengthens communities by facilitating meaningful collaborations between global companies and locally focused nonprofits. In her role at Common Impact, Danielle has helped numerous corporations and nonprofits navigate their Corporate Social Responsibility, employee engagement and skills-based volunteer efforts, including global powerhouses such as Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock and State Street.

Danielle is considered one of the country's leading experts on skills-based volunteerism and is a frequent speaker and writer on the topics of strategic corporate employee engagement, corporate social responsibility and building more purposeful workplaces.

Danielle has earned her B.A. at Fordham University in New York City and an MBA from Boston University.


Jamie Horst

Jamie Horst

2015 Fellow

Director of Community Engagement
McKesson Corporation


As Director of Community Engagement and Corporate Citizenship at McKesson Corporation, a healthcare company based in San Francisco, Jamie is responsible for leading the company's employee community engagement programs, including oversight of Regional Volunteer and Environmental Councils, technology to support the McKesson Volunteer Grants and Matching Gifts portal, and the production of the company's annual GRI G4 corporate social responsibility report.

Previously, Jamie was Senior Director of Employee Engagement at Visa Inc., where she was responsible for 47% growth in volunteer participation and the formation of financial literacy training programs around the world. In addition, Jamie led internal communications for financial inclusion, philanthropy, engagement and diversity and inclusion. While serving as Director of Community Engagement with Alcoa Foundation in New York, Jamie worked across sectors to build meaningful programs, deepen partnerships and improve communities in 24 countries where Alcoa operated. In her prior ten years with Alcoa Inc., Jamie held roles of increasing responsibility in finance, strategy and supply chain operations.

Jamie is passionate about connecting individual passions with opportunities to meaningfully connect with community organizations, ideally where strategic alignment exists. A firm believer in the potential of business to catalyze social change, Jamie is committed to instilling a commitment to corporate responsibility at all organizational levels.

Jamie holds an MBA from the University of British Columbia and a BS in Business Administration from Duquesne University, where she majored in finance and information technology. In her spare time, Jamie enjoys reading nonfiction, traveling, hiking with her dogs and gardening.


Jeanose Lexima

Jeanose Lexima

2015 Fellow

Founder/CEO
Women on Change


Jeanose Lexima is the Founder of Women On Change (WOC), a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that is currently seeking 501(c)(3) status. As the CEO, Ms. Lexima develops and leads initiatives that promote educational, social and professional development of young girls, ages 8-17, living in poverty as a means for empowering them to overcome generational poverty. In this role, she builds and drives cross-sector alliances with various stakeholders and arenas to assist her execute WOC's mission in a manner that reaps tangible and measurable results.

Ms. Lexima is currently launching WOC's first program in the nation's capital—an area where poverty is often overlooked due to recent gentrification and lack of representation in Congress.

Ms. Lexima consulted for multiple federal agencies and private sector enterprises, including information technology, supply chain and healthcare. During this time, she honed her ability to provide strategic yet pragmatic solutions while nurturing her strength to cultivate cross-sector partnering. She drove efficiencies and improved outcomes for over 200 projects in the IT and healthcare sectors—IT projects ranging from $20 million to $1.5 billion for national security, education, energy, transportation and healthcare agencies.

She earned her MPH in Informatics from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and a B.S. in Information Systems from American University in Washington, DC.

As an advocate for public service, Ms. Lexima uses her platform to inspire young females to serve as change agents in their lives, their families and their communities to break the generational cycle of poverty.

Ms. Lexima is one of 15 children and lives in Washington, DC.


Tiffany Manuel

Tiffany Manuel

2015 Fellow

Vice President of Knowledge, Impact andStrategy
Enterprise Community Partners Incorporated


Tiffany Manuel is Vice President of Knowledge, Impact and Strategy at Enterprise Community Partners Incorporated, one of the nation's largest housing and community development intermediaries.

At Enterprise, Tiffany leads a team that advances Enterprise's work to end housing insecurity through research, data analytics, knowledge management, impact assessment and performance measurement. Her work ensures that Enterprise's data and intellectual capital are effectively managed, well-utilized and leveraged to support organizational priorities.

To this role, Tiffany brings more than 20 years of experience leading projects of increasing scope and complexity that effectively build the capacity of organizations to use evidence, data and research to inform strategy and decision-making. Just prior to joining Enterprise in 2012, Tiffany served as the Director of Impact and Evaluation at the FrameWorks Institute, a nonprofit evidenced-based communications firm working to reframe public debate around the nation's toughest social issues. She has also served as a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, senior researcher at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and as Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Tiffany holds doctorate and master's degrees in public policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston, a master's degree in political science from Purdue University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago. She is a highly sought after speaker and is the author of several articles, book chapters and reports.


Zach Maurin

Zach Maurin

2015 Fellow

Executive Director
Servicenation


Zach Maurin is the Executive Director of ServiceNation, a role he assumed in July of 2013. ServiceNation's vision is the day when a year of national service is part of growing up in America as a way to tackle pressing social challenges, unite diverse Americans in common cause, and inspire the next generation of civic leaders and active citizens.

Prior to ServiceNation, he co-founded ServeNext in 2007 as a senior in college to build a grassroots movement to make national service a national priority. He led the organization until its merger with ServiceNation in 2012.

Under Zach's leadership, ServeNext launched the first team of field organizers in the history of national service, secured historic commitments to expand national service from nine presidential candidates in 2008, which led to the development and passage of the Serve America Act – the biggest service legislation in three generations.

Today, ServiceNation is a grassroots movement of over 140,000 members and a coalition of 530 organizations, with field operations in six states, and is building a major cultural campaign to make a service year a mainstream experience.

Zach has received City Year's Comcast Leadership Award, was a finalist for an Echoing Green Fellowship, named one of the 40 Under 40 in 2010 by New Leaders Council, and co-founded a failed media startup. He has been interviewed by CNN, BuzzFeed, MSNBC, TIME, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. He graduated from George Washington University with a degree in English. Proudly from Pittsburgh, he's an irrationally big Penguins fan, loves rescue dogs, puns, and crazy ideas, and would do anything to meet Larry David. Follow him on Twitter @zmaurin.


Tulaine Montgomery

Tulaine Montgomery

2015 Fellow

Partner
New Profit


Tulaine Montgomery is an accomplished social entrepreneur, educator, community organizer and writer. She is Lead Partner of the Pathways Fund at New Profit, which provides strategic and financial support to scale six of our nation's most promising social innovations focused on college and career success for youth. Prior to her role at New Profit, Tulaine was Founder and President of New Resource Strategies (NRS), a consulting firm that enables mission-driven organizations to address major operational, fiscal, and strategic challenges. She previously held leadership positions at United Way Massachusetts Bay & Merrimac Valley, Citizen Schools and YouthBuild USA. Tulaine received a master's degree in Public Policy from Tufts University and earned her B.A. from Smith College in Northampton, MA. She is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, a Community Enrichment Fellow at Northeastern University, and a Neighborhood Fellow at Tufts University. Tulaine is an accomplished cellist and writer; she has written and produced four original plays.


Marisol Morales

Marisol Morales

2015 Fellow

Director of Civic and Community Engagement
University of La Verne


Marisol Morales is the Director of Civic and Community Engagement at the University of La Verne, a four-year comprehensive Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) located in Southern California. In this role, she founded the Office of Civic and Community Engagement and is responsible for leading and developing university-community engagement initiatives in the area of academic service learning, community engaged scholarship, and co-curricular community engagement. In addition, Ms. Morales manages university-community partnerships and the Federal Work Study-Community Service program.

Most recently, she led the efforts for the University of La Verne to receive two important national distinctions: the Carnegie Foundation's Community Engagement Classification and the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, where the University of La Verne was a 2014 Finalist in the Interfaith Community Service category.

Prior to joining the University of La Verne, Ms. Morales was the Associate Director of the Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning and Community Service Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Her civic work in Chicago included serving on numerous non-profit boards including Josephinum Academy, all-girls Catholic High School, the Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation, and the Puerto Rican Agenda. In addition Ms. Morales was appointed by former Governor Pat Quinn to serve on the Commission on the Elimination of Poverty and the Illinois Latino Family Commission, where she chaired the Education sub-committee.

Ms. Morales earned her MA/MS in International Public Service Management from DePaul University as well as her BA in Latin American/Latino Studies. She is an alumnus of the National Hispana Leadership Institute's 2008 Executive Leadership Program and a current fellow of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership's Regional Leadership Academy.


Jenefer O'Dell

Jenefer O'Dell

2015 Fellow

Program Officer
W.K. Kellogg Foundation


Jenefer O'Dell is a program officer for Education & Learning at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan.

In this role, she works with the Education & Learning Family Economic Security team to develop program strategy with a particular focus on family engagement, including affecting systemic change and integrating the foundation's priority areas. She manages and monitors a portfolio of active grants, providing technical assistance to grantees on model development, partnership negotiations, leadership capacity building and coaching.

Prior to joining the foundation, she was program manager for the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. In this role she focused on public policy, development and implementation of programming, and nonprofit capacity building.

Jenefer holds a bachelor's degree in women's studies from Michigan State University and is pursuing a master's in public administration from Western Michigan University.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.


Charmaine Peart Hosang

Charmaine Peart Hosang

2015 Fellow

Director, Student Support Services, National Program
Year Up Inc.


Charmaine Peart HoSang is the Director of Student Support Services at Year Up Inc. In her National Program role she is responsible for infrastructure building and national/local partnership development for Student Support Services (on campus/community based) within the Professional Training Corps channel. She is a member of the Start Up team for Year Up's New York site and over the years has created, enhanced, provided guidance and implemented many of the program processes/strategies and structures (Outreach, Admissions, Student Services, Program delivery and Evaluation).

Charmaine has over 20 years of experience working in various forms of management, social work (administration and clinical) and workforce development work both in Canada and United States. Before Year Up, she previously worked as the Director of the NYC Youthline which specializes in providing information/referral/crisis intervention for youth, parents and service providers throughout the City of New York. Charmaine hails from Toronto, Canada, where she earned her BS in Psychology from York University and earned her MSW in Administration and Case Work from the Hunter College School of Social Work based in New York City. She is an MSW Field Instructor to MSW interns from several universities (NYU, Columbia, York College and Fordham). Charmaine earned a Certificate in Not-For-Profit Management at Columbia Business School for Executive Education in 2011. She has several awards for her Community Work from Mayor Bloomberg, Brooklyn District Attorney‘s Office and the Brooklyn Borough President's Office.


Jacqueline Smith

Jacqueline Smith

2015 Fellow

Executive Director of University Initiatives
Arizona State University


Jacqueline helps to shape and realize Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael Crow's New American University vision to transform higher education through institutional innovation. She designs and launches initiatives that support institutional priorities such as social embeddedness and social entrepreneurship. Since her arrival to ASU in 2009, Jacqueline has led efforts to embed changemaking into the student identity. Recent projects to support this objective include The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program at ASU, a leadership-scholarship program for talented, yet underprivileged young people from Sub-Saharan Africa and Changemaker Central, a co-working and collaboration space with locations on four of ASU's campuses that makes direct service, service learning, entrepreneurship, and high-impact careers more accessible and inviting to students. She also cultivates early-career higher education professionals through a one-year university innovation fellowship. Jacqueline earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics and law degree from Georgetown University.


 

2014

 

Noel Anderson

Noel Anderson

2014 Fellow

National Senior Director of Programs
Year Up


Noel S. Anderson is National Senior Director of Program at Year Up, a national workforce and education organization. His primary responsibilities are directing program innovations and overseeing quality control across the organization's network of sites in 12 cities around the country.

For over 20 years, Noel has worked with large public school districts, charter school networks, for- and non-profit organizations. Noel designed a multi-million dollar "Project Ready" college access program for the National Urban League, which is currently running in over 30 urban league affiliates across 18 states. Noel was also awarded the prestigious Whitney M. Young, Jr. Education Leadership Award by the National Urban League for his work.

Noel developed the signature "Teens Take the City" program for the YMCA of Greater New York, which currently trains over 800 students yearly throughout the 5 boroughs to work with the New York City Council to develop policy that will impact neighborhoods.

Noel was a tenured professor at Brooklyn College. He has authored, co-authored and edited numerous scholarly articles and books. His most recent books are: Our Schools Suck: Students Talk Back to a Segregated Nation on the Failures of Public Education (2009) and Education as Freedom: African American Educational Thought and Activism (2009)

He taught at Bogazici (Bosphorus) University in Istanbul, Turkey, conducting research on the nature of disconnection among youth in Istanbul.

Noel received his B.A. cum laude from Brooklyn College, M.S.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. from New York University.


Maritza Arroyo

Maritza Arroyo

2014 Fellow

Executive Director
Zone 126


Maritza Arroyo is the Executive Director of Zone 126, a nonprofit organization leading a Cradle to Career project in Astoria/Long Island City, Queens, New York. Zone 126 is using a Collective Impact framework to drive community transformation. She brings more than 20 years of experience in leading multi-million dollar operations in diverse sectors, both for profit and nonprofit, including retail, residential interior design, and education services. The past ten years have been dedicated to education reform, where Ms. Arroyo has found her calling.

At Zone 126, during the last ten months, Ms. Arroyo has leveraged her experience and proven track record in leading organizational restructuring to define Zone 126's role as a backbone organization, create the strategic roadmap to scaling its cradle to career pipeline of intervention programs and services, and implement an evidence-based results framework which outlines how each intervention works together to yield large social change, through cross sector coordination.

Most recently, as Executive Director, she led the growth of the tri-state region at BELL, Building Educated Leaders for Life, where she scaled the organization's operations from $3M to $10M in two years. She oversaw 50 staff members and increased the number of students served to 10,000 over 4,000 the previous year.

A graduate of Hofstra University, Ms. Arroyo attended the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business where she completed a Certificate in Executive Management Leadership. In 2011, she was an American Express emerging nonprofit leader at the Social Impact Exchange.


Allison Barmann

Allison Barmann

2014 Fellow

Vice President of Strategy & Learning
Bush Foundation


Allison Barmann is the Vice President of Strategy & Learning at the Bush Foundation in St. Paul, MN. In this role, she leads the Foundation's program strategies in education, native nation building and community innovation, as well as the evaluation and grants administration functions.

Prior to joining the Bush Foundation, Ms. Barman was a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company and directed the Itasca Project, an alliance of CEO's and civic leaders working to address economic competiveness and quality of life issues in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. The Itasca Project focuses on issues related to education, transportation, and economic development. She was also a Fellow in McKinsey's Global Social Sector.

Previously, she was an Account Manager at Telephia, a technology start-up in San Francisco, CA and also served as a Plant Engineer at the 3M Company. Ms. Barmann earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she graduated with distinction. She earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was an All-American gymnast.

Her current community involvement includes serving as Board Chair at Hiawatha Academies (a "beating the odds" charter school), as well as a board member at Genesys Works – Twin Cities, Generation Next and the Itasca Project working team. She was named a "40 Under 40" leader by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal in 2013 and was a 2010 Humphrey Institute Policy Fellow. Allison lives in Edina, MN with her husband and three children.


Jarrett Barrios

Jarrett Barrios

2014 Fellow

Chief Executive Officer
American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles


Jarrett Barrios is the CEO of the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles. The work he leads in disaster preparedness, response and recovery, services to active duty military and veterans, international aid and youth and community engagement efforts, builds on his prior role as the CEO of the Massachusetts Red Cross. In 2014, Jarrett was awarded the American Red Cross Presidential Award for Excellence for his accomplishments in Massachusetts, which included septupling the region's volunteer workforce, consolidating two regional offices, and overseeing response efforts to Blizzard Nemo and the Boston Marathon Bombing.

A graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown Law, Jarrett practiced law at Hill & Barlow before beginning his public service in 1999. He served four years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and five years as a State Senator serving as Chair of the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee and Vice Chair of the Health Care Committee. During this period, he founded the Massachusetts statewide Latino political group, Oiste, and the Commonwealth Legislative Seminar to promote the engagement of racial and ethnic minorities in politics.

Upon leaving the legislature, Jarrett served as the president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Boston and of GLAAD in New York and Los Angeles. He is currently an Eisenhower Fellow, a Prime Mover Fellow and serves on several boards including the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the Massachusetts Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Jarrent speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and for twenty years, has engaged in humanitarian efforts in Cuba.


Keith Bergthold

Keith Bergthold

2014 Fellow

Executive Director
Fresno Metro Ministry/RCI


Keith Bergthold is the new Executive Director at Fresno Metro Ministry as of February 4, 2014. Keith spent the past seven years as the City of Fresno's Assistant Director of Planning, leading the team developing the Fresno General Plan Update. Concurrent with his City and Metro employment, Keith serves as the volunteer CEO of the Relational Culture Institute (RCI), a San Joaquin Valley nonprofit involved in its 11th year of a workforce development partnership with the Fresno, Madera, Tulare, Kings Central Labor Council, and affordable housing and rural economic development. RCI has also engaged in congregation-based community organizing with PICO and helped launch Faith In Community, a network of congregations advocating for justice and equity in Fresno County.

Fresno Metro Ministry is a 43 year old nonprofit agency dedicated to achieving health people and healthy places, and is focusing its current energy and resources on community building, leadership development, advocacy, and networking to foster effective cross-sector leadership for healthy neighborhoods and vibrant local economies across the San Joaquin Valley. Keith has completed graduate course studies in Urban and Regional Planning and holds a Master's Degree in Organizational Behavior.


Kirsten Breckinridge

Kirsten Breckinridge

2014 Fellow

Program Officer, Social Innovation Fund
Corporation for National and Community Service


Kirsten Breckinridge is a program officer for the Social Innovation Fund, a key White House initiative and a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She joined the SIF during its inaugural year in 2010, and has since managed a growing portfolio of grantees and assisted with key programming activities. Kirsten spearheaded two annual grantee competitions which awarded over $88 million in federal funds and also oversees the SIF Knowledge Initiative which aims to capture and share the results and lessons learned from the invested programs. Prior to joining the SIF, Kirsten was the Program Coordinator for Higher Education at Learn and Serve America, a CNCS grant program supporting service-learning. Kirsten also served as the Assistant Director of Tulane University's Center for Public Service. In this role, she was an integral part of the leadership team that created the Center for Public Service and developed university programming in response to Hurricane Katrina.

She began her professional career as a management consultant for a boutique healthcare consulting firm. She earned her M.Ed. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a BA from Duke University. Kirsten and her husband, Alex, live on Capitol Hill and are the proud parents of two: Caroline and Alexander.


Ruth Browne

Ruth Browne

2014 Fellow

Chief Executive Officer
Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health


Ruth C. Browne is a nationally recognized visionary, steward for social innovation, and innovator in the field of urban health and education. Ruth is Chief Executive Officer of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health (AAIUH), a best practice harbinger of interventions that improve health and education for multi-ethnic populations locally and nationally. She believes passionately in the potential for community stakeholders to solve seemingly intractable human service challenges.

Ruth has served as AAIUH's spokesperson, public persona, and the chief architect of the Institute's partnership with SUNY Downstate Medical Center since its inception. She is the Director of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center, an NIH funded Center of Excellence and a research-based partnership between the Institute, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the Brooklyn Borough President's Office.

Ruth received the 2013 Lewis and Jack Rudin New York Prize for Medicine and Health and the 2014 JW Differenter Innovator of Change Award. She is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards; under the second she developed and implemented an internship program focused on social determinants of health at the University of the West Indies. She serves on the Board of the Center for Healthcare Strategies and is active member of the New York State Minority Health Council.

Ruth is a resident of Brooklyn, New York. She earned a Bachelor's Degree from Princeton University, a Master of Public Health and Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Science from Harvard University School of Public Health.


Claire Burns

Claire Burns

2014 Fellow

Senior Vice President
Metlife


Claire Burns is Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer for MetLife. In this role, Claire is responsible for MetLife's customer centric strategy, leading the company's shift from a product to a customer orientation and dramatically improving the company's customer experience.

Prior to joining MetLife, Claire was Chief Strategy Officer for Alico, a $37 billion subsidiary of AIG operating in 55 countries. In that role, Claire oversaw Alico's global strategy, M&A, divestiture, strategic intelligence, investor relations and corporate communications functions. She played a lead role in the divestiture of Alico from AIG, helping the company evaluate and execute strategic options resulting in the eventual sale of Alico to MetLife.

Previously, Claire served as Vice President, Strategic Operations for AIG Worldwide Life Insurance where she led strategic growth and transformation initiatives across AIG's global platform. Claire has worked in the insurance industry throughout her career, holding strategy and consulting roles at Prudential, Lincoln Financial Group and Aetna. She also held positions in communications and publicity for Columbia Motion Pictures and U.S. Senator John McCain.

Throughout her career, Claire has helped companies innovate their operations, devise growth strategies, and transform their organizations and cultures as part of company merger and integration efforts.

Claire received her Master's in Business Administration from Yale University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in government and international relations from Wesleyan University.


Devin Holmes

Devin Holmes

2014 Fellow

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Warrior Gateway


As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warrior Gateway, Devin is dedicated to connecting veterans and military families with their local community as they transition to civilian life. His focus on building innovative technology solutions and strengthening public-private partnerships to ensure veterans and their families have easy access to the resources within the community earned him a 2011 Federal – 100 award and a 2012 ComputerWorld Honors Laureate award.

Devin has over 19 years of technology experience in a variety of roles at start-ups and large corporations building innovative business-driven technology-savvy organizations. He has led software development and professional services teams globally as well as held executive management team positions at Startupers.com, YUDU Media, The New York Times Company and OneSoft Corporation. Prior to Warrior Gateway, Devin was engaged as a consultant at Cisco Systems to help IT and Marketing executives in a $1 Billion initiative. Leveraging both his fast-paced startup experience and a mature organizational focus, Devin understands how to bridge the gap between technology and business while delivering measureable top line and bottom line results.

Devin holds MBA's from both London and Columbia Business Schools and a BS in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has a dual Italian (EU) and US citizenship and is fluent in English and Italian.

An avid Ironman triathlete, when not training Devin spends his free time skiing on the slopes around Lake Tahoe in the winter and kite-boarding around the San Francisco Bay in the summer.


Daniel Homsey

Daniel Homsey

2014 Fellow

Director of Neighborhood Resilience
City andCounty of San Francisco


Daniel Homsey is the Director of Neighborhood Resilience for the City Administrator's Office of the City and County of San Francisco.

A fourth generation San Franciscan who has a degree in Political Science from San Francisco State University, Mr. Homsey has spent the last 25 years as a communications professional in both the private and public sector. After a long stint in the technology field, Mr. Homsey was appointed Director of The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services in 2004. In January 2008 he became the Director of Neighborhood Resilience in the City Administrator's office.

Mr. Homsey is the project manager for the Neighborhood Empowerment Network initiative which is a coalition of residents, community supported organizations, non-profits, academic institutions, and government agencies with the mission to empower residents with the capacity and resources to build, and steward, strong sustainable communities.


Laura Kohn

Laura Kohn

2014 Fellow

Executive Director
Education Synergy Alliance


Laura is a 20-year leader in the field of education, with a range of experience in policy, government, advocacy, research, program design, nonprofit management and philanthropy. Laura directs the Education Synergy Alliance, a new nonprofit organization that aims to increase the equity and excellence of public education in San Diego County. Over the past two years, as Laura worked with local leaders on the inquiry that led to the establishment of the Education Synergy Alliance, she also consulted with states and cities around the country to help them build new, more effective teacher evaluation systems.

Until 2011 when she moved to San Diego, Laura was executive director of the New School Foundation in Seattle, which used its successful partnerships with schools in low-income neighborhoods as a platform to foment education reform locally and in Washington State. Laura and the foundation played a key role in promoting PreK-3rd in the state, to create an education continuum between early learning and early elementary grades so that students develop a solid reading and math foundation.

Laura's prior roles include director of education for the city of Seattle, Washington State advocacy consultant for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and education policy advisor to Washington's governor. She has served on the boards of directors of many education organizations, including her current role on the board of San Diego United Parents for Education.

Laura has two children in public schools, and her family enjoys cooking, boogie boarding and hiking together.


Paul Kruchoski

Paul Kruchoski

2014 Fellow

Special Assistant for Policy
U.S. Department of State


Paul Kruchoski currently serves as Special Assistant for Policy in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, where he is responsible for coordinating the Department's use of innovative educational technologies and the Department's academic exchange programs in Middle East and North Africa.

He manages the Department's MOOC Camp initiative, which offers a blended online and in-person experience for students taking MOOCs at over 45 U.S. embassies around the world. He also leads the Department's efforts on the Open Book Project, a partnership to increase the availability of Arabic-language Open Educational Resources.

He previously coordinated the Department's policy on UN education and youth issues, serving as a major contributor to the State Department's Youth Policy, which reshaped how the State Department engages youth around the world. In his career at the State Department, he has covered issues ranging from U.S. re-engagement with the UN Human Rights Council to the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti. Paul is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. Outside of his work, Paul is an accomplished cellist, having performed at the Kennedy Center and as a soloist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He is the curator of the Global Shapers Hub in Washington, DC.


Stephen Lowe

Stephen Lowe

2014 Fellow

Director, Business Service Innovation and Planning
U.S. Department of Agriculture


Stephen Costello Lowe is the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Chief Innovation Officer, and Director, Enterprise Solution Innovation and Planning Division (ESIP). The Division champions USDA governance innovation in policy, planning, and practice implementation, and provides Department executive liaison for Administration initiatives, start-ups, and public-private ventures across the government, academia, industry, non-profit, and citizen sectors. ESIP is a matrix style organization composed of USDA personnel from multiple disciplines and mission areas. They bring strategic and design thinking expertise, professional curiosity, and open minds to customer public solution definition and design, with an ability to step outside conventional problem frameworks and thinking patterns to discover creative ideas and approaches for public products and services. ESIP competencies include rapidly application development of evolutionary pilots and prototypes, business and spatial analytics, and innovation leadership and coaching for executives, teams, and business partners. Mr. Lowe has 26 years of federal government business and technology change management experience with the Department of the Navy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Library of Congress. He also completed two details supporting the Whitehouse Executive Office of the President, the Office of Management and Budget, and served as Senior Solutions Architect for Enterprise Innovation and Strategy with SRA International.

Mr. Lowe holds a doctorate from the University of Glasgow, Scotland UK, in strategic management, and graduate degrees in the Management of Information Technology from University of Virginia, and in Public Administration from Virginia Tech, as well as the bachelor of Political Science from James Madison University.


Jewlya Lynn

Jewlya Lynn

2014 Fellow

Chief Executive Officers
Park Policy Institute


Dr. Jewlya Lynn is the CEO and founder of Spark Policy Institute, a small business that works throughout the U.S. to help communities and policymakers to find and implement innovative solutions to complex problems. Her work at Spark focuses on bringing many different stakeholders together to collaboratively address some of society's most pressing and difficult-to-solve issues, from healthcare system reforms to environmental challenges to engaging stakeholders in the development of cyber infrastructure for the 21st century. Dr. Lynn brings a combination of facilitation, policy research and evaluation expertise to her work and engages with stakeholders in all sectors (government, private, charitable/non-profit, and academic sectors).

Dr. Lynn developed Spark's unique Strategic Learning model, a process that allows for understanding and responding to ongoing lessons learned through systematic data collection and immediate feedback loops. Her evaluation work is focused on complex settings where learning is critical to success, including advocacy, collective impact, systems building, social movements and community mobilizing. In addition to evaluation and facilitation, Dr. Lynn provides coaching services to foundations and non-profits throughout the country as they develop and implement evaluation and strategic learning to help them do good, even better.

Dr. Lynn has a Ph.D. in public affairs from the University of Colorado, Denver. Prior to founding Spark, she managed the project designed to transform social services, juvenile justice and education systems in response to the Columbine school shooting and before that worked for the Colorado State Legislature.


Chris Marvin

Chris Marvin

2014 Fellow

Managing Director
Got Your 6


Chris Marvin is the Managing Director of Got Your 6, a collective impact campaign to bridge the civilian-military divide and ensure that veterans are seen as leaders and civic assets. The campaign unites the entertainment industry with top nonprofit organizations and the federal government to change the conversation in America around veterans and military families. His work at Got Your 6 has been recognized with awards from the National Conference on Citizenship, Points of Light, and Goodwill Industries. Working to empower veterans and convert their leadership and operational training into positive civilian roles, Chris also serves as a commissioner for the Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Political Reform, is a Truman National Security Fellow, and represents Got Your 6 at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Chris served for more than seven years as a US Army officer and Blackhawk helicopter pilot. His military awards include the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. After being severely wounded in combat in Afghanistan, Chris volunteered and worked as an advocate for other wounded veterans, most prominently as the Director of the Fellowship Program for The Mission Continues. Chris is conversationally proficient in Hawaiian and has volunteered as an instructor for a Hawaiian language immersion program. Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He currently resides with his wife and daughters in Philadelphia.


Kunal Merchant

Kunal Merchant

2014 Fellow

Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
Sacramento Kings


Kunal Merchant is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. In this capacity, Merchant oversees a portfolio of top strategic, political and community initiatives for the Kings, with a special focus on advancing progress on the new downtown entertainment and sports center scheduled to open in the fall of 2016. In his previous role as Executive Director of Think BIG Sacramento, Merchant served as Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's chief advisor in efforts to develop a $447M public-private finance plan for a new downtown arena, win NBA approval to keep the Kings in Sacramento, and facilitate sale of the franchise to the new ownership group led by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vivek Ranadivé.

From 2008 to 2012, Kunal served as Chief of Staff to Mayor Johnson, where he oversaw the full range of the mayor's strategic, management, operational, media and external relations activities. During this time, Merchant played a central role in mobilizing political, corporate and community support for the Kings and new arena. Merchant also served as the mayor's primary liaison on all economic development, fiscal, governance, and policy initiatives. Prior to his time in Sacramento, Merchant worked in management consulting, education, health care and economic development. Merchant graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in Economics, and earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.


Jim Murray

Jim Murray

2014 Fellow

Director, John Gardner Post Graduate Public Service Program
Stanford University, Haas Center For Public Service


Jim Murray is the Director for the John Gardner Postgraduate Public Service Program for Stanford University's Haas Center for Public Service, which inspires Stanford University to realize a just and sustainable world through service, scholarship, and community partnerships.

Jim connects graduating Stanford students and alumni with diverse opportunities for social impact; focusing on matching talent with the needs of nonprofit organizations, government agencies and philanthropic foundations. The postgraduate program provides innovative coaching, training and connections. Jim oversees the Stanford Public Interest Network and is an advisor to Stanford in Government.

Jim's cross sector professional experience includes the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs and the Capital Fellows Program. He has spearheaded initiatives for organizations ranging from the Supreme Court of California to Habitat for Humanity Advocacy Council. Jim is a member and Paul Harris Fellow with the Rotary Club of San Francisco.

Jim's passion is empowering emerging cross sector leaders by providing pathways for challenging and fulfilling careers. Throughout his educational and professional path, service has played a prominent role in his own personal development. He is motivated by the opportunity to provide guidance and support for others to address the needs of our local, national and global communities.

Jim completed a BS in Environmental Geosciences from Boston College, served for one year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and then earned his JD from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he served as the President of the Public Interest Law Forum.

Jim lives in San Francisco, California with his wife, Anna Marie, and their two sons (ages 6 and 4).


Matthew Murray

Matthew Murray

2014 Fellow

Senior Director of Innovation, Global Nutrition Group
Pepsico


During his career, Matt Murray has worked across a variety of marketing, sales and general management roles in both the US and abroad. He has spent the last 10 years with PepsiCo, and currently serves as their Senior Director of Juice Innovation for the Global Nutrition Group. Since joining GNG in 2011, Matt has successfully implemented multiple "global firsts" including a breakthrough agriculture initiative in India that will significantly improve the welfare of low income farmers while delivering strong productivity and innovation for PepsiCo.

Prior to this role, Matt spent 3 years in China as the Senior Director of National Sales and Shopper Marketing for PepsiCo Beverages based in Shanghai. In this role, Matt oversaw all global and local customers while setting all-time market share highs for the business. Before moving to China, Matt was a Field Sales Director in the Midwest US where he received the "Leaders Among Us" award for Inspiring and Motivating people.

Matt began his PepsiCo career in Marketing, holding multiple brand management roles across Mountain Dew, Aquafina and Brand Pepsi. He was awarded a "Star Award" for leading a groundbreaking packaging initiative, and also helped to launch Aquafina's successful enhanced water business.

Prior to PepsiCo, Matt was as a strategy consultant and was also part of a general management program for an international supply company.

Matt received his BA in History from Amherst College and his MBA from The Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University. He resides in Chicago with his wife Christy and their children Sophia and Xavier.


Katie Nedl

Katie Nedl

2014 Fellow

Director, Human Resources
Blackrock


Katie Nedl is the Head of Global Benefits for BlackRock, Inc. Katie is responsible for the strategy, execution, communication and governance of the financial and health benefits offered to employees, as well as the management of the deferred compensation plans. She has taken a new and innovative approach in designing and packaging together BlackRock's financial and personal wellness benefit programs to facilitate a truly holistic approach to employee wellness.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2006, she was a manager in Ernst & Young's Human Capital business specializing in mergers & acquisitions with a focus in the areas of equity compensation, employee benefits, transaction integration and risk assessment. Katie began her career with Ernst & Young as a financial statement auditor in the Audit & Assurance practice.

Katie is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Compensation Professional. She participates in a variety of industry groups and speaks at industry conferences. She was recently recognized as one of Workforce magazine's 2013 "Game Changers" and also serves as the Treasurer of The Greg Wolf Fund. Katie earned a B.S. with dual majors in Accounting and Finance from Lehigh University where she was a Dean's and Presidential Scholar.


Beto Pallares

Beto Pallares

2014 Fellow

Managing Director
Joseph Advisory Services, LLC


Ebetuel "Beto" Pallares founded Joseph Advisory Services (JAS) in 2006. He brings extensive domestic and international start-up experience as an entrepreneur and in due diligence for both start-ups and late stage companies. His professional experience spans working for top-tier strategy consulting firms, co-founding start-ups, international business development, nonprofit management, and venture capital. Beto has a particular interest in seed and early-stage companies with emphasis in the information technology and material sciences areas.

In 2009, he co-founded Cottonwood Capital Partners I, the general partner of Cottonwood Technology Fund I, with headquarters in El Paso, TX. He serves on the corporate boards of portfolio technology companies and on the limited partnership advisory committees of several venture funds. He is also the investor-in-residence at both New Mexico State University and the Texas Tech University System, identifying sources of capital, best practices, and structuring investment opportunities for university-related technologies.

As a Kuaffman Fellow, he is active in class 18. Beto graduated from Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA, with a degree in economics, and received his MBA from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He also went on to attain a Ph.D. in International Business from UTEP.

His research has focused on confluence of high tech emerging market firms, incubators and technology commercialization. Beto is married, and enjoys fatherhood. When not watching his kids while his wife, a professional photographer, is on assignment, he enjoys reading, writing and community service, including service in Rotary International and Gideons International.


Matthew Runyon

Matthew Runyon

2014 Fellow

Director of Program Operation
Team Rubicon


Matt Runyon is Director of Program Operations for Team Rubicon. Team Rubicon is a Veteran Service Organization that provides military veterans with Purpose, Community and Self-Worth through volunteer service using their unique skills for disaster response, humanitarian crisis intervention, and community service.

As Director of Program Operations, Runyon oversees all Team Rubicon programs development, implementation and management. The focus of Program Operations is to facilitate the preparation of field emergency response teams and the reintegration of our veteran members through growth and readiness initiatives.

Before taking his current position in July 2013, Runyon had been a volunteer with Team Rubicon since 2011, while holding varying finance and contract negotiations positions of increasing importance at Raytheon Company.

While at Raytheon, he supported the F-15, F/A-18 Radar and Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) Programs at Space and Airborne Systems, the AIM-9X Sidewinder Missile Program at Raytheon Missile Systems as well as multiple programs in Customized Engineering and Depot Support at Raytheon Technical Services Company. In addition, he participated in the Enterprise Cross Functiona​l Rotation Program and is a graduate of the Raytheon Company Contracts Leadership Development Program.

Runyon earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Southern California Development Program. He is a Riordan Fellow alumnus and a current Defense Council Fellow at the Truman National Security Project.

An eight year veteran of the U.S. Army, Runyon served in the Military Police Corps., deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2007-08.


Allison Stone

Allison Stone

2014 Fellow

Associate Director, Trails & Philanthropy
The Presidio Trust


Allison currently holds the position of Associate Director, Trails & Philanthropic Projects for the Presidio Trust. She earned a BA in Physical Geography and a MA in Planning & Geography.

While in college she completed three diverse internships – with the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, United States Forest Service, and a local environmental advocacy group. She began her career in the private sector first with Dames & Moore (now URS Corp) and later EDAW (now AECOM). During her years as a private consultant she worked on a wide spectrum of projects including water management plans, oil spill contingency plans, land use planning and policy documents, and environmental compliance reports for a range of development projects.

She left consulting and took a one year assignment with one of her public sector clients, the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, followed by a brief period as an independent consultant working for public and non-profit clients.

Allison joined the Presidio Trust in 2001, and her roles and responsibilities have continued to evolve. Initially hired as the Trust's Senior Environmental Planner, her primary focus was on project management, public engagement, and the preparation of planning and environmental compliance documents. In 2007, she was promoted to the position of Associate Director and tasked with overseeing a large capital improvement campaign focused on the Presidio's trail network (a tri-organization endeavor), as well as supporting several key philanthropic initiatives including public art and fundraising for a multi-year watershed restoration program.


Jami Taylor

Jami Taylor

2014 Fellow

Senior Director, Global Access Policy
Johnson & Johnson


Jami Taylor is Senior Director, Global Access Policy at Janssen, the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson. In this capacity, she leads efforts worldwide to shape public policy and public-private partnerships in ways that meaningfully improve access to healthcare, particularly for individuals and communities in resource-limited settings.

Jami serves as the designated representative for Johnson & Johnson on many cross-sector projects and committees, and at various forums and organizations with international reach. These include, for example, the Global Health Committee of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), the Partners Council at the Center for Global Development, and the World Economic Forum's Health Systems Leapfrogging initiative, among others.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Jami spent more than 10 years in public affairs consulting, specializing in alliance development, policy communications, and issue-campaign design and execution. Her experience beyond industry includes work with the White House Office of Public Liaison, members of the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Health & Human Services to advance legislative and policy priorities on a nationwide scale.


Lynsey Wood Jeffries

Lynsey Wood Jeffries

2014 Fellow

National Chief Executive Officer
Higher Achievement


Lynsey Wood Jeffries is the National CEO of Higher Achievement, which serves more than 1000 middle school scholars in four states with year-round expanded learning and mentoring. After five years as a Higher Achievement volunteer mentor, Ms. Jeffries joined the professional staff in 2005 as Director of Grants. From 2008-2012, she served executive director for Higher Achievement - DC Metro, growing the annual revenues from $1.7 million to $2.8 million. Prior to joining Higher Achievement, Ms. Jeffries served as a program officer for the Fannie Mae Foundation, and a congressional liaison and special assistant to the CEO at NeighborWorks.

Ms. Jeffries holds a B.A. in English and sociology from Wake Forest University. She earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh, with a concentration in nonprofit management. She was named one of the top 12 nonprofit leaders in the U.S. under age 40 by the Independent Sector and American Express, is a member of Leadership Greater Washington Class of 2011, and is a founding board member of Mundo Verde Public Charter School.