Zoe Fried

Now in her fourth year at Thurgood Marshall Academy, Zoe Fried assists in supervising the school’s supplemental enrichment programs and coordinates a mentor program for more than 140 participants.  She has a bachelor’s degree in social welfare from the University of California-Berkeley. 

Jessica Sher

Jessica Sher oversees Thurgood Marshall Academy’s supplemental enrichment programs, including mentoring, Law Firm Tutoring, Law Days, clubs, athletics, after-school tutoring and service-learning.  She also manages Thurgood Marshall Academy’s fund-raising initiatives, including public and private grants and corporate and individual giving. Sher has a bachelor’s degree in education and social policy from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan.

Pamela Carrington Rotto, Ph.D., HSPP

Pamela Carrington Rotto began her career in education and special education after graduating from Luther College, as well as the school psychology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, completing her pre-doctoral internship at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and her post-doctoral fellowship at the Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development and Mendota Mental Health Institute. She is a licensed psychologist and Health Service Provider in Psychology (HSPP). She has worked in the field of education for 25 years as a special education teacher, school psychologist and graduate faculty member in educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In Indianapolis, Carrington Rotto was a psychologist at Riley Hospital for Children and founded Youth & Family Mentoring Services at Indiana Health Group, Inc. Her concern for gaps in educational and mental health systems that result in school failure and drop out prompted her to establish PassWord Community Mentoring, Inc., which has served nearly 9,000 youth across 10 school districts in and around Marion County, Indiana, and Washington, D.C., using nine innovative models of professional mentoring. Carrington Rotto is a published author and has professional memberships in the American Psychological Association and National Association of School Psychologists. 

Dwayne Bryant

Dwayne Bryant founded Inner Vision International with the mission tomotivate, educate and inspire individuals to achieve their maximum potential in their personal lives and the communities in which they live. Bryant and a team of educational consultants designed and implemented “The Vision®,” a 27-week life management skills (character education) curriculum for public school systems in Chicago. Tailoring programs to school systems since 1999, Inner Vision has seen results, such as improved test scores and school attendance, as well as increased student self esteem. Bryant also hosts and is a keynote speaker for teen summits, webcasts, parenting conferences and other special events. He has developed and executed motivational workshops, seminars and keynote addresses for organizations including: Ameritech, AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Burger King, The Department of Employment Services in Washington, D.C., Burrell Communications, the Bermuda Department of Tourism and a number of national and international colleges and universities. Bryant was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Showthree times and was a correspondent for NextTV. Before founding Inner Vision, he managed a multimillion-dollar sales territory for Johnson & Johnson. Bryant attended Florida International University on a four-year academic scholarship and graduated with dual degrees in finance and international business. 

Kelly Waldron

Kelly Waldron covers five major markets from Baltimore to Miami in her position with Deloitte Services.  She has been with the company four years, first in the federal consulting practice where she served the Department of Homeland Security in a variety of strategy, process improvement and asset management engagements. Waldron oversees Deloitte’s skills-based volunteerism program, as well as all employee engagement efforts, IMPACT Day and United Way campaigns for the Southeast.  She also is the relationship manager for Deloitte’s collaboration with HandsOn Greater DC Cares and the Mentoring Matters initiative. Waldron has a master’s degree in public administration focused on nonprofit management and many years of experience working with nonprofits and the local school system.

Lynsey Jeffries

After five years as a Higher Achievement volunteer mentor, Lynsey Jeffries joined the professional staff in 2005.During her tenure, the organization expanded from serving 350 middle-school scholars to serving more than 500 with rigorous after-school and summer academic enrichment programming in the D.C. area. Higher Achievement received the Coming Up Taller Award given by the First Lady of the United States and the Washington Post Excellence in Nonprofit Management Award. Before joining Higher Achievement, Jeffries was a program officer for the Fannie Mae Foundation, specializing in financial education for lower income families, and was a Congressional liaison and special assistant to the CEO at NeighborWorks, a Congressionally-chartered affordable housing nonprofit intermediary. Jeffries has a bachelor’s degree in English and sociology from Wake Forest University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh, is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Greater Washington and was named one of the Independent Sector’s top 12 nonprofit leaders under 40.

Curtis Cannon

Hands On Greater DC Cares is a leading coordinator of volunteerism and service in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region. Curtis Cannon has lead responsibility for ensuring that more than 800 nonprofits, 24,000 volunteers and a host of public and private partners across the region have access to those services, which are aimed at building powerful nonprofits and increasing volunteer activism and engagement. Before joining Hands On Greater DC Cares, Cannon was the enterprise manager at Juma Ventures in San Francisco, a social enterprise nonprofit dedicated to youth development. He also was an AmeriCorps Vista at Net Impact, a national membership organization dedicated to building a network of professionals committed to using the power of business to create a more just and sustainable world.

Ariel Johnson

During her time with Communities In Schools (CIS), Ariel Johnson constructed a mixed methods research project to analyze CIS affiliate mentoring programs, as well as a survey to measure CIS mentor program effectiveness, among other projects. She is scheduled to graduate from Xavier University of Louisiana this May with a mass communication major and political science minor. Previously, she participated in the North Carolina State University Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, was the community partnership coordinator at the Centers for Community Arts Partnerships in Chicago and is the editor of Xavier’s student newspaper. She is a Kemper Scholar and president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Xavier NAACP.

Nicole Smith

Nicole Smith joined the College Success Foundation – DC in April of 2008 as a college preparatory advisor for Ballou Senior High School and Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School. Her background includes working as a director for the Columbia North YMCA, as the director of education at Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), working with the Department of Probation and Parole supervising adult offenders, doing private consulting work surrounding the topics of violence, diversity and team building, and, most recently, working for YouthBuild Public Charter School. Smith was the YouthBuild school principal for two years at the Philadelphia site and was the vice-principal/director of curriculum and instruction at the bilingual site for three years. She also was program director at Horton’s Kids for a year. Smith has a bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from Temple University.

Belinda Saldaña

Belinda Grace Saldaña has worked in the higher education profession for more than 12 years, starting at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and taking her current position at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in 2006, where she works closely with South Texas communities to promote a college-going culture and community engagement. For more than four years, she has been the liaison for the UTSA San Antonio Mentoring Forum. She has been on the board of the National Orientation Directors Association and was selected as an education Fellow for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’sHispanic-Serving InstitutionsNationalProgram. She recently completed her third term as president of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education – San Antonio Chapter. Saldaña has been a mentor through the Texas Youth Commission juvenile justice program and Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas. She will begin mentoring a college student and middle school student his fall through university mentoring programs. A first generation college graduate in her family, Saldaña has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a master’s degree in public administration from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. 

Kevin Mungin

Kevin L. Mungin officially joined College Success Foundation – District of Columbia in 2008 but has worked with the HERO program since its inception in 2006. He is the program’s advisor at Anacostia Senior High School, H.D. Woodson Senior High School, Ronald H. Brown Middle School and Kramer Middle School, serving male students from grades six through 12. Mungin has worked with adolescents and young adults for 12 years and uses this experience to help them understand that they can obtain a better life and improve themselves by making the proper choices and obtaining a college education. Mungin is also an adjunct professor of psychology at Prince George’s Community College. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Bowie State University.

Ilsa Garcia

Ilsa Garcia is responsible for securing and training volunteers to serve as mentors, tutors, guest speakers and for other volunteer opportunities. She also works on Project Stuff the Bus, which is the Communities In Schools-San Antonio (CIS-SA) annual school supply drive to help students start the school year with needed supplies. This year’s Project Stuff the Bus raised more than $330,000 in school supplies. Before joining CIS-SA, Garcia worked in the education field for 15 years with Northside Independent School District at Stinson Middle School in the Special Education Department. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

Ted Qualli

Ted Qualli came to Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA (BBBS SEPA) in 2007 when he was hired to fill the new role of director of government relations.  Since then, he has managed foundation relationships and now has responsibility for securing more than half of the agency’s $5 million annual revenue. Qualli began his career in news production, working for Fox News in Philadelphia. He became an account executive for Keel Communications, director of communications for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services and deputy director of communications for the Office of the Mayor.

At BBBS SEPA, Qualli has created direct relationships with state government through initiatives such as the “Bigs Caucus,” a group of more than 50 General Assembly members committed to supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters’ policy agenda. He also has been elected president of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Pennsylvania State Association and led the grant application for Pennsylvania’s first ever statewide Mentoring Children of Prisoners program. He is an adjunct faculty member of Temple University; an appointee to the HR-203/SR-52 Joint State Commission’s Children of Incarcerated Parents project; and a member of Philadelphia’s Human Services Alignment Committee. 

Judith Spangler

Judith Spangler has been part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters network since 1997 — as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Chester County and director of program services for Big Sisters of Philadelphia before the local multi-agency merger in 2002 that resulted in today’s Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania.  She oversees program services for almost eight thousand children and volunteers in a four-county region, working to ensure that mentoring matches are safe, effective and life changing for all parties. Spangler began her career as a social worker, focusing on everything from serving handicapped adults and working on child abuse cases to adoption services, foster care, drug and alcohol intervention and juvenile probation services. She then managed the YWCA of Erie, Pennsylvania. As a result of working with children of incarcerated parents and guardians via the Amachi program and other Mentoring Children of Prisoners initiatives, Spangler has become an expert resource on child safety. She also conducts Mentoring Children of Prisoners training for Public Private Ventures.

Rebecca Stelter, Ph.D.

Rebecca Stelter has worked at innovation Research & Training since 2007.Her interests include mentoring, children’s social and emotional development and prevention of aggressive and anti-social behaviors. She is the project director on an award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development to create and evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based online and in-person mentor training program. Stelter has conducted intensive workshop trainings for Mentoring Children of Prisoners support staff on the topic of match support. She also worked under Kupersmidt and the team at MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership to write the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, 3^rd Edition™, and she has been a “Big Sister” to April for six years. Stelter completed her doctorate degree in developmental psychology at North Carolina State University.

John Ervin III

John Ervin III is the director of community affairs for the Modesto City School District and the founder and CEO of the Project UPLIFT (Utilizing Positive Leaders to Inspire Future Talent) mentoring program, which provides mentors to at-risk youth who have multiple risk factors. Previously, Ervin directed the Modesto City School’s 21st Century Afterschool Learning Program, which provides tutoring, homework help, enrichment, recreation, and cultural and social activities for children and their families at 13 school sites. He frequently is a trainer, speaker and workshop presenter, helping other communities develop and implement high-quality youth development, gang prevention/intervention and after-school programs. Ervin has worked as director of the Modesto Youth Conservation Corps, coordinator of a gang prevention/intervention program and director of an Arizona juvenile correctional facility. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Modesto Junior College, Chapman University and California State University Stanislaus. Ervin has a bachelor’s degree from California State University San Bernardino, a secondary teaching credential from the University of Phoenix and a master’s degree in education counseling from Northern Arizona University.   

Venessa Mendenhall

Venessa Mendenhall is responsible for building and sustaining all corporate and nonprofit partnerships for New York Needs You and for recruiting, engaging and retaining high-quality volunteers and mentors. Specific areas of expertise include mentoring, the impact of incarceration and poverty on youth and families, capacity building and developing and sustaining active learning communities. Previously, she worked at Dare Mighty Things, Inc., with social entrepreneurs in the nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors to design and scale new initiatives. As a trainer and consultant, she has worked with nonprofits across the country to develop cross-sector coalitions, increase and retain their volunteer base, engage hard-to-reach populations and deploy Web-based technologies to meet their toughest organizational challenges. Mendenhall has a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. 

Nina Zolt

Nina Zolt’s work in education has focused on improving learning opportunities for all students in a digital age. She has extensive experience as an entertainment lawyer, digital media executive and designer of digital learning products. She created In2Books, ePals’ flagship Common Core eMentoring program in 1998. She was a member of the Washington, D.C., advisory board of directors for Teach for America (2000-2011) and the board of trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2004-2010). She also was an advisory board member for the International Reading Association (2008-2010). She is the lead author of the In2Books Genre Guides, a co-author of Getting Children In2Books: Engagement in Authentic Reading, Writing and Thinkingand has spoken extensively on the topics of literacy, e-learning and mentoring.  Zolt has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a juris doctor degree from Boston University School of Law and an honorary doctorate degree from National-Louis University.

Lynda Terrell

Lynda Terrell oversees United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Campaign for Mentors (CFM), which partners with more than 85 organizations dedicated to increasing the quality and availability of mentoring for the greater Philadelphia area's youth to achieve self-sufficiency. CFM recruits mentors, trains volunteers and provides training and technical assistance to mentoring programs. As a trainer, consultant and technical assistance advisor, Terrell provides capacity building and program development training for coordinators of faith-based, corporate-based, school-based and community-based mentoring programs that use mentoring as a success strategy for youth. In addition, she trains volunteers interested in being mentors and mentees. She has been instrumental in developing the Greater Philadelphia Church Mentoring Network, a national model that encourages religious institutions to collaborate with various sectors of the community to provide mentors for children and youth. Terrell is a member of MENTOR’s quality assessment committee, which is developing a national system for rating the quality of mentoring programs, and the National Mentoring Technical Assistance Corps. She has authored Church-Based Mentoring: A Program Manual for Mentoring Ministries, and before joining United Way, she was director of training for Venture & Venture, Inc. Terrell has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rutgers University.

Ivy Wright-Bryan

Ivy Wright-Bryan has 13 years of experience in the legal field, specializing in tribal court/federal jurisdiction cases and 11 years of experience in managing nonprofit/governmental programs; developing policy and procedures, operation manuals, fund-raising campaigns, jurisdictional ordinances and law and budgets; grant writing/monitoring, strategic planning, human resources, community education and pubic speaking. In addition to her work with Big Brothers Big Sisters, she is an independent contractor with the Nevada Tribal Courts and has been with Nevada Legal Services, the American Lung Association, the Nevada State Democratic Party, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the law office of Paul A. Richards, Esq. Wright-Bryan has a bachelor’s degree in minors criminal justice and addictions counseling, as well as a master’s degree in judicial management, from the University of Nevada Reno. 

Diane Hubbard

Diane Hubbard is the Mentor Program Manager, Connecticut Mentoring Partnership, at the Governor’s Prevention Partnership. She has 26 years of corporate banking experience, including strategic planning, management and business development.  Diane also was a key contributor to the Webster Bank Mentor Committee.

Franca Floro

Franca Floro joined the Mentoring Partnership of Long Island in 2001 and is the Director of Programs and Training.  Before joining the Partnership, she was a human resources professional for almost 15 years in the financial services sector, where she managed the staffing, employee relations and training and development functions for a global foreign bank. In her current position, Floro oversees the rigorous training and technical assistance services provided to youth mentoring programs throughout the Long Island region, maintains relationships and consults with programs regarding infrastructure, quality and sustainability.  

Timothy Clark

Timothy Clark manages the Indiana Mentoring Partnership’s College Access Challenge Grant Program, which partners a mentoring organization and high school to increase 21st Century Scholars students’ opportunity for college access and success. A majority of his career has been in the college and youth sports arena — as a collegiate-level coach for football and lacrosse and as a program manager for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Youth Sports Corporation (NYSC). Clark has traveled abroad for the Unity through Sports Program to help “third world” countries develop sports at the grass-roots level. He initiated the “graduation coach” position at Herron High School, coordinated mentoring activities for Starfish Initiative, and worked with the Circle City Classic, the NCAA and Indianapolis Public Schools Athletics. He has served on the boards of U.S. Lacrosse, Indiana Youth Lacrosse Association and other community-based groups. Clark has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and education from Hobart College.

Dennis Talbert

Dennis Talbert’s innovative approach to urban youth development has led to several of his program models being replicated throughout the United States and Africa. For more than 18 years he was the pastor of student ministries at Detroit’s Rosedale Park Baptist Church, which received recognition from presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush for its work with high-risk youth. Under the umbrella of Empower, Talbert developed a small faith-based conglomerate, which served as practicum training for urban youth development and a tool for executing young people’s professional training through several outreach efforts, including the R.I.S.E. (Reintegrating Integrity and Success through Empowerment) Mentoring Program.          

Wesley “Chip” Rich

Wesley “Chip” Rich is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California with more than 30 years of direct service, program development and leadership experience. He is the founder of the Urban Services YMCA, an entirely publicly funded branch of the YMCA of San Francisco. For the past 30 years, he has dedicated his professional life to creating meaningful services for youth and families facing major challenges to pathways of personal success. In total, Rich has developed programs delivering services to more than 35,000 youth and their parents annually, including innovative strategies for addressing truancy and trauma response in high need communities. Now, his team is taking its therapeutic mentoring approach to a national stage through the YMCA of the USA.     

Roger Jarjoura, Ph.D.

In 1996, Roger Jarjoura founded Aftercare for Indiana through Mentoring (AIM), a juvenile reentry program for youths incarcerated in state-run correctional facilities throughout Indiana. This program is based on a national model and operates in conjunction with the juvenile correctional system with a primary focus on mentoring. Jarjoura has been a mentoring consultant with groups in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Arizona and Alaska to develop mentoring programs for delinquent youth, youth in reentry and children of incarcerated parents. He specializes in the development and implementation of training programs for mentors. He has been a member of the training and technical assistance team for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Mentoring System-Involved Youth initiative and is a senior advisor for the OJJDP-funded Center for the Advancement of Mentoring, where he is the co-chair of the National Cadre of Mentoring Researchers.   

David Altschuler, Ph.D.

David Altschuler is the principal research scientist, as well as an adjunct associate professor in sociology and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Mental Health of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also is on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence. Altschuler’s work focuses on juvenile crime and justice system sanctioning, juvenile aftercare and parole, offender reentry, privatization in juvenile corrections, and drug involvement and crime among inner-city youth. He and a colleague started the Juvenile Reintegration and Aftercare Center (JRAC), and he has been project director and co-principal investigator on an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention funded project, which developed a model of intensive aftercare for the high-risk juvenile parolee being released from secure correctional facilities. Demonstration programs based on this model were established in Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia. Altschuler also has provided technical assistance on transition and aftercare to other federally-funded initiatives, as well as numerous state and local agencies, including the Department of Labor’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative. Altschuler has a doctorate degree in social service administration and a master's degree in urban studies from The University of Chicago.

Janet Forbush

Janet Forbush is a leader and manager in youth services and advocacy, providing consulting to a broad spectrum of for-profit and nonprofit youth development programs in areas including program development, management, analysis and evaluation; policy development; grant writing and management; strategic alliances; and training. Currently, she is a consultant with the Education Development Center in Newton, MA; the Mentor Consulting Group in Norwalk, CT; Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, MD; St. John Baptist Church in Columbia, MD; Big Brothers Big Sisters/Maryland Mentoring Partnership in Baltimore, MD; Innovative Consultants International, Inc., in Washington, D.C.; and YouthBuild USA in Somerville, MA. Forbush also has consulted for MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, was executive director of the National Alliance Concerned with School-Age Parents, worked for the George Washington University Consortium on Early Childhood and Childrearing, was the acting deputy director for the White House Conference on Families and was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in education from George Washington University.

Amy Benson

Amy Benson has worked at three Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) affiliates over the past 11 years:  BBBS of Manhattan, Kansas; BBBS of Greater Kansas City; and, since 2003, BBBS of San Diego County. She was involved with the launch of the Operation Bigs program, the first program of its kind in the nation, designed to address the needs of military parents calling BBBS for support while their spouses were facing multiple deployments.  In her latest position, Benson can expandher relationships with business partners, companies and foundations that value community involvement, investment in youth and future generation leaders, and financial support of BBBS' mission. Benson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in youth and adolescence counseling from Kansas State University.  

Bonnie Campbell, MSW

Bonnie Campbell has more than 25 years of experience in the human services field.  She has worked in child protective services, provided counseling to children with emotional and behavioral problems and their parents, served as a victim advocate in the Georgia State Court system and ran a domestic violence organization for women and children. Additionally, she worked at Clark Air Force Base in the Republic of the Philippines, where she counseled military families experiencing difficulties. Campbell joined Big Brothers Big Sisters in 2008 as a match support specialist for Operation Bigs, their military mentoring program, and she has seen the program grow from serving military children at four sites on Camp Pendleton to serving all five elementary schools there, as well as four additional sites in San Diego. Campbell has a master’s degree in social work from Florida State University.

Clara Giles Carter, Ed.D.

As the leader of Management Consultant Services, Clara Giles Carter, Ed.D., offers a wide range of solutions and training in human resource management, organizational and leadership development, youth and adult mentoring and strategic planning to corporate and nonprofit organizations, colleges, universities, public school districts and the faith-based community. Carter began her professional experience as a case worker with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services and was a counselor at the Baltimore Job Corp Center, where she affected numerous court decisions that placed male youth offenders in a residential center rather than a juvenile correction facility. She was a project consultant for Maryland’s Mentoring Initiative for Adjudicated Youth and is the program consultant for the Baltimore Center for Urban Families START Mentoring Program for Ex- Offenders. She was the director of training for the Maryland Mentoring Partnership following 33 years working for the federal government, including positions with the Social Security Administration and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid, where she was instrumental in developing the employee mentoring program and then led the design and delivery of the Emerging Leaders Mentoring Training for the Department of Health and Human Services. Carter has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Morgan State University, a master’s degree in management from the University of Baltimore and a doctorate degree in higher education administration from Morgan State.

Ann Adalist-Estrin

In addition to her position at the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, Ann Adalist-Estrin is a child and family therapist, as well as a trainer for Boston University Medical School / Healthy Steps for Young Children Pediatric Training Program. She is a consultant to a variety of agencies serving children and families, particularly in helping them develop plans to support children and families affected by incarceration, and her seminar topics span a wide range of interests and ages. Publications include Mentoring Children of Prisoners: A Curriculum for Training Mentors, which she has used to train more than 700 community agencies to date,Responding to Children and Families of Prisoners:  A Community Guideand The Children of Incarcerated ParentsLibrary at www.fcnetwork. Adalist-Estrin has held adjunct faculty positions at Temple University, University of The Arts and the Community College of Philadelphia, and she instructs a graduate course for teachers at Gratz College in Philadelphia.

Linda Stewart

Linda Stewart works to expand and strengthen the national network of State Mentoring Partnershipsthat serve as front-line support to mentoring programs. Before joining MENTOR, Stewart was the executive director of The Maryland Mentoring Partnership for 11 years, where she established the organization as the leading advocate, resource and expert for youth mentoring in the state. Earlier in her career, Stewart worked for United Ways in Baltimore, Maryland, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she managed eight successful annual fund-raising campaigns and oversaw the distribution of funding to more than 60 agencies. In addition to the nonprofit sector, Stewart’s diverse career path has taken her to Nigeria as a high school teacher, to Venezuela as an international Fellow and across the country as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines. Stewart graduated magna cum laude from Fisk University with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and from the University of San Francisco with a master’s degree in Public Administration/Nonprofit Management. As an active volunteer, Stewart serves on several nonprofit boards. She was recognized as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Womenand has received awards from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation for excellence in management.

Whitney Delich

Whitney Delich has been in her current position since March 2009. She is responsible for staffing, providing Human Resources generalist support to the Revenue Generating and Technology groups for many of the Viacom channels, as well as employee engagement strategies and programs.  Before joining Viacom, Delich spent the majority of her human resources career at Microsoft, where she began working in 1991 and held numerous positions, including director of people and organizational capability for the Entertainment and Devices Group, director of mergers and acquisitions, and various Human Relations generalist and staffing roles. 

Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard

Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard oversees business and legal affairs for the New York office and is responsible for developing the overall strategy for deal negotiations. She has built strong partnerships with her colleagues in acquisitions, strategic operations, marketing, digital and business development across BET and other Viacom companies.  She is a member of Class XXII of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute, a premier leadership program for women in the telecommunications industry.  In her spare time, she works in the field of human development and women’s rights, serving on delegations to South Africa, Rome, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and, in association with the United Nations, working with women from Iraq.  Sharif-Drinkard gives back to New York City public school students by serving as a mentor in Viacom’s Get Connectedprogram. Before joining BET, she was vice president, senior counsel for Nickelodeon (MTV Networks). Sharif-Drinkard is a contributing author to Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak(Beacon Press), where she writes about her journey as an activist and professional.  She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and her law degree from Fordham University School of Law.  

Fukiko Ogisu

At Viacom, Fukiko Ogisu is focused on business operations, which includes Human Resources Information Systems, Security, Internal Communications and Employee Engagement. Ogisu began her career in publishing, working for one year at Japan’s largest daily newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, before heading to Encyclopedia Britannica, where she worked as an editor for more than six years. She later joined Microsoft, where she worked in software development — adapting consumer software, services and hardware for international markets; building solutions using Office as a “platform” and serving as the chief of staff for the president of the Entertainment and Devices Division. Her final project at Microsoft was delivering the marketplace and video components for Xbox Live and Zune.

Juergen Kneifel, M.B.A.

Juergen Kneifel is the founder and director of mission2mentor, a Christian mentoring ministry for children and youth in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.  Mission2mentor has programs in school-based and community-based settings, serving many children from fatherless homes. Kneifel has worked as director of marketing and recruitment with Big Brothers Big Sisters of King and Pierce Counties and currently serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters Snohomish County and the Christian Association of Youth Mentoring (CAYM). He has been a presenter for regional and national trainings and has been a trainer with and consultant to the Department of Social and Health Services and Washington State Mentors. His background includes more than 30 years of volunteer service, as well as agency leadership. Currently, Kneifel is an instructor at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington, and conducts trainings on topics such as Hiring and Retaining Exceptional Staff, Effective Volunteer Recruitment, Marketing Programs through Media and Real Customer Service.  

Jennifer Smith-Slabaugh, Ph.D.

Jennifer Smith-Slabaugh has experience in a variety of experiential education and training program settings, such as facilitating team building and group dynamic workshops for a variety of groups (educational and corporate). In addition to her role locally, Slabaugh serves on MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership's Advisory Board. Having taught in many positions at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Slabaugh received her doctorate degree in education (adult education and higher education) there. While pursuing her master’s degree at VCU, she was president of the Graduate Student Association from 1997 to 1999. Slabaugh has presented at regional and national conferences on experiential education components targeted at adults mentoring and tutoring underserved youth.

Peter Vancore, M.S.W.

In his current position, Peter Vancore leads the Christian Association of Youth Mentoring (CAYM), where churches and nonprofits are working to create a movement to make mentoring an integral part of church life. Through CAYM, more than 250 churches have engaged in mentoring and 20 nonprofits have begun church-based mentoring programs. CAYM has trained church leaders from 47 states to follow the best practices of safe and effective mentoring. Before going to CAYM, Vancore worked for 16 years as an area director and staff supervisor with Long Island Youth Mentoring, where they helped 60 churches, in partnership with state and county agencies, engage in mentoring with juvenile offenders and youth who were abused or neglected. From there, He moved to Massachusetts to be the national field director for Straight Ahead Ministries, an outreach to incarcerated youth. In 2003, he began the Christian Mentoring Institute, which merged with CAYM in 2005. Vancore served on the faculty of Gordon College between 2000 and2008, where he taught courses on at-risk youth and families. 

Shirley A. Biggs, Ed.D.

Shirley A. Biggs, Ed.D., consults at local, national and international levels on faculty and staff development in public and private K through 12th grade schools; evaluation and professional development activities for college reading and writing program staff and faculty; and higher education.  Most recently, she helped develop and implement Tertiary Education Linkage Program (TELP) grants that were designed to make technical assistance available to historically disadvantaged institutions of higher education in South Africa. She led the Student Academic Development working groups that recommended curricular changes in first-year studies at the University of Durban-Westville and the University of the North. She also was the principal investigator for University of Pittsburgh-based TELP research and development activities with South African colleagues. Her community service activities include directing Pitt Project TUTOR and preparing the proposal for the Department of Education-funded faith-based male mentoring project at the Mt. Ararat Community Activity Center and the Florence Reizenstein Middle School. Biggs has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Duquesne University, a master’s degree in psychological services and reading from the University of South Carolina and a doctorate degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh.

Margo Ross, Psy.D.

Margo R. Ross oversees PCLT's business development efforts, including grant writing, grants management, corporate and foundation relations, communications and marketing. She has been a member of the staff at PCLT for more than 10 years and is a certified school psychologist in New Jersey. Ross holds doctorate and master's degrees in school psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, as well as a bachelor's degree in psychology from Rutgers University.

Sherry Barr, Psy.D.

Sherry Barr oversees the implementation, dissemination and evaluation of the Princeton Center for Leadership Training (PCLT) high school peer mentoring programs. She also provides training, consultation and technical assistance to school administrators and faculty and oversees the expansion of PCLT's programs and services in North Carolina. Barr has extensive expertise directing federally- and state-funded studies. She was a co-investigator for a multisite, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded study of Peer Group Connection and a current project director for a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-funded project to replicate and evaluate a teen sexual health peer education program.

Sarah Kremer

Sarah E. Kremer directs Friends for Youth’s Mentoring Institute, the agency’s consulting program that disseminates information on safe and effective practices to the mentoring community through resources, trainings, annual mentoring conferences and coalition leadership. She provides in-person trainings, webinars and individual consultations; develops published resources; creates the annual two-day national mentoring conference; and consults with the Center for Applied Research Solutions, the National Mentoring Center and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership regarding volunteer screening training. Previously at Friends for Youth, Kremer was program coordinator and manager, working with 200 mentor/mentee pairs. She authored Friends for Youth’s Mentoring Journal, now in its second printing. She has worked with First Exposures, a photography-based mentoring program in San Francisco, since 1995, and her national presentations draw upon her knowledge of adolescent development, volunteer management and screening, therapeutic treatment, art-based directives, evaluation, research and mentoring to provide interactive workshops on youth mentoring, recommended best practices and youth development. Kremer has a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from UC San Diego and a master’s degree in art therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also is a board certified art therapist and trained SoulCollage® facilitator. 

Becky Cooper

Becky Cooper is a recognized expert in the field of youth mentoring, now leading Friends for Youth, Inc., which has been cited as a program of excellence by numerous entities, including the John W. Gardner Center and the U.S. Department of Education. Career highlights include giving the keynote address on Mentoring’s Best Practices at Singapore’s National Youth Council Conference, participating in the Kettering Institute’s research on education and learning outside of schools, serving on the state of California Governor’s Mentoring Partnership Quality Assurance Standards Committee, being a guest at the White House at a mentoring ceremony hosted by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and being inducted into the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame for her dedication to promoting mentoring for at-risk children in the community. Cooper is co-author of Running a Safe and Effective Mentoring Program and SAFE (Screening Applicants for Effectiveness):  Guidelines to Prevent Child Molestation in Mentoring and Youth-Serving Organizations, and she recently served on the national Mentoring Children of Prisoners Support Center Advisory Board. Cooper has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education from Stanford University.   

Kerrilyn Scott-Nakai

Kerrilyn Scott-Nakai has more than 15 years of experience working with prevention efforts for at-risk youth, families and communities. She has provided leadership to large-scale national cross-site research studies, conducted numerous state and local evaluations and provided extensive consultation regarding data driven planning, evidence-based implementation and outcome-based evaluation for prevention improvement efforts. She has directed large-scale statewide technical assistance and training initiatives in California for the past seven years. She has particular expertise in evaluating mentoring programs designed to prevent substance abuse, delinquency and/or violence among youth and within school settings. Relevant experience includes being field director for two national cross-site studies funded by the Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention and investigating the impact of mentoring for high-risk youth. As part of the national Mentoring Resource Center technical assistance project, Scott-Nakai provided evaluation consultation and training to U.S. Department of Education school-based mentoring grantees for five years. Previously, she oversaw the statewide evaluation of the Friday Night Live Mentoring program (26 counties and more than 100 school sites) and has been the local evaluator for the Orange County OnTrack mentoring program for the past seven years.

F. Gerald Dash

Since 1989, Jerry Dash has been in his current position with Volunteers in Prevention, Probation and Prisons, which operates mentoring programs that work to improve the lives of children and youth who are at high risk for involvement with the justice system. Dash’s professional affiliations have included the American Probation & Parole Association, National Association of Probation Executives and the Mentor Michigan Provider’s Council. His publications have included articles on mentoring in journals of the National Association of Probation Executives, Consortium on Community Policing, American Probation and Parole Association, American Judges Association and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. He has presented at national and international conferences on mentoring, including those in London, Canada; Manchester, England; Potsdam, Germany; and London, England. Dash is a Mentoring Children of Prisoners Peer Monitor Reviewer for the Family and Youth Services Bureau, which operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He recently was appointed to the new Federal Mentoring Children of Prisoners Advisory Board.

Ellen S. Silber, Ph.D.

Ellen Silber is the founding director of Mentoring Latinas, conceiving the program in 2003 and supervising all aspects of its planning and implementation, including raising $450,000 in grant money for the program. Her work has been published by the New York University’s Faculty Resource Network, she co-authored “Club Amigas: A Promising Response to the Needs of Adolescent Latinas” for Child and Family Social Work, and she has made presentations at numerous conferences on topics, such as gender equity in the classroom, women in the high school curriculum, collaboration between schools and colleges and Mentoring Latinas. Silber has consulted on school/college collaboration for the state of New Jersey, Department of Higher Education, American Association of Higher Education, and the schools of Berks County, PA, Racine, WI, and Berwick, PA. She also has consulted on issues of gender equity in education in five Westchester County, NY, schools. Silber was a professor of French language and literature at Marymount College of Fordham University for more than 30 years. She has a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College, two master’s degrees from Teachers College Columbia University and a doctorate degree from Columbia University.

Edith Lawrence

As an award-winning professor and director, Edith Lawrence oversees the Young Women Leaders Program, founded in 1997 at the University of Virginia to be a psychoeducational mentoring program that empowers middle school girls to be leaders by combining one-on-one mentoring with targeted group activities for a year to address issues related to girls’ sense of self, scholastic achievement, body image, social aggression and healthy decision-making. The program encourages the development of competence, connection and autonomy among participants, has served more than 1,000 middle school girls and trained more than 1,000 college women mentors since its inception. Before joining the University of Virginia, Lawrence was school psychologist for Charlottesville City Public Schools and a special education teacher in Buena Vista City Schools in Virginia. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hollins College and her doctorate degree in education from the University of Virginia.

Sophie Huntington

Sophie Huntington is responsible for developing, researching, writing, editing and publishing literature, math, technology and science curricula consistent with Higher Achievement’s social justice mission themes and local and national standards. In this role, she provides guidance to affiliate staff, building their capacity to support high-quality curriculum implementation, through the use of successful instructional strategies and individualized approaches for scholars. Previously, Huntington was the educational outreach coordinator for the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University; curriculum coordinator for the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell; and a social studies teacher at McKinleyville High School in California. She received a bachelor’s degree in history and a secondary teaching certification in social studies from Humboldt State University.

Matt Thornton

In this position, Matt Thornton coordinates volunteer recruitment, training and retention efforts that include: strategic regional recruitment, volunteer orientation, ongoing volunteer training, volunteer support and volunteer recognition. He has been director of volunteer management for Higher Achievement since 2009 and is a former Ward 6 center director. His interests are in education reform and community development. Thornton has been a campus director and a teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools in Framingham, MA, as well as a co-director of BECA schools in Honduras.  Among his volunteer work is a two-year teaching position with AmeriCorps at the Citizen Schools Apprenticeship Program in Boston. He received his bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and his master’s degree in education with a specialization in out-of-school time and youth leadership development from Lesley University.

Alesha D. Seroczynski, Ph.D.

Alesha Seroczynski is a Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives. She moved into this position after being dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Bethel College, Indiana. She also was director of research at Indiana’s largest community mental health center, where she facilitated more than a dozen research projects, including a two-year longitudinal study with the South Bend Center for the Homeless with 15 case managers and more than 60 chronic, mentally ill persons who were homeless or at-risk for homelessness. Winner of the 1999 Distinguished Graduate Student Scholar Award at the University of Notre Dame, Seroczynski has published and presented at several international venues, including the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Psychiatry Research, the Association for Moral Education, the Association for General and Liberal Studies and the American Occupational Therapy Association. Her graduate training in developmental and counseling psychology included clinical work with ADHD and aggressive adolescents at William Pelham’s ADHD clinic, as well as more than 1,200 treatment and assessment hours with adolescents and young adults. Her current relationship with the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center began in 2004 when she combined her love of great literature and her compassion for at-risk youth to create the pilot project for Reading for Life in their academic day-treatment program. 

Allyson Horne

Allyson Horne has worked in the field of mentoring as a mentor, program coordinator and regional director for more than 10 years. She coordinates strength-based education for the TeamMates Mentoring Program and has presented to more than 30 school districts about strengths education in mentoring.  She also has presented at Gallup’s Strength in Education Conference for more than 60 institutes of higher learning. Horne received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Doane College, and she recently earned her certificate in strength-based education from the Clifton division of Gallup University.  

Suzanne Hince

Suzanne Hince has worked in the field of mentoring for more than 10 years and has been executive director of the TeamMates Mentoring Program since 2006. The program has grown from 2,400 matches in 70 chapters to more than 5,000 matches in 100 chapters since that time. Hince received her bachelor’s degree in English education from St. Olaf University and her English language learner certification from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest.   

Kaela Vronsky

Kaela Vronsky has 15 years of international and domestic nonprofit management experience. At Partners for Youth with Disabilities, she directs the training and technical assistance program that serves organizations seeking disability inclusion training, including continuous improvements in the areas of strategic planning, evaluation, curriculum design, outreach and marketing and reporting. Clients include Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts, the YMCA and City Year. Vronsky has improved mentor program policies involving overall growth, match support, recruitment and marketing, closure and documentation and has integrated goal-oriented match component and evidence-based evaluation processes into the program. Before her current position, she was the site director for Common Hope in Guatemala and has worked for the YWCA and the Central for Human Development, both in Massachusetts. Vronsky has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Guilford College and a master’s degree in sustainable development from the School for International Training.

Lida Riedlinger

As president and CEO of Compeer Inc., Lida Riedlinger develops, delivers and supports an international network of affiliate programs that inspire and engage communities through the power of volunteer friends and mentors to improve the quality of life for adults, children and families who strive for good mental health. She oversees the development of programs within the communities that affiliates serve through program expertise, branding, marketing communication and best-practice training and performance management. She also leads board development, strategic planning and organizational transformation initiatives, as well as demographic-specific program development through evidence-based practice delivery. She has been a senior manager or director at Global Crossing, Frontier Communications, Frontier Telephone and Rochester TelMobil Communications. Riedlinger has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.

In addition to being a co-founder, Lynn Meltzer is president and director of research, as well as director of assessment, at the Research Institute for Learning and Development in Lexington, MA. She holds appointments as an associate in education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and as an adjunct associate professor at the Tufts University Department of Child Development. She is a Fellow and past-president of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. Meltzer’s 32 years of assessment and clinical consultation with children, adolescents and adults have emphasized the importance of the theory-to-practice cycle of knowledge. Her research, publications and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention problems using a multi-dimensional model to bridge the gap among theory, research and practice. Her publications and presentations relate to the assessment and treatment of learning difficulties with an emphasis on the importance of metacognition, strategy use, cognitive flexibility, self-concept and resilience. Meltzer is the founder and chair of the national Learning Differences Conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Her recent work with colleagues includes books for professionals (Strategies for Success, Pro-Ed, 2005) and parents (Parent Guide to Hassle-Free Homework, Scholastic, 2003c) and two award-winning interactive software products (Brain Cogs and Essay Express). Her most recent edited books are Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practiceand Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom.

Janis Kupersmidt, Ph.D.

Janis Kupersmidt founded innovation Research & Training ("iRT") in 1999 to develop empirically validated assessment tools and prevention and treatment programs for substance abuse, delinquency, mental health and school failure, as well as to promote positive youth development.  She was a tenured faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was an investigator at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Kupersmidt has more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, more than 100 scientific presentations and has been the principal or co-principal investigator on many federal, state and private grants and contracts. She co-led a team at MENTOR to write the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, 3^rd Edition™,and she is the principal investigator on an award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development to create and evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based online and in-person mentor training program. Kupersmidt has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University and a doctorate degree with specialization in child clinical psychology from Duke University. She completed her clinical internship at Yale University.   

Michele Brown

As the original executive director of Compeer Buffalo since its 1985 launch, Michelle Brown has overseen organizational growth to more than 300 active volunteers who provide one-to-one mentoring for children with emotional problems, peer friends for adults and seniors, group matches and events for wait-listed consumers. The success of Compeer in Erie County prompted the agency to incorporate locally, with the advisory board assuming fiduciary responsibilities. Before joining Compeer, Brown worked for the Lakeshore Mental Health Services of Buffalo and the Buffalo Restoration Society. She has a bachelor’s degree from State University College at Oswego and has completed graduate course work in therapeutic recreation at George Washington University

Christian Rummell, MPA

Mentorist Consulting provides targeted support, coaching and products for youth mentoring programs across the country. As its founder and director, Christian Rummell conducts coaching and quality assurance site visits with federal youth mentoring grant recipients; creates, designs and facilitates webinars summarizing research and effective program practices; writes e-newsletter articles, technical assistance blogs and briefs synthesizing best practices; provides training at national, regional and state conferences; and manages budget, project deliverables and client relationships with organizations such as Education NW, MENTOR, Dare Mighty Things, Inc., Washington Mentors, National Homebuilders Association and Youth Build. Previously, he was director of training and technical assistance at MENTOR and has worked for the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, the National Mentoring Center at Education Northwest and was an AmeriCorps member at the Dover Housing Authority in Delaware. Rummell received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in English, from Washington College, a master’s degree in public administration from Portland State University and is working on his doctorate degree in educational leadership, also at Portland State.

Amber Troupe

Amber Troupe is the director of Michigan's statewide Mentoring Partnership, Mentor Michigan, which is housed at the Michigan Community Service Commission.  She has been the lead staff person on this initiative for more than six years.  Before coming to the Commission, Troupe was an AmeriCorps member, coordinated a Girls on the Run program in West Michigan and supported a small community-based mentoring program.

Kristina Marshall

Since 1998, Kristina Marshall has been advancing Winning Futures to be a top-rate school-based mentoring program, using an award-winning life skills and goal setting curriculum. Marshall was the program’s first mentee in 1994, and after joining Winning Futures as a professional, she has raised $7.5 million; the program has affected more than 20,000 youth; she has personally mentored 42 teens; and Winning Futures has received Charter One’s Champions in Action Award in 2008, the Governor's Innovative Mentoring Program of the Year Award in 2007 and the Governor's Excellence In Practice Award for Career Education in 2005. Marshall has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Michigan Technological University, a master’s degree in educational leadership from Oakland University and is a graduate of Leadership Macomb and of the Michigan Nonprofit Association's Executive Leadership Fellows. She also co-authored two youth workbooks and two training handbooks published by Winning Futures. Marshall currently chairs the Mentor Michigan Providers Council and recently was appointed to the Mentor Michigan Leadership Council. 

Linda Peterson

Linda Peterson’s primary role as manager of training is to design, plan, manage and facilitate training and technical assistance to promote high-quality mentoring programs and beneficial mentoring relationships between adults and youth across the state of Massachusetts. Among her responsibilities, she is the lead trainer for program staff, mentors and mentee trainings and for introductory match meetings for workplace program partnership contracts. She keeps current on relevant program resources for mentoring program staff to assure that training materials and technical assistance are of the highest quality. Peterson also develops curricula to meet the needs of youth mentoring programs, as well as the standards set by Mass Mentoring Partnership’s Quality Membership Initiative and the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™, and she helps manage and conduct trainings and orientations for the AmeriCorps Ambassadors of Mentoring Program. Peterson has worked at the Institute for Responsive Education, Boston Public Schools and the Cambridge College Institute for Lifelong Learning. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications, a master’s degree in administrative studies and certification as an advanced facilitator/presenter from Boston College.

Marty Martinez

Marty Martinez oversees the vision, development and implementation of an array of services for youth development programs and mentoring agencies across Massachusetts, including oversight of the program accreditation process, training and technical assistance on program and organizational development, management of the volunteer mentor recruitment and referral process, and statewide implementation of the AmeriCorps program. He is Mass Mentoring’s program and organizational quality expert relative to the development and ongoing implementation and evaluation of a membership and accreditation program for youth mentoring and educational programs statewide to promote best practices in the field. Martinez works with Mass Mentoring’s president/CEO and management team to provide vision and leadership in financial resource development, organizational strategies to meet stated goals, partnership development with key stakeholders and action planning to continue growth and success of the agency. Previously, he has worked with the Boston AIDS Consortium, Mount Auburn Hospital and the City of Somerville, MA. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in urban and social policy and planning from Tufts University.

Joellen Gonder-Spacek

As the founding executive director since 1994, Joellen Gonder-Spacek has led the strategic direction of one of the original Mentoring Partnershipsin the United States. She has provided leadership to the mentoring movement and brought together a multitude of community leaders around the issue of quality mentoring for children, youth and families in Minnesota. The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota has recruited 44,000 mentors, provided training to more than 10,000 mentors and 300 mentor organizations and developed an award-winning multimedia public education to action campaign. Gonder-Spacek has experience in resource development, community mobilization, partnership development, strategic planning, marketing communications and social entrepreneurism.  

Marc Wheeler

In addition to his work at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Marc Wheeler holds an appointment as an adjunct research associate at Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute for Human Services. He worked for eight years as an executive at a Big Brothers Big Sisters agency in Alaska, and he is a former Distinguished Fellow of the William T. Grant Foundation. His background also includes five years of service in elected municipal government. Wheeler received his bachelor’s degree in history and English from Rice University.  

Renée Spencer

Renée Spencer received her master’s degree of science in social work from the University of Texas and her doctorate in human development and psychology from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Her research interests include youth mentoring, adolescent development and gender. She is a recipient of a William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award to carry out a mixed-methods longitudinal study of youth mentoring relationships in community and school-based programs. She has published a number of articles and book chapters on youth mentoring, including “Understanding the Mentoring Process between Adolescents and Adults,” published in Youth & Society(2005). Recent publications also include “’It’s Not What I Expected’: A Qualitative Study of Youth Mentoring Relationship Failures,” published in the Journal of Adolescent Research(2007) and “’First, Do No Harm’: A Call for Ethical Guidelines in Youth Mentoring” (with Jean Rhodes and Belle Liang), published in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (2009). Spencer is a member of MENTOR’s Research and Policy Council, the Mass Mentoring Partnership’s Quality-Based Membership Initiative Advisory Committee and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s Research Advisory Council.

Tom Keller

In addition to his emphasis on mentoring within his teaching position, Tom Keller is director of the Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring and the Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research at Portland State. His research investigates the development and influence of mentoring relationships, the mental health and well-being of youth exiting foster care and community-based youth development programs. His projects have been funded by NIMH, OJJDP, the W.T. Grant Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. He serves on boards and committees for several mentoring organizations, including MENTOR’s Research and Policy Council, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s Research Advisory Council, Friends of the Children and Oregon Mentors. Before earning his doctorate degree at the University of Washington, Keller worked for several years with a Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter in Seattle as a caseworker, supervisor and program director.

Michael Karcher

As professor of counseling, Michael Karcher coordinates the School Counseling Training Program. He conducts research on school-based and cross-age peer mentoring, as well as on adolescents' school connectedness. With David L. DuBois, Karcher co-edited the Handbook of Youth Mentoring(second edition coming in 2012). With Michael Nakkula, he co-edited Play, Talk, Learn: Promising Practices in Youth Mentoring. He is currently co-authoring a book on school-based mentoring with Carla Herrera tentatively titled Athena's Prescription: When Mentors Enter Schoolsand authored the Cross-age Mentoring Program (CAMP) for Children with Adolescent Mentors materials (curriculum, training guide, manuals) available from Education Northwest. Karcher conducted one of the first large-scale school-based mentoring studies, the Study of Mentoring in the Learning Environment (SMILE, 2003-2006), funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, which focused on the effects of adult-with-youth mentoring for Latino youth. He also served on the research advisory committees for the studies of school-based mentoring conducted by Big Brothers Big Sisters and the U.S. Department of Education. Karcher is on the editorial board for five national journals and the research and advisory boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, MENTOR and Mentors, Inc. He received a doctorate degree in human development and psychology from Harvard University and a doctorate degree in counseling psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Keoki Hansen

Keoki Hansen has been with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for 12 years, focusing most recently on research in school-based mentoring. Before joining the organization, she taught research methods and statistics at Boston College and Pine Manor College. She has been a consultant for the U.S. Army and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. Hansen earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Castleton State College, graduating Summa Cum Laude with honors, and has her master’s degree in cognitive psychology from Boston College. She is a member of the National Assembly Research Council, the American Evaluation Association and the National Collaboration for Youth Research Group.

Timothy A. Cavell, Ph.D.

Timothy A. Cavell’s work has focused on parent- and mentor-based interventions for children who are highly aggressive or chronically bullied and thus at risk for later delinquency, substance abuse or psychopathology. His research has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Health Resources & Services Administration, the Verizon Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. He has authored more than 50 journal articles and chapters, as well as two books: Working with Parents of Aggressive Children: A Practitioner’s Guide (2000), and Anger, Aggression, and Interventions for Interpersonal Violence(2006). Recent work has focused on the integration of youth mentoring and prevention science and, more specifically, on short-term, Lunch Buddy mentoring as a school-based intervention for children at risk.

Jean Rhodes

Jean Rhodes is the author of Stand by Me: The Risks and Rewards of Mentoring Today’s Youth(Harvard University Press) and is working on First Do No Harm: Ethics in Youth Mentoring(Harvard University Press). She completed her doctorate degree in clinical psychology at DePaul University and her clinical internship at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. Her interests include mentoring relationships, risk and protective factors in adolescent development, emerging adulthood, preventive interventions and the bridging of research, practice and policy. Rhodes’ research examines the development of adolescents and young adults with special attention to the role of nonparent adults. She is involved in a range of research projects addressing the role of formal and informal mentors in vulnerable groups, including children of prisoners, community college students, high school dropouts, adjudicated youth, and low-income children in after-school settings. Rhodes is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research and Community Action and a Distinguished Fellow of the William T. Grant Foundation. She also is a member of two John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation research networks: Transitions to Adulthood and Connected Learning.  Rhodes chairs MENTOR’s Research and Policy Council and is a member of the Board of Directors. She is on the Board of Trustees for Friends of the Children and the advisory boards of many mentoring and policy organizations. 

Sandra Lafleur

Sandra Lafleur leads and oversees Big Brothers Big Sisters’ focus on and efforts to be accountable for positive youth outcomes, including planning for and executing large-scale initiatives in areas such as program development; service delivery operations; child safety and youth protection; research and evaluation; community engagement and partnership development; and intentional service through Hispanic, Native American and African-American mentoring initiatives. Previously, Lafleur wasdirector of Program Development and associate director of Program Performance Management, which allowed her to work directly with affiliates across the network. She also led the Miami Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate as senior vice president of programs, overseeing the expansion of effective program services while developing innovative and sustainable partnerships with key community stakeholders. In addition, Lafleur taught courses at the University of Miami’s department of sociology. She earned a duel bachelor’s degree in sociology and history from the University of Miami and a master’s degree in sociology from Florida State University. She is a Big Sister in Miami and has volunteered for more than 20 years with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Hands on Miami and Guardian Ad Litem.  

Cindy Mesko

Cindy Mesko oversees the nationwide support to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s network of local affiliates and the research, development and delivery of the organization’s programs. Before her current position, she was vice-president of Agency Development. Mesko joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 2003 as director of Service Delivery Systems, where she led the development and implementation of an integrated service delivery system that included the AIM technology, a Service Delivery Model and performance management systems. Before joining Big Brother Big Sisters of America, she served for 18 years as the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho, leading the agency in sustained double-digit growth in children served and in revenue.

Rich Kapolka

Rich Kapolka has more than 35 years of experience in the public school system. He was a middle school math teacher and served as principal of Christiana and Seaford high schools. He also has worked for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware and as a grant writer in the Christina School District. He was the liaison between the Delaware Mentoring Council and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. Kapolka has been on numerous boards and is currently on the board of Communities In Schools of Delaware. He has been a lifetime mentor. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Delaware.

Janelle Bechdol

Iazia McTeer

After graduating from the University of Kansas with a double major in English and women’s studies, Iazia McTeer became an AmeriCorps VISTA member, completing her first year of service in Kansas City with the First Step Fund and her second year in Delaware as a mentor coordinator with the Delaware Mentoring Council and the Appoquinimink School District. Following this service, McTeer continued working with the Appoquinimink School District for an additional three years as the mentor coordinator.               

Robyn McLymont

For the last 15 years, Robyn McLymont has dedicated her career to serving youth. In her current job, she manages all aspects of the mentoring and life skills program, and with a staff of four program coordinators, provides training, guidance and support to mentors and youth participants. She oversees volunteer recruitment and community partnerships while also raising the visibility of the issues faced by foster youth as they transition into adulthood. Before joining Educate Tomorrow in 2011, McLymont was a program director at Options, a large not-for-profit in Los Angeles, where she led the Enrichment Program Division. There, she managed a multi-million dollar state and federally funded after-school enrichment program serving 1,400 students a day. She managed a staff of 75 by creating a program culture centered on high performance, caring and pride that resulted in doubling the number of students served and staff hired during her tenure. McLymont earned a degree in education from Alabama State University and was a teacher for several years.

Cheryl M. Christmas

Kendra B. Wells

Kendra Wells is a retired 4-H youth development specialist with 34 years of experience working with children, youth, volunteers and other youth development professionals. She currently provides leadership to the 4-H Military Partnership Project, including support for Operation: Military Kids and 4-H club development on military installations in Maryland and Europe. Additional experience includes developing programs designed to strengthen communities through collaboration, needs and assets assessment, citizen empowerment, youth and adult leadership development and program development. Wells has a bachelor’s degree in recreation and master’s degree in extension and continuing education, both from the University of Maryland College Park.

Carla Knapp

Carla Knapp is a member of the Penobscot Nation and has been chief professional officer of the Penobscot Nation Boys & Girls Club for 12 years. She serves on the Native American National Advisory Committee for Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) and is the 2007 recipient of the BGCA Service to Native American Youth Award. In Maine, she has served with the following: Governors Council of Exercise, Disproportionate Minority Contact, Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, and Native American Juvenile Justice Initiative. Knapp has been instrumental in developing a structured juvenile justice system within the Penobscot Tribe and in linking law enforcement with youth development programs throughout the state.

Michael Shader, Ph.D.

Michael Shader joined the staff at the OJJDP in 2001. Since then, he has been engaged in numerous juvenile justice research issues, including disproportionate minority contact (DMC), juvenile transfers to adult court, system responses to delinquency and mentoring. Along with other staff at OJJDP, he played a crucial role in developing the Strategic Enhancement to Mentoring Programs (SEMP) initiative, as well as the recent Best Practices for Mentoring research solicitations. Shader has a doctorate degree in sociology from Florida State University.   

Gwendolyn Williams

Gwen Williams is the lead staff and team leader for the Juvenile and Family Drug Court programs. She also has served as team leader and played a major role in developing and implementing the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) juvenile mentoring programs. During her tenure, Williams was a social science program specialist with the Drug Free Communities Support Program.   Before joining the Department of Justice, she was a consultant to the District of Columbia Housing Authority, providing guidance and technical assistance in organizational development to nonprofits serving public housing residents. She has an extensive background in providing training, guidance and technical assistance to community and faith-based organizations. At the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington, D.C., Williams directed a national program that provided grants, training and technical assistance to community and faith-based organizations across the country; she also helped develop a national training institute serving grassroots leaders, as well as a national model for a community-based grant programs.

Kellie J. Dressler

Kellie Dressler provides program oversight and management for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s mentoring initiatives; Tribal Youth program; Juvenile and Family Drug Court programs; Gang Prevention and Intervention programs; and Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws program. She has served in this capacity since the inauguration of President Obama. Before being in this position, Dressler was the deputy associate administrator in the Demonstration Programs Division, where she provided program management and program staff supervision. Previously, she was the Safe Schools program coordinator, providing overall coordination for the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a collaborative effort of the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice, providing funding to more than 200 schools and communities across the nation to promote healthy childhood development and prevent violence. Dressler has experience managing program evaluations and manages the national evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative.  

Jordan Abushawish

Jordan Abushawish plays an integral role in developing and implementing the organization’s lobbying strategy with Congress and the administration. Additionally, he tracks and analyzes federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives, and his legislative portfolio includes youth development and employments, family strengthening programs, health care reform and older workers. Abushawish also has experience developing and implementing national grassroots advocacy campaigns using web-based software and technology. Before joining Goodwill, he worked as a grassroots systems specialist at the American Health Care Association. A native Californian, he received his master's degree in public policy from Pepperdine University. 

Michael Wood

Michael Wood is responsible for leading the GoodGuides program grant and providing support to subgrantee program personnel. He also has responsibility for managing the data system and leading the development and delivery of training and coaching on youth mentoring, volunteer management and grants management effective practices.   

Donna Robinson

Donna Robinson has more than 19 years of experience delivering training and instructional design, most recently with Goodwill Industries International, where she is a senior training specialist and instructional designer, as well as the national program director for GoodGuides. Among her responsibilities, Robinson oversees a $19.1 million budget and local subgrantee spending and performance; developed the curriculum for staff and participant training to support youth mentoring program implemented in 36 states and 58 locations nationwide; designed and implemented online train-the-trainer program for staff to train mentors;  developed an evaluation method to ensure that training meets intended grant outcomes;  and created a youth mentoring e-toolkit as well as continuous learning opportunities, such as webinars. She also is a curriculum designer and adjunct professor for Strayer University and has worked at Catholic Community Services, the Consortium for Child Welfare, Western Washington University, the Child Welfare Institute. She has a master’s degree in human relations from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate degree in training and performance improvement from Capella University. 

Liz Warner

Liz Warner leads the United Way of Northern New Jersey Youth Empowerment Alliance.  She joined the United Way team in 2007 and has led the Alliance's work to help Morris County's children navigate their increasingly complex world. Previously, she held a variety of not-for-profit leadership roles in the United Kingdom, including chair and founder of the Dover Beck Trust and chair of the largest branch of the National Childbirth Trust. Warner also has been involved in numerous fund-raising initiatives. Before tackling the nonprofit world, she spent 16 years working for publishing giants such as Random House, McGraw Hill and Prentice Hall. She culminated her publishing career as managing director of W.H. Freeman Ltd. and global sales director for Macmillan Press. In addition to her work on the United Way Youth Empowerment Alliance, Warner is a motivational speaker, often sharing the icy tale of her 10-day unsupported trek to the North Pole in 2005 to illustrate the power of commitment and trust in oneself.

Christy Stuber

Michelle Roers, LSW, DRCC

In her position, Michelle Roers develops and implements strategic plans and oversees the development and expansion of signature coalitions to address community needs in United Way’s three focus areas of health, income and education. This builds on successful programs that she and her team developed to engage a broad coalition of partners to address gaps in services and strengthen community services systems. Previously, Roers was an agent for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, developing and coordinating outreach and community education programs focusing on crime prevention, interpersonal violence and substance abuse. Roers is a licensed social worker and began her career as a forensic social worker in the Juvenile Rights Division of The Legal Aid Society in New York City. She also was a victim advocate in Morris County and coordinator of the Legal Advocacy Program at Jersey Battered Women’s Service, Inc.  

Damon T. Bethea, MA

Damon Bethea joined the United Way of Allegheny County in 2010 as the mentoring project director for the award-winning Be A 6^th Grade Mentor program (a career-focused mentoring program serving nearly 400 middle school students in eight Pittsburgh public schools). He has experience managing and coordinating effective school-based mentoring programs for middle and high school students in southwestern Pennsylvania. Before joining the United Way, he worked with the World-Class Industrial Network, a Pittsburgh-based workforce and economic development consulting firm. Bethea also has more than 10 years of work expertise with national and local workforce and economic development organizations, including the Aspen Institute, Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Hill House Association and Duquesne University’s Career Literacy for the Advancement of All Youth program. He has a master’s degree in social and public policy from Duquesne University and a bachelor’s degree in contemporary American history from Allegheny College.

Peter Hahn

Peter Hahn has been with United Way Worldwide, the leadership organization for the largest charity in the world, for his entire career. As vice president of national engagement, he leads United Way's campaign to cut the high school drop-out rate in the U.S.  Previously, he was United Way's global creative director. During that time, he led efforts to update and improve United Way's brand identity and brand architecture systems and launched the highly-successful LIVE UNITED campaign in the United States and Latin America. Hahn earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business at Georgetown University and is an adjunct professor of Internet marketing at George Mason University.