Presenters

Pacific Region National Service Conference Presenter Biographies

Keynotes

Bill Basl, Director of AmeriCorps - Corporation for National and Community Service
William C. Basl is the Director of AmeriCorps State and National at the Corporation for National and Community Service. Bill became the Director of AmeriCorps following an 18-year tenure as the Executive Director of the Washington Commission for National and Community Service. He notes that his passion lies with “developing new strategies where service and volunteerism can be recognized as major efforts that bring our country together,” and his extensive list of accomplishments bears out that philosophy. Bill began his national service career as a VISTA volunteer in 1970-1971 helping migrant farm workers in eastern Washington establish their own businesses. He continued as a VISTA leader in 1971-1972 where he helped form a regional service network. He continued to make his mark in the national service movement by founding the Washington Service Corps in 1983, the first state-wide youth service initiative in the nation designed to address priority local education and human service needs, and helped develop national service legislation. Bill also founded the nation's first veterans' corps and is noted for establishing a collaborative regional network to provide AmeriCorps training across the Pacific Northwest. He is a past chair and board member of the American Association of State Service Commissions and was selected by the White House as a Champion of Change – Service Innovator in June 2011. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Bill received a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island.

Ralph Becker, Mayor - Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is the popular, two-term Mayor of Utah’s Capital City. He was elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011 by a wide margin. A visible and highly regarded national leader among U.S. mayors, Mayor Becker currently serves as President of the National League of Cities and recently completed work as one of a small group of municipal leaders on the White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience. As Mayor, he has been an advocate for expanding Salt Lake City’s mobility and transportation options, sustainability, equality, social justice and enhancing the artistic and cultural life of the City. During the great recession (which began the year he took office) Mayor Becker led Salt Lake City government in addressing the largest budget gap in the City’s history without raising taxes, reducing core City services or implementing significant layoffs. Mayor Becker’s administration has also built a reputation for its strong emphasis on social justice, human rights and achieved landmark legislation aimed at protecting the rights of the City’s LGBT community. During his time in office, Mayor Becker has led Salt Lake City in the passing of Utah’s first non-discrimination ordinance and created the state’s first mutual commitment registry, to recognize and extend benefits to domestic partners. In December 2013, when gay marriage briefly became legal in Utah, Mayor Becker enthusiastically officiated for 35 couples who were married on the first day. And, in October 2014, helped lead the celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court action that resulted in legalizing same-sex marriage in Utah for the foreseeable future. Before serving as the chief executive of Salt Lake City, Ralph was a member of the Utah State House of Representatives, highlighted by five years as the House Democratic Leader. Mayor Becker is currently the President of the National League of Cities, where he advocates on behalf of more than 19,000 local governments. Away from work, Mayor Becker is an avid outdoorsman who seeks as much time in Utah’s wildlands as he can find. He and his wife Kate can often be found backcountry skiing, hiking, camping and running rivers.

Kaira Esgate, Former CEO - Reimagining Service and Staff -America's Service Commissions
Kaira Esgate serves as a member of the America’s Service Commissions (ASC) team. Prior to her current position, Kaira served as the executive director of Reimagining Service, a national multi-sector coalition dedicated to converting good intentions into greater impact through effective volunteer engagement strategies. With Reimagining Service, Kaira led efforts to bring new data and insights to volunteering and developed the nationally-recognized nonprofit service enterprise model. During her tenure with CaliforniaVolunteers, the state service commission in California, Kaira served in a variety of roles, including as Chief of Staff to the nation's first Cabinet-level Secretary of Service and Volunteering.

Julie Fisher, Executive Director of Department of Heritage Arts - State of Utah

Natalie Gochnour, Associate Dean of David Eccles School of Business - The University of Utah

Rich McKeown, Author, Finding Allies, Building Alliances – 8 Elements that Bring and Keep People Together.
Rich McKeown (Ma–key-un) is the CEO of Leavitt Partners. He co-founded Leavitt Partners with former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, EPA Administrator and Governor Michael O. Leavitt. McKeown leads a group of experienced professionals who help their clients understand and navigate value driven health care. In previous roles he served as Chief of Staff for Michael O. Leavitt at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At HHS, he directed and coordinated the activities of the largest department in the federal government, serving as the Secretary’s day-to-day manager for a department that employed 67,000 people and had an annual budget in excess of 840-billion dollars. From November 2003 until January 2005, Mr. McKeown served as Senior Counselor and Chief of Staff to Administrator Leavitt at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Rich co-authored with Gov. Leavitt the recently released and highly acclaimed book entitled Finding Allies, Building Alliances – 8 Elements that Bring and Keep People Together. Prior to his public service in Washington, D.C., Rich served as Chief of Staff to Gov. Mike Leavitt and as Commissioner of the Utah State Tax Commission. His background is as a private practice lawyer and educator.

Shirley Sagawa, Co-Founder - Sagawa /Jospin Consulting Firm
Shirley Sagawa is best known for her founding role in the creation of AmeriCorps. Currently, she is leading the development of the Service Year exchange, an online community to grow and deepen the impact of full-time, full-year service opportunities, for the Franklin Project and the National Conference on Citizenship. She also serves as senior policy advisor to America Forward, an initiative of New Profit connecting policymakers with the work of social innovators. Co-founder of the sagawa/jospin consulting firm, she is also a fellow with the Center for American Progress, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. Sagawa served as a presidential appointee in the first Bush and Clinton Administrations. As Deputy Chief of Staff to First Lady Hillary Clinton, she advised the First Lady on domestic policy. Sagawa was instrumental to the drafting and passage of legislation creating the Corporation for National and Community Service and AmeriCorps, and served as the founding managing director of the Corporation. She began her career as the Chief Counsel for Youth Policy for the Senate Labor Committee, where she negotiated and drafted the National and Community Service Act, served as senior counsel to the National Women’s Law Center, and was the founding Executive Director of the Learning First Alliance. She is author of The American Way to Change, (Jossey-Bass 2010), describing how service can be a breakthrough strategy for change, The Charismatic Organization, (Jossey-Bass 2008) offering insights into building strong, effective, and well-resourced nonprofit organizations, and Common Interest, Common Good: Creating Value through Business and Social Sector Partnerships (Harvard Business School Press 2001). Sagawa serves as a Trustee for City Year, on the boards of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, the Public Welfare Foundation, and the National Women’s Law Center. Sagawa is a graduate of Smith College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School.

Wendy Spencer, CEO - Corporation for National and Community Service
On April 9, 2012, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Wendy Spencer to serve as CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Under her leadership, CNCS has launched new partnerships, including FEMA Corps, School Turnaround AmeriCorps, STEM AmeriCorps, VetSuccess AmeriCorps, justice AmeriCorps, and Financial Opportunity Corps; increased the agency’s focus on veterans and military families; and overseen the national response to a number of severe disasters. Her efforts to engage elected officials include creating the annual Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service where 1760 Mayors express their appreciation for Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and volunteerism in general. Spencer’s management career spans 32 years and includes leadership roles in government, non-profit, and private sectors. She has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations. Prior to coming to Washington, D.C., she served as the CEO of the Florida Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism where she connected National Service and volunteer strategies to meet state prioritized needs, as well as, coordinated volunteer efforts in response to disasters, including eight record-breaking storms in 2004-2005. She also served as the Director of the Florida Park Service, where she oversaw natural resource and recreational management for 158 state parks spanning 600,000 acres. Other organizations Spencer has served professional roles in include United Way, Chamber of Commerce, banking, insurance, industry and legislative. Among other honors, Spencer has received the prestigious Governor’s Award from Gov. Jeb Bush for her disaster work.

Workshop Presenters

Kim Allman, Director - Office of Government Relations at the Corporation for National and Community Service
Kim Allman serves as the Director of the Office of Government Relations at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in Washington, D.C. Appointed by the Obama Administration in 2010, Kim leads the efforts with Congress, States and Local Governments for CNCS including the highly successful Mayors Days. In 2014, Kim was awarded the CEO’s Team Award for Excellence for her work on Mayors Day when CNCS set a record for garnering the largest number of Mayors serving around a single issue – service and volunteerism- in a single day. Prior to CNCS, Kim ran her own successful consulting business working with movie studios, record companies and non profits including, Rosie O’Donnell’s For All Kids Foundation on public policy strategies. Kim is a nationally recognized leader of state legislative programs having run the fifty-state efforts for the domestic music industry at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and TechAmerica, the largest trade association representing the technology industry. Kim worked on the Hill as a Press Secretary for Rep. Louise Slaugher (D-NY) and was a lobbyist for the former MCIWorldCom. She is a native of the Great State of Michigan where she served as senior staff for the Senate Democratic Caucus. She lives in Washington, DC and has little two boys.

Alan Bachman, Jewish Congregation - Kol Ami

Renee Bade, Program Manager- Idaho State Commission
Renee is the Program Manager for Serve Idaho, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism. In addition to promoting volunteerism and National Service throughout the state, she also administers the AmeriCorps grants in Idaho. Renee received her B.S. in Political Science and Criminal Justice from the University of Idaho, and her M.P.A. from Boise State University. Outside of work she is a member of the Boise Centennial Rotary club, and enjoys running, white water rafting, and skiing with her husband.

Barb Brady, FGP Director - FGP Montana
Barb Brady has been with the Foster Grandparent Program for 15 years, currently as Program Director with the St. Vincent Healthcare FGP in Billings, MT and formerly as FGP supervisor with the DE State Office of Volunteerism. Her service area covers both urban, rural, and frontier service areas, as well as three Indian Reservations. Originally from South Dakota, she has a BA from Black Hills State University.

Nick Brancato, Program Director - Nevada Conservation Corps, The Great Basin Institute.
Nick Brancato is the current director of the Nevada Conservation Corps. Nick has been engaged in National Service as a member, supervisor, and program manager. He has dealt with many volunteer and member challenges in these roles and has a skillset to help people be successful in their assigned roles. Nick has worked to develop strong position descriptions for his very large program (150+ members) that empower his crew leaders, while setting clear boundaries for differentiating leader roles from management roles.

Rachel Manuel Bruns, Deputy Director, Programming and Operations - America's Service Commissions
Rachel Manuel Bruns is an advocate for national service and volunteering at the state and national levels with the roles of Deputy Director at America's Service Commissions and Strategy & Development Officer of the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service. Previous roles include Director of Volunteer Wisconsin and Executive Director of Iowa Campus Compact. Rachel is a graduate of Drake University (MPA, AS, JMC) and actively involved in her community volunteering with organizations including Junior League of Des Moines, YNPN Des Moines, Furry Friends Refuge, Central Iowa Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Phi, and Children and Family Urban Movement.

David Conine, Utah RD State Director – USDA Utah
Dave Conine was appointed as the Utah Rural Development Director in 2009. He has been involved in housing and community development work with nonprofits, state and local governments and his own consulting practice for nearly forty years. he began his academic work as an architecture student at the Cooper Union in New York City. He returned to the West and obtained degrees in fine arts and geology at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Dave did his graduate work in urban and regional planning at the University of Utah.

Mike Cottam, Principal - Bee Sharp Education
Mike Cottam is married to one of the world’s greatest husband trainers, is called “Dad” by five terrific adult children and called “Gimpa” by five six delightful grandchildren. He is a retired public educator with experience as a music teacher, counselor and prevention specialist He and his wife, Stephanie, own Bee Sharp Communications, LLC. Mike has worked with youth and adults for 40 years as a counselor, group facilitator, grief recovery facilitator, music clinician, keynote speaker and event coordinator. Magic, balloon art and humor frequently pepper his workshops, keynotes and trainings.

Jared Covili, Trainer - Utah Education Network
Jared Covili specializes in teaching strategies for classroom integration of technology such as Google Tools, geospatial learning, web page design, and digital devices. Jared's background is in secondary education where he was a Language Arts teacher at the secondary level. Jared received his Bachelors degree in English and his Masters degree in Instructional Design and Educational Technology from the University of Utah. Besides his work at UEN, Jared is also an adjunct faculty member of the College of Education at the University of Utah, where he teaches technology integration classes to undergraduate students. Jared served as the president of Utah Coalition for Educational Technology for 2011-2012 and currently serves on the UCET board. In 2012, Cowrin Press published Jared's first book, Going Google: Powerful Tools for 21st Century Learning.

Rick Crawford, Former State Office Director – Corporation for National and Community Service Utah State Office
Richard, "Rick" Crawford was born and raised in the Chicago Illinois area. His education includes a B.S. in Sociology from Brigham Young University, Masters in Educational Administration from Boston University, and a Doctorate in Counseling & Guidance Administration from BYU. Rick served 28 years (4 active duty, 24 in the reserves) in the U.S. Army retiring as a Lt. Colonel. He has also spent over 35 years working in the field of Service and Volunteerism to include: Salt Lake County RSVP Director, State Program Officer with the Federal ACTION Agency, State Director for ACTION/Corporation for National and Community service (Federal CNCS) with the last 7 years in service as the Pacific Area Manager for CNCS. In the six plus years since his retirement, Rick has travelled extensively including 18 months in Italy as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Rick lives in Draper Utah with his wife of 46 years, Janet, enjoying time with their 26 grandchildren.

Bill Crimm, Sr. VP, Collective Impact - United Way of Salt Lake
Bill Crim is the Senior Vice President of Collective Impact and Public Policy for United Way of Salt Lake. He has worked for over 22 years on issues related to economic opportunity, health care, education and poverty – first as a research fellow for the Coalition on Human Needs in Washington, D.C. and then as a researcher, policy analyst, community organizer, lobbyist, and executive director for Utah Issues. Bill has been with United Way of Salt Lake since 2004 and currently leads United Way of Salt Lake’s community transformation initiatives – developing and supporting collective impact cradle-to-career collaborations in six communities along with statewide public policy advocacy efforts. In 2013, Bill helped facilitate the first “pay for success” transaction for early childhood education, helping make high-quality preschool available to 600 additional low-income children in several communities in Utah.He has been appointed by Utah’s Governor to serve on the Utah State Health Data Committee, the Utah State Homeless Coordinating Committee, and the Utah Commission on Volunteers, and previously served on the Utah State Workforce Investment Board.

Amy Dailey, Pacific Cluster Area Manager - CNCS
Amy Dailey has over twenty-five years of experience in domestic and international program development and volunteer management. From serving as a Girl Scout mascot at age two to serving in the US Peace Corps in Tunisia, North Africa as a special education teacher, service is in her blood! Amy entered public service as a Recruitment Coordinator in the Los Angeles Regional Peace Corps Office in 1993 where she as a recruitment coordinators until joining the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in 1997 working in the California State Office. In 2006, she accepted the position as State Program Director for Oregon and managed a budget of over $5 million dollars in federal funding for the Senior Corps and AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) programs and two program specialists as well as serving as Ex-Officio to partners at Oregon Volunteers! Commission on Service. In 2013, Amy was selected as the Pacific Cluster Area Manager and now serves as the Pacific's leadership liaison to CNCS Headquarter offices in Washington, DC. Amy manages the nine State Program Directors south from Montana over to Utah, down to California and west to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.

Sean Damitz, Program Director - USU Conservation Corps
Sean Damitz is the director of the Utah State University Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning that oversees Aggie Blue Bikes, Education Outreach, Service-Learning, Student Sustainability Office, Utah Conservation Corps, and Val R. Christensen Service Center. Sean proudly served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Utah Campus Compact from 1998-2000. Sean is a year-round bike commuter and enjoys spending time with his family in Utah’s outdoor splendor.

Jack Forinash, Principal – Epicenter - USDA Utah
Jack Forinash is one of the founders of the Epicenter. Soon after completion of his architecture studies at Auburn University and the University's Rural Studio he joined VISTA and landed in Green River, Utah. Jack and a couple of his Epicenter colleagues have remained in Green River well after their VISTA service ended. Today they continue providing visionary solutions to the community's economic issues, dilapidated housing and chronic poverty.

Carla Ganiel, Senior Program and Project Specialist AmeriCorps State/National – Corporation for National and Community Service
Carla Ganiel is a Senior Program and Project Specialist in AmeriCorps State and National (ASN), where she focuses on performance management and helping grantees use performance measurement data and evaluation results to improve their programs. Carla joined the ASN team in 2009, after completing two terms of AmeriCorps service, managing a variety of national service programs, and serving on the Maine Commission for Community Service. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and management from the University of Southern Maine, where her capstone project focused on developing performance measures for RSVP meal distribution programs

Kinza Ghaznavi, Grants Management Specialist – Corporation for National and Community Service
Kinza Ghaznavi has been with CNCS for five years. She first joined in 2010, as a program officer with a portfolio of both state commissions and national directs. Since 2011, she is serving as CNCS’ National Service Criminal History Check (NSCHC) expert. Prior to joining CNCS, Kinza was the lead program officer of the youth program at Religions for Peace - International in New York City. Her commitment to service spans both the domestic and international platform.

Lori Giovannoni, Director of Professional Development - Department of Children and Family Services
Lori is an award-winning speaker, author and businesswoman. Her clients include small businesses, as well as Fortune 500 companies and departments within federal, state and city governments. Lori’s contributions as a volunteer in her community have earned her many awards, including the Athena Award. As the Dean of Executive Women International’s Academy of Leadership, Lori has designed and developed all the courses that comprise the Academy of Leadership. Lori has the unique ability to deliver insight and wisdom in a way few others possess. She is viewed as a visionary within the professional development field and has a keen ability to assist others to be the best they can be.

Lisa Hammon, Volunteer and Community Engagement Director – United Way of Utah County
As the Volunteer and Community Engagement Director at United Way of Utah County, one of Lisa's major responsibilities is the supervision of VISTA project including 25 VISTA's and 7 sites. In 2010, she started as a VISTA with United Way and continued as a full-time employee after her year was completed. During her service, she received the VISTA of the year award. Now as the supervisor, she enjoys helping to make the VISTA's feel confident in their specific roles and responsibilities. She graduated from BYU and immediately moved abroad to study international NGO's, visiting them in 4 countries and participating in research done in Burma. Although there was much work to be done abroad, it was easy to see that there was also much need in communities and families here in America. She loves the nonprofit world, particularly being able to meet so many who are so passionate about making the world a better place.

Mary Hegel, AmeriCorps Program Manager - Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest
Mary Hegel is the AmeriCorps Program Manager at Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) Northwest - a National Direct AmeriCorps program since August 2010. Mary has devoted the past decade of her service and work years to support efforts that foster community engagement. She has taken on various roles in volunteer coordination and program management and is grounded in the northwest. She originally hails from Montana and served with JVC Northwest in Alaska and Oregon 2005-2007. She obtained her current position in fall of 2012, after completing a master's degree in social work from Washington University in St. Louis.

Bill Hulterstrom, President - United Way of Utah County
Bill Hulterstrom has been helping individuals and families improve their communities throughout North America and overseas for more than 30 years. Bill began his career working at the Utah Special Olympics, where he served as project director. He soon accepted a position at United Way of Utah County where, after only two years, he was promoted to president and CEO—a position he continues to hold today. Bill has distinguished himself as a recognized leader and trainer in the areas of volunteering, board governance, non-profit leadership, and community building. Over the past 30 years, he has conducted hundreds of workshops and trained or consulted with thousands of individuals in over 30 states and in Canada and Ghana. Bill has served as vice chair of America’s Service Commissions, first vice chair of the Utah Commission on Volunteers, and co-chair of the Utah County Homeless Coordinating Committee. Locally, he also serves on the boards of Hogle Zoo, Intermountain Healthcare, and Mountainland Head Start. He has also served as president of the board of Utah Directors of Volunteers and is former chairman of Mountainlands Family Health Center. Bill and his wife, Tammy, are the parents of two children and live in Provo, Utah.

Matt Johnson, Program Officer - Nevada State Commission
Matt Johnson is currently the Program Officer with Nevada Volunteers, Nevada's Commission on Service. Matt has been involved with volunteerism and National Service for many years including serving two terms as an AmeriCorps member, serving as the director of the largest AmeriCorps program in Nevada, serving as a specialist in the CNCS Nevada State Office, and having run several volunteer led youth development programs. Matt's experience has helped him gain an understanding of the importance of strong member/volunteer management and he believes that success in this realm starts with strong position descriptions and clear expectations.

Lara Jones, Program Director - Confluence Environmental Center
Lara Jones is a Program Director for the Confluence Environmental Center. Through twenty innovative partnerships with schools, community-based organizations and governments, the Confluence AmeriCorps Program addresses critical environmental and social justice issues in the Portland, OR region. Prior to Confluence, Lara worked at the Northwest Service Academy for eight years, managing its large Individual Placement program. Lara is an educator by trade and holds a degree in Early Childhood Education and Human Development. She is passionate about many things including empowering civically-minded leaders who will go on to steward the land and its natural resources in inclusive and equitable ways.

Eric Kindvall, Director of Programs and Operations - Washington Service Corps
Eric Kindvall is the Director of Programs and Operations with the Washington Service Corps, with 18 years of experience in state government supporting Human Resources with the Washington State Department of Corrections and Employment Security Department. His last 6 years have been supporting the management of three AmeriCorps*State competitive grants, placing over 700 members serving across Washington state. Service has been a fundamental part of his life having joined the Army National Guard early on, transitioning into active duty with the US Marine Corps. He continues serving today supporting AmeriCorps impact through effective grant management with the Washington Service Corps.

Kelly Larson, AmeriCorps Program Director - Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation
Kelly Larson is Program Director for the award-winning Parasol AmeriCorps Program in Incline Village, Nevada, currently in its 15th year. Kelly has lived in the North Lake Tahoe Region for two and half years where she has worked as a professional ski and snowboard instructor, watercraft inspector and in leadership capacities for youth. Kelly has a double major in Communication Studies and Environmental Science from the University of Montana in Missoula, MT. Upon graduating in 2009, Kelly served a year in AmeriCorps as Energy Conservation Outreach Specialist through the Portland State University (PSU) Campus Sustainability Office.

Jessamyn Luiz, AmeriCorps Program Officer - Oregon Volunteers
Jessamyn joined Oregon Volunteers in November 2012 and has worked to support the capacity, compliance and sustainability of AmeriCorps programs in Oregon ever since. She started her career in national service with Jumpstart as site manager in 1998 and continued as regional program director and executive director in the West and Midwest through 2005. She brings over a decade of experience using her passion for organization development and systems design to improve the compliance and outcomes of Head Start and other educational programs. Most recently, she served as Education Director for the Pueblo of Tesuque in New Mexico before relocating to Portland.

Rebecca Mason, Executive Director - Carbon County RSVP & Volunteer Center
Rebecca Mason has been the Executive Director for Carbon County RSVP & Volunteer Center for the last 15 years. She is also a member of the Utah Senior Service Corps Director’s Association and the Utah Volunteer Center Director’s Association. She has experience as an AmeriCorps VISTA member and leader; and is the Chair and co-creator of the Community Clothing Closet. Rebecca sits on the Regional Soroptimist International of Americas Board – a women’s service organization – overseeing 26 clubs and 856 members in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho; and has extensive experience in planning and conducting multi-day trainings. Rebecca believes that collaboration is your best tool for success in anything you do.

Larry Thomas Meade, Associate Program Director - NCCC
Larry Thomas Meade is an Assistant Program Director for the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) Pacific Region campus in Sacramento, California. He is responsible for program outreach and development in Southern California, Utah, and Alaska. Prior to joining the Corporation for National & Community Service, Larry worked at the Points of Light Foundation in Washington DC, the University of Maryland College Park, and The Ohio State University. Larry attending the University of Dayton for both undergraduate and graduate school. A proud AmeriCorps VISTA alum, Larry believes in the power and potential of service.

Ted Miller, Director of Office of External Affairs – Corporation for National and Community Service
Ted Miller serves as the chief of external affairs at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), a federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Social Innovation Fund. Ted and his team direct all online and digital platforms, manage partnerships with outside organizations, oversee media relations, and work with the White House to advance President Obama’s Call to Service priorities. They also oversee the MLK Day of Service and the September 11th Day of Service and Remembrance. Before joining CNCS in August 2012, Ted was the director of communications and online advocacy for NARAL Pro-Choice America. He also served as press secretary to former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and then-Rep. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. He worked as the regional communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2002; he also was a presidential appointee in the Clinton administration at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Ted has appeared on or been quoted in numerous media outlets, from the New York Times to NPR to MSNBC. Ted is a proud Jayhawk who holds a degree in journalism from the University of Kansas

Mike Moon, Assistant Director - Center for Community Engaged Learning at Weber State University
Mike Moon graduated from SUU with an M.Ed. in Education Administration where he first became involved in service-learning as a student. At SUU, he was a member of the Service Council for four years. Through his higher education career, he has worked for SUU, UVU and now works for WSU in the Center for Community Engaged Learning. His family of three lives in Ogden. As the Assistant Director in the CCEL, he oversees community partnerships, the student leadership Community Engaged Leaders program, the AmeriCorps program, student scholarships and awards, and International CEL initiatives.

Joel Moriyana
Joel was born and raised in a farming community in northern Utah. He and his wife, Carolyn, have four children and 13 grandchildren. He has worked for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City for 37 years. From 2007-2015, he served as the Church-Service Missionary Program director. He now provides support for the missionary and volunteer workforce in the Church’s welfare operations.

Jake Murakami, State Program Director – Corporation for National and Community Service Utah State Office
Jacob Murakami serves as the State Program Director for the Corporation for National and Community Service Utah State Office, which manages federal funding for the Senior Corps and AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) programs in the state. In this role, Jacob also serves as Ex-Officio Commissioner for UServeUtah, the Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism. Jacob joined CNCS as a State Program Specialist in 2002. Prior to joining CNCS, Jacob served as a VISTA in Salt Lake City, Utah with Salt Lake County Aging Services. He also served as a service-learning coordinator at the University of Utah’s Lowell Bennion Community Service Center. Jacob earned a Master of Science in Gerontology from the University of Utah.

Jen Ney, Managing Director – Voices for National Service
Jennifer Ney is the Vice President for Public Policy at City Year, an education focused, nonprofit organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time AmeriCorps service to help address the nation’s high school dropout crisis and turnaround low-performing schools. Jennifer oversees City Year’s congressional engagement strategies and is responsible for maintaining current knowledge of national service legislation and directing policy initiatives that expand and strengthen the nation’s volunteer sector. Jennifer provided technical support to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee, and negotiated new provisions authorized in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009, the largest expansion of national service in America since President Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression.

Alan Ormsby, State Director - AARP Utah
Alan Ormsby comes to AARP Utah with a strong background in leadership and advocacy for Utah's older adults and people with disabilities. His training is in law, with a focus on health care law, long-term care, home and community-based services, HIPAA, Medicare and Medicaid. Immediately prior to joining AARP in 2011, Alan served as the Director of the Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD,) leading Utah’s efforts to provide the best possible services for people with disabilities. Before serving as the DSPD Director, Alan was the Director of Aging and Adult Services at the State of Utah, and in this role was responsible for statewide home- and community-based services for Utahns 60 and over. In addition, he worked with the local Area Agencies on Aging, and was instrumental in drafting legislation to initiate Utah's Commission on Aging. Alan has served as a member on the Board of Utah Developmental Disabilities Council, Senator Orrin Hatch's Advisory Committee on People with Disabilities, and several long-term care policy groups. He also supervised Adult Protective Services, which investigates claims of abuse, neglect and exploitation involving persons who are disabled or elderly. Alan received his undergraduate degree from Southern Utah University and law degree from Quinnipiac University.

Steve Patty, Founder - Dialogues in Action
Steve Patty has dedicated his career to helping people rethink the development of people. He is passionate about national service and has provided training and led evaluation efforts with AmeriCorps programs in Iowa, Oregon and Washington. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Trinity in Chicago, IL and has been trained at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in Performance Measurement and Evaluation and The Art and Practice of Teaching Leadership. He is a former department chair at Multnomah University and former visiting professor and Associate Director of Doctoral Programs in business at the International University of Monaco. He is a published author and frequent public speaker.

Lloyd S. Pendleton , Director of Homeless Task Force - State of Utah, Department of Workforce Services, Division of Housing & Community Development
For nine years, Lloyd has been an advocate for the homeless. In 2004, as a loaned executive, he took the lead in writing and implementing the State of Utah’s Ten-Year Plan to end chronic homelessness. In 2006, Lloyd retired from his employment and went to work for the state as Director of the Homeless Task Force to continue implementing the Ten-Year Homeless Plan. Chronic homelessness has been reduced by 72% since 2005 and the state is on track to provide a housing opportunity for the remaining three hundred chronic homeless citizens. Lloyd is a graduate of Brigham Young University.

Delite Primus, Executive Director - Youth Garden Project
Delite Primus is the currently the Executive Director of the Youth Garden Project in Moab, UT. Prior to becoming the Executive Director, she served as the AmeriCorps Program Director for the Youth Garden Project from 2008-2012. Born and raised in Iowa, Delite started her career in the nonprofit sector at United Way of Central Iowa. She later served as an AmeriCorps Member at Habitat for Humanity in Minneapolis. Her experience fundraising and managing a volunteer program have been assets to leading the Youth Garden Project both with and without an AmeriCorps program.

Laura Rothlisberger, Program Officer – Corporation for National and Community Service Utah State Office
Laura joined the Utah State Office as a Program Officer in March 2013. Prior to that, she earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Brigham Young University. From 2008 to 2009, Laura served as a VISTA member at Montgomery College, a community college outside of Washington, DC. As a VISTA, she developed a program to engage at-risk, first generation public school students in service-learning with college students. Laura has also interned at the Environmental Protection Agency and worked as an international student advisor at Salt Lake Community College.

Peg Rosenberry, Director of Grants Management – Corporation for National and Community Service
Peg Rosenberry is the Director of CNCS’s Office of Grants Management and has been with the CNCS since its inception. Peg overseas the internal operations of the Office of Grants Management, which issues awards, manages grants, interprets regulation, and ensures the prudent stewardship of federal funds. Her wealth of national service and grants management expertise makes her an invaluable asset for strategic planning and policy development at CNCS.

Amy Salinas, Managing Partner, On3Learn
Amy Salinas has spent the last 24 years working in the fields of national service, volunteerism, community development, and youth development and leadership. Over the last 18 years, she has spent much of her career with national service programs, particularly AmeriCorps State, National and VISTA. Over these years, Amy has worked with organizations of varied size and scope to support their development, adherence to rules and regulations, and high quality programming for impact. In this work, she has monitored grantees, coached organizations to success, facilitated teams and strategic planning, developed curriculum, delivered trainings, and written grants and secured funding. Within national service, Amy started off as an AmeriCorps Member where she served in Arlington, Texas, worked for that same program, and worked for the Texas Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service as a Program Officer, Training Specialist, and Disability Inclusion Specialist. And for the last 10 years, Amy has worked as a consultant within the national service family. Recently, she has started her own business with 2 other national service experts called On3Learn where she and her co-owners are developing web based courses for the AmeriCorps field.

Gloria Skanchy, Program Director - Read. Graduate. Succeed
Dr. Gloria Skanchy is the program director of Read. Graduate. Succeed: A Governor/Mayor AmeriCorps Initiative which is currently in its ninth year of operation. She has 13 years of teaching experience in primary grades; a B.S. in elementary and early childhood education; a M.S. in special education where her thesis was the development and field test of a reading program for grades 1-2; and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. She was employed at the Utah School for the Deaf & Blind as the Curriculum, Professional Development, and Testing Director for seven years and also served as the Executive Director of the Northern Utah Curriculum Consortium - a partnership of 11 school districts. She enjoys reading – preferably in a beach chair near the water- and following college basketball especially in March.

Megan Smith, Program Director - RARE, Oregon AmeriCorps Program
Megan began exploring the rural west as a river guide. After several years on the river, she found herself with a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography and Sociology from Southern Oregon University and on her way to a graduate degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. It was time for some applied experience. Starting in fall 1994, Megan was in the first group of AmeriCorps volunteers. She spent a year in the McKenzie River Valley addressing rural community development through the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) Program. Since then, she has been on its staff.

Danielle Stamos, Director of PR and Marketing – Catholic Community Services of Utah
Danielle Stamos is Director of PR & Marketing for Catholic Community Services (CCS) of Utah. Danielle has worked with CCS for the past three years in raising better community awareness of those in need and how to help. CCS has ten programs all geared towards helping people reach self-sufficiency. The most well-known of the programs are the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall and Refugee Resettlement. Danielle has a BA in English and an MS in International Affairs from the University of Utah.

Ben Stoltenberg, Grants Management Specialist – Corporation for National and Community Service
Benjamin Stoltenberg joined CNCS in 2004 as a Program Assistant for the CEO, then as Program Officer in the MD/DE State office, and currently, Ben is a Grants Management Specialist at the FFMC in Philadelphia, overseeing Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, and Utah. From 2001 to 2004 he served as an AmeriCorps and VISTA volunteer with the Legal Aid Hawaii and with Harvard’s MLK Program. He has volunteered abroad as an EMT in Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Ghana, and most recently served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College in 2001.

Dr. Erwin Tan, Director of Senior Corps - Corporation for National and Community Service
Dr. Erwin J. Tan serves as Director of Senior Corps at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). In this capacity, Dr. Tan oversees the RSVP, Foster Grandparent (FGP) and Senior Companion (SCP) programs that engage adults age 55 and over in volunteer service in their communities.
A board certified Internist and Geriatrician, Dr. Tan previously served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he was an attending physician in the Division of Geriatric Medicine. He was also a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health. From 2003-2004, Dr. Tan was a White House Fellow serving as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Before coming to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, he was a member of the Bio Terrorism Working Group at the Department of Public Health in San Francisco and a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. Dr. Tan was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army. He received a BA from Brown University and graduated from New York University School of Medicine as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. While at Brown University, Dr. Tan participated in the Tougaloo Exchange program, spending a semester at this historically black college in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Tan was born in Indonesia and is a naturalized American citizen.

LeAnne Tolley, Registered Yoga Therapist, Center For Change
LeAnne Tolley has been working in the health and wellness industry for the past 20 years as a Certified Aerobics Instructor, Certified Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and Registered Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists. She graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in Business Management and Community Health and is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES). She is currently completing a Master of Science in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Bio-mechanic Rehabilitation. Her background in Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) has allowed LeAnne to incorporate her training in anatomy and physiology with her experience in the fitness industry to create a more holistic approach to health and wellness. As a Certified Health Education Specialist and Yoga Therapist, she has worked extensively in the area of functional wellbeing and performance enhancement. Her emphasis on anatomy and physiology within the practice of yoga and other forms of exercise creates a unique attention to body “language” which encourages students to acknowledge, understand, and give voice to what is going on inside. LeAnne currently works as a Yoga Therapist at The Center for Change, in Orem, Utah, implementing yoga, and other forms of movement, as a therapy for patients with eating disorders. The focus of this work is to help individuals create healthy, balanced lives through “functional fluidity” and “intuitive living”. She is also the author of the book “Just Let Go” and frequent guest speaker on such topics as diet and exercise, relaxation and meditation, body image issues, and overall health and wellness.

Mark Tuttle, Director Community & Interfaith Relations - LDS Church

Linda Walton, President – Walton Group, Inc.
Linda P. Walton, chaplain and business owner, volunteers with the Food and Care Coalition, American Red Cross, Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce and various interfaith boards at Utah Valley University. Experience as adjunct faculty at both BYU and UVU, she graduated from Utah State University and has an honorary doctorate from UVU. She is both accredited and a Fellow with the Public Relations Society of America. A resident of Highland, Linda and her husband, Brad, have been married for 38 years and have three granddaughters

Rikki Wheatley, Public School Partnership - VISTA Project
Rikki served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member and Leader with the Center for the School of the Future at Utah State University from 2004-2006. In 2007, Rikki became the PI and Project Director, re-naming the project the Public School Partnership to better suit the program’s focus. When I started school as an undergraduate student in psychology, I never would have dreamed that I would end up where I am today. Life sometimes takes us down roads we don't anticipate. My interest in people and the way biology and life experience combine to make us who we are led me into a degree in Psychology. Once I had a better understanding of people, my desire to help them increased and I found myself in graduate programs in Special Education and Applied Behavior Analysis. Through these disciplines my fundamental belief that all people are capable of learning in ways that improve and better their lives has been strengthened. Nonprofit and national service work provide the perfect platform for educating people in ways that improve not only their own lives, but the overall health of their communities. National service's focus on solutions that provide capacity for organizations and the people they serve ensure that these changes are sustainable, benefitting people for a lifetime. In this way, national service and nonprofit management end up being a perfect fit for my passions and life experience.

Todd Wolfenburg, Partner & President - The Summit Group
Todd Wolfenberg is the President and Partner of the Summit Group, a strategic marketing firm that is focused on growing businesses and increasing sales by helping companies tell their story. Prior to joining the TSG team, Wolfenberger has held senior marketing management positions with several Fortune 50 technology companies. Wolfenberg is actively involved with numerous professional and community organizations currently serving on the Board of Governors for the Salt Lake….

Pearl Wright, Vice President - Amber Gold Marketing
For over 20 years, Pearl has held leadership positions in both corporations and nonprofit organizations focusing on marketing and strategic planning. The unique combination of experience in both sectors provides unique insights benefiting nonprofit partners. Pearl is a Vice President at Amber Gold Marketing where she assists nonprofit organizations with marketing strategies. Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of a corporate foundation. Pearl holds a Master of Professional Communication from Westminster College and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Utah. Pearl is active in the community serving on a variety of committees and boards.