The NTEN community exhibits award-winning generosity and kindness.
Each year we honor a few of those outstanding community members (and organizations) with our annual awards. Learn more about our awardees and their amazing contributions to the nonprofit technology sector and our community.
2020 Awards
Lifetime Achievement

John Haydon
John Haydon was one of the most sought-after digital marketing experts for nonprofits and charities. He helped thousands of nonprofits realize their best marketing and fundraising results. The highlight reel includes: Helped Epic Change launched one of the very first fundraisers on Twitter; helped Komen Greater NYC increase their walkathon revenue by almost 33% in one year; helped the Ellie Fund win a national online fundraising contest with their very first fundraising event; helped Habitat for Humanity double their fundraising goal during a 24-hour giving day; and helped Go East, Young Dog raise over $200,000 in 10 days to save 70 dogs from being euthanized. In early 2020, the community lost John to cancer. His legacy for supporting nonprofits lives on in his last book that was published in March 2020, Donor Care.
Rob Stuart Memorial Award

Baltimore Ceasefire
The ultimate goal of Baltimore Ceasefire 365 is for everyone in the city to commit to zero murders. We are starting by calling ceasefire weekends, where we ask everyone to be peaceful and celebrate life. In doing the outreach for ceasefire weekends, residents are:
- helping each other get the resources they need in their lives
- having conversations with each other about how to handle conflict differently
- making commitments to one another to be non-violent in thoughts, words, and deeds, for AT LEAST the ceasefire weekend.
We know that there will come a time when everyone in Baltimore will honor that these are sacred weekends and will honor each ceasefire.
By agreeing to sacred weekends without murder, and by receiving the resources needed to help us avoid violent encounters, we all will eventually agree to honor the sacredness of EVERY day and put an end to murder.
Throughout the year, this movement serves as a hub for organizations and citizens to support one another, work together, and share resources with the goal of seeing an end to murder in Baltimore City.
NTEN Award

Aki Shibuya
Aki Shibuya is the Operations & Membership Manager at WA Women’s Foundation, a collective of informed women grantmakers who together influence community transformation. In her role, Aki is responsible for the Foundation’s member donors, database, communications, and technology. Previously, she fulfilled a variety of roles at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), a national membership organization dedicated to expanding and mobilizing philanthropic and community resources for underserved AAPI communities to build a more just and equitable society. She also taught English at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and at one point ran one of the largest Crocodile Hunter fansites on the Internet (Simply Croc Hunter). In Seattle, Aki is an active member of Social Justice Fund, sits on the steering committees of Seattle’s Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) and AAPIP chapters, puts on socials with the Grinnell College Puget Sound Alumni Regional Planning Committee, and helps plan Asian Counseling and Referral Services’ annual Walk for Rice event. She has also transcribed historical records to add to Densho’s online archive of documents concerning the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Aki holds a BA with Honors in History from Grinnell College, and an MA with Distinction in South East Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
2019 Awards
Lifetime Achievement

Shireen Mitchell
Shireen Mitchell is an award winning technological woman of color, founder, author, speaker, social entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, advocate, diversity analyst, and a political, digital & social strategist.
She is a native New Yorker playing video games, designing BBS boards and gopher sites prior to the Web going world wide. As an early adopter and one of the few women of color web designers in the early 90′s, she’s been involved with tech and social networks for over 30 years.
Shireen is a serial founder. Digital Sisters/Sistas Inc. is the first organization to focus on women and girls of color in tech and online access. She created the first women of color web multimedia management firm (MHG). She founded Stop Online Violence Against Women (SOVAW) a project to address online threats against women particularly women who face both gender-based and racially charged threats of violence. She is co-founder of Nonprofit 2.0 and Feminism 2.0 conferences. Feminism 2.0 is the conference that jump-started traditional women’s organizations to join in using social media for organizing and the online outreach you see today.
Rob Stuart Memorial Award

We R Native
We are a comprehensive health resource for Native youth, by Native youth, providing content and stories about the topics that matter most to them. We strive to promote holistic health and positive growth in our local communities and nation at large.
NTEN Award

Emilio Arocho
Emilio Arocho operates at the intersection of technology, business strategy, and mission. For over a decade he has activated advocacy organizations and associations to do more with data and rapidly improve their business systems, often at tremendous cost savings. As a proud contributor to esteemed organizations including the NTEN and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Emilio strives to develop and support a nonprofit sector that is equitable, diverse, and empowered to make the world a better place. He currently serves as Director of Technology and Digital Services at the National Association for Healthcare Quality in Chicago, Illinois.
NTENny Awards

Ariel Jensen-Vargas
After completing her Masters in Public Administration at Baruch and moving from NYC to Vermont in July, Ariel Jensen-Vargas is seeking a way to serve her local, national and global community through paid employment. Having founded an NTEN Tech Club in Burlington, Vermont, Ariel has also received her NTEN Nonprofit Digital Certificate and has served as an online community organizer. Currently, Jensen-Vargas is volunteering with Mentor Vermont, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the Junior League of Champlain Valley, the Red Cross, and on the board of the YWCA.

Heidi Ketroser Massey
Heidi Massey is a community builder and passionate connector committed to helping build a better world—one that works for all of us. Heidi has worked for or with nonprofit organizations for 35 years. She spent the majority of that time working on educational and social justice programming for youth and families. Heidi is the founder of CommunityConnective, working with nonprofits and small businesses on Google Ads and Google Analytics. Many of her clients are recipients of Google’s Ad Grants program, receiving $10,000 per month in free Google ads. As a believer that nonprofits should also benefit from advances in affordability and accessibility in technology, Heidi created the Chicago NTEN monthly lunch ‘n learn, for nonprofit professionals. And she is a faculty member for NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate program, providing training on digital marketing campaigns. In the past few years, Heidi has also added racial equity work to her consulting portfolio and encourages organizations to do strategic planning, capacity building, and leadership development through a racial equity lens. In 2018, Heidi was a part of the first year of Chicago United for Equity’s Racial Equity Fellowship, where the focus was utilizing a Racial Equity Impact Assessment on policy decisions in government and organizations. She also trained as a racial healing circle facilitator as a part of Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation in Chicago. Heidi is one of three Co-Creators of the first-ever Envisioning Equity: Strategic Planning for Inclusive Organizations, a conference to address systemic racism in organizations, and is busily working on year two of the conference with the rest of the team.

Kyle O’Donnell
Kyle is the President of K. Howard Enterprise Solutions, LLC. He provides full-service Ademero Document Management and Workflow Automation Software to clients throughout the world. Originally starting within the Copier industry more than a decade ago he found that providing Ademero software solutions made the greatest positive impact for clients across all industries but most importantly within the Non-Profit sector. Kyle is a strong believer in building partnerships with his clients and makes an effort to visit each client regardless of their location around the world.

Leah Siu Yuen Roderman
Leah is the senior digital communications manager at ChangeLab Solutions. She is a strategic communications specialist with extensive experience with website development and data management. In this role, Leah leads the organization’s digital accessibility initiative and develops strategies for the organization’s websites, CRMs, and other information systems. She supports equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) practices in her professional and personal networks. Prior to joining ChangeLab Solutions, Leah worked in both private and public sectors, including the Golden State Warriors, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, and the International Data Group (IDG). She completed her B.A. in Communications at Mills College, where she also earned her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Computer Science. She is currently enrolled in NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate program.
Leah enjoys practicing life-work balance by introverting with a good book or paddleboarding with friends. She encourages those with complementary interests to connect with her on LinkedIn.

Mark Root-Wiley
Mark Root-Wiley builds WordPress websites for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations in Seattle, Washington as MRW Web Design. More than any one cause, Mark strives to build communications and technology capacity for nonprofits building a more equitable society.
Besides working with clients to assess, plan, redesign, develop, and maintain websites, Mark is an active member of the WordPress and nonprofit technology communities, including as an instructor for NTEN’s “Anatomy of a Website Redesign” course. Mark has released many free, open-source WordPress plugins and one theme. He also regularly presents about website best practices and accessibility at the Seattle WordPress conference, WordPress meetup, and multiple Seattle nonprofit technology events.

Meico Whitlock
Meico Marquette Whitlock is a speaker and trainer on mindfulness, technology, and productivity. Meico is the founder and CEO of Mindful Techie, an organization that—through talks, workshops, and coaching—helps purpose-driven high achievers and organizations have an impact without burning out and being distracted by technology. Meico helps busy professionals and organizations integrate purpose, intention, and mindfulness into their day-to-day work in order to increase employee satisfaction, productivity, and work-life balance. He is the creator of the Intention Planner and has been a featured speaker on ABC News, Fox 5, Radio One, and on the main stage at events such as the Nonprofit Technology Conference.

Mica Bevington
Mica Bevington is the U.S. Director of Marketing & Communications for the award-winning international NGO, Humanity & Inclusion, which specializes in disability across 60 low-income and post-conflict countries. At Humanity & Inclusion she has worked to reach key American audiences through earned media, digital marketing, events, congressional advocacy, advertising, and VIP outreach. She was a member of the organization’s global brand working group, which resulted in a full rebrand in January 2018 (after 35 years of being known as ‘Handicap International’). She also manages internal communications for the U.S. team. Prior to joining Humanity & Inclusion, she held a variety of roles, from speech writing to book editing. She worked at London Business School, supporting internal and alumni communications. At BusinessWeek Online, she covered management education and contributed to the annual business

Monica Flores
Monica S. Flores, Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®), facilitates the development of digital products as a technical project manager at Lullabot since 2019, and has led redevelopment/new rollouts since 2004 for academic and government agencies, publishers, e-commerce, and Fortune 100 companies. As a full-stack developer, using Drupal since 2008 and working with agile methods since 2014, she is a proponent of using technology to solve problems, connect communities, and build more effective change-making teams.
She is on the leadership team for DC FemTech and elected board member at Green America, where she chaired the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion board committee. She teaches for the Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate, started Techwomxn, co-founded 10K Webdesign, and founded/sold A Successful Woman. A member at The Wing, she supports women-focused ventures through the Female Founders Network. She is a Pantheon Hero and as Ambassador for Arcadia, she supports clean energy, and a socially just, environmentally sustainable, equitable society.
She speaks at conferences and panels on leadership, technology, and entrepreneurship, and believes each of us has an ability and obligation to use our unique knowledge, ideas, and talents to make a measurable difference.

Rubin Singh
Rubin is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the CRM space, and over ten years in the nonprofit sector. Throughout his career, Rubin has pursued his passion for social impact by empowering and enabling nonprofits through a variety of roles in technology, strategy, and organizational management. While professionally Rubin is a consultant in the nonprofit space, he spends most of his free time volunteering with nonprofit organizations he is passionate about – from civil rights to food security. His volunteer work ranges from coaching youth soccer to pro-bono strategy work, to serving on the board of directors for local nonprofits. His experience of engaging with donors, making direct fundraising asks, and participating in all aspects of operations gives him a deep appreciation for the work nonprofits do and the challenges they face.

Tobi Harper
Tobi Harper is Deputy Director of Red Hen Press, Founder and Editor of Quill (a queer publishing series), Publisher of The Los Angeles Review, and Instructor for the Publishing and Editing Certificate in UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. While completing an M.A. in English Literature, Tobi served as Editor-in-Chief of San Francisco State University’s graduate student journal Interpretations, Chair of the graduate literature conference Explications, and wrote a thesis titled “‘What is it?’: Examining Narrative Shifts in Twentieth-Century Genderqueer Novels.” As an undergraduate at the University of California Santa Barbara, Tobi studied English literature with a minor in LGBTQ Studies while serving as an Officer of the Queer Student Union. As a queer speaker, event curator, literary warrior, tech wiz, and jello wrestler, Tobi works to enjoy the diversity of experiences that life has to offer.
NTENny Awards
NTEN gives the NTENny Awards to several amazing champions who’ve offered their time and smarts to help NTEN staff and the community. They regularly go above and beyond, making the NTEN community vibrant, supportive, and welcoming.Lifetime Achievement Awards
Each year, we honor an individual who has been instrumental in shaping the field of nonprofit technology and paved the way for the rest of us with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Past winners have had a hand in creating and funding the biggest organizations in our sector and built nonprofit technology communities large and small, and are exploring and sharing some of the most interesting and innovative technology models.NTEN Awards
Recipients of the annual NTEN Award work hard to move NTEN’s mission forward from within the community. Always ready to share a case study, idea, or contact, they support the community by writing articles and presenting sessions and webinars, with expertise and good humor. In short, they embody NTEN’s values.Rob Stuart Memorial Awards
The Rob Stuart Memorial Award honors the spirit of the man who was pivotal in creating our community. Rob was a builder of communities, ideas, and movements. Central to this work was the idea that technology can accelerate the pace of change, making it possible for movements to grow overnight and for change to be created in new and surprising ways. Each year, we celebrate Rob by honoring a community that uses technology to disrupt the status quo.Leading Change Awards
Leading Change Summit Awards honor several organizations and individuals who have taken innovative approaches and blazed new paths for social change.Janice Chan
2018 NTEN AwardJanice Chan is a Technical Training Specialist for Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, as well as a co-organizer for NTEN’s Nonprofits and Data online community group and a faculty member for the Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate. Originally from New York, Janice arrived south of the Mason-Dixon Line via St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Post-graduation, Janice served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA before officially joining the nonprofit sector. After several years working in development and gaining experience in marketing, communications, proposal writing, project management, event planning, volunteer management, and data management, she switched gears and put these skills to use in program/curriculum development before mixing it up again. She enjoys organizing information, making playlists, and figuring out how we could do this better. You can find her on Twitter @curiositybone.
Jane Meseck
2018 Lifetime Achievement AwardJane Meseck was in the room when NTEN was created, and she has been an unmatched advocate, cheerleader, instigator, investor, and champion for the NTEN community for twenty years. We’re grateful for all she’s done to invest in NTEN and the careers of thousands of nonprofit professionals who see a way to put technology to use for greater impact.
Wikimedia Foundation
2018 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardThe Rob Stuart Memorial Award honors the spirit of the man, Rob Stuart who was pivotal in creating the NTEN community. Rob was a builder of communities, ideas, and movements. Central to his work was the idea that technology can accelerate the pace of change, making it possible for movements to grow overnight and for change to be created in new and surprising ways. Each year, we celebrate Rob by honoring an organization and community using technology to disrupt the status quo. Rob’s legacy continues to thrive as the NTEN community pushes technology to be more inclusive, to support more diverse goals, and to truly be a tool for change. This year we honor the Wikimedia Foundation, who develop and maintain open content, wiki-based collaborative projects, and powers the sharing of information across the world.
Ashleigh Turner
Ashleigh is the Communications Director for Options for Sexual Health. Options for Sexual Health cares about the healthy sexuality of everyone (all ages, all genders, and all orientations) in British Columbia and is Canada's largest nonprofit provider of sexual health services through clinics, education programs, and Sex Sense, the information and referral service provided by Options for Sexual Health. Ashleigh manages the volunteer program at Opt, as well as handling media requests, social media, website, outreach, governance support, e-newsletters, and Opt’s style and branding.When she's not at work, Ashleigh volunteers with her local Net Squared Community in Vancouver, and uses two pointy sticks to make fibre into fashionable items (she's a knitter!). Ashleigh is a sports fanatic (she is a die-hard Canucks and Patriots fan) and a mom to an adorable 5-year-old who never stops moving.
Charlotte Field
Charlotte is a fundraiser, writer, and bonafide tech nerd. In her four years at Good Works, she’s helped a multitude of nonprofits to effectively integrate digital into their fundraising. She specializes in all things online, including email, websites, social, and content creation.Charlotte is a member of the steering committee for Tech4Good Ottawa, a volunteer with her local CAGP chapter, and a firm believer in pronouncing "gif" with a hard G.
Corey Brown
Corey is the Web Resource Coordinator for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). He has had an interest in utilizing technology for nonprofits since getting his first job out of college when he was hired to help design and manage a Drupal 6/7 website for a nonprofit focused on mental health. Since then, he’s been entrenched in the Drupal world for close to a decade and has similarly been an active member of the CiviCRM community. As a co-organizer for the NTEN Drupal Community of Practice, he brings his knowledge of site building and contact management to NTEN in an effort to help other nonprofit staff navigate and avoid many of the common pitfalls he ran into early on as a team of one.Corey graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with a B.A. in English Communications and Technology.
When he’s not managing or redesigning websites, he can primarily be seen riding rollercoasters as a self-proclaimed amusement park enthusiast and volunteering his time for the nonprofit American Coaster Enthusiasts. He is also a longtime gamer and eclectic music lover.
Kami Griffiths
Kami Griffiths is the executive director and co-founder of Community Tech Network, a nonprofit with the mission to transform lives through digital literacy. With over 15 years of experience working in the public sector, Kami has developed a passion for helping people gain access and better utilize technology, after witnessing firsthand how the digital divide and low literacy levels were aiding the cycle of poverty.She has worked for the City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation, managing 27 public access computing centers, teaching computer classes, and establishing their volunteer trainer program. As the Training and Outreach Manager for TechSoup, Kami greatly expanded her knowledge and understanding of the nonprofit technology field, having conducted over 200 interviews with librarians and producing over 100 webinars. She is a founding member of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and speaks nationally about digital inclusion.
Melissa Chavez
Melissa Chavez specializes in communications and interactive user design for events, sites, and apps. She does content audits of everything an organization presents to the public, and works to make the experiences more user-friendly.Monica Flores
Monica S. Flores has been working as a web developer since 2004, leading large-scale redesign and refactoring projects for over 240+ international and domestic clients such as Green America, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, the U.S. Department of State, the Global Entrepreneurship Network, and the Global Innovation through Science and Technology Network.Because of her interest in online communities, she advises leadership teams on strategic planning, product lifecycle development, and digital platform buildout. She is passionate about leadership, innovation, education, and technology, and she speaks, writes, and presents on entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on women who are using their technology skills to make a measurable positive difference.
She serves on Green America's board as chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion board committee. As CEO at the FemaleFounders.network, she builds support, resources, and connections for women entrepreneurs. She is interested in working with projects that build community, foster connectedness, and advance technology to create a better world. monicasflores.com
Necole Durham
Necole came into Adult Education accidentally after completing her masters in Marketing and Communications. Believing she was on a path to becoming a marketing professor, she took a friend’s advice and taught a class on Intro to Computers for English as a Second Language students. After moving to Atlanta she was fortunate to spend time working with refugee resettlement programs coordinating education programs like cultural orientation for newly arrived refugees, parenting classes for Spanish speaking families, a Burmese refugee microenterprise, and coordinating the marketing for Georgia World Refugee Day.Often being the only one on staff who knew a little Spanish, she became the designated interpreter for Spanish-speaking clients and students. This pushed her to improve her Spanish abilities and ultimately helped her to become a bilingual Family Trainer for Powermylearning, an organization that provides free laptops and computer training for low-income students in Title 1 schools in Metro Atlanta.
The position with Powermylearning introduced her to digital inclusion and the digital divide. From there she was fortunate to be selected as a 2017 Digital Inclusion Fellow. Her project included developing digital inclusion Programs for Metro Atlanta churches, a homeless shelter, Andrew and Walter Young YMCA, BASICS a program to reduce recidivism, Veterans Affairs Homeless Domiciliary at Ft. McPherson, and Atlanta Public Schools Adult Education Center, which asked me to come on board after her Fellowship term ended in January 2018.
The Digital Inclusion Fellowship helped transform her technology skills. She's now a strong advocate for incorporating technology training and EdTech tools in her GED classes. She was resistant to social media prior to her Fellowship but from skills she acquired during her Fellowship, she now manages social media for her program's recruitment efforts. During her Fellowship, she also developed a passion for video editing, which she uses to create videos to promote her program and the use of technology in Adult Ed programs.
Sandee Jackson
Sandee is a Charleston, SC-based web designer and digital strategist who creates WordPress websites that help nonprofits communicate their causes and connect with their communities.As a former nonprofit marketing professional, she still works with nonprofits as a board member, committee member, and active community volunteer.
Sheryle Gillihan
Sheryle Gillihan is committed to her values and is purposeful in her work. Sheryle is the owner and CEO of CauseLabs, a 2017 Dallas Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree, a social enterprise advisor, a speaker, and a purpose ambassador. She works to bridge cultural gaps and to creatively disrupt global challenges to help organizations scale impact towards equality, education and access.Sheryle fuses her hope for a better, brighter future with over 15 years of leadership, operations, and technical management experience. Ranging from military to corporate to nonprofit sectors, her career path led her to CauseLabs in 2010, where she brought immense perspective, coordination, and a passion for using tech for good.
Stacy Clinton
Stacy is the Senior Digital Communications Manager for Programs & Partnerships at the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and one of the co-organizers of NTEN's Nonprofits and Data online group. She earned the Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate from NTEN in 2018. With a mix of tech knowledge and empathy for the user, she ensures that kidsdata.org and lpfch.org are both useful and full of useful information. She is an experienced project manager, overseeing website redesigns, developing and maintaining CRM systems, and creating online communication and engagement strategy. Her past roles overseeing a robust annual giving direct mail campaign, soliciting major gifts, implementing online giving systems, and stewarding donors at all levels have given her a well-rounded understanding of nonprofit management.Stacy's passions center around fighting poverty and disparities systematically, especially from the perspective of child health. By using data to describe the problem, and surrounding it with an engaging story, she believes that we can make progress in this seemingly massive issue. You can find personal musings from Stacy on twitter @stacyjclinton.
Tricia Maddrey Baker
Tricia found her calling in the digital world, in spite of a nontraditional route to arrive there. After learning best practices in social media, which pushed web traffic for an association, she ended up in Social Media/Digital Marketing/Communications. Branding consistency, reputation management, digital strategy, and social media design are her dominant focus currently.In her personal life, she's an avid knitter, but she became an experienced cook/baker when she stayed at home with her then-disabled child.
She's found a home with NTEN. Not only has she made lifelong connections, but she's also been able to give back by serving as co-organizer for the Digital Advertising online community.
She's honored to be noted with such incredible talent with the award. Her advice to anyone whose career touches the nonprofit field: stay curious! And, if you haven’t earned your Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate, the time is now to advance your career through the knowledge you gain in the coursework.
Adrienne Figus
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… knit together the NTEN communityAdrienne Figus is the Membership and Online Fundraising Manager at the Yiddish Book Center, an artist, and proud holder of an NTEN Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate.
A graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art with a degree in Printmaking, her main interests right now are watercolor painting and figuring out how to make fundraising a real part of "the work" rather than an obstacle or a necessary evil. Find her sketching notes at your lecture, getting cranky on Twitter, or swiftly hand-coloring and assembling a few hundred buttons in support of a local ballot initiative (possibly all at the same time!)
Ben Bisbee
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… go from NTC newbie to NTEN champion in record timeBen Bisbee is the founder and principal at Rhinocorn Consulting. Rhinocorn is a is an engagement expertise consultancy focused on nonprofit fundraising, volunteer, communications and partnership strategies and design. Ben has over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit industry building successful and award-winning community and development programs for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes. And been proud to solve problems, create national fundraising and CSR platforms, and mentor leaders through new or difficult challenges nationwide.
Ben has volunteered with NTEN and is proud to be a part of the Faculty for the Nonprofit Technology Professional Certification. Always loving a challenge, Ben believes the size and scope of some of the best programs on the planet are not made up of their staffing and budgets, but with their spirit and architecture. So, he sees himself as a very spirited nonprofit program architect.
He lives in NE Ohio with his husband Joe and their six internet-famous cats.
Deb Socia
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… be NTEN’s matchmaker and resource-sharer and bridge the digital divideDeb Socia is the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, a new initiative that strives to support community leaders across the country as they seek to ensure that all have access to fast, affordable, and reliable Internet. More than 180 cities strong, Next Century Cities is committed to celebrating city successes, demonstrating the value of truly high speed broadband, and elevating the importance of next generation broadband as essential infrastructure.
Prior to her role as the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, Deb was the Executive Director of Tech Goes Home in Boston whose mission is to ensure digital equity. Tech Goes Home provides training, hardware, and low cost Internet access to Boston residents.
Previously, Deb spent 32 years as an educator and administrator. She was the founding principal of the award winning Lilla G. Frederick Middle School, a Boston Public School where she led the one-to-one laptop initiative.
Deb has been the recipient of many awards for her work, including recognition as a Human of the Year from Motherboard, the NATOA Community Broadband Hero Award, the MassCUE Pathfinder Award, the CRSTE Leadership and Vision Award, and the Lilla G. Frederick Community Hero Award.
Jess Snyder
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… share her knowledge, from Drupal to collaborative notes, and beyondJess is the Senior Manager, Web Systems for WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital, and has over 15 years of experience in building and producing websites on a variety of informational and educational topics for both local and national audiences.
A veteran of multiple website relaunches, her recent projects include successfully migrating weta.org from Drupal 5 to Drupal 7 and assisting Washington Week with Gwen Ifill in transitioning their site from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7.
She has presented multiple sessions at NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, as well as at NYC Camp, Drupal GovCon, PBS TechCon, and BADCamp's Nonprofit Summit about the redesign and relaunch experience.
Jess is a co-organizer for the NTEN Drupal Community of Practice, and serves on the PBS Digital Media Advisory Council.
Jess currently sits on the Board of Governors of the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, where she serves as a NATAS Trustee.
Jess graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in History, and holds a Master of Information Management from the University of Maryland.
Judy Freed
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… invite others to the table with thoughtfulness and careJudy Freed is a digital and direct response marketer whose experience spans the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Some career highlights include: Tripled online revenue and doubled the email list for a regional nonprofit; Built a $4 million telemarketing program from scratch; Managed a $30 million direct mail profit center (U.S. and Canada); and Developed an award-winning radio PSA campaign.
Judy co-leads the NTEN Nonprofits and Data online community with the fabulous Janice Chan. She works at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, an environmental organization based in Chicago, where she manages constituent acquisition and retention campaigns and serves as the in-house expert on analytics, segmentation and marketing technology.
Judy holds a M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications /Direct Marketing from Northwestern University and a B.A. in History and Music from Harvard University.
In her secret life, you can find Judy writing musicals with some very talented composers and lyricists.
Maegan Ortiz
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… do it all, with style and authenticityA born and bred NYRican, Maegan E. Ortiz is currently the Executive Director of the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) organizing with Los Angeles area day laborers and domestic workers. Before her current position she was the Development Director, and also managed the Mobile Voices Program, a digital literacy and storytelling program at IDEPSCA. Prior to joining IDEPSCA Maegan was a freelance journalist for 10 years. She was one of the first women of color blogging online, before it was called blogging. In 2005 she co-founded one of the first Latino blogs, VivirLatino. She went on to write for print and digital media on issue ranging from immigration policy to motherhood and mediamaking. Some places she has written for include Latina, Cosmo for Latinas, Colorlines, The American Prospect and the Nation. Maegan has been a community organizer for over 20 years, starting as a teen fighting against police and other forms of racial violence including colonialism in Puerto Rico. Maegan is a proud mami of two ChileRicans, a stepmami. She lives in East Los with her partner.
Digital media changed her life as a single teen mom and she believes in its potential and power.
Marc Baizman
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… find the resource you need to get you out of a tight spotMarc has been involved with nonprofits and technology for the past 15 years, and has gone from being “the tech guy” hooking up ethernet cables under desks at a small nonprofit to running a solo technology consulting practice focused on moving organizations to the cloud. He is delighted to be at Salesforce.org as a Customer Success Evangelist helping small nonprofits get starting using Salesforce. He lives in Boston with his wife Rachel and their cats Bruce and Monty, and tries to escape winter every chance he gets.
Redante Asuncion-Reed
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… get the conversation party started with a great questionRedante Asuncion-Reed is a career nonprofit web guy currently seeking a new gig in the Washington, DC metro area. An immigrant from the Philippines, he grew up as a teenager in Philadelphia, PA and has lived in Vermont, Wisconsin and California. He relocated to the DC Metro area in 1998 and has stayed there ever since.
Starting out his career in print publishing, he has worked as a web manager for DC-area nonprofit organizations since 2006. He counts leading the build of the Save the Children/IDELA (https://idela-network.org/) web portal and the redesign of the American Sociological Association (http://www.asanet.org/) website as two of his proudest web achievements.
When not doing web stuff he is a family man – a chill husband and a doting father to a precocious first grader. He is also an aspiring blues slide guitar player and loves listening to traditional acoustic blues, Southern Rock, folk, Americana, Pinoy (Filipino) rock, and blues-based rock music.
You can learn more about his web activities by checking out his personal website (http://www.redantereed.com/). Find him on Twitter at @etnader (https://twitter.com/etnader).
Shauna Edson
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… live and breathe digital inclusion best practiceShauna helped the Salt Lake City Public Library launch their digital inclusion initiative, The Tech League, during her year-long NTEN Digital Inclusion Fellowship at the Library. Shauna is currently the Digital Inclusion Librarian at The City Library, and works with Library staff and community partners to create long-term digital inclusion programming with the communities the Library serves. Her interest in digital inclusion stems from over four years of teaching, facilitating workshops and groups, coordinating volunteers, and connecting with community partners to work with traditional and digital literacies in the diverse communities that make up the Wasatch Front. She addresses concerns such as education without appropriation, accessibility, managing difficult conversations, and communication. Shauna is currently working toward a MS in communication with an emphasis on rhetoric and composition at the University of Utah. When Shauna is not on the trail, snow, or water, she lives in downtown Salt Lake City with her two boys, their cat, and their dog.
Tara Collins
2017 NTENny Awards: Most likely to… create friendly, welcoming community spaces, both online and IRLTara Collins is Director of Communications & Resource Development at RUPCO, a community change agent in Kingston, NY. She juggles the nonprofit’s outreach, marketing, & fundraising related to creating homes, supporting people and improving communities through housing, creative placemaking and historic preservation in the Hudson Valley. An accidental techie, she credits her family as early adopters with the IBM Selectric, Texas Instrument Pong, and Apple 2e computer he father won in a poetry contest. She’s been hooked on technology ever since her pink Princess phone (with cord).
Tara holds a B.A. in Communications-Mass Media with a minor in professional writing from The College of New Jersey. She recently completed the Ulster Leadership Development Institute and is working towards NeighborWorks America’s Nonprofit Management Leadership Certificate. Currently a co-organizer of NTEN’s WordPress Online Community Group, Tara helped with the NTC2017 session selection. She’s rounded out panels at three NTCs (2012-2016), NeighborWorks Communications Convening, NYNMedia MarkCon, and I’M HOME conferences. A freelance writer for nearly three decades and principal at TheSandyAgency.com, Tara enjoys scuba diving, gardening, and hiking the Catskills with her husband, John. She improves her skill set by herding four cats at home and keeping the rest of her life relatively simple.
Yesenia Sotelo
2017 Lifetime Achievement AwardYesenia Sotelo loves nonprofits and digital, and is happiest snuggled right in between the two. For over 15 years, she has helped nonprofits use digital tools for fundraising, communications, advocacy and operations. Yesenia has provided digital strategy and implementation support to small and large nonprofits, universities, hospitals, legislative campaigns and social enterprises.
Yesenia first taught herself HTML in 1997. Her skills include web development, online fundraising, digital advocacy, social media strategy, web analytics, project management, training and tech support.
Yesenia began her nonprofit career during college with the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago where she worked on the organization’s website.
After September 11, Yesenia’s dedication to our fundamental liberties led her to the ACLU of Illinois, where she was on staff for over six years and became Director of Technology and Membership. Her time at the ACLU coincided with the rise of online fundraising and organizing, and Yesenia worked with staff to educate them about digital tools and encourage them to integrate the digital space into their existing work.
Yesenia then joined Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights as the Manager of Interactive and New Media. At Heartland Alliance, Yesenia worked with over 100 domestic and international programs to build a digital presence for the organization.
Before founding SmartCause Digital, Yesenia ran the new media team at a Chicago public affairs firm as the Director of New Media.
Yesenia’s passion for nonprofits extends into her volunteer activities. She is a former board officer of EverThrive Illinois and a past executive co-chair of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago.
Yesenia graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in political science.
Emily Weinberg
2017 NTEN AwardEmily Weinberg has been a member of the NTEN community since 2006. When NTEN first started online groups back in 2006, she created one for nonprofit bloggers. In 2014, she changed the group to nonprofit digital communications to meet the needs of the community. As organizer of that community for about a year, she helped plan conference calls and put together resources for the group. Thanks to Emily, this group has grown to one of NTEN’s most active online communities. Emily recently became the community organizer for the digital inclusion online community and the group has already improved with her leadership. It is no surprise that she is the fourth most active community member in our online groups.
Emily served on the 17NTC steering committee and research committee. She also led blogging discussions at two Nonprofit Technology Conferences.
Emily has been blogging about nonprofit technology since 2005 at Emily’s World. She also has a blog called The Nonprofit Blog Exchange, a resource for nonprofits, where she writes roundup posts linking to nonprofit blog articles and has a section linking to nonprofit blogs.
Emily is a full-text analyst in the publications & databases department at the American Psychological Association. She enjoys being a member of the volunteer committee at work where she researches local nonprofits in the DC area for APA to support.
Emily graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics.
Mother Jones
2017 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardThe Rob Stuart Memorial Award honors the spirit of the man who was so pivotal in creating our community. Rob was a builder—of communities, of ideas, and of movements. Central to all of this work was the idea that technology can accelerate the pace of change, making it possible for movements to grow overnight and for change to be created in new and surprising ways. The recipient of this year’s Rob Stuart Memorial Award was nonprofit news organization Mother Jones. The team at MoJo believes that a free, independent Fourth Estate is vital to a vibrant democracy, and that its format as an investigative, national news outlet is the best way to call the powerful to account. Jamie Maloney and Brenden O’Hanlon received the award on the organization’s behalf at 17NTC.
Chad Leaman
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Help the community see how technology advances both enable—and disable—accessibilityChad Leaman is the Director of Development for the Neil Squire Society. The Neil Squire Society offers technology, computer literacy, and employment programming for people with physical disabilities. During his thirteen years at the Neil Squire Society, he has developed numerous programs that are available across Canada, including an accessible online learning system and releasing assistive technology hardware open source so it can be affordably be made at the community level.
Chad is also a volunteer organizer of the Vancouver NTEN Tech4Good group, NetSquared Vancouver, which holds free workshops and an annual conference for nonprofits to better use technology to further their mission. He serves as Chair for BC Technology for Learning Society, which refurbishes over 8,000 computers a year for schools, nonprofits, and other at-need populations in BC. He’s a father of young twins which is the source of much joy, sleeplessness, and scraped knees.
Charrosé King
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Fill in for an NTC presenter at the last minute and turn her “accidental speaker” experience into numerous kick-ass sessionsCharrosé King is a graphic designer and communications specialist. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Parsons the New School for Design in Communication Design and a master’s degree from Georgetown University in Public Relations and Corporate Communications. She is currently the Senior Social Media Specialist at the American Psychiatric Association. Her career goals are to use her design and communication skills to create social progress, particularly to help marginalized communities by provoking change in how society views issues like access to education, feminism, race, and mental health.
Charrosé will be a presenter at the 2017 Nonprofit Technology Conference for a session called ‘Cultural Competency: Understanding Context in Communications.’ Find her on Twitter at @charroseck.
Janice Chan
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Rally a community together by encouraging them to share their entrance songJanice Chan is a Technical Training Specialist for the Johns Hopkins Institutions as well as a co-organizer for NTEN’s Nonprofits and Data online community group. Originally from New York, Janice arrived south of the Mason-Dixon Line via St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Post-graduation, Janice served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA before officially joining the nonprofit sector. After several years working in resource development and gaining experience in marketing, communications, proposal writing, project management, event planning, volunteer management, and data management, she switched gears and put these skills to use in program/curriculum development before mixing it up yet again! Janice enjoys learning new things, exploring new places, trying new food, and watching all the funny animal videos that the internet has to offer.
Find her on Twitter at @curiositybone.
Jason King
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Give ridiculously thoughtful answers to online forum questions while somehow working the phrase “debonair goats” into the responsesJason King studied to be a medical librarian, then fell into a nonprofit sector information job. And never looked back. He ran a circuit rider project in London for six years, gave strategic ICT advice, ran a training room, and unjammed printers. He emigrated to Australia where he drove many miles and dodged many kangaroos to help nonprofits in small country towns use technology. On returning to the UK he bought a narrowboat and became a floating digital nomad, cruising the canals and rivers, while carving out a niche as a freelance web developer and trainer. Jason currently lives in the south of France. He builds and maintains WordPress websites and manages Google Grants for nonprofits. He co-organizes NTEN’s WordPress Community forum, and used to be a NetSquared London organiser.
Find him on Twitter at @jasoncsking.
Kai Williams
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Do the next training…and the next…and the next, all while staying super engaged and encouraging othersKai Williams absorbs information the way most people drink coffee and is fascinated with the junction of technology, organizational theory, and the ability to do good for our world.
Executive Director of The International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC), she attended Lawrence University and has a Masters degree in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University.
Find her on Twitter at @MalkahKai.
Liza Dyer
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be brave enough to give an Ignite presentation at her first NTC and then, when other folks might be nervously practicing their talk, offer to help prep conference bags at the last minute, just for funLiza J. Dyer, CVA, has been working and volunteering in the nonprofit and public sectors for more than 15 years. She is currently a Program Coordinator in Volunteer Services at Multnomah County Library, a public library system in Portland, Oregon which engages over 2,000 community members as library volunteers each year. Liza has previously worked in museums and science centers where she taught people about science, led teams of citizen scientists, and talked about whales (almost) every day.
When not at work, Liza can be found knitting, reading, exploring, and volunteering in the community. She is proud to be an AmeriCorps alum and Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA).
Find her on Twitter at @lizaface.
Margaux O'Malley
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be a calming presence during your communications and Drupal crisesMargaux O’Malley continues to find herself at the intersection of three big ideas:
1. For as long as she can remember she’s had a desire to make the world better. Nicer, more just, more loving, more pleasant. To protect our natural resources so we can enjoy the beauty and wonder of our planet. What one does affects others, and we are all in this together.
2. She loves being with people, listening to their stories and beginning to understand their experiences. She’s inspired by people who give of themselves for others.
3. She has a natural aptitude for understanding technology and how things work. She’s found that she has a gift for explaining technical things in plain English (or Spanish) to non-technical people.
She sometimes thinks about doing other work, but is always drawn back to this intersection of technology, communications, people and social change.
So, almost 20 years later, Margaux continues to work and strategize with groovy nonprofits to plan and build websites—often multilingual, and usually with Drupal. She also teaches yoga to tweens and teenagers, and hosts and produces the Yoga of Nonprofit Communications podcast. She’s a proud and enthusiastic long-time member of the NTEN community, and for the last few years has been honored to lead yoga practice at NTC.
Find her on Twitter at @margaux_om.
Roshani Kothari
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Ask great questions in the online forums and then report back with the resultsRoshani Kothari is a digital strategist, influencer, and connector with over 20 years of experience working with nonprofits and technology companies that focus on nonprofits. She is passionate about using technology for social change, and co-organizes NetSquared meetings in DC. She helps organizations create and implement effective content, engagement, partnership, and technology strategies. She also has extensive international experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She worked as a Peace Corps Intern in Thailand and a Catholic Relief Services Fellow in El Salvador, and studied abroad in Bolivia and Zimbabwe. She is fluent in Spanish, and at an intermediate level in French & Portuguese.
Find her on Twitter at @roshani.
Sara Rasmussen
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Become a fabulous leader of PDXTech4Good within practically minutes of moving to PortlandSara Rasmussen attended her first PDXTech4Good meet-up in January 2014, after moving home to Portland, Oregon. It was not long afterwards that she found herself co-organizing the group, where nonprofits and techies share resources for using technology effectively. An advocate for using technology as a tool for social justice, Sara found herself right at home with the NTEN (and NetSquared) community. She is deeply grateful to be connected to and part of the international #nptech hive mind.
Sara is an NTEN Digital Inclusion Fellow at Free Geek in Portland, Oregon, where she manages adult digital literacy programming and participates in a national cohort of fellows who are closing the digital divide and increasing digital literacy across the United States.
Find her on Twitter at @sararasmussn.
Tony Caufield
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Make sure what happens in [Tech4Good Las] Vegas doesn’t stay in VegasAnthony “Tony” Caufield is the founder and organizer of Tech4Good Las Vegas, a proud member of the NTEN Tech Clubs and NetSquared. Tony is currently teaching a Comptia A+ Boot camp as part of the Generation Initiative sponsored by the Nevada Governor’s office and the City of Henderson, Nevada. He is proud veteran of the Texas Army National Guard who brings focus and dedication to everything he does. Whatever Tony does, he is always focused on process improvement and the overall ability for organizations to not be hindered but empowered by technology.
Find him on Twitter at @tonycaufield.
Mark Root-Wiley
2016 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Share his wealth of WordPress knowledge while simultaneously shining the spotlight on the communityMark Root-Wiley builds WordPress websites for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations in Seattle, Washington as MRW Web Design. More than any one cause, Mark strives to build capacity for nonprofits working to improve education, the environment, and social equity.
Besides working with clients to assess, plan, redesign, develop, train on, and maintain websites, Mark is an active member of the WordPress and nonprofit technology communities. Mark has released many free, open-source WordPress plugins and one theme. He also regularly presents about website best practices and accessibility at the Seattle WordPress conference, WordPress meetup, and multiple Seattle nonprofit technology events.
Mark built NonprofitWP.org this year to share best practices with low- and no-budget nonprofits building their own WordPress websites.
Find him on Twitter at @MRWweb.
Leon Wilson
2016 Lifetime Achievement AwardLeon Wilson is the Chief Technology and Information Officer for the Cleveland Foundation, where he leads an IT team, focusing on strategic initiatives to help position the foundation as a leader in the use of technology in all areas of its work.
Leon brings more than 20 years of senior level technology experience to the NTEN community. In his previous recent role as Senior Director for Technology & Data Engagement for the Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA), Leon advised executive staff, board and advisory committee members on strategic planning initiatives and significant technology investments that would positively impact both the internal structure at MNA as well as the IT service offerings to MNA’s external nonprofit clients through its Highway T program. He also played a role providing strategic and executive leadership for MNA’s former high-profile data analytics program, Data Driven Detroit, and other nonprofit sector-based technology initiatives.
Prior to his work at MNA, Leon held a number of internal and consulting IT leadership positions with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Minnesota, Federal-Mogul Corporation, Chrysler, RR Donnelly, and Deluxe as well as positions at General Mills and the IRS. Wilson has also served as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan (and other two and four year colleges), where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses within the MIS discipline.
Leon earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in software engineering from the University of St. Thomas. He is a graduate of Leadership Detroit and also had a distinguished military career with the U.S. Army Reserve, where he was a commissioned officer, earning multiple badges, medals and commendations along with completing airborne paratrooper and air-assault training.
Johanna Bates
2016 NTEN AwardJohanna Bates is the Technical Director, Front-End Developer, and Co-Owner of DevCollaborative. Johanna began her nonprofit tech career in 1999, when she was hired to write marketing copy for the Unitarian Universalist Association's publishing department, and ended up hand-coding their first-ever online book catalog as 500 static pages of HTML. She was next hired to build WGBH.org in a new, custom, open-source CMS. She was then hooked on the nptech web, and she never looked back. Finding she preferred rural life to city life, Johanna left WGBH for western Massachusetts and then spent eight years directing technology and writing related grants for Community Partners, a statewide health care advocacy organization.
Today, Johanna is an independent nptech strategy consultant, front-end coder, and Drupalist who works with a close-knit, collaborative team of other freelance nptech consultants, many of whom she's met through NTEN. Her team, DevCollaborative, focuses on building Drupal sites for orgs in a strategic, sustainable ways that help them get the most for their often limited funds. She's been an NTEN member for over a decade, served on the NTC agenda steering committee for four years, and co-moderates NTEN's Drupal Community of Practice.
Community Technology Network
2016 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardOur Rob Stuart Memorial Award honors the spirit of the man who played a pivotal role in creating the NTEN Community, by recognizing an organization that uses technology in innovative ways to effectively create change in the communities they serve. Kami Griffith, Founder and Executive Director, Community Technology Network (CTN), accepted this year’s award. CTN brings together organizations and volunteers to transform lives through digital literacy. By connecting local community members with resources and education, CTN has empowered thousands of low-income Bay Area residents to become digitally literate and give back to their communities as technology advocates, mentors, and trainers.
Seth Horwitz
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have collaborated with every social changemaker in PhillySeth Horwitz has been involved in social networking for over 30 years. As a reference librarian at a small public library in the early ’80s he created a “learning network” in which library patrons offered to learn, teach or share something (anything), and then had their interests interfiled in the card catalog (remember those?). Around the same time, he also published “Other Networks,” a newsletter about… well, mostly pre-digital social networks.
Today, he works on knowledge management and information architecture with the American Friends Service Committee, an international NGO working on peace and social justice issues. He was also a founding organizer of Philly NetSquared, which has been holding monthly Net Tuesday gatherings for Philadelphia nonprofits and activists since 2008.
Ken Montenegro
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Connect two people who have never met each other—or Ken—in personKen Montenegro is a Los Angeles native and has been a nonprofit technologist for over 17 years. He has been fortunate enough to work with the Northeast Valley Health Corporation, Maternal & Child Health Access, Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. He is currently the Information Technology Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles. When not doing nonprofit technology, Ken can often be found working with community-based groups resisting state violence on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild or bumming around book and record stores with his teenage son. Follow Ken on Twitter: @kmontenegro
Regina Walton
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Attend every social good MeetUp in the areaRegina Walton is the Marketing Manager for Pole to Win International. She started her social media management career in 2006 while she was living in Seoul, Korea. She launched her own blog under the pen name “ExpatJane.” That soon led to being one of the top ten expat-blogs in Korea and led to a regular column writing for The Korea Herald, a number of freelance assignments, and being a guest contributor to other blogs. Regina returned to the USA in 2009 and moved to New York City. She started her own social media business in a down economy and proved quite successful at it. Her aim was to help small business establish, maintain, and execute their social media, as well as help them focus on their overall content and community strategy. As they say, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.Regina moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2011 as she’s really a California girl at heart. Once she was back in the Bay Area, she joined SFTech4Good as an organizer. The group focuses on how technology is being leveraged for social impact projects. The group has doubled in size since then and events are frequent and are always ranked highly. She’s also built out a venue and sponsor list that helps SFTech4Good have the best events possible.
Birgit Pauli-Haack
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Organize your event, re-design your website, and remember the Circuit Rider daysBirgit Pauli-Haack, co-founder of Relevanza, Inc., brings over 18 years of web development and web community expertise to the company. With her other company, Pauli Systems, LC, also headquartered in Naples, Florida she has been providing interactive, user-friendly, web-based business applications and server administration services to an array of corporate, nonprofit and private clients, both international and domestic since 2002.
In addition to leading her companies, Birgit is an active member of the web community and provides pro bono technology products and services to local nonprofit organizations. She has been technology leader with the Naples Free-Net since 1998 and is the immediate Past President. She organized its NFN4Good nonprofit support and education program in 2010, teaching WordPress, CiviCRM, and other open-source software. Birgit is also coordinator of WordPress Meetup SWFL and the nonprofit NFN4Good TechClub, supported by NTEN Community as well as TechSoup Global’s Netsquared. Birgit is a Netsquared Regional Ambassador 2015.
Rebecca Reyes
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Text, talk, act to help you outRebecca is addicted to learning about new technology and digital strategies. She got her start building websites 15 years ago after teaching herself HTML, and has been involved in the digital communications world ever since.
She has experience building and managing websites, leveraging social media, developing online outreach strategies, and creating online trainings. She is currently the Communications Manager at Everyday Democracy, using technology and tools to connect people, build relationships, and make everyone’s life easier. Previously, she has worked with New England Public Radio, Verité, and Emerson Process Management.
She is also an entrepreneur, photographer, dancer, and traveler.
Eli van der Giessen
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Don scrubs and a stethoscope for social media surgeryEli van der Giessen strives to be a connector: the interstitial tissue that holds the muscle of a community together. He’s been a volunteer manager, an event organizer, and a digital campaigner. Basically he’ll take any gig that allows him to enable a group of passionate people to create things they love.
Currently Eli is the NetSquared Community Manager supporting a global volunteer network of 50 monthly meetups for the nonprofit technology sector. Together they hold over 450 events per year.
Lauren Girardin
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Wrangle words, presentations, and committee members togetherLauren Girardin uses her creative chutzpah to help nonprofits and foundations engage their communities and share their stories. Recently, she’s worked with California Family Health Council and TeenSource, GovLoop, Points of Light, TechSoup Global and NGOsource, YTH, and others.
Lauren is determined to help organizations experiment bravely in their social media, blogging, content marketing, and other digital and traditional communications. No noob, Lauren’s first professional social media experience was running Arianna Huffington’s plucky Friendster profile during the 2003 California gubernatorial campaign.
When she’s not giving trainings or writing something pithy, she pitches in on the NTC Steering Committee, helps moderate the Nonprofit subreddit, and tweets at @girardinl.
James Porter
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Get people to cross the Brooklyn Bridge for a Tech Club eventJames is the Associate Director, External Relations for the END Fund, a philanthropic initiative focused on controlling and eliminating the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). He coordinates the END Fund’s communications efforts including digital and traditional media outlets. Previously, James was the Email Manager for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where he collaborated on integrated fundraising and engagement campaigns. He has also worked for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) and FilmAid International, leading communications and marketing efforts.
James holds a BA from Loyola University Maryland and a MA in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University. As a co-organizer for 501 Tech NYC and a member of the steering committee for #15NTC, James is passionate about the power of technology for social change, and has found a welcoming and enriching home in the NTEN community.
Yesenia Sotelo
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Explain Google Analytics and get you excited about dataYesenia Sotelo loves nonprofits and digital, and is happiest snuggled right in between the two. For over 13 years, she has helped nonprofits use digital tools for fundraising, communications, advocacy and operations.
Yesenia is the founder of SmartCause Digital where she builds websites and runs online campaigns.
Follow Yesenia on Twitter: @silverbell
Isaac Shalev
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be the first person to answer your questionIsaac Shalev is the president of Sage70, Inc. a consulting company dedicated to helping non-profit organizations grow by leveraging technology effectively. Over the last 12 years, Isaac has worked at the intersection of technology, nonprofit management and strategic planning.
In the past, Isaac has served as Chief Operating Officer at the Birthright Israel Foundation, CTO at Kveller.com, founder of Pledgewell.com, a text-to-pledge solution for nonprofits, and senior investment adviser at an angel IT investment firm. Isaac lives in Stamford, CT with his wife and three children, and when he’s not helping nonprofits with their technology strategy, he designs and publishes board games.
Emily Weinberg
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Make a resource roundup and follow your blogEmily Weinberg is co-organizer of NTEN’s Nonprofit Digital Communications Community of Practice and a member of NTEN’s Research Committee. Her blog, The Nonprofit Blog Exchange, is a resource for nonprofits where she writes monthly roundups linking to nonprofit blog articles. It has been recognized as one of the top 150 nonprofit blogs in the world.
Emily lives in the DC area and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University.
Follow Emily on Twitter: @np_blogexchange
Michael DeLong
2015 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be a thoughtful friend and teacherMichael was an active member of the NTEN community, NTC speaker, colleague, friend, and an all-around great person to know. He worked for many years at the intersection of nonprofit communications, community, and content.In addition to his work in the nonprofit technology arena, he was actively involved with numberous local arts organizations, including Emerging Arts Professionals, Intersection for the Arts.
Michael left us all too early and suddenly in 2014, but he is remembered fondly by those who had the privilege to know and work with him.
David Krumlauf
2015 Lifetime Achievement AwardDavid Krumlauf is a longtime NTEN Member and nonprofit technology superstar. David works as the Chief Technologist for the Pierce Family Charitable Foundation, a private family foundation based in Chicago, IL, where he helps grantees with all their technology needs.
He's a former biology teacher, ISP owner, and now lives in a greenbuilt home in NW lower Michigan. David also has the proud distinction of being the first person to register for the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) every year. Every year! (We're not quite sure how he does it!)
Lyndal Cairns
2015 NTEN AwardLyndal Cairns is a nonprofit communications strategist working for the San Francisco Public Press [people. power. media], and consults with several San Francisco area nonprofits on social media, business development, and communications strategy. She also met and fell in love with her husband at the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference (12NTC). Lyndal blogs about public relations, social media, and food at LyndalCairns.com. Follow her on Twitter and send your congrats: @lyndalcairns.
The American Friends Service Committee
2015 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardThe Rob Stuart Memorial Award, honoring the spirit of the man who played a pivotal role in creating the NTEN community by selecting a community that uses technology to disrupt the status quo and create change in unexpected ways: The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
Thanks AFSC, for the hard work you do towards building peace in communities worldwide and addressing key issues including peace policy, immigration rights, economic justice, anti-discrimination, and economic inequality.
Sharon Stapel
2015 Leading Change AwardThe Leading Change Award recognizes an outstanding individual whose leadership has made a significant contribution to positively change her organization, her community, and the sector. As Sharon Stapel ends her 7-year tenure as Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), the impact of her leadership can be seen beyond AVP to the LGBTQ community and the larger anti-violence movement. Not only is Sharon’s impact apparent in measurable ways such as the expansion of AVP’s budget, services, and the many management and service awards AVP gained under Sharon’s direction, but also in the ways that aren’t as easily measured. Her efforts can be seen in the stories from survivors of violence who’ve been helped, organizations nationwide that benefited from her tireless national advocacy, and the increased attention to issues of anti-LGBTQ hate violence and intimate partner violence. The tremendous progress made on anti-violence issues in the last 7 years is in no small part due to Sharon’s visionary leadership.
"Girl Scouts is #forEVERYgirl" by the Girl Scouts of Western Washington
2015 Campaign of the Year AwardThe Campaign of the Year Award highlights a specific campaign that utilizes an integrated model for technology-supported outreach, communications, and action. When the Girl Scouts of Western Washington were asked to return a $100,000 donation from a donor because they accepted transgender girls, they turned what could have been a defeating blow to their budget into an opportunity for advocacy and change. They risked returning a big donation and quickly launched an online crowdfunding campaign in response. Their #ForEVERYGirl campaign ended up raising over three times the amount they had to return, mobilized numerous new supporters, and promoted inclusivity for all girls.
Simone Bernstein for volunTEENnation.org
2015 Technology Impact AwardThe Technology Impact Award honors either a technical solution or innovation, from a vendor or nonprofit, that demonstrates the power of technology to connect people with resources and create a more just and equitable world. Simone Bernstein, a volunteer, founder and president of volunTEENnation, created the first national youth-led platform to engage youth in improving their local community and the greater world. Simone started volunteering at an early age to try to give back to the community, but had difficulty finding nonprofits that welcomed youth under age 16, sometimes even 18, due to liability, security, and safety reasons. As a result, Simone took action and contacted administrators, educators, government officials, and businesses to find ways to engage youth in improving her region. The success of her local volunteer service and encouragement of nonprofits willing to bring on youth volunteers inspired Simone to create volunTEENnation.org. To date, the site has connected over 1,000,375 youth to volunteer opportunities using tech and social media, and has donated over $15,000,000 and over 45,475,892 service hours to nonprofit organizations.
Kathleen Malin
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have all 1.05 million Rhode Islanders show up for Tech ClubKathleen Malin is vice president for Technology & Operations Management at Rhode Island Foundation in Providence. She is responsible for all aspects of technology at the Foundation.
She has also worked as a network administrator and technology director at a number of public and private schools in New York and Rhode Island. Kathleen has also been involved with teaching technology for 20 years.
Kathleen presents frequently on nonprofit technology, online tools, and social media. Kathleen also works with nonprofits and businesses doing technology assessments and helping them develop social media and web strategies.
In 2009 she helped organized NTEN’s 501 Tech Club Rhode Island to help create a support network for IT and communications professionals in the state. She is a member of the Family Service Rhode Island IS Committee, Rhode Island Public Radio Technology Task Force, and MicroEdge Client Advisory Council. She is also chair of the Tech Collective’s IT Managers Roundtable and was the recipient of a 2012 Tech Collective Tech10 Award. Kathleen holds a BA from Immaculata University, received a Master’s in Nonprofit Management from New England College, and is currently working on a MBA from NEC.
Katie Fritz
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Fix all of your systems, make your conference call feel fun, and then go sing karaoke in GermanKatie Fritz is a geek who makes complex systems work for real people. She transitioned to a full-time IT director role in 2011 after several years as public policy analyst and accidental techie at the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM). When she wasn’t getting laws passed to support affordable housing, Katie overhauled every system at CEDAM, from email to file storage to membership and event management. She built CEDAM’s latest website from scratch, integrating seven different program areas into a user-friendly, interconnected multi-site network. She also developed an extensive wiki to document internal processes and institutional knowledge.
In 2014, Katie left CEDAM to found her own consulting company (the creatively named Katie M Fritz, LLC), where she helps nonprofit clients implement better systems to support their missions. Katie is a big fan of NTEN’s mission and programs; you may have encountered her blowing up the NTEN member forums, singing German karaoke at last year’s Geek Games, or co-leading the IT Directors Community of Practice. The word on the street is, she’s open to job offers.
Jeff Yin
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Recycle your Google AdWords strategyJeff Yin, Ph.D., is a former climate scientist who started managing online advertising campaigns in 2009. He was featured in a 2011 Forbes Magazine article as one of the first to earn a full-time living in the Trada online advertising marketplace. In 2012, he decided to put his online ad experience to work for good causes by founding Sustainable Clicks, his company that helps nonprofits to take advantage of Google Ad Grants.
In his previous career as a scientist, Jeff performed climate change research that was cited in the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report and generated wind resource datasets for the renewable energy industry. He enjoys traveling by train to keep his carbon footprint low, except when traveling to and from his native state of Hawai’i.
Ken Steeber
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Build anything, design anything, fix anything, and explain it all to youKen is currently the MIS Specialist at The Gateway Family YMCA.
Over the past 8+ years, Ken has had his hands on just about everything that plugs into the wall. After starting as the sole Admin/trainer for the YMCA’s Member Database, he has moved on to tackling more diverse things and is involved in some way with anything that can be inferred as IT related. Now you can usually find him hiding behind an array of screens while he’s busy providing end-user support for almost everything. His expertise spans from graphic artist to Web designer, and network storage to Photographer. He’s also the one to find if someone has a car question. True to his office given nickname of “MacGyver,” if hardware breaks, he is usually found with a screwdriver, looking for the failed component.
Laura Norvig
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be your friend on every social media platformLaura Norvig is the Digital Media Strategist at ETR, where she applies her thirteen years of experience in the nonprofit sector to the content, marketing, and social media strategy of this multi-faceted health education agency. Her prior experience included launching and managing online communities on niche topics for grantees of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She holds an MLIS from San Jose State University.
Richard Wollenberger
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Show upRichard Wollenberger has served as the IT Director for the Parents as Teachers national office since 2006.
An accomplished senior IT leader with a strong technical background Richard has 26 years in sales, technical support, network design, and managing staff, systems and facilities. Richard’s teams create and deliver enterprise strategies, standards, and policies and procedures to meet the needs of our staff and customers.
Prior to joining Parents as Teachers, Wollenberger worked as a consultant on projects with Anheuser-Busch, Monsanto, Collaborative Strategies, Inc, Shupp Advertising, World Aquarium and others. After almost 6 years at Forsythe Computers Wollenberger moved on to a position with W F Corroon (Buck Consultants) and Osborn & Barr Communications.
In addition to ongoing training in technology, Wollenberger is a Certified Information Technology Business Manager.
Ivan Boothe
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Start a movement on a Drupal platformIvan Boothe is the creative director of Rootwork.org. He works as a freelance Drupal developer and online organizer, and is the online communications associate for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. A co-founder of the Genocide Intervention Network (now United to End Genocide), he worked as a community organizer in Philadelphia before relocating to Portland, Oregon, in 2012.
Ivan recently wrote the first chapter of “The Most Amazing Online Organizing Guide Ever,” published by Green Memes: http://greenmemesteam.tumblr.com/guide.
Ivan is active in the NTEN and NetSquared communities, co-organizes PDXTech4Good (jointly sponsored by both groups) and the NTEN Drupal Community of Practice. He has presented at numerous NTCs; led community organizing workshops at the U.S. Social Forum, the New Organizing Institute and the Gandhi-King Conference; and facilitated trainings on nonviolent civil disobedience, anti-oppression and campaign strategy. He is a board member of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, a semi-professional handbell musician, an enthusiastic member of a local food co-op, and intermittently on Twitter @rootwork.
Dahna Goldstein
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be on every committee and remind you when the next meeting isDahna Goldstein, Founder and CEO of PhilanTech, develops web-based applications for the nonprofit sector and has worked for venture philanthropies, including Ashoka and Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Dahna also produced interactive eLearning programs, including the award-winning “What Is a Leader?” program, for Harvard Business School Publishing and Global Education Network. Dahna holds a BA from Williams College, a Master of Education degree, with a concentration in technology, from Harvard University, and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. She serves on the board of JustGive.org and plays hockey as often as she can.
Bob Russell
2014 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Remain an NTEN legend and inspirationRobert H. “Bob” Russell was a longtime NTEN community member who left us all too soon on August 23, 2013. Bob started off teaching science and biology to high school students in Australia, then college students in the US. He was the co-founder of Jet Photo Works and created websites for the grantees of The Pierce Family Foundation in Chicago as well as many nonprofit organizations in the Traverse City area. He and his wife Sally Van Vleck founded and were co-directors of the Neahtawanta Research and Education Center for 26 years. His mastery of computer technology is legendary and he co-founded Traverse Communication Company in 1993, the first Internet Service Provider in Traverse City, MI. Bob, you are missed and remembered by the NTEN Community.
Lynn Labieniec
2014 Lifetime Achievement AwardLynn Labieniec has been helping the nonprofit sector apply technology to their business operations since 1980 and is currently the CEO of and a strategy consultant for Beaconfire Consulting. She has developed technology strategies for clients such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation, United Way of America, Planned Parenthood, and others.
Before co-founding Beaconfire, Lynn served on Commerce One's Nonprofit Leadership Team, as well as a leader within Commerce One's project management skill track. Previously, Lynn was a founding partner of RivCom Limited, in the United Kingdom, a consultancy firm specializing in applying XML technologies to knowledge and information management problems. She has also held various management positions at Blackbaud Inc. and Riverside Software Inc., with a particular focus on helping corporate and private foundations effectively implement and integrate grants management and employee gift matching software. She started her career at IBM's Corporate Headquarters in Armonk, NY. During her tenure of nearly seven years, she worked on many projects with the corporate philanthropy department, including leading the technology development of IBM's employee matching gift program.
Jason Shim
2014 NTEN AwardJason Shim has spent his career working with youth and technology and understands the challenges of the front line, helping numerous nonprofit organizations develop and deploy effective digital media strategies and policies to better engage community members. Currently, he serves as Digital Media Manager for Pathways to Education Canada leading the organization’s national digital strategy.
In 2013, Jason led Pathways to Education to became the first national Canadian charity to issue tax receipts for Bitcoin donations. Jason also serves as an instructor in Digital Media Marketing at George Brown College, has held positions on several governing boards is also a contributing author to the book, Halos and Avatars.
Jason was a highly engaged member of the Communities of Impact program NTEN piloted in 2013. He participated thoughtfully in video chats, discussion threads, and in-person retreats; contributed valuable original content to the free e-book Collected Voices: Data-Informed Nonprofits; stepped up as a COI representative for our Member Appreciation Month online event; and, as a COI alum, developed and co-presented the 14NTC pre-conference workshop "How to Turn the Data Dream Into Reality."
In summer 2013, he made himself available to present a webinar for the Data Analysts for Social Good network run by his fellow COI'er Andrew Means. Before 13NTC, he teamed up with Jason Samuels to set up all of the collaborative note-taking docs for the breakout sessions at the conference. In 2012, he wrote this savvy post about engaging youth through mobile and social media.
PEAK and PLUK Parent Centers
2014 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardPEAK Parent Center provides training, information, and technical assistance to equip families of children birth through age twenty-six including all disability conditions with strategies to advocate successfully for their children. As a result of PEAK's services to families and professionals, children and adults with disabilities will live rich, active lives participating as full members of their schools and communities. Barbara Buswell co-founded PEAK Parent Center, and has been a Director since 1986. Barbara's son, Wilson, introduced her to the world of disability and triggered her commitment to supporting families across the country to develop advocacy skills that enable inclusive and successful lives for people with disabilities.
PLUK Parent Center was formed in 1984 by parents of children with special needs in the state of Montana for the purpose of information, support, training, and assistance to aid their children at home, school, and as adults. PLUK was founded by parents who felt strongly that parents of children with disabilities need to band together to give each other information and support. Roger Holt began a career with PLUK in the fall of 1990 to work with all things technological. Over the years he designed all the data collection/management systems, a statewide computer network for staff, websites, phone systems, and whatever else was needed. He also became one of the first RESNA-certified Assistive Technology Practitioners in the state and assists hundreds of individuals, families, schools, and agencies with technology access issues.
Jim Nickerson
2014 Leading Change AwardThe Leading Change Award recognizes an outstanding individual whose leadership has made a significant contribution to positively change their organization, their community, and the sector. Jim Nickerson of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) was this year’s obvious choice.
Jim is a passionate trend starter, and knows the social media scene like the back of his hand. He is a teacher and steps up to be of service in bringing his special brand of brilliance and enthusiasm. Through his superb ability to convey big ideas into a shared vision, Jim forged a cultural identity for SFGMC, and their social media efforts would not be where it is today if not for Jim leading the way.
TeenSource.org
2014 Campaign of the Year AwardThe Campaign of the Year Award highlights a specific campaign that utilizes an integrated model for technology-supported outreach, communications, and action. We were thrilled to give this award to TeenSource.org.
In 2014, California Family Health Council (CFHC) launched its TeenSource Multi-Media Peer Educators program so that teens themselves could educate their peers in California on safe sex, relationships, and their health rights. They used online trainings in multi-channel communications, and provided substantial support to equip youth leaders with the skills and confidence they needed to talk to their peers about deeply personal sexual and reproductive health topics.
The inaugural class of diverse and passionate teens, hailing from all over California, was trained in how to produce shareable video, create social media content, write compelling blog posts, and even take their outreach offline, speaking in person in their community.
Code for America
2014 Technology Impact AwardThe Technology Impact Award honors either a technical solution or innovation, from a vendor or nonprofit, that demonstrates the power of technology to connect people with resources, and create a more just and equitable world. Code for America (CFA) has succeeded in accomplishing great things in communities across the nation.
As an organization, CFA focuses on utilizing technology to drive access to government services for people across the US. In 2013, CFA tackled a range of community problems through technology while keeping people and users at the center. CFA Fellows gave South Bend residents a say about what happens to properties in their neighborhood, made public records more accessible in Oakland, and provided judges in Louisville with a better insight into population management in the justice system. Brigades made city budgets easier to understand and put real-time public transit information in the hands of riders. These open source applications are helping to make government work better for everyone.
Jim Nickerson
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Bring a crowd to the partyJim started his communications career “running tapes” at CNN during the Gulf War, and has been “communicating” ever since. Jim is currently a Social Media consultant for Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. Prior to O&E, Jim spent three years as the Social Media manager for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the largest and first chorus of its kind. Jim built SFGMC’s program from scratch to fully robust social media platform, now modeled by other choruses around the world. Jim has also worked on projects as varied as implementing communications plans for the Arthur Andersen/Accenture merger, building a math homework website for The U.S. Department of Education, and driving an SFGMC/Stephen Schwartz music video to viral status on YouTube. His recent clients include SFGMC, The National AIDS Memorial Grove, The Jean Henry School of Art, and the indie movie, “Transgender Tuesdays”. Born in New York, he has lived in San Francisco for the last 12 years and sings with SFGMC.
Marlina McKay
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Always answer the NTEN callMarlina McKay is the Manager of IT of Park Pride. After earning a B.S. in psychology from Georgia State University, Marlina worked as a researcher at Emory University before joining Park Pride in 2005 as a data entry specialist. In her eight years with Park Pride, she has grown to become manager of IT, administering the Park Pride database with over 12,000 records, managing the website, and serving as technical support for the entire organization. Park Pride is an environmental and community focused non-profit that provides programs, services, funding, and leadership to engage communities in developing and improving parks and greenspaces.
Cindy Leonard
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Send you the idea you didn’t have yetCindy Leonard is the Senior Manager, Technology Program, for the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University. Cindy has been helping nonprofits to leverage technology since 1999. She facilitates Bagels & Bytes meetings, organizes the Bayer Center’s annual TechNow conference, and writes the monthly e-newsletter TechNotes, all while spending most of her time consulting with and teaching technology-related classes to local nonprofits.
An experienced website designer, she adds website planning, design and assessment to the portfolio of services at the Bayer Center. She previously served as the information technology coordinator for PA CleanWays (now known as Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful), an environmental organization. She holds a B.S. in computer science, an M.B.A. and an M.Ed. in Instructional Design Technology, all from Seton Hill University.
Cindy is a co-founding member and vice-president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. Presently, she also serves on the technology committee at UCP/CLASS, the advisory board of Musicians with a Mission and on NTEN’s editorial committee for the professional journal “Change."
Ash Shepherd
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Volunteer before you know you need helpAsh Shepherd works in the areas of Strategy & Process with Minds on Design Lab. He brings with him 16+ years of experience working with and for nonprofits in the areas of online communications strategy and process management, social media engagement, youth program development and social work. Ash’s commitment to the nonprofit technology sector is apparent. He is on the editorial board for NTEN’s online publication, Change, and is a co-author of the recently published Social Media Road Map. He also co-managed the Portland, Oregon NetSquared/501 Tech Club for a number of years and continues to present at a wide range of public speaking engagements.
Jason Samuels
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have already created a script for thatJason is the Director of Innovation and Technology at National Council on Family Relations (NCFR).
As a nonprofit technology manager with experience managing projects, budgets and vendor relations, he’s accomplished in software implementation, staff training, network administration, end user support, procedure and policy documentation. He takes pride in meeting business needs with the right technology, and at least one co-worker likes to joke that Jason squeezes nickels until the buffalos squeak.
Jason is currently planning activities for the new 501Tech Club Minneapolis group.
Connect with Jason on Twitter: @jasonsamuels
Ted Fickes
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Herd cats, this is not his first rodeoTed Fickes founded Bright+3, a consulting shop focused on helping organizations build powerful relationships that increase advocacy might and financial support with creative communications and smart data. Bright+3 works with local, national, and international organizations. Previously, Ted led online communications programs at The Wilderness Society, ran fundraising programs, operated political organizing campaigns, and created one of the first nonprofit technology circuit rider programs.
Jereme Bivins
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Not believe he is an NTENny winner but offer to help present the awardsJereme is the digital strategy & emerging media manager at the Foundation Center, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing knowledge about philanthropy worldwide. Jereme focuses on the development and implementation of a national social strategy to communicate the work of the Center, its partners, and the sector. He is also a co-organizer of 501Tech NYC and a Huffington Post contributor.
Find him on Twitter: @jcbivins.
Missy Longshore
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Tweet from a National ParkMissy has been working in the nonprofit sector since 1999. With experience in operations, strategic planning, leadership, and management at a variety of mission based organizations, she has enjoyed the continuous ability to contribute to social change.
Missy attended Smith College and obtained her MBA in Public and Nonprofit Management from Boston University. She is a certified Salesforce Administrator and has been working with nonprofits and foundations on their Salesforce implementations since 2009.
She lives in the East Bay and enjoys hiking.
Tal Frankfurt
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Live in the Cloud and help you get thereTal Frankfurt, Founder and CEO of Cloud for Good, was chosen in 2010 to be one of the first Salesforce MVP Program members, an exclusive club representing the top 1% of the Salesforce community, and have maintained that status to date.
Prior to his involvement with Salesforce.com, Tal was the Director of Resource Development for an Israeli nonprofit organization that worked with at-risk immigrant youth. He was looking for tools to better manage his donors, participants, and volunteers. It was through this experience that Tal learned about Salesforce. The adoption of Salesforce into his everyday work was what sparked the inception of Cloud for Good, a Salesforce implementation partner working primarily with nonprofit and educational institutions to create and implement strategic solutions based on cloud technology.
Tal has been involved with Salesforce.com and The Salesforce.com Foundation for almost 8 years. He was the founder and leader of the Salesforce Nonprofit User Group in Israel and recently founded the first Salesforce Nonprofit User Group in Tennessee. Frankfurt is a Certified Salesforce.com Administrator and a Certified Salesforce.com Consultant.
Eva Penar
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be introducing herself to you right nowEva Penar is the director of marketing and communications and a member of the management committee at The Chicago Community Trust, where she is involved in day-to-day practices that support the vision for all Trust marketing and communications activities. She previously served as manager of public relations, increasing the Trust’s visibility and elevating the work of grant recipients and donors.Prior to joining the Trust, Penar was part of the launch team behind Time Out Chicago. As marketing manager/events, promotions and publicity, she developed partnerships that made the introduction to the Chicago market so successful. Penar also worked at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum for five years. During her tenure there, she worked on the “Gelman Collection: Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and 20th Century Mexican Art” exhibition and supported an expansion that tripled the museum’s size. Her hard work was recognized at the Chicago Emmy ceremony in 2004, where a public-service announcement that she coordinated with Univision Channel 66 won an award. She has also worked as a communications associate for the Chicago Millennium Celebration, Department of Cultural Affairs for the City of Chicago. Penar is fluent in Polish and Spanish. In 2009, Time Out Chicago recognized Penar as a “Super Connector” in its feature about Chicagoans who go above and beyond in networking. In 2012, Penar participated in the Young Atlanticist Summit during the NATO summit that took place in Chicago. She serves as a steering committee member for CommA, the professional association of communicators affiliated with the Council on Foundations.
Kelly McIvor
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Put out fires with a webinarKelly is an entrepreneur and veteran of the mobile space. He’s been developing and marketing products and services in the wireless industry, from the first voice-activated dialing systems to today’s ad-inserted streaming video.He is currently CEO of TapFunder, a new mobile fundraising service, and teaches mobile media and strategy at the University of Washington’s Graduate School of Communications. Kelly has a very broad exposure to the entire wireless industry and a deep understanding of the mobile ecosystem. And yes, he has gone above and beyond as a webinar presenter for NTEN. Follow Kelly on Twitter: @kjmcivor.
Victoria Smith
2013 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Most likely to moderate your conversationMaddie Grant
2013 NTEN AwardMaddie Grant is a classic Gen-X early adopter of technology and lover of "shiny new toys". She's a continual source of information and resources for nonprofits as a blogger and lead editor of the Social Fishing blog and author of Open Community: a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web and Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World.
We've been lucky to have Maddie as the host of Online NTC for several years running, and as a contributor to the NTEN blog and supporter through the NTEN Champions Campaign. We're big fans of Maddie and our community agrees!
Lauren-Glenn Davitian
2013 Lifetime Achievement AwardInvisible People
2013 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardInvisible People uses the lens of a television camera to tell the stories of homelessness and the organizations trying to help. Founder, Mark Horvath was moved by his own past experience as a homeless person to document real people, telling their own, very real stories… unedited, uncensored and raw. Invisible People’s vlog purpose is to make the invisible visible, have others connect with these stories, and keep a dialog going to help those who are often forgotten.
Debra Askanase
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Ask for extra homeworkDebra Askanase is the founder of Community Organizer 2.0, a social media consulting firm to businesses and nonprofit organizations. Before founding Community Organizer 2.0, Debra worked for 20 years in nonprofit organizations in many positions, among them executive director, program director, fundraiser, and community organizer. She works with nonprofit organizations to evaluate, develop and better implement online engagement strategies. She believes strongly that real engagement leaves to action, knowledge gained from her many years as a community organizer. Debra holds a B.A. from Emory University and a M.B.A. in International Business from Bar Ilan University. Her professional blog, www.communityorganizer20.com, offers advice, strategies and opinions about using social media in the nonprofit sector. When not blogging and chatting away on Twitter (@askdebra), she's in Boston hanging out with her two young girls and husband, or at the pottery studio. During the six months of great weather in Boston, she loves to hike, run, and read in the sun.
Frank Barry
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Find a triple rainbowFrank Barry, focuses on internet marketing and strategy at Blackbaud where he's worked with nonprofits for nearly ten years. Frank's worked with a diverse group of organizations including LIVESTRONG, United Methodist Church, American Heart Association, University of Richmond, Big Brother Big Sisters, ChildFund Int'l, and more. He helps nonprofits use the internet more effectively so they can focus on changing the world. You can find him talking about social media for nonprofits on his blog or follow Frank on Twitter.
Andrea Berry
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Run the numbers for youAndrea oversees Idealware's fundraising and training activities including the Field Guide to Nonprofit Software, sponsorship, corporate and individual giving, grants management and online seminars. Prior to joining Idealware, Andrea held fundraising positions in education, health research and museums and has taught math, performing arts and history in traditional and nontraditional educational settings. She brings a breadth of experience with fundraising software, particularly as it relates to small nonprofits, and has worked as a consultant with nonprofits across New England to help identify appropriate donor management software. Additionally, as a former teacher, Andrea brings front-line tested expertise in curriculum development and training.
Dawn Crawford
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be the first retweetI've dedicated my career to nonprofit communications and marketing. Before becoming an independent consultant for BC/DC Ideas, I served in various communications leadership roles for the Colorado Children's Immunization Coalition, Exempla Healthcare and the Kempe Foundation. A true communicator at heart, I found my niche in social media where I'm a weaver of words and a passionate community builder. I garden to make the world a more beautiful place, love living in the South, and live every day as if it were my last. Claim to fame: I am the only non-Star Wars character followed by the Death Star on Twitter – yep, your assumptions are correct. See it at http://www.twitter.com/death_star.
Julie Dennis
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Gather where everybody knows your nameJulie Dennis is the Office Manager/Intake Specialist for PICnet, a website development and design firm located in Washington, DC whose mission is to help non-profits through technology. Prior to PICnet, Julie pursued a career in arts administration where she was employed at Arena Stage and Round House Theatre while also working toward her MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. Even though she has a fondness for arts organizations, she loves helping all non-profits achieve their communication and fundraising goals through technology. When Julie's not at her desk, she loves seeing theatre in the D.C. area (it gives her inspiration for her own playwriting), volunteering with Community Bridges (an organization to promote healthy living for 8th grade girls), and attending her salsa step dance class.
Neil Giarratana
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Willingly herd catsFiliberto Gonzalez
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Make the connections before you doFiliberto is founder and CEO of Social | Impact Consulting, LLC, a full-service consulting firm based in Los Angeles, where he leads projects on nonprofit fundraising, social fundraising, and social media for nonprofits. He speaks regularly on social media for nonprofits, particularly on how to find, engage, and increase donors across social media platforms. Filiberto, a social worker and nonprofit manager by training, began using social media for outreach and storytelling in 2005, and has studied its best practices ever since. When not in front of a computer screen, Filiberto enjoys running, reading nonfiction, and the company of his wife and two little girls.
Gregory Heller
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Answer your call (and then present a webinar)Since 2005 Gregory Heller has worked with dozens of nonprofit organizations, foundations and socially responsible businesses to deploy Internet strategies, websites and social media strategies through CivicActions, a company he has helped to build and is currently part owner of. In that time, the company has grown from 7 people, to 39. Gregory has served CivicActions as Director of Marketing, as well as serving clients as a strategist, trainer, and website architect and engineer. Before his work with CivicActions, Gregory worked for the New York State Senate and New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, numerous political campaigns in New York City and State, and worked for the NYI Program Office coordinating all-university student events. Gregory also served on New York City Community Board 3 for 6 years where he chaired the Economic Development Committee and sat on the State Liquor Authority Task Force Committee. Gregory holds a BA and MPA (Public Administration and Nonprofit Management) from New York University College of Arts and Science and Wagner School Of Public Service (respectively) he is also a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).
Donny Shimamoto
2012 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Fly across the country to talk about the CloudDonny is the founder of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, a CPA firm focused on organizational development and advisory services for the middle market. An active CPA, Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP), and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Donny helps many organizations by bridging accounting and IT to strengthen organizational governance and risk management, improve business processes through IT, and increase the effectiveness of decision making through business intelligence. Donny is a member of the AICPA Council, Assurance Services Executive Committee (ASEC), and is chair of the IT Executive Committee. Donny was recognized as a 2012 Top Thought Leader in Public Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor, received the 2009-2010 President's Award from the Hawaii Society of CPAs, was named to CPA Technology Advisor's 40 Under 40 list in 2007 & 2009, and was also a Hawaii Top High Tech Leader in 2004. In the nonprofit world, Donny works with community foundations, social service agencies, community centers, and membership associations.
The Story of Stuff Project
2012 Rob Stuart Memorial AwardCarolyn Appleton
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Recruit all their friends (and total strangers) to join NTENCharlotta Beavers
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Attend every single NTEN event this yearKeith Berner
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be posting helpful information to an NTEN Affinity Group email list right nowBarbara Buswell
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Bring their entire network to the NTCLisa Colton
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Bring their entire network to the NTCLauren-Glenn Davitian
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Do a huge favor for you and then thank you for the opportunityMartin Dooley
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Tell you exactly how to fix the problems you didn't even know you hadTracy Kronzak
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Organize the entire technology track for your conferenceCarie Lewis
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be tweeting as their petSteve MacLaughlin
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Write an awesome article for your newsletter with an hour's noticeThomas Negron
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Recruit all their friends (and total strangers) to join NTENMark Rovner
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Start a revolution at your conferenceMichael Silberman
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Start a revolution at your conferenceMichael Sola
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be found legitimately working at the conference hotel barFarra Trompeter
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be MVP for any harebrained event idea NTEN comes up withKurt Voelker
2011 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Fly across the country on a week’s notice to do a presentation for youGavin Clabaugh: NTENny: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN community
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityAmi Dar
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityJudy Hallman
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityBeth Kanter
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityLynn Labieniec
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communitySheldon Mains
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityNancy Shoemaker
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityVince Stehle
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityMichael Stein
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityDeborah Strauss
2010 NTENny Awards: In recognition of a decade of contributions to the NTEN communityLou August
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Show up at your conference with laptops for allLou is the Director of Technology Partnerships at Save the Children, a large international non-profit organization, where he builds technology education and economic opportunity programs for countries in the developing world. Previously, Lou also served at the Headquarters of the American Red Cross at the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, where he created and implemented the largest coordinated private sector disaster response in history, yielding nearly $100 million worth of aid to the gulf coast. Lou founded and is also the current president of the Wilderness Technology Alliance, a non-profit organization providing character and technology skills for the underprivileged.
Melissa Barber
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be NTEN’s unofficial mascotAfter working with a financial management firm and saving the world with the Peace Corps, Melissa began working for Friends of Trees a year ago. With Friends of Trees she manages individual donations, small business sponsors, and their Gift Tree program. She also offers her motivational services pro-bono to NTEN to help them celebrate birthdays and minor victories by harassing them into enjoying happy hour as often as possible.
Lindy Dreyer
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Help your org become the biggest fish in the social media pondMaddie Grant
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Help your org become the biggest fish in the social media pondMaddie is an association/nonprofit blogger on social media, community building, designing in public. Her Washington, DC based company SocialFish helps organizations develop social media strategy. Maddie holds NTEN office hours every Thursday at 3pm ET in the Communications office.
Michaela Hackner
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be your unofficial Flickr photographerMichaela Hackner is a Senior Project Officer at Forum One Communications, where she leads strategy and web development projects for foundations, government, and non profit organizations. In her former life she was a web developer for the private sector, with a stint in humanitarian aid analysis, and overseas working for a women’s micro-finance program in Cambodia and Kenya.
Shifting to a focus in international development related work in 2005, Michaela recognized the need for technology expertise within non-profit organizations - both in terms of marketing and communications purposes, and for the delivery of services to constituents/beneficiaries. Taking advantage of her varied background, Michaela seeks to make the internet and technology accessible for all non profits and their audiences as well as exploiting it for the good of humanity.
In her spare time Michaela enjoys traveling, long-distance running, photography, and hanging out with her wild doggy, Atlas.
Michael Hoffman
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Start a revolution on Skittles.comMichael Hoffman is the CEO of See3 Communications, a firm that helps nonprofits and causes use the internet for advocacy, education and fundraising. He is an internet entrepreneur, and an expert in the use of social media in the nonprofit sector. Hoffman is frequently asked to consult with organizations about marketing strategies and new media development. He is frequently quoted in trade journals, industry blogs and the mainstream press about the intersection of social media and causes. He is a founder of DoGooderTV and EarthFirst.com, and is a nationally sought-after speaker on topics such as cause marketing, and the revolutionary power of web video for social change.
David Krumlauf
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be spotted by your mom wearing an NTEN hatDavid is a proud grandfather living in NW Lower Michigan. David works for a small family foundation based in Chicago where he takes care of the technology needs of 7 NPOs in the Chicago area. He loves his job, the amazing people he gets to work with and the organizations he gets to help.
John Merritt
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Stalk Beyoncé on NTEN’s behalfJohn has been a not-for-profit techie for over 18 years and currently serves as the Vice President of Information Systems for the YMCA of San Diego County. As a leader in the YMCA technology community, John has worked collaboratively to assist organizations in aligning technology with their strategic, business and operational goals. Focused on relationships and transparency, John works toward building “people centric” technology organizations that bring service & value. John’s passion is helping not for profit organizations leverage technology and on-line media to meet their mission.
David Neff
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be promoting a social media event using social media while attending a social media eventChad Norman
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Drag their company onto Twitter and make them love itChad is the Internet Marketing Manager for Blackbaud, where he wrangles corporate website content, develops social media strategy, and manages email marketing, communities, and search engine optimization. He's the editor-in-chief of Blackbaud Blogs, where he also writes Webby Things. He hosts and produces The Baudcast, which brings together industry experts from around the sector to discuss nonprofit technology. In 2007, Chad founded Go Green Charleston, a technology-focused nonprofit helping Charleston-area residents connect, stay informed, and mobilize around the local sustainability community. When he's not mainlining the web, you'll probably find Chad playing with my kids, skateboarding, taking photos, or enjoying mother nature.
Jordan Viator
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Drag their company onto Twitter and make them love itIn my role as Interactive Communications Manager at Convio, I manage the Connection Cafe blog, all things new media related including our social media sites as well as all Convio Web sites. An Internet-addicted, new media loving communications professional, I'm always eager to learn about the latest and greatest in interactive communications and online marketing. The ability to pair my work in online communications with helping our nonprofit clients in the process makes my job even more fulfilling. In my spare time, you can usually find me spending time outdoors in an Austin water hole with my two pups, gardening, curling up and reading a great book, playing a competitive game of Wii bowling or watching the long list of programs I regularly schedule to record on my DVR. And true to my NTENy award -- you can always find me on Twitter at @jordanv.
Rachel Weidinger
2009 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be ready to throw a party at a moment’s noticeJohn Merritt
2009 NTEN AwardJohn has been a not-for-profit techie for over 18 years and currently serves as the Vice President of Information Systems for the YMCA of San Diego County. As a leader in the YMCA technology community, John has worked collaboratively to assist organizations in aligning technology with their strategic, business and operational goals. Focused on relationships and transparency, John works toward building “people centric” technology organizations that bring service & value. John’s passion is helping not for profit organizations leverage technology and on-line media to meet their mission.
Johanna Bates
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be answering a frantic call about a database meltdown right nowJohanna is the technology manager at Community Partners where she develops the website and writes grants. She does this work because she likes to de-mystify the internet for people who don't eat, sleep, and breathe on it like she does.
Rusty Burwell
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be answering a frantic call about a database meltdown right nowRusty is the VP of Data and Technology for the American Lung Association. His background is in fundraising, including special events and online campaigns, and is now responsible for nationwide database and technology planning and implementation for his organization. For him it's not just about the pay, it's about the challenge, the joy, and fulfillment.
Peter Campbell
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be answering a frantic call about a database meltdown right nowEarthjustice is a non-profit law firm that performs litigation and other services in support of our planet. The company slogan says it all: "Because the earth needs a good lawyer." As IT Director, Peter leads the IT Staff and sets the strategic direction for technology initiatives in support of the mission. These include deploying a global infrastructure that will seamlessly connect the firm's eight offices, which stretch from Honolulu to Tallahassee; supporting the litigation practice, fund development efforts, and communications strategies; and, in particular, enhancing the infrastructure to support shared knowledge and improved communication across all divisions.
Peter Deitz
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Give you 5 new fundraising ideas before you leave this roomPeter is the founder of Social Actions and the author of a blog called About Micro-Philanthropy. Social Actions helps individuals and organizations use social media to plan, implement, and support peer-to-peer social change campaigns so that grassroots solutions to local and global problems can flourish. He's presented and contributed content for NTEN, TechSoup, NetSquared, and Personal Democracy Forum about starting social actions and selecting the right combination of technology platforms. The underlying assumption of Peter's work is that person-to-person social actions are an excellent incubator for broad social change.
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Win a Pulitzer prize for bloggingDeborah Elizabeth Finn lives to bring resources and needs together seamlessly in the nonprofit sector, mostly through strategic use of information and communication technologies. She loves everything about her work except being an independent consultant, and would much rather be a cog in a machine. Her past and current clients, all of whom she adores, include Third Sector New England, the Public Conversations Project, Changing The Present, Social Markets, Earth Track, the Food Project, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, IDEAS Boston, and the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. She is a founding member of the Information Systems Forum, the Ethos Roundtable, Mission-Based Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Nonprofit Technology Working Group, and the Boston Technobabes. In her spare time, she captions photographs for LOLnptech.Org, reads Victorian literature, listens to Counter-Reformation liturgical music, and indulges her compulsion to introduce everyone on the planet to everyone else.
Lori Freeman
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Attend every NTEN eventMark Gillingham
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Attend every NTEN eventUsing open source, ingenuity, and expertise, Mark Gillingham is transforming the Great Books Foundation into a wide-awake high-tech organization. He's also a sailor who's planning to sail his boat from harbor to harbor in Lake Michigan.
Sarah Golightly
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Force you out of your geeky shell and networkSarah is CEO and Co-Founder of GoLightly, Inc., which provides innovative ways for people to connect, collaborate, and create new potential for membership and governmental organizations to mobilize their constituents and strengthen their organization. Sarah is dedicated to providing technology that allows people to go beyond traditional boundaries and help great people accomplish great things in the world... together! Sarah is passionate about making the web more usable and beautiful. Sarah is also a devoted mother, artist, off-road racer, and a frequent motivational speaker at conferences and meetings.
Mary Gross
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Force you out of your geeky shell and networkJudy Hallman
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Force you out of your geeky shell and networkJudy Hallman was a founding member of RTPNet and has been its executive director for almost 13 years. She started her career providing support for nonprofits after retiring from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she helped introduce the university to the Internet as a documentation and training specialist for campus information systems. In 1989, before the Internet as we know it came into existence, a group of geeks in Chapel Hill foresaw a need to share public information in a meaningful way. They set out to create a digital bulletin board service for the local community. By 1996, RTPNet was providing e-mail, listervs and Web site hosting. Today they serve more than 100 nonprofits and other community organizations in North Carolina.
Ben Hendricks
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Take your frantic call at 2amBen is the Technology Director at NPower, Greater DC Region, where he's been described as a "tireless and enthusiastic collaborator" who can cut through the noise, quickly determine what’s important, and rally the troops to accomplish the identified objectives. Before NPower, Ben was the Manager of Information Services for the Girl Scout Council of the Nations' Capital (GSCNC), a non-profit serving over 75,000 girls and adult volunteers in the Washington metropolitan area, where he managed the design and deployment of several Internet-enabled event management, fundraising, and distance learning systems, as well as a 'digital paper' forms system to simplify the volunteer recordkeeping burden.
Jeff Herron
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Bust your data silosJeff is a founder of Beaconfire Consulting and serves as lead consultant for Wildlife Conservation Society, American Legacy Foundation and American Physical Society. Jeff works with clients typically on Web strategy and CMS evaluation projects. As VP for Client Services, he oversees the consulting team and leads Beaconfire's recruiting efforts.
Steve Heye
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be answering a frantic call about a database meltdown right nowSteve Heye is the web project manager at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. He is responsible for managing all aspects of the YMCA's online presence including the web sites, intranet and social networking. Previously he was with the Technology Resource Group at YMCA of the USA for about ten years where he provided resources, conferences, and training that allows YMCAs nationwide to better leverage business systems and technology. He has a Bachelors degree in Finance from North Central College. You can keep up with Steve's thoughts and tips regarding nonprofit technology issues on his blog.
Heather Holdridge
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be stalking candidates onlineHeather Holdridge serves as the Director of Political Advocacy for Care2, a social network empowering civically active people to discover, share and take action. She is working to connect Care2’s seven million members to non-profits doing political work and campaigns in 2008, and to provide a forum for organizations to promote their message and mission. Care2’s members are interested in making a difference in the world, supporting progressive advocacy on issues as varied as women’s rights, environmental issues, human rights, animal rights, consumer issues and progressive politics, among others.
Doug Jacquier
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have crossed the most timezones to be hereDoug is the CEO of Community Information Strategies Australia (CISA) Inc., the leading body for the community information and technology sector in Australia.In 2003 he established the www.communit.info website as an IT resource for Australian nonprofits. In 2004 he established the first Australian national conference on IT capacity development for nonprofit organisations, called Connecting Up. In 2007 Doug led CISA into partnership with TechSoup to establish the DonorTec program, which is on target to save Australian nonprofits over $20m annually by channelling IT donations from the corporate sector, including Microsoft and Cisco products, as well as locally sourced products and services.
Beth Kanter
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have an account at every social networking siteBeth Kanter is a trainer, coach, and consultant to nonprofits and individuals in effective use of technology. She’s also a prolific and excellent blogger, widget expert, and Flickr aficionado. And in recognition of all her fabulous work, we awarded her the first annual NTEN Prize for NPTech Fantasticness at the 2007 NTC.
John Kenyon
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be able to talk an ED down from the ledgeJohn is a nonprofit technology strategist who has been helping nonprofits for over 16 years providing advice, teaching and writing about effective uses of technology. Along with Michael Stein he wrote both "The eNonprofit: a guide to ASPs, internet services and online software" and the Nonprofit Quarterly article "A Decade of Online Fundraising." John served as Training and Consulting Manager at Groundspring.org/Network for Good, helping organizations effectively use the Internet, before returning to private practice in 2005. He's also an adjunct professor for the University of San Francisco’s Masters of Nonprofit Administration degree program that includes the Institute for Nonprofit Management. John is a frequent speaker and content contributor in the nonprofit technology community.
Paul Lamb
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have an account at every social networking sitePaul is currently the Principal of Man on a Mission Consulting, a management consulting firm dedicated to leveraging technology for the social good. Paul was named the University of California, San Diego Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2005 and honored with the California Governor’s Technology & Innovation Award in 2002, both for his work in technology targeting underserved communities. Paul is a founder and former Executive Director of Street Tech, an award-winning program providing computer training and job placement for low-income and underserved youth in San Francisco’s East Bay. He has developed several other successful nonprofit programs and community collaboratives in the areas of youth, workforce development, and technology. He is also a frequent radio commentator and OpEd contributor on technology and social issues in a variety of publications.
Eric Leland
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Have been a member of NTEN for longer than any of youEric started his technology work focused on sustainable internet strategies for grassroots human rights organizations internationally, working for a variety of organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights First and Witness. As the founder and director of Leland Design, Eric focuses on strategic technology planning, website and database planning and development for progressive health and human services organizations, human rights and environmental advocacy groups both in the USA and internationally. Since Eric works with cash-strapped nonprofits, he considers the most fun part of his job finding advanced and cost-effective tools to solve their communications and information problems. He takes pride in helping nonprofits that have a great need for sophisticated yet low-cost technology systems, and no IT department to get the job done.
Charles Lenchner
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Force you out of your geeky shell and networkCharles is the Outreach and Support Manager at Democracy in Action (DIA), a progressive nonprofit that helps other progressive nonprofits use an online database - often called a constituent relationship manager (CRM) to communicate, fundraise, and advocate for social change. Charles's job is to help clients in the New York and the Northeast get the most out of DiA, and to connect new nonprofits with their online platform. But no matter where you live or work, Charles is happy to talk about nonprofit technology with you!
Sheldon Mains
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Reenact the adventures of Huck Finn on his way to the NTCSheldon Mains helps nonprofit organizations improve service to their communities. This may be planning new technology, evaluating current technology, integrating technology into the day-to-day operations of the organization or getting the organization to think in totally new ways. Sheldon is passionate about using technology to help nonprofits tell their stories and advocate for important issues. He believes that technology change should be combined with business practice and organizational changes to have the most positive impact.
Michelle Murrain
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Save the penguin from extinctionMichelle is a nationally recognized leader in the nonprofit technology field. Michelle is currently Systems Integration Lead at OpenIssue, a San Francisco-based consulting firm that specializes in CRM and CMS solutions for nonprofit organizations and social enterprises. She is also on the boards of Aspiration and NTEN. She blogs on nonprofit technology at Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology. When she's not thinking about nonprofit technology, she's probably writing science fiction.
Adam Nicholson
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Attend every NTEN eventAdam grew up near Nashville, TN, and graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in Rhetoric and Writing. After college, electoral politics took him to Connecticut, Oklahoma, back to Tennessee, and then to New Hampshire. After that, he settled in Hartford, CT, to work on nonprofit legislative campaigns; focusing on marriage for same-sex couples, gender identity and expression protections, various civil justice issues, and now, universal health care. Adam has always described himself as an "accidental techie," but is happy to have just landed a job that pays him for spending hours on Facebook and Twitter. When not creating advocacy campaigns, Adam enjoys reading about the American Revolution, listening to This American Life, playing with his dog, and tallying how many times his coworkers want to put "URGENT!!!" in their member emails.
Justin Perkins
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be stalking candidates onlineJustin Perkins, a social entrepreneur, accidental techie, new media marketing expert and former State water resources administrator for a major watershed in Colorado, joined Care2 in January 2006. Justin develops partnerships with nonprofits and customizes strategic campaigns for them to reach Care2's audience of 8.7 million members, or leverage Care2's audience to reach other networks. He also develops new tools to help nonprofits with marketing and fundraising.
Laura Quinn
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Bust your data silosLaura is the founder and director of Idealware, where she directs its research and writing to provide candid reports and articles about nonprofit software. She has been working in the software sector for more than ten years and is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.
Norman Reiss
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Attend every NTEN eventBridging skills in technology, communications and development, Norman enables nonprofit organizations to create and implement cost effective ePhilanthropy strategies. Currently at the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, he's generated over $10 million to date in online revenues through special events, online donations, memberships, registrations, memorial/tributes and ecommerce. Inspired by volunteering with several nonprofit organizations, Norman left a successful career in finance and technology in 2000 to take on the challenge of building an IT department and developing an Internet strategy for Cross-Cultural Solutions. In 2003, Norman managed the implementation of an online educational program at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Since 2007, he's led or participated in conference panels, webinars on content management and constituent relationship systems, ePhilanthropy strategies, online registration products and project management for nonprofits, and is blogging at the Nonprofit Bridge.
Amy Sample Ward
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Communicate everything in 160 characters or lessAmy is a nonprofit technology consultant and the Global Community Builder for NetSquared, an organization that mines, profiles and accelerates Web and mobile‐based social innovation projects from around the globe. Amy is dedicated to supporting and educating nonprofits and the progressive social change sector about evolving technologies that cultivate and engage communities. She has worked in social media with the nonprofit sector for over five years and has a background in New Media Journalism. Her work focuses on tools that ignite and empower communities, collaboration, and conversation. Amy has spoken at conferences, workshops, and training days in the US and the UK and hosts an authoritative blog on nonprofit technology.
Seth Schneider
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Take your frantic call at 2amSeth is Communications Director for the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, a partnership of over 100 groups working for a sustainable and socially just San Francisco Bay Area. Seth is the project lead for two tech projects that are underway: replacing the organization's 700-page static HTML website with a Drupal site and moving from ebase to Salesforce.com for donor management, fundraising, and CRM. Seth founded and co-leads the Bay Area non-profit Salesforce users group, and is a recent ham radio licensee and loves learning about the latest technology.
Ruby Sinreich
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be stalking candidates onlineRuby Sinreich works as the Co-Director of Communications at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith organization working for peace and justice through nonviolence since 1915. She is also the founder and editor of OrangePolitics.org, a progressive local politics blog in her hometown of Chapel Hill, NC.
Ruby has been working for 15 years to help progressive nonprofits use the Internet more effectively for communication, activism, and organization. She has impacted nonprofits of all shapes and sizes including local women's centers, statewide advocacy groups, and national and international institutions such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Greenpeace International, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Ruby is especially interested in using social networking tools to empower supporters and help them lead organizations from the bottom-up.
Judi Sohn
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Win a Pulitzer prize for bloggingJudi Sohn is Vice President of Operations for C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition, an organization she helped found in 2005 after losing her father to colon cancer in 1999. Judi brings her nearly 10 years of experience as a technology consultant and blogger into focus around tools that bring a widely distributed team together. Now with just 6 paid staff members, C3 is recognized as the leading patient advocacy organization focused solely on the needs of the colorectal cancer community. In her non-C3 life, Judi blogs about her adventures in nonprofit technology on her personal website, and she also serves as Managing Editor of Web Worker Daily, a GigaOM website.
Madeline Stanionis
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Give you 5 new fundraising ideas before you leave this roomMadeline is the CEO of Watershed, an internet consulting and services firm. She says she's "old fashioned" because, for her, it's about "the work": people engaging people, hearts, minds, and pocketbooks. Technology just makes it easier. She is an expert on internet and email campaigns and is a familiar speaker on the topic at conferences and seminars; she even wrote a book about it. When she's not helping people change the world, she's on eBay, at rock shows, or mastering her Dance Dance Revolution skills.
Michael Stein
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Take your frantic call at 2amMichael Stein is a writer and veteran nonprofit management consultant who works at the intersection of technology, marketing, and fundraising. As a consultant, he assists clients with all aspects of Internet strategy, including fundraising, email messaging, email list growth, blogging, website content development, online video, mobile phone technology, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, and Facebook. He is the author of three books and numerous articles about the online medium. Michael has provided strategic support to numerous organizations including The William J. Clinton Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, United Nations Food Program, The James Irvine Foundation, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the ACLU of Northern California. Michael’s opinion and analysis have been featured in numerous media, including The New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, National Public Radio, and Wired News. He grew up in France and England, currently resides in Berkeley with his wife and two children, and his personal passions are European soccer, surfing, and sea kayaking. Read his blog online at http://www.michaelstein.net/.
Dale Thompson
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Force you out of your geeky shell and networkDale is currently the Financial Manager and Acting Executive Director of Austin Free-Net, a nonprofit providing community computer labs and training and tech support for nonprofits and community-based organizations in Austin, Texas. She also coordinates the Austin 501 Tech Club meetings and Lunch Bytes trainings for Accidental Techies in Nonprofits with help from fabulous volunteers. She received the 2006 Dewey Winburne Community Service Award at the SXSW Interactive Festival for her work organizing computer volunteers to assist Katrina evacuees in Austin and continues to work with the Red Cross in central Texas to evaluate and improve their online volunteer applications, training and disaster planning.
Katrin Verclas
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Communicate everything in 160 characters or lessKatrin Verclas is co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org, a global network of practitioners using mobile phones in social change work. She was, until recently, also the Executive Director of NTEN, and now sits on the Board. Katrin is passionate about the use of technology in democratic participation, economic empowerment, community organizing, and government accountability. She believes in the importance of community, the power of networks, the good will of people, our ability to collaborate for a common good, the inherent political-ness of everyday life, and the power of people using technology to better this world. She is currently engaged in researching and writing a publication on mobile use in civil society with the UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Group, among other projects.
Robert Weiner
2008 NTENny Awards: Most Likely To... Be able to talk an ED down from the ledgeRobert Weiner is an independent technology consultant based in San Francisco. He has spent nearly 25 years helping fundraisers make informed, strategic decisions about the selection, use, and management of information technology. He started his career in this field managing university donor databases, and went on to manage central administrative and academic computing operations. He has worked with a wide variety of organizations ranging from small start-ups to major research universities and international charities. Some of the better-known names include Greenpeace, EMILY’s List, UC Berkeley, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Florida State University Foundation, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the University of Montana Foundation, Earthjustice, the California State University system, and the Trust for Public Land. He also created a popular online resources site to help nonprofits select and use donor databases, email marketing, and online giving software.