Polly Baca

Former Colorado State Senator Polly Baca is the President and CEO of the Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA).  A member of the Colorado State Legislature for 12 years, Baca was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1974.  She was the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the Colorado Senate where she served from 1978 to 1986.  In December 1993, Baca was appointed Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton and Director of the United States Office of Consumer Affairs in Washington, D.C.  Baca served as a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 1981 to 1989, and as a member of the DNC from 1973 to 1989.  Other national Democratic Party positions held by Ms. Baca include serving as Co-Chair of the 1980 and 1984 National Democratic Presidential Nominating Conventions, a Vice President of the 1988 National Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention, Co-Chair of the 1985 National Democratic Fairness Commission, and Chair of the Colorado Delegation to the 1978 National Democratic Mid-Term Conference.  Baca graduated from Colorado State University with a B.A. degree in political science and subsequently did graduate work at Colorado State University, the American University in Washington, D.C. and the University of Colorado at Denver.  She received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, in August 1992 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, in May 1989.

Meredith Blake

The chief strategist of Cause & Affect, Meredith Blake is a nationally recognized public interest attorney and social entrepreneur with twenty years of experience in creating positive social change.  Meredith is the Founder & CEO of Cause & Affect, an innovative agency working with influencers to create social change movements.  In this role, Meredith works with clients to create deep impact philanthropic initiatives and social impact campaigns grounded in research and with an eye toward sustainability.  

Prior to launching Cause & Affect, Meredith worked as Executive Vice President at Participant Productions.  Among Meredith’s notable achievements at Participant was the social-action campaign that accompanied the release of Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Before building the social action department at Participant, Meredith spent 10 years running Break the Cycle, the nonprofit organization she founded to empower youth to end domestic violence.  As a social entrepreneur, Meredith also enjoys giving her time as a board member to echoing green, an organization which provides first-stage funding to visionary leaders with bold ideas for social change.

Shifra Bronznick

Shifra Bronznick is a consultant who specializes in creating new initiatives and helping  not-for-profit organizations navigate change.  Shifra has consulted to a broad range of organizations including the Public Education Network, The Fresh Air Fund, American Jewish World Service, the Medicare Rights Center, the Charles H. Revson Foundation, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.  The founding President of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, she is co-author with Didi Goldenhar and Marty Linsky of  “Leveling the Playing Field.”  Shifra also designed the program for the White House Project’s National Women’s Leadership Summits.

Elizabeth C. Cook

President and Director
Philanthropiece Foundation, Inc.

Libby Cook has been practicing international and general corporate law for 26 years. Ms. Cook co-founded Wild Oats Markets, the second largest natural foods supermarket chain in North America, serving as its executive Vice President and General Counsel from 1987 to 2001. In 2001 Ms. Cook subsequently co-founded Sunflower Markets, another natural foods grocery chain, serving as its President from 2001 to 2005. In 2005 Ms. Cook turned her focus to the philanthropic world where she serves as Co-Executive Director of Philanthropiece Foundation, a private operating foundation she originally founded in 1987. Ms. Cook currently serves on the board of directors of United Western Bank, Colorado State University’s Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise Masters Program and Ellie’s Home Organic Center, a division of Eco Products, Inc. She has served on the Board of Directors for various private schools in Colorado and on the Steering Committee of the Peace Jam Foundation. Ms. Cook has received numerous commendations and awards for her entrepreneurial achievements. In 2006 Ms. Cook was recognized by the Boulder History Museum as a New Pioneer, honoring her achievements and contributions to the Boulder Colorado community.

Tiffany Dufu

Tiffany Dufu is Director of Development.  Before The White House Project, Tiffany served as a Major Gifts Officer for Simmons College in Boston where she was responsible for raising all major individual gifts from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  She was also a fundraiser for the successful campaign to elect Deval Patrick governor, serving on the Young Professionals Committee. She is originally from Seattle, where she served as Associate Director of Development for a start-up girls' school, raising over $2 million in less than two years and securing an additional $2 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation toward an endowment.  Her success is rooted in her passion for organizations that advance women and girls.  Tiffany holds a B.A. and M.A. in English and a Certificate in Fundraising Management from the University of Washington.  She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc.

Shannon Garrett

Shannon Garrett is the director of The White House Project's Michigan Field Office. A native of Holland, MI, Shannon recently returned home after spending more than a decade building her political, legislative and legal skills in Washington, DC and Minneapolis, MN. She is committed to amplifying the political voice of underrepresented constituencies, and has a particular passion for advancing women's leadership and civic engagement. To pursue these goals, Shannon has worked in a variety of government and nonprofit settings, including the Office of Congressman Sander Levin, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, Alliance for Justice and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. In her work with The White House Project, Shannon will invite and equip Michigan women of all political parties to run for office at all levels of government. Shannon graduated from Alma College in 1994, earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2004, and is currently a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

Catherine Gray

Catherine Gray joined our staff as Associate Director of the Midwest Region to support our regional expansion, while also continuing her role as a communications and public speaking coach. A screenwriter and filmmaker, Catherine is the recipient of several awards, including The Barry Morrow Screenwriting Fellowship in 2000 and Jerome Media Arts Grant in 2004.  She is an active member of Screenwriters' Workshop, Independent Feature Project, Women in Film and Television and serves on the board of TVbyGIRLS.  Currently she is in post-production on her short film, “Grace on a Stick.” Most of her adult life, Catherine lived in Houston, Texas where she founded two companies – Artemis Enterprises, a construction services firm, and OneTV, an innovative video-magazine for nationwide GLBT audiences. Catherine attended Scripps College and earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Amy Gross

Amy Gross is the editor in chief of O, the Oprah Magazine, which she joined in July 2000, and editorial director of O at Home, Oprah's quarterly shelter magazine launched in May of 2004. She was one of the founding editors of Mirabella (which she one the ASME for general excellence in 1992), went on to redesign Elle in 1993, re-launched Mirabella in 1995, and for a year edited both magazines. She's worked at Glamour, Mademoiselle, and for 10 years at Vogue, where she was Features Editor. She's written for many magazines.

She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Connecticut College with a major in zoology. She has co-authored two books: Women Talk About Breast Surgery: From Diagnosis to Recovery (1990) and Women Talk about Gynecological Surgery: From Diagnosis to Recovery (1991).

Amy serves on the boards of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and New York Insight Meditation Center.

Pakou Hang

Pakou Hang is a 30 year old Hmong-American and was recently a first-time candidate running for Saint Paul City Council, Ward 6. She was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was fifteen days old. Hang has dedicated herself to serving underrepresented communities through grassroots politics and community organizing.  Hang is also a professional consultant and provides training to grassroots organizations across the country.  She currently serves as Community Faculty at Metro State University in St. Paul.  Recently, she was the Minnesota Field Director for America Votes, a National political organization dedicated to engaging voters in the political process and winning a progressive majority.  In 2001, Hang served as the Campaign Manager for State Senator Mee Moua’s successful electoral bid and was the Deputy Political Director for the late Senator Paul Wellstone’s re-election campaign. Hang also worked as a political and community organizer with Progressive Minnesota.  She graduated from Yale University in 1999 with a BA in political science.  She is a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow and a recipient of the “Hubert H. Humphrey Public Leadership Award” and the MacArthur’s Scholars Fellowship. Hang recently received the Minnesota Women’s Press 2007 Changemaker Award for her model grassroots campaign for St. Paul City Council.

Elizabeth Hines

Elizabeth G. Hines is The White House Project’s Communications Director. She is also co-author of the bestselling biography, Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire, winner of the 2004 Non-Fiction Book Honor from the American Library Association. Formerly the COO & Editor-in-Chief of ADOTAS.com – home of the nation’s premiere online advertising publications – Elizabeth has worked on the editorial staff at the Random House/ Ballantine Publishing Group and as an assistant producer of Harvard University's benefit performance of Eve Ensler's Obie Award winning play "The Vagina Monologues." Prior to joining The White House Project, she served as the Senior Communications Manager for the Ms. Foundation for Women.
Throughout her career Elizabeth has been the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including a Richard L. Shinn Fellowship from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a Richter Fellowship from Yale University, and summer studies grant from the Johns Hopkins University Executive Leadership Alliance Program.

Elizabeth earned her B.A. from Yale University and did her graduate work in Harvard University’s Department of English and American Language and Literature. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Independent Media Institute (parent company of AlterNet.org) and serves on the Advisory Board of The Women’s Media Center. Elizabeth is also a Trustee of The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT, where she serves as the chair of their Gender Task Force.

Liz Johnson

As The White House Project’s Midwest Regional Director, Liz Johnson manages the Vote, Run, Lead program in this area. She is a seasoned organizer and is dedicated to building community and women's organizations, focusing on welfare reform and housing. She was a Program Officer for the Women's Foundation of Minnesota. Since graduating from Grinnell College, where she was elected Student Body President in 1988, she has served as a Legislative Consultant to the Minnesota Welfare Rights Coalition, directed Low Income People Organizing for Power in Duluth and organized for both the Duluth and St. Paul Tenants Unions. Liz is the 1992 recipient of the Minnesota Housing Partnership Right to Housing Award. Most recently, Liz was honored by The Minnesota Women's Press and given the 2006 Changemaker Award for her work to advance women leaders in Minnesota.

Claudia J. Kahn

Claudia J. Kahn is Senior Vice President for Public Affairs & International Program Development for Merrill Lynch. Ms. Kahn has global responsibility for international leadership and sponsorship programs aligned with business development and public policy strategies.

A long-time Merrill Lynch veteran, Ms. Kahn served as Senior Vice President, Public Policy & Corporate Responsibility from October 2003 to December 2006.  Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications from December 2001 until October 2003. Over the course of her career, Ms. Kahn has held a variety of management positions in Corporate Communications, Finance and Administration, and Human Resources. She also served as Assistant to the Chairman and President from February 2002 through April 2003.

Ms. Kahn is a member of the Financial Women’s Association, The Women’s Leadership Board at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the International Women’s Health Coalition President’s Council and the Education Fund of the New York Women’s Forum.

In 1986, Ms. Kahn was named by the New York YMCA to its Academy of Women Achievers and was also honored by the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York in 2004.  In January 2007, she was honored by the Women’s Associate Leadership Connection at Merrill Lynch with the first Annual Recognition Award.

Ms. Kahn previously served on the Boards of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Phoenix House and The New York Women’s Forum. She also served as President and subsequently Chairperson of the Merrill Lynch Foundation in 2004 through December, 2006.

Ms. Kahn was born in New York City and majored in American History at Smith College, graduating in 1973. She served as Executive Assistant to the President at Smith before joining Merrill Lynch.

Gayle King

Gayle King is the Editor-At-Large of O, The Oprah Magazine. In this capacity she is the liaison between Oprah Winfrey, the Founder and Editorial Director, and the magazine staff. She has been helping guide the editorial and creative vision of the magazine since its inception in 1999, as she has with O at Home, since its inception in 2004. 

O, The Oprah Magazine premiered on April 17, 2000, as one of the most successful magazine launches ever. In its first full year both Adweek and Advertising Age named it Startup of the Year and Advertising Age named it Magazine of the Year. The magazine has been nominated for National Magazine Awards every year since its inception, and continues to be one of the top 10 best selling magazines in the United States on newsstand. 

In addition, King is a special correspondent for both The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning America, and hosts a national radio show, The Gayle King Show, on Oprah & Friends XM Satellite Network. 

King began her career as a production assistant at WJZ-TV in Baltimore.  She moved on to work as a reporter trainee at WTOP-TV in Washington, DC, and then as a reporter and weekend anchor at WDAF-TV in Kansas City.  In 1981, King began anchoring the evening news at WFSB-TV, a CBS affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut. King remained anchor for WFSB until December 1999.  During her 18-year tenure in Hartford television, King was honored with three Emmy Awards for her work.

King is also no stranger to the national television spotlight. In 1991, she was co-host of Cover to Cover, a talk show on NBC.  In September of 1997, she hosted her own syndicated talk show, The Gayle King Show, distributed through Eyemark to 98% of the country.  

King is the mother of two college students, a daughter, Kirby, and a son, Will. 

Robert Mayer

Deputy Director of Education and Leadership

Robert joined the Young People For staff after working as a program associate at the White House Project. There, Robert worked on the Vote, Run, Lead initiative, which has trained more than 900 women across the country to run for office. Robert is a recent graduate of the University of Richmond, where he was a student leader and activist. While in college, Robert served as president of New Directions, a student group that successfully lobbied the University to be the first school in Virginia with a domestic partner benefits package and antidiscrimination policy inclusive of sexual minorities. Robert also organized community marches and campus protests leading up to the 2004 occupation of Iraq. While in Virginia, Robert attended the Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership at UVA and served as a media analyst on a gubernatorial campaign.

Joan M. Knudson

Vice President and Director
Philanthropiece Foundation, Inc.

Joanie Knudson has had a lifelong commitment to volunteerism and community service work with a 20 year emphasis in youth advocacy. She has served as Director of Youth for a variety of local community and faith based programs for middle and high school students. Ms. Knudson has led youth work trips in North and Central America including work with the indigenous cultures of North America. She is skilled in volunteer recruitment and training as well as program management. In 2005 Ms. Knudson joined the board of Philanthropiece Foundation and currently serves as Co-Executive Director. Ms. Knudson has a long history of advocacy work in Boulder, Colorado including the Boulder County School District, Community Food Share, Emergency Family Assistance Association, Stand Up for Kids and The Boulder County Homeless Shelter. Ms. Knudson also has over 25 years experience in public accounting specializing in small business and individual income taxation.

Jaime Peters

Jaime Peters is the Program Coordinator for The White House Project.  She supports the National Program Director and the White House Project's regional organizers with the Vote, Run, Lead program and the Real Security Initiative.  Prior to The White House Project, Peters spent two years as a national field organizer for the MoveOn PAC.  Peters has published her book, "Biting Back at International Law," a study of international human rights legislation and its effects on women and children in war torn areas. Recently, Peters co-authored the report for the International Women Leaders Global Security Summit.  She is the volunteer coordinator at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and a volunteer with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Susan G. Komen Foundation and MoveOn. She graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in Mathematics and a B.A. in both Political Science and Public Policy.

Rhonda Ridley

Rhonda Ridley is the Southern Regional Consultant for The White House Project and a lobbyist for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA).  During the 2006 Georgia General Assembly, she successfully lobbied for the passage of legislation amounting to $48 million for MARTA’s operating budget.  Ridley is a skilled political consultant in the areas of GOTV strategies, public involvement, voter registration, fundraising, and grassroots base building.  Ridley has organized grassroots GOTV efforts in Alabama and Georgia.  She has worked with hundreds of women candidates and turned out the women’s vote to place women in elective positions.  She has also served as the campaign manager for a number of women candidates.   Ridley supports and advocates for women’s and children’s issues in the legislative arena. In 2003, she earned a Juris Doctor from Jones School of Law.  She currently resides in Stone Mountain, Georgia with her husband Kenyatta. 

Christine G. Rhee

Christine G. Rhee is a manager at American Express Philanthropy.  In this role, Christine oversees the American Express' Leadership giving theme as well as grant recommendations from American Express' four Service Center locations.  Prior to this role, Christine was at the New York Philharmonic as the assistant to the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. Although relatively new to Philanthropy, Christine is a veteran of American Express from the business side.  She spent six years in strategic marketing roles, both in the Consumer Card and Corporate Card business units.  Christine has a bachelor's degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is pursuing a master's degree in Performing Arts Administration at New York University.  She volunteers with Taproot Foundation, lending her professional marketing skills for pro bono consulting with nonprofits in the metro-NY area.  She currently resides in Manhattan with her husband Andy, and their dog Chubby.

Beret E. Strong

Beret E. Strong is a writer, filmmaker, and educator. She received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Brown University and an M.F.A. in poetry from Warren Wilson College. Beret and her husband direct and produce cross-cultural and educational documentary films though their company, Landlocked Films. This work, and her passion for intercultural dialogue, has prompted Beret to live in Latin America, Micronesia, and Europe and, and to travel in Africa and Asia. She has taught at the university and high school levels. One of her goals as a filmmaker is to give voice to people whose voices aren't always heard in mainstream North American culture. Her most recent films focus on children with disabilities, emergent literacy, African-descended people in the Andes, and the impact of "adventure tourism" on a region of Bolivia. Dr. Strong currently works for eCrossCulture, a cultural competency education company. She is committed to hands-on projects to support the goals and needs of communities overseas with limited access to capital and technology.

Dana Vilardi

Center Director, The Center for Nonprofit Excellence

Dana Vilardi is currently the Director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, in Albuquerque New Mexico, a resource and management support center for nonprofits throughout the state, focusing on board development, management and leadership development, fundraising and IT needs for the nonprofit sector. Before moving to Albuquerque, Vilardi directed a vocational training program for disadvantaged youth in the five boroughs of New York City, a job placement program at the Edison Job Corps in Edison, New Jersey. She also worked for Women Aware, Abused Women's Services in Middlesex County, New Jersey as a counselor advocate for women and children in a shelter environment. She is a graduate of Douglass College, at Rutgers University and holds a BA in Women's Studies and Cultural Anthropology.

Erin Vilardi

Erin Vilardi is the National Program Director at The White House Project where she directs the Vote, Run, Lead program, training women to run for political office, and the Real Security initiative focusing on women and security. Most recently, she was the managing director for WHP on the groundbreaking International Women Leaders Global Security Summit, convening 75 women leaders from around the globe.  Vilardi was a part of Global Youth Connect's first delegation to Bosnia to study human rights and post-conflict resolution. Last March, she appeared on "Spotlight 25," a Lifetime Television special on young women and the quarter-life crisis. She is a member of the Younger Women's Task Force NY Metro Chapter and has been recognized as an emerging progressive leader. Vilardi graduated from New York University with a BA in Politics and Gender Studies.

Faith Winter

Faith Winter is the National Field Director for the White House Project.  Winter provides training, inspiration and empowerment to promote women's political leadership in Colorado and the Southwest region.  Winter has helped train women who are now serving on city councils, school boards and state legislatures. Winter has been organizing and working on campaigns for the past six years. Doing environmental work, she lead a team of over 100 young people that turned out 93,000 young voters in 2004. Winter also led over a dozen clean energy campaigns that generated 2 million dollars to purchase wind and solar power. In 2004 Winter was named one of 30 people under 30 showing political leadership by the Youth Vote Coalition. Winter loves organizing because she believes the best way to create change is by building power through people. She also has fun doing it, because a job isn't worth doing unless you laugh once in a while.