Presenter Profiles 

Fred Ali has over 35 years of senior management experience with nonprofits, educational institutions and government. He began his career as a volunteer teacher and counselor in a small Eskimo village in western Alaska and subsequently held a number of key positions including President of Kuskokwim Community College, Vice Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage and founding Executive Director of Covenant House Alaska. In 1991, he became the Executive Director of Covenant House in Los Angeles and, in 1999, was elected President of the Weingart Foundation. He has a BA from Santa Clara University and an MA from the University of Michigan.

Diana Aviv is the president and CEO of Independent Sector and executive director of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector. She came to Independent Sector in April 2003 after nine years at United Jewish Communities, as vice president for public policy and director of the Washington Action Office. She was formerly associate executive vice chair at the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, director of programs for the National Council of Jewish Women and director of a program serving battered women and their families. She has had a private psychotherapy practice, served as an expert witness in capital cases and has a BSW from the University of Witwatersrand and an MSW from Columbia University.

Mikal Belicove is a former full-time corporate blogger and business blogging consultant. He is currently is the Director of Community & Education at Doba – a product sourcing marketplace that connects retail merchants with wholesale suppliers and manufacturers. Mr. Belicove’s nonprofit background includes serving as the Executive Director of the Adventure Travel Trade Association; Director of Membership and Conference Services for the Association for Experiential Education; and Managing Director of the Association for Outdoor Recreation and Education. In addition to maintaining his own blog, he serves on the Advisory Board of the Cottonwood Institute.

Lynda Bowman has been involved in training and education for more than 30 years. After teaching at an Arizona school for children with learning disabilities, she founded Merex Corporation, the national basic skills training company that has provided customized training to over 10,000 corporate employees. In 1999, she returned to New Way as Executive Business Director. After attending the Raising More Money 101 Workshop, she increased donations from $20,000 to $800,000 in one year and transformed the organization. As a Raising More Money Instructor and Coach, her mission is to empower other nonprofits to achieve this same successful transformation.

Barbara Bradley, CVA, was the Director of Volunteer Services at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center for 25 years and currently serves as Administrative Manager for DOVIA-LA (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies - Los Angeles) and is a Senior Associate with Johnston and Company, an executive search firm specializing in identifying talented professionals for executive positions, primarily in nonprofit organizations. She is a past president of DOVIA and SCADVS (Southern California Association of Directors of Volunteer Services.)  Ms. Bradley was a delegate to the 1982 International Conference for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) held in Oxford, England. She is a graduate of Purdue University.

China Brotsky is the Managing Director of Tides Shared Spaces, a Tides Network initiative which creates, operates and promotes sustainable work space for nonprofits. She joined Tides in 1990 as Chief Financial Officer. She has managed the restoration and development of a multi-tenant nonprofit center in San Francisco, has just created another one in New York and has lectured and consulted nationally on nonprofit facilities. She co-founded and directs The NonprofitCenters Network. She was founding Executive Director of Groundspring.org and Deputy Director of Finance and Administration at the Exploratorium Science Museum and is a CPA in the state of California.

Liz Callahan is the founding executive director of The CBO Center. She was an independent consultant for thirteen years and spent 20-plus years in nonprofits, academia, and government, including as vice president for Public Affairs and Marketing at Recording for the Blind and founding executive director of the Hudson County Coalition of Nonprofit Organizations. Her consulting areas include team development, business process improvement, collaborations, restructuring, board development, matrix management, management accountability, and planning and project management. She is a trained executive and relationship coach and holds a Master’s degree in psychology from New School University.

Susana Campbell, Volunteer Programs Supervisor for the City of Santa Clarita, has six years experience overseeing 4,500 volunteers for the City’s special events, including AMGEN Tour of California and the Santa Clarita Marathon.  Currently Ms. Campbell is President of DOVIA-LA (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies–Los Angeles) and Board Vice-President for the Volunteer Resource Center of Santa Clarita Valley.  For the past five years, Ms. Campbell has chaired the Projects Committee for Make A Difference Day, which last year brought out 800 volunteers to complete 22 community beautification projects in one day.  Ms. Campbell has Bachelor’s degree in Public Sector Management from CSUN.

Megan Cooper, Executive Director of Executive Service Corps of Southern California, has over 30 years experience in nonprofit management. She has held management positions with Joint Health Venture, National Conference of Christians and Jews and United Way of Greater Los Angeles, prior to joining the staff at Executive Service Corps, first as Associate Director, and in 1989 as Executive Director. During her tenure with Executive Service Corps, she has overseen the development of the Developing Development Program, the Wells Fargo Executive Directors Institute and the Executive Advisory Program. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and an MPA from CSU Los Angeles.

Kathy Crabb is Deputy Director of the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN). She has 13 years of experience in writing, editing, marketing and fundraising, including nine years in California's nonprofit sector. She has worked with nonprofit associations and with organizations serving low-income and other at-risk communities throughout southern California. She came to CAN in 1999, editing the CAN Alert and other publications. She became CAN’s first full-time Director of Marketing and Communications in 2003 and its first Deputy Director in 2007. She has a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MA from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Sandy DeMarco has been the Director of Volunteer Services at the Pasadena Humane Society for 16 years, taking the program from 26 to 400 volunteers. She has served as Treasurer and President of DOVIA-LA and was Vice Chair for the 1994 International Conference of Volunteer Administrators. She has been active in local Pasadena networking groups and served as Chairman of the Advisory Council for RSVP, San Gabriel Valley. She has been a guest lecturer and workshop facilitator for various groups, including the American Humanics Program at CSU Los Angeles. She was recently awarded the credential Certified in Volunteer Administration by the Association for Volunteer Administration.

Joyce Dinnage is the Region V Advisor for CAHHS responsible for Orange, San Diego, Riverside, and Southern Inland County Councils. This position also includes planning for the annual Volunteer and DVS Convention, as well as the Thrift and Gift Symposium. As Director for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society at Long Beach Naval Station, Ms. Dinnage was responsible for the training and oversight of hundreds of volunteers during her 13 years in that position. Upon the closing of the Naval Station, she became a volunteer at Mission Regional Medical Center. She has been President of the Auxiliary and contributed over 6,000 hours.

Jeska Dzwigalski has worked for Linden Lab, the creators of the virtual world Second Life, since 2004, focusing on new user experience, volunteer management, product development and Second Life Community advocacy. She previously worked to bring digital interaction to the exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Art. She serves on the advisory board for the Second Life Community Convention and presented at its 2005 conference, NetSquared Conference (2006) and Virtual Worlds Conference and Games 4 Change Festival (2007). She has an MA in Digital Media from the University of Denver and a dual Bachelor’s degree from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Jaime Engbrecht is Education Assistant for the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN), where she supports the logistics, marketing and registration needs of a busy annual schedule of conferences and workshops. She is also a co-founder and co-facilitator of CAN’s Emerging Nonprofit Professionals Program. Jaime previously did direct service with developmentally disabled children and worked in the communications and coalitions department at Equality California. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Cal Poly Pomona.

Yolanda Nunn Gorman, Ph.D., is President and CEO of Brilliance Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to meeting the management, resource development, evaluation, and information needs of nonprofits. She has authored several papers, studies and the workbook A Basic Guide to Proposal Writing and teaches workshops on proposal writing, evaluation, nonprofit board development, fundraising and nonprofit management. A recipient of the Richard Riordan Award for Business Leadership, she serves on several federal funding review committees. She is board chair of the California Association of Nonprofits and the President of the UCLA Alumni Association and immediate past Chair of the Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of California.

Eric Gazin is President and founder of Auction Cause and Gazin Auctions, both corporations which produce high-profile eBay auctions. With management experience in over $5 million in eBay auction sales and over 10,000 listings, he is a sought-after writer, lecturer, and instructor on everything eBay. His recent campaign with Kevin Bacon and Six Degrees won a viral marketing award from Marketing Sherpa. He has also worked on eBay projects with such notables as Matthew McConaughey, Gene Simmons, Garry Kasparov, Uri Geller, and companies such as BMW, Diet Pepsi, Nike, GQ Magazine, Miller Lite, Dairy Queen, Ford, and L’Oreal Paris. With a background in law, Mr. Gazin had a previous career in international business.

Kay Sprinkel Grace, CFRE, renowned speaker, writer and thinker in the field of philanthropy and nonprofit organizational behavior, is the founder and principal of Transforming Philanthropy, LLC. With a passion for philanthropy and insights based in decades of work with nonprofits, Ms. Grace brings new perspective and freshness to the practice of ethical nonprofit planning, management, donor development and fund raising. Since beginning her independent consulting work in 1987, she has built a strong reputation and client loyalty. In 2002 she received Gamma Phi Beta’s Carnation Award for outstanding service to her profession. She has been on the faculty of The Fund Raising School (Center on Philanthropy, Indiana University) since 1980. She served as National Volunteer Chair of the Keystone Program for Stanford University’s Centennial Campaign and as the first woman Volunteer Chair of Stanford’s Annual Fund. Her BA and MA degrees are from Stanford University.

Florence L. Green, Executive Director, California Association of Nonprofits, has been a leader, consultant, and trainer in the nonprofit community for over 40 years. Under her direction, CAN has expanded its public policy leadership, launched the Nonprofit Quality Reporting Initiative, and published the widely-used resource on California nonprofits, Facts and Fallacies. A founder of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations and a member of the Nonprofit Quarterly editorial board, Ms. Green is a dynamic and influential speaker who frequently appears at nonprofit sector conferences and gives media interviews about a variety of nonprofit issues. She has twice been named among the 50 most influential nonprofit leaders in the country by The Non-Profit Times and was the first woman ever elected to a city council in Kern County, California.

Evonne Heyning is the Creative Director of Amoration, whose work focuses on international aid/outreach, arts and expression, sustainable development technologies and integral strategy for organizational networks. For ten years, Ms. Heyning has served as a creative consultant for NGOs, media networks and educational institutions. As an artist, she often assists in large-scale public art production, curating shows and painting unusual canvasses. She is a specialist in nonprofit communications, Second Life development, Machinima video production, Web 2.0/3D web, social media bridge-building, and interactive art and game design. She is an educator, natural connector, strategist and network-weaver.

Mike Hoff is an independent consultant and former Consulting Director of the Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management. He has 20 years of experience in organizational effectiveness and human resource development in the private sector. Previously, he worked ten years as an Executive Director with three local branches of the Boys Clubs of America. Most recently, he was the Regional Director of the American Management Association, and he is also a member of the American Society for Training and Development. Mr. Hoff also served as a volunteer instructor and consultant for the Center for 18 years. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Utah.

Beth Kanter is a trainer, coach and consultant to nonprofits in the area of effective technology use. Her expertise ranges from coaching “digital immigrants” in the personal use of social media tools to the use of new web tools – such as blogging, tagging, wikis, photo sharing, video blogging, screencasting, social networking sites and virtual worlds – to support nonprofit goals. Her projects have included training, curriculum development, research and evaluation. She is also a professional blogger who writes about the use of social media tools in the nonprofit sector for social change.

Rob Kusel, Vice President, Essex & Drake Fund Raising Counsel, has previously served as the Director of Development and External Affairs for Blue Oak School, the first independent school in the Napa Valley, where he raised over $6 million for facilities and endowment. His other institutional advancement experience includes working as Director of Development for Major Gifts at Stanford University, where he raised more than $20 million in four years.

Ken Larsen, Director of Public Policy, became the first director of CAN’s Sacramento public policy office in 2001, after more than 20 years in state government advocacy, including with the Friends Committee on Legislation and the California Confederation of the Arts. He spent eight years as executive director of Rural Arts Services in Mendocino. He has served on over a dozen nonprofit boards, grants panels, and advisory committees, been a university lecturer, and edited six nonprofit newsletters. Perhaps his most interesting job in the nonprofit sector was booking the first California tour of North America’s only professional horse-drawn theater company.

Abby Levine serves as Foundation Advocacy Counsel at the Alliance for Justice. Prior to joining the Alliance, she was the Public Policy Analyst at the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA). At NCNA, she monitored and analyzed issues affecting the nonprofit sector, such as challenges to nonprofit tax exemptions and advocacy, state budget cuts, government grants streamlining and corporate governance. Before working at NCNA, Ms. Levine was an associate in the tax department at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a BA from American University and a JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Steve Lindhorst is a former eBay employee and one of only seven Lead Instructors for eBay’s own eBay University. He has been instructing eBay University classes for eBay and eBay Motors since 2002 and has taught dozens of nonprofit executives how to use the Internet to generate additional sources of income for their organizations. In addition to training individuals and organizations, Mr. Lindhorst has been a “Silver” PowerSeller on eBay, and he runs his own successful eBay business and Commerce-related website and blog.

Anne Lobsinger is the Volunteer Coordinator for Maryvale, a nonprofit Residential Treatment Program serving girls ages 6 to 18 who are healing from physical, sexual and emotional abuse. She has twelve years of experience working with volunteers in a variety of social service settings such as food pantries and youth shelters. She has also collaborated with an all-volunteer staff in establishing a food pantry. Ms. Lobsinger is currently the Membership Chairperson for DOVIA-LA (Directors of Volunteers In Agencies, Los Angeles). She was a volunteer for one year in South America and obtained her Master’s degree from CSU Long Beach.

Dave McDonough is President of the Social Enterprise Institute, which provides nonprofit leaders a unique opportunity to develop the skills and networks needed to develop successful social enterprises. He was previously President and CEO of Chrysalis, a nonprofit agency providing employment opportunities to disadvantaged communities, where he founded two nationally-recognized social enterprises that annually employ over 800 former welfare recipients and generate $3 million in revenues. Mr. McDonough was one of seven representatives to speak at a White House conference exploring innovative solutions to hunger and poverty. In March 2006 the Social Enterprise Alliance presented him with its annual Leadership award.

Tarra McFadden is Executive Assistant for the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN), where she supports the activities of the executive director, board of directors, CAN Policy Council and CAN Regional Partners network. She is also a co-founder and co-facilitator of CAN’s Emerging Nonprofit Professionals Program. Tarra previously held administrative positions with Congressional campaigns and the Utah Homeless Management Information System. She has a Bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from the University of Utah.

Allan Pressel is Founder and CEO of CharityFinders (www.CharityFinders.com), which helps nonprofits use the Internet to further their mission. CharityFinders’ main product is NonprofitSite123, which enables any nonprofit to build its own world-class website in just hours. CharityFinders also offers Internet consulting services and custom web development to nonprofits. Previously, Mr. Pressel was Co-Founder of i-Cube, which helped large corporations develop and implement an IT/Internet strategy, and a technology strategy consultant at Arthur Anderson and First Consulting Group. Mr. Pressel has conducted numerous public speaking engagements to thousands of Fortune 500 senior executives and currently focuses exclusively on presentations to nonprofit organizations.

Brigette Rouson, Program Director, Alliance for Nonprofit Management, has 20-plus years of experience as a consultant, public policy attorney, grantmaker, board member and scholar-activist. She directs the Alliance’s Cultural Competency Initiative, staffs the new Ethical Standards in Capacity Building and provides support to the People of Color Affinity Group (which she co-founded) and Board Governance Affinity Group. She also maintains a consulting practice and serves as a training fellow of Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest. Previously, she worked as a senior consultant with Management Assistance Group and senior program officer at Ms. Foundation for Women. She has a BA from Howard University, MA from University of Pennsylvania (where she also completed Ph.D. coursework) and JD from Georgetown University.

Julia Rubiner and Simon Glickman are the founders of Editorial Emergency, LLC, a Los Angeles copywriting and branding consultancy. Before serving as PR editor for Geffen and DreamWorks Records, Julia edited reference publications for Thomson Gale. Simon earned a doctorate from Oxford and later became Senior Editor of the music-industry magazine HITS. Since launching EE in 2005, they’ve crafted copy for Honda, Sony, Target, Borders and Mattel, among others, as well as artists, entrepreneurs and such nonprofits as Jewish Vocational Service, The Natural History Museum of L.A. County, little black dress, The Daniel Pearl Foundation, Rock for Reading, Hired Power, The No Home Depot Campaign and Kid-Formation.

Gloria J. Sandoval has nearly 30 years experience in nonprofit management and has been the Executive Director of STAND! Against Domestic Violence (formerly Battered Women’s Alternatives) in Concord since 1997. Previously, she was Executive Director of the Shanti Project in San Francisco and Executive Director of the Rape Crisis Center of Contra Costa and Marin Counties. Ms. Sandoval has extensive experience in the field of organizational development and has conducted local, statewide and national trainings in the areas of administration, personnel management, conflict resolution, diversity and strategic planning. She is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Sociology Department.

Gerald R. Solomon, J.D., is President/CEO of Public Health Foundation Enterprises (PHFE). He offers a diverse executive leadership background, having served as President and CEO of several highly successful and nationally recognized nonprofit as well as for-profit organizations, including a distinguished 18-year career as a civil trial attorney and Judge Pro Tem. His nonprofit experience includes serving as President of a Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, CEO of a multi-state residential and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program and Executive Director of the North Coast Chamber of Commerce in San Diego County.

Patricia St. Onge is a partner in Seven Generations Consulting. She provides training, consulting and technical assistance in the areas of community organizing, social justice advocacy, organizational development, cross-cultural effectiveness, consensus building and spiritual and personal coaching. Previously, Ms. St. Onge was Director of Education and Training at National Community Development Institute (NCDI). She is the lead writer for the Alliance for Nonprofit Management’s Cultural Competency Initiative.

Susan Tenby, Senior Community Manager, has been with TechSoup since its launch in 2000. She manages the TechSoup community forums and works with the editorial team. As an avid proponent of accessible technology, she is also the lead of TechSoup’s accessibility program. Ms. Tenby has a background in library work and her graduate work was in literature. She participates in many online communities outside of the TechSoup forums. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, she has lived in San Francisco since 1989. She is passionate about travel, fashion, candy, and her white Persian cat.

Jonathan Weedman is Regional Vice President for the Wells Fargo Foundation. He began his career with the company as a Business Banking Officer at the Los Angeles Main Office and later joined the Premier Banking Division, where his portfolio at one time contained over 400 local area nonprofits. He has served on numerous boards and is the recipient of awards for his community service including from Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing, Shakespeare Festival LA, Para Los Ninos, Aid for AIDS and Operation Hope. Mr. Weedman attended both USC and UCLA, where he was awarded his Bachelor’s degree.