About

Lendsey Achudi, Executive Director

Lendsey Achudi is a Social Impact Strategist with over a decade of experience in government relations, strategic partnerships, and organizational growth. She has helped mission-driven organizations strengthen their advocacy, fundraising, and civic engagement efforts across sectors including public policy, human rights, health equity, gun violence prevention, and civic education.

Lendsey is an alumna of the University of Rochester, where she studied International Relations and French and received the Fannie Bigelow Prize for Women’s Leadership from the Susan B. Anthony Center. She is also a Senior Fellow at Humanity in Action – an international non-profit, non-partisan, and non-governmental organization that facilitates and promotes dialogue to respond to the challenges that democratic societies face with increased diversity.

Her previous work includes roles with the United Nations, Booking Holdings, The Outreach Team, WeTravel, and the Community Justice Action Fund (a project of Tides). When she is not working, Lendsey enjoys the beach, running, hiking, kayaking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

Claire Adams, Outreach Director

Claire was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and moved to the U.S. in 2007. She’s a tenured professor who has worked in refugee advocacy and outreach with a range of local and global organizations. Her refugee work led to her getting the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Volunteer Award and the American Society for Public Administration Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Administration for research & advocacy in the area. In 2018 she worked on an emergency response team for Lighthouse Relief on the Greek island of Lesvos, servicing the Aegean Sea.  She has a BA in Humanities from Ulster University, an MA from Queen’s University Belfast, an MSC in International Affairs and Global Enterprise from the University of Utah, and is a PhD candidate at Ulster University.

John Boylan, Editorial Director

John is a Seattle writer and producer. He has been an editor, journalist, organizer, art critic, and researcher, and worked in web publishing at Microsoft for 15 years. For more than 25 years, he has hosted a roundtable conversation series about art, politics, and science, featuring major artists, activists, scientists, poets, writers, musicians, architects, actors, and impresarios. In 2016 he created and co-produced 9e2, a nine-day festival of art, science, and technology that included work by more than 100 artists, performers, engineers, scientists, and technologists. He’s currently wondering what a 9e26 would look like, ten years later. He holds an MA in communications from the University of Washington and two BA degrees, in history and English literature, from Penn State. He has been researching, writing, and editing the guides since 2018.

Nannette Bailey, Community Hub Coordinator, Richmond Public Schools

Nannette Bailey first distributed our nonpartisan guides in 2013 while running  the community engagement arm of the Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU)  ASPiRE program, where she created a voter-engagement partnership with residents of the Mosby Court public housing project. Nannette also worked with 40 other community-based agencies and taught courses on neighborhood research and foundations of community engagement. Nannette is now Community Hub Coordinator at the Richmond Public Schools, leading a team of Family Liaisons who engage students and parents living in communities near VCU.  She’s also been a program administrator at VCU’s Center on Health Disparities and as senior training coordinator for the Harvard School of Public Health’s Division of Public Health Practice.  Nannette sits on Art for the Journey’s board and is an member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Richmond Chapter of Continental Societies, Incorporated and the James River Valley (VA) Chapter of Links, Inc. She has a B.A from Hampton University, a M.T. from VCU and a Masters in Education from the Harvard School of Education.

Ron Boehm, Former CEO ABC-CLIO

For 27 years, Ron Boehm was the CEO of the International educational publishing ABC-CLIO. The company published thousands of reference and non-fiction titles and became a leader in digital publishing of academic and school databases, journals, and e-books. Ron is also a principal at BOMA Investments, a family office focused on building collaborations and making impact investments. Ron and his wife Marlys have worked with and invested in early stage companies on five continents, creating solutions in energy, agriculture, fire, health, livelihood and workforce development, education, and more. Ron is also the director of World Merit Ltd, which inspires, informs, and supports a global community of young adult changemakers. Ron has been at the center of bringing complementary organizations together for mutual benefit, including Young Presidents Organization, Ashoka, World Merit, Synergos, and Nexus. He has a JD from Hastings College of the Law, an MBA from University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from College of Wooster.

Steve Culbertson, President & CEO Youth Service America

Steve Culbertson is President and CEO of YSA (Youth Service America), an international nonprofit organization committed to increasing the opportunities for young people to change the world. YSA works with thousands of organizations in 135 countries on six continents. For two years in a row, the Nonprofit Times Steve to its list of “The 50 most powerful and influential leaders” in the sector. Steve has launched a variety of YSA programs, including Service Vote and Semester of Service. Steve has also been a Trustee for America’s Promise; a member of the Advisory Committee for the Ad Council; an Advisory Board Member of Break Away; and has served on the Board of Directors of Camp Fire. He has a degree in English and French from Hamilton College and lives in Washington, DC.

Leslie Garvin, Executive Director, North Carolina Campus Engagement

Leslie Garvin is the Executive Director of North Carolina Campus Engagement, a network of 37 colleges and universities committed to educating students for civic and social responsibility, which she’s worked for since 2005. Garvin also leads the NC Collegiate Hunger Challenge and Elections and Democracy work. She has trained hundreds of faculty, staff, students, and community partners across the state and country in the deliberative dialogue method. She is a Collaborative Discussion Coach and a trained moderator and member of Braver Angels. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Issues Forum and co-chairs the State Summits & Networks Subcommittee of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. Garvin has co-authored chapters in Critical Intersections In Contemporary Curriculum & Pedagogy and Practical Wisdom for Conducting Research on Service Learning: Pursuing Quality and Purpose, and edited the Primer on Benefits and Value of Civic and Community Engagement in Higher Education. Garvin holds a MSW with a concentration in social and economic development and a specialization in management, as well as a BA in political science and African-American Studies, both from Washington University in St. Louis.  She is a former White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellow  and a proud AmeriCorps alum.

Sam Reed, former Secretary of State of Washington State

Sam Reed was elected as Washington’s Secretary of State in 2000. He served until 2013. He’s is a former president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and the Republican Association of Secretaries of State and was a Governing Magazine Public Official of the Year. Reed has also been a county auditor, directed Washington’s Constitutional Reform Commission, directed the Governor’s Urban Affairs Council, and represented the US as an election observer for the Republic of Uganda. He also co-founded Common Cause of Washington, helped found the Mainstream Republicans of Washington, and has a BA in Social Studies and MA in Political Science from Washington State University.

Esther Wojcicki, Media Literacy Expert & former California Teacher of the Year  

Esther Wojcicki is an internationally known educator, and founder of the Media Arts program at Palo Alto High School, where she built a journalism program including 600 students, five additional journalism teachers, and nine award-winning journalism publications. She is also the 2002 California Teacher of the Year; a 2009 MacArthur Foundation Research Fellow; former Chair of Creative Commons, Chair of PBS Learning Matters, and on the Board of the Freedom Forum, the Newseum and the Alliance for Excellent Education. She holds three honorary doctorates and is the author of Moonshots in Education (2014) and best-selling How to Raise Successful People (May, 2019). Her primary focus is to help parents, teachers and managers be more effective at home, in the classroom, and in the corporate world. She was one of the leaders in setting up the Google Teacher Academy, and has been a consultant for the U.S Department of Education, Hewlett Foundation, Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching, Google, Silicon Valley Education Foundation and Time Magazine Education. Esther has a BA and Master’s of Journalism from UC Berkeley and MA’s from San Jose State, UC Berkeley and the Sorbonne.