2013 Board of Directors
Mike Schwartz
Board Chair
Mike joined the board in 2004 and took on mantle of SMYAL Board Chair in 2013 after serving as Vice Chair, Chair of the Programs Committee, and various other roles within the organization. Early in his career, Mike worked for 10 years on Capital Hill with Members of the House of Representatives. Mike left the Hill in 1986 to join Freddie Mac where he held several positions, including Director of State Government Relations, Senior Director of Federal Relations and most recently as Director of Community Relations. As Director of Community Relations, he managed Freddie Mac's corporate philanthropy funding and volunteer programs. Under his leadership, Freddie Mac's philanthropic giving program was recognized as the largest philanthropic funder in the Washington metropolitan area for four years. He created Freddie Mac's Hoops for the Homeless which raised over 3 million dollars for homeless shelter providers in VA, MD and the District. He created and directed countless initiatives including a collaboration with Habitat for Humanity resulting in building 51 homes on the Mall in two weeks and transporting them to Louisiana and Mississippi as part of the response to Hurricane Katrina. Mike also sits on the Board of Greater DC Cares and the Board of the Washington Regional Area Grantmakers. He holds an MPA from the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a BA from the University of Arkansas.
Elizabeth Rose
Vice Chair
Elizabeth Rose (Liz) is the Communications Director for the Campaign for America's Future. Liz creates and implements communications strategy for public interest groups. Her recent clients include: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Consumers Union, the Save Darfur Coalition and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Rose served as the Director of Public Affairs of the Federal Communications Commission. Before her tenure at the FCC, Liz was a Public Affairs officer at the Labor Department under Secretary Robert Reich. Liz was also the Media Relations Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum when it opened in 1993, and before that she served as a press secretary on Capitol Hill for Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV) and Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-NY). A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Liz received a BA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison then moved to Washington, DC in 1983 and lives in Chevy Chase, DC with her husband Richard Jerome and their two daughters Rachel and Diana and a yellow lab named Daisy.
Rich Gottwald
Treasurer
Rich Gottwald is executive vice president for the International Sign Association where he is responsible for providing oversight and leadership on the regulatory, legislative, and technological challenges and opportunities facing the on-premise sign industry. Rich also has responsibility for growing ISA's education and industry training efforts through the International Sign Academy and for creating partnerships and alliances with the primary users of signs, the retail sector. Prior to joining ISA, Rich held senior management positions in several trade associations including executive vice president for the Association of the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, president of the Plastics Pipe Institute, and executive director of the Society of the Plastics Industry. Rich holds a BS in Plastics Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and is a Certified Association Executive. Rich lives with his husband Jim Harden in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood.
Billy Fettweis
Secretary
Billy Fettweis joined the board in 2011. He is the Manager of Development at the Children's Law Center, the largest legal services nonprofit in DC, which provides legal services to at-risk children and their families. Prior to this role, he was the Senior Development Manager at the Parkinson's Action Network, where he was responsible for generating $2.2 million in annual private revenue. He also served as Director of Volunteer Services at Greater DC Cares, where he managed all hands-on and skills-based volunteer programs, which engaged 43,000+ volunteers annually and supported 900+ community-based organizations. He was integral to program development, fundraising, and partner engagement. Billy is originally from Randolph, NJ and now lives on Capitol Hill. A graduate of George Washington University, he has also served on the Board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of DC and the Local Advisory Board for LIFT-DC.
Susan Butler
Susan joined the board in 2008. She serves on the Program and Development Committees. Susan has been involved with philanthropic activities as trustee and as grant maker. In 1977 she became the first director of the Best Products Foundation, a corporate foundation. Over her 15 years as director, she guided the giving program from $200,000 to over $1 million. The Foundation funding projects included women's rights, reproductive rights, voter registration, pre-collegiate education, several university scholarship programs, as well as support of museums, theaters, and dance companies. As Chair of the Board of The Studio Theatre, she helped that institution raise $13 million to expand its performance and conservatory spaces and most recently completed a capital campaign to provide housing for The Theatre's apprentices and out of town actors, directors and designers. She also serves on the Art Committee of the Phillips Collection and participates in a Giving Circle at the Washington Area Women's Foundation. In the past, she was President of the Washington Project for the Arts, and served on the Board of Overseers of the Corcoran Museum, the Board of Trustees of Washington and Lee University, Lowell School Board and on committees for Holton Arms School, Council on Foundations, National Network of Grantmakers, Georgetown Day School, and the ACLU in Houston.
Cheryl S. Clarke
Cheryl S. Clarke joined the board in 2011 and is also the Chief Executive Officer for the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP), a nonprofit organization that preserves and collects oral histories of accomplished African American elders to unite the generations and create a blueprint for the leaders of tomorrow. Ms. Clarke is also a consultant with Leibsohn & Associates, a nonprofit organizational management and development consulting group. Prior to joining NVLP in April 2008, Clarke worked for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) over 20 years in several senior management positions. In her last eight years she was the senior director of the Freddie Mac Foundation and Programs area where she oversaw the investment of $30M annually in the Washington, DC metropolitan region and nationally. Other positions included director of communications in Community Relations, director of Diversity, and director of Human Resources and Business Support Services in the Atlanta and Dallas operations. Clarke spent seven years as a director and teacher at a D.C. public school special education satellite program, the Bundy Crisis Intervention Center for emotionally and behaviorally challenged boys in Washington, DC. Clarke serves on the boards of the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP); and a member of The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and Leadership Greater Washington. Ms. Clarke is a graduate of the American University in Washington, DC with a BA in Psychology. Cheryl makes jewelry, travels the globe, participates with several book clubs and supports the visual and performing arts. Cheryl is the proud mother of two fine young men.
Donna Greenfield
Donna Greenfield joined the board in 2010 and is a principal at Greenfield Belser Ltd., which provides a full range of services from strategic communications planning through creative implementation in print and on the web, to hundreds of professional service firms, Fortune 500 corporations, large trade associations and publishers. The firm also has provided pro bono services to numerous schools and other non-profit organizations. A pioneer in the field of professional services marketing, Ms. Greenfield and her partner, Burkey Belser, helped to set the standards for promotional materials for professionals. In 1989, she was voted "Creative Legal Marketer of the Year" by the California Lawyer in recognition of the body of work produced for law and law-related firms for over a decade. She is a recognized authority on professional services marketing, and has spoken and written on marketing communications topics to audiences such as the American Bar Association (ABA), the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA), and the Legal Marketing Association (LMA). As a principal in Greenfield Belser Ltd, Ms. Greenfield has served in many capacities: managing client projects, participating in the creative development of the clients' work, handling all of the firm's legal work, and since the mid 1990s, she has been responsible for the overall operation of the business.
Heather Kaye
Heather Kaye joined the Board in 2011. She is a founder of The Leadership Sanctuary(R) program for nonprofit leaders, and President of Invision, LLC, a leadership development consulting and coaching company. As an organizational consultant and ICF certified coach, Heather provides customized, practical solutions that strengthen employee engagement and return bottom-line results. She is also an accomplished consultant and facilitator with an ear for hearing what is not said, tackling unexpected challenging situations, and galvanizing leaders behind over-arching goals. Through the course of her career, Heather has also facilitated numerous offsite retreats, taught training courses, developed corporate wide mentoring programs and coached hundreds of executives. Clients have included TED fellows, The Washington Area Women's Foundation, Leadership America, WEAVE, Search for Common Ground, United Way, Cheetah Conservation Fund, AARP, Marriott, AT&T, Hewlett Packard and multiple government agencies. In recent years, Heather's focus has been on building The Leadership Sanctuary(R). To date over 100 leaders have found a safe space to explore in depth their leadership practice, work strategically through roadblocks, access a peer network, and make breathing room for themselves in these demanding times. Heather is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington's class of 2011 and meets with leaders across the city and region to promote an agenda of support for those on the front line of social change and service. She loves animals, visiting different cultures, glass fusing, movies, the arts, yoga and taking long walks with her partner David and her loyal puppies Rumi and Pacha.
Jeff Krehely
Jeff Krehely is Vice President and Chief Foundation Officer at the Human Rights Campaign, overseeing the organization's public outreach and education programs. Prior to joining HRC, Jeff was the Vice President for LGBT Research and Communications at the Center American Progress, a multi-issue think tank and advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Before CAP, Jeff was the research director of the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that generates research and analysis to help speed equality for LGBT people. Jeff has also served as the research and deputy director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; special assistant to the president of The Atlantic Philanthropies, Inc., a multibillion-dollar international grantmaking organization; research associate at the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. Jeff holds a B.A. in English from King's College (PA) and a master of public policy from Georgetown University. He has been published by the Brookings Institution Press, the Urban Institute Press, and others. Jeff is co-chair of the advisory board for the Forty to None Project, a program of the True Colors Fund, which seeks to raise awareness about and bring an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth experiencing homelessness.
Danielle Moodie-Mills
Danielle A. Moodie-Mills is an Advisor for LGBT policy and racial justice at the Center for American Progress (CAP), where her work with the FIRE Initiative explores the intersections of race, sexual orientation, economics, and public policy. During the marriage equality fight in Washington, D.C. she served as a key spokesperson and strategist for the Campaign for All D.C. Families alongside her wife and President of the Campaign, Aisha.
Danielle's goal throughout her career has been to provide resources and services for low income and at-risk populations. She began her quest for social justice in the classroom as an educator specializing in early childhood and special education at a District of Columbia charter school. As a teacher, Danielle used the natural environment as her classroom. "Often times urban children and families do not see their issues such as high rates of asthma, obesity, and access to parks, as environmental issues."
She took her passion for building sustainable and equitable communities to the National Wildlife Federation where she currently serves as the Senior Manager for Environmental Education Campaigns at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). She works within NWF's Education Advocacy team to advance environmental education legislation in Congress.
Before joining NWF, Danielle was a Senior Legislative Representative for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg handling federal housing, telecom, education, and consumer protection issues for New York City's Office of Federal Affairs. Prior to working for New York City, she was a Congressional Black Caucus Fellow in the office of Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (NY-11). While in Representative Clarke's office she wrote the Getting Youth Re-invested in Environmental Education Now Act (GREEN Act) which directs the U.S. Department of Education to provide competitive grants that promote environmental education in urban schools and create green job cooperative opportunities. The bill promotes green education and environmental justice curriculum that educates young children in urban areas about the environmental impact of issues they face each day, such as pollution, access to healthy foods and access to green spaces.
Danielle is self-professed Polinista and the co-founder of www.threeLOL.com, a lifestyle blog which covers politics, pop culture, and all the life that falls in between. She holds a Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education and English as a Second Language (ESL) from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Marymount University.
Jeffrey Nelson
Jeff joined the Board in 2006. He serves on the Development Committee. He is currently vice president - global corporate communications for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, where he leads a team of external and internal communications professionals in North America, Europe and Asia. Verizon Enterprise Solutions creates global connections that generate growth, drive business innovation and move society forward. With a platform-based portfolio of industry-leading mobility, cloud, managed security, strategic networking and advanced communications offerings, Verizon Enterprise Solutions combines unparalleled expertise, innovation and technology to bring together applications, people and environments. Jeff previously served as executive director-Corporate Communications for Verizon Wireless, with responsibility for the company's national positioning and reputation, as well as communication of the company's public affairs initiatives.
Prior to joining Verizon, Jeff was Director of Communications at CTIA-The Wireless Association, and held senior legislative, communications and crisis management positions on Capitol Hill and in the private sector. He served on the senior staffs of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (OR) and U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX), managed Congressional races and represented diverse public affairs clients, advocated for inclusion of gays in the military, and promoted minority participation in health care professions. A native of Rockford, Illinois, Nelson is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee. A former board member of the D.C. Hotline crisis center, Jeff and his husband Rob Cogorno live in Washington, DC and Jersey City, New Jersey.
Betsy Pursell
Betsy Pursell joined the board in 2006. She currently serves as the Chief Development Officer at the National Partnership for Women and Families. Before joining the National Partnership, Betsy spent five years with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), where she established its first office for foundation fundraising and broadened support from corporate and philanthropic foundations. She was later named vice president for public education and outreach, where she had key roles in advancing important HRC initiatives including: Welcoming Schools, a diversity and anti-bullying initiative; the Religion and Faith Program, focused on promoting pro-equality clergy voices; and HRC's first index to examine the experiences of LGBT patients in the nation's health care facilities. Betsy has also served as the executive director of the Empower Program, a national anti-bullying and youth development organization. Her background in educational leadership includes a decade as the upper school director at the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, MD and eight years at Thayer Academy near Boston, MA, where she served as Director of Admissions. Betsy holds a B.A. from Colgate University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a C.A.S. in Organizational Leadership from Teachers' College, Columbia University. Betsy lives in Silver Spring, MD with her partner and their twin daughters.