2011 Presenter Bios
Patrick Adams oversees the state's health insurance assistance and elder nutrition programs, establishing many collaborative relationships and programs. With a long history in social services, he has volunteered for over 25 years. He specializes in volunteer support and administration, training, program management, supervision, strategic planning and problem solving.
Susan Abravanel heads student learning for academic achievement as VP of Education at YSA, incorporating service-learning and other school-based strategies to engage diverse student populations in youth service. A national expert in building school-community partnerships, Susan's background includes more than 25 years with nonprofit and educational leadership.
Michael Ashmore is the Grants Officer for MCCS and oversees Maine's grants for National Service programs including AmeriCorps*State and Learn & Serve America. Prior to joining the Commission, Michael was Director of the Maine Transition Network, a nonprofit providing training to schools and agencies helping youth with disabilities transition from school to adult life. He was also a teacher and school district administrator for almost two decades.
Andrea Berry oversees Idealware's fundraising and training activities including sponsorship, individual giving, grants management and live and online training. Prior to joining Idealware, Andrea held fundraising positions in education, health research and museums and has run friend-to-friend fundraising campaigns for schools and health organizations across New England.
Eileen Buzzello is an attorney who practiced law for over twenty years and had a prior career as an operations manager for Union Pacific Railroad. She has presented several webinars, and hundreds of hours of adult training, including preparation of training materials, training the trainers, and presenting the training.
Patrick Carson is the School Health Coordinator, Roberts Farm Coordinator, and a High School Service-learning Teacher at Oxford Hills School District. He has Master of Science degrees in both Education Leadership and Counseling and holds a B.A. in Secondary Education.
Elizabeth Cole served as a VolunteerMaine AmeriCorps VISTA in 2010 with the Maine Commission for Community Service. She's now the Admissions Officer for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. She's excited to be back at Blaine House!
Maryalice Crofton joined the Maine Commission for Community Service on April 1, 1995 and served as Grant Program Officer until she was appointed Director in May 1996. Maryalice's responsibilities include supporting the volunteers who serve as Commissioners, serving as liaison to external partners, strategic planning, program development, external communications, intergovernmental relations, and representing the Commission on regional and national initiatives. Previous work included 15 years as Executive Director of two Maine Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies, a year with USDA Cooperative Extension as evaluator of a national project, and five years with Univ. of Connecticut Cooperative Extension. She earned her master's degree in counseling from UMaine and her bachelor's from St. Joseph College in Connecticut.
Megan Emery is a children's librarian at Lewiston Public Library. You may have received emails from her last year while she was an AmeriCorps VISTA for VolunteerMaine.org during her term of service for The Maine Commission of Community Service and United Way of Greater Portland. She's been working in nonprofits for 6 years and volunteering her entire life. She loves teaching folks about social media, baking cupcakes, traveling the world and danger. You can follow her on twitter, her name is bibli!
Kaira Esgate is the Executive Director of Reimagining Service, a national multi-sector coalition dedicated to increasing volunteer engagement capacity nationwide. Kaira served for more than a decade at CaliforniaVolunteers where she oversaw the agency's program development/grantmaking activities and led statewide planning efforts with the service and volunteering field.
Tracy Harkins is the Education Programs Manager at KIDS Consortium, where she coordinates major grant-funded projects and professional development services. Tracy joined KIDS Consortium in 2000 as an Education Consultant and has extensive experience creating and delivering professional development programs and resources on service-learning. Tracy co-authored the KIDS as Planners Guidebook and Working With KIDS: A Service-Learning guide for Community Partners. She also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Education from the University of Southern Maine.
Susan Jennings has over 25 years of teaching and youth development experience with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and in the public school system. Susan has a Master of Science Degree in Educational Administration and a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Education. Susan's current responsibilities include oversight for the Oxford County 4-H Youth Development program, including leadership for the University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Center at Bryant Pond, 4-H clubs, community afterschool programs and school initiatives.
Jen Lobley has worked for UMaine Cooperative Extension for the past 11 years. She has supported the work of over 200 4-H volunteers in Hancock and Washington Counties during that time. In 2009, she earned her Certificate in Volunteer Administration. In 2010 she took on a new role with UMaine Extension as their statewide Educator for Volunteer Development. In her current role she is working to build the capacity of Extension staff who with a variety of volunteer programs including Master Gardeners, Senior Companions, and 4-H through workshops, on-line trainings and consultations. She is one of two trainers for the 4-H Afterschool Academy, working directly with afterschool and childcare providers across Maine. Jen has presented workshops at the Blaine House Conference on Volunteerism, the National Extension Conference on Volunteerism, and the National Extension Association for 4-H Agents.
Dahlia Lynn, Ph.D. is the Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Southern Maine and a faculty member in the Muskie School of Public Service. Dr. Lynn research and teaching interests are in the area of human resource management, nonprofit and volunteer management. She currently serves on several nonprofit boards and private foundations.
Janet May is Coordinator of Transition and Adults for UMaine's Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies. Janet has worked with individuals who have disabilities for more than 20 years and has been assisting individuals with disabilities locate rewarding volunteer positions for the past 8 years. Additionally, while at CCIDS, Janet has collaborated on a number of projects with the Maine Commission for Community Service.
Karen P. McDonald is a Program Spec. I-Volunteer Coordinator for the past 13 years with the Anne Arundel County Dept. of Detention Facilities in Annapolis, Maryland. Karen has held the following officer and board positions: (Coordinators of Volunteers of Anne Arundel County)2004-2006 - Vice-President, 2006-2008 - President, 2009-Present- Liaison to MCDVS;(Maryland Council of Directors of Volunteer Services) 2007-2008- Chairperson Professional Development Day, 2008-2009- President, 2009-2010 -Chairperson Nominations, 2010-2011 - Director-at-Large;(Volunteer Center for Anne Arundel County) 2005-2008- Board Member; (National Association of Volunteer Programs in Local Government) 2007- 2011 - Member;(National Association of Professional Women) 2009-2011 -Member;(COVAA Steering Committee & AL!VE Initial Bd. Member) 2006- 2009; 2011 elected to AL!VE Board(AL!VE Committees) 2009- Present - Member Management; 2010- Present - Conference Presence and Planning.
Alicia J. Nichols works with nonprofit staff and boards across Maine to increase their fundraising effectiveness. Through her consulting practice, Alicia J. Nichols Fundraising Counsel, projects are customized to the specific needs of the client - solicitation coaching, annual and capital campaigns, major, corporate and individual giving, grantwriting, and board training. A state licensed professional fundraising consultant, Alicia has raised more than $15 million over the past 28 years for arts, cultural, humanities, education, human services, health, environment and animal welfare organizations. Nichols holds memberships in the Rotary Club of Bangor, Association of Fund Raising Professionals, BoardSource, the Maine Association of Nonprofits, and the Maine Philanthropy Center. A graduate of the University of Maine, Nichols holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, and has completed Master's degree course work in communications.
Brenda Peluso is the Maine Association of Nonprofits' Director of Public Policy and co-author of MANP's economic impact reports and salary surveys. The mission of her work is to change the conversation about the nonprofit sector in a way that motivates people to make systemic change through solid public policy. Prior to coming to MANP in 1995, Brenda taught high school math & statistics. She combines her experience in the nonprofit sector with her educational background to bring quality to the MANP advocacy program.
Laura Rog is the Director of Training and Technical Assistance for generationOn. Working primarily with schools and nonprofits serving youth, she provides in-person and online training. Laura has coordinated service-learning training and mini-grants for almost a decade, and has also as worked in civic engagement and after school programming with PreK-12 students.
Anne Schink is a consultant in volunteer management, training, and facilitation offering services to nonprofit organizations, public entities, and faith-based organizations. From 1995 to 2009 Anne was the Program/Training/Disability Officer at the Maine Commission for Community Service. During that time she worked directly with AmeriCorps program directors, staff, and members to strengthen programs through training and technical assistance. She organized conferences, training events, and small meetings. Anne has also provided professional coaching support to program directors and staff on grants management, program design, goals, objectives, and evaluation. She supported programs to recruit, retain, and include individuals with disabilities in all parts of the AmeriCorps programs. She serves on the InforME Board which supports the State of Maine's development of e-government and e-commerce web portal at www.maine.gov. Anne previously worked as a large group facilitator in public policy and worked in a public policy consulting firm. For more than 25 years, Anne has been a volunteer leader through the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, church and community groups. Anne continues her work as a volunteer in a variety of local nonprofit organizations. In 2007 Anne received the CVA designation from the Council on Certification in Volunteer Administration.
Lori Tsuruda annually recruits and manages 650+ volunteers and helps charities and companies improve their community involvement programs, engaging nearly 6,000 PMD volunteers in 875+ service projects helping 121+ charities in Greater Boston. She has managed volunteers for 20+ years, and is leading the Directors of Volunteer Administration in Boston for her sixth term. Her experiences have included being and managing "buddies" for people living with AIDS; managing zoo volunteers; and serving as class president and chairing their 20th reunion and class gift.
Barbara Wentworth, MS, is Director of Community Impact at United Way of York County (UWYC). Her background includes many years developing and managing successful volunteer programs at a variety of nonprofits in the county. In 1990, Ms. Wentworth led the task force that created Volunteer! York County and became its first director in 1991. In addition, she was co-founder of the York County DOVIA (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies), a peer-to-peer network for manager of volunteer resources. Now in its 26th year, this network is hosted by United Way of York County. Ms. Wentworth has written and presented on a range of topics including volunteer and nonprofit management, civic leadership and outcome measurement and has been published in local, regional and national journals. Currently she serves as an Editorial Reviewer for the International Journal of Volunteer Administration. Ms. Wentworth holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology/Social Welfare and a Masters in Management/Organization Development.
Marjorie Withers, LCPC, has worked in mental health and as a consultant for over 30 years. Her passions are developing systems of care, skills and supports to help families and children improve the quality of their lives. She specializes in work with infants, young children and families building on strength through collaboration. For the past decade she has focused on the development of rural and tribal collaborative and defining authentic collaboration. Marjorie is currently serving as director of the Community Caring Collaborative in Washington County, a Project LAUNCH-funded program. Marjorie developed and now directs this 37 agency, community, and tribal collaborative in creating a seamless system of care for at-risk infants and young children and their families.
Shammara Wright is Senior Manager of After-School Programs at generationOn where she manages service-learning programs in out-of-school time, helps build curriculum, develop trainings and coordinates relationships between schools, teachers, parents, and community-based organizations. Prior to joining generationOn, Shammara enjoyed her tenure at The After-School Corporation where she worked to develop the Building Healthy Communities program since its inception in 2006. Shammara has given numerous presentations including workshops on Childhood Obesity and Service Learning, Working with Under-Privileged Populations and Building Community Partnerships.
Pam Zeutenhorst joined the Commission in 2008 as Training and Disability Coordinator. She previously served as a Volunteer Center Manager & RSVP Project Director in Northern California. Pam has participated on state and national committees to increase participation in service by people with disabilities, faith-based communities, and rural residents of economically stressed communities.
Brenda Zollitsch is a PhD Candidate at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service. She specializes in collaborative environmental policy planning and implementation. Her work centers on nonpoint source pollution issues and, specifically, stormwater management in Maine and nationwide. She currently works as an independent consultant with environmental collaborations working to address policy issues in the State of Maine and as a research associate at the Muskie School. Brenda has more than 15 years experience in nonprofit management and leadership positions. Her work focuses on research and building the capacity of collaborations through facilitation, strategic planning, evaluation, and resource development.
