Resume

Throughout my career working at the intersection of the public and private sectors, I’ve built innovative programs and led groundbreaking achievements - including The NYC J.O.B.S. Program, one of the country’s largest employment programs for low-income people and the Peoples Climate March, which brought 400,000 people into the streets of New York City. As an experienced strategist, I’ve served as a bridge between traditional not-for-profits and leaders of new vibrant movements, most recently between the climate space and the tech sector. And lastly, as a respected thought leader, I’ve spoken at international symposiums on a broad range of subjects - including Building a Broad-Based Climate Movement at the EuroGreen Party Conference in Sweden and Occupy Wall Street at Science Po University in Paris - and co-wrote the acclaimed and widely-used book, Tools for Radical Democracy.

Skills & Proficiencies

 

  • Campaign Development, Planning, and Management

  • Organizational Development

  • Research and Analysis

  • Coalition Building

  • Fundraising

  • Communications and Digital Strategy

  • Project and Staff Management

  • Writing

  • Public Speaking

Education

 

  • BA in Political Science/Environmental Planning, Rutgers College,

  • Rutgers University Graduate Study in City and Regional Planning

  • University of California, Berkeley

As a Creator

 

National Director, Peoples Climate Movement May 2014 - May 2020 

  • Promoted from National Coordinator to National Director in 2016

  • Built, managed, and led a complex coalition of 20 of the country’s largest national, state, and local organizations addressing climate change through the lens of racial and economic Working with leaders from SEIU, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, and 350.ORG, among others, I developed and implemented campaign, mobilization, and civic-engagement strategies; raised and distributed a $6 million dollar budget; represented the coalition across all media engagement and at national and international convenings; and managed an integrated field, digital, and communications staff of between 6 and 40 people depending on program needs. 

  • Accomplishments: Activating more than a million people into the streets | Bringing new sectors into climate work, including labor unions and African-American, immigrant, and rural organizations | Creating a bold platform that laid the groundwork for the Green New Deal | Building coalitions in a set of states to pass progressive climate policy | Growing a 100K-person-strong digital list with active on-line to off-line engagement, including the recruitment of 1,500 voter volunteers

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Community Voices Heard June 1996 - June 2006

  • Co-founded, built, and led one of the country's most effective low-income membership organizations that produced significant wins and made dramatic improvements in the lives of low-income New Yorkers. While staffing a board of 12 and managing up to 15 staff, I built a membership of 10,000 to engage in campaign work; led negotiations with AFSCME, CWA, and SEIU to pass city legislation protecting welfare workers; and raised and managed more than $5 million dollars for program work. 

  • Accomplishments: The Our Count Our Work Campaign, which created more than 15,000 good union jobs for low-income women | The Empire State Jobs Campaign, which secured $25 million to fund a pilot program to move unemployed people into full time jobs | Kicked off the Save Our Public Housing campaign to preserve low-income housing in NYC | Produced four ground-breaking reports exposing the failure of NYS’s welfare department to provide assistance to low-income people, which led to structural system-wide reforms.

As a Strategist

 

Principal, PGG Consulting July 2006-Present 

  • Developed, executed, and advised strategic campaigns for organizations including Center for Community Change, SEIU, Health Care for America Now, and Families for Excellent Schools. I built capacity, secured wins, and expanded the scope of the social justice movement. 

  • Accomplishments: Founded and built the 1 Million Jobs Campaign in 2009 to pass federal legislation to create good jobs for unemployed people | Strengthened and built the capacity of local organizations like Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to win the creation of 10,000 jobs in IL | Ran mass-based mobilizations for SEIU, including training over 500 community members in Detroit in organizing skills | Ran a four month campaign in FL to stop cuts to the state unemployment program | Conducted research and wrote assessments and reports on the efficacy of jobs programs and the new economy, including an assessment of Green Jobs, childcare, health-care, and transportation programs | Created curriculum and training materials in base-building, media strategy, and communications, leadership development, and campaign planning.

As a Thought Leader

 

Co-Author, Tools for Radical Democracy
Published 2008, Wiley Press

  • Co-authored this award-winning and widely-used book that educates readers on how to build membership-led organizations and participatory campaigns. Drawn from lectures and course-work taught at Columbia University, the book is used by professors, students, trainers, and organizers and has helped thousands of social change agents create concrete improvements in communities across the country.

Recipient of the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award and Social Justice Infrastructure Project Fellowship, 2003 and 2009 

  • These awards led to the creation of tool-kits, trainings, presentations, and seminars that focused on shared leadership, getting to scale, innovative movement models, lessons from field studies in Argentina, and working within the US Occupy Movement.