Resume

Senior leader with more than 15 years of experience in the charity and political worlds. I have worked within large national NGOs, consulted with nonprofits large and small domestically and internationally, and have several businesses adjacent to the NGO sector as clients. Hands-on experience includes strategic planning, product development, brand development and messaging, executive coaching, start-ups, and raising capital.

EXPERIENCE

Owner, Saidin Strategies LLC (May 2020 - Present)

  • ORGANIZATION, PROGRAM, & CAMPAIGN CREATION: Created advice and recommendations for new brand, packaging, and website for a client that generated $15M+ in revenue. Created recommendations for legal and compliance framework to launch new corporate entity.

  • STRATEGIC PLANNING: Led clients’ strategic planning processes to launch new brands and initiatives.

  • LEADERSHIP & STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Provided coaching for new mid-level and senior-level leaders in effective staff and organizational management. Advised on creating tools and systems to manage organizations as they scaled in size and scope.

  • FUNDRAISING & DONOR DEVELOPMENT: Created strategic advice to guide formation of business plan and strategy to launch door to door fundraising program.

  • CIVIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS: Developed guidelines for legal and compliance framework for client’s c3 voter engagement program and client’s c4 political program.

Chief of Staff & Senior Vice President, The Public Interest Network (January 2011 - May 2020)

  • LEADERSHIP: Led 21 department heads with accountability for a combined annual budget of over $80M and more than 915 full-time employees. Achieved a 92% retention of all direct reports, including elevating 8 to new leadership positions and identifying top talent for replacement.

  • ORGANIZATION, PROGRAM, & CAMPAIGN CREATION: Launched new initiatives on a range of issues and with diverse objectives, including winning hearts and minds. Conceived of U.S. PIRG’s Right To Repair campaign, designed the Work For Wellbeing campaign to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, and relaunched Environmental Action, with now over 3M supporters.

  • FUNDRAISING & DONOR DEVELOPMENT: Increased annual gross revenue by over $25M (+52%) and annual net revenue by over $9M (+330%) through a combination of technological and technique innovations to improve legacy income sources and newly created lines of business.

  • CIVIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS: Created field plans and budgets and managed civic engagement programs in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018. Voter registration canvassing programs helped over 500,000 people register to vote. Door canvassing and phone programs contacted voters for persuasion and get-out-the-vote at an average size per cycle of over $3M and 1.2M total attempts each cycle in 18 states.

Deputy Chief of Staff, The Public Interest Network (October 2009 - January 2011)

  • LEADERSHIP: Created processes that are still in use for all fiscal year planning and budgeting, created three-year strategic planning for all departments, and directly managed 11 department heads.

  • HIRING & STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Managed organization-wide recruitment to hire nearly 300 full-time employees annually. Surpassed annual targets by 18%. Created new system for tracking all data points in the hiring process and revamped criteria for evaluating candidates and improving hiring decisions.

  • CIVIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS: In fewer than 2.5 weeks, launched 7 get-out-the-vote canvass offices that helped secure victory for Democratic Senator Michael Bennet in the 2010 Tea Party wave election. Created the zone or site-based voter registration system that has been used by Community Voters Project, Stronger US, Fair Share, and other outfits for most subsequent field voter registration drives.

Assistant Organizing Director, Green Corps (August 2007 - October 2009)

  • LEADERSHIP: Managed 8-12 field organizers on nationwide corporate and political campaigns. Partners included the Sierra Club, Corporate Accountability International, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Notable accomplishments: launching the Sierra Club’s Campuses Beyond Coal campaign, and securing commitments from numerous state and city governments to end the purchasing of bottled water.

  • FUNDRAISING & DONOR DEVELOPMENT: Directed small donor development canvasses in New York and Pennsylvania. Fundraised over $1.3M for nonprofit partner organizations including the Human Rights Campaign, PennEnvironment, Progressive Future, and Environment New York. Recruited teams of more than 60 full-time field staff in each location.

  • HIRING & STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Retained 94% of 30+ entry-level direct reports; 75% have continued to work for more than a decade in progressive social change activism. Built the technology and tools for a fully automated application and interviewing system for Green Corps’ 1,000+ annual jobseekers.

  • CIVIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS: State Director for North Carolina on behalf of MoveOn and Environment North Carolina from August 2008 to November 2008. Through a combination of voter registration and voter turnout campaigning, produced 16,000 “new” votes for candidate Barack Obama, who won North Carolina by fewer than 15,000 votes.

Field Organizer, Green Corps (August 2006 - August 2007)

  • Awarded the Sarah Forslund Memorial Fellowship by the Green Corps Board of Directors as the most valuable field organizer in my class of 19 Green Corps trainees.

  • FIELD ORGANIZING: Partnered with Oceana, the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Toxics Action Center, and Environment Maine to run field campaigns in West Virginia, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. Successfully executed grassroots campaign tactics such as signature gathering, phonebanking, and holding rallies. Generated dozens of earned print, television, and radio media hits. Built coalitions of small businesses, faith leaders, and local nonprofit organizations.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature, Yale University (August 2002 - May 2006)

  • Cum laude (top 15% of graduating class) and with Distinction in Comparative Literature. GPA: 3.8

KEY COMPETENCIES

  • Strategic planning and competitive strategy analysis.

  • Strong leader and coach for experienced Vice Presidents and similar-level senior leadership.

  • Building new income streams, especially small and recurring donor programs, for nonprofit organizations.

  • Developing organizational branding and packaging, messaging, website language, and talking points.

  • Starting a new venture and raising capital.

  • Creating advocacy or grassroots campaigns that can effectively and efficiently move political or corporate targets.

  • Enhancing technology, both hardware and software, to improve fundraising, membership-building, supporter engagement, and field work.

  • Expert-level with Microsoft Office, and basic knowledge of computer programming.

AFFILIATIONS & INTERESTS

Associations

  • President, Board of Directors for 350 Ocean Parkway Tenants Association: 2019-Present

  • Member, Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance: 2013-Present

  • President, Board of Directors for Environmental Action Research Center: 2016-2020

  • Secretary, Board of Directors for North Carolina Public Interest Research Group Citizen Lobby: 2013-2020