Anna York, MPA

Mexico Country Director - Innovations for Poverty Action

PROFESSIONAL BIO

At Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Anna conducts evaluations of poverty interventions such as microfinance, using randomized control trials to measure impact. As Mexico Country Director, she oversees their studies and field staff in Mexico, communicate issues and results to principal investigators, and work to develop partnerships for future projects. Anna graduated from NYU’s Wagner School specializing in International Policy. Anna worked at Wagner with Professor Jonathan Morduch on the Financial Access Initiative, a research consortium established to answer core questions about the relationship between poor households and finance. Anna spent summer 2007 in Cusco, Peru Working with Innovations for Poverty Action on a randomized evaluation examining microfinance interest rate sensitivity and impact in rural areas. Prior to attending Wagner School for her MPA, she was Program Manager at the Marc Lindenberg Center for Humanitarian Action, International Development and Global Citizenship at the University of Washington.

Why I got my MPA degree? I knew that I wanted to pursue international development work, but I felt that I needed additional skills in statistics, finance, economics, management and policy formation in order to work effectively in the positions I was interested in. NYU-Wagner definitely provided me with a great combination of skills, as well as a valuable academic community and network of professionals.

My daily activities range from data analysis and survey design, to seminars with development practitioners and site visits of microfinance village bank meetings. It can be challenging manage a team that is dispersed throughout Mexico and tracking several large evaluation projects each with their own complexities. But its also what makes my job exciting; getting to visit various project sites in the field, in different regions of a very diverse country.

I love that I am able to not only utilize the statistics, finance and management skills I gained in graduate school in my work on individual projects, but also that I have the opportunity to work with leading economists and practitioners in the field. Furthermore, it is highly rewarding that I am able to contribute to a global knowledge base of what works and what does not work in fighting poverty.

I get to work with organizations and people that are passionate about tackling poverty. Helping them improve their services and contributing to a global knowledge base on interventions such as microfinance is exciting and very gratifying work.

Roy Munoz, MPP

Executive Director, Chicano Latino Affairs Council, State of Minnesota.

PROFESSIONAL BIO

Rogelio L. Muñoz, Jr., Executive Director.
In 2006, the Board of Directors of the Minnesota State Council on the Affairs of Chicano/Latino People selected Rogelio L. Muñoz, Jr. to lead the Council as the new executive director. Muñoz comes to the Council regarding social and economic policy issues within Minnesota's Latino community. His specified interests include workforce development, K-12 education, and access to health care and higher education.

Muñoz's areas of expertise are in public leadership and management, U.S. national security policy, and policy analysis methods. Most recently, he was a Community Evaluation Fellow for the Payne Lake Community Partners research study in Minneapolis where he did fieldwork for Copeland, Carson & Associates with reporting trends of economic growth, cultural diversity, and security in the Twin Cities' Latino community.

Muñoz received a Master of Public Policy degree with concentrations in public leadership and management and global policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in management from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, and an Associate Degree of Science in business administration from Coastal Bend College in Beeville, Texas.

In 2002, he completed the University of Pittsburgh's Semester At Sea program in which he circumnavigated the globe in 100 days visiting with state dignitaries, including Fidel Castro and Noble Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, local and business leaders, and students from countries in Asia, Africa, South/North America, and the Caribbean. He sits on the governing board for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Alumni Association and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa International, Delta Mu Delta, and the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting.

I chose an MPP over a law degree because I wanted to make change beyond the courtroom. My experience during the public policy program was exciting and a self-fulfilling journey. I was able to understand the complexities of policy issues in theory and apply that to current issues in the state of Minnesota, such as the budget/economy, healthcare, Pre k-12 and higher education, and housing to name a few. There is no doubt that Minnesota is in the heart of progressive public policy; it is home to diverse groups of people representing parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Each group brings challenges and the Humphrey Institute is the public policy front-runner in tackling these challenges.

My work includes informing the governor, legislators, and state agencies on public policy and state issues that impact the Latino community, as well as to testify before committees in the House and Senate with policy recommendations on education, health, economic development, immigration, and housing issues. Given the episodic nature of state government and the growth of Minnesota’s Latino community, building a bridge of common ground and understanding between the two can be challenging. During a time when negative rhetoric has impacted the Latino community nationally, our role is to keep the Governor and Minnesota Legislature fully informed and educated on the policy issues that are relevant and important to the community.

A career in public service is meaningful and honorable, and I hope to restore that image. My job is satisfying in that I know and understand my role as a steward of the community for the public good. I have a moral ownership to my line of work and that gets me up every morning.

I am glad that I work in a field that provides me with the opportunity to advocate and voice the concerns of those who are left unheard. During the state’s legislative sessions, the Council is summoned to testify before several hearings regarding policy changes that will impact the Latino community. It is during these hearings that I am really glad I work here. It allows me to focus on the greater good for the community and state and to advise policymakers on the right thing to do.

Thalia Theodore, MPA

Deputy Director, DonorsChoose.org

PROFESSIONAL BIO

Thalia is responsible for all aspects of the organization's expansion throughout New England focusing particularly on Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Previously, Thalia was a first grade public school teacher in the South Bronx. Subsequently, she joined the staff of Teach For America in Los Angeles where she directed the budget, administration, and human resource processes for a summer institute that trained 800 new teachers. Thalia also coordinated volunteer and community programs at The Wonder of Reading, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that renovates school libraries and promotes access to quality library facilities for urban schools. Thalia holds an MPA in nonprofit management from the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland College Park.

I began my career as a first grade teacher at an urban public school in the Bronx and later went to work in the nonprofit sector in Los Angeles, focusing on education and literacy programming. I loved the freedom the nonprofit sector offered to support and provide schools with innovative programming without the bureaucracy of school district regulations. Also, I was intrigued by the methods behind policy making that ultimately affected students and their families. So I decided to pursue a graduate degree in nonprofit management and public policy to gain financial, managerial and policy analysis skills that would help me become a more effective nonprofit leader.

DonorsChoose.org is a relatively small but mighty organization. We are part nonprofit and part internet organization, and though we fundraise like any other 501c3, we also have an aggressive business model that enables us to scale our operations to serve all public schools in the country with a mere sixty-person staff! My team of three people is responsible for raising nearly $3 million in funding to cover the fulfillment of teacher projects submitted to our site from educators across the Northeast region. For me, fundraising is definitely the most challenging part of my job since it requires both traditional fundraising skills such as grant writing, donor cultivation, and business savvy, such as knowledge of consumer marketing and the ability to pitch corporate partners on the ways their charitable support can contribute to their bottom line.

My job is satisfying because I’m given a lot of responsibility which forces me to constantly improve my skill set and add experience to my professional tool box, but at the same time I know that my work tangibly contributes to improving the learning experience for students and the teaching experience for public school educators. It’s a win-win situation!

Recently, I helped a group of donors in Massachusetts navigate the bureaucracy of their local school district to get $20,000 of much needed classroom materials to local teachers and students. These donors are alumni of a public high school in Massachusetts, and for their fiftieth class reunion, they raised $20K from fellow alumni to donate to the school district that had given them a successful start in life. Over the last fifty years, the urban school district has struggled and high poverty and budget cuts had negatively affected student achievement. The alumni group grew frustrated with the red tape involved in actually getting their funding to classrooms in need and was on the brink of giving up – until they discovered DonorsChoose.org! Through our website, their donations have delivered tangible resources to classrooms in their hometown and helped renew community support for the local schools – just one great example of why I’m glad I work here!

Matthew Hamilton, MPP

Environmental Sustainability Manager, Aspen Skiing Company

WORK BIO

Matthew Hamilton is Sustainability Manager and Executive Director of the Environment Foundation, which has donated more than a million dollars over the past decade. Matthew oversees ASC's community philanthropy, and runs ASC's day-to-day environmental programs, including the monthly Greenletter, and GREENTRACK, ASC's ISO 14001 certified environmental management system. Matthew is also consultant with Aspen Sustainability Associates, and has lectured nationally and internationally on ASC's work. Previously, Matthew was a Research Officer at The Piton Foundation, working with low income neighborhoods on issues of education reform, affordable housing and economic development. Prior to that, he worked for Share Our Strength, a national anti-hunger anti-poverty group; the Independent Sector, a national association of nonprofits and foundations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (on a project called Enterprise for the Environment), for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, and for Middlebury College. He currently serves on the board of the Colorado Youth Corps Association. Matthew has a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies and Political Science from Middlebury and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University where he focused on nonprofit management.

When I graduated from Middlebury College I was debating whether to pursue a law degree or a public policy degree. Public policy provided me with the skills I needed for a career of public service. My Georgetown education has served me well 10 years later. On a daily basis, I am working to influence the public process and build the public will for policy change that allows future generations to enjoy the Roaring Fork Valley, home of Aspen Skiing Company.

The concept of sustainability is constantly being re-defined and as a result the decision you thought was best for your company three years or six months ago may not be the best one today. In my role, you must be willing to work in this fluid environment and explain changes to the consumer. Case in point is our decision to use B20 Biodiesel in 2003. At the time, we were the first resort to do this and we broke major ground. Fast forwarding to 2008, with the advent of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel, use of Snowcats that meet the most stringent emission standards and the impact of using food stocks as fuel on food prices, our use of Biodiesel no longer makes sense. The sustainability field is evolving rapidly and you must be willing to critically evaluate policy decisions constantly, making changes and explaining those changes to your colleagues and customers.

On a daily basis I am working to reduce our company’s environmental impact and improve the lives of our employees. Our company may be small but our brand and influence are significant. Working for a company that is willing to leverage these characteristics means that the world we all live in is just a little bit better every day.

If somebody had asked me what I would be doing in 1998 there is no way I could have predicted that I would be working for Aspen Skiing Company. This is a dream job, I mix the myriad of skills I acquired during my years at Georgetown and get to apply them for a ski company seeking to do well by doing good. On a daily basis, I am working to drive change in our industry and beyond. Addressing the issues of our carbon intensive economy requires action of all sectors and the work I do builds a foundation for political action at a local, state and national level.

Skiing of course. Not a day goes by that I am not excited to come to work. Today, I am working on a press release about a 150kW solar array Aspen Skiing Company financed in partnership with a number of public and private entities in Carbondale, CO. Aspen Skiing Company does not use the power but we invested in it because there is a return on our investment, but more importantly because it is the right thing to do. Tomorrow, I will be putting the finishing touches on our Sustainability Report publicly disclosing our carbon footprint and discussing our successes and failures.

Every day is an adventure, one day I might be speaking with a group of college students about operating a sustainable business, and another I might be working with our property services department to retrofit lighting in one of our facilities to utilize more efficient technology. I also manage Aspen Skiing Company’s philanthropic initiatives working to improve the quality of life for our employees and to preserve the natural beauty of the environment in which we operate. On the macro level I am always looking for opportunities to leverage the Aspen/Snowmass brand and advocate for policies that reduce the impact of climate change on our business.

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