Heather Peeler, MCSR Board President
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

Heather Peeler is a nonprofit management professional with more than ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She has worked in a variety of fields including the arts, publishing, health care, and philanthropy. She is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service.

After receiving an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA, Heather was the Executive Director of Small Press Distribution, a nonprofit located in Berkeley, CA that provides distribution services for independent literary publishers. While living in the Bay Area, she co-founded GenArt/SF, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to increasing young people's participation in the visual arts. A native of the Washington, D.C., region, Heather moved back to the area in 1999 and led sales and marketing efforts for the Advisory Board, a research organization in the health care industry. She is the Vice President of Programs for Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and serves on the board of Men Can Stop Rape. Heather is an avid reader and enjoys gardening and running marathons.

Ben Fitzpatrick, MCSR Board Secretary
Baker Botts

Ben Fitzpatrick is a white collar defense attorney at Baker Botts, LLP. In college, Mr. Fitzpatrick volunteered with Sexual Assault Peer Educators, a program in which college students lead workshops with college and high school students on sexual assault, consent, and how to communicate in intimate situations. After college, he worked in survey research, advising Fortune 100 companies, political campaigns, and ABC News. He served as Finance Director for Hamilton for Congress in Indiana and worked for then-District Attorney Martha Coakley, a national leader in fighting child sexual assault, at the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office. In law school, he provided free legal services to indigent individuals through the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, the nation's oldest student-run legal services office, where he also served on the board. Before joining Baker Botts, Mr. Fitzpatrick clerked for the Honorable Leone M. Brinkema, Federal District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Fitzpatrick holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Brown University.

Steven E. Jones, MCSR Board Treasurer
NIH-National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Steven E. Jones, MSOD, CPA is a Leadership and Organization Development Specialist for the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He brings over 30 years consulting and advisory experience to understanding and responding to the diverse training and organization development needs of a variety of public, private and non-profit organizations. 

Mr. Jones is also a professional member of the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science (NTL).  NTL's mission is to strengthen relationships and organizations by fostering self-awareness and interpersonal, group and system effectiveness through the use of the applied behavioral sciences. Mr. Jones serves as a facilitator for several of NTL's diversity and interpersonal dynamics programs and earned a Master's of Science in Organization Development from American University where he now serves as group facilitator.

After graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with dual concentrations in Accounting and Political Science, Mr. Jones served as a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young where he provided auditing and advising services a variety of public, private and non-profit organizations on financial and organizational matters.

Susan Burton
General Board of Church and Society

Allison Mitchell
Center for Community Change
 
Allison Mitchell is currently the Institutional Advancement Manager of the Center for Community Change responsible for annual fund programs, direct mail and fundraising events. She is also the Principle of Allison Mitchell Consulting in which she works with a broad range of non-profits to address their fund development, marketing, strategic planning and institutional and organizational development. She has led workshops on donor relations, grassroots fundraising and major gifts.
 
Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Mitchell was a founding board member of the DC Abortion Fund, nominee for the 2010 Young Women of Achievement Award from the Women’s Information Network and Vice-Chair of Whitman-Walker Clinic’s Lesbian Services Program. She is also served for one year in AmeriCorps VISTA whose mission is to eliminate poverty in America.
 
Ms. Mitchell has a master’s degree from The George Washington University in Public Policy and two bachelor’s degrees from University of Missouri in Women Studies and Philosophy. She enjoys reading and gardening, and splits her time between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

Brenda Pawlak
Advisory Board Company

Brenda Pawlak currently serves as a Director, Manatt Health Solutions, a national health policy and strategic business advisory firm. Prior to Manatt, she was an Executive Strategic Advisor with the Advisory Board Company. Previously she held leadership positions at National Geographic and FOX Broadcasting Company.

Throughout her career, Ms. Pawlak has been an active volunteer and advocate in support of several organizations in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. against domestic violence and crisis pregnancy. She is passionate about helping women and men find – and learn how to empower – their voice in the fight against sexual violence. Ms. Pawlak is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communications and is an avid outdoors enthusiast, spending her free time mountain climbing, rock climbing, hiking, whitewater rafting and kayaking.

Donna J. Purchase
Portsmith Creations, LLC

Donna Purchase is President of Portsmith Creations, LLC, an event and meeting planning company in Washington, DC. Prior to forming Portsmith Creations, Ms. Purchase was Director of Homelessness Initiatives and Volunteer Programs for the Fannie Mae Foundation. In this position, she worked to raise awareness of and funds for Washington metropolitan area organizations that strive to prevent and end homelessness, with an emphasis on programs that help homeless people return to independent living.

Ms. Purchase is active in the community serving Men Can Stop Rape, YMCA DC Youth and Government; Women Work! and Organization for Training Others in Need (OFT/ON).

Donna and her husband, Henry, live in the District of Columbia. She is the mother of four and has nine grandchildren.

David Sloane Rider
MBA Candidate, The Wharton School, Class of 2012
MSW Candidate, School of Social Policy and Practice, Class of 2012
University of Pennsylvania

From 2002-2005, Mr. Rider worked as a staff member for Men Can Stop Rape, first as the Coordinator of National Programs, and later as the first Director of Consulting and Training. In these two capacities, he traveled across the country to train youth-educators on how to build and sustain young men's investment in ending men's violence against women. He also presented to youth groups on a wide range of topics, including violence-prevention, gender equity, and dominant stories of masculinity. Mr. Rider is currently pursuing a dual MBA/MSW degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ruth Swanson
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Ruth Swanson is the Director of Development at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C. where she oversees the school’s individual giving program with emphasis on major gifts.  Prior to SAIS, she was Director of Development and Philanthropic Services at Washington Area Women’s Foundation, breaking fundraising and attendance records for their annual Leadership Luncheon and leading its historic Washington 100 major gifts campaign.  She was Director of Individual Giving and Major Gifts at American Farmland Trust and served as Associate Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility.  She held multiple positions with the Sierra Club, was tour manager of San Francisco Opera Center's Western Opera Theater and served as Assistant General Manager to San Francisco's Pocket Opera.   She has led seminars and conducted trainings in major gift fundraising, direct marketing and donor relations.