Howdy. We’re glad to meet you.

As VP of Communications, Cale is a Board.org co-founder and leads the communications and marketing teams.

Cale has a degree in journalism from Drake University and got his start covering sports for The Des Moines Register. Cale lives with his wife Caroline, son Emory, and dog Ollie. When he’s not working at Board.org, he’s probably planning his next national park adventure.

Fun facts about Cale:

• He owns a lot of flannel — not that there’s anything wrong with that.
• His hometown is smaller than yours.
• He once ate fried butter and lived to tell about it.

As Managing Director, Krystal oversees the Board.org team to set the vision for and deliver on the most dynamic, trusted peer-to-peer communities that help leaders make better decisions.

Although she grew up in St. Louis, Krystal has lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans — and now resides outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband and three kids. She brings more than 20 years of diversified marketing, branding, and business development experience across both enterprise organizations and startups.

Prior to FiscalNote and Board.org, she served as head of demand generation at EAB. Krystal has also run marketing for PBS’ education division and had a variety of strategy and marketing roles at departments at Discovery Communications, Amgen, TrustArc, KPMG Consulting, and CEB/Gartner.

Fun facts about Krystal:

• She is an identical twin and has a set of fraternal twins.
• She loves anything outdoors and was once a park ranger at Yellowstone National Park where she hiked 523 miles one summer (in addition to 40 hours of full-time work per week).
• She loves travelling anywhere — her favorite spots include Kerala (India), Siam Reap (Cambodia), Malta, and Yellowstone National Park.

As the leader of Board.org’s Membership Team, Ryan helps keep the community healthy for our members by leading our community experience. Ryan has a degree in marketing communications from Columbia College Chicago. He completed eight internships during his collegiate career, including his favorite at Board.org. After getting over his sports interest (five internships), he started his career here using his communication skills to find other talented social media leaders to join SocialMedia.org. He loves living in Austin and enjoys the local food trucks and sporting events.

Fun facts about Ryan:

• He went 3-0 in the Taco Bell Saucy Sprint mascot races at Minute Maid Park.
• Even though he’s now two inches taller than Ryan, he’ll always call his younger brother “smalls.”
• He volunteers weekly to jog dogs around Town Lake.

Katrina is an original ‘weird’ Portlandian who arrived in Austin in 2018 after stays in Seattle and Madison. She has been fighting the good fight of process and structure at three diverse SaaS startups, where she was responsible for scaling business development, customer success initiatives and long-term support strategies. She has a special knack for tying systems together to maximize efficiencies and reduce redundant activities. Specifically, she has managed automations with Hubspot, Zendesk, Atlassian, and Monday.com to streamline customer billing, support and implementations.

Katrina has seen a diverse range of challenges throughout the last decade — from doubling product implementations to raising a $6M funding round to managing a $1B client relationship to a long-term partnership agreement. She sees each challenge as an opportunity for growth and loves sharing her experience with Board.org.

Fun facts about Katrina:

• Katrina is an avid horror movie enthusiast and has created a unique rating system that she will gladly explain at length if you let her.
• Her first job was at Krispy Kreme Donuts and it remains the most stressful job she’s ever had. The Sunday crowds are no joke!
• She has run in temperatures ranging 100 degrees in all of the places she has lived. Her love for running does not mean that she has enjoyed the single OR triple digit runs, however.

As a Senior Communications Specialist, Sam helps create the voices of our brands through newsletters, member communications, blogs, and marketing content.

Sam is originally from the great state of New Jersey and studied Communications at Ramapo College. After graduation, she worked in social media and consumer rewards marketing for four years before deciding to make a major life change. After a particularly harsh and seemingly never-ending East Coast winter, Sam packed up and moved to Austin, TX where the temperature rarely dips below 50°. She has never really cared for tacos but this city might just change her mind.

Fun facts about Sam:

• She was a varsity bowler in high school. There is no such thing as a “friendly game” when Sam’s involved. Luckily for everyone, she was forced to leave her custom bowling ball at home during her recent move.
• Despite her crippling fear of flying, Sam has traveled to 44 U.S. states and nine countries.
• At one point in her life, she could accurately identify any species of frog in the northeast just from the sound of its call.

Amy Rae was born and raised in the great state of New Jersey where she received a bachelor’s degree in Global Communications and Mass Media from Ramapo College of New Jersey.

In 2019, shortly after graduation, she relocated to Austin to work as a journalist covering local government, public education, and environmental news in Texas.

Fun facts about Amy Rae:

• Prior to attending college in New Jersey, she spent two years in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University and is always eager to talk about LSU football.
• She owns a Siberian Husky named Juneau who loves the Texas heat.
• She collects vintage clothing and furniture and can often be found lurking through the racks of Goodwill or local estate sales.

Carina moved from San Antonio (leaving behind the superior tacos) to Austin for live music and to grow in her career. TikTok introduced her to the world of digital marketing when she caved and downloaded it during quarantine in 2020. She’s now a Senior Communications Specialist for Board.org.

Carina has a degree in psychology from UTSA and enjoys bringing that perspective into community building and writing. She’s a big advocate of chronic illness awareness, as she has one herself, and is proud to be part of a very caring, supportive community.

Fun facts about Carina:

• Spanish was her first language, and she learned English by watching TV. She’s been bilingual since the age of four.
• She can always find a reason to buy a new journal and has a whole drawer full of them (don’t ask how many). She currently rotates between five of them and aspires to write a book one day.
• She’s not a Disney adult, but has Disney-adult tendencies. She did the Disney College Program in 2017 and will talk about it with anyone who’ll listen.

Darrion is from Denver, Colorado, and has spent most of his life traveling. He has lived in Hawaii, Arizona, and the Netherlands where he was able to travel to seven other countries throughout Europe.

Darrion received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Northern Arizona University, and he received his master’s degree in Business Journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

As a journalist, he has written and edited for several publications covering politics, news, sports, and culture. He has also dedicated a lot of his time to freelance writing, where he reported on health and nutrition.

Darrion moved to Austin in 2020 looking to expand his career in communications and experience the Texas lifestyle.

Fun facts about Darrion:

• He knows how to say thank you in 13 different languages.
• He is a coffee fanatic and wants to own a roastery one day.
• He wrote a short film that was nominated for a Rocky Mountain Emmy award.

As a military brat, Andrew was originally born in Connecticut but grew up in Virginia Beach where his hobbies included skateboarding and surfing. He recently got engaged to his fiancé, and now he lives right outside of D.C. in Northern Virginia.

Andrew received his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from George Mason University in 2014 but began his professional career in sales, which he quickly learned to love. After a few years, he left sales to pursue his true professional passion in marketing, taking a job as a demand generation specialist.

As a Senior Manager of Demand Generation, he gets the best of both worlds being able to work closely with sales on enablement and pursue tactical data-influenced marketing strategies to strengthen brand awareness and drive high quality leads for the Board.org sales team.

Fun facts about Andrew:

• He is an avid outdoorsman and loves being out in nature. If he could live in the country on a farm, he would.
• He loves pitbulls and advocating for them. Additional fun fact: In annual testing conducted by the American Temperament Test Society, pitbulls passed at rating 86.4% higher than popular breeds such as golden retrievers.
• He loves cooking on his smoker.

Sara spent the past four years in West Lafayette, Indiana, attending Purdue University. Shortly after graduating with a degree in Public Relations, her post-graduate job plans were put to a halt by a global pandemic.

She decided to take her job search out of the Hoosier state and into Austin, Texas, where she could find more sun, better coffee, and less corn fields. She ended up finding Board.org and now works as a Communications Strategist where she writes newsletters, member communications, blogs, and marketing content.

Fun facts about Sara:

• She was born on a Japanese island that is less than half the physical size of Austin.
• She has never met anyone who has correctly pronounced her last name right off the bat.
• She thinks the best fashion statement is a cool pair of pants.

As Product Marketing Manager, Kristen supports the team by managing content and marketing initiatives across all channels. She also manages our social media properties and is even known to break out her graphic design skills now and then.

Kristen is one of the few Chicago natives on the team and will openly brag about her city to anyone who will listen. She received a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Design from DePaul University while interning for Board.org, and, because we all got along so well, she decided to stick around as a full-time part of our crew.

Fun facts about Kristen:

• She thrives on live music and attends, on average, at least three concerts a month.
• She owns 20+ wigs (because you never know when a costume opportunity will arise).
• She once got fourth place in a Ms. Pac Man arcade tournament.

Maryam is a lawyer by day, ninja by night. Having worked in the United States House and Senate, law firm and law school setting, as well as the nonprofit sector, Maryam is excited to join the tech world.

Fun facts about Maryam:

• She published her first poem at the age of ten.
• She once had a homestay with a Maasai family in Tanzania.
• She has been both skydiving and shark diving.

As a Senior Membership Director, Jeff helps our members get the most value out of their membership. He enjoys building relationships and making sure members are comfortable with sharing ideas, asking questions, and making connections with other members.

Jeff graduated from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, with a degree in journalism. He worked as a reporter for both a weekly and daily newspaper, and also wrote for an insurance trade magazine for Crain Communications. In other parts of his career, he handled auto claims for Progressive Insurance and worked in public relations, marketing, social media, and digital content at Zurich Insurance. In fact, he’s a former SocialMedia.org member!

Jeff grew up in the suburbs of Chicago but has moved as far north as Superior, Wisconsin, and as far south as Durham, North Carolina. Now, he lives in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, a literal stone’s throw from Wrigley Field, with his lovely wife, Kristi, and their son, Declan. And yes, he’s a fan of the Bears, Blackhawks, Cubs, and Bulls.

Fun facts about Jeff:

• He met his wife, Kristi, at a Grizzly Bear concert at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park and proposed to her on the very spot they met.
• Jeff played lacrosse at Western Illinois University.
• He also won a Virginia Press Association award for feature writing.

Andi is a Baltimore native (go Ravens!) who graduated from Towson University with a degree in Mass Communications. She’s a self-proclaimed “jill of all trades” who has spent most of her career working for start-ups. As such, she has done it all from sales, to marketing, to operations, and everything in between.

Over the past few years, she found her calling in community building. After recognizing this passion, she is excited to take this to the next level as a Membership Director for Board.org.

Andi, her husband, Jason, and their two cats recently moved to Austin after a six-year stay in Los Angeles. They just bought their first home and are excited to put down roots, eat all the tacos, and watch all the live music.

Fun facts about Andi:

• She’s been known to read an entire book in a single afternoon. If she could travel back to elementary school, she’d be guaranteed to win the summer scholastic reading challenge.
• She’s a self-proclaimed “river rat” who grew up on a river and moved to Austin specifically for the river. However, she can’t swim without plugging her nose, so she has learned to hold her nose with her lip.
• She is a Gilmore Girls super fan and will beat you in any Gilmore Girls trivia game.

Andrew is a native Texan originally from the Dallas area, who has lived in Austin for most of the last 17 years. He attended the University of Texas where he studied history and got involved in local, state, and national politics. He ultimately ended up with a career in environmental activism and public interest advocacy, learning about Board.org while he worked with our neighbors on the landfill that gives Trash Mountain Ranch its name. After getting to know some of our people he decided to pursue a career change to make a difference here.

He lives less than 15 minutes from the ranch now with his partner (and two cats) and spends as much time as possible obsessing over the Dallas Cowboys, re-watching The Sopranos, and reading.

Fun facts about Andrew:

• He once spent months wandering the US on Greyhound buses and reading Tarot cards on the street for a living.
• He appeared on Jeopardy! in 2011… and lost badly.
• In 2014 he produced and co-hosted a live televised debate for Austin Mayor (and did much better than he did on Jeopardy!).

Jessie is a proud born and bred Minnesotan (and makes it a top priority to travel home for the State Fair each summer) who headed east to attend Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she graduated with a double major in American Studies and Psychology.

After graduation, Jessie moved to New York City, where she spent eight years building a career in content, events, and community building. After an extended pandemic stay in the Pocono Mountains, Jessie, her husband, and their beloved dog recently relocated to Los Angeles, where they are thrilled to experience life without winter for the first time.

Jessie is passionate about bringing people together to make their lives easier, smarter, and more fun and is elated to do this every day as a Membership Director at Board.org.

Fun facts about Jessie:

• She currently serves as the “momager” to her rescue dog, June, who has been featured in both a Netflix documentary and modeled for the cover of a Talbots catalog.
• She is a big music fan (favorite artists include The Chicks, Brandi Carlile, and Taylor Swift) and loves curating personalized Spotify playlists for friends’ life events, including road trips, parties, and even labor and delivery!
• Growing up, she spent every afternoon watching the Oprah Winfrey Show, which developed into a lifelong love of all things Oprah, including spending a weekend on an Oprah fan cruise with the icon herself.

As Membership Director at Board.org, Cheryl is passionate about building meaningful member connections. Prior to joining Board.org, Cheryl honed her skills in a variety of industries — including aviation, healthcare, and technology — where she held key marketing and leadership
roles. She has a knack for successfully growing organizations, both domestically and internationally.

Cheryl has a B.A. in English from George Mason University and is a Certified Association Executive (CAE). She has a special passion for working with mission-driven organizations which inspired her to establish a consultancy dedicated to growing nonprofits and associations.

Cheryl lives in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband, two kids, and one very sassy Siberian Husky.

Fun facts about Cheryl:

• She loves to travel and has been to 13 different countries.
• Her favorite getaway is her family’s beach cottage in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
• When she isn’t working, Cheryl can usually be found in the kitchen cooking up a storm for family and friends or puttering around in her garden.

Lindsay Ketchum came to Board.org after more than 12 years of public relations and communications experience.

Lindsay earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Ethics from St. Edward’s University. She played on the women’s soccer team at St. Edward’s during her undergrad and served as a graduate assistant coach while getting her masters.

Lindsay lives in Austin with her husband and two kids. She volunteers with Early Matters Greater Austin (recently formed organization with the United Way for Greater Austin and E3 Alliance) to mobilize and unite the business community to help us assure every child in the Austin area enters kindergarten prepared for success.

Fun facts about Lindsay:

• She can execute a super loud two-finger whistle.
• In 2017, she and her firefighter husband started a successful dryer vent and dryer vacuuming company, Fireman Dryerman.
• She recently moved into the house directly next door to her old house.

Kristen was a pandemic-nomad-turned-local to Austin as of 2020, after growing up in Salt Lake City and spending a few years in Spokane where she attended Gonzaga University and discovered a love of college basketball.

After spending seven years working in tech PR and learning about things ranging from autonomous vehicle technology to big data, Kristen is excited to apply her PR background in combination with her MPA degree for Board.org and FiscalNote. Since moving to Austin, in addition to cheering on her Zags and Utes, Kristen spends a lot of her time taste-testing the best quesos, paddle boarding on Lady Bird Lake, and singing along (off-key) to country music.

Fun facts about Kristen:

• She collects koozies and owns 70+ from cities and breweries across the world.
• She has personally met two of the housewives from RHOSLC (and has a goal to meet all of them one day).
• She has attended at least six Luke Bryan concerts and has no intention of stopping there.

Sheryl comes to Board.org with over 15 years of diverse experience in both corporate and nonprofit organizations, primarily within the trade association and professional services space. Sheryl is a native New Yorker, but has spent the majority of her life as a Jersey girl. She earned her undergraduate degree in Accounting from Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, as well as more recently earning a professional certificate in Human Resources Management from Rutgers.

Sheryl’s eclectic professional background includes having served as a COO at a national membership association of fleet management professionals, leading operations and talent development within large regional CPA firms, holding the position of Regional VP at the American Heart Association and American Stroke association in NJ, and leading the membership section of the largest national association for CPAs. While the roles and industries have differed, the common denominator in all of Sheryl’s positions has always been the important responsibility of helping others to grow and be successful — which Sheryl hopes to bring to Board.org and its members.

Sheryl lives in New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and their dog Cody. Sheryl loves the beach, walking and talking with friends, and Les Mils’ body combat classes!

Fun facts about Sheryl:

• Back in College, she sang in the basement of her dorm with a band called “Lip-Service.”
• In high school, she was #1 on her school tennis team (even if there were not a lot of wins…).
• She used to love doing musical theater, with her favorite role being Lucy in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (a starring role, even if it was only 8th grade).

Angela is passionate about taking mission-driven organizations to the next level by working in collaboration with leaders to build processes, grow people, and generate revenue. She spent nearly two decades in nonprofit leadership roles with a focus on increasing member engagement and non-dues revenue in associations. She is a leadership enthusiast who enjoys reading and strategically applying insights about systems thinking, fundraising, and executive leadership.

Angela received her BA in History from Wheaton College (IL) and a dual MS in Management and MA Human Services (specializing in Counseling and Human Resources) from Liberty University. She has earned her certification for association executive (CAE) and is a graduate of the America’s Leaders of Change Fellowship through the National Urban Fellows (NY) and the New Detroit Multicultural Leadership Series.

In her spare time, Angela loves to spend time with her husband and three children, traveling, and pepper gardening.

As a Membership Director, Courtney loves connecting people to each other and to new ideas. She brings her passion for collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and creating unexpected synergies to the work that she does helping members to get the most value from their memberships.

Courtney comes to Board.org having recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside, where she also taught while completing her degree. Yes, she’s technically “Dr. Courtney” (but only her mom likes calling her that). Prior to UCR, Courtney worked in the nonprofit performing arts helping to connect donors to their passion-projects and advocating for arts-based education and community outreach. Before that, she helped run the sales and marketing programs for an information technology services and security firm. Each of these seemingly different paths provided an opportunity to pursue a similar mission: to make the world a little better place. That is work Courtney is eager to continue at Board.org.

Courtney, along with her husband, two children, and dog, are recent Austin transplants. They are most excited to explore the local food, music, and outdoor scenes. The family’s first favorite find has to be Sweet Eats Fruit Farm in Georgetown.

Fun facts about Courtney:

• She loves trying new recipes and is notorious for making yummy dishes that her family and friends never see again.
• She is a published cultural and literary scholar who still writes and researches on the side.
• She has had several near brushes with stardom that include a theatrical debut playing Scrooge in her elementary school’s holiday play and more recently, being on an HGTV show.

As an Executive Membership Director, Lauren helps to create opportunities for members to share insights, feel connected, and build relationships. She approaches all interactions with genuine empathy and works to create a space for comfortable, candid conversations.

Lauren has spent her career at the intersection of creativity and community. Her professional experience includes building a membership program at a new museum in San Antonio as well as directing the membership department at the oldest and largest national design association based in New York City. Through her work in nonprofit and association management, she has led member-facing teams, advocated for member needs, and strategized plans for community engagement.

Lauren attended The University of Texas at Austin where she earned undergraduate degrees in Art History and Italian. She received a graduate degree in International Arts Administration from St. John International University in Turin, Italy. She also earned a certificate in Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders from Yale School of Management.

Fun facts about Lauren:

• Lauren is a great listener, she gets told weekly by friends, family, and Lyft drivers that she should be a counselor.
• Her most recent obsession is boxing, and she’s training to level up at her women-only gym.
• She speaks Italian fluently, and shamelessly looks for any chance to use it—dai, parliamo!

Jordona is a California native and new to Austin, TX. She joined Board.org after spending 13 years in the San Francisco Bay Area working in strategic communications and public relations, where she supported public transportation and healthcare organizations.

Driven by a personal mission to do good in the world, Jordona earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a Master of Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Jordona, her husband, and their two young children are obsessed with Austin and love exploring its food, hiking trails, and live music.

Fun facts about Jordona:

• She is a certified yoga instructor.
• She has five brothers and, sadly, no sisters.
• She is an avid reader and especially enjoys sci-fi and fantasy. (She’s read all of The Expanse novels three times.)

Candra has been serving nonprofit membership communities for over a decade. Her career has allowed her to develop and manage member programs, create lasting relationships across industries, and work with individuals around the world. She most recently served as the Director of Programs for a local nonprofit focused on anti-poverty and workforce development, but she’s excited to get back in the membership space.

Candra currently lives in Tulsa after living in Denver for ten years. She and her husband have boy/girl twins and two long-haired dachshunds. They traded in beautiful mountains and endless things to do for a village that is rivaled by none. They spend their time entertaining friends, traveling, and surviving toddlerhood.

Fun facts about Candra:

• Her ultimate goal is to move to Thailand — kids, dogs, and all. She just can’t quit going back to Southeast Asia.
• Fantasy books keep her alive. ACOTAR? ToG? If you know, you know.
• She loves guessing how much she can eat when it comes to food she loves. “I love blueberry pie. I bet I could eat an entire pie.” “Tacos are my favorite. I am guessing I could eat eight.” “Hot dogs? Easily five.”

Kurt is the Senior Membership Director for the Talent Marketing Board, where he uses his passion for connecting people and helping them learn from each other.

He’s had some practice at that, having spent eight years at Executive Director of SocialMedia.org, helping grow that community from infancy to several hundred member companies. In other roles, he’s worked in a communications role for America’s dairy farmers, and he spent more than a dozen years at WGN Radio in Chicago. Kurt’s a fiercely proud Green Bay Packers fan, but prouder still of his son and daughter.

Fun facts about Kurt:

• He’s seen Major League Baseball games in 45 different ballparks, from old Tiger Stadium to the Tokyo Dome.
• Kurt is a board member for Dyer Babe Ruth baseball, a non-profit league in his Indiana hometown.
• He’s a level 44 Pokémon Go player (yes, he still plays).
• He once organized a miniature golf pro-am, bringing together local celebrities to raise thousands of dollars for Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Rachel comes to Board.org after more than 15 years in the nonprofit sector. A native Texan, but born with some inherent wanderlust, she’s worked in international affairs for much of her career and lived in Washington, D.C., and Dallas, Texas, prior to moving to Austin.

Her roles have included managing a major gift-in-kind program (collecting shoes!) to help vulnerable children, receiving international delegations on behalf of the City of Dallas, and planning State Department exchange programs for professionals.

Rachel graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, where she majored in both French and Political Science, and then went on to get an M.A. in Contemporary European Studies from the University of Bath in the UK. She is excited to be in Austin and explore the city — especially the hiking trails!

Fun facts about Rachel:

• She has traveled to six of the seven continents and is making plans to get a selfie with a penguin in Antarctica as soon as possible.
• She loves to bake and is confident that all her practice over the years is going to guarantee her a spot whenever they decide to do a U.S. version of The Great British Baking Show.
• She is a podcast fiend, especially if it involves some sort of cult or slow-burning political exposé.

A storyteller by nature, Kelsey stumbled into the community business practically by accident. While earning her MFA in creative writing at Florida State University, Kelsey taught undergraduate composition courses and found a passion for coaching and empowering others to effectively communicate their ideas. This led Kelsey to a variety of roles that all had two things in common: executive communications and community building. She’s thrilled to bring these experiences together to support the members of Board.org.

Kelsey is a proud Florida native, and no amount of “Florida Man” stories can change that. While she begrudgingly calls Georgia home for now, she’s trying to stop and smell the hydrangeas while she’s here. When she’s not at work, you can find Kelsey attending to her plants, rewatching The Eras Tour, and maybe (just maybe) working on her memoir.

Fun Facts about Kelsey:

• She is a barre enthusiast and instructor, teaching several classes a week at her local studio.
• A novice baker but certified celiac (boo!), she is on a mission to make gluten-free versions of all her favorite treats.
• She is a proud cat mom of four (4!) cats, each with intricate and (mostly) fictitious backstories and lore.

Sarah brings more than a decade of association management experience to Board.org. She’s spent her career providing service excellence to members of nonprofit associations in the business trade, healthcare, and scientific industries. She has been privileged to work alongside and learn from an array of people, supporting everything from art to xenobiotics. Motivated by answering the “So what?” question before members think to ask it, she is excited to bring her passions for people care and critical thinking to her role as a Membership Director for SocialMedia.org.

Sarah earned an undergraduate degree in International Business with a concentration in Human Resources from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Business Administration from ICN Business School in Nancy, France.

These days you can find Sarah in Richmond, VA (a short walk from the largest public collection of Fabergé eggs outside Russia), where she lives with her partner Dylan, their dog, Wally, and cat, Calcifer.

Fun facts about Sarah:

• A native Texan, Sarah has spent much of her life in transit; in total, she’s lived in nine U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and France.
• She religiously completes the New York Times daily crossword puzzle (rebuses are among her favorites) and hopes to one day construct a puzzle of her own and submit it for publication.
• She’s been told she has a memorable laugh. Perhaps related, she was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in a community theatre production of The Wizard of Oz as a teenager. If you hear her cackling, err, laughing, in the vicinity of a little dog, rest assured that she only wants to give them belly rubs and treats!

Will spent his childhood living in Ohio and Indiana, until joining the Navy in September 2001 and becoming a signals intelligence analyst. Despite spending four years in the Navy, he never saw a ship, and was stationed at the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland. He spent about 15 years in the US federal intelligence community, much of which came as a consultant at the Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, DC.

In 2015, Will, his wife Sarah, and their two boys (Holden and Sebastian) relocated to Texas, where Will applied his research, analytic, and writing skills to the B2B conference industry. There he performed market research and analysis, developed content and conference agendas, recruited and coordinated with executive speakers, and managed events on-site.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from George Mason University in Virginia in 2013.

Fun facts about Will:

• Will was one of the sailors lining Independence Ave during Ronald Reagan’s state funeral.
• His karaoke performances of 90’s R&B hits are legendary.
• He loves sports, and is especially passionate about baseball and football, but is cursed by loving Ohio-based teams.

As Senior Community Manager for Board.org, Laura is focused on making people happy through systems and procedures that deliver the most joy. She loves crossing items of checklists, developing reports in Salesforce, and using excel to find shortcuts to maximize output.

Laura is a graduate of Purdue University where she studied Communications. After graduation, she started her career in sandwiches (because we all know that the quickest way to someone’s heart is through their belly) hoping to make the most people happy in short periods of time. After many years in the sandwich biz, she stumbled into Board.org by means of free sandwich tickets and a continued passion for taking care of people. Spreading happiness and creating positive ripple effects are what make her tick, so she felt she found her calling in the work at SocialMedia.org.

Fun facts about Laura:

• Laura loves picking up stray pennies and assigning their luck to other people.
• She has a regular yoga and kickboxing habit – it’s all about yin and yang.
• She’s recently discovered the music of Devendra Banhart and may have become an instant super fan.

Jennifer was born and raised in a small, rural town in central Mississippi and attended the University of Mississippi, earning a BS in Applied Sciences, following high school. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she first worked as a consultant on college campuses across North America.

Following this full-time travel position, she planted her roots in Memphis, Tennessee, where she currently lives. Upon moving to Memphis, she focused her work and education in the healthcare industry, earning a Masters in Health Administration from Louisiana State University while working full time. In the healthcare and higher education industry, she served as a project lead for the implementation of Salesforce and continued as the system administrator, which explains her love for all things SFDC!

Jennifer likes to stay busy and has always failed to identify ‘hobbies’ in her on-the-go lifestyle. However, when she is not working, her passions include cleaning, organizing, hosting family and friends, and spending time with her Aussiedoodle, Jennings (who runs her and her husband’s life and household).

Fun facts about Jennifer:

• She is a college football fan anomaly: She is a lifelong LSU fan due to her family (Geaux Tigers!); she attended and earned a degree from Ole Miss (Hotty Toddy!); she worked briefly at the University of Arkansas and lived in Fayetteville (Woo Pig!); and she is now married to an avid University of Tennessee fan (Go Vols!).
• At around 10 years old, she started her first business: professional organizing. She would clean her friends’ rooms and closets (for fun though, no pay).
• She started an obsession with the Kennedy family in the 5th grade and has collected memorabilia, books, and documentaries ever since — including the original John F. Kennedy Inauguration invitation.

Melanie grew up in the southwest (AZ, CO, CA) and earned a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from Northern Arizona University. Shortly after graduation, she moved to Chicago. She has continued to call the Midwest city home for almost two decades — despite its lack of mountains and its overabundance of humidity — because it’s otherwise an amazing city with plenty to do.

Melanie came to Board.org after 14 years of managing a veterinary specialty clinic. She has cleaned up more than her fair share of dog poop for having only a cat at home. She has spent her entire working life in some form of customer service and is excited to serve the members of Board.org communities.

Fun facts about Melanie:

• She is fluent in sarcasm, which she learned from her older brothers and large extended family. For the more traditional languages, she knows a little Spanish (thank you to years in the Southwest) and is working on learning some French.
• She loves traveling and does so as much as possible with her husband. They one day hope to live in Europe, but haven’t figured out how to make that happen just yet.
• She has a knack for throwing together meals without a recipe, and almost all of them turn out great (says her gracious hubby). Just don’t ask her to repeat a meal since most of the time she doesn’t remember what she put in it.

Leah grew up in the rural community of Argyle, TX and then attended the University of North Texas. She recently moved to the Austin area and has lived in West Lake Hills since last autumn. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, organizing, traveling, hiking, kayaking, finding cool new restaurants to try, and spending time with her family and friends.

Fun facts about Leah:

• Leah loves the outdoors and is an avid snowboarder, beach lover, and regularly goes offshore/deep sea fishing trips with her family.
• She’s a crafty person and usually has a new DIY project that she’s working on, whether it’s redoing a piece of furniture or finding creative ways to repurpose and reuse old stuff.
• She has a large standard poodle named Kingston that goes everywhere with her.

Haley was born and raised in Houston and attended Texas A&M University where she received a Bachelor’s in Political Science. She finished her last semester abroad studying foreign affairs at Richmond University in London. She then moved to San Francisco to earn a Master’s in International Business with a Specialization in Sustainability while working for a non-profit on CSR efforts and editing for an international magazine.

After grad school, Haley moved to Austin to pursue a career in Business Development and Public-Sector Marketing. She currently lives in South Austin with some friends and a cat, Arya, who she is unfortunately allergic to. Haley enjoys trying new restaurants, being on the water and taking spontaneous weekend trips (near or far).

Fun facts about Haley:

• She can say anything backwards, including Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
• In high school, Haley raised a pig that bullied her.
• She’s visited 11 countries – and counting – and successfully missed 3 flights during those travels.

Whitney grew up in Austin, Texas. She graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Business Administration and Communications. She has a background in operations, technology, and research and is passionate about helping people do the best work they can, efficiently.

After her family spent four years living in Europe, she decided that Texas skies and BBQ were sorely missing from their lives, so they moved back to Austin in 2017. She loves spending sunny afternoons outside with her husband, daughter, and two Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Fun facts about Whitney:

• Her ‘5 to 9’ job is a singer/songwriter.
• In her free time, you will find her with a baby, guitar, or book on her lap.
• The most unexpectedly beautiful place she has ever seen is Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Maggie is a Connecticut native who kicked off her career in HR after graduating from Western Connecticut State University. Maggie’s favorite thing about HR is being able to help people grow in their careers, which makes every day rewarding.

Seeking new experiences, Maggie made the move to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she enjoys the nice weather and exploring the city with friends. She also strives to grow in her HR profession, achieving her SHRM-SCP certification in 2024.

Fun facts about Maggie:

• She owns a lab mix named Penny, who may even love city living more than her. You will catch them walking around the “Queen City” daily.
• Maggie has a passion for interior design, with Old World and Parisian styles being her favorites. You’ll catch her antiquing on the weekends. Her dream is to explore the flea markets of France one day.
• Maggie also loves to read, hike, and is excitedly learning embroidery.

• He was a collegiate baseball player, but loves all sports.
• He has a tattoo of both his kids’ names over his heart.

Justin is a born-and-bred Texan originally from Houston where he studied Kinesiology/Sports Administration at the University of Houston (go Coogs!). With over 10 years of experience working in the Sports and Entertainment sectors, he’s assisted and led event and facility operations for various departments across the professional and collegiate levels.

After moving to Austin in 2015, he began working for University of Texas Athletics, where he spearheaded operations, servicing premium area patrons through high-level customer service and experience. Through his work off campus with local HR and community groups, Justin has worked with member-facing teams to help build DEI programming and produce community meetups and events. After a substantial career in sports, Justin comes to Board.org with a passion for building community and facilitating spaces for change.

Justin lives in East Austin with his wife Marika and their two dogs Macho and Lily. They spend most of their time traveling, reading, or catching up on their DVR.

Fun facts about Justin:

• He’s an avid sneakerhead, owning close to 100 pairs (maybe more).
• In 2020, he launched a local event brand called Third Coast Collective that’s geared towards building inclusive spaces for minority professionals through diverse events. Look out for the next “Frito Pie Social!”
• He once almost missed a trip to Bordeaux, because his dog ate his passport.

As an Platforms Director, Evette manages and optimizes all of the tech, tools, and toys we get to work with every day.

Evette got her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines before packing her bags and moving halfway across the world for a master’s degree in Marketing Communications from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She joined Board.org as an intern and loved it so much, she never left.

Fun facts about Evette:

• One of her favorite things about living in Chicago is actually the weather.
• She enjoys going on road trips to watch hockey in all sorts of awesome cities.
• She once had a speaking part on a Broadway musical.

As the Director of Development & Design, Peter supports the team by building, maintaining, and designing all websites and applications for Board.org. Previously as Creative Director at Board.org, he focused on visual and brand design for all things Board.org.

Peter has a degree in sociology from the University of Michigan. He got his first job in graphic design when he started designing and illustrating for the university’s engineering textbooks. He has since found that designing for Board.org is a lot more interesting than drawing pictures of circuit diagrams.

Fun facts about Peter:

• He owns a handful of vintage synthesizers and makes electronic music in his spare time.
• His favorite cyclist is Marco Pantani. His favorite American cyclist is either Brandon Mcnulty (or Lance Armstrong — gotta respect the GOAT).
• He runs a record label with some friends called Ways Inner Pass.

As Sales Development Manager, Jake is responsible for ensuring that the Sales Development team is generating qualified leads, contributing to a robust sales pipeline, and working closely with the Sales and Marketing teams to drive business growth.

After graduating from Cedarville University with a degree in Marketing, Jake spent a year in Indianapolis until he ultimately landed in Dallas, Texas, where he continued his career managing Sales Development teams.

Jake lives with his wife, Brandi, and the worlds greatest Golden Retriever named Ellie. When he’s not working, Jake spends his time with friends and family, playing golf, and watching movies.

Fun Facts about Jake:

• He has received a piggy-back ride from Rob Lowe.
• He has been trying to befriend the tarantula that has lived under his sidewalk for three years, unsuccessfully (so far).
• He has been to 19 countries.

Kyle is from Montgomery, TX, but has spent most of his life on the golf course and at the beach.

Kyle received his degree in Marketing from Dallas Baptist University, where he was an Academic All-American and student athlete. After college, he traveled and played on various golf tours from the U.S. to the Mckenzie Tour in Canada.

After stepping away from the sport, he has held several different positions in both sales and marketing. He now resides in Inlet Beach, FL, with his beautiful wife, Jordan, and their two fur babies, Wailer and Ollie.

Fun facts about Kyle:

• He is now club champion at their golf club in Rosemary Beach, FL.
• He has 6 hole-in-ones at the time of this writing.
• He dreams of one day owning a beach-side business.

Juan Carlos Cabrera was born and raised in Miami, Florida, but spent time as child living in Spain. He graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and now resides in Los Angeles, California.

When he’s not working you can find him surfing or playing pickup basketball on the Venice Beach courts. He also enjoys live theatre and grew up performing on stage.

Andrea has been in education for over twenty years as an art teacher and later on as an English professor. She is a married mom of two daughters — one is 15 years old, and the other is four years old. She enjoys spending time with her family, her dogs, traveling, writing, reading, and gaining new educational experiences.

Andrea is excited to start on this new journey as a Sales Development Representative at Board.org after successfully graduating from Flockjay, an online tech sales program. She is a motivated sales professional who goes above and beyond to achieve targets, excels in customer satisfaction, and exhibits consistent professionalism. Her goal is to use the skillset she’s acquired to excel in the tech industry and improve the lives of those she works with and surrounds herself with.

Fun facts about Andrea:

• She wrote a screenplay about immigration that Samuel Goldwyn Films was interested in, but ultimately passed on purchasing it.
• Her dream is to own an Airstream and travel the United States with her family.
• She’s writing a non-fiction book, which is a diary of letters to her estranged father who passed away three years ago. She’s been pitching it to potential book publishers, and only one has shown interest in the manuscript so far.

• You can catch him every so often entertaining at the local piano bar.
• He has traveled to every continent except Antarctica.
• He genuinely loves finding out other people’s fun facts!

Growing up in West Texas, Michelle was introduced to the life of sales in the oilfield — achieving great accomplishments and a love for sales.

From the oilfield, to attaining her license in real estate, to entering the world of tech sales in the Austin, TX area, she has found success while meeting others with a like mind and expertise from whom she’s learned insurmountable amounts along her journey.

Michelle’s goal in life has been to set a high standard of work ethic in her two daughters, while learning to balance work and home life. Some hobbies that she enjoys are golfing, meeting new people, and traveling in her spare time!

Before transitioning into sales, Tamia dedicated over a decade to the restaurant industry, where she traveled extensively and led diverse teams. Her passion for exceptional food and engaging conversation allowed her to work closely with people from a wide range of backgrounds, enriching her professional and personal experiences.

Originally from Michigan, Tamia is a steadfast Detroit Lions fan and is optimistically anticipating their Super Bowl victory this year.

Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, James attended the University of Nevada Reno and received a bachelor’s degree in Business Management.

James grew up hiking and biking in the outdoors, and he loves to snow ski. James moved down to Austin almost eight years ago with his wife and absolutely loves it there. He enjoys playing golf, working out, and trying new restaurants.

Fun facts about James:

• He has a twin sister.
• He’s visited 12 countries and plans to keep adding to that list.
• In high school, he won a burrito eating contest and won free burritos for a year.

Jackie is a graduate of Texas A&M (whoop!) where she studied Psychology & Business. After graduation, she moved to Austin and started her career as a corporate recruiter. A few years later she joined a local staffing and recruiting firm and transitioned into business development. In that role, she built relationships with local businesses and helped them solve their staffing challenges. She was instrumental in growing the company, helping it triple in size, and led staff development and training for the team.

Jackie loves to spend time with friends and family, read, and be outdoors. She lives in Cedar Park with her husband, two adorable daughters, and two very large, very old dogs.

Fun facts about Jackie:

• Jackie is a Daughter of the Republic of Texas.
• Every time she steps into the sun, she sneezes three times.
• Her dream is to own waterfront property in the Texas Hill Country.

Harrison has been in sales for seven years. He started in the medical field and has experience in SAAS, sports ticket sales, and real estate.

Harrison grew up in Dallas, TX, and enjoys spending time outdoors, college football, and playing golf whenever possible.

Nathan grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His passions are music, food, travel, and life coaching.

Fun facts about Nathan:

• He got stuck in South Africa during the start of the pandemic.
• He planted tarot root in the rainforest on the island of Oahu with the locals.

Gabe is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara (go Gauchos!), where he studied sociology and professional writing. Immediately after graduating, Gabe moved to Los Angeles and dove into the world of tech sales. He loves forming connections with others and helping solve the complex problems they’re facing.

Gabe’s passions include cooking, music, camping, and spending time with his cat, Strudel. You can also catch him playing pickup soccer whenever possible.

• He’s owned 3 cars in his life, all of which were Chrysler 300s.
• He can beat anybody in a game of “Bop-It!”
• He was technically flown on the Concorde when his mom was pregnant with him (she didn’t know at the time, don’t worry!).

Angie grew up in Southern California and spent just over a decade in Milwaukee, WI, (Go Pack Go!) before a career opportunity brought her to Tampa, FL. As a newlywed with a one-year-old daughter, she figured that if they didn’t love it, they could always head back to the Midwest. The rest was history.

Angie has spent the majority of her career in sales and account management and thrives on building genuine connections. When she’s not at work, you are likely to find Angie cheering her kids on (loudly) from the sidelines of a soccer or flag football field, wrangling her two fur babies, or looking for the latest and greatest gluten-free restaurant!

Kat is a native Austinite (Science Academy @ LBJ High School, in case you are also local and wondering). After attending UT for undergrad she ventured into the midwest for graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis. With a Masters in Social Work, Kat moved back to Austin for good and began her career in the non-profit sector. She has spent the past 15 years in fundraising, leading development efforts at both the Center for Child Protection and more recently at the Austin Young Chamber.

Kat and her husband David live in the Dripping Springs area with their twin daughters, mastiff, and cat. From a creative standpoint, Kat’s favorite activities are gardening and cooking.

Fun facts about Kat:

• Kat’s parents were “fixer uppers” so as a child she moved around Austin a lot, changing schools multiple times. In 3rd grade, Kat went to Kirby Hall at the same time as Andy Roddick and they were almost boyfriend/girlfriend.
• Kat and David had chickens at their last house in North Central Austin (prior to moving to the ‘burbs).
• Kat loves checking out new bars and restaurants though admittedly after becoming a (twin) mom in 2018, she doesn’t get out so much these days.