Joanne Conger, Everett, WA

Joanne has served many communities over the past fifteen years: the homeless, those who are incarcerated, or recently released from incarceration, women affected by domestic violence, interfaith communities, immigrants, and those affected by mental illness. She has served in development, in crisis case management, and executive leadership for several agencies including the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, the Salvation Army, Rosehedge, and has worked with the City of Seattle for two years in the implementation of the cities Homelessness Management Information System. She holds a Masters in Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University and a BA in Human Services from Western Washington University. She began her experience in nonprofit work at FareStart, a job training program for homeless men and women and now serves as the Executive Director of Freedom Project, an organization taking Nonviolent Communication in to four Washington State prisons.

Roger Erskine, Board President, Olympia, WA

Roger has spent his professional life devoted to improving the education of students in the US.  Working between teachers and union officials, politicians and votes, Roger has helped groups come together to put children first.  He co-founded and led the League of Education Voters and served as executive director of the South Dakota Education Association and the Seattle Education Association.  He is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard, Temple and the University of British Columbia.  He has been an advisor to the Ontario Ministry of Education, and served on the Annenberg Foundation.  He has lobbied on behalf of the South Dakota Education Association, the Minnesota Education Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and worked for the National Education Association for 25 years, serving as Manager for Organizing, focused on Urban Schools.

Roger is a Minnesota native who enjoys twelve grandsons.

Dan Leahy, Vice President/Secretary, Bothell, WA

Dan is an innovative personal and organizational development specialist. With 16 years of leadership education experience and another 16 as a clinical therapist, he brings a unique blend of interpersonal and organizational perspectives to his work.

Dan believes that leadership is fundamentally a dance between the leader, the followers and the organizational mission.  His approach focuses on developing the ability to both take a stand and stay connected with others in service of the desired results.

He holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Communication Arts and Sociology from Washington State University and a Master of Arts in Applied Behavioral Science from Whitworth College. His post graduate training includes the Art & Practice of Leadership Development program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

His professional experience includes:  President of Leadership Institute of Seattle (2001-07); Dean of the LIOS/Bastyr University School of Applied Behavioral (1997-2007); Interim VP for Academic Affairs at Bastyr University (2007); faculty of the LIOS/Bastyr University School of Applied Behavioral Science (1991-2004).

Walter Parsons, Port Townsend, WA

Walter is a management consultant and community volunteer.  He has been professionally involved, for the past twenty five years, in public broadcasting. In his work, he emphasizes strategic thinking, financial literacy, and leadership.  He is an active listener who believes in the power of stillness and silence.

He is past president and a current member of the board of Copper Canyon Press, a non-profit poetry publisher; past president and former board member of the Bush School, an independent K – 12 school, and past president, former board member (and current chair of its advisory board) of the Henry Gallery, the University of Washington’s art museum.  He has also served on the boards of WLN, a library organization; On the Boards, a dance and performance non-profit; the Northwest Center, an organization that promotes growth, development and independence for people with disabilities; and COCA, a visual arts non-profit.

He has a BSE from the University of Michigan, an MS from Stevens Institute for Technology and an MBA from Columbia University.

Kwesi Rollins, Washington, DC

Kwesi is Project Director for Community-Based Systems Reform at the Institute for Educational Leadership, coordinating IEL’s portfolio of programs designed to develop and support leaders including the Education Policy Fellowship Program, which operates in 13 states and the District of Columbia.  Additionally, Kwesi directs the Early Childhood Community Schools Linkages Project, designed to demonstrate strategic linkages between quality comprehensive early childhood opportunities and effective community schools that lead to better results for vulnerable children, and lay a foundation for success in school and life.

Kwesi has years of experience working with local communities and state agencies to improve multi-agency service delivery systems supporting children, youth and families. He completed work on his MSW degree in 1996 at the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Social Work where he was a Maternal and Child Health Leadership Training Fellow.

Working with young people is also a personal passion for Kwesi Rollins - he has special expertise in resiliency and youth development. He is President of the Parklands Community Center Board of Directors; he has been recognized as the Big Brother of the Year in the District of Columbia; and is a former member of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the National Capitol Area, serving as Vice-President for Program Services. 

Hla Yin Yin Waing (Waing Waing), Seattle, WA

Waing Waing recently stepped into the role of Cultural Competence Manager at Senior Services. Prior to joining Senior Services, she was the Program Manager and lead trainer for the Minority Executive Directors Coalition’s (MEDC) Cultural Competency Training Program. There, Waing Waing oversaw the planning and delivery of training and consulting services to community-based organizations and public agencies that were primarily in the Health and Human Services non-profit sector.  Previous to MEDC, Waing Waing operated and managed her family’s small-business café, and also served on the Board of Trustees for a diverse independent school that teaches children to interact empathetically with others, think critically about bias, and to challenge bias when they encounter it. Before this, she was a Technology Trainer for 5 years with the US Library Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gayle de'Sousa Warner, Denver, CO

Gayle was born in Mumbai, India and graduated with a B.A. from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, majoring in Speech Communication and minoring in History.  She has worked in the non-profit field supporting issues that address reproductive rights for women, education equality, and fair wages.  For 17 years, Gayle managed programs for Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, Inc. in Denver, CO.

Her interest in leadership models as an intricate part to the development of communities led Gayle to participate in several leadership and community development trainings and projects, such as the University of Denver’s Center for Multicultural Excellence Inclusivity Training, the Coors Líderes Training, Collective Leadership Training through the KLCC Initiative, and the Servant Leadership Symposium funded by the Fetzer Institute and Children’s Defense Fund. In addition, she participated in a Ford Foundation exchange to India to learn about community development models and practices.

Gayle is an avid hiker and gardener and enjoys traveling.