Board of Trustees

Stephen Heintz
Board Chair
Stephen Heintz is President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and former President of Demos. He has also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the EastWest Institute, where from 1990-2000, he worked and lived in Eastern Europe helping in the transition to democracy. Mr. Heintz has also served in the State of Connecticut as both the Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Commissioner of the Department of Income Maintenance.

Prof. Mark Alexander
Mark Alexander is a professor at Seton Hall University of Law, where his subjects include Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Election Law, and First Amendment (speech), among others. Professor Alexander was recently named one of two people in charge of the Federal Election Committee Agency (FEC) Review, as part of the Justice and Civil Rights Team for the Obama-Biden Transition team. Professor Alexander has worked on several major political campaigns, including as Policy Director to Obama’s presidential campaign, General Counsel on Cory Booker’s mayoral campaign, and Issues Director for Bill Bradley’s presidential and Ted Kennedy’s senatorial campaigns. He has a B.A. in Architecture and a J.D. from Yale University.

Ben Binswanger
Ben Binswanger is the Chief Operating Officer of The Case Foundation. During the course of his career, he has held senior leadership positions in the government, business, and nonprofit sectors. After serving as Senator Edward Kennedy's senior political advisor, he was Director of Business Development at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the senior communications officer at Telespectrum Worldwide, a publicly traded direct marketing company.

Mr. Binswanger then joined America Online as Vice President for corporate communications, and, following AOL's merger with Time Warner, he worked in the corporate relations department and at the AOL Time Warner Foundation. Ben was instrumental in creating and promoting giving and volunteering programs at AOL Time Warner, and presently serves on the boards of National Voting Rights Institute, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Raj Date
Raj Date is Chairman and Executive Director of Cambridge Winter, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a rational and informed discourse on U.S. financial institutions policy. Prior to founding Cambridge Winter, Mr. Date was a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Deutsche Bank Securities where he led the firm’s investment banking coverage for the largest U.S. based banks and thrifts. He has also served as Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Development at Capital One Financial, and as a consultant and as an attorney, in both private and government practice. Mr. Date holds a B.A. from University of California Berkeley with highest honors and graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude.

Robert Franklin (On Leave)
Reverend Robert Franklin, Jr., is the Presidential Distinguished Scholar of Social Ethics at Emory University. He formerly served as President of the Interdenominational Theological Center, the nation's foremost center of historically African American religious training and graduate theological education. Prior to that, Dr. Franklin was a program officer at The Ford Foundation-where he was responsible for grants to African American churches engaged in secular social service delivery. Dr. Franklin is author of Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African American Thought (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997).

Gina Glantz
Gina Glantz is currently Senior Advisor to President Andrew Stern of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Prior to joining SEIU, Ms. Glantz served as National Campaign Manager for Bill Bradley for President. In 1985, she co-founded the national consulting firm of Martin & Glantz, now known as Fowler Hoffman, specializing in grassroots organizing and communications strategies to affect public, opinion leader and policy-maker attitudes and actions. Gina has a long history in political campaigns, and served as a traveling political aide to Governor Howard Dean during the latter part of the 2004 Presidential primaries and National Field Director of the Mondale-Ferraro Committee in 1984. Gina is Chair of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and is Treasurer of Qvisory, Inc, a newly formed on-line organization for young workers. She also serves on the board of the Bay Area Economic Institute.

Amy Hanauer
Amy Hanauer is the founding Executive Director of Policy Matters Ohio, a policy research institute dedicated to examining issues that matter to Ohio's working families. Since she founded the organization in January of 2000, Policy Matters has produced more than 100 reports, generated more than 1,000 newspaper stories, and begun to change the economic debate in Ohio.

Ms. Hanauer has a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA from Cornell University. She previously served as a Senior Associate at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, and as a Policy Analyst for Wisconsin State Senator Gwendolynne Moore, now a member of Congress. Ms. Hanauer has also done research and policy work in Colorado and Washington D.C. For Policy Matters, in addition to running the organization, Ms. Hanauer does research on work, wages, tax policy, energy policy and other issues.

Sang Ji
Sang Ji is a partner at White & Case LLP, a global law firm representing public and privately held commercial businesses and financial institutions, as well as governments and state-owned entities. In this capacity, he focuses in U.S. federal tax issues arising in mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, corporate restructurings, joint ventures, and a broad range of other transactions. Prior to joining White & Case in 1998, Mr. Ji served as an attorney advisor to the United States Tax Court. Mr. Ji holds a B.A. from Columbia University, a Masters in Taxation from NYU School of Law, and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

Van Jones (On Leave)
Van Jones is Co-founder and President of Green for All, a national campaign for green-collar jobs and opportunities. His environmental leadership includes being a founding board member of two national coalitions: One Sky, which works to avert catastrophic climate change; and a "Clean Energy Jobs Corps" federal initiative creating hundreds of thousands of jobs to retrofit the energy infrastructure of the U.S. Mr. Jones was the co-founder and president of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which promotes positive alternatives to violence and incarceration, and one of the founders of ColorOfChange.org, an online advocacy organization with more than 100,000 members tackling Black issues. Mr. Jones is a graduate of Yale University Law School.

Clarissa Martinez De Castro
Clarissa Martinez De Castro is Director of State/Local Public Policy for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest constituency-based Hispanic organization in the United States. In that capacity, she launched and now oversees NCLR's state-based policy and advocacy efforts in Texas and California, and works with community-based organizations, legislators and coalitions in other states lending assistance and support to increase Latino engagement in policy debates. She also directs NCLR's Latino Empowerment and Advocacy Project, a civic engagement and voter mobilization initiative focused on long-term, electorate expansion and local capacity building.

Prior to her work with NCLR, Ms. Martinez served as public policy coordinator for the Southwest Voter Research Institute (Willie Velasquez Research Institute), where she covered issues related to passage and implementation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and contributed to the creation of the North American Development Bank (NADBank). She also served as Assistant Director of the California-Mexico Project at the University of Southern California, convening opinion leaders from both Mexico and California to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing their regions.

Her background includes work with the Ladies' Garment Workers Union (now UNITE), and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 11, organizing and representing largely immigrant workers in several states. A Salzburg Seminar Fellow, Ms. Martinez holds a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Bachelors degree in Diplomacy & World Affairs from Occidental College. Ms. Martinez was born and raised in the Mexican State of Sinaloa.

Rev. Janet McCune Edwards
Ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1977, Janet McCune Edwards has served in various capacities over the past three decades in Pittsburgh, PA, including Pastor of several congregations and Instructor of Homiletics and Liturgics at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She has been a member of the local Taskforce on Ministry with Sexual Minorities since 2000, and is currently Co-Moderator and Board Member of More Light Presbyterians. Janet has also been a member of the Religion/Spirituality Working Group of Voices for a New Tomorrow, addressing the spiritual needs of GLBT Pittsburgh; and the Civil Rights Taskforce of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network.

Arnie Miller
Arnie Miller is a founder of Isaacson Miller, a national executive recruiting firm headquartered in Boston. Previously he served in the Administration of President Jimmy Carter as the Director of the Presidential Personnel Office in the White House from 1978 to 1980. During his tenure, more women and people of color were appointed to positions in the Executive Branch and the Independent Regulatory Agencies than ever before in our nation's history.

John Morning
John Morning is a graphic designer, working in Manhattan since 1960 and specializing in publications and materials for leading arts, cultural and philanthropic institutions. In his 30 year career of service, John has held leadership positions with organizations in higher education, banking, philanthropy, the visual arts, theater and historic preservation. In addition to D?mos, he also currently serves on the boards of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Lincoln Center Theater, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Henry Street Settlement, and the International Print Center.

Wendy Puriefoy
Wendy Puriefoy is President of Public Education Network, the nation's largest network of community-based school reform organizations. Prior to that, she was Executive Vice President and COO of The Boston Foundation, a community foundation with an endowment of over $750 million supporting public health/welfare, educational, cultural, environmental, and housing programs in Boston, Massachusetts.

David Skaggs (On Leave)
David Skaggs is Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Prior to this position, he was the Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at The Council for Excellence in Government. He was also Counsel to a Washington-based law firm and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado. Previously, Mr. Skaggs was a six-term Democratic U.S. Congressman from Colorado and a three-term member of the Colorado legislature.

Ernest Tollerson (On Leave)
Ernest Tollerson is Director of Policy and Media Relations for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. Prior to this position, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Policy at the New York City Partnership, a business-led nonprofit. Before that, he was a Program Officer at the Beldon Fund and served for two years as a member of the Editorial Board of The New York Times. Mr. Tollerson began his career in journalism in 1975 at The Wall Street Journal. He also was editorial page editor at New York Newsday.

Amelia Warren Tyagi
Amelia Warren Tyagi is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of The Business Talent Group. Previously, she co-founded HealthAllies, a health benefits firm which was later acquired by United Health Group, the 2nd largest health insurer in the US. Prior to founding HealthAllies, she was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company. Ms. Tyagi is the co-author of two best-selling books, The Two-Income Trap and All Your Worth. She has written for Time, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, and other publications on a variety of topics including the US economy, health care, and women and work. She is a regular commentator for the nationally syndicated radio show Marketplace. Ms. Tyagi holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from Brown University. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two daughters, ages 5 and 1.

Ruth Wooden
Ruth Wooden is President of Public Agenda, a non-profit that conducts public opinion research, on critical public policy issues. Prior to joining Public Agenda in August 2003, Ms. Wooden was Executive Vice President-Senior Counselor at the international public relations firm of Porter Novelli where she led the Advertising and Cause-Related Marketing Practice. She also served from August 1987 to June 1999 as President and CEO of The Advertising Council, Inc.

Charles R. Halpern (On Leave)
Founding Board Chair Emeritus
Charles R. Halpern is currently a Scholar in Residence at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. While founding Demos and serving as its first Board Chair, he was President and CEO of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. From 1982 to 1987, Mr. Halpern was the founding Dean and Professor of Law at the CUNY Law School at Queens College. He was also co-founder and director of the Network for Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C., and co-founder and attorney for the Mental Health Law Project.