National Staff

Jenny grew up in the Midwest and graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of Kansas. After gaining extensive HR experience at another nonprofit, Jenny joined the Stand team in 2010 after watching her nephew try to navigate the Portland school system. As a member of the Talent Team, Jenny oversees employee relations, employment law and compliance, total rewards, and other HR related initiatives. She also collaborates with her team members to further expand organizational priorities focused on organizational and people development.

Rob grew up in Detroit and is primarily self-taught in Management, Database Systems, Information Technology, and Programming. Prior to joining Stand in 2010, Rob worked for an Academy Award-winning Visual Effects studio making movies and video games. In addition, Rob has worked as a professional chef, Head of Human Resources, Executive Producer, and as a teacher at the college level. As Director of Systems & Engineering at Stand, Rob is responsible for all infrastructure and systems at Stand (phones, networks, computers), as well as custom development and engineering for individual Stand teams and states.

Simone, a navy brat with an arts background, earned her B.F.A. at Michigan State University and her M.A. in Arts Administration from the University of Oregon. Simone has always been attracted to non-profits and community based organizations, in both the volunteer and employee capacities. She comes to Portland by way of Austin, Texas, where she worked in galleries and plant nurseries and volunteered with local arts groups. In her free time Simone volunteers with RACC’s ArtSpark program, doing outreach and event work.

Prior to joining Stand, Kerry served as the National Recruitment Manager at Jumpstart, a national non-profit organization focused on building language, literacy, social and emotional skills in preschool children to ensure that every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Before joining Jumpstart, Kerry worked at the Center for Community Solutions (CCS) based out of San Diego, California, where she was responsible for the design and execution of all trainings for staff and volunteers affiliated with CCS. Kerry holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in international social development from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Kara was born and raised in Salem, Oregon, and is a 2006 graduate of the University of Oregon with bachelor’s degrees in both accounting and political science. Upon graduation Kara moved to Rwanda to intern for Columbia University’s Access project. During her time there she implemented computer-based accounting systems for more than 20 rural health centers and conducted training with their staff in the areas of budgeting, financial reporting, and asset management. After completing her internship and consultancy, Kara stayed in Rwanda to launch an artistic café and cultural event venue. Kara joined the Stand team in 2010.

Michael grew up in Reno, Nevada, and is a graduate of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he majored in business administration and minored in language arts history. Prior to joining Stand in 2010, Michael spent four years as an auditor for CH2MHill, where his focus was streamlining cost strategies at client sites in a 6 state area. As part of the National Finance Team, Michael is responsible for all invoicing and expense and mileage reimbursements. Michael’s long term goals at Stand are to identify strategic cost savings, be the every-ready contact for any staff member’s questions on financial literacy, and to build a procurement management model which will help develop successes in meeting Stands advocacy goals.

Adam was born and raised in Redding, California, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He spent several years in business for himself as a Realtor and then as a financial advisor, where he worked to institute workplace programs providing financial literacy education and promoting the concept of financial wellness. He currently works part time with Stand while attending Portland State University towards a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. As a member of the National Finance Team, he handles much of the regulatory reporting required for our staff lobbyists and political action committees, maintains business licenses and tax exemptions, and helps staff with credit card and expense reporting.

Jackie grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne University, where she majored in Communications and minored in Education. Prior to joining Stand in 2011, she focused on building talent and leadership pipelines for education endeavors. She served as Director of Talent Sourcing at The K12 Search Group, Manager of National Recruitment at Education Pioneers, and Program Coordinator for the National Leadership Development team at The Broad Foundation. As National Expansion Manager, Jackie collaborates with Stand leadership to establish a year-one organizing and campaign strategy for the new state affiliate, supports the implementation of that strategy until the affiliate is self-sustaining, and manages the overall launch process of new state affiliates.

Meet Nancy, the face behind the admin mailbox. A native Portlander, Nancy came to Stand as a temp, and was made permanently part of staff in July 2011. She loves living in Portland and knows that, if she tires of the rain, she can visit her grandkids on the dry side of the mountains. She does volunteer work at an organization called Community Warehouse, she loves to read, garden, and shop estate sales.

Megan Irwin grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and is the proud daughter of two Arizona public school teachers. After majoring in Journalism at Arizona State University, Megan worked as an investigative reporter at the Phoenix New Times where she covered public policy issues ranging from immigration, Child Protective Services and the significant, life threatening problems with state services for developmentally disabled adults. She is a multiple Arizona Press Club award winner and a two time recipient of the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism. She joined Stand for Children in 2008 as a Community Organizer at the Oregon office and has since worked on multiple state and local campaigns and has played a leadership role in launching state offices in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana and Texas, and continues to design and oversee Stand for Children’s national growth.

Born and raised in North Carolina, Leslie attended Elon University and graduated with a B.A. in corporate communications and a minor in business administration. Throughout college, Leslie volunteered as a substitute teacher for a local children’s home. After college, Leslie worked with at-risk pregnant youth for Florence Crittenton Services in Charlotte, which strengthened her understanding of the public school system and its impact. She joined the Stand team in 2008, where she facilitates agile project management within the Information Team.

Sue, the co-founder and former CEO of lucy activewear, comes to Stand for Children with a diverse background as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, and consultant. In 2009, she served as an Education Fellow at the Meyer Memorial Trust. Before cofounding lucy, Sue was an executive at Nike for five years, where she served as the US Women's Brand Director, and before that, the Global Director of Women's Sports Marketing. Sue is the mother of two children who attend Beaverton public schools.

Sarah grew up in Connecticut, and attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she graduated with a degree in Anthropology. She has extensive experience recruiting and mobilizing organizers for campaigns, including work with Grassroots Campaign and as a field organizer for Moveon.org. Sarah joined the staff of Stand for Children in the beginning of 2010 as the National Recruiter. Her goal is to apply her political campaign experience and recruiting background to accomplishing the crucial mission of making sure all children have the support they need to thrive.

Rich spent much of his youth in Kentucky. He has extensive experience scoping and delivering web based products and services as well as a deep background in engineering and sales, with industry experience in semiconductors, telecommunications, e-learning, medical devices, publishing, and marketing communications. As CRM Product Owner he is responsible for discovering and prioritizing technology work across the organization to deliver efficient systems and services into Stand’s national and state offices, implementing scalable software to fuel tomorrow’s growth plan. He lives in Portland with his two kids, Jackson and Addie.

Dean is a native Oregonian and a graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, where he majored in Accounting. Prior to joining Stand in 2010, he was the CFO for Planned Parenthood’s affiliate headquartered in Portland, where he was in charge of all aspects of finance and accounting, as well as IT, HR and employee benefits, purchasing and distribution, project management and facilities. Prior to his employment with Planned Parenthood, he spent twelve years as a CPA in public accounting, and a number of years in the private sector. As a staff accountant for Stand, Dean is responsible for general ledger accounting and financial reporting, and more generally for supporting the work of the Finance Managers and the CFO.

Lindsey originally hails from Anchorage, Alaska, and is a proud graduate of the University of Oregon, with a degree in Journalism. Prior to joining Stand for Children in 2011, Lindsey served as an Executive Assistant in various realms of the education industry. She is now the Executive Assistant for Stand for Children’s CEO, Jonah Edelman. Lindsey is the mother of two daughters, Lily and Kate, who both attend Portland Public schools.

Scott has had a fascination with technology since his first introduction to computers in the 1st grade. After completing an Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Hawaii, he continued his passion for computing by leading e-commerce deployments for apparel companies such as Guess Jeans, Speedo and lucy activewear. Most recently he has been a CTO at numerous innovative start-up companies. Scott has been on the board for the Portland chapter of the Project Management Institute and currently provides technical assistance to Living Yoga, a non-profit outreach program focused on bringing yoga to prisons, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and disadvantaged youth.