Daniel Ben-Horin,CompuMentor's founder and President, feels very fortunate that his job has evolved over the years (since 1987!) to allow him to spend the bulk of his time trying to think about transformative things that this organization can do in the world. The rest of his time is spent trying to sell these ideas to the people at CompuMentor who have to implement them and the people outside whom we need to convince to be our partners and/or to fund us.
After graduating from college in 1969, Daniel spent 7 years as a journalist (Arizona Republic, New York Times, New Times) in Arizona. It was an important time for him, during which he realized that much as he liked to write and edit, he was more interested in what those skills can be deployed for, specifically for social change. Gradually, his work moved in the direction of becoming an organizer, administrator, fundraiser and what would today be called a social entrepreneur. He worked for Pacific News Service, directed Media Alliance in the early 80's, took a wild swing at writing fiction, took a couple of basic programming classes (Cobol! Yeah!) and, in 1987, founded CompuMentor with the notion that people who understood technology were an undervalued but potentially tremendous resource for social change organizations.
Daniel married late, at 41, and now, at 59, has two sons, 17 and 15. He is a total jock, both participatory (tennis, skiing) and as a fan (Maysfield). Daniel's wife, Jamie Stobie, is a wonderful documentary filmmaker (Freedom Machines). Daniel has lived on the same corner of SF's Potrero Hill since 1976, but became a homeowner only in 2004. So now, he and Jamie are discovering their inner Martha Stewarts in the garden and tearing up the house. Daniel is also passionate about music (Dylan, Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Mary Gautier), though he can't carry a tune in a bucket (the kids, on the other hand, are ace musicians; clearly Jamie's genes at work). Daniel loves San Francisco and the Sierra, where he and Jamie have a cabin in MiWuk Village, and hopes his generation can remember its idealistic coming of age and become idealistic elders in the years to come.
Billy Bicket is the Director of Strategic Development, Knowledge Services at TechSoup.
Billy works with the team to ensure TechSoup is partnering with the nonprofit organizations and companies that can best help TechSoup deliver technology resources, software, hardware and the social web to as many of the 10 Million nonprofits and non-governmental organizations around the world as efficiently as possible. This is Billy’s first go in the nonprofit sector, and he’s very excited about contributing to TechSoup's international growth plans. Prior to his work here, he developed partnerships for www.Meetup.com, www.1800flowers.com and www.Gannett.com. Billy studied History at the University of San Francisco, taught 8th grade Humanities at Aim High, Urban School as well as GED History as a volunteer at the SF Conservation Corps and saw the potential of what technology can do for people while working at Meetup in NYC.
He also spent four years in the United States Marine Corps (mostly behind a desk), and now is grateful to live in and (ride his bike) to work in San Francisco.
When away from the screen, he spends a lot of time on his bicycle adventuring around California, camping and planning the great escape. Billy is one of the key architects of the NetSquared project.
Britt Bravo is the Community Builder for NetSquared. If you want to start a Net Tuesday, need help posting on the NetSquared blog, have ideas for Net Tuesday speakers or NetSquared Podcast interviewees, or want more information about how to be involved in the NetSquared Community, email her at bbravo@techsoup.org.
Britt Bravo is also a writer specializing in stories about individuals and organizations that are creating social change. She writes for blogs, produces podcasts and teaches people how to blog and podcast. Britt writes for Have Fun * Do Good and BlogHer. She also produces the Big Vision Podcast and the Arts and the Healing Podcast. Using her 17 years of experience working with nonprofits, socially responsible businesses, and artists, Britt provides consulting for nonprofits and individuals to help them realize their Big Vision.
Gina Cardazone was part of NetSquared's original team of organizers, and now offers strategic and technical support to NetSquared from her new location in Honolulu, HI. She is pursuing a graduate degree in Community Psychology, with a research emphasis on violence prevention.
Gayle Samuelson Carpentier, TechSoup's Director of Business Development, gets the fun of helping some of the world's largest technology firms engage with TechSoup, with a big focus on creating or expanding product donation programs to benefit nonprofits in the US and beyond. She continue to seek a triple win in each donation program(for technology companies, for the nonprofit sector and for TechSoup's mission of helping NPO's understand and use technology effectively so they can achieve their individual missions). Beyond CompuMentor, As a newly widowed mom, Gayle focuses her time on her 13 year old son, volunteering activities at school and church, plus training (or trying to anyway) her new shelter rescue dog Max.
Maryline Daviaud Lewett recently joined the TechSoup/NetSquared team as Director of Business Development. Maryline possesses over 15 years of business experience in the entertainment and high-tech industries. At the International Channel Network, and in partnership with corporations, she developed TV programs for the integration of immigrants in the United States. In the Bay area, she joined one of the precursors in streaming video: Intervu, acquired by Akamai technologies. She developed new business models during the dotcom era with eBay, eTrade, C/net, Macromedia, Quokka Sports, etc. Since 2004, she is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization, FAST (French After-School Tutoring) that helps children keep their native language, in order to promote cultural diversity. Maryline is a social, environmental and public policy activist living in Marin County, CA, with her two children. She holds her 2006 MBA in Sustainable Management from the Presidio School of Management. You can find about more about Maryline on her LinkedIn profile.
Jayson Fagar, Event Marketing Associate, is happy to be joining the NetSquared team. Before working for CompuMentor, Jayson worked in Chicago for The Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts (CIRCA), a nonprofit that works with youth in helping them to relate their immigrant experiences through theater, dance, and song.
Aside from facing the wind in Chicago, Jayson has also lived in Seattle. Despite its rainy reputation, Jayson felt much at home in its' perpetual drizzle. The next weather challenge for him: the sun that California has to offer.
Jennie Frohman joins the Net2 Team as its Web Producer. Jennie has been dedicated to the non-profit sector for years and is exicted about making positive social change through Net2.
Prior to working for TechSoup, Jennie spent years wandering the world teaching in various high schools and universities. She earned her Master of Arts degree in International Peace Studies from the United Nations mandated University for Peace where she focused on conflict resolution and mediation.
While not working, Jennie enjoys traveling, good old fashioned veggie cooking and bluegrass music, an ode to her Tennessee roots.
Susan Hellein manages to keep the team on the straight and narrow by drawing from her experience as a communication liaison and project manager and from her academic pursuits in writing & psychology (happiness rates have soared since she joined the team).
A newbie to the land of Net2, but a big fan(!) she is thrilled to be assisting in the management of N2Y3.
Beth Kanter is a trainer, coach, and consultant to nonprofits and individuals in effective use of technology. She has worked on projects that include: training, curriculum development, research, and evaluation. Her expertise is how to use new web tools (blogging, tagging, wikis, photo sharing, video blogging, screencasting, social networking sites, and virtual worlds, etc) to support nonprofit. She is an experienced coach to "digital immigrants" in the personal mastery of these tools.
She is a professional blogger and writes about the use of social media tools in the nonprofit sector for social change.
Visit her blog at http://beth.typepad.com
Kris Sowolla, Sr. Business Development Manager, is acting on his long term interest in the application of technology to the solution of societal problems. His goal is to establish sustained relationships with technology companies so that working together the partnerships can further the reach and impact of TechSoup, while also helping the companies to achieve their mission and fulfill Corporate Social Responsibility goals.
Kris prepared for this role through positions in Marketing and Business Development in the technology sector, working for communications and networking companies. When not at work, Kris enjoys any excuse to be outside: working in the garden, playing in the yard with his dogs, and walking the streets of San Francisco and the hills around the Silicon Valley.
Marnie Webb is the Co-CEO at CompuMentor/TechSoup. She works towards optimizing TechSoup and TechCommons, CompuMentor's knowledge-focused services, to help address the nonprofit sector's systemic technology challenges. She focuses on increasing these programs' impact through collaboration with and stronger integration of all of the sector's key players.
She is one of the driving forces behind the TechSoup NetSquared initiative to increase nonprofit effectiveness through the use of web-based social tools.
Marnie is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofits and technology. Her areas of focus include Internet Strategies, online communication, and advocacy.
Her blog can be found at: http://ext337.org. She is one of the founding members of the Nonprofit Emerging Technology Exchange and an organizer of the NPTech tagging experiment.
Fresh! is celebrating his 3rd year as the logistics manager for NetSquared.
Moving into his 7th year with CompuMentor/TechSoup, Fresh! is very excited to once again be a part of the NetSquared Team and support their efforts to help non-profits best utilize Social Networking tools. Fresh! also co-produces Net Tuesday with Britt Bravo by managing the logistics for that event as well.
A long time Bay Area activist, Fresh! currently sits on the board and provides anti-violence training with the Community United Against (CUAV) and supports Writing Ourselves Whole, a project designed to transform lives through words; Fresh! also supports the National Black Justice Coalition and Generation Five and hopes to work on the development of a US Social Forum in the SF Bay Area.
Fresh! is also a professional coach; working to help others connect with their inner power, strengths and talents in order to live their lives as completely as they wish. Fresh! and his fiancé are enjoying the beautiful views from their new apartment next to the lovely Lake Merritt, Oakland.
Rochelle Williams, TechSoup’s Associate Communications Manager, is excited about being a part of the NetSquared Conference team for the second year in a row. She is working on tons of conference-related stuff, from on-site management to media sponsorships and she loves every minute of it!
New to the Bay Area, she spends her free time searching for shoe deals, trying out new restaurants, and planning her next international trip.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
TechSoup, CompuMentor. 2008. Share our content.
