About Us
NYEC Staff
Thomas Showalter, Executive Director, is an expert on education and workforce policy and related areas (disability policy, juvenile justice, antipoverty programs), as well as Congressional politics and processes. Before coming to NYEC, Thomas advised advocacy organizations and foundations on communications and strategic planning at a Bethesda-based public relations and public affairs firm. He also spent almost five years on the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, working for chairmen Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA). With the committee.
Rashaun Bennett, Senior Program Associate, worked at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) prior to coming to NYEC in Summer 2018. He spent two years working as a Human Services Policy Analyst within the Assistant Secretary of Planning in Evaluation (ASPE) at HHS. His portfolio included homelessness, child welfare, employment and paid family leave. Rashaun has a background in political science and economics from Davidson College, where he was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship for public service and leadership.
Kate O’Sullivan, NYEC Consultant, worked at NYEC from 1995-2008. She built NYEC’s hallmark quality standards effort, the Promising and Effective Practices Network (PEPNet). As an independent consultant since 2008, she has helped networks and funders to develop, deliver, support, assess, and improve youth employment programs and systems.
Don Spangler, NYEC Consultant, has served as policy advisor to the Philadelphia Youth Network, one of the nation’s leading youth workforce intermediary organizations, since its inception in 1999, where he developed extensive expertise in youth workforce activities and related aspects of youth education, employment and training.
Board of Directors
Glenn Eagleson, Chair, Senior Youth Services Analyst, Department of Children, Youth & Their Families, San Francisco, CA
Lisa Johnson, Vice Chair, Associate Director of Programs NIWL, FHI 360, Washington, DC
Ruth Barajas-Cardona, Secretary, Director of Workforce and Education, Bay Area Community Resources, San Francisco, CA
Tad Asbury, Treasurer, Vice President & Executive Director, Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities, Bethesda, MD
Sharlet Barnett, Chief Executive Officer, Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Resources, Inc., Phoenix, AZ
Kisha Bird, Director of Youth Policy, Center for Law and Social Policy, Washington, DC
David Brown, Senior Fellow, Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD
Ernest Dorsey, Assistant Director, Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Baltimore, MD
Kathy Hamilton, Youth Transitions Director, Boston Private Industry Council, Boston, MA
Karine Kanikkeberg, Resource Teacher, Career Resource Department, Kern County High School District, Bakersfield, CA
John Martinez, Director of Program Development Development and External Affairs, MDRC, New York, NY
Andrew Moore, Senior Fellow, National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, Washington, DC
Alice Prince, Executive Director, St. Louis Agency on Employment and Training, St. Louis, MO
Hector Rivera, Chief Operating Officer, Our Piece of the Pie, Hartford, CT
Daniel Tsin, Chief Impact Officer, Urban Alliance, Washington, DC
Johan Uvin, President and CEO, Institute for Educational Leadership, Washington, DC
Heather Wathington, Chief Executive Officer at See Forever Foundation and the Maya Angelou Schools, Washington, DC
Ellen Zinkiewicz, Youth and Community Service Director- Nashville Career Advancement Center, Nashville, TN