Adam Meyerson
President
ameyerson@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Adam Meyerson joined The Philanthropy Roundtable as president in October 2001. From 1993 to 2001, Adam was vice president for educational affairs at The Heritage Foundation. He coordinated the think tank's civil society projects, its publications on the Founding Fathers, and its "No Excuses" work on high-performing high-poverty schools. Meyerson was editor-in-chief of Heritage's magazine, Policy Review, from 1983 to 1998.
From 1979 to 1983 Adam was an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal and editor of its "Manager's Journal" and "Asia" columns and its book reviews. He is co-editor of The Wall Street Journal on Management, a book published by Dow Jones-Irwin in 1985. From 1974 to 1977, he was managing editor of The American Spectator magazine, then in Bloomington, Indiana.
Adam graduated summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University in 1974. From 1977 to 1979, he attended Harvard Business School and completed all requirements but the dissertation for a doctorate in international business.
Adam and his wife Nina live with their three sons in Washington, D.C.
Shannon Toronto
Chief Operating Officer
storonto@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Shannon Toronto joined The Philanthropy Roundtable as Chief Operating Officer in September 2005. Her experience in the philanthropic sector includes serving as the Executive Director of the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation, a charitable foundation providing grants throughout the state of Utah. She has worked as the Director of Foundation Relations at the Leadership Institute, has served as a marketing director for the Waterford Institute (an educational research center), and has worked as a writing supervisor for a proposal between Hill Air Force Base and the Boeing Company. Shannon is a graduate of Brigham Young University, with Masters and Bachelors degrees in English, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the BYU Management Society.
Kirk E. Oberfeld
Vice President for Research and Communications
koberfeld@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Kirk E. Oberfeld joined the Roundtable in July 2006 as vice president for research and communications, and as editor-in-chief of Philanthropy magazine.
Kirk spent nearly a decade as managing editor at Insight magazine, a news and opinion weekly, where he managed a staff of more than 100 writers, photographers, designers and editors and won critical praise for Insight’s in-depth examination of major issues in the news. He also held senior editorial positions at newspapers in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
Since leaving Insight, he has held executive positions at two advertising and public relations agencies and a mutual fund family. He led branding, marketing and media efforts and served as creative director on advertising and internet accounts.
He is a graduate of Kalamazoo College in political science, received a master of arts in journalism from The Ohio State University, pursued graduate studies in literature at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, and is a veteran of the U.S. Army.
Kirk and his wife, Pamela, have three daughters. They live in Bethesda, MD.
Michael Leaser
Managing Editor, Philanthropy
mleaser@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Michael Leaser joined The Philanthropy Roundtable in September 2005. From 2002 to 2005, he worked at the American Enterprise Institute as the executive assistant to Michael Novak. Michael received his M.A. in Theological and Religious Studies from Drew University, where he also worked for the university’s alumni magazine.
Michael works as a male peer counselor at Alexandria Pregnancy Help Center and LifeChoices Resource Center. He is also an accomplished percussionist and holds a B.A. in English and History from Washington and Lee University. Michael makes his home in Alexandria, VA.
Stephanie Saroki
Senior Director of K-12 Education Programs
ssaroki@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Stephanie Saroki joined The Philanthropy Roundtable in September 2003, as director of K-12 education programs. Prior to joining the Roundtable, Stephanie was a Teach For America corps member in Oakland, California, where she taught high school English. She then attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government as a Dean’s Fellow and earned a Master of Public Policy. At the Kennedy School, Stephanie concentrated on child, family, and education policy, looking at interventions in impoverished urban areas. Her Master’s thesis explored marriage policy and welfare reform. Between her two years at the Kennedy School, Stephanie was an intern at the Office of Management and Budget and worked on the regulations for the No Child Left Behind Act. Stephanie studied rhetoric and psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She is a native of Chula Vista, near downtown San Diego and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Alex Echols
Director of Conservation Programs
echols@conrod.com
Alex Echols started working with the Roundtable in 2004. He set up his own consulting firm in 2001 to help industry, the conservation community, and government deliver more conservation for their dollar invested. Of particular interest to Alex are non-regulatory approaches to better environmental management, getting a better return on conservation investment, use of incentives and markets to improve conservation delivery and fostering broader participation in conservation.
He wrote several key conservation programs, such as the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill, during his 12-year tenure with Senator Robert W. Kasten, Jr. (R-WI). Alex subsequently worked for a trade association where he used market incentives to encourage the use of recyclables. He also served as deputy director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for four and a half years and as acting executive director for another year and a half.
Frederic Fransen
Director of Higher Education Programs
ffransen@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Frederic Fransen joined The Philanthropy Roundtable in 2006. From 1996 until 2006, he was variously a program officer, fellow, and senior fellow at Liberty Fund, Inc., a private operating foundation. From 2001 to 2006, he also served as director of grants for the Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Foundation. From 1988 to 1991, he worked in Brussels, Belgium, as a researcher studying European Community and NATO security policy.
Fred has a Ph.D. in Social Thought from the University of Chicago and has written on topics ranging from the origins of the European Community and the interplay between literature and politics to bioethics, markets, and the future of health care policy in China.
Fred’s interests include water sports, reading, and travel, and he has visited more than thirty countries on five continents. He is a member of First Mennonite Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he lives with his wife and two children.
Mark Smith
Director of National Security Programs
msmith@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Mark Smith will be joining The Philanthropy Roundtable as the new director of national security programs. Mark served 14 years in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of major. He commanded combat tank units in Germany, served four years as assistant professor of international relations and national security studies at the U.S. Military Academy, and was a special assistant to former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General John Galvin.
Since leaving the Army in 1994, Mark held a number of positions in the business world, including chief of staff at Codel, the Luxemburg-based international securities depository, and senior vice president for Prudential Investments Management Services. Mark received his B.A. in politics from Washington and Lee University, and his M.A. in economics and American foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Dorothy Martinez
Director of Regional Events
dmartinez@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Dorothy Martinez joined The Philanthropy Roundtable in 1999 and now serves as the director of regional events; handling the logistics for all regional meetings and special projects. Dorothy is a native Texan. She previously worked in a medical facility as a Medical Administrator for a group of family physicians. She assisted the physicians with the daily office administration, interacting and communicating with patients, supervising staff, as well as planned and facilitated meetings. After meeting and marrying her husband David, she moved to Washington, DC.. She currently lives with her husband and son in Alexandria, Virginia.
Jenise Snyder
Director of Finance & Technology
jsnyder@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Jenise Snyder joined The Philanthropy Roundtable in May 2006. Ms. Snyder has a strong administrative background and previously worked at Regent University’s Washington, DC Campus holding numerous responsibilities, including Director of Business Development and Manager of Administrative Services. She led the campus in their budget planning and review as the Campus Financial Officer and also implemented a Career Services Department.
She earned her Master of Public Administration and Master of Arts in Management from Regent University as a Master’s Fellow for the Center for Civic Leadership in Virginia Beach, VA. Her Bachelor’s degree in Government was earned from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK.
Jenise is a graduate of Leadership Alexandria and takes great interest in community issues. She is heavily involved in her church and volunteers locally in Alexandria, VA, where she resides.
Sharon K. Wood
Annual Meeting Director
swood@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Sharon K. Wood joined the Roundtable in December 2003. Sharon moved to Washington with her husband who is in the Navy and stationed here as a nuclear engineer. In Oklahoma she worked as the project coordinator for Replenishing the Caregiver, an organization serving 14 Oklahoma counties offering support groups and training for family members who serve as caregivers to the sick or elderly. She is a graduate of Oklahoma State University , with a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish and a minor in Religious Studies. When not busy at work, Sharon and her husband are active in their church, and they enjoy hiking, bike riding, and camping.
Amanda Telford
Development Director
atelford@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Amanda Telford joined the Roundtable in January 2005. Previously, she was Director of Operations at Frontiers of Freedom, a free-market think tank based in Fairfax, Virginia, where she managed finances, events and development. From 2000 to 2002 she was an aide in the congressional office of Ernest Istook, an Oklahoma Republican, where she was legislative and executive assistant.
Amanda grew up near Fort Worth, Texas and is a graduate of Brigham Young University where she majored in political science.
Ashley M. Hall
Staff Assistant
ahall@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org
Ashley Hall joined the Roundtable in February 2006. She previously interned for Congressman Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican, as well as with the Leadership Institute in Arlington, VA. During the summer following her freshman year of college, she worked for the Institute for Law Enforcement Education which provides advanced training for law enforcement officials across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Ashley is a native of Pennsylvania where she graduated early from Bucknell University in December 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Education. While at Bucknell, Ashley was an active member of the Chi Omega sorority, where she had been elected as secretary and vice-president, and the Bucknell University Conservatives Club. She also conducted independent research during her study abroad in Northern Ireland and is currently working to publish her findings concerning the two public school initiatives toward integration within the segregated school system.
