Our Leaders
Fueling the Movement
The Grassroots Engine of Braver Angels
Field leaders include state coordinators, regional leads, and alliance co-chairs. They guide and organize volunteers on the ground and recruit new alliance members, with a focus on working towards a Red-Blue balance.
Braver Angels National Team
Kira Barone
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
Maggie Bayless
MODERATOR TRAINING COORDINATOR
David Blankenhorn
CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
Yvonne Boyd
ORGANIZER CALL COORDINATOR (BLUE)
April Chatham-Carpenter
CO-DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS
Bill Doherty
CO-FOUNDER
Elizabeth Doll
DIRECTOR OF BRAVER POLITICS
Mónica Guzmán
SENIOR FELLOW FOR PUBLIC PRACTICE
Mónica Guzmán is a bridge builder, journalist, and author of “I Never Thought of it That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times”. She is host of the Braver Angels A Braver Way podcast. Mónica received an honorary doctorate degree from Wheaton College, and completed study and research fellowships at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, and the University of Florida. A Mexican immigrant, Latina, and dual US/Mexico citizen, she lives in Seattle with her husband and two kids and is the proud liberal daughter of conservative parents.
Eliza Hawkins
EVALUATION TEAM COORDINATOR
Martin Hunke
WORKSHOP DELIVERY MANAGER
Casey Jorgensen
ORGANIZER CALL COORDINATOR (RED)
Olivia LaMelle
DIRECTOR OF
HUMAN RESOURCES
David Lapp
CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF
braver network
David Lapp leads Braver Network and We The People’s Project at Braver Angels. David spent several years interviewing working-class Ohioans about their life experiences and families before helping to start Braver Angels. David lives with his wife Amber and six children in South Lebanon, Ohio, the home of the first-ever Braver Angels workshop in December 2016.
Stan Levine
DEV TEAM
LEADER
Stan Levine leads the DEV Team that ensures that all of our workshops are properly developed and maintained. He is also a member of the National Tech Team, the Training Team, the Help Desk Team, and the Event Development & Delivery Team. Stan spent over 30 years working for the Department of Defense as a member of the Senior Executive Service. He grew up in New Jersey, spent 12 years in the Pentagon, and now lives with his wife in North Carolina.
Jessie Mannisto
DIRECTOR
OF DEBATES
Jessie Mannisto is a former CIA leadership analyst, Google Policy Fellow, political activist, and founder and editor emerita of Third Factor, an online magazine, podcast, and membership community dedicated to the search for the higher path. With interests in psychology and philosophy, she was drawn to the Braver Angels debate program as a way to productively channel that intellectual energy that we so often use to process—or to cloak—our more vulnerable emotions. After getting deeply involved in her local alliance’s debate program, she was thrilled to come on board as Braver Angels’ Director of Debates in 2024.
A proud native of Detroit and graduate of Kalamazoo College and the University of Michigan, Jessie is now based in the Washington, DC area.
Mark Metzger
CONVENTION DIRECTOR
AND ARTS COORDINATOR
Mark Metzger joined Braver Angels in 2022. In 2023, he oversaw operations and logistics for the Braver Angels National Convention in Gettysburg, PA, led the arts initiatives Four Score: A Memory Play and Braver Lens: Amateur Photography to Heal American Divides, and managed day-to-day operations of the National office.
Donna Murphy
DIRECTOR OF
1:1 CONVERSATIONS
Steve Saltwick
INAUGURAL
SENIOR FELLOW
Andrew Stillman
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY
OFFICER
Dawn Strauss
DIRECTOR OF
DEVELOPMENT
Barbara Thomas
CHIEF OPERATING
OFFICER
Barbara Thomas is a retired U.S. diplomat with 20 years of experience in strategic planning, operational oversight, personnel development, crisis management, cross-cultural communication, policy advocacy, and organizational reform. A native Minnesotan, she and her husband have five children and three grandchildren.
Gabriella Timmis
DIRECTOR OF
COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING
Gabbi Timmis is a proud Midwesterner who happens to live in New York City. She joined Braver Angels in 2022 as a field reporter before coming on as the Director of Social Media, and now, the Director of Communications & Marketing. She also volunteers for Braver Angels as the Blue Co-Chair of the NYC Alliance.
Prior to Braver Angels, Gabbi worked for NBC News as an assistant producer, where she led the digital strategy for the education division, wrote and produced live broadcasts, reported on trends in education, and managed social media. During the 2020 election, she worked as a political organizer and deep canvasser in her home state of Michigan. Gabbi graduated from Michigan State University and has a master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she focused on the convergence of adult learning, political polarization, and media.
Mary Thomas-Vallens
MODERATOR FORUM
COORDINATOR
John Wood, Jr.
NATIONAL
AMBASSADOR
Board of Directors
Hunter Baker
DEAN OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AND PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNION UNIVERSITY
David Blankenhorn
PRESIDENT, BRAVER ANGELS
Jonathan Haidt
Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership; Stern School of Business, New York University
JoAnn Luehring
Partner, Roberts and Holland, LLP
Glenn T. Stanton
Director of Global Family Formation Studies
Focus on the Family
Thomas K. Sylvester
General Counsel, Hedera; Chairman,
Braver Angels Board of Directors