Our Leaders - Braver Angels
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Our Leaders

Fueling the Movement

Volunteers are the Grassroots Engine of Braver Angels!

Volunteers make an impact through courageous citizenship—moderating workshops, speaking at events, chairing debates, building community, supporting behind the scenes, and more.
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Braver Angels National Team

Kira Barone

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Kira Barone joined Braver Angels in August of 2021. She leads the finance team and oversees budgeting, audits and strategic financial forecasting. She has worked most of her career with non-profits especially start up non-profits or those in phases of rapid growth. She grew up in Iowa and now lives in Vermont with her husband and two daughters.

Maggie Bayless

MODERATOR TRAINING COORDINATOR

Maggie Bayless is an entrepreneur who founded ZingTrain, a business to business training company, and is now focused on working less and volunteering more. As Braver Angels’ Moderator Training Coordinator, Maggie leads Moderator Office Hours, helps design the monthly Moderator Forums and co-facilities Moderator Orientation meetings with Bill Doherty. She’s also happy to be the point person for any Moderator-related training questions!

Yvonne Boyd

ORGANIZER CALL COORDINATOR

Yvonne Boyd trained as a volunteer organizer in January 2021 and enjoys training new organizers and helping alliances with their first workshop. She is a Zoom participant manager and a member of the BA Ambassador Team. In March 2022, she became the Organizer Call Coordinator (blue) and works closely with Casey (red). Yvonne is a middle school secretary and lives in SE Washington State with her husband and two teenagers.

Bill Doherty​

CO-FOUNDER​

Bill Doherty is a co-founder of Braver Angels and the creator of the Braver Angels workshop approach. Bill is a Professor and Director of the Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. Bill combines a background in family therapy and community engagement.

Elizabeth Doll

DIRECTOR OF BRAVER POLITICS

Elizabeth Doll joined Braver Angels in March 2022 as the Director of Braver Politics after four years of volunteering with the organization and many years working in politics in the Pacific Northwest. She began political work as a teen, when, while interning on a Congressional campaign, she became passionate about improving her community through civic engagement. Since then, Elizabeth has consulted for and worked on many state and local campaigns. She and her husband live on Bainbridge Island and when not engaged in politics, she enjoys photography, hiking, and horseback riding.

Wendi Dressen

DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT

Wendi Dressen has nearly 30 years of experience leading volunteer engagement in mission-driven, national, and multi-site organizations, with a focus on building inclusive, relationship-based systems that help volunteers feel valued, connected, and effective.

She holds a Master of Liberal Studies in Aging Studies from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Gustavus Adolphus College. Outside of work, Wendi enjoys new experiences, travel, great food, and life with her three adult children and one beloved pup.

Nicole Garzino

CHIEF DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING OFFICER

Across her 20+ year career, Nicole has helped both social impact and for-profit organizations launch new initiatives, mobilize volunteers, and design strategies for growth and engagement, drawing on tools from human-centered design and strategic foresight. Nicole lives near the Sierra foothills of Northern California and loves exploring the outdoors and history of the nearby Gold Country. As a mother of three young adults and a middle-schooler still at home, she enjoys traveling across the United States, especially with her youngest to teach him about our country’s history and communities.

Maury Giles

Chief Executive Officer

Maury Giles is a husband, a father of ten in a blended family, and a Red who now lives in Salt Lake City, UT. For two decades, Maury started and scaled mission-driven organizations and built high-trust teams across partisan divides. He also volunteered with Braver Angels for five years, moderating Red/Blue workshops and leading bipartisan legislative initiatives through Braver Politics. Now, he’s the CEO of Braver Angels.

Eliza Hawkins

EVALUATION TEAM COORDINATOR

Eliza Hawkins started volunteering with Braver Angels in 2019 and quickly got involved in the evaluation team to help out with the feedback forms. She moved into the coordinator position in January 2022. She holds a Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication and teaches media ethics at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. As an adjunct faculty member at BYU, she also conducts research on depolarization when she is not taking care of her four children, dog, cat, and chickens.

Martin Hunke

WORKSHOP DELIVERY
MANAGER

Martin Hunke is the Workshop Delivery Manager of Braver Angels who ensures our ability to deliver workshops in an environment of rapid growth. He also leads the moderator and Zoom Event Manager training teams. Martin has a M.S. in Computer Science and immigrated to the U.S. in the 90s to work on A.I. in the Bay Area. Before joining Braver Angels, he developed apps for Android as a freelancer for companies such as SAP and owned a Yoga studio in Berkeley.

Casey Jorgensen

Strategic Projects &
Events Coordinator

Casey is a Red State Co-Coordinator and Event Organizer. Originally from Boise, she has lived in/near Salt Lake City since 1990. Her education is in marketing, and she worked as an Executive Assistant until she and her husband, Dean (from Alberta, Canada) had their first of three children (who are now grown.) She has served as a GOP Precinct Chair and Delegate, URLEND Parent Advocate, Patriot Camp Founder/Director, and UHEIA Board Member. Casey loves live theater, is a devout Latter-day Saint, and feels honored to work with truly Braver Angels.

David Lapp

Director of National
Initiatives

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.

Natalie Laroche

Program Manager of Debates

Natalie Laroche is Program Manager for the Braver Angels Debate Team. She began at Braver Angels as an intern, later joining staff in 2022. In her current role, Natalie oversees the National and Local Debate Leadership teams. develops and facilitates training for field leaders, and manages the debate internship program. Natalie holds a B.A. in Government from Smith College, where she also completed a concentration in Community Engagement and Social Change. She grew up in Maine and currently lives outside Washington D.C., where she enjoys spending time outdoors and reading.

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.

Jessica Lowe-Minor

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Jessica Lowe-Minor came to Braver Angels in February of 2026 after years of work in the civic engagement sector. She has served in both staff and volunteer leadership roles with the League of Women Voters, and she worked for over a decade in nonprofit capacity building, first as the Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence and later as the Co-Founder of a nonprofit consulting firm called Capacityworks. Based in Tallahassee, Florida, Jessica lives with her husband, two daughters, and multiple pets.

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. 

Charles Naumer

Chief Programs
Officer

Charles Naumer serves as Chief Programs Officer for Braver Angels, helping the organization strengthen and scale the programs that bring Americans together across political divides. He has spent much of his career working with civic and social-sector organizations, with a focus on systems, technology, and organizational capacity. He brings to Braver Angels a blend of organizational leadership, research, strategy, and operational experience. In this role, Charles is focused on supporting staff and volunteers as they help make courageous citizenship a lived practice in communities across the country. He holds a Masters degree in Public Policy and Ph.D. in Information Science.

Sam Rechek

DIRECTOR OF
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Sam Rechek came to Braver Angels in January 2025 as a program coordinator on the Debate Team. In May 2025, he transitioned to the Director of Strategic Partnerships role. Sam spent his college years advocating for civil discourse and free expression on campus, and it was his student leadership that first put him in touch with Braver Angels. He has worked with national nonprofits such as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and Heterodox Academy. Sam is a Wisconsinite whose hobbies include eating, gormandizing, and noshing.

Steve Saltwick

INAUGURAL
SENIOR FELLOW

Steve Saltwick is the inaugural Senior Fellow of Braver Angels focusing on key strategic initiatives for advancing its mission. He is also the founding conservative co-chair of the Braver Angels Central Texas Alliance. He is a bio-psychologist whose career took a path through high-tech on six continents. He researches the guiding principles of the mammalian brain. He has published in SCIENCE but prefers to dote on his first grandchild and two border collies.

Mary Beth Stibbins

DIRECTOR OF
EVENT COORDINATION

Mary Beth Stibbins is the Director of Event Coordination at Braver Angels, where she leads the national team responsible for organizing and supporting hundreds of workshops, skills trainings, and public events each year. She has a passion for creating meaningful spaces for dialogue and works with volunteers across the country to host events that foster connection and reflect Braver Angels’ mission to bridge the partisan divide. Mary Beth is also trained as a psychotherapist and life coach. She lives in Washington state.

Andrew Stillman

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY
OFFICER

Andrew Stillman brings over a decade of leadership and technical skill in software and systems development in the non-profit and for-profit startup worlds, where he developed popular tools for schools in Google’s cloud ecosystem. Prior to his life as a technologist, Andrew spent two decades as educator: first as construction crew boss leading teens in the rural mountain West and then as a public school teacher and school founder in NYC. Andrew directs Braver Angels technology roadmap.

Mary Thomas-Vallens

MODERATOR FORUM
COORDINATOR & BRAVER ED LEADER

Mary Thomas-Vallens is a lifelong educator with extensive experience in curriculum and staff development. She taught in public schools for 41 years, as well as graduate-level courses at Chapman and Concordia Universities. She led workshops exploring the teacher behaviors and questions that best foster students’ intrinsic motivation, critical and creative thinking, and academic and interpersonal success.

Today, she co-facilitates the Moderator Forums and leads the BA Education Community Network. Mary loves engaging others through workshops and encouraging high schoolers to be “Braver Teens.

Kacee Van Horn

Director of
Foundation Relations

Kacee Van Horn is a development specialist certified in Nonprofit Executive Leadership, with over 15 years of experience strategically developing fundraising initiatives and leading high-performance teams. As Director of Foundation Relations at Braver Angels, Kacee manages the grants program, building and stewarding relationships to ensure the mission and work of Braver Angels is fully funded and always growing. Kacee also serves on the board of a national nonprofit in the disaster response sector and is a writer, avid reader, and artist. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, three daughters, and three grandchildren.

Wilk Wilkinson

DIRECTOR OF
MEDIA SYSTEMS & OPERATIONS

Wilk’s journey from adversity to success in his career, marriage, and parenting exemplifies the transformative power of perseverance and self-improvement. As the Director of Media Systems and Operations, Wilk plays a pivotal role in shaping national dialogue through conversations, storytelling and strategic media. His podcast, Derate The Hate, complements this mission by offering practical tools and authentic conversations that inspire personal growth and civil engagement.

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