Madera Group

Team

Kath Delaney, Founder and Principal

Team:

Andre Carothers, Senior Strategist

Patrick DeTemple, Senior Political Advisor

Erik Johnson, Creative Director

Bill Walker, Communications and Campaign Strategist

Manny Hernandez, Social Media Consultant

Peter Gobos, Information Technologist

Jessica Braverman Birch, Development and Communications

Kien Tseng, Senior Graphic Designer

Mitzi Yue, Intern

Michelle Atkins, Intern

Kath has 25 years experience managing nonprofit organizations and public relations campaigns, and a national reputation as a market leader in progressive communications and social marketing. Her expertise includes big picture organizational strategy, fundraising, marketing and strategic communications. She is closely tied to social mission organizations and involved in vital campaigns for women’s leadership, environmental awareness and progressive social change.

Prior to launching Madera Group, Kath was Managing Director of the Global Security Institute (GSI), founded by the late Senator Alan Cranston. The mission of GSI is to promote security through the elimination of nuclear weapons. Long on the world stage, Kath has represented leaders to the press, and has produced high-level fundraising events for numerous heads of state, Nobel Laureates, elected officials, opinion leaders and other change agents.

In addition to her extensive NGO experience, Kath has worked in the political arena on seven presidential campaigns in communications, field operations, advance planning and fundraising. Kath also served as National Coordinator for the 20th Anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, and as a producer and consultant to Earth Day 1991, 1992 and 1995.

Kath brings to Madera Group an extensive network of social venture professionals, philanthropists and a wide range of media relationships. In forming Madera Group, she enlisted best-in-class professionals in fundraising, organizational development, Internet strategy, public relations, social media, web-based programming, video production, and related fields to form the agency’s client service teams.

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Andre has more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit management, organizational and leadership development and strategic planning. He is the co-founder, former Executive Director and now a Senior Fellow at the Rockwood Leadership Institute, a national nonprofit training and consulting organization. He is also senior adviser to the Weinmann Charitable Trust and the New Place Fund. He received a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Patrick DeTemple brings 35 years of experience in the fields of politics, law, labor relations, social activism, technology and government to his work with Madera Group.  He is the founder and principal of Map The Vote, which has provided services to numerous political campaigns and nonprofits. During the recent Presidential election, he served the Obama campaign for over 20 months in a variety of capacities (including state General Election Director, Data Manager, Regional Field Director) in California, Texas, Alaska and Missouri as well as Chicago, where he worked closely with the National Field Director to develop the field program for the general election.  His experience in government ranges from Chief of Staff to a State Senator in Massachusetts, where he was also a municipal attorney, to extensive work in California around business process improvement, innovation in government and community policing and police policy at the municipal level. His prior work includes years as an organizer and field representative for United Farm Workers, SEIU, human rights groups in Central America and as the National Field Director of Earth Day 1990. He is a member of the Massachusetts and California Bar and a graduate of Brown University, Northeastern University School of Law, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

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Erik is an award-winning multimedia producer of video, interactive technologies, website design and integrated communications. He has been recognized by AV Multimedia Producer Magazine as one of the top 100 video producers in the U.S. Erik has produced and managed multimedia projects for numerous clients including Adobe, Canon, Columbia Tristar, Nikon, Sony Computer Entertainment, Palm, Japan Airlines, Wired magazine, the UCSF Children’s Hospital, the Global Security Institute, International Rivers and the World Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain. He received a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont.

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Bill Walker’s first career was journalism. For more than a decade, he was a roving correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Denver Post and The Sacramento Bee, covering issues including presidential elections, AIDS in Africa and race relations in California. In 1990, he joined the environmental movement as media director for Greenpeace in San Francisco, later moving to Washington as the organization’s national news chief.

He returned to the Bay Area as communications director for the California League of Conservation Voters, the nation’s largest state-level environmental PAC. In 1996 he opened the West Coast office of Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based organization that uses the power of information technology to protect public health and natural resources. Most recently he was Campaign Director for Earthjustice, the nation’s leading nonprofit evironmental law firm, where he directed a team of campaigners on issues including wilderness, Arctic oil and gas drilling and energy efficiency.

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Manny Hernandez is a social media expert, nonprofit leader and diabetes advocate. He is the president of the Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that connects people touched by diabetes and raises diabetes awareness. DHF runs two social networks: TuDiabetes.com (in English, started in March 2007) and EsTuDiabetes.com (in Spanish, started in August 2007). Both social networks run on Ning and reach more than 17,000 members (people with diabetes and those with loved ones with diabetes) from around the world.

From 2000 to 2008, he worked in web product management, online community management, content management and internet marketing in a number of companies, including Full Sail University, Quepasa.com, Pets911 and Earth911 (an environmental portal). Mr. Hernandez earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Universidad Metropolitana in Venezuela and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University. While attending Cornell, the web bug bit him and it hasn’t abandoned him since. He wrote Ning for Dummies, published in April 2009 and collaborated on Twitter For Marketing for Dummies, to be published in the fall of 2009.

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Peter is an Information Technologist with Madera Group, with an emphasis in data integration, data quality, and data management. He works with iScrubData to orchestrate the development of a web-based service to provide real-time address correction and other data quality services. In the past, he was Vice President, CEO, and Consultant (consecutively) at U.S. Mailing Systems, and CFO for a nonprofit mental health services firm. Clients with U.S. Mailing Systems included: The Economist, The Conference Board, Amazon.com, and AT&T. While there, he established the Data Services Division, which resulted in explosive growth and increased revenues by a factor of seven. He has a Bachelor’s in Zoology with a minor in Accounting from the University of Vermont.

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Jessica Braverman Birch brings to Madera Group expertise in fundraising, media relations, writing, and event planning. Most recently she served as the Development Director for Shalom School, a community day school in Sacramento, California. In this role, she has overseen five successful fundraising campaigns, and managed the school’s major website redesign. Through her leadership, the school cultivated and expanded their donor base and exceeded their fundraising goals.

Jessica has held professional positions in both state and national political campaigns and conventions.  She held various staff positions for Earth Day 1990, March of Dimes, and the Democratic National Committee. She served as a statewide scheduler for a gubernatorial campaign in Illinois and for Senator Barbara Boxer’s first Senate race. Jessica graduated from SFSU with a degree in Broadcast Communications and is native of the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Kien Tseng is a graphic designer who has been partnering with nonprofit organizations and firms that service the nonprofit sector for over 10 years. Kien has served as an Art Director and Senior Graphic Designer with agencies in Seattle and Tokyo serving a variety of corporate clients, including many Fortune 500 companies. Kien’s skills include building organization and campaign web sites using CMS platforms, as well as familiarity with the leading Membership and Nonprofit CRM tools. Projects Kien has worked on in the past include AFSCME, American Cancer Society, American Jewish World Service, AmeriCares, Amnesty International, CARE, Center for the Advancement of Women, Earthjustice, George Lucas Educational Foundation, Humane Society, International Campaign for Tibet, The Nation, Planned Parenthood, Rails to Trails, UNHCR and Women’s Campaign Forum. He holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Colorado State University.

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Mitzi Yue is currently a third year student studying Economics and Business Administration at UC Berkeley. She is originally from La Canada, California, but plans to spend a few years in San Francisco after graduating. Her future plans include going to graduate school and continuing to work with nonprofit organizations.

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Michelle is a third year undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing a major in Political Economy and a minor in French language. Michelle first became interested in non-profit work and political activism when she spent a summer interning for a District Senator’s office. Michelle is also a member of Prytanean Women’s Honor Society, a student-led service group that sponsors projects geared towards women empowerment and education. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys playing tennis, traveling, and spending time with her fellow CAL bears, and her family back home in southern California. After graduating from CAL, Michelle would like to pursue a career in international relations or non-profit business management. Michelle is excited to continue working as a member of the Madera Group team for a second semester, and to expand her knowledge and skills in fund-raising, social media, and public relations.

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