National and State Senior Staff
Beth Sullivan, President
Beth Sullivan is President of Education Voters of America and Education Voters Institute. Before launching Education Voters, Beth worked as a strategic and political consultant for major non-profit organizations, helping with organizational development and creating strategic political programs. Her clients included non-profits focused on issues of poverty, political empowerment and environmental issues.
As Executive Director of LCVEF from 1996 – 2002, Beth built the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and developed LCV’s first Independent Expenditure campaigns, known as the Dirty Dozen. Previously, Beth served on an election observation mission to French West Africa. From 1985-1995 Beth and her business partner built Campaign Design Group, which was instrumental in the election of Senator Barbara Boxer of California and Senator Patty Murray of Washington State as well as helping to elect over 100 members of Congress, state legislators, mayors and city council members.
Beth holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from George Washington University and a B.A. in Philosophy from Dickinson College. She serves on the Board of Ocean Champions Voter Fund.
Glynda C. Carr, New York Executive Director
New York Executive Director Glynda Carr is responsible for strategic planning, program implementation, fund development, and strategic growth of Education Voters and Education Voters Institute of New York.
Glynda has an extensive and diverse background in public relations, fundraising, program management, campaign development, and leadership development. She has long-standing working relationships with New York State political and business leaders, and a track record of building effective teams of corporate executives. Her experience includes marketing strategies for reaching underrepresented populations, implementing diversity seminars, and organizing programming for historically Black Colleges and Universities. For the past six years, Glynda was Chief of Staff for State Senator Kevin Parker (Brooklyn), and managed his re-election campaign. She also managed the campaign to elect Jennifer James to the New York City Council. She has held senior management positions with the New York Blood Center, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, and Big brothers Big Sisters of America.
Glynda earned her BA from the University of Hartford, where she is now a candidate for a MA in Communications. She serves on the Advisory Council for the Junior League of Brooklyn and the New York Blood Center, and participated in the National Urban League’s Black Executive Exchange Program.
Susan Gobreski, Pennsylvania Executive Director
Susan Gobreski founded Education Voters Pennsylvania, which has joined with Education Voters as a state affiliate. Working in collaboration with Education Voters and Education Voters Institute, Ms. Gobreski will build a strong and well-funded state organization, identifying actionable legislative and policy goals to improve public education in Pennsylvania, and implementing campaigns to accomplish those goals.
Ms. Gobreski brings 18 years of experience in issue advocacy, organizing, and issue based electoral politics. As President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, she directed the organization’s statewide lobbying and electoral strategy. She currently serves as part of the National Faculty of the Center for Progressive Leadership, developing training for rising progressive leaders. She held several positions with the League of Conservation Voters and LCV Education Fund, including National Campaign Director (2006), National Field Director for the Eastern US (2005), and Pennsylvania State Director from 2001 to 2004. She has also worked with America Votes at the national and state levels as a state partner, developed training for rising leaders for the Center for Progressive Leadership, and advised several local political campaigns. She held progressively responsible positions over 11 years with Clean Water Action.
Ms. Gobreski earned a BA in Political Science from Temple University and a fundraising certification from the Non-Profit Center at LaSalle University. She has held state-level volunteer leadership posts in Pennsylvania with the League of Conservation Voters, the Women’s Health and Environment Network, and Progressive Majority. She served as President and in other positions with the Independence Charter School Board of Trustees, and was appointed to the Title 1 Statewide Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Julian Rogers, Ohio Executive Director
Julian Rogers brings a broad range of education and political experience to Education Voters of Ohio and Education Voters Institute. Julian is responsible for launching both organizations in Ohio, focusing on strategic planning, fund development and the growth of the organization in the Buckeye State. Working with the national staff and a team of Ohio advisors, he will plan and implement campaigns to improve public education in Ohio.
Julian’s professional career has been spent in community service and education. Julian worked in the administration of Barbara Byrd-Bennett, former CEO of the Cleveland Municipal School District, where he served for seven years as Senior Assistant to the CEO, five of which he also served as Liaison to the Office of the Mayor. His responsibilities included policy development and oversight of research and communication of CEO initiatives.
Julian’s service as an activist began like many, working on local campaigns and issues. His first campaign job was with the fundraising team of Mary Boyle’s race for U.S. Senate. In the succeeding years, Julian worked as a Regional Director for America Coming Together in 2004, served as a delegate to the Democratic Convention, held leadership positions in several school levies, and helped found a new statewide political action committee in Ohio, Blue 88. Recently Julian served as the Field Director for the Cuyahoga County Arts and Culture levy that passed in November of 2006. In all, his actions have been consistent in the cause of furthering the progressive political agenda.
Julian is a lifelong resident of Cleveland Heights and was a former candidate for State Representative in Ohio’s Ninth House District. He has a degree in Political Science from Ohio University a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management at Case Western Reserve University. He is active in many local community organizations and serves on the board of trustees of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. Julian was inducted into Kaleidoscope Magazine’s 40/40 Club in 2002 and was recently awarded the Emerging Leader Award from the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus. He also is member of the first class of the Senator C.J. Prentiss Emerging Leaders Fellows.
Doug Gramiak, Delaware Executive Director
Doug Gramiak joined Education Voters of Delaware as its first executive director in January 2009 after spending nearly eight years as executive assistant to former Lt. Governor John Carney. There he served as chief of staff and helped create the award-winning initiative “Models of Excellence in Education,” which recognized and shared programs that have raised student achievement in Delaware’s schools. Additionally, Doug worked on issues such as health care, economic development and renewable energy, while handling constituent relations inquiries, working with the General Assembly and managing the office’s budget.
Doug joined Lt. Governor Carney after spending more than a decade in the newspaper business, including two years at The News Journal in Delaware, where he was the political editor, and nearly a decade at the Delaware County Daily Times in southeastern Pennsylvania, where he started in the sports department and spent time as the editorial page editor before becoming the day city editor. Prior to that, Doug graduated from Swarthmore College and worked for former Congressman Bob Edgar of Pennsylvania and on the presidential campaign of the late Senator Paul Simon of Illinois. Doug lives in Wilmington with his wife Stephanie and children, Carter and Margo. He serves on the board of directors for West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington as well as the regional advisory board for the Salvation Army.
Anne Saer, Director of Finance and Administration
Prior to coming on board with Education Voters, Anne worked as an outside consultant with Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. She was responsible for the C4 and 527 IRS and FEC reporting and compliance during the past election cycle. Before that, Anne worked at the League of Conservation Voters as Chief Financial Officer from 1993 to 2005. She was responsible for all financial operations of their c4/C3/527 and PAC family.
Anne holds a BA in Art History from Tulane University and BAA in Accounting from the University of Texas.
Herlyth B. Clark, Senior Accountant
Senior Accountant Herlyth Clark has held progressively more responsible positions over the past 12 years, as bookkeeper for the League of Conservation Voters, staff accountant for Incorporated research Institutions for Seismology, and staff auditor for Councilor Buchanan & Mitchell, where she specialized in nonprofit organizations.
Herlyth holds a BS in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Panama, and a BA in Accounting from The Catholic University of America.
Erica Surber, Director of Operations
Erica Surber manages the daily operations of Education Voters, including primary responsibility for website development and management, and serving as primary liaison with state staff. Erica came to Education Voters in 2006 from the League of Conservation Voters where she spent 5 years, most recently as State Outreach Associate, working to strengthen relations between National LCV and State Leagues across the country. Erica helped improve communication by writing a monthly newsletter and sending out important updates from National. She also helped systematize grants and accounting systems for better collaboration on pilot projects and campaigns, staffed a board level committee on National-state partnership, and organized several National-state league planning summits.
Erica graduated from film school in Santa Fe, NM and completed a documentary on the effects of war on Sudanese refugees’ lives.
Zach Ragbourn, Online Communications Manager
Zach Ragbourn has a diverse background in both online and traditional communications, ranging from serving as Communications Director in a congressional office to work as on-the-record spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Most recently, Zach was Deputy Director of Online Communications for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, where he helped develop and distribute the DSCC’s message online. As a principal author of the official DSCC blog, Zach worked to raise the profile of important issues in dozens of individual Senate races while building a national narrative connecting candidates to the political news of the day.
Zach holds an MA in Political Management from the George Washington University and a BA in Liberal Studies from the University of Montana.
National Board of Directors
Dan Leeds, Board Chair
Daniel Leeds chairs Education Voters of America and Education Voters Institute, a non profit sister organization. Dan is the President of Fulcrum Investments LLC, a private investment firm. Until the sale of CMP Media in1999, Dan was President of International Publishing and a member of the Office of the President. CMP, a leading media company, publishes titles such as InformationWeek, Computer Reseller News and Electronic Engineering Times. The company was cited as “One of the Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune Magazine and Working Women Magazine.
Since moving to Washington in 1999, Dan has been active in civic affairs, with a particular interest in education and public policy development. Dan chairs the Alliance for Excellent Education, a national policy and advocacy organization that works to transform high schools so that every child graduates prepared for postsecondary education and success in life. He is on the Board of the Teachers Institute of Washington, DC. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the MIT Sloan School of Management, a member of the Brookings Institution’s Business Council and an Advisory Board member of the Brookings Institution’s Center for the United States and Europe. With his wife, Sunita, he co-chairs the Enfranchisement Foundation, which works with charities to develop programs that can help break the cycle of poverty and ignorance.
Dan earned a Master’s Degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow and a BS in Engineering and a BA in Economics from Cornell University.
Deepak Bhargava, Board Member
Deepak Bhargava is the executive director of nonprofit Center for Community Change. Under his five year tenure, the center has seen a significant increase in funding. For 40 years, the Center for Community Change has helped thousands of urban and rural communities nationwide to organize for positive change by uniting low-income people across lines of race, ethnicity, geography and gender to equip them with the tools to change public policies and demand public attention for issues of social and economic justice.
Prior to his appointment as the executive director, Deepak served as the director of public policy for seven years at the Center for Community Change. In that capacity, he worked on housing, budget, tax, immigration, welfare, and other issues affecting low-income people. He also directed the Center’s National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, a coalition of grassroots groups established in 2000 to give low-income people a voice in the reauthorization of the federal welfare law and other areas critical to poor people. Prior to joining the center, Deepak was the legislative director at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), where he gained broad experience in community reinvestment and housing finance issues.
Born in Mysore, India, Deepak’s family immigrated to the United States when he was a child. He grew up in New York City and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University. Deepak’s vision is to spark an enduring movement for social change and assure that the voice of the poor is an integral part of the national dialog.
Sunita Leeds, Secretary and Treasurer
Sunita Leeds serves as Secretary/ Treasurer for Education Voters of America and Education Voters Institute. With her husband, she also co-chairs The Enfranchisement Foundation, which focuses on breaking the cycles of poverty and intolerance in the United States, as well as on women’s issues. Sunita is on the Board of the Maret School and a member of the Executive committee of the National Jewish Democratic Council. She serves on the DNC Convention Rules Committee and is very active in Democratic Party work.
Sunita became heavily involved in Democratic Party work after moving to Washington, DC from Paris, France, in 1999. In France, she had served as President of the Parent Faculty Association at Marymount School and Treasurer of Kehilat Gesher-the Anglo-French Jewish Congregation which she helped found.
Prior to moving to France, Sunita headed a software development team at Bell Labs.
Sunita was born in India and immigrated to the US at the age of 7. Sunita and her husband Dan met at Cornell University and married in 1981. Her primary focus is raising their four children. Sunita earned a masters degree in computer science from the University of Southern California and a BA from Cornell University in Mathematics.
Rev. John Vaughn, Board Member
Reverend John Vaughn serves as the program director for The Twenty-First Century Foundation (21CF) based in Harlem, New York City, whose mission is to promote strategic Black philanthropy and to support social justice work within the Black community throughout the United States. He is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation and evaluation of the Foundation’s grantmaking and overall program work. Rev. Vaughn is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Church.
John previously served as Executive Director at the Peace Development Fund in Amherst, Massachusetts. From 1996 to 2000, John was Minister for Education and Social Justice at the Riverside Church in New York City. In the 1980s, John served as an Action Assistant at Riverside, where he facilitated the re-structuring of and coordinated the Christian Social Action Committee, and as the Assistant Minister for a Methodist congregation in San Francisco.
Rev. Vaughn has also served as the Director for Community Development at the Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC) in Boston, Massachusetts, providing community-based organizations with training and technical assistance in community revitalization strategies and organizational development. Prior to that, John served as the Executive Director of East Harlem Interfaith in New York City, a coalition of over forty congregations and religious organizations worked together on vital neighborhood social issues.
Additionally, Rev. Vaughn serves on several boards, including East Harlem Block Schools, New Jersey Affordable Housing Network, Community Building Initiative, and the Donald Jacobs Internship Partnership, where he is the founding chairperson. He serves on the National Ecumenical Consultation planning committee, National Council of Churches. Rev. Vaughn received his undergraduate degree from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts and his Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.
Laura Quinn, Board Member
Laura Quinn, currently Chief Executive Officer of Catalist, is a founding partner of QRS Newmedia, Inc., which specializes in communication technology design and integration services. Founded in 1996, QRS clients have included the Democratic Presidential campaigns in 1996, 2000 and 2004; a wide of range of progressive political campaigns, organizations and non-profits; and other corporate and academic institutions. QRS’s technology renovation for the Democratic National Committee in 2003-04 included complete IT, telecom and media system overhauls, as well as construction of a national voter file and new internet marketing systems, that helped the DNC increase their donor base more than five-fold and to out-fundraise the Republican National Committee for the first time in history.
Prior to these endeavors, Ms. Quinn served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Vice President Gore, as Director of the Democratic Technology and Communications Committee for the Democratic Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate, and in a variety of senior Senate and campaign positions.
Job Opportunities
There are no open positions at this time.
