Advisors

Sheila Ballen is currently the Director of Press and Communications for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She has spent the last 20 years in the public sector specializing in political campaigns, media communications and non-profit management. From November 2004- January 2006, Ballen served as the Country Director for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Kazakhstan. NDI is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide. Prior to moving to Kazakhstan in 2004, Ballen was a candidate in the 175th District for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Right before running for office, Ballen was instrumental in starting Good Schools Pennsylvania, a non-profit organization advocating for adequate and equitable public school funding. In addition, Ballen also served as the Executive Director of the University City Arts League and PennPIRG. In addition to her own campaign, she has run local, state and national campaigns. Ballen earned her BA from Franklin and Marshall College and holds a MA in Urban Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia.
 
Derek Cressman serves as Common Cause's Regional Director of State Operations for Western States. He previously held the position of assistant director for election reform. He joined the staff in 2007. In addition to helping manage state operations, Derek coordinates Common Cause's work on national popular vote, and writes and organizes around other election reforms such as vote-by-mail. He has worked on democracy issues since 1995, and is considered a leading expert on money in politics and democracy issues. Prior to joining Common Cause, Derek founded and directed TheRestOfUs.org, a non-profit watchdog that raised awareness of the role of big money in politics. He has also worked as a campus organizer, ballot question campaign director, and as a green entrepreneur, founding Earth Tones, the environmental telephone company. He is a graduate of Williams College.
 
Amy Schick Kenney is the Ongoing Support Director for the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum at Duke University. Previously she served as an independent consultant for ocean and fishery policy, working with Environmental Defense on an ecosystem-based approach to fishery management, the Coastal Ocean Coalition on ocean policy in New Jersey, and the Marine Aquaculture Task Force on national standards for aquaculture. Kenney recently served as the Director for Marine Conservation Policy at the Pew Oceans Commission and a fishery management coordinator at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Kenney received a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science & Policy from Duke University and continued her studies at Duke for a Master’s degree coastal environmental management.
 
Rob Stuart is the founding President of Evolve Strategies and the Evolve Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm (which supports efforts to increase citizen participation in government), Rob Stuart is a famous "early adopter" who's been leading the way in Internet media and network strategy for numerous political and advocacy organizations since 1995. He is a speaker on non-profit technology. His focus is to deepen and widen the capacity of non-profits to use technology that motivates and engage those who are sympathetic to their causes. Rob is president of Philadelphia's Logan Square neighborhood association, Rob also helped found NPower PA and served as Board President for three years. He also founded TechRocks in 1996, a supporting organization to the Rockefeller Family Fund, and served as its President. (TechRocks, formerly the Rockefeller Technology Project, pioneered on-line advocacy campaigns and software tools for organizing.) He helped found Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and spearheaded the National Strategy for Nonprofit Technology. He is former Chair of Taxpayers for Common Sense, and serves on the boards of PennEnvironment, Free Schuylkill River Park and the Eastern Environmental Law Center. Rob had a successful career as a public interest advocate and led campaigns for several landmark pieces of environmental and consumer protection legislation in New Jersey. He was a Paul Robeson Scholar at Livingston College and graduated with Honors in Political Science from Rutgers University.