Our Team
Our team includes a small staff, a policy board, an advisory board, and a review committee to ensure high quality products. All are unpaid volunteers. We are drawn from conservative, progressive and independent thinkers. Our ages have ranged from the low 20s through the 80s. Most of our board members have deep experience in teaching or promoting democracy around the world, and some have been actively involved in politics at the local, state, and national levels.
Sara Kaplan
(2025)
Researcher
Sara Kaplan is an Assistant Professor of Management at Fairfield University, where she teaches courses in social entrepreneurship and strategy. She holds a Ph.D. in Management from Emory University and is a multi-method researcher with expertise in surveys, interviews, and archival data. Her research focuses on organizational trust, sustainability, and innovation. Sara is passionate about civic education and believes that informed and engaged citizens are essential for a thriving democracy.
Juliann Wiersma
(2022-2024)
Writer and Illustrator
Juliann Wiersma is a Minnesota native who is passionate about local government and an advocate for younger people to get involved. She graduated in 2020 with a bachelor degree in International Relations from Minnesota State University Mankato and is a current graduate student at Regent University for Public Administration. Juliann’s professional background is in nonprofits and is currently a communications manager at Habitat for Humanity South Central Minnesota.
Joseph Laposata
(Started 2019-2024)
Content
I was born in Boston in 1995. I’m interested in Democracy Promotion because, for the majority of my early life, democracy was a global norm and backsliding was unthinkable. I came of age just as the hopes of the Arab Spring began to falter and the inevitability of democracy seemed to fall away. Seeing the failure of democratic protests abroad made me ask what made our own democracy sustainable thus far and my interest has only grown from there. With a M.A. in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University, I am excited to be involved in pro-democratic research in both an academic and practical sense. In particular, I am interested in analyzing patterns of gains and backsliding of democracy felt by some in the USA on the state level from a quantitative perspective, to provide a clearer international comparison. I’m thrilled to be onboard!
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR FORMER VOLUNTEERS:
Andrew Lansell (2024)
Ritti Mendieta (2023)
Erin Moore (2023)
Jenny Rose John (2022-23)
Jeff Johnson (2022-2024)
Alison Bitterly (2022)
Theo Nastase (2022-23)
Judi Schade (2021-22)
Marianna Jardim (2021)
Emma Newman (2020-21)
Chris Boose (2020-21)
Peter Alexander (2020)
Christopher Hubbard (2019-20)
Katherine Lerner (2019)
Grayson Lewis (2018-20)
Our Board
Doug Addison
(Started 2018)
President
Doug Addison is the originator of CFFAD. He helped fight poverty around the world as an economist for the World Bank between 1985 and 2016. Doug holds a M.S. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University, a M.Phil. in economics from the University of Sussex, a M.A. in economics from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Colorado. Traveling abroad led him to deeply value the benefits of a healthy liberal republican democracy – having seen many places where democracies were illiberal, weak, or absent. His travels include Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Zambia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), and Cyprus. All but Ghana and Zambia suffered from major civil conflict within the last 50 years. His most recent research completed in August 2022 investigated how affective political polarization interacts with election violence and autocratization.
Katarina Moyon
(Started 2024)
DIRECTOR
Katarina Moyon began her career in campaigns and elections as a 13-year-old intern for a state legislative candidate in Tempe, Arizona who tied his election, but lost in a hand of blackjack played to break the tie, in lieu of a runoff election. She is a long term higher education professional who taught courses about American government, international politics, presidential nominating systems, and diversity and community at Winthrop University for 20 years. She also led the award-winning civic and voter engagement arm of the university, along with directing a required humanities course about society and community. Katarina works as a senior advisor and consultant for a number of clients, including Ballotpedia and The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. She excels at nonpartisan civic education and voter engagement project design and management, facilitation and training related to civic life, including DEI, and social science research. She holds an M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University and a B.A. in International Affairs and German from Northern Arizona University.
Kathleen Schmermund Pavich
(Started 2024)
DIRECTOR
Kathleen Schmermund Pavich is a seasoned democracy practitioner with more than a decade of project management and leadership experience in international democracy and governance programming. She brings subject-matter expertise in civic education, civic/voter engagement, policy advocacy, elections, and legislative processes as well as experience in nonprofit management, operations and strategy. Kathleen currently serves as Director of International Programs at Street Law, Inc., a global nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advances civic and law-related education in the United States and worldwide. She also previously served as a legislative aide for several members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Kathleen holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University and received her bachelor’s degree in political science and Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Franklin Bonner
(Started 2021)
DIRECTOR
Franklin Bonner is the Director Of Government Relations at the National Endowment for Democracy. He has been a government relations, advocacy, and democracy development professional with 24 years of experience in Washington, D.C. and challenging overseas environments. In 1997, Franklin started his career in the Office of Senator Connie Mack (FL). His public service career included stints in the Office of Governor Jeb Bush (FL), Office of Governor Charlie Crist (FL), the U.S. Department of Labor Public Liaison Office, and the White House Office of Homeland security’s legislative team.
In 2009, Franklin joined the international Republican Institute on their South Sudan project in support of South Sudan’s establishment as an independent nation. As a program officer and later as country director, he worked in partnership with political parties, civil society organizations, and government institutions in South Sudan to forward the USAID Democracy & Governance mission of free & fair elections; transparent & responsible governance; and peaceful, participatory, democratic institutions. Franklin also observed elections in Nigeria and Zimbabwe as both a short-term and long-term election observer for USAID funded missions. Over a 12-year international development career, Franklin has led and consulted in democracy development projects in Kenya, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Somaliland, and Liberia. Franklin is currently serving as the Director of Government Relations at the National Endowment for Democracy.
Franklin received his B.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University and originally hails from Miami, Florida.
Barak Hoffman
(Started 2018)
Director
Barak Hoffman is a Political Economist at the World Bank and provides independent consulting services for various other public and private institutions. His areas of expertise include the political economy of development, developing monitoring and evaluation systems, and program design and evaluation. He has worked in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Dr. Hoffman has previously worked for the United States Agency for International Development, the United States Department of the Treasury, the United States Federal Reserve, Georgetown University (Director at the Center for Democracy and Civil Society), and Stanford University. His research has been published in a range of journals, including Comparative Politics, the Journal of Democracy, and World Development, as well as in numerous official publications of USAID, the World Bank, and similar organizations. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego.
Rosarie Tucci
(Started 2019)
DIRECTOR
Rosarie (Ro) Tucci has worked in a variety of positions supporting human rights and issues disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. She is currently the Director of the USAID Center for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance. She previously served as Director for Inclusive Societies at the U.S. Institute of Peace (2018-2021) and as Deputy Director for the Democracy, Rights, and Governance (DRG) Center at USAID (2015-2017) and senior advisor to the Deputy Administrator of USAID (2011- 2015). She provided expertise and leadership to generate policy recommendations and develop projects and tools on rule of law, human rights, atrocity prevention and support for vulnerable populations, including youth, women, people with disabilities and the LGBT community. She also provided strategic and political guidance on programs and policies on these issues in South Sudan, Ukraine, CAR, and Yemen. Rosarie was a Fulbright Scholar in Sofia, Bulgaria examining the development of the human rights movement in a transitional democracy. She holds an L.L.M. in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham and a B.A. in Political Science and Communications from Boston College.
Advisory Board
Scott Lansell
(Started 2018)
Advisor
Scott Lansell has more than 20 years of experience in program management, development, design, and outreach, with expertise in international democracy, governance, and civil society programming. An active development professional in democracy and governance programs, he served as the director for civil society and governance at World Learning, senior director of programs and strategic operations at the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and an internal cooperation specialist with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Regional Mission for Europe, during which he served as interim USAID country director for Lithuania and Albania. He has led or participated in more than 40 field missions throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central, and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East, and has worked with and for numerous international and local civil society organizations. After the 2000 elections, built a U.S. elections assistance portfolio of 12 unique contract awards across every jurisdictional level including Federal, State, County, City, and Territories. Scott holds an MBA from George Mason University and a BA in political science from Miami University in Ohio.
Kourtney Pompi
(Started 2019)
DIRECTOR
Kourtney A. Pompi brings 20 years of international development experience in over 50 countries. She has held positions or consultancies with Broderick-Haight Consulting, Camris International, Counterpart International, Creative Associates, Democracy International, International Alert, International Organization for Migration, International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute, Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, Social Impact, and the US Department of State’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Ms. Pompi has significant experience with citizen engagement, electoral participation, and community empowerment. She has worked on projects related to civic and voter education, international and domestic election monitoring, parliamentary monitoring, community organizing and empowerment, religious tolerance, access to information, and open data.
Eric Palladini
(Started 2018)
Secretary
Eric Palladini (Secretary) is a historian working in economic development, focused on micro-finance, inequality, and institutions. He manages an oral history program for members of the Latino LGBTQ community in Washington, DC. He served as a poll worker in New Mexico. Eric also co-authored a book on micro-finance which is used in the Boulder Institute’s Micro-finance training. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Tulane University and a B.S. in Languages and Linguistics from Georgetown University.
Grayson Lewis
(Started 2018)
Advisor, former Volunteer
Grayson Lewis holds an M.A. in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. A native of Richmond Virginia, he graduated Virginia Tech with a BA in Political Science in 2017. He came to CFFAD on a volunteer basis in 2018, and has helped with website development and content creation. His academic interests include democracy assistance, and the US national security process. When not working, Grayson enjoys hiking and camping, and playing games of all types.
Mark Molli
(Started 2019)
Advisor
Mark J. Molli retired from the Center for Civic Education where he served as an Associate Director for nearly thirty years managing government relations in Washington, DC. The Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in California dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. In addition to promoting the Center’s educational programs in Congress and with the Administration, Mr. Molli was closely involved in several of the Center’s national initiatives including providing public information for the National Standards for Civics and Government, co-managing four ground-breaking Congressional Conferences on Civic Education, assisting in the successful implementation of the American Civic Education Teacher Awards (ACETA), and co-director of the Campaign to Promote Civic Education. He was among the first group of education professionals who went to Bosnia-Herzegovina shortly after the war to help implement an education for democracy program in the schools. He has made several presentations on civic education and education reform in the United States and internationally. Molli is a former chief of staff for U.S. Congressman Augustus F. Hawkins of Los Angeles.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR FORMER BOARD MEMBERS:
Michael Morrow (2021-2023)
Mark Nelson (2019-2023)
Cheryl Cook-Kallio (2019-2021)
Wilma Goldstein (2019-2021)
Margaret Mankin Barton (2019-2020)
William Corcoran (2019-2020)
Jennifer Raymond Dresden (2019-2020)
Liza Prendergast (2018-2020)
