NCDD's Board of Directors

Lori Britt, Board Chair
Lori L. Britt, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at James Madison University also serves as the Director of the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue (ICAD), which seeks to serve as a resource for the study and practice of public engagement in public problem-solving. Through ICAD, she trains and engages students as public process facilitators to design and facilitate productive conversations to help address complex community and organizational needs. Britt has been a learning partner with the Kettering Foundation conducting applied research on public deliberation and is working on pedagogical resources for dialogue with the Interactivity Foundation. She has published numerous book chapters and journal articles on engagement, public processes, and pedagogy, and serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Deliberative Democracy (formerly the Journal of Public Deliberation).

Hollie Cost
​Hollie Cost is the Assistant Vice President for University Outreach & Public Service at Auburn University. Hollie has over 25 years of teaching experience, serving as a Professor of Special Education at the University of Montevallo, and Stephen F. Austin State University as well as a special education teacher at Loachapoka Elementary School. During her two-term tenure as the mayor of the City of Montevallo, Alabama the city completed over $10 million in capital projects including a complete Main Street renovation, a 167-acre park development and the construction of a new city hall. Hollie’s civic priorities include inclusivity, sustainability, health and wellness, education from cradle to career, and increasing the civic efficacy of local youth. She is a graduate of Leadership Alabama, serves on the board of directors for the National Issues Forum Institute, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation and the David Mathews Center for Civic Life and is a partner in Keys to the City Community Coaching firm.  She has a Ph. D.  and master’s degree in Special Education from Auburn University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology. 

Kyla Epstein
Kyla Epstein (she/her) lives with her teenager on the stolen territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations, also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. Kyla is thrilled to be serving on the NCDD board as part of her own learning and development and strives to be curious while working to decrease isolation and foster community through relationships built on trust, connection, accountability and shared values. As the Executive Director, Stakeholder Relations for the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Kyla works to advocate for amazing people who are working every day for high-quality, applied, public post-secondary education. Kyla is an active volunteer having served on many nonprofit boards and is the past Chair of Vancouver Public Library and past Vice Chair of the Vancouver Writers Festival. Kyla is currently completing a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on governance and n 2017 she was selected to attend the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference (GGCLC).

Jeff Prudhomme
Jeff Prudhomme, Ph.D., is a Vice President and Fellow at the Interactivity Foundation (IF), a non-profit devoted to using facilitated small-group dialogues to explore diverse perspectives and generate alternative possibilities. Over the past two decades he has worked to develop and put into action IF’s three mission areas: sustained dialogue projects with invited participants, shorter community conversations open to the public, and dialogue process trainings in educational settings. Prudhomme came to this work from a background of teaching philosophy and religious studies. He sees his current work as a way to move both philosophical thinking and political thinking beyond the realms of academia and policy-making and into the world—to engage the capacity of all people to explore alternative possibilities for society through generous, bold, and collaborative conversations. 

Norma Ramos
Norma Ramos is the Associate Director for the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE) at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she is responsible for leading strategic direction, initiatives and management related to the Institute’s core areas of research, education and public discourse. She manages the Institute's research projects, educational and leadership programs, public discourse and dialogue initiatives. She is also responsible for building and maintaining civic, community and educational partnerships, media partners, and local and state government relations related to the program development and administration functions of the Institute. She is a trained facilitator, manages training programs and opportunities utilizing various dialogue methods to enhance deliberative democracy and civic and public engagement.

Brad Rourke
Brad Rourke is the Kettering Foundation’s director of external affairs and DC operations. He leads the foundation’s Washington, DC, office and also heads efforts to increase the foundation’s impact and reputation across key audiences, developing strategic partnerships and conferences, and promoting awareness and understanding of the foundation’s mission. In addition to serving as executive editor of issue guides since 2010, Rourke has written and cowritten a number of Kettering reports and articles, including Developing Materials for Deliberative Forums. His essays and op-ed pieces have appeared in publications such as the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor. He contributed a chapter on the ethics of citizenship to the book Shades of Gray (Brookings Institution, 2002). Prior to joining the foundation, Rourke was president of a public issues firm serving the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, founder and publisher of local online news source Rockville Central, director of external initiatives at The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, and vice president for public policy at the Institute for Global Ethics. He has served on the staffs of then-controller of California Gray Davis and then-US representative Jane Harman. Rourke serves on the boards of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation. He received a BA in comparative literature from UC Berkeley and an MPA from American University.

Larry Schooler
Larry Schooler is a Director at Kearns & West, a national firm specializing in public engagement and consensus building in the public sector. He holds an MA/PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and his experience ranges from assisting local, state, and federal agencies to nonprofit and faith-based organizations worldwide in resolving disputes, building consensus, and engaging the public in the decision-making process. He specializes in land use mediation, strategic planning, and visioning and has extensive experience in energy, water, community and regional planning, transportation, housing, health and human services, and technology. Larry is on the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin where he teaches Facilitative Leadership and Conflict Resolution and serves as a senior fellow at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life. 

Logan Steppan
A master strategist and expert facilitator, Logan Steppan —founder and CEO of Creek Consulting— developed his skills while studying at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. An Ozark Missouri born Midwesterner with entrepreneurial roots, Logan’s passion for facilitation has long been connected to government, community and policy conversations at state, local and national levels. Armed with a dual-degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice, Logan honed his craft while working with the Center for Public Deliberation and formally launched Creek Consulting in April 2015. Logan and his family, have just recently relocated to the Denver Metro in order for his wife, Madison to pursue a PhD program at the University of Denver.

Quixada Moore-Vissing, PhD
Quixada Moore-Vissing is a civic researcher and designer of participatory engagement processes, both in the United States and around the world. She directs engagement for North America at Modus in Vancouver, Canada. Moore-Vissing is co-author of two civic health indexes and speaks regularly about concepts of civic infrastructure and civic health. She founded Public Engagement Partners and has worked in leadership roles at Public Agenda, Everyday Democracy, and the University of Richmond's Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. Moore-Vissing is a fellow at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy with New Hampshire Listens as well as the University of Maine's George Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and Salem State University's Center for Childhood and Youth Studies. She trained in principles of nonviolence and peace with Kingian civil rights leaders and Gandhian scholars at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Cal Poly Pomona's Ahimsa Center for Nonviolence, and the International School for Jain Studies in Delhi, India. Moore-Vissing is a former educator and serves on her community's school board. 

Sagacity Walker
​Matthew Sagacity Walker is a program designer and facilitator focusing on community engagement and youth development. Sagacity is currently the Program Manager at Everyday Democracy where he designs community trainings and provides coaching on group facilitation and community organizing. Sagacity is also a Senior Associate with The Creative Discourse Group; a collective focused on racial equity and supporting organizations build more equitable practices. A graduate of University of Hartford, he worked as a Field Researcher for the university’s Center for Social Research where he co-designed program evaluations and long-term studies. As a group facilitator, he has collaborated with various Connecticut based organizations and institutions. Sagacity facilitated community organizing trainings in several states; Ohio, Delaware, Iowa, and Maine to name a few. He has also facilitated community dialogues on various issues, particularly education, policing, and racial equity. With a background in management, youth programming, education, program evaluation, and small group facilitation, Matthew Sagacity Walker continues to work on local and national initiatives in hopes to contribute to more equitable, just, and informed communities. 

Previous Board Members

Paul Alexander, Former Director of the Institute on the Common Good at Regis University
John Backman, Principal, Backman Writing & Communications
Martín Carcasson, Director, Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University
Lucas Cioffi, Founder, QiqoChat
Susan Stuart Clark, Founder, Common Knowledge
Marla Crockett, Dialogue & Deliberation Consultant
Simone Talma Flowers, Executive Director of Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT)
Jacob Hess, Author, You’re Not  as Crazy as I Thought, But You’re Still Wrong
Betty Knighton, President, National Issues Forums Institute
​Martha McCoy, Executive director, Everyday Democracy
Ambassador John McDonald, Co-founder of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy
Diane Miller, Owner, Civic Collaboration
Leanne Nurse, Program analyst for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Barbara Simonetti, Meeting Design Consultant
Najeeba Syeed-Miller, Associate Professor, Muslim and Interreligious Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary
Taylor Willingham, Founder, Texas Forums 
Wendy Willis, Executive Director of Deliberative Democracy Consortium, Director of Oregon’s Kitchen Table
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Members of NCDD’s Original Steering Committee

Before the Board of Directors was in full swing, we had a very active and incredibly helpful Steering Committee. NCDD deeply thanks all of the people listed below. They are listed with the organizational affiliations and positions they had at the time.
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Tom Atlee, Founder, The Co-Intelligence Institute
Andy Fluke, Creative Director, NCDD
Nancy Glock-Grueneich, President, HIGHER Edge
Sandy Heierbacher, Director, NCDD
Leilani Rashida Henry, Founder, Being and Living Enterprises
Pam Korza, Co-Director, Animating Democracy Initiative of Americans for the Arts
Leah Lamb, Founder, The Performance Initiative
Amy Malick, Communications Director, Study Circles Resource Center
Diane Miller, Project Coordinator, Envision Central Texas
Priya Parker, Program Director of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, International Institute for Sustained Dialogue
Susan Partnow, Director of Conversations, Let’s Talk America
Barbara Schaeffer-Bacon, Co-Director, Animating Democracy Initiative of Americans for the Arts
David Schoem, Faculty Director, Michigan Community Scholars Program
John Spady, Director of Research, Forum Foundation
Lars Torres, Researcher, AmericaSpeaks
Taylor Willingham, Director of Texas Forums
Miriam Wyman, Co-Director, Canadian Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation
Sandra Zagon, Co-Director, Canadian Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation