The NCDD Team...

Below is a list of NCDD "staff members" and details about what each of us does. Members of NCDD's phenomenal Board of Directors and Steering Committee also contribute considerably to the organization, and are considered a vital part of the NCDD Team.

Sandy Heierbacher, Co-Founder and Director

After directing the first National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation in 2002, in collaboration with 60 individuals and 50 organizations representing the full spectrum of dialogic and deliberative practice, Sandy and her husband Andy (NCDD?s Creative Director) Co-Founded the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation, a group of 50 organizations who shared Sandy and Andy?s vision of strengthening and uniting the growing dialogue & deliberation community. As of June 2006, NCDD has nearly 600 members. In addition to her work with NCDD, Sandy has consulted for such organizations as the Corporation for National Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kettering Foundation in the areas of intergroup dialogue, public participation and deliberative democracy. Sandy can be contacted at .

Andy Fluke, Co-Founder and Creative Director

In addition to creating and designing NCDD?s presence on the web, Andy Fluke designs all of NCDD?s print publications ? including our 2004 conference handbook, the 2002 conference binder and our promotional postcards. Because of Andy?s vision and perseverance, www.thataway.org is one the largest and most accessible websites in this field, boasting interactive features that include a forum, a wiki and a newsblog. Andy is taking a leadership role in designing and implementing NCDD?s first quartlerly print publication, which will be launched in 2007. He can be contacted at

Joy Garman, Office Manager

NCDD has grown from a Coalition of 50 in late 2002 to a Coalition of nearly 600 four years later. Processing new members, coordinating & managing our databases and keeping on top of email was not often done in a timely manner since NCDD staff were so busy with various projects and conferences. Joy Garman was hired in February 2006 to make sure these vital administrative tasks do not fall through the cracks. Joy can be contacted at .

Evan Thomas Paul, New Practitioners Project Manager

Initiated by the young people and other new practitioners who attended the 2004 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, this project focuses on meeting the needs of new practitioners in dialogue & deliberation. The project has created an email listserv for new practitioners to share experiences and resources, and we are developing a mentorship program which will pair new practitioners with more experienced folks, and an internship clearinghouse which will help match new practitioners to established organizations and practitioners who can use their help.

Evan Paul () is a student at the University of Missouri.

Priya Parker, Mentorship Program Manager

Part of the New Practitioners Project, Priya Parker initiated the Mentorship Program to meet the needs of young people and others who are entering the dialogue and deliberation field. The mentorship program will pair new practitioners with more experienced D&D practitioners, scholars, and activists who are established in the field.

Until recently, Priya Parker () was the Program Director of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue. Priya is currently representing IISD in India. (www.sustaineddialogue.org).

Leah Lamb, Dialogue & the Arts Project Manager

In partnership with Americans for the Arts? Animating Democracy Initiative, NCDD is developing a web feature that will help members of the dialogue & deliberation community strengthen their work by linking it to the arts. The feature will include descriptions of successful arts-based civic dialogue projects and links to artists who can work with D&D practitioners to bring the arts into their projects.

Leah Lamb () is Artistic Director of The Performance Initiative (www.performanceinitiative.org), which integrates the arts with dialogue in its activities.

Amy Lang, Happenings Blog Editor

The world of dialogue & deliberation is expanding rapidly, and Amy was hired to help us keep up with the constant influx of news, opportunities and resources we are committed to sharing with our members and visitors on our Happenings blog (at www.thataway.org/news/). Amy Lang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is writing her dissertation on British Columbia's groundbreaking Citizen Assembly process. Amy can be reached at , but please continue sending Happenings announcements to [email protected].

Nancy Glock-Grueneich, Beginner's Toolkit Writer

NCDD is producing a small easy-to-use toolkit that will introduce people to the range of dialogue and deliberation methods that are available to them, and help them decide when to use which method. Nancy is writing a lengthier version of the toolkit, which we will make available online. Nancy Glock-Grueneich is the President of HIGHER EDge (www.higheredge.org), a nonprofit organization that promotes understanding of the role of higher education, professional training, cultural traditions, and distributed knowledge systems in the creation of a livable future. Nancy can be reached at .

Lars Hasselblad Torres, Dialogue Bureau Project Manager

There is a startling deficit of the informed views of ordinary Americans in mainstream news coverage of current events. Instead, the nation is fed a constant stream of ?expert? views, which often have little to do with how Americans experience issues in our day-to-day lives. To address this weakness in news gathering and reporting, NCDD members are developing a ?National Dialogue Bureau.?

This service will supply journalists with a ?one stop? destination for the collection of views held by ordinary Americans who are engaged in regular dialogue about current affairs. The Dialogue Bureau will be a network of leaders of dialogue and deliberation groups who are willing to speak with the media about the key findings and concerns of their group. The Dialogue Bureau would deepen media coverage of an issue while providing D&D leaders ? and D&D in general ? with increased publicity.

Lars Torres () is Researcher for AmericaSpeaks (www.americaspeaks.org), an organization that is well-known for its 21st Century Town Meeting model that engages large groups of citizens in public deliberation.

Karla Andreu, Dialogue Bureau Project Coordinator

Karla is working in collaboration with Lars Torres on this preliminary stage of the Dialogue Bureau project. She will be interviewing dialogue and deliberation practitioners and public journalists in order to determine whether a Dialogue Bureau is needed and will be used by both parties, and how best to design such a Bureau. Karla has an impressive background in community organizing and social justice advocacy. She can be reached at .

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You can also check out a list of NCDD's Steering Committee and Advisory Board members or learn more about NCDD's Director.