| Heather Barmore | Alethia Jackson |
| Liz Berry | Heather King |
| Stephanie A. Bosh | Dr. Barbara Palmer |
| Amy Budner | Danielle Prendergast |
| Karen Defilipi | Kim Rappaport |
| Christie Findlay | Amy Warnick |
| Rebecca Geller | Jennifer Weissbrot |
| Kelly Gibson | Shelley Whelpton |
| Elizabeth Hagen | Amy Wolverton |
| Kelley Keenan Trumpbour | |
Liz Berry
Ms. Berry previously worked as Legislative Director for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). She served as an advisor to the Congresswoman on the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as domestic policy matters such as appropriations, immigration, business, agriculture, labor and women’s issues.
Before working on Capitol Hill, Ms. Berry consulted Democratic campaigns, specializing in persuasion mail, message development and integrated communications for political, labor and corporate clients at Mack/Crounse Group and Stones’ Phones.
Ms. Berry serves on the Board of Directors of the State Society of Arizona and Women Under Forty Political Action Committee (WUFPAC), a nonpartisan organization that supports women forty years of age and under running for state and federal public office. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Ms. Berry graduated from American University with a B.A. in Communications, Law, Economics and Government.
Stephanie A. Bosh
As a strategic communications consultant in Washington, DC, Stephanie brings a broad range of key campaign, legislative and consulting experience stretching from Presidential races to research analysis to her legislative work in the United States Senate. Most recently, she’s put together winning communication, grassroots and operational strategies for political and advocacy campaigns, not-for-profit groups and Fortune 500 companies nationwide. Prior to her client management work, Stephanie served as Iowa Deputy Communications Director for Secretary Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Press Secretary for Secretary Tom Vilsack’s presidential campaign and Spokesperson for Iowa’s Economic Development Agency. Serving as a campaign consultant, Stephanie provided opposition and self-research for groundbreaking campaigns across the country including statewide races in Ohio, California, Indiana, Iowa and Tennessee. Steph’s first job out of college led her to Washington, DC where she worked for now-outgoing U.S. Senator Byron L. Dorgan for 4.5 years. Stephanie is a National Journal political contributor, and resides in northwest Washington, DC. In her off time, she enjoys training for half marathons, traveling off the beaten path and cooking for her friends.
Amy Budner
Amy Budner is a Public Policy Advisor at Patton Boggs LLP. In that capacity, she provides policy guidance to and advocates on behalf of hospital systems, universities and colleges, foreign governments, and other public and non-profit organizations. Before joining Patton Boggs, Amy was a Supervisor in the Office of the State Auditor for nearly four years working in the state legislature in Denver, CO. There, she completed reviews of the operations and programs of a variety of state government agencies and universities, from scope development to policy recommendations and legislative changes. She also was responsible for conducting policy analysis and research, monitoring legislation, providing legislative testimony, and conducting independent quality control reviews of performance audits.
Before completing her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Amy served as a Congressional aide to Rep. Diana DeGette (D – CO), where she was responsible for developing and maintaining community relations, as well as addressing a number of policy issues in the district.
Within the community, Amy served in leadership positions with the Colorado Women’s Health Care Coalition and the Rocky Mountain Riveters in Denver and is a Member of the Women’s Information Network in Washington, D.C.
Karen Defilippi
Karen currently serves as the Account Manager for the Chadderdon Group, a Democratic direct-mail firm. She consults on races across the country from Texas to Tennessee and from Maryland to Maine.
Karen came to the Chadderdon Group after working on Capitol Hill and for long run of campaigns across a dozen different states at the congressional, gubernatorial, and presidential level. Most recently she served as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Mike Signer during the Lt. Governor’s Democratic primary in VA. During the 2008 cycle she held a number of positions on Senator Hillary Clinton’s historic campaign for President before moving to Vermont to serve as the Finance Director for Speaker Gaye Symington’s gubernatorial challenge against Vermont Governor Jim Douglas. Under Karen’s leadership the Symington campaign raised more money per day than any other Democratic candidate for Governor in state history.
Prior to hitting the campaign trail, Karen served as the Program Director for the Women & Politics Institute at American University (AU). While at the Institute, she oversaw the Institute’s political training programs for women leaders from overseas. She also developed and directed Campaign College: AU Women to Win, a training program designed to increase the number of women in student Government. In its first year, Campaign College successfully increased the number of women in AU’s undergraduate Senate by over 13 percent and is now used as national model to increase women’s service in student government at colleges across the country.
Karen has spoken about women in politics at seminars hosted by the Feminist Majority, Girls Lead USA, American University, the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University, and to news outlets such as Washington Post Radio and ABC News.
Karen has a BA in International Relations from American University’s School of International Service and a Graduate Certificate in Women, Policy, and Political Leadership from American University where she received the Award for the Outstanding Graduate Paper in Women and Politics for her research on women and ambassadorial leadership.
Christie Findlay
Christie Findlay offers strategic communications services to a variety of nonprofit and corporate clients. Before establishing her own consulting practice, she was a nonpartisan journalist for 15 years, most recently as editor-in-chief of Politics magazine. She helped re-brand the 30-year-old magazine for a general audience, bringing on A-list contributors such as Anne Kornblut, Joe Trippi and Carl Cannon. Called “one of the bright young stars of political journalism” by the Houston Chronicle, she has been invited to keynote international political conferences and to analyze national politics for media outlets including CNN International, Sirius-XM and NPR. Findlay has a journalism degree from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
Kelly Gibson
Kelly Gibson is the Managing Director at the Hamburger Company. A political media firm, The Hamburger Company specializes in strategy and communications for political candidates and non-profit organizations. Kelly has an eye for the authentic. Translating strategic guidance into powerful communications media. Whether it is a piece of HD footage, a great location or the newest technology for persuasion, Kelly has the skills and the network to output a product the campaign is thrilled with. As a consultant, producer and editor Kelly works to create a campaign plan and make it come to life on TV, radio and the Internet. Kelly has worked on many political campaigns, from City Council races to Senate races. She has worked to develop media for environmental organizations, unions and most recently directed production on a 30-minute documentary to be aired on PBS in the spring.
When not working on developing strategic messaging Kelly spends her time on the snow. As a born and raised Buffalonian, Kelly feels the need to be outside in the winter, so she coaches ski racing at Liberty Mountain.
Elizabeth Hagen
As a member of the Development team at The ASCO Cancer Foundation, Elizabeth Hagen raises funds for the Foundation’s grants and educational programs to ensure continued progress in cancer research, prevention, and patient care both in the United States and abroad. Elizabeth focuses on donor outreach and has a strong interest in cause marketing.
Before joining The ASCO Cancer Foundation, she fueled her passion for engaging people in worthy causes while working with progressive organizations and candidates as an Account Executive at the political consulting firm, Stones’ Phones. While there, Elizabeth developed campaign strategies that helped her clients to raise the money, find the supporters, and earn the votes they needed to succeed.
Prior to that Elizabeth was a part of the Development and Events team at EMILY’s List, a political action committee that supports and fundraises for Democratic pro-choice women candidates. She gained valuable experience in a political environment and, among her numerous responsibilities, was the planning and orchestration of EMILY’s List’s largest annual event and fundraiser.
Elizabeth earned a B.A. for Interdisciplinary Study in the fields of Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government at American University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She is a proud New Hampshire native and an avid runner. When she’s not in the office it’s likely you’ll find her outside training for her next big road race.
Kelly Keenan Trumpbour
Kelly Keenan Trumpbour is an author and co-founder of Running Start. She has had the opportunity to help develop programs for high school and college women who are hungry to learn how a political campaign works and eager to become future candidates.
As a writer, Ms. Trumpbour’s book Working at Interest Groups and Nonprofits was praised by former White House Social Secretary under Jacqueline Kennedy, Letitia Baldrige, as “a walking primer of information, easy to read, and even inspiring in its message.” Kelly’s commentary on Running Start and young women’s unique role in politics has been featured in Redbook Magazine, Lifetime Television’s Election 2008 Hot Button, the Open Society Institute’s Audacious Ideas blog, CitizenJanePolitics.com, IgniteBaltimore.com, and on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio.
Before coming to Running Start, Ms. Trumpbour served on the board of directors of the Women Under Forty Political Action Committee and as the Public Policy Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owner’s Maryland Chapter. Her work has allowed her to lobby on Capitol Hill and in the Maryland General Assembly on topics such as increasing federal contracts to women owned business, improving special education services, and protecting the rights of minors within the juvenile justice system. Before moving to the Baltimore area, Ms. Trumpbour had the opportunity to work under Mayor Dennis Archer on urban revitalization projects throughout the state of Michigan. She is also a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, the Johns Hopkins MBA program, the Graduate Institute at St. John’s College in Annapolis, and the University of Detroit Mercy’s College of Liberal Arts.
Heather King
Heather King is an associate at the Washington, DC office of the law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP. She focuses on complex litigation.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. King served for five years as Special Assistant and Policy Advisor to United States Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was also a member of Senator Clinton’s campaign staff in 2000 and 2006.
Ms. King graduated magna cum laude from the University of Evansville in 1996, where she was also a member of the national honor society, Phi Kappa Phi. In 2005, she received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Barbara Palmer, Ph.D.
Barbara Palmer is an expert on congressional elections and the success of women candidates. She is the co-author with Dennis Simon of Southern Methodist University of Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling, a book that explores how incumbency, demographics, and redistricting shape the integration of women into Congress. One of the general themes is that over time, drawing districts to protect incumbents has had the unintended consequence of helping Democratic women get elected, while making it more difficult for Republican women to win their primaries.
Professor Palmer has given interviews and invited talks to a wide variety of groups across the country on the history of the integration of women into Congress, how incumbency and demographics affect the success of female candidates, and the growing party-gap among the women who have been elected. Her work has appeared in American Political Science Review, Politics and Gender, and a wide variety of law reviews. She has been interviewed by the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Minnesota Public Radio, the San Francisco Examiner, and the Voice of America. In 2008, she gave the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture at the 8th Annual Women & Law Conference at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. Most recently, she was invited by the U.S. State Department and Sophia University to speak at a conference on women and elections in Tokyo, Japan.
As a professor at American University, Professor Palmer has taught courses on women and politics, American politics, and public law, and received the Alice Paul Award for her commitment to women’s issues and mentoring young women. In the fall of 2008, she served as the Interim Director of the Women & Politics Institute.
Professor Palmer is a founding member of Women Under Forty Political Action Committee.
Danielle Prendergast
Ms. Prendergast is a government affairs representative for Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services holding company, focusing on the company’s federal legislative and regulatory issues. Prior to joining Sempra, she was an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore and American University, and a policy analyst for the Maryland General Assembly. She earned her doctorate in Political Science from American University, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Clark Atlanta University, and a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Maryland at College Park. Danielle lives in Maryland with her husband Michael.
Kim Rappaport
Kim Rappaport is in-house counsel for SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT in New York. Her practice focuses on protection of intellectual property, particularly digital music copyright and new technology industry actions. Prior to joining Sony, Ms. Rappaport worked for eight years as a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Arnold & Porter, LLP. During that period, she represented pro bono clients in a variety of high-profile civil rights challenges. Notably, she represented the highest-ranking female fighter pilot in the United States Air Force in a constitutional challenge to certain military regulations applicable to servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia and wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the American Bar Association in the recent Title IX case before the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Rappaport also created a teaching curriculum based on her pro bono work and has guest lectured at high schools and colleges in the D.C. area as part of a youth constitutional rights project she launched in 2001. Ms. Rappaport graduated from Cornell University in 1996 with a Bachelors in Architecure and received in 1999 a J.D. magna cum laude from American University, where she was a member of the International Law Journal and published an often cited piece on Internet censorship and freedom of speech online.
Amy Warnick
Amy Warnick is the Development Officer at GuideStar USA, where she manages foundation and corporate relations. Amy is also pursuing a Master of Public Administration, specializing in nonprofit management, at George Washington University.
Prior to her work at GuideStar USA, Amy coordinated fundraising activities at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Allegheny College, where she was a Fellow at the Center for Political Participation and intern at the Center for Family Services.
Amy was born in South Korea and raised in Logan, Utah and Powell, Ohio. She currently resides in Arlington, Virginia. When she’s not in the office or the classroom, Amy enjoys hiking and volunteering at Homeward Trails Animal Rescue.
Jennifer Weissbrot
Jennifer Weissbrot has been involved with Running Start since 2007. Ms. Weissbrot holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Certificate in Political Science from American University. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale and WeLEAD, which is a program of The Women and Politics Institute at American University. Ms. Weissbrot works at Blank Rome LLP as an Intellectual Property Legal Secretary. She lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband.
Shelley Whelpton
Ms. Whelpton brings 20 years of experience in the areas of non-profit program management, leadership, volunteer development, communications, and advocacy to Running Start. Her career and board commitments have been dedicated to youth-related causes.
Ms. Whelpton is currently the Senior Associate for Business Development at The Sheridan Group, an organization which provides political strategy and public policy services to nonprofit, philanthropic organizations, and social enterprises. Shelley leads the effort at The Sheridan Group to identify the organizations and projects with the most significant potential to use the levers of politics and policy to affect transformative social change, from Bono’s ONE campaign to end poverty to Hope Lab’s technology innovations to help improve children’s health. Shelley was the organization’s lead on the launch of America Forward, a coalition of leading social entrepreneurs promoting greater competition and accountability in public problem solving. She managed a bipartisan political and communications campaign team during the 2008 presidential election to ensure that goals were achieved, including national press coverage and presidential candidate endorsement. Ms. Whelpton was the lead investigator and writer of KaBOOM!’s 2009 Play Matters Report, a study of municipal best practices in support of children’s play.
Prior to the Sheridan Group, Ms. Whelpton managed AYUSA International, a high school youth exchange program. AYUSA recruits 2,000 high school students from 80 countries each year and matches them with volunteer host families across America for a 10-month home stay. As AYUSA’s Executive Director, she developed and led a national coalition of youth exchange programs to secure U.S. Department of State funding for bridge-building post 9/11 exchange initiatives with the Middle East. Funding by the Cultural Bridges Act of 2002, this program brings 600 academic year students each year to the United States from predominately Muslim countries.
Ms. Whelpton graduated from Williams College with a major in Political Science. She completed a M.Ed. from Boston University’s School of Education. She lives in Washington, DC with her partner, Adair, and two sons, Owen and Charlie. She is an enthusiastic parent and avid waters sports fan.
Amy Wolverton
Ms. Wolverton most recently was a communications law and policy consultant for the government relations department at Discovery Communications Inc. Prior to working at Discovery, Ms. Wolverton was FCC/Media Program Director and Associate Legal Counsel for The Campaign Legal Center, and an attorney and fellow for the Institute of Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center. She also spent three years as in-house counsel for Cox Communications, Inc. and four years at Alston & Bird, LLP. Ms. Wolverton is enjoying her third year as co-chair of the FCBA’s Online Practice Committee; she also served on the Charity Auction sub-committee and worked with the Relations with Other Bars Committee. Ms. Wolverton previously was a chapter board member for Women in Cable and Telecommunications. She earned her LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center, and graduated summa cum laude from Georgia State University College of Law and with distinction from Indiana University.
