The Learning Conference 2013

Rebekah Levin is the Director of Evaluation and Learning for the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, guiding the Foundation in evaluating the impact of its philanthropy and involvement in community issues. Rebekah works with the Foundation’s grant-making programs, and also with the parks, gardens, and museums at Cantigny Park. Rebekah’s previous positions include Research Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was designing and implementing evaluations for foundations and nonprofits and teaching evaluation and research methods; and Executive Director at the Center for Impact Research in Chicago.

Angela Frusciante, PhD serves as Knowledge Development Officer, and a member of the senior leadership team, at the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund. As a socio-political scholar, Angela explores knowledge construction and network learning in change initiatives, particularly efforts at educational change. She has worked on education issues in the private, public and nonprofit sectors; in local, state and national contexts; and in community, intermediary, education and philanthropic organizations. Most recently, Angela participated as part of the 2012-2013 cohort of the Council on Foundations Career Pathways program that is intended to expand the pipeline for diverse talent in philanthropic leadership.

As the Research and Evaluation Officer for the Skoll Foundation, Ehren Reed is responsible for assessing the impact and effectiveness of the foundation’s efforts and supporting ongoing learning and decision making. He was previously a Director at Innovation Network, an evaluation consulting firm. He brings over ten years of experience managing evaluation projects in the fields of human services, human rights, and advocacy. He speaks frequently on emerging trends in evaluation and has presented at many conferences, including Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and the American Evaluation Association. Ehren earned B.A. and M.S. degrees in education from the University of Connecticut.

Tom Kelly joined the Hawai?i Community Foundation in December 2012 as its new vice president for knowledge, evaluation and learning after 13 years managing evaluation at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. His work includes the building of internal and grantee evaluation and knowledge-building capacity, evaluation of policy advocacy and community capacity, and foundation performance and results measurement. He also led the evaluation of Casey’s 12-year, 10-city community change initiative Making Connections. Tom is a board member of GEO and the Dr. Barbara J. Sugland Foundation and is a graduate of Harvard College and The George Washington University.

Les Baxter heads the Planning and Evaluation department at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where he and his colleagues use evaluative approaches to inform institutional decisions, strengthen Pew's work, and generate knowledge that advances program objectives. Les’s earlier positions were with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the California Energy Commission. He has written and presented widely on topics in public policy and philanthropy. He holds degrees in anthropology from Northwestern University and the University of Hawaii, and an M.A. in demography and Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Pennsylvania.