2016 National Conference

Reverend Starsky D. Wilson is a pastor, philanthropist and activist pursuing God's vision of community marked by justice, peace and love. He is president & CEO of Deaconess Foundation, pastor of Saint John's Church (The Beloved Community) and co-chair of the Ferguson Commission. Through Saint John's, Wilson has led congregational activism on myriad issues, including youth violence prevention, Medicaid expansion, public school accreditation, voter mobilization, capping payday lending and raising the minimum wage. In 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon appointed Rev. Wilson co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, a group of sixteen citizens empowered to study the underlying conditions and make public policy recommendations to help the region progress through issues exposed by the tragic death of Michael Brown, Jr.  On September 14, 2015 they released the ground-breaking 'Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity" Report, calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being and economic mobility. 

Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, is a longtime advocate for Minnesota’s children and families. A noted community and political organizer, she was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in November of 2015 and recently served as the executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, which works to level the playing field for all children in the region. She also worked for eight years at Wellstone Action, first as director and founder of the Native American Leadership Program, then as director of external affairs. As one of the original trainers of Wellstone Action’s signature program Camp Wellstone, she has trained tens of thousands of progressive activists, community and campaign organizers, future candidates, and progressive officeholders to make effective, sustainable, progressive change around the country.

Michael McAfee, Vice President for Programs, began his service at PolicyLink in 2011. Under his leadership, PolicyLink has emerged as a national leader in building cradle-to-career systems that are ensuring that all children and youth in America have a pathway into the middle class. Central to this equitable systems-change are communities of opportunity, where all children can grow up with access to great schools and strong systems of family and community supports that prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and/or a career. As Vice President for Programs, Michael joins the Executive Team and Program Teams in strategic planning, policy development, policy campaign strategy, and programmatic design and implementation at the local, state, and national levels. Prior to joining PolicyLink, Michael served as Senior Community Planning and Development Representative in the Chicago Regional Office of The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While at HUD, he managed a $450 million housing, community and economic development portfolio where he partnered with local leaders to create more than 3,000 units of affordable housing and 5,000 jobs and ensure access to social services for more than 200,000 families. He also served as lead instructor with HUD’s Leadership Development Program. He is most proud of personally ensuring the successful matriculation of more than 168 senior executives through the Leadership Development Program and providing fundraising, leadership, management and organizational development technical assistance to more than 1,000 persons and 800 grassroots faith- and community-based organizations. His partnership with the White House and HUD's Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has resulted in nonprofit organizations accessing more than $1 billion in federal resources. While serving as Director of Community Leadership for The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts, he was instrumental in helping build the organization’s capacity to raise $121 million from individual donors. This accomplishment earned the Foundation the honor of being recognized by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as receiving more contributions than any community foundation in America. Michael is determined to create conditions that will allow equity to flourish all across America -- just and fair inclusion into a society where all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. He believes that every American deserves access to opportunities that give them a fair shot at succeeding in life. His unremitting commitment to equity is why he refuses to accept the world the way that it is. Michael is an Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Family Fellow, Aspen Institute Ideas Scholar, and Leap of Reason Ambassador. He served in the United States Army and completed Harvard University's Executive Program in Public Management. He earned his Doctor of Education in Human and Organizational Learning from The George Washington University. He is an avid off-road hiker and practitioner of Bikram yoga.

Doug Stamm is Chief Executive Officer of Meyer Memorial Trust, one of the largest private foundations in the Pacific Northwest, with assets of more than $740 million and annual giving in excess of $38 million. A native Oregonian, Doug has overseen fiscal and administrative responsibilities at Meyer since joining the foundation in 2002. While most of Meyer’s grantmaking has historically been responsive and for general purposes, during Doug’s tenure the organization gradually shifted to targeted grantmaking aimed at making a greater impact around the state. With Doug’s guidance, Meyer has adopted a number of strategic action initiatives to bring solutions to some of the most intractable problems in the state, including restoring the Willamette River, increasing access to affordable housing and improving the quality of K-12 public education. Last year, after a comprehensive redesign, Meyer redoubled its focus into strategic support in the areas of education, the environment, affordable housing and building community. Most recently, Doug has marshaled efforts to bring greater equity, diversity and inclusion to the work and makeup of the 34-year-old institution. Today the foundation, established from the personal estate of grocery store magnate Fred G. Meyer, works to play a decisive role in dismantling barriers to equity and improving community conditions so all Oregonians can experience safety, health and prosperity. Within its new focused portfolios, Meyer now prioritizes work that increases equity for and inclusion of Oregonians who experience disparities because of race, ethnicity, income, gender, sexual orientation, ability and other historical oppressions. The work is also personal: Doug writes openly and candidly about race and white privilege on his blog at mmt.org. Beyond grantmaking, under Doug’s leadership Meyer has also turned to less traditional tools to invest the corpus in ways that leverage the full weight of the foundation’s assets for the greater good. Meyer has evaluated and implemented transformative funding methods, including a robust mission-related investment program that compliments traditional grants programs while furthering its mission. Meyer has also focused investments in leadership development among Oregon’s communities of color, explored how investments in community food systems can promote local economic development and helped build Canopy, a platform for collaboration in regional investing that enables community-driven investments and improves regional outcomes in the Pacific Northwest. Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougastamm