Board and Advisors

About Idealware   |    Staff and Content Contributors

Jeff Herron, President of the Board
Vice President, Beaconfire

Jeff Herron is a co-founder of Beaconfire and the principal consultant who leads the delivery team.  As part of his client work, Jeff serves as the liaison for evaluations of technology available to nonprofits in the marketplace.  Jeff has led Beaconfire on dozens of client initiatives including projects for Heifer International, Human Rights First, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Alzheimer's Association. He has also been a featured speaker on Internet issues and Web development strategies, presenting to associations and other nonprofits at the national and regional levels. Before co-founding Beaconfire, Jeff was a senior project manager at Commerce One, formerly AppNet/NMP. Previously, Jeff served as Manager of Online Services for the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, a pioneering national professional association. In this role, Jeff spearheaded a representative and cross-functional team in the development of online Web initiatives.

Margaret M. Egan, Treasurer of the Board
Principal, Egan Consulting
Margaret has been committed to the nonprofit sector and has over 23 years of management experience in the areas of business process improvement, strategic planning and analysis as well as extensive information systems development for both the private and public sectors. Egan Consulting co-creates enhanced operating environments by integrating strategies that include organizational learning, knowledge management and technology. The mission is to improve the way people use information in order to enhance organizational effectiveness, better communicate, share knowledge and improve collaboration and performance in the workplace. Projects are innovative in their approach to systems thinking and challenges are met and solved with solid strategies and comprehensive deliverables. In 1991, Ms. Egan co-founded the Grants Managers Network, an affinity group of the Council on Foundations (COF), which has grown into a national network of over 1,400 members. She has been a member of other COF affinity groups such as the Grantmakers for Children Youth and Families, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Grantmakers in Education and the Technology Affinity Group. Ms. Egan serves as an Advisory Board member for PhilanTech, LLC and FairChoice Systems Inc., where these businesses have created new innovative products to serve the nonprofit sector effectively and efficiently. She has presented at many conferences and is respected in the fields of knowledge management, program strategy implementation, information technology, grants administration and nonprofit and small business development.

Laura S. Quinn,  Secretary and Treasurer of the Board

Idealware Founder and Director

Laura has been working in the software sector for more than ten years. As Idealware’s Director, she directs Idealware’s research and writing to provide candid reports and articles about nonprofit software. Prior to Idealware, Laura founded Alder Consulting, where she helped helped nonprofits create internet strategies, select appropriate software, and then build sophisticated websites on a limited budget. She has also selected software, designed interfaces and conducted user research for multi-million dollar software and website implementations with such companies as Accenture and iXL. Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.

Jen Frazier

President, Firefly Partners

Jen Frazier is the President of Firefly Partners, a small consulting company that focuses on bringing innovative online solutions to small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations.  Jen has been in the online strategy and marketing arena for over nine years.  Formerly the Online Marketing Director for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Jen has managed and directed hundreds of online campaigns and is a nationally recognized expert in best practices in online engagement. Through her years of working with many of Planned Parenthood’s local offices, Jen has become extremely well versed in the overall needs and realities of smaller nonprofit organizations. 

Allen Gunn

Executive Director, Aspiration

Allen Gunn - Gunner - has over twenty years of software development and capacity building expertise. He has shepherded large software projects through all stages of development: from inception, design, development, and testing to deployment, support and marketing in environments ranging from start-up to large corporation to nonprofit. Drawing on engineering, senior management, and volunteer experiences, Gunner is a skilled communicator, trainer and facilitator in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors who is passionate about helping nonprofits and NGOs make better use of software technology. He has been closely involved with the US and international technology activist communities; the Silicon Valley engineering, venture, and funding world; environmental activists and organizations, and academic communities. He is a firm believer in melding hard work with serious fun.

Michael Stein:  President of the Board Emeritus

Nonprofit Technology Strategist

Michael Stein is a technology strategist who specializes in Internet use by nonprofit membership organizations, and the author of three books and numerous articles about the online medium.  Michael works as a consultant to nonprofits, foundations, labor unions, technology providers and socially responsible businesses, providing support with Internet strategy, online marketing, email newsletter development, Website content management and vendor selection.  Past clients have included: Planned Parenthood Federation of America, United Nations Food Programme, SEIU, TechSoup.org, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Network for Good, Groundspring.org, Carnegie Corporation of New York, California Labor Federation, GetActive Software, Donordigital, Campaign for Mental Health, and Children Now. His opinion and analysis have been featured in numerous media, including: The New York Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, San Jose Mercury News, National Public Radio, Quicken Money Reports, Philanthropy Journal, Wired News, TechSoup.org, The Industry Standard, Office.com and The Nonprofit Quarterly.  He can be found online at www.michaelstein.net.

Ami Dar
Executive Director, Idealist.org

Ami Dar launched Idealist.org in 1995 after working for several years in the software industry. In 2000 the Stern Family Fund awarded Ami its annual $100,000 Public Interest Pioneer grant (renewed in 2001) to help support his work with Idealist. Starting in 2002, the Nonprofit Times has included Ami in its annual list of the 50 most influential people in the nonprofit sector, and in the fall of 2004 Ashoka invited him to join its global fellowship of social entrepreneurs. Ami chairs the board of N-TEN, and also serves on the board of Aspiration and on the editorial board of the Nonprofit Quarterly.

John Kenyon
Nonprofit Technology Strategist

John Kenyon is a nonprofit technology strategist with 18 years of information technology experience. He has been engaged with nonprofits organizations for 15 years providing advice, teaching seminars and writing articles. Beginning as an IT consultant, John became Information Technology Director at the Management Center in San Francisco in the late 90’s. Along with Michael Stein, he wrote 2002’s The eNonprofit: a guide to ASPs, internet services and online software and the 2005 Nonprofit Quarterly article A Decade of Online Fundraising. He is a professor for the University of San Francisco’s Institute for Nonprofit Management, has been a featured speaker on the syndicated Environmental News Network and at conferences across the US and England. Based on his experience at CompassPoint’s “Institute for Nonprofit Consulting”, John is developing TechAcademy.org, a course to aid nonprofit technology consultants in building better practices. His clients have included Meals on Wheels, Point Reyes National Seashore, Theater Bay Area and CompuMentor.

Mary Ann Scheirer
Program Evaluation Consultant

Mary Ann Scheirer, Ph.D., is an independent consultant with her own firm, Scheirer Consulting. She retired in 2003 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation where she was a Senior Program Officer for Research and Evaluation. Previously, she was an independent consultant for the evaluation of health promotion, substance abuse, education, and human services programs. She worked extensively on the development of performance measures, and taught a graduate course on this topic at George Washington University. She served on the Board of Directors of the American Evaluation Association, on the Board of Directors of the Consumer Health Foundation, and was President and Treasurer of Washington Evaluators. Dr. Scheirer holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Cornell University.

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Laura S. Quinn

Director

laura@idealware.org

Idealware

135 Ashmont Street

Portland, ME 04103