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Tim Carpenter, National Director,
is a social and political activist who, for more than 30 years, has worked for causes such as nuclear disarmament, death penalty abolition, defending the homeless, and campaign finance reform. Tim established Housing Now! and Democrats for Peace Conversion (DPC), co-founded the Orange County chapter of the Alliance for Survival (AFS), and helped organize the Orange County chapter of Families Against Three Strikes (FACTS). He was a national delegate and served in key positions in the presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson (1988), Jerry Brown (1992), and Bill Clinton (1996), and spoke from the podium at the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York. Tim was director of the Western Massachusetts Clean Elections movement for public funding of political campaigns, and served as field organizer for Clean Elections' Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Warren Tolman. He also served as Deputy National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President, was the campaign's state co-coordinator in Massachusetts, and the campaign's Convention Coordinator in Boston. He co-founded AfterDowningStreet.org. In 2006, he was elected as a Massachusetts Democratic Party delegate committed to Deval Patrick. Tim has taught U.S. history and government at the high school and community college levels. He is a product of the California State College system, where he graduated from Cal State University Fullerton with Bachelors Degrees in History and Political Science, as well as a Masters in History. Tim lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife Barbara Considine and their daughters, Sheila and Julia.
Laura Bonham, Deputy Director, Communications Coordinator,
is among the co-founders of Progressive Democrats of America. She is the former Chairperson of the Summit County Democrats and served on the Utah Democratic Party Executive Committee. Laura also co-founded the Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus in 2003, served on the Coalville City Planning Commission for seven years, and served on the board of the Coalville Area Business Association for eight years. She and her husband own two small businesses.
Conor Boylan, Field Coordinator
is a native of Ireland and moved to the U.S. in 2006. After spending nearly
10 years in the high tech industry, most recently as an engineer in the semiconductor world,
Conor decided to ditch machines to pursue his real passion—politics. He worked on the Obama primary
campaign in Oregon and then worked as a field organizer in Ohio for the general election. Turnout
in his turf increased by 800 votes, a critical swing in helping to deliver Ohio, given that Kerry
lost by only 9 votes per precinct statewide. Conor lives in Seattle with his "professional-trouble-making"
wife Nora, who works in the labor movement.
Bryan Buchan , New Media Outreach Coordinator,
has held positions in Senior Project Management for IT, as Director of Digital Services, IT Management,
Organizational Management, and Business Process/Workflow Management. His specialties include work in
electronic document management technologies, litigation trial consulting, and numerous web technologies.
Bryan's political activism began working for the Kucinich Presidential Campaign in 2004, and he has worked
behind the scenes ever since with PDA. Bryan's political experience includes creating caucuses within state
democratic organizations, organizing national political forums and events, and working for several state and
national campaigns.
Kimberly Buchan,
Administrative Coordinator, has been volunteering and working for PDA since 2004.
Since moving to Arizona in 2003, Kimberly discovered her inner progressive and volunteered
with the Kucinich Campaign and later the Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus. She is a graduate of
Western Michigan University with a Bachelors Degree in Music Therapy. While living in Phoenix,
she provided home-based music therapy services to children and adults with developmental disabilities.
Kimberly recently returned to her home state of Michigan, where she lives with her husband, Bryan, and adorable baby boy,
Elliot James.
Anna Givens,
CDPP Co-coordinator, is co-founder and a chapter leader of Progressive Democrats Sonoma County,
and the PDA Congressional District Point Person for CA06-Sonoma County.
She is an R.N. and provides direct patient care as a hospital staff nurse within her local community.
She has served on the local County Democratic Central Committee since 2005 and is currently serving her
second term as an elected delegate to the CA State Central Committee. Anna has been "with" PDA since before it was founded,
in that she first read about something called a "progressive caucus" from Laura Bonham's posting on a 2004 Kucinich
campaign volunteers' bulletin board/list serve. The deal was sealed when she attended the 2004 official founding of
PDA at its convention in Boston, when Tim Carpenter asked, "Who is ready to spend the next five, 10, 15,
20 years taking back our country?":
Anna fears may have less time than that now ... so every day counts!
Dave Keeler,
Chapter Field Support, was born and raised in Philadelphia, where he developed a strong interest and respect
for the history of our nation's foundation and the writings and motivation of the founders. Active in politics
since his teens, his first campaign was for LBJ. Dave is proud to have been a suburban Philadelphia youth coordinator
for RFK. He actively campaigned for McGovern and has participated in campaigns for every primary and general election
since. He is a past member of California and Arizona State Democratic Committees and was part of Howard Dean's
2003-04 Arizona state campaign staff. Dave's most notable public accomplishment was employing petition signature
verification resulting in the State Supreme Court's rejection of Ralph Nader's attempt to be a candidate on the
2004 Arizona presidential ballot. His participation in progressive issue campaigns goes back to the United Farm
Workers/Cesar Chavez "Boycott Grapes" campaign. Through extensive travel as an industrial electrical field engineer,
Dave gained significant knowledge of regional social structures, issues, and concerns. He is currently a partner in a
database/data mining web-based applications development firm. Outside of politics, his greatest passion is snowboarding.
Roberta McNair,
IOT Coordinator, has come to effective progressive activism only recently, after a lifetime spent tilting
at windmills on her own. She has worked as a writer, editor, community college English teacher, box office manager,
lighting designer, and household manager. When the last windmill she fought in California--the owners of her
mobilehome park--won the battle, Roberta left her home state and landed in Gig Harbor, Washington. Roberta
splits her time between PDA volunteer and staff duties and childcare for her beloved niece, Samara. Working with
PDA uses the best of her skills for the noblest of goals.
Mervis Reissig,
CDPP Co-coordinator, was a co-founder of Progressive Democrats Sonoma County and was on PDA's original
Task Force on the Environment and Sustainability. Mervis has been an effective organizer at the annual
California Democratic Conventions; was a leader in the Grassroots for Bowen campaign, which elected an
election-protection candidate as Secretary of State in California; was part of the organizing team that
helped defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger's right-wing agenda in the California election in 2005; and ran as an
environmental-advocacy candidate for County Board of Supervisors in Sonoma County in 2006.
Guy Townsend , Editor,
came to editing by the back door (his academic degrees are in history and law),
but Guy Townsend has been involved in editing--newspapers, books, and magazines--since the mid-1970s.
A former college professor and prosecuting attorney who is as passionate about the U.S. Constitution
as he is about the English language, Townsend is now fidgeting in retirement (his third try) in Tennessee
with his long-suffering wife, Jeanne.
