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Staff
Mara Keisling, Executive Director
Mara is the founding Executive Director of NCTE. A Pennsylvania native, Mara came to Washington after co-chairing the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition. Mara is a transgender-identified woman who also identifies as a parent and a Pennsylvanian. She is a graduate of Penn State University and did her graduate work at Harvard University in American Government. She has served on the board of Directors of Common Roads, an LGBTQ Youth Group, and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition. Mara has almost twenty-five years of professional experience in social marketing and opinion research.
Stephanie White, Managing Director
Stephanie is NCTE’s Managing Director, coordinating all aspects of our administration and development. She comes to us from her previous work as Deputy Director, Campaign Operations, for the Rights Working Group and its Liberty & Justice for All campaign. Stephanie has been leading and training people for collective action for 15 years as a community organizer, campaign manager, political trainer, and U.S. Army office. She previously worked for the Michigan Environmental Council, where she provided management to their multiple legislative, administrative, and ballot initiative campaigns. Her electoral campaign experience ranges from a small town fight for gay rights for the Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality to city council races in the neighborhoods of East Harlem and Bay Ridge in New York City to the presidential campaign of Howard Dean. She holds a B.A. from Texas Christian University where she was a Distinguished Military Graduate.
Justin Tanis, Program Manager 
Justin has worked in the LGBT non-profit field for over 20 years as a community organizer, manager, educator and program specialist. He holds degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Harvard University, and San Francisco Theological Seminary, as well as a certificate from the Maryland Institute College of Design. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and works part time for NCTE, managing our web site and publications and coordinating special events and programs.
Summer 2008 Interns
Kennita Ballard, Intern
Kennita Ballard is a rising sophomore, who will attend George Mason University in the Fall of 2008. Kennita enjoys working with human rights based organizations and has been involved with organizations such as Amnesty International and Invisible Children Inc. She is majoring in both English and Social Work. Though she plans to be an English teacher at either the high school or middle school level, she would like to be a social worker for the gay community. She is extremely happy to be working with NCTE, so that she can gain a better understanding of trans issues and the trans community.
Jack Harrison, Intern
Jack hails from East Tennessee and is currently pursuing a degree in Asian Regional Studies at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. His interests include international organizing especially around gender & sexuality issues and anti-orientalism as well as musical theatre, travel, and cultural studies. He is currently one of the co-chairs of Georgetown's undergraduate LGBTQIA group, GUPride, and the outgoing academic chair for the South Asian Society.
Kyle Boyer, Intern
Kyle comes to NCTE from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he studies Communications at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. His involvement with LGBT issues in Michigan varies widely and includes volunteering regularly for the Triangle Foundation, being vice president of his college's Gay-Straight Alliance, advocating for Matt's Safe Schools Law (which mandates that all school districts have anti-bullying policies) , and founding Kalamazoo Pride. He hopes to take his experience with NCTE back to Michigan. "While there are many progressive forces in Kalamazoo and Michigan in its entirety, there is still plenty of work to do there. I'm going to strive to improve the quality of life for all Michiganders."
