Standards for Excellence Institute

National Advisory Committee

Margaret Williams Chair - Maryland Family Network

Michael Daigneault

Melissa Flournoy - RAND Gulf States Policy Institute

Fisher Howe - Lavender/Howe & Associates

Paul C. Light - New York University, The Brookings Institution

Martina A. Martin - United Way of Central Maryland

Dan Moore - Guidestar

Lester Salamon - Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies

H. Art Taylor - Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance

Kay Washington - Rural Opportunities, Inc.

Annie Wilson - Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services

CHAIR: Margaret Williams

Friends of the Family

Margaret Williams is the Executive Director of Friends of the Family, a Maryland statewide network of family support centers focusing on young parents with small children. Ms. Williams is also a past Board Chair of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the Maryland Nonprofits Ethics Standards Committee. She has done consulting work at both the city and state levels, and she is very active and knowledgeable in issues surrounding early childhood welfare and education.

Michael Daigneault

Michael Daigneault is an attorney who specializes in legal ethics. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown McDonough School of Business and an Instructor at the Business Learning Institute. Daigneault is the ethics officer of United Way of the National Capital Area. For six years Daigneault was president of the Ethics Resource Center, an internationally known ethics center. He has been an advocate for Character Education programming in the nation's schools.

Melissa Flournoy

RAND Gulf States Policy Institute

Melissa Flournoy is President and CEO of the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, a statewide capacity-building organization of and for nonprofits. From 1992 to 1996 Ms. Flournoy served in the Louisiana House of Representatives where she sat on the Appropriations Committee and the Health and Welfare Committee. She is a former chair of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA).

Fisher Howe
Lavender/Howe & Associates
Fisher Howe is a management consultant for nonprofit organizations based in Washington, DC. He is a former Foreign Service Officer; Assistant Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies(SAIS); and Director of External Relations, Resources for the Future. For three decades he has been advising organizations on governance, management, strategic planning and fundraising, on which he has written several books.

Paul C. Light

New York University

The Brookings Institution

Paul Light is currently Professor of Public Service at New York University and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. From 1995-1998, he was Director of the Public Policy Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia. Professor Light's government experience includes serving as senior staff to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Among his areas of expertise are public administration and government reform. Professor Light has written 15 books on government, public service, and public policy.

Martina A. Martin

United Way of Central Maryland

Martina Martin's career spans more than two decades in the nonprofit and
private sectors. Currently, she is Senior Vice President at United Way of
Central Maryland. Prior to arriving in Baltimore in 1996, Martina spent
almost 11 years at United Way of America (UWA), the national association,
serving in middle and senior management positions helping United Ways and
Fortune 500 companies nationwide, as well as United Ways worldwide, with
their fundraising and community relations. She was part a team that created
the first marketing function at UWA and led its first national marketing
efforts. She has a background in nonprofit management, strategic planning,
program development and training. She has authored and contributed to many
UW national publications, tools and educational programs. Martina holds a
B.S. in Business Administration, magna cum laude, from the University of
Scranton.

Dan Moore

Guidestar

Dan Moore is Vice President for Public Affairs at Guidestar (the national database of nonprofit organizations). Previously, Moore was the chief enforcement officer overseeing charitable organizations in the Attorney General's office in New Mexico. He is a past president of the National Association of State Charity Officials.

Lester Salamon

Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies

As a Johns Hopkins Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, Lester Salamon conducts research demonstrating that the nonprofit sector is a burgeoning force in America today. Previously he was the Director of the Institute for Policy Studies at Hopkins. He formerly served as deputy associate director of the US Office of Management and Budget. Dr. Salamon is the author/editor of over a dozen books - among them America's Nonprofit Sector: A Primer and Partners in Public Service; Government and the Nonprofit Sector in the Modern Welfare State.

H. Art Taylor

Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance

Art Taylor, an attorney, serves as President of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a charitable organization affiliated with the Better Business Bureau System. The Alliance produces reports on evaluations of national charities conducted in relation to a set of comprehensive accountability standards. It also sponsors a national charity seal program for charities that meet its standards. From 1990 to 1999, Taylor headed the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, Inc. His nonprofit board affiliations include Independent Sector, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the Black Leadership Forum, and Franklin & Marshall College.

Kay Washington

Rural Opportunities, Inc.

Kay Washington is the Executive Director of Rural Opportunities, Inc - Pennsylvania Division. As such, Ms. Washington is responsible for the management of federal, state, and local grants totaling $8 million, which are used to provide services to farmworkers, low-income families, and economically depressed communities. Ms. Washington represents the agency on relevant national and state coalitions. She is a board member of the National Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs.

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Annie Wilson

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Annie Wilson is currently the Executive Vice President of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Annie Wilson has twenty-five years of experience in the refugee and immigration field, including five years overseeing the domestic refugee resettlement network of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program, and eight years directing the Asylum Concerns Program of LIRS. She currently serves on the steering committee of the Detention Watch Network and on the Advisory Board of the Immigration Advocates Network, and is chair of the board of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

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