Staff

Nan Roman
President and CEO
Areas of Expertise: Press Calls, Housing Policy, Funding, Hurricane Katrina

Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is a leading national voice on the issue of homelessness. The Alliance is a public education, advocacy, and capacity-building organization with a network of over 7,000 nonprofit and public sector agencies and corporate partners around the country. Under her leadership, the Alliance has developed a pragmatic plan to end homelessness within ten years. To implement this plan, Ms. Roman works closely with members of Congress and the Administration, as well as with cities and states across the nation. She collaborates with Alliance partners to educate the public about the real nature of homelessness and successful solutions. She has researched and written on the issue, is frequently interviewed by the press, and regularly speaks at events around the country. Her unique perspective on homelessness and its solutions comes from over twenty years of local and national experience in the areas of poverty and community-based organizations.

Churchill J. Gibson IV
Executive Director
Areas of Expertise: Board of Directors, Administration and Finance, Development

Churchill Gibson is the Executive Director of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In his fifteen years at the Alliance, Mr. Gibson has managed all aspects of the development, finance, and administration for the organization. As the organization’s chief operating and chief financial officer, Mr. Gibson manages the administrative and financial functions of the organization including human resources, system administration, cash management, payroll, audit, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. He also works with the Board of Directors, corporations, and foundations to end homelessness. Prior to coming to the Alliance, Mr. Gibson received his Masters in Business Administration from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Before returning to school he served as Assistant Director of Admissions at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia for five years.

Steve Berg
Vice President for Programs and Policy
Areas of Expertise: Housing Policy, Discharge Planning

Steve Berg, Vice President for Programs and Policy, specializes in employment, economic development, and human services, and the crossover between those issues and housing. He came to the Alliance from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where he worked on state-level welfare reform and employment. Before coming to Washington, he spent 14 years as a legal services attorney in California and Connecticut, working on housing, government benefits, employment and family integrity. His experience includes nonprofit management and staff training and development.

Barbara Anzelmo
Director of Finance and Administration
Areas of Expertise: Finance, Administration

Barbara Anzelmo is the Director of Administration and Finance. She assists the Executive Director in managing the organization’s administrative and financial functions. Her responsibilities include administering fiscal policies and procedures, including internal controls, audit, cash management, account reconciliations, expense allocations, recording contributions, and financial reports. She is also responsible for human resource duties including payroll, employee benefits, and oversight of evaluations; and administrative duties as administering office insurance policies and vender contracts, maintaining inventory of Alliance products and equipment, and maintenance of office equipment. Ms. Anzelmo came to the Alliance with twelve years experience in nonprofit accounting.

Peggy Bailey
Program and Policy Analyst
Areas of Expertise: Health Policy, Mental Health

Peggy Bailey is a Health Policy and Program Analyst for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. She works with mental health and substance abuse treatment providers to ensure they fulfill their role in preventing homelessness and allow homeless individuals to access services. Prior to joining the Alliance, she worked on healthcare financing and service delivery issues for the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs. Peggy is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has a Masters Degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas. She previously worked for the City of Rockwall, Texas as an assistant to the Director of Public Works and later the Assistant City Manager. Upon moving to Washington, DC in 1999, she was an advocate for the land grant university system, which receives funds from the US Department of Agriculture to conduct agriculture research and provide outreach services to farmers and the community.

Samantha Batko
Communications Associate
Areas of Expertise: Alliance Online News, Website, Educational Materials

Samantha Batko, Communications Associate for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, joined the Alliance in February 2006. In this position, she is responsible for the Alliance's online strategies, including the weekly newsletter, maintaining the website, administration of audio conferences, and for copy editing all documents released by the Alliance. Prior to working for the Alliance, she worked for a crisis hotline while obtaining her Bachelors of Science Degree in Psychology from Virginia Tech. While in high school, Samantha worked with the Carpenter Shelter in Alexandria, providing food for homeless families.

Jamey Burden
Assistant Director, Center for Capacity Building
Areas of Expertise: Planning and technical assistance for homelessness services programs

Jamey Burden is the Assistant Director of the Center for Capacity Building. He is helping to lead in the Alliance’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of local communities, states, and faith- and community-based organizations to end homelessness. Prior to working with the Alliance, Jamey worked with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, directing the state’s Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program. He also served on Minnesota’s Interagency Task Force on Homelessness, addressing policy issues such as state coordination of homelessness assistance funding, Continuum of Care planning, and statewide homeless management information system (HMIS) implementation. Jamey has worked on homelessness and housing services programs and advocacy for 14 years, in Connecticut and Minnesota. This has included planning and advocacy work with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, and direct-service work at Catholic Charities’ family homeless shelter in Maplewood, Minnesota. Jamey has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Connecticut.

Mary Cunningham
Director, Homelessness Research Institute
Areas of Expertise: Data, Research, Housing, Communications

Mary Cunningham is the Director of the Homelessness Research Institute. She is responsible for helping monitor and measure progress on Alliance’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness and for building and disseminating knowledge about solutions to end homelessness. Prior to joining the Alliance, Mary managed and directed numerous quantitative and qualitative research studies at the Urban Institute, where her research focused on public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher Program, and family self-sufficiency programs. At the Urban Institute, her work included serving as Deputy Director of a research project that counted homeless people living in vacant public housing units and co-authoring “The Transformation of Public Housing and the Hard to House,” a paper published in Housing Policy Debate that examines alternative housing models for public housing residents whose service needs go beyond housing. Mary earned a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Phyllis Gilberti
Director of Field Mobilization
Areas of Expertise: Grassroots Organizing, SELHA

As the Director of Field Mobilization, Phyllis Gilberti collaborates with local advocates and organizations to work with Congress to improve federal policy to prevent and end homelessness. In addition to work on other initiatives, she currently coordinates the Ending Long-Term Homelessness Services Initiative which has gained bipartisan Congressional support. She has coordinated legislative, public education, and issue campaigns for both community-based and national organizations. She has developed strong membership bases, strengthened leadership skills, and trained volunteers and advocates in media skills, advocacy, service delivery, outreach, and fundraising.

Damien Heath
Director, Center for Capacity Building
Areas of Expertise: Training and Technical Assistance

Damien Heath is the Director of the Center for Capacity Building. He leads the development and implementation of the Alliance’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of local communities, states, and faith and community based organizations to end homelessness. Prior to joining the Alliance and the Center for Capacity Building, he has worked in the nonprofit sector providing training and technical assistance for over 10 years. In that time he has trained hundreds of organizations, foundations, and government agencies on a variety of programmatic and organizational topics. He has led or played a significant role in the management and execution of 10 national capacity building initiatives that have directly impacted over 1000 unique nonprofit organizations across the country.

Meghan Henry
Research Associate
Areas of Expertise: Data and Research

Meghan Henry is a Research Associate at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Joining the staff in July 2006, she is responsible for the maintenance and analysis of various data and research on homelessness, monitoring progress on the Ten Year Plan, and for connecting policymakers with research on homelessness. Meghan graduated from Tufts University with her Masters degree in Urban and Social Policy in May 2006. While pursuing her Masters degree, she worked at a substance abuse clinic and as a Research Assistant at Tufts University in the field of Urban Economics. Prior to graduate school, Meghan was a researcher for special projects at US News and World Report.

Richard Hooks Wayman
Senior Policy Analyst
Areas of Expertise: Youth, Outreach, Runaway Youth

Richard Hooks Wayman is the Senior Youth Policy Analyst. Formerly the Public Policy Campaign Director for the Minnesota Youth Service Association, Mr. Hooks Wayman authored the Minnesota Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and the Minnesota Youth Advancement Act. Rich received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1992 and worked as a public interest litigator for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis for 8 years, primarily focused on disability civil rights, fair housing, and family law. Rich left Legal Aid to serve as the Collaborative Director of StreetWorks for six years. The StreetWorks Collaborative is comprised of thirteen youth-serving agencies providing street-based outreach to homeless and runaway youth in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. While at StreetWorks, Rich coauthored a national training manual - StreetWorks: Best Practices and Standards in Outreach Methodology to Homeless Youth. Rich also represents abused and neglected youth in juvenile court on a pro bono basis.

Sarah Kahn
Field Mobilizer
Areas of Expertise: Grassroots Organizing, SELHA

Sarah Kahn is a Field Mobilizer at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In this position, she works with advocates from across the country to inform Members of Congress and influence them to act in support of critical federal initiatives to prevent and end homelessness. Prior to working with the Alliance, she assisted in the coordination of the Continuum of Care processes at the Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City Missouri while working towards a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas. Before working in Kansas City, Sarah worked at a program to prevent family homelessness at Cobb Family Resources in Atlanta, Georgia.

D'Arcy Klingle
Field Mobilizer
Areas of Expertise: Event Planning

D'Arcy Klingle is the Alliance’s Meeting and Events Coordinator. She is responsible for the planning and execution of the Alliance’s special events including the annual conferences and awards ceremony. Prior to joining the Alliance, D’Arcy worked at The Webster Group, a Washington, DC-based event planning company specializing in event planning, fundraising, strategic planning and foundation management with a large focus on nonprofit organizations. D’Arcy’s roles at The Webster Group covered event production and marketing including budget and timeline development and management, stage management, event production, program journal coordination, online auction management and fundraising. During her time at The Webster Group D’Arcy worked with numerous vendors throughout the Washington, DC metro area including venues, caterers, designers, florists and audio visual companies and was also able to learn about and work with many local DC nonprofit organizations. D’Arcy received her degree in Public Relations from Northern Michigan University.

Amanda Krusemark
Assistant to the President
Areas of Expertise: Policy and Administration

Amanda Krusemark joined the Alliance in June 2008 as the Assistant to President Nan Roman. In this position, Amanda works closely with the President, providing her with support for both policy and administrative issues. Amanda graduated from Dickinson College with a B.A. in Sociology and Political Science, as well as a minor in Philosophy. While in college, she gained policy experience by working as an intern for a non-profit marine conservation organization. She has also served as a Congressional Intern. Throughout high school and college, Amanda volunteered for homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and programs aimed at educating children from low-income families.

Sharon McDonald
Senior Policy Analyst
Areas of Expertise: Families, TANF, Housing First for Families

Sharon McDonald is a Senior Policy Analyst with a focus on policy and program strategies to address family homelessness. Ms. McDonald joined the National Alliance to End Homelessness in 2001. Prior to joining the Alliance, Sharon was a direct practitioner in a Richmond, Virginia community-based service center for people who are homeless for nearly seven years. She has experience providing service-enhanced housing in a subsidized housing development for low-income families with children and in housing for people living with HIV/AIDS. Sharon served as a Social Work Congressional Fellow in Senator Paul D. Wellstone’s office where she focused on welfare and housing issues. Sharon has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 1991 and holds a Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Policy from Virginia Commonwealth University.

LaKesha Pope
Youth Program and Policy Analyst
Areas of Expertise: Youth, Foster Care, Runaway Youth

LaKesha Pope is a Youth Policy and Program Analyst. Prior to joining the Alliance, LaKesha Pope worked at Public Strategies, Inc. in government relations to provide client support in the areas of media strategy, market research, project management and legislative affairs. She was also responsible for program development for various statewide Governors’ Conferences for Women. Ms. Pope served two terms as the Points of Light Foundation Youth Engaged in Service Ambassador for Texas. As the youth spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, she developed and facilitated trainings nationwide and managed a statewide youth service council that implemented thousands of volunteer service hours throughout Texas. LaKesha has a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs with a Concentration in Nonprofit Management. While pursuing her graduate degree, she worked at the Children’s Defense Fund, where she provided analysis of national and state policies on child and youth development. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from Xavier University in Louisiana.

Elizabeth Roche
Director of Development
Areas of Expertise: Development

As Director of Development, Elizabeth Roche works with foundation, corporations, and individuals to coordinate interests and funding opportunities to further the goal and mission of the Alliance and bring an end to homelessness. Prior to working at the Alliance, Elizabeth spent more than five years in higher education development at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. followed by two years working in a family law office and in a development capacity at Jubilee Women’s Center, an organization serving homeless and low-income women, in Seattle. Elizabeth earned undergraduate degrees in English, History, and African and African-American Studies from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. She received her graduate degree in Non-Profit Leadership from the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Her graduate studies included a unique mentoring opportunity with the United Way and the Philadelphia AFL-CIO as well as coursework focused on policy issues and nonprofit management related to housing and homelessness.

Elizabeth Santa-Donato
Office Coordinator
Areas of Expertise: Finance, Administration, and Development

Elizabeth Santa-Donato works closely with the Director of Finance and Administration. Her responsibilities include maintaining financial logs, accounts payable and receivable, account reconciliation, office communications, and various human resource duties. She is also responsible for tracking donations and donor recognition. Elizabeth graduated from the University of San Diego with a BA in Sociology and a Certification in Nonprofit Business. While in college, she did research for Coastal Habitat for Humanity and gained experience as a development intern at Women for Women International.

Norm Suchar
Senior Policy Analyst
Areas of Expertise: Fannie Mae Grant-related Activities, Chronic Homelessness, Disabilities

Norm Suchar is a Senior Policy Analyst with a focus on chronic homelessness. He joined the staff of the National Alliance to End Homelessness in 2002. Mr. Suchar promotes effective policies and practices related to supportive housing, mental health, substance abuse treatment, health care, and other services for homeless people as well as programs that facilitate rapid rehousing for families and individuals. His prior experience includes three years in the Budget Office at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he focused on homelessness and community development programs, and two years working in child welfare for the State of Utah.

Lauren Wright
Media Associate
Areas of Expertise: Media Relations and Strategic Communication

Lauren Wright, Media Associate for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is responsible for the The Alliance’s public relations efforts. Lauren works closely with the research arm of the The Alliance to write and disseminate news releases announcing new homelessness data, solutions and trends; plans, implements and manages press conferences and other events; updates the website and newsletter with key news important to advocates and policy makers; and maintains ongoing relationships with national and local press. Prior to working at The Alliance, Lauren worked as a copywriter, graphic designer and finally, public relations practitioner at several award-winning communications agencies. Lauren received Bachelors of Arts degrees in both Graphic Design and Public Relations from Virginia Tech and was active in her high school’s Key Club International service program, painting houses and providing support for homeless and low income families.