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Training Presenters

Matt Blizek – Field Planning, Voter Contact, GOTV

Matt was born and raised in rural Iowa and first got involved in politics at the University of Iowa.  In 2001 he managed his first campaign in an attempt to elect a UI student to the Iowa City Council.  Not long after he was elected Vice-President of the student body where he fought against radical tuition hikes, corrupt apartment management companies and police harassment on campus.

Matt spent the 2004 election cycle fundraising for the DNC and doing GOTV for MoveOn.org.  In 2006 he was selected to join Russ Feingold’s Patriot Corps program and was deployed to Montana where he did Field Organizing for Senator Jon Tester.

Matt is currently the National Field Director at Democracy for America; for the last three years Matt has managed a national training program for Democratic activists and candidates.  Since joining DFA he has organized over 56 campaign trainings in 31 states, training over 3,000 people to become better activists, campaign staff or candidates.

Selene Hofer-Shall- Finance

A former crisis counselor, Selene joined the Dean for America Operations Team in 2003, helping to compile the largest FEC reports in Presidential Campaign History. She was one of the 12 original staffers of Democracy for America, working as Operations Director and assistant to the Finance Director.  Since leaving DFA, Selene has worked on numerous successful campaigns from city councils to United States Congress.  As the Finance Director for Peter Welch (VT-AL) in his successful 2006 race for Congress, she broke all previous fundraising records for the district.  Following the 2006 election, she worked in San Antonio, TX as the Finance Director for Ciro Rodriguez in the TX-23 run-off election, raising over $600,000 in less than three weeks to successfully oust a 7-term Republican incumbent. Selene returned to work for Congressman Welch as the Political and Finance Director on his first re-election campaign, as part of a team that successfully warded off all Republican opposition and secured not only the Democratic but also the Republican nomination.  Selene is a managing partner of Theseus Advisors, LLC, a political consulting firm based in Burlington, VT. She specializes in political outreach, candidate messaging, fundraising and event planning.

Dan Mulligan- Base-building, Volunteer Managment

Dan is a National Field Organizer for the Northeast region at Democracy for America. Dan started his political action work during his college years as the President of the SUNY Plattsburgh College Democrats / Progressives. Dan continued on after graduating and ended up going to work on the Eric Massa for Congress 2008 campaign in New York’s 29^th Congressional District. He worked point for volunteer and field operations in 4 counties in the southern tier of NY-29 in 2008. Dan helped to shore up record levels of democratic turnout in the heavily conservative southern tier which helped bring Eric Massa to victory in 2008.

After his work on the congressional race Dan went to work with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation AFL-CIO. Dan worked to organize AFL-CIO affiliate membership in the 11 country region they operated in. Soon thereafter Dan made the trip from Rochester, NY to Bangor, ME to work for Change that Works (SEIU). For several months Dan organized activists in north central Maine to put pressure on Maine Senators and Congressmen/ women to support health care reform. Dan is a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh in northern New York State.

Jay Henderson – Planning, Careers in Politics

Jay developed his political chops at Oberlin College, volunteering for the Kerry campaign in addition to Co-Chairing the Oberlin College ACLU organization. Upon graduation, Jay worked as a Neighborhood Team Organizer for Silicon Valley for Obama where he organized phone banks and Camp Obamas. After several months as a Field/Political Intern at Democracy for America, he was hired to be Operations Manager and ran DFA’s volunteer and internship programs. Jay joined the canvassing effort for the No on 1 campaign in Maine and was recently hired to be the National Field Organizer for the Western region at Democracy for America.

Levana Layendecker- Communications

As the national Communications Director for Democracy for America, Levana Layendecker promotes the work of DFA to support ProgressiveDemocrats who stand up for our values. She works with national press and supports local DFA groups in their work on local issues and elections. Ms. Layendecker's career has always centered around holding Members of Congress accountable to voters and influencing the media to have a substantive debate on all issues.

Levana Layendecker recently completed a campaign as the the Director of Online Campaigns for Health Care for America Now, a grassroots coalition mobilizing millions to win a guarantee of quality, affordable health care. Previous to her work with Health Care for America Now, Ms. Layendecker worked as Web Communications Director for the American Friends Service Committee, and as a consultant for online campaigns with other progressive organizations. Ms. Layendecker became an online organizer after working as a campus organizer and canvass director for the State PIRG's (Public Interest Research Groups.) She also obtained a Master's degree in Governmental Administration from the Fel's Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC. In her spare time, Ms. Layendecker is an avid cook (she makes a wicked eggplant parmigiana). She also is proud to be a former member of the Philly for Change's steering committee, the local DFA group in Philadelphia.

Charles Chamberlain- Online Organizing

Charlie grew up in California. In 1995, he walked into a campaign office in Santa Monica and found out he could make a living out of trying to change the world. It was hard work and long hours, but incredibly rewarding. Charlie was immediately hooked. Since then, he’s worked on direct democracy campaigns in 21 states. He’s worked for a California Assemblymember, ran campaigns for SEIU and AFL-CIO in Oregon, and was the volunteer leader of Miami’s DFA group for 3 years before joining the team at the headquarters in Burlington in 2006. Charlie loves his job and his door is always open.  Outside of the office, Charles spends his free time outside with his wife, walking their dog Quazar, or disc golfing with friends.