Board of Directors

President Dave Weinberg

A native of Canada, I now live in my adopted nation’s capital, Washington DC with my wife and son.  I have been interested in politics and communication since I was little; I had little choice. My father was an impassioned American History teacher and my grandfather was a legend in Canadian political circles — having successfully won Pierre Trudeau (one of Canada’s most famous Prime Ministers) his first posting to Parliament as his campaign manager. Growing up with a strong sense of justice and giving back to whence I came, I have sat on a number of boards since I was in high school.

While in college at Yeshiva University in New York, the social web literally exploded all around me; I can still remember TheFacebook.com — we were a school in the first ten. From there I founded an online college radio station, WYUR, which became in the winter of 2003 the most listened to online college radio station in the country.  Having successfully grown a campus organization I was asked to start another. “Can you do something for the people of Darfur?” several student leaders asked me in 2004. No one at that point had heard of the atrocities occurring in the Sudan and yet we felt a need to act. Within a month we had raised tens of thousands of dollars and put on New York’s biggest Darfur rally. Our efforts sprung a national organization to which I am a founding member, the Save Darfur Coalition.

Since my college days I have been an early adopter and strategist for emerging media – the social web, advising global non-profits and major brands on how to effectively engage their audience and hone their conversation online. I am a proud member of the Open Forum Foundation, where I get the opportunity to see real progress in building better communications between citizens and congress.

Vice President Noel Dickover

Picture and bio coming soon.

Secretary Nisma Zaman

“I am excited about the possibilities for O.F.F.’s initiative to catalyze a higher degree of communication between people and government representatives and to encourage people to become more actively involved in campaigns or informed about issues that matter to them. I’ve been inspired to communicate with my representatives much more frequently since the 2008 election and have been trying to encourage friends to communicate more regularly as well, even if it is just clicking on a link to “sign a virtual petition.”  However it seems that many people do not yet trust that communications to government reps will have any kind of meaningful impact, and so they say, “why bother?”  I’m proud to be on the O.F.F. Board and I look forward to contributing ideas or technical knowledge to help ensure that the resulting platform functions as effectively as possible and aids the creation or modification of legislation that is more beneficial to Americans and humanity in general.

“I recently completed a full-time position as Media and Materials Producer at the International Center for Transitional Justice, where I worked for almost four years. ICTJ’s mission of promoting justice for mass atrocities and helping societies face the past in order to move forward enhanced my personal values of accountability, integrity, inclusion and holistic approaches, which I’ll carry forward. I had come to ICTJ with thirteen years of experience in television production, following a BFA in Film, Photography and Visual Arts at Ithaca College.  During my television career, I worked on a variety of programs, including “Peace by Peace,” an award-winning documentary that I co-produced on international women peace-builders (premiered at the U.N. and aired on PBS), and the 52-episode “Little Bill” series for Nickelodeon, for which I was part of the 2004 Emmy-winning group as a coordinating producer.  The position at ICTJ served as a segue between the worlds of television and interactive media and it was there that I developed an interest in, and working knowledge of, web-based platforms that aggregate content and provide utility to users.  To further my education in interactive technologies, I’ve decided to pursue a graduate degree at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, which I’ll be starting this September.

“Somehow between grad school, my board responsibilities and other web and film projects, I hope to keep my personal activities going, which include figure skating, yoga, and a vegan raw food diet.”

Treasurer Patrick Benz

“I received a B.A. in European History from Georgetown University in 2002 and an M.S. in Global Affairs focusing on private sector development from NYU in 2007.  I am now working for a large firm as a project manager specializing in discretionary and as of right tax incentives for commercial and industrial properties and business owners throughout the NY area.

“I also work closely with my brother who owns a fair trade export business based in Indonesia (with additional offices in Cambodia and Kenya).  We work closely with the IFC and provide resources and capacity building to our artisan communities.”

Meagen Ryan

“I was born and raised in New Hampshire, a state famous for primaries, the largest state legislature in the country, and a radical state motto, Live Free or Die. We take civic engagement seriously. My involvement with Open Forum Foundation stems from the belief that civic engagement should be a part of everyone’s life. I think more people would participate if it could be made easier and more effective. I hope our work at Open Forum can make that a reality.

“I am currently the Director of Strategy at Rock Creek Strategic Marketing. We are a marketing and communications firm that, among other things, helps government agencies connect with and serve citizens. I’ve lived in the DC area since 2000, and despite the fact that everyone talks much slower here than in my native New England, this feels like home.”

Carolyn Kissane, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Clinical Associate Professor of Global Affairs, NYU Center for Global Affairs

Carolyn Kissane received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Comparative and International Education with areas of specialization in: Political Science, Post-Soviet Transformation, and NGOs.  She currently teaches course in the areas of Global Civil Society, the Geopolitics of Oil, regional courses on Central Asia and China, and International and National Women’s Movements.  She is also the NYU Coordinator for the Women’s Initiative.  She received the Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in the spring of 2006. She held a National Security Graduate Enhancement Language and Area Studies Fellowhip for one year of study in Kazakhstan and Russia, and was the recipient of a Fulbright Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for her research on Post Soviet changes in the teaching of history.  She was awarded a scholar-in-residence grant from the Kennan Institute in Washington, DC, an International Research and Exchange Board Grant for field study in the Republic of Kazakhstan and a two-year fellowship from the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs. She is author of numerous published journal articles and is currently examining public policy, nongovernmental organizations and finance in petroleum rich countries. She serves on the Advisory Board for Art for Refugees in Transition.  Prior to joining NYU, Kissane taught at Colgate University and Columbia University.

Areas of Expertise:

Energy Issues Involving Central Asia and Russia
Social Movements
NGO’s and Civil Society
Public-private Partnerships
Societies in Transition
International Educational Development
Education
Public Policy

Shadee Malaklou

“A native of what has been popularly dubbed “Tehran-geles” (Los Angeles, California), I grew up in Southern California before moving to North Carolina in 2003 to study at Duke University. I graduated in 2007 with a double major in Cultural Anthropology and Women’s Studies.

“I speak Farsi fluently and have a working knowledge of Arabic. I currently reside in Washington, DC, where I work with women from Iraq as part of State Department-funded programming. My interest in the Open Forum Foundation stems from a desire to understand foreign governments, especially in the Middle East, and to enable voters in those countries.”