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Karin VanZant, CEO
Phone: (937) 717-5948
Karin H. VanZant is the co-founder of Think Tank, Inc. She is the CEO of Think Tank and the National Circles Campaign. She has worked extensively over the past two years with the local Circle sites in 26 states. Karin is a National Bridges Out of Poverty trainer, established the first regional training center in the United States as a part of the National Circles Campaign, and has expanded Think Tank from 2 part-time employees to over 9 FTE and 9 AmeriCorps VISTA positions since 2006.
Karin loves working at Think Tank and being able to use her voice to assist local communities to assess and solve complex issues. She has traveled to most of the Circles sites in the US and has worked to develop a National Guiding Coalition that lives out the promises of Circles. Over the past 15 years as a social worker, the past three years have been the most difficult and most rewarding. Being a part of the solution motivates Ms. VanZant to want to spread the word further and faster so that more and more families can have greater access to resources. Building social capital is truly the solution to ending poverty.
Karin has lived in Clark County her entire life. She is a two-time graduate of Wright State University - BA in Social Work and a Master's in Public Administration. She teaches as an adjunct professor at Antioch Midwest in the Human Services and Health and Wellness school. She has been married to her high school sweetheart Nate since 1995 and has a wonderful son Jeff who attends Shawnee High School.
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Marlo Fox, Assistant Director
Phone: 937-727-9119
Marlo Fox has a BA in Social Work from Anderson University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Nonprofit Management at Regis University. Marlo is the Assistant Director and co-founder of Think Tank, Inc. Previous to her role at Think Tank, Marlo worked for nine years as a Workforce Development Program Director to promote training and employment opportunities for unemployed and underemployed citizens of Clark County. Marlo's experience includes eleven years of direct service with low income populations and nonprofit administration including leadership of multiple programs and staff.
Marlo is certified in Bridges Out of Poverty and Getting Ahead. Marlo is a life-long resident of Clark County and has served on various community boards and committees including Springfield Christian Youth Ministries, Marriage Resource Center, Nehemiah Foundation, Leadership Clark County and Springfield Promise Neighborhood.
Marlo, her husband of 13 years and their two daughters are all committed to the development of a Springfield community where people from all walks of life have the opportunity to thrive.
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Heather Cunningham, National Circles Coach
Email: heather@thinktank-inc.org Phone: (937) 727-9115
Heather's care for people has always been the center of her career. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for almost a decade. Heather has had different roles in that period of time. In the early years of her career, she worked at a domestic violence agency, which included working with clients and supervising staff, managing projects and funding.
Heather's more recent work has been with the Clark County Circles Campaign. She has had the opportunity to work on this exciting movement both locally and nationally. Heather is a certified trainer for Bridges Out of Poverty, Getting Ahead, and a National Coach for Circles. Her areas of expertise include: working with HUD, AmeriCorps* VISTA, PHSS, DV, HMIS, staff development and building relationships across class, race and cultural lines. Heather has served on various community boards and currently is a member of the McKinley Hall Board of Directors.
In addition to her work with Think Tank, Heather is the director of a local nonprofit organization, LifEvents Inc., which helps families in poverty celebrate life through providing support for special events.
Heather, her husband, son and daughter live in Springfield, Ohio.
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Eric Smith, Neighborhood Organizer
Email: eric@thinktank-inc.org Phone: (937) 926-3444
Born and raised in the DR Congo, Eric was exposed early on to the importance of strengthening community assets as a response to economic hardship. At various points, Eric's family returned to live in Springfield, Ohio resulting in Eric's graduation from North High School. Following high school, Eric completed a Bachelor's degree in World History and International Studies from Taylor University. Since graduating from college, Eric has been heavily involved in community work, including six years on a workforce development program with a local community action agency, two years working for a responsible fatherhood initiative, and three years of community development work in Africa.
Current projects include community development work in the Lincoln neighborhood as part of the Springfield Promise Neighborhood (SPN) initiative. Working closely with neighbors, SPN ensures that every child is school ready by kindergarten and college or career ready by graduation.
Eric is currently pursuing his Master's in Community Development at the University of Victoria. Eric and his wife of six years are residents of Springfield and wish to build a community where every child has the opportunity to achieve his or her highest potential.
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John White, National Circles Campaign Director
Phone: (937) 219-4473
Former Ohio Representative John White is a native of Dayton, Ohio, who has been active in community service, politics, business and organizational change for more than two decades. Currently John is leading the National Circles Campaign Recruitment Team. He is the first connection that many new community have when deciding to enter the campaign. John can speak first hand about the power of Circles and how it has transformed his life over the past two years.
John was first elected to represent the 38th District in the Ohio House of Representatives in 2000. During his tenure, John served as the Chairman of the Health Committee for the House, as well as Chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee. In 2003, John authored legislation to establish the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (GOFBCI), which seeks to partner with small to medium size nonprofit organizations that embody "best practice" collaborations, solutions and results-based metrics that maximize the effectiveness of the office's annual budget of over $12 million. During his last three years in the Legislature, John led efforts in Ohio to advance ex-offender re-entry programming as well as institute key criminal justice reform measures. John sponsored and helped pass three pieces of legislation to assist both offenders and their families: House Bill 66, House Bill 113 and House Bill 130.
Since leaving the Ohio General Assembly after serving eight years, John has partnered with Think Tank, Inc. to launch the Dayton Circles Campaign and work with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and Montgomery County leaders to adapt the Circles principles to assist incarcerated individuals as they transition back into their communities. John and his wife Andrea have been married 26 years. They have three daughters and reside in Kettering, Ohio.
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Tom Stricker, Dayton Circles Coach
Email: tom@thinktank-inc.org Phone: (937) 751-2590
Tom Stricker founded the DePaul Center, a transitional housing program for homeless men in Dayton, Ohio in 1994. He has been an active advocate for housing and poverty issues for more than 20 years. He is a long time member and past chairperson of the Dayton Emergency Housing Coalition and is currently on the board of COHHIO (Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio) for which he has served 12 years.
Tom joined the Dayton Circles Reentry team in December 2009 and is now the Dayton Circles Coordinator working in partnership with New Path, Inc and Fort McKinley United Methodist Church. He is a certified Bridges Out of Poverty trainer, and enjoys teaching and training in non-violent communication and anger management using the NVC model at a local prison.
Tom is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to Dayton in 1980. He and his wife Patty live in Jefferson township. They worship with and are members of the Living Beatitudes Community. Tom has been a member of the Federation of Christian Ministries for the past 16 years and is presently the Regional Vice President of the Great Lakes Region. He is also a volunteer on-call chaplain at Miami Vally Hospital.
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Ken Moss, Reentry Circles Coach
Email: ken@thinktank-inc.org Phone: (937) 926- 3523
Ken Moss is the Reentry Coach and works with members of the Think Tank team to facilitate Reentry Circles of Dayton and the Getting Ahead Curriculum in Dayton.
Ken is also currently Executive Director and Co-Founder of Ohio Association of Formerly Incarcerated Offenders Inc. The mission of the organization is to be the voice of previously incarcerated individuals who will challenge perceptions and change systems to lower recidivism throughout Ohio. Ken is Associate Pastor of Everybody's Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Dayton and Volunteer Chaplain at the Dayton Correctional Institution.
He feels being able to assist in meeting the important needs of the men behind prison walls has proven to be very rewarding over the last eight years. Ken is widowed and currently resides in the Dayton Area with his children. He holds a Liberal Arts degree, and a Certificate in Business Administration. He is currently studying Psychology and Christian Counseling.
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Pam Ku-Snyder, Accountant & Contract Manager
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Phone: (937) 717-5948
Pam Ku-Snyder has lived in Springfield since emigrating from Hong Kong with her family. She graduated from Kenton Ridge High School and Wright State University with a BS in Management Science. Upon graduation she and her husband decided to stay in the Springfield area to be close to their families. Pam has over 20 years experience in accounting and finance working at Mercy Medical Center, Rawac Plating Co., and Junior Achievement.
Pam, Chris and their three children live in Springfield and spend their time at the Springfield YMCA where they are actively involved with the SPY swim team. They are also members and worship weekly at First Christian Church.
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