David Hardt, President

In the summer of 2002, David Hardt walked into the office of Pauline Dixon, a retired schoolteacher and longtime Democratic activist who was running for Congress against powerful Republican incumbent Pete Sessions. Over the course of the campaign, David helped Pauline raise thousands of dollars and became her most loyal volunteer. Pauline was unable to defeat the Republican incumbent, but the lessons David learned on that campaign strengthened his commitment to the Democratic Party.

David was driven to join Pauline’s campaign because, as a gay man living in a conservative state, David recognizes that America is a nation in need of progressive change.  Hoping to make a difference in his community, David joined the small, local Young Democrats chapter. By mid-2004, he was the club’s treasurer and de-facto leader. Under David’s guidance, which continued through 2005-06 during his term as President, the Dallas County Young Democrats grew to become the most important Democratic organization in Dallas and one of the largest YD chapters in the nation.

Since 2003, David has served on the Young Democrats of America National Committee as the male representative for Texas. In 2006, he served as chair of the YDA Site Selection Committee for the 2007 National Convention. Under David’s leadership, the DCYDs were a key component of the surprising countywide victories won by Dallas Democrats in 2004 and later to the local party’s sweep of all contested countywide races in the 2006 elections.

While most active within the Young Democrats, David Hardt has also been a leader and organizer within other parts of the local party, as a member of the Dallas County Democratic Party’s Finance Council, a leader within Dallas’s GLBT community, a board member of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, and supporter of the local branch of the Human Rights Campaign. He was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

David is currently the Chief Financial Officer of a manufacturing company and lives in Dallas, Texas, with his Partner Steven, a lawyer, their dog and two cats.

 

Chris Anderson, Executive Vice President

After serving two years as YDA’s Vice-President for Programs, Christopher Anderson has been elected Executive Vice President of YDA.  Residing in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chris manages a collection of restaurants, employed as Assistant Food & Beverage Director for the Bluff View Art District. 

Chris has a history of involvement with YD chapters on the high school, college, county, and state levels.  Additionally, he is active in his state and local parties as a political consultant, event planner, fundraiser, and volunteer. Chris has served as paid staff in a variety of positions for many state and local campaigns in Tennessee, including Governor Phil Bredsen's first election.

 

Crystal Strait, Democratic National Committeewoman

Crystal Strait’s recent election to the post of DNC Woman makes her the first Asian-American to represent YDA at the DNC.  Crystal has been actively involved with young Democrats for over 10 years and recently served two-terms as the California Young Democrats’ (CYD) President.  During her tenure as CYD President, California became the first state to fully participate in YDA’s flagship state partnership program, hiring full-time staff and making over 100,000 peer-to-peer knocks and phone calls in the 2006 cycle, including a YDA peer-to-peer project that delivered the margin of victory for Democrats in the heart of Republican Orange County.

Crystal has a breadth of political experience the areas of policy, communications and field work from serving as a Senior Policy Aide and Communications Director in the State Assembly; working on various city, legislative and state campaigns; and through her current post as Deputy Political Director for the California Democratic Party.

 

Francisco J. Domenech, Democratic National Committeeman

Francisco Domenech is YDA’s male representative to the Democratic National Committee.  From 2005-2007, he served as YDA’s Vice President of Development.

Francisco is a proven leader in youth, Latino, political and legal communities.  He is currently the Director of the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly’s Office of Legislative Services, where he heads an agency with an 11 million dollar budget that provides research and legal services to both the Puerto Rico House and Senate.

Francisco, a member of the Puerto Rico Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Hispanic National Bar Association, has a wide range of legal experience.  He has worked as a trial attorney in the Litigation Department of McConnell Valdés, has, represented clients at the trial and appellate levels and appeared before the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.  Additionally, Francisco worked career at the law firm of Colón & Román, where he represented the Department of Education’s labor unions and had extensive trial practice both at the federal and state level. He integrated his law career with his political passion during his tenure as Director of the Office of Legal Counsel and Federal Affairs for the Puerto Rico Senate and President’s offices, where he served as the President’s Chief Legal Advisor and supervised the Senate’s representation in Washington, DC. 

As a campaign operative, Francisco worked in various areas of Dr. Pedro Rosselló’s Gubernatorial Campaign for the New Progressive Party (NPP).  He worked as the Rapid Response Team’s Issues Director and the Project Manager for the first Don Luis A. Ferré Memorial Activity, a massive electoral program in Puerto Rico.

Francisco was also a co-founder and the first President of the Young Democrats of America’s Puerto Rico chapter. Under Francisco’s leadership, the Young Democrats in Puerto Rico secured five delegate slots for the Democratic National Convention and raised funds to send 14 members to volunteer for YDA’s campaign program in 2004, the Young Voter Alliance.

Mr. Domenech obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree, cum laude, with a Major in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico. He attended the University of Puerto Rico’s School of Law, where he obtained his Juris Doctor Degree in 2003.

 

A’shanti Fayshel Gholar, Vice President

A’shanti Fayshel Gholar got her start in Democratic politics conducting outreach to voters when she was fifteen.  The native Nevadan has devoted the majority of her adult life to the promotion of Democratic candidates and ideals. In 2004, A'shanti was elected the first African American and first female President of the Young Democrats of Nevada in the organization’s sixty-year history and that same year A’shanti was honored to be chosen as one of two young people from Nevada to serve as a page to the Nevada Delegation at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. 

In 2005, A’shanti was elected National Vice President of the College Democrats of America (CDA). In 2006, she was appointed Co-Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Youth Council and continues to utilize this platform to promote the interests of young Democratic activists in the national party.   A’shanti previously served Nevada’s National Committeewoman, as the first Board Secretary of the Jewish Caucus, and as Vice Chair of the Chapter Building Committee.

At home in fabulous Las Vegas, A’shanti serves as the Secretary of the Nevada State Democratic Party and is proud to be the youngest person elected to a State Party position.  She is the 1^st Vice President of the Clark County Women's Democratic Club and a member of the Clark County Democratic Party.  As a leader in the African American community, she lends her voice to the Executive Board of CAAN (Caucus of African American Nevadans) and the NAACP. A’shanti works for Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley.

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Omar Khan, Vice President

Omar Khan was born in Long Island, New York. He attended the University of South Florida and spent a semester in Washington D.C interning for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.  Following his internship, Omar returned to the University of Southern Florida and was elected Student Body President and subsequently was appointed to the University of South Florida’s Board of Trustees.  Upon graduation, Omar worked for the Florida Democratic Party on multiple campaigns including that of Senator John Kerry. He has lobbied on a multitude of issues including the environment, health care, human rights and higher education and has made many media appearances as a young, Democratic surrogate. 

Omar has served YDA in several capacities, including being the past President of the Florida Young Democrats and serving as the Legislative Liaison for the Young Democrats of America from 2005-2007.

Professionally, Omar served as the Deputy Political Director for the Florida Senate Victory Committee in the 2006 election cycle and is currently working on Senator Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign. 

 

Josh Blevins, Vice President for Programs

Josh became involved in young Democratic politics as a rank-and-file member of the Hendrix College Young Democrats.  He was later elected President of that chapter, and helped transform the six-member organization into the largest Young Democrats chapter in Arkansas.

In 2005, Josh was elected President of the Young Democrats of Arkansas where, with help from a YDA state partnership grant, he increased the chapter’s annual budget from around $8,000 per year to around $130,000 for the current year.  During his term, the Young Democrats of Arkansas were able to hire an Executive Director, double the number of chartered local chapters, and strengthen the infrastructure of pre-existing chapters.  Over 1800 new young activists from around the state joined YDAR’s active membership, with hundreds getting directly involved in campaign work.  In 2006, YDAR executed their first peer-to-peer GOTV campaign where they increased young voter turnout by 34.7% from the last non-presidential election in targeted districts while overall turnout in those areas increased by just 2.3%. 

Josh was appointed Chair of the YDA Chapter Building Committee in 2006.  In this capacity, he has helped navigate state presidents through the process of becoming partnership grant recipients so that they could accomplish their goals of increasing their active membership and getting Democrats elected. 

Josh currently resides in Little Rock with his girlfriend, Jessica, and his two Labradors.  He works as the Public Affairs officer for Arkansas’ Democratic Attorney General.

 

Stephanie Hausner, Secretary

Stephanie was born and raised in New City, New York, a suburb of New York City. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelors of Arts degree in International Studies with a concentration in American Foreign Policy.

Stephanie first became active in Democratic politics her freshmen year in college as a Capitol Hill intern for Congresswomen Nita Lowey.   Stephanie then worked for Congresswoman Lowey’s campaign and interned for her again as a press intern.

Stephanie became an early supporter of Senator John Kerry and worked with his field staff in Maryland to prepare for the Democratic primary, serving as the state Campus Coordinator. She has also worked on the Kerry-Edwards Campaign in New York as the Volunteer Coordinator She then returned to work in the DC headquarters on the Midwest Regional Political Desk. Additionally, Stephanie has interned with lobbying organizations and worked on local and statewide races in both Maryland and New York.

During her college career, Stephanie served in various capacities on the Johns Hopkins University College Democrats board, including Secretary, Vice President, Campaign Director, and President. She was a founding officer of the Maryland Federation of College Democrats at the Democratic National Convention and served as its President. In 2004, she served on the CDA Platform Committee and helped to construct the message of the College Democrats of America.

In 2005, Stephanie also became involved with the Young Democrats. She was on the Executive Board of the Maryland Young Democrats and was active with its Women's Caucus. Stephanie later served YDA as Vice Chair of Jewish Outreach for the YDA Jewish Caucus, Secretary of the College Caucus, and New York’s Downstate regional Vice President.

Professionally, Stephanie is the National Campus and Programs Coordinator for a major Jewish organization.

 

Amy Lewis, Treasurer

Originally from a suburb of San Francisco, Amy now happily claims Virginia as home.  She attended the University of California San Diego where she received her B.A. in Human Development.  But a semester in Washington, DC, and an internship with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Children and Families pulled Amy east after graduation to pursue public service and politics.

Amy enrolled in George Washington University 's prestigious public policy program, graduating with a Master's Degree in Public Policy with a concentration in her passion, Social Policy.  After settling in northern Virginia, Amy joined the Arlington Young Democrats (AYD) while volunteering on a campaign.   She was quickly chosen to be AYD's treasurer and eventually became finance director.  The first event she organized as Finance Director raised over $4,000.   In 2006, Amy successfully ran for AYD Vice President and joined the Democratic majority.

Active at the state and regional level, Amy previously served as National Committeewoman for Virginia Young Democrats (VAYD) and is the former vice president of membership.   In this role, she helped local chapters build membership, increase participation and charter new chapters.  As Deputy Director of the YDA Mid-Atlantic Region, Secretary of the YDA Budget Committee and the first YDA Jewish Caucus Treasurer, Amy impacted every level of YDA and experienced first hand the importance of a nationally coordinated effort to build the clout and efficiency of Young Democrats in modern politics.  

Amy lives in northern Arlington, Virginia, and works in government affairs in Washington, DC.

 

Sasha Bruce

Sasha Bruce is the Assistant Director of Government Affairs for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest growing labor union in North America with more than 1.8 million members. For SEIU, Ms. Bruce works on member outreach and capacity building through the management of such special projects like the 1,500 Member Political Action Conference, GOP member program and the America Dream Fund, SEIUs fundraising effort to support our work in the presidential cycle.

Prior to joining SEIU in 2006, Ms. Bruce worked for the National Democratic Institute where she managed the political party program in Baku, Azerbaijan. There she designed and conducted campaign trainings for 11 parties and 500 candidates on messaging, grassroots organizing, GOTV and election observation in advance of the parliamentary elections in 2005. She also ran the Women’s Participation Program in Azerbaijan, the countries only program that consistently brought together women from different political parties.

Ms. Bruce has had considerable experience in voter contact strategy. For four years, she managed direct mail campaigns for Mammen Pritchard, a direct mail consulting firm, and went on to be the National Deputy Director for Field Communication at America Coming Together (ACT) in 2004. At ACT, Ms. Bruce worked within a multi-million dollar budget to coordinate a layered voter contact strategy consisting of voter registration, persuasion and GOTV mail and phone programs in 15 battleground states.

Ms. Bruce has also worked for the Democratic Grassroots Action Information Network (GAIN, 2003-04) where she helped design and plan GAIN’s first campaign training for young aspiring political activists, and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (2000-02) where she helped create the organizations first training program in Seattle, WA.

In addition to being committed to progressive politics and social justice causes domestically, Ms. Bruce is dedicated to international development politically and socially. She has worked on elections in Somalia, Palestine and Azerbaijan and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, Africa. She is from Guyana, South America where she and her Mother run the Pomeroon Education Project in the country’s rainforest region providing transportation for 52 high school children to get to school every day.

Ms. Bruce received her Bachelor’s degree from Stetson University in Florida.

 

Jody Buckley

Jody Buckley is a past national president of the Young Democrats of America. Before serving as president from 1993-95, she was VP of Women’s Affairs and Executive Director of the organization. She served as a Presidential Elector for Washington State in 1996.  She remains political active in Washington State, her new home of California and in the federal arena.

Jody is active in and passionately committed to the evolving field of venture philanthropy.  She is Co-Founder of Stone Soup, a non-profit consulting firm that assists women through individual, organizational and community capacity building projects in the Pacific Northwest, with a specific focus on rural areas.  Additionally she directs the charitable giving of the Buckley/Horowitz Fund with primary focus in Northern California.

An active volunteer, Jody has served on several boards and board committees including Death Penalty Focus, Community Association for Rehabilitation, and Women’s Recovery Association.  Additionally, Jody is the Executive Producer of an independent film currently in circulation in film festivals nationwide.

Jody is a 1987 Honors Graduate from Washington State University.  She did post-graduate work at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.  She received her Master of Education in Counseling and Guidance from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.  She lives in Menlo Park, California with her husband, Mark Horowitz and their children, Alex and Tess.

 

Veronica E. De La Garza

Veronica E. De La Garza is the Director of LATINA Style magazine and former Executive Director of Youth Vote Coalition.   Ms. De La Garza has over 13 years of knowledge, skills and hands on experience in the Hispanic, political, government and nonprofit sectors.

Through her work in the youth civic participation community, Veronica has trained over 1000 young people and while working with Youth Vote Coalition directed one of the largest efforts to register and increase the youth vote with the result of a 3.8 million youth voter increase in Elections 2004. 

Ms. De La Garza currently works to empower the professional and business owning Latina in the United States through LATINA Style Magazine, the most influential publication reaching the contemporary Hispanic woman.

As an expert in the field of Youth Voting and the Hispanic community, Veronica has appeared on BBC, Channel One, CNN en Español, CNBC's Dennis Miller Show, ESPN's Cold Pizza, Clear Channel, XM Satellite Radio and National Public Radio.  She has been featured in articles by the Associated Press, Campaigns and Elections, FoxNews.com, Glamour Magazine, LATINA Magazine, MSNBC.com, MTV.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, and several dozen local newspapers across the country.

Ms. De La Garza has had the honor of speaking with youth in Mexico, Peru, Africa, China, Israel and Palestine as a guest of the U.S. State Department and has been an expert speaker for several Harvard University Conferences, National Association of Secretaries of States' meetings and Rutgers University. 

Veronica served on the advisory boards of Mobilizing America's Youth, New Voters Project, Center for Environmental Citizens and Citizens' Debate Commission.  She is currently on the Board of the Young Democrats of America and recently participated in the prestigious Embassy of Spain's Young Hispanic Leadership Program. 

Veronica is a 32 year old Mexican-American and a native of Chicago.  She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The University of Texas-Pan American and a Nonprofit Management Certification from Georgetown University.  She is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Vanessa Kerry

Vanessa Kerry graduated summa cum laude from Yale University (PC '99) and received a BS with distinction in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, to later enroll at Harvard Medical School.

In 2004,  she took a leave of absence from Harvard to work on her father's campaign for President. During this time she focused on youth outreach and participation, health care and global health issues, women's issues, and the environment. Much of her time was spent traveling the country giving speeches, interviews, and meeting with constituents coast to coast. She helped introduce her father at the 2004 DNC.

After the campaign, Vanessa spent a year studying abroad under a Fulbright Scholarship and in 2005 graduated from a joint program at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics with an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing.

She has an interest in both global and domestic health, especially the need to address international relations' impact on medicine in poorer countries. Specifically, she is concerned with the need to bridge the political  gaps both home and abroad that prevent many from receiving basic care. While in medical school she worked for the Vaccine Fund, and Partners in Health and wrote her Master's thesis on the collaboration between the U.S. government and the government of Rwanda for the procurement of HIV drugs.

In addition she has written on the impact of trade agreements on affordable drug access for developing countries, as well as the role of governance and international forces on health in these countries. As part of her work, she has traveled to Rwanda and researched the role of NGOs in the country, and their outcomes on public health.

Her recent political work includes volunteering for the Jon Tester campaign in Montana, a campaign won by a mere 2000 votes. She currently continues to give lectures on her experience on the campaign trail, the current political landscape, and the role of youth in political change. She is now in her first year of residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Internal Medicine.

Orson Porter

Currently Orson Porter serves as the Deputy Director of Governmental Affairs for Nike, Inc. Nike is the world's largest fitness company with revenues over $8 billion. In his capacity Mr. Porter helps manage Nike's global legislative goals and policies. He also communicates daily with national policy makers and key stakeholders on matters from corporate responsibility, the environment, diversity and community relations.

Prior to joining Nike he was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton as Special Assistant to the President acting as the White House Midwest Political Director. Mr. Porter advised the President, the Vice President and senior staff on national and local issues, with particular emphasis on the Midwest region of the United States. Additionally, he coordinated political events and served as the chief political liaison when traveling with the President or Vice President. To successfully complete his duties, he interfaced regularly with members of Congress, Governors, state and local elected officials and other constituencies. Also, Mr. Porter served as the President’s personal aide for various events and travel.

Before his appointment to the White House, he worked for Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist, where he served as the City's principal federal liaison. In this capacity, he effectively lobbied members of Congress and the administration for millions of dollars in federal support toward smart growth policies and initiatives.

Mr. Porter remains committed to building his hometown community and often champions the world-renowned America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee where he has served on the board for several years. He also served on the Milwaukee Community Service Corporation Board, modeled after the successful Americorp program initiated by President Clinton that gave valuable job training to young adults. In the spirit of building a diverse community, he co-founded the Workplace Diversity Institute in Milwaukee. This institute created a "Best Practices" guide that encourages workforce diversity by assisting businesses in recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. Currently, he serves as the National Advisory Board President of the Strive Media Institute, which is a non-profit mentoring and training program that provides at risk high school students with the opportunity to gain real world knowledge and experience in the field of mass communications.

Mr. Porter has led numerous municipal, state and national political campaigns. In 1996, he served as the Rhode Island Clinton/Gore State Director (second highest margin of victory) and, in 1992, he volunteered as an executive assistant to the Wisconsin Clinton/Gore State Director.  In 1999, he was selected to participate in the highly competitive European Union Visitors Programme.

Mr. Porter has published several articles on community service and has given various lectures on political trends and climates. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater where he majored in Journalism and Communications.

 

Paul Yandura

Paul Yandura is an expert political and fundraising strategist who focuses on youth and GLBT constituency issues.  He advises and raises money on behalf of presidential, federal and state candidates, as well as foundations and non-profits.  He currently works with donors on their individual giving strategies and develops the venues they need to reach their goals.  To achieve client satisfaction, Paul has produced a record album to raise voter awareness, managed a groundbreaking five-state voter mobilization initiative and incubated new organizations and campaigns on behalf of his clients.

During his tenure in Washington, Paul has held both political and public service roles.  In addition to his work in The White House and as Director of Gay and Lesbian Outreach on the Clinton and Gore campaigns, he was presidential appointee at the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Paul is a Magna Cum Laude graduate with a BA in Political Science from George Washington University.