Benny Samuels (she/her)

Executive Director, AYA Foundation

Benny is an independent change-maker who supports grassroots nonprofits with operations capacity and strategic thought-partnership. Through her firm, Imaginable, Benny deploys her skills and knowledge in communications, operations, program management, and fundraising in service of grassroots nonprofits and their leaders. The idea behind imaginable is to break the cycle of limited and amateur support that is typically offered to grassroots organizations, and replace it with skilled, experienced capacity support aimed at lifting leaders and scaling their vision.

Julie Reiskin (she/her)

Co-Executive Director, Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition

Julie Reiskin is the Co-Executive Director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC). CCDC advocates for social justice for people with all types of disabilities.

CCDC is a leading disability rights organization whose unique model of blending legal and non-attorney advocacy has achieved results for thousands of Coloradoans with disabilities. With a motto of “Nothing About Us Without Us—Ever”, CCDC has led the way in citizen or “client” engagement, and CCDC-trained advocates permeate the Colorado public policy arena. CCDC and Reiskin assist other organizations with assuring real and meaningful participation by “clients” at all levels. Through CCDC and the disability community, Ms. Reiskin has gained expertise in nonprofit accountability and best practices, publicly funded long-term community-based services, disability rights law, public benefits and the intersectionality of systemic and individual advocacy.

In 2010, Ms. Reiskin was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation as the client representative. In 2018, she was elected to serve on the Board of the ACLU of Colorado and is currently Chair of the Board. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Denver Foundation and Treasurer of the National Pain Advocacy Center.

Ms. Reiskin is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver at the Graduate School of Social Work acting as a field liaison and teaching macro practice social work.

Ms. Reiskin provides consulting with organizations seeking to improve, expand or enhance their ability to effectively practice real and meaningful client/constituent engagement at all levels of the organization. She also helps organizations develop disability cultural competence and understand the intersection of ableism with racism and other forms of oppression. She has her MSW and BS from the University of Connecticut.

Lindsay Church (they/them)

Executive Director and Co-Founder, Minority Veterans of America

Lindsay Church (they/them) is MVA’s Executive Director and Co-Founder and has nearly a decade of experience rooted in veteran’s advocacy and grassroots organizing. They have facilitated agency-wide cultural competency trainings and assessments to ensure organizations and governmental entities are able to serve their minority and veteran constituencies effectively and efficiently.

Their previous appointments include LGBTQ Commissioner for the City of Seattle, Co-Chair of Congresswoman Suzan Delbene’s (WA-1) Veterans Advisory Council, and they have participated in Armed Forces Academy selection for Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s (WA-7).

Lindsay is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, where they served as a Cryptologic Technician Interpretative.

Rod Jacobs (he/him)

Vice President of Development & Engagement, Native Americans in Philanthropy

Rod Jacobs (Anishinaabe, Bkejwanong First Nation) brings a wealth of experiences from across North America.

Most recently, Rod was the Assistant Director of Leadership Gifts at Vassar College, which included building relationships with alumni and their philanthropic values/interests. He has also worked in development and program management roles with Big Brothers Bigs Sisters of Washtenaw County, North American Indigenous Games, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Sport Circle, and Native Women’s Association of Canada. In addition, Rod enjoys facilitating transformative conversations using techniques from traditional Indigenous practices, Technology of Participation, and Liberating Structures.

Rod holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Cleary University with a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University Global. He has also completed graduate certificate programs in Facilitation from Eastern Kentucky University and Sports Business Management from Algonquin College.

Rod lives in Poughkeepsie, New York, with his wife, the traditional territory of the Munsee Lenape people.

Rachel Griego (she/her)

Senior Vice President, Community Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Latino Community Foundation of Colorado

Rachel Griego is the Senior Vice President of Community Innovation and Strategic Partnerships for the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado (LCFC). She has worked in the non-profit sector for more than 20 years in Los Angeles, Washington, DC and presently Denver. Prior, Rachel worked in government and for the largest national Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS (formerly NCLR), served as a political appointee for the Obama Administration at the U.S. State Department in the Dominican Republic and served the Clinton Administration at the Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau.

Rachel graduated from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo with a degree in Political Science. She is a Lideramos Fellow and recent recipient of the Unsung Heroine Award from Latinas First Foundation. She lives in Denver and is the proud mother of her son Luca.