From the NAUDL Board Chair...
The NAUDL is delighted to report that we have met our goal of expanding our organizational bandwidth in order to increase the number of students participating in urban debate. Aggressively working together with the current UDL Network we are (i) building new Leagues, (ii) strengthening a few Leagues that need help, and (iii) providing networking services to existing Leagues. Through hosting League Directors conferences we are helping share UDL best practices nationwide. Finally, we are hosting the first annual Chase Urban Debate National Championship, sponsored by JP Morgan Chase.
This new phase requires rapid expansion of our organization and our
operations, as our efforts and relationships multiply in number and
intensity. As such, we have continued to add to our staff as
anticipated, we have begun a nationwide search for a new Executive
Director, and we remain focused on ensuring that the NAUDL Board of
Directors provides organizational direction from a varied mix of perspectives.
We are delighted to welcome two exceptional individuals to the NAUDL
team:
• Holly Reiss joined the NAUDL on August 1 as the Senior Regional
Program Officer. Holly comes to us from Debate-KC where she
was the Program Administrator of the Kansas City UDL for five years.
In that position, Holly (i) helped build a substantial Advisory Board;
(ii) achieved school district institutionalization of the UDL in both
the KC, Missouri and KC, Kansas school systems; and (iii) focused
on coach professionalization and buy-in to improve the League’s
programming. Holly’s experience makes her remarkably well-suited
to build new Leagues and to lend a hand to existing Leagues that need
our help.
• Anthony Jardina joined the NAUDL on June 18 as our Executive
Assistant. Anthony comes to us from the law firm of Kirkland
& Ellis LLP where he was a project assistant. Anthony is
a 2006 graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communication.
He was a high school and college debater, who has worked with the
Chicago UDL teaching at the Chicago Summer Debate Institute and helping
coach both Kennedy High School and Walter Payton College Prep.
The NAUDL is lucky to have someone with Anthony’s skills and
focus taking on responsibility for critical internal functions and
daily operations that cut across the entire organization.
In this new environment of rapid expansion, no single person can run
both the NAUDL and the Chicago UDL. As such, Les Lynn has decided
to focus his attention on growing and expanding the Chicago League,
which he founded, and on working as a Senior Program Consultant with
the NAUDL to help build and institutionalize several specific Leagues
and to provide assistance on other select projects. We appreciate
his substantial efforts to date, and look forward to working with
him in his new capacity.
The NAUDL is, therefore, commencing a search for a new Executive Director
to lead the organization going forward. I head the search committee
and serve as NAUDL interim Executive Director. My predecessor
as NAUDL board chair, Dick Sullivan, is now heading up a revitalized
Chicago Debate Commission – Chicago’ UDL Advisory Board.
The new NAUDL Executive Director will bring exceptional capabilities
in entrepreneurship, revenue development, and organizational growth
to complement the strong programmatic leadership and dedication of
our current staff. Please pass along that we are accepting applications
until October 15 to whomever you think would be a good fit.
Finally, the following individuals have recently joined the NAUDL
Board of Directors: The Honorable Kenneth M. Karas, a federal
Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District
of New York and a former high school debater in the Chicago area and
college debater at Georgetown; Gretchen Crosby Sims, the Education
Program Manager at the Joyce Foundation and a former high school debater
in the Boston area; Kenneth A. Hersh, Co-Founder and CEO of NGP Energy
Capital Management and a former high school debater in Dallas; and
Linda L. Listrom, a Partner at the Jenner & Block LLP law firm
and a former HS debater in Texas and college debater at the University
of Houston.
On behalf of the NAUDL Board, let me close with our sense of excitement
and optimism -- an outlook born of successes on a wide array of fronts.
The new Executive Director will be entrusted with building on this
progress, and working with our staff and the so many others working
with and in Leagues across the country to further substantially the
cause of urban debate and the opportunities it affords to provide
a voice to young people who deserve to be heard.
Leonard A. Gail
Board Chair
