Board of Directors

Board members are elected for two-year terms by the members of the SSA.

Currently they are:

Evan Clark, Chair
Jennifer McCreight, Vice Chair
Conrad Hudson, Treasurer
Brendan Murphy, Secretary and Deputy Treasurer
Nate Mauger, Deputy Secretary
Frank Bellamy
John Figdor
Joe Foley
Katie Hartman
Shelley Mountjoy
Don Sutterfield

Conrad Hudson, Treasurer (board member since 2011)
Lawrence, KS
[ conrad AT secularstudents DOT org ]

Conrad Hudson joined the SSA as an accounting student at the University of Kansas. There he serves as the President of the KU Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics ( SOMA) and is proud of its tremendous growth in to a group with hundreds of members and beneficiaries. He has continually pushed to expand the activities of the group, creating campus wide events to raising the group's public profile including the first ReasonFest in 2011 a multi-day free-thought festival in Lawrence, KS. He also spearheads endeavors to reach out to campus religious groups for debate, dialog and service.

His own experience with the effect of religious bigotry, as a shunned ex-member of the Christian denomination Jehovah's Witnesses, motivates him to work tirelessly in providing community for secular youth, increasing understanding about the non-religious, developing tolerant and pragmatic relationships, peaceful and supportive communities and combating dogmatism, ignorance, and indoctrination through a wide variety of tactics. Beyond atheism he enjoys spreadsheets, philosophy, and working as a volunteer for youth camps, LGBTQ groups, women's rights, and domestic violence centers and ultimately the search for truth.

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Brendan Murphy was a graduate in mathematical biology, class of 2011, from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and currently continues academic research in nonlinear dynamics, deep brain stimulation, and epilepsy. His first step into the freethought and secular movement was through serving as the Finance Director for Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists - CASH from 2009 to 2011, continuing some of the annual funding legacies laid down by Joe Foley, and assisting in large event organization including debates, panels, and presentations with PZ Myers, Michael Shermer, Greta Christina, and others.

Brendan is also a photographer and musician, having played both drums and piano in numerous orchestras and jazz combos in the past, and hosts a weekly two-hour radio program dedicated to instrumental music.

He plans to attend graduate school pursuing a PhD in biomathematics and neuroscience in the fall of 2012.

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Nate Mauger's journey into the secular movement began in January, 2010, when he was hired by the SSA to work as a paid intern. Beginning in May, 2010, he was offered the post of Assistant Campus Organizer under the supervision of Lyz Liddell. The SSA experienced significant affiliate growth during Nate's tenure, culminating with the addition of over 40 secular student groups on high school and college campuses. Furthermore, the SSA saw their full time staff increase from 2 to 5, through the addition of a communications director, development director, and a campus organizer/high school specialist. During his time on the campus organizing team, Nate worked with the staff to successfully plan and run 4 summits/conferences at each of which he was given the opportunity to speak on the importance of the secular community's participation in service work.

After graduating from the Ohio State University with his Bachelor’s Degree in Geography, Nate began his pursuit of a master’s degree in political economy at the Colorado School of Mines. He has spent time researching the impacts of remining/reclamation on abandoned mine landscapes in Eastern Ohio Watersheds, and also has worked with the Appalachian Ohio Forest Research Group to evaluate the reemergence of forests in Appalachian, OH. Since 2009, Nate has given numerous talks to regulatory, industry, and academic professionals on these topics. 

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Frank Bellamy (board member since 2011)
Vienna, VA
[ Frank AT secularstudents DOT org ]

Frank Bellamy's involvement in the secular student movement started when he joined the SSA at the University of Delaware in 2006. After serving as that group's president for two years, he began graduate school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he founded the SSA at RPI and fought hard to get funding for it from the student union. In addition to his work leading SSA affiliates, Frank managed SSA's newsletter, the eMpirical, for almost two years. He greatly enjoyed being a counselor at Camp Quest Chesapeake during the summer of 2011, and hopes to continue his involvement in Camp Quest. In the fall of 2011, he began law school at the University of Virginia, where he founded the Secular Legal Society at UVA.

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John Figdor (board member since 2009)
Cambridge, MA
[ john AT secularstudents DOT org ]

John Figdor is a Humanist MDiv (the pre-ordination degree) at Harvard Divinity School preparing for a career as a Humanist chaplain. To many, the idea of an atheist going to divinity school might seem strange. However, for John it was perfectly logical. After he finished his B.A. in philosophy at Vassar, he decided to spend a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a domestic violence shelter in Butte, Montana. What was perhaps most interesting that year was when John learned that many Americans do not take their ethical advice from Aristotle, Kant, or Mill, but rather from religious leaders. He realized that if he was going to make a meaningful contribution to the ethical dialogue in this country, he ought to study religious ethics. Hence, he enrolled at Harvard Divinity School and studied the intersection of religion, ethics, and politics.

John was elected President of the Harvard Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists (H.A.S.H.), the Harvard graduate student Humanist community, in 2009 and will continue to serve as President until he graduates in 2010. In addition to running the graduate Humanist community, John worked as Greg Epstein's intern in the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University and gained a valuable behind-the-scenes view of Humanist chaplaincy. He was hired in the summer of 2009 as the first Harvard Humanist Community Organizing Fellow at the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and is building a coalition of atheist organizations in the Greater Boston area. For more on John Figdor, check out his profile at the Humanist Chaplaincy . He is particularly interested in both advocacy for the rights of nontheists and building meaningful communities for the nonreligious.

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Joe Foley (board member since 2006)
Palo Alto, CA 
[ joe AT secularstudents DOT org ]

He is a doctoral candidate in genetics at Stanford University and co-founder of Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics (AHA!) at Stanford . He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota in 2007, with a B.S. in biology and a minor in music. He first became involved with the freethought movement as an officer of the University of Minnesota Atheists and Humanists (since renamed Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists - CASH), and led the group as co-chair from 2004 to 2006, during which time CASH successfully secured annual funding from student fees and held many widely publicized events including its own conference. Joe also served the Secular Coalition for America as Treasurer from 2006 through 2007.

Outside of his work in the freethought movement, Joe has found plenty of other ways to keep himself busy. He was a Student Senator in his university government and a member of his college's Student Board, as well as a commissioner in the university's All-Campus Elections. He also plays the violin and viola in ensembles of various sizes.

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Katie Hartman (board member since 2011)
Springfield, MO
[ katie AT secularstudents DOT org ]

Katie Hartman joined the Missouri State branch of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a freshman, and has since been heavily involved in the group's fundraising, advertising, and recruitment ventures. In 2008, the group launched its first annual event featuring PZ Myers and Richard Carrier. The event - retroactively dubbed Skepticon - was free to the public and attracted an audience of about fifty.

By 2010, Skepticon had grown to an epic three-day conference with fifteen speakers and two panels. An estimated 1,000 people attended, making it the year's largest skeptic/freethinker conference in the Midwest and one of the largest in the world. Skepticon continues to grow, and the organizers anticipate audiences far surpassing 1,000 in coming years!

Katie also serves on the Board of Directors for Squirrel Refuge, a small non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitating injured and orphaned squirrels.

Shelley Mountjoy (board member since 2009)
Richmond, VA
[ shelley AT secularstudents DOT org ]

Shelley Mountjoy is a graduate student at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, VA where she has previously earned a Masters of Science in Telecommunications.

Shelley became involved in the secular movement in 2005 through the Rational Response Squad; she is currently a moderator of the site. In 2007, she founded the Secular Student Alliance (GMU), and served as the group's President for five years. Since 2008, she has served as Vice President of Virginia Freethought Renaissance (VFR). VFR is a statewide communication effort to promote events of various associate member organizations.

Shelley has organized over 400 educational, activist, community service, and social events through a variety of organizations. She was formerly the Assistant Organizer of Gay Atheists of Washington DC (GAWD). In July of 2009, Shelley co-founded District of Columbia Atheists, Inc. (DCA) with the synergistic talents of two close friends; she is currently a President of the organization. DCA is organized as a representative democracy and is the first and only formal organization for atheists in the Nation's Capital. Most recently, during 2010 Shelley reestablished the Northern Virginia Chapter of Washington Area Secular Humanists. She is the founder and Organizer of Drinking Skeptically - Richmond. Shelley is also the Coordinator of the Washington DC Coalition of Reason.

Locally, Shelley is best known in the DC area as the Organizer of Capital Beltway Atheists - an 800+ member social atheist community. Holding this position since July of 2008, Shelley has tripled activity, increased membership 110%, and helped to diversify and integrate philanthropy into existing events.

Nationally, Shelley has been on the Board of Directors of the Secular Student Alliance since May of 2009; through the SSA Board, Shelley has also served as a Board Member for the Secular Coalition for America.  Shelley is also currently on the Board of Directors for both Atheist Alliance International (AAI) and Atheist Alliance of America (AAA); she currently serves as Secretary of AAI's Board.  Shelley has also previously served on the advisory board of Atheist Nexus.