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General Advisory Board List

Submitted by august on Fri, 2005-12-02 14:44.
Shannon Cherry

Shannon's involvement may include:

  • Public relations and marketing consultation
  • Guidance in fund raising and 'friend' raising
  • Input on strategic planning
  • Participation in SSA activities, including events and conferences
Shannon is accredited in Public Relations and has worked in the PR and fundraising field for more than 14 years. She is the owner of Cherry Communications, a public relations and marketing communications firm. Clients have included Minolta Corporation, US Department of Justice, Alaska Airlines, as well as several educational and non-profit organizations. Her writing has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times, Yahoo! Internet Life, the Associated Press, Popular Photography, and Parenting. She received her bachelor's degree in communications from SUNY Geneseo and a MA in Communications Administration for the University of Memphis.

Shannon is an active member of the Capital District Humanist Society, her local free thought group, where she has created and coordinated a new membership event, has designed the organization's brochure, and develops strategic planning projects. She is also a volunteer consultant for the Institute for Humanist Studies, providing public relations and marketing support to the organization. She was a presenter at the 2002 SSA conference.

Margaret Downey

Margaret's involvement may include:

  • Writing/Editing articles
  • Helping start up groups (She founded the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia.)
  • Helping with discrimination issues against the Atheist community.
    Margaret Downey founded the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (FSGP) and the Anti-Discrimination Support Network (ADSN) in 1993. In 1994 Margaret founded the Thomas Paine Memorial Committee. In 2004, she developed a new character for teaching critical thinking--The Friggatriskaidekaphobia Treatment Nurse

    Margaret is editor and publisher of the bi-monthly newsletter published by FSGP. The Greater Philadelphia Story is a newsletter written by and for the Atheist community.

    The Thomas Paine Memorial Committee has established proper recognition for the memory of Thomas Paine in various Pennsylvania cities including Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York. Margaret is also the author of city proclamations in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and in Garden Grove, California. She also authored the Philadelphia City Council Resolution that declares June 8th as Thomas Paine Day.

    ADSN is concerned with discrimination against the Atheist community. ADSN monitors public office positions and public schools. In December of 1991 Margaret filed a discrimination case against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) through the Human Relations Commission of Pennsylvania. After nearly eight years she lost her case against BSA. In the U.S. Supreme court case James Dale v. Boy Scouts of America, BSA declared itself “private” to avoid the question of open membership thus ending her appeal and many other court cases against BSA’s discriminatory membership policy. ADSN efforts are responsible for convincing movie producer Steven Spielberg to disassociate himself from BSA.

    ADSN acts immediately upon negative stereotyping by writing letters of complaint that demand the offending party to cease hate speech and issue a public apology and/or retraction. ADSN’s “Erasing Prejudice” program distributes information and training methods in order to develop a national speaker’s bureau that teaches about tolerance and diversity at elementary, secondary, and university levels.

    As ADSN’s founder and president, Margaret has represented the interest of the nontheist community (since 1995) at several United Nations conferences and spoke at the United Nations Freedom of Religion and Belief meeting in New York City. She attended the 2001 United Nations Freedom of Religion and Belief Conference in Madrid, Spain.

    Margaret is a past board member of the American Humanist Association and the Thomas Paine National Historical Association. She is a current board member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, The Humanist Institute, the Godless Americans Political Action Committee, Advisory Board Member of the Robert Green Ingersoll Museum, and the Atheist Alliance. 

    In the year 2002, Margaret became the first “Secular Humanist Celebrant” in Pennsylvania. Taking advantage of Pennsylvania’s “Self-Uniting” marriage licenses; Margaret performs godless weddings and funeral ceremonies.

    Fred Edwords
Fred's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in SSA Publications.
  • Input into mutual cooperation between SSA and AHA.
  • Contributions to SSA literature and content.
  • Participation in the Speaker Series and Debate Circuit.
Fred Edwords is the former Executive Director of the American Humanist Association and is Editor of The Humanist magazine. His experiences in the humanist movement are diverse and he has written extensively on a variety of subjects that move and shake the Secular Community. Fred's accomplishments are many, including being awarded Rationalist of the Year by the American Rationalist Association in 1984 and receiving both the HUMCON Pioneer Award from HUMCON in 1992 and the Humanist Pioneer Award from the AHA in 1986. He is a regular contributor to The Secular Web and participates in Camp Quest each year. Fred Edwords also took part in the First Annual Conference of the Secular Student Alliance with a though-provoking talk on the relevance of humanism to our lives and the world at large.

For more about Fred Edwords and his work, please visit the following on-line resources:


Emmett Fields

Emmett's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in SSA Products and Merchandise.
  • Input into the development of educational programs and resources.
  • Contributions to High School programming and development.
  • Participation in SSA Events and Conferences.
Emmett Fields is owner and operator of the Bank of Wisdom. The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful, scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of suppressed books and cover American and world history; the Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our nations Founding Fathers. They include many subjects within the fields of philosophy and religion.

Mr. Fields is active within the Secular Community and has contributed many papers to The Secular Web.

For more about Emmett Fields and his work, please visit the following on-line resources:


Mynga Futrell

Mynga's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in High School programming and development.
  • Guidance and expertise in educational programs and resources.
  • Contributions to SSA literature and content.
  • Participation in the Speaker Series and SSA Events and Conferences.
Mynga earned a Ph.D. in science and curriculum development and, after teaching at an elementary free school, at junior and senior high levels, and at the national college for the deaf, Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, she worked for a while in teacher education, ran a computer training business, and is now a full-time freelance writer in California. A founding member and past vice president of Sacramento's Atheists and Other Freethinkers, Mynga is a current board member of the Atheist Alliance and a volunteer counselor at Camp Quest 2000. She is a bicycle advocate and licensed motorcyclist who has been TV-free for 26 years.

Mynga co-authored Teachers, Computers, and Curriculum (a text for teachers), Different Drummers: Nonconforming Thinkers in History (includes freethought material), and the web site Teaching About Religion.

For more about Mynga Futrell and her work, please visit the following on-line resources:


Edwin Kagin

Edwin's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in SSA management and operations.
  • Input into SSA issue focus and activist programs.
  • Input into mutual cooperation between SSA and Camp Quest.
  • Participation in the Speaker Series, Debate Circuit and SSA Events and Conferences.
Edwin Kagin is a lawyer/poet. He is a practicing attorney in the state of Kentucky, focusing on First Amendment and Constitutional cases. While an unsuccessful State Senatorial and State Supreme Court candidate, he remains determined to pave the way for other atheist political candidates in his state. He is a founding member of the Free Inquiry Group of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, and a regular contributor to its newsletter "Fig Leaves." He is the founder and director of Camp Quest, the first secular humanist summer camp in the United States. Edwin in the Kentucky State Director for American Atheists, Inc, and a member of their Speakers' Bureau. He is co-author of the book, "The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in American." In February, 2005, a book of his writings, "Baubles of Blasphemy" was released. Edwin & his wife Helen Kagin were named "Atheists of Year" for 2005 by American Atheists.

Woody Kaplan

Woody's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and assistance in fundraising.
  • Guidance and assistance in board governance.
  • Participation in SSA activities including board meetings and conferences.
  • Participation in the Speaker Series.
Woody is a former member of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Board of Directors and served on its Executive Committee.   Currently, he Chairs the Board of Trustees of the ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts.

He founded the Civil Liberties List (a political action committee) and is a full-time political and civil liberties activist.   He is president of the First Amendment Foundation and serves on the advisory boards of the Secular Coalition for America, the Godless Americans Political Action Committee and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

His major activities include lobbying Congress, organizational and development work.   Major interests include freedom of expression, the right of dissent, separation of church and state, racial justice, the rights of lesbians and gay men, reproductive freedom, abolition of the death penalty, the rights of the accused, police misconduct and a general extension of political and civil liberties.

Woody spent twenty-five years developing regional shopping centers and is Chief Executive Officer of The Kaplan Group, Inc.   The Kaplan Group acts primarily as an investor.

Jerry Lieberman

Jerry's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and assistance in fundraising.
  • Guidance and assistance in organizational development.
Jerry has been in higher education for over thirty-seven years. However, he is a real-world activist. He has been a faculty advisor to numerous progressive student organizations over the years.  He served on the Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors from 2001 to 2006.  He is presently the president of the Humanists of Florida Association.

He has created several successful university centers to build partnerships with non-profits community based organizations to address poverty, racism and social injustice. He has also started his own businesses. His strengths are in program and organizational development, building collaboratives, working with diverse populations, technical assistance, evaluation and fundraising. He is tenacious, aggressive and outspoken. However, he is a grassroots bottom person and believes strongly in the democratic process.  He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from New York University.

Molleen Matsumura

Molleen's involvement may include:
  • Guidance and expertise in SSA educational programming and development.
  • Expertise in the area of science education and activism.
  • Input into overall image, focus and message of the SSA.
  • Participation in SSA Events and Conferences.

Molleen is Coordinator of the Science and Media Project of the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education, which works to improve science education and science literacy for all citizens. She is also the co-chair of the East Bay-Oakland chapter of PFLAG . Previously she was Network Project Director for the National Center for Science Education, the only national organization that specializes in defending the teaching of evolution in public schools. She is also a former member of the Board of Trustees of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. As a member of AU's San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, Molleen was a plaintiff in a lawsuit to end city ownership of a monumental cross. She was founding president of Secular Humanists of the East Bay, and a former Vice President of the Internet Infidels. She is a frequent contributor to freethought publications and conferences, and contributed a chapter to Darwin Day Collection One, published by the Darwin Day Program.

Molleen also writes a weekly advice column for the non-theistic called Sweet Reason.

For more about Molleen Matsumura and her work, please visit the following on-line resources:


National Center for Science Education
The Secular Web
Free Inquiry Magazine
Jo Ann Mooney

Jo Ann's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in SSA Event Coordination.
  • Input into SSA coalition building and alliance formation.
  • Contributions to SSA programming and development
  • Participation in SSA Events and Conferences.
Jo Ann Mooney is a secular humanist and freethinker who now lives in the Kansas City area and started the vibrant Heartland Humanists. She is also a social psychologist who has taught (among many colleges) at Furman University in South Carolina and Washburn in Topeka.  Jo Ann has worked for the Council for Secular Humanism as their Director of Humanist Community Development where she is proud to say that she helped create, organize and support dozens of grass roots humanist groups.  She now is the Operations Manager for the Atheist Alliance International.  She is still very dedicated to promoting humanism and the separation of church and state in anyway she can.  And she currently has her work cut out for her living in Kansas where the State School Board has deemphasized the teaching of evolution.

For more about Jo Ann Mooney and her work, please visit the following on-line resources:


Lynne Schultz

Lynne's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in SSA Outreach and Activism.
  • Contributions to SSA literature and content.
  • Participation in SSA Events and Activities.
Lynne (Ankrum) Schultz volunteers as a national atheist ombuds who collects reports of slurs and discrimination against atheists and reports them to nontheist organizations willing to send out press releases. In addition to her own The Godlessheathen Home Page she is also webmaster of Current Status of America's Wall of Church-State Separation: A State By State Guide which is on The Secular Web. She is co-founder and Chair of EARTHWARD, an atheist charity helping victims of religiously motivated violence. She also works on various other projects from time to time and is a member of several nontheist and church-state separation organizations.

For more about Lynne Schultz and her work, please visit the following on-line resources:


Herb Silverman

Herb's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in Coalition Building.
  • Input into group development and activism.
  • Participation in the Speaker Series and SSA Events and Conferences.
Herb Silverman is a Professor of Mathematics at the College of Charleston where he has been awarded the Distinguished Research Award. He founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry in South Carolina and is faculty advisor to the College of Charleston Atheist-Humanist Alliance. He also donated an endowed Secular Humanist Scholarship. Herb is a National Board Member of the American Humanist Association and the Atheist Alliance. He is president of the Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella group of five national organizations that is cooperating to hire a lobbyist in Washington. The organization is planning to activate grassroots political input throughout the country that politicians will have to notice. Herb is also a failed gubernatorial candidate, but a successful notary public and is active in defending the rights of religious non-believers in the political and social arenas.

For more about Herb Silverman and his work, please visit the following on-line resources:


Robert Stephens

Bob's involvement may include:

  • Guidance and expertise in SSA management, programming and development.
  • Input into fundraising and promotional efforts.
  • Contributions to SSA literature and content.
  • Participation in SSA Events and Activities.
Robert J. Stephens is co-founder and retired President of TECH-STAR Ind. Inc., a California corporation that manufactures components for the semiconductor industry. For a period of thirty years, prior to forming TECH-STAR, Dr. Stephens, a professional biologist, was Director of the Cell Biology Program at SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute.) He is author of over 135 scientific papers published in a number of professional journals. In addition Dr. Stephens served his community of Menlo Park, California, as Mayor and Council Member for a period of ten years.

Bob has been a supporter of SSA ever since its inception and as a retired Scientist he has promoted the International Recognition of Science and Humanity through the establishment of Darwin Day Celebration, a nonprofit California Corporation. Science professionals as well as science enthusiasts around the world are invited to visit the Darwin Day website and participate by establishing their own Celebration.

As an avid supporter of science education he is currently a Trustee of Wonderfest. Wonderfest is a nonprofit educational project in the San Francisco Area that aspires to challenge unexamined beliefs, stimulate curiosity, promote careful reasoning and encourage life-long learning. Dr. Stephens also actively supports several freethought organizations including FFRF, CSH, and the local chapter of AHA.

Dr. Stephens received his BA in Biological Science from Pepperdine University; an MA in Embryology and Histology from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; and his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University prior to accepting a position at Stanford Research Institute. Currently Bob and his wife Lola present lectures on topics relevant to Darwin's life and the Celebration of Science and Humanity.

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