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Ashley Aubrey is a Senior Housing Counselor for Make It Right. Her responsibilities include securing financing for Make It Right families, providing educational workshops and organizing community events. Prior to Make It Right, Aubrey worked for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater New Orleans as a Housing Coordinator. There Aubrey designed and implemented educational workshops, organized community relations, worked in fund and partnership development and served as a resource to clients on affordable housing policy issues. Prior to that Aubreyworked in program management, partnership development and community relations at Guillot Mortgage Corporation as a Loan Officer. A native New Orleanian, Aubrey is a very active volunteer in her community. She serves as the Professional Development Chair to the Urban League’s Young Professionals Chapter, on the board of the Louisiana Home Buyer’s Education Collaborative and is a member of the Preservation Resource Center’s African American Heritage Committeee. Aubrey also serves as a consultant to small non-profit organizations involved in the affordable housing industry. She earned her BA in Social Science from Loyola University in New Orleans. Aubrey is inspired everyday by the people she works with; from her co-workers to Make It Right’s future homeowners.

Email: aaubrey@makeitrightnola.org

Belinda Choina is the Warehouse Coordinator for Make It Right. Her responsibilities are to provide accounting support to the warehouse/ construction team and to track the movement of building materials through the warehouse to the contractors and the Make it Right site in the Lower 9th Ward. Prior to joining Make it Right, Choina relocated from Indiana to accept the position of Accounting Manager for Topp Knotch Personnel. As Accounting Manager for TKP, she managed the weekly payroll of 150 employees and the bi-weekly payroll of 20 employees as well as accounts receivable. In addition to Make It Right, Choina volunteers 3 nights per week at a non-profit drug rehab clinic doing patient check in and front office management. Choina is a proud wife and mother; married for 13 years with a 19 year old son and a 16 year old daughter.

Email: bchoina@makeitrightnola.org

Tom Darden is the Executive Director of the Make It Right Foundation, the organization founded by actor Brad Pitt to build 150 affordable, green, high design homes in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Darden oversees a staff of 33 full-time employees including engineers, builders, landscape architects, homeownership counselors and community organizers. Darden has worked with the Make It Right Board to raise over $27 million from more than 31,000 donors, managed the design process with 21 architectural firms and completed eight LEED Platinum homes. Under Darden’s leadership, the Make It Right neighborhood has become the largest, greenest development of single family LEED Platinum homes in America, according to the US Green Building Council. Darden was recently named Louisiana’s 2009 Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Small Business Administration.

As Make It Right's first volunteer in December of 2006, Darden conducted initial due diligence efforts on the feasibility of Pitt's concept for building green, affordable housing on a large scale in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Darden's report evolved into the strategic plan for Make It Right. Prior to joining Make It Right, Darden worked as a development consultant in Washington, D.C., evaluating former manufacturing and mining sites in the D.C. metropolitan market, including the site where the largest dinosaur bone unearthed on the east coast of North America was discovered. Darden’s efforts made it possible to reclaim the mine and preserve the archeologically significant site. In addition, Darden helped establish a start-up telecommunications company and founded Arbor Equity, a real estate firm in Raleigh, N.C. committed to sustainable development.

Darden received a B.A. with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Email: tdarden@makeitrightnola.org

Tim Duggan, ASLA, is a Landscape Architect currently developing the Sustainable Landscapes program for the Make it Right Foundation based in New Orleans. His professional career began in the midwest with BNIM Architects where he was collaborated on a wide range of projects; from complex community planning initiatives to green urban designs.

Duggan has served as a guest critic and lecturer on sustainable site solutions at Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, Kansas City, as well as Community and Civic organizations in Kansas City and New Orleans. His Landscape Architecture interests are focused on natural systems based stormwater management techniques, landscape restoration and reclamation projects and various international urban design studies.

Email: tduggan@makeitrightnola.org

Email: sfreeze@makeitrightnola.org

Kim S. Haddow recently became the Director of Communications for Brad Pittps Make It Right Foundation, which is building 150 affordable, green and storm-resistant homes in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. Her responsibilities include brand management, strategic communications planning, message development and coordination of paid and earned media, e-communications tools and tactics and material development.

Prior to this position, Haddow served as the National Communications Director for the Sierra Club, where she had similar responsibilities and oversaw a staff of forty. Before joining the national Sierra Club, Haddow worked for ten years as the head of her own media consulting and advertising agency for non-profits. Before starting her own business, she spent eight years at Greer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns—a political consulting firm where she worked on 22 gubernatorial and senatorial candidate and statewide initiative campaigns. Haddow began her professional career at WWL-AM in New Orleans, where she began as morning news editor and rose to become Director of Radio News Operations.

Haddow and her husband George co-wrote the book, Disaster Communications in a Changing Media World (2009) and co-wrote/edited with Jane Bullock, Global Warming, Natural Hazards and Emergency Management (2009).

Email: khaddow@makeitrightnola.org

A native New Orleander, Ashley returned home to NOLA in June 2009 to work with Make It Right Foundation. Hagan graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Anthropology in 2005. In 2009, Hagan graduated Magna Cum Laude from The University of Texas with a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture. Hagan specializes in green technologies and performative systems. She is particularly interested in the opportunities offered to the public realm by the discipline of landscape architecture. The nature of the breadth of scope of landscape provides a platform for community inclusion and service. Her work at MIR involves community activism through community partnerships and outreach projects.

As a designer her highest aspiration is to refine an elegance within design- at the University of Texas her studies focused on urban design and scenario planning for regional scale landscapes and landscapes in transition. At Make It Right, her roles include synchronizing LEED submittals for platinum ratings, integrating sustainable technologies and creating low maintenance landscapes for the Make It Right target area. She has worked on the design of 7 LEED Platinum homes. A focus of hers is the lifecycling of products and the reuse and recycling of materials -- --. She is currently working on an LDRF garden at the Village Community Center in the Lower 9th ward in which a stage provides a platform for community voice and expression within the community.

Email: ahagan@makeitrightnola.org

A native Kentuckian and current resident of the Upper Ninth Ward, Ritchie Katko ventured to Southeast Louisiana in 2006 after graduating from University of Kentucky's Landscape Architecture program, where he focused on innovative stormwater management, land-use suitability planning, site analysis and environmental restoration.

In New Orleans, Katko has worked with a multi-disciplinary range of organizations and individuals at a variety of scales, from regenerative residential design to citywide recovery/planning initiatives.

He joined Make It Right's Construction Department in March 2009, where he explores the relationship between community revitalization, performative landscapes and critical infrastructural enhancements.

Email: rkatko@makeitrightnola.org

LaToya King is a Senior Associate with the Make It Right Foundation focusing on fundraising and development, donor management and reporting. Additionally, King is responsible for implementing and monitoring best practices and organizational governance. Prior to Make It Right, King worked for Cherokee Investment Partners, a real estate private equity firm, focusing on deal analysis, due diligence and asset management. Before joining Cherokee in 2006, she was a lending specialist in the Community Development Finance group of the Fannie Mae Foundation, a private nonprofit organization. She underwrote and managed debt investments for the creation and preservation of affordable housing nationwide. She began her career as an analyst with Bank of America and later served as an underwriting manager in the Community Development Banking Group. King received a BBA with honors from Howard University and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While at Kenan-Flagler, King was a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management student and a fellowship recipient.

Email: lking@makeitrightnola.org

Grace LaGraize is the Office and Human Resources Manager for Make It Right. A native of New Jersey, LaGraize came to New Orleans in 1973 to attend Newcomb College of Tulane University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating from Newcomb, she joined the IBM Corporations in New Orleans where she worked for eleven years. She specialized in administrative support for large mainframe clients as well as specializing in IBM Credit Corporation Financing for large and small system clients. LaGraize then worked for the American Cancer Society as an Area Director and as a Major Gifts Office for the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation. Her last ten years have been spent in Office Management and Human Resources in the legal industry, specifically in Real Estate Acquisition and Debtor Bankruptcy and Foreclosure.

Email: glagraize@makeitrightnola.org

Sarah Marks an analyst for Make It Right managing special projects for the organization such as the recent establishment of Make It Right headquarters in New Orleans. She maintain communications between external parties and internal MIR staff, assists in website updates and oversees intake and response to general inquiries ensuring all communications are being appropriately addressed. Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Marks graduated from Tulane University in 2007 double-majoring in Spanish and Psychology. After studying in Spain her junior year, Marks returned to New Orleans post-Katrina intent on playing an active role in rebuilding. Marks is proud to be a part of efforts to revive the city.

Email: smarks@makeitrightnola.org

Pierre Moses is a product analyst working in the construction department of Make It Right. Moses is responsible for orchestrating all of the residential solar energy installations with hopes to advance the affordability and accessibility of solar technology in communities in and around the New Orleans area. Moses has also been working as a Project Manager, leading a series of structural testings that Make It Right has implemented in conjunction with the University of New Orleans. He also coordinates post-occupancy asset management as well as assists in-office operations with the foundation’s online communication database. Moses developed an interest in entrepreneurial ventures within the non-profit sector while completing a bachelor’s degree from the College of Charleston. Born and raised in New Orleans, Moses relishes the opportunity to benefit the lives of fellow residents by returning local families to the Lower 9th Ward.

Email: pmoses@makeitrightnola.org

Willie Murray is a Senior Associate at Make it Right focusing on customer satisfaction as well as community relations. A large part of his duties revolve around bridging trust between the community and Make It Right. Murray oversees all of Make It Right's land acquisitions and serves as the quality control inspector for all completed Make It Right homes. Prior to his work with Make It Right Murray, was a Director with a real estate development firm in Raleigh, NC. He successfully coordinated several International philanthropic initiatives and though his efforts, $1.5 M worth of relief goods was delivered to the impoverished island of Haiti. Murray received a B.S. with Honors from North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC.

Email: wmurray@makeitrightnola.org

Zakenya Perry is the Outreach Coordinator for Make It Right. Perry was primarily recruited to broker and manage national and local resources and services for youth and their families, in addition to cultivating and maintaining healthy community partnerships in the Greater New Orleans area. Her duties also expanded to fundraising, volunteer recruitment and donation facilitation. She has gained a wealth of experience in the non-profit arena in the areas of administration, marketing, community outreach and resource and youth development. Prior to joining Make It Right, Perry served as the Director of Community Resources for Communities In Schools of New Orleans, Inc. a national, non-profit dropout prevention organization whose mission is to provide and coordinate resources and services in schools to benefit youth and families and assist students with overcoming any obstacles that may lead to dropping out of school.

Prior to joining Communities In Schools, Perry gained experience in project management, after-school program coordination, marketing and community engagement with various non-profit organizations including Operation Reach Inc., NFL YET Boys & Girls Club and Greater New Orleans Inc. Perry graduated from the University of Phoenix with a BA in Business Administration and a Masters degree in Organizational Management. Her passion is simply to collect a network of resources to help people achieve their goals. She is a native New Orleanian and a ninth-ward resident who is dedicated and committed to help rebuild, renew and revive the City of New Orleans.

Email: zperry@makeitrightnola.org

Jaime Peters is the e-Communications Coordinator for Make It Right. Prior to joing MIR, Peters was the Program and Technology Manager for The White House Project, a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization working to advance women’s leadership across sector. She helped to design and implement an organizational technology capacity that increased operational efficiencies and created a leadership networking capacity for WHP stakeholders. She also created/expanded the organizations regional capacity for fundraising, centralized curricular development and developed online capabilities in support of increased training delivery options and minimizing training implementation costs. Prior to The White House Project, Peters spent two years as a national field/online organizer for the MoveOn PAC and Grassroots Campaigns Inc. She is a volunteer with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Jazz Foundation of American and other organizations. She graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in Mathematics and BA’s in Political Science and Public Policy. She now lives in New Orleans with her puppy, Scarlett.

Email: jpeters@makeitrightnola.org

Paulette Pierce is the Administrative Assistant to the Construction Director for Make It Right. She performs administrative duties for the Construction Department and is the liaison between the Construction Director and Make It Right's General Contractors. Pierce is a native of New Orleans from the 7th Ward in Gentilly. She is a graduate of Southern University with a degree in Office Management. A former retiree of a major oil company, Pierce has had experience in Human Resources, Safety & Training, Engineering, Permitting, Services and Accounting. She has rebuilt her home in Eastern New Orleans and is glad to be a part of the Make It Right Team to help the ongoing New Orleans recovery.

Email: ppierce@makeitrightnola.org

Steve brings more than twenty years of leadership in education, health care, and cultural philanthropy to Make It Right. Since 2006 Ragan has consulted through his own practice and with the Remington Group. He has consulted for numerous clients and capital campaigns, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Focus: HOPE, Neighborhood Services Organization, Michigan State University College of Law, Wayne State University, the Dearborn Animal Shelter, and Project Lead the Way.

From 2006 – 2008 he also served as the Vice President for Development and Community Affairs at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he helped achieve record annual fundraising results. For more than seven years he served as the Vice President and Senior Vice President for University Advancement at Lawrence Technological University. Under his leadership Lawrence Tech’s $20 million campaign raised more than $48 million for capital projects, operations, and scholarships. Under his leadership CASE recognized Lawrence Tech with a Circle of Excellence Award as one of the nation’s most improved university fundraising programs and AFP awarded the university its first ever international award for innovation in internet fundraising. The university’s development program grew from $300,000 in annual support to one that consistently raised between $10 and $12 million in gifts and new commitments. In this role Ragan was also responsible for creating the University’s Office of Technology Partnerships and beginning an aggressive government relations program that raised more than $11 million in state and federal funds for capital, research and program needs. Ragan also served as Director of Capital Campaigns for Saint Joseph Mercy Health System and as Development Director for Eastern Michigan University’s College of Arts and Science.

Ragan was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of the top business leaders under the age of forty in 1991. He was elected twice to board of trustees of Schoolcraft College and served on the board for nine years. He was elected chairman of the board and was the youngest chairman of a community college in the United States. He served for ten years as a trustee of the United Methodist Retirement Communities and was chairman of the Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals for nine years. He is currently the president-elect of the Detroit Chapter of the Association.

Email: sragan@makeitrightnola.org

Cesar R. Rodriguez coordinates product donations and acts as a laison with the city of New Orleans for Make It Right. Rodriguez is a second-generation contractor with over 10 years experience in construction management. Rodriguez previously managed his own construction business and brings a wealth of construction and management experience to Make It Right. He is a graduate of the University of Houston with a major in Political Science. Rodriguez was among the first group of contractors to return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Email: crodriguez@makeitrightnola.org

Dena Rodriguez originally joined the Make It Right staff in August 2008 and is currently the Senior Housing Counselor for Make It Right. Rodriguez moves homeowners through the Make It Right rebuilding process; from the approval process, through educational workshops, through the construction process and finally to closing on their homes. Prior to Make It Right, Rodriguez worked for 13 years in the real estate industry. She has vast experience in the mortgage field including mortgage loan processing and underwriting. Rodriguez has also worked as a legal assistant. Rodriguez is a New Orleans native and a graduate of De La Salle High School. She received an Associates Degree in Business from Remington College. Rodriguez was directly affected by Hurricane Katrina. She lost her home and had to relocate. Now she is enthusiastic to be working for Make It Right and excited to rebuild the city that she calls home.

Email: drodriguez@makeitrightnola.org

Dale Joseph Sabatier is a Senior Housing Counselor for Make It Right. A native of New Orleans, Sabatier attended McDonoght #35 Senior High School and Louisiana State University. Sabatier comes to Make It Right with an extensive financial background, having worked in the financial industry for the last 19 years. Prior to his work with Make It Right, Sabatier worked in Las Vegas as the Operations Manager for a Mortgage company that served as a preferred lender in assisting low-income families become homeowners.

Email: dsabatier@makeitrightnola.org

Jon Sader is the Construction Director at Make It Right. Sader is a third generation contractor and developer from Michigan with construction experience ranging from custom homes to commercial buildings and multi-million dollar projects throughout the Mid-West. Sader witnessed the devastation caused by Katrina on television and was one of the first contractors to enter the city as soon as the floodwaters receded. Sader had a personal interest in the recovery since he had family living in the New Orleans area affected by the storm. Since that time he has been involved in the reconstruction of the city rebuilding homes, apartments and new housing. Sader brings with him a vast amount of expertise in stick-built, panelized and modular construction. He has pioneered innovations in the modular home industry and is dedicated to the concept of affordable housing. Sader's background in the construction of environmentally friendly housing and breadth of experience as a business owner, developer, contractor and innovator bring invaluable impact to the vision and mission of Make It Right.

Email: jsader@makeitrightnola.org

Veronica Taylor is the Chief Operations Officer for Make It Right, responsible for all internal operations of Make It Right including finance, construction, homeowner services, office administration and information technology. Prior to joining Make It Right, Taylor was Director of Global Disaster Response for Habitat for Humanity International, developing response programs for disasters all over the world, including the construction of over 1,300 houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Previously, Taylor spent 15 years working for TECO Energy in Tampa, Florida in progressively challenging jobs including Sr. Financial Analyst of a $13 million commercial real estate portfolio, Treasury Cash Manager managing the investments and borrowings of 52 subsidiaries, and then as Director of Business Services for its new Energy Services division growing the division to $72 million in revenue in three years. Taylor was in Thailand working for EGAT, the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand, assisting with the privatization of the government owned utility when she and her family were directly impacted by the tsunami.

Email: vtaylor@makeitrightnola.org

Annette Thigpen, CPA, CBM, is the Finance Manager for Make it Right, responsible for the financial reporting and accounting. She directs the overall financial plans & accounting practices of Make it Right and oversees Treasury, Accounting, Budget, Tax and Audit activities of the organization. Thigpen graduated from the University of New Orleans with a B.S. in Accounting and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1997 and Certified Business Manager in 2002. She is currently a member of The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Louisiana State Society of Certified Public Accountants, Institute of Management Accountants and the Association of Professional Managers. Prior to joining Make it Right, she held positions of Controller, Corporate Officer and Board of Director for private companies involved in the clean-up and debris removal after Hurricane Andrew (Florida) and Hurricane Katrina along with claims resulting from oil spills in Rhode Island & Massachusetts.

Email: athigpen@makeitrightnola.org

Kunal Verma is in charge of construction support services for Make It Right. He is currently automating portions of the pre-construction process, as well as assembling, analyzing and reporting construction information. Verma also serves as the point person between contractors and the construction department during the construction bidding process. He has also recently begun working with the communications department to enhance Make It Right’s presence and image on the Internet. Verma moved to New Orleans six years ago to obtain degrees in economics and political science from Tulane University. He has since worked for the Louisiana Road Home Program and the City of New Orleans, before joining Make It Right in 2008. Verma has volunteered extensively for The NOLA Hurricane Fund and SAFER in New Orleans.

Email: kverma@makeitrightnola.org

Joyce D. Williams is the Senior Administrative Assistant for Make It Right. In addition to the traditional administrative and office management duties, Williams assists with resident intakes and answers questions for inquiring Make It Right program candidates. Williams is a lifelong resident of New Orleans. She attended the University of New Orleans and Sidney Collier Vocational Technical School where she received certified training in Business Administration and Financial Correspondence. Her professional experience includes Educational Development, Finances, Human Resources and Business Management. Williams enjoys working with Make It Right as an opportunity to enrich her community.

Email: jwilliams@makeitrightnola.org

Delia Woods is an Analyst for Make It Right. Woods supports the department in outreach efforts and provides support to members of the outreach team and the homeowner counselors. She also provides critical information regarding Make It Right homeowners to the construction team. Woods was born and raised in New Orleans and is currently a student at DeVry University pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science. Ms. Woods is compelled by this project and enjoys making a difference in the lives of the families she assists.

Email: dwoods@makeitrightnola.org