About the trainers: MATT BLIZEK – NATIONAL FIELD DIRECTOR, DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA (BURLINGTON, VT) Matt is the National Field Director at Democracy for America. He was born and raised in rural Iowa and first got involved in politics at 19 while attending the University of Iowa. In 2001 he managed his first campaign in an attempt to elect a UI student to the Iowa City Council. Since then he has done Field, Fundraising and Online Organizing for numerous campaigns including the DNC, MoveOn.org, Russ Feingold, Jon Tester, and the No on 1 campaign for marriage equality in Maine. For the last four years Matt has managed national field and training programs for Democratic activists and candidates at Democracy for America. Since joining DFA he has organized over 71 campaign trainings in 33 states, training over 8,000 progressives to become better activists, campaign staff or candidates. ELLERY GOULD- COMMUNICATIONS (NASHVILLE, TN) A campaign veteran before he finished college, Ellery has experience at virtually every level of politics and in every region of the country; from City Hall to the halls of Congress, Connecticut to Arizona. A Tennessee native, he took his talents for winning "red states" to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 where he oversaw media campaigns for some of the toughest races in the nation and helped bring a Democratic majority to Congress for the first time since 1994. Most recently, Ellery managed the U.S. Senate campaign of a little-known former state legislator in Georgia – a state that hasn’t seen a top-of-the-ticket Democratic win in over a decade – turning it into one of the most improbable and competitive races of 2008. KENDRA-SUE DERBY – FIELD (ROSWELL, GA) Over her career, Kendra-Sue Derby has fought for progressive causes and candidates. She focuses her work on administrative and field activities. In recent years, she was the Obama Senior State Advisor for New Mexico and Senior Consultant to the Jon Tester for Senate and Montana Democratic Party. She also worked at Alliance for Justice from 2001 through 2006 as the Director of Field Operations. She trained thousands of activists and campaign employees when she worked for The Ron Brown - Paul Tully Institute for Political Action and as an independent contractor. Kendra-Sue has worked on campaigns of all sizes, ranging from City Council to Presidential, including the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential campaigns. In 2004, she ran the Democratic Party of Oregon’s coordinated campaign. Kendra- Sue currently resides in Roswell, GA. ANDY SZEKERES– FUNDRAISING & FINANCE (DENVER, CO) Andy Szekeres is a nationally touted fundraiser in Progressive circles. Most recently, Andy served as the finance director for the No on 1 Protect Maine Equality Campaign where he raised over 4.9 Million dollars in less than 5 months. His impressive track record includes raising over $16 million dollars in the last three election cycles. Andy has also served as a Statewide Field Director for both issue and candidate campaigns, giving him a unique perspective and political insight that are rare amongst Political Fundraisers. His past candidates include No on 1 - Protect Maine Equality, Congressman Polis, Fawcett for Congress, Lamm for Congress, Yes of Referendum I, Vallas for Governor, Skinner for Senate and 23 other races. .