Advisory Council
We are currently seeking experienced and influential individuals who believe in our mission and vision, and who will bring their skills, talents, diversity and wisdom to the leadership of our organization. For more information, please contact us at info@thepangaeaproject.org.
Deb Delman, Founding Advisor
Co-Founder, The Pangaea Project
Deb Delman holds both a deep love and a sincere concern for this fascinating and compelling world. It is this combination that has inspired her to explore, work, study and volunteer in more than 40 countries in the capacity of student, professional photographer, volunteer, and social activist. For more than a decade, she has nurtured and developed a model with which to inspire a direct global connection for underserved youth, resulting in the creation of The Pangaea Project in 2003.
Since the founding of The Pangaea Project, Deb and her co-workers developed a model of education that exposes low-income youth to inspiring local and international grassroots leaders who have overcome adversity and made a difference in the lives of others. Deb is driven by the belief that all youth should have access to opportunities that help them to discover their capacity to have a positive impact on their own communities and the broader world.
Previous to co-founding The Pangaea Project, Deb worked and volunteered as an environmental and health educator in the public schools of Boulder, a camp counselor for physically challenged youth, a coffee barista, a Job Coach for teenage refugees, a documentary photographer on an AIDS project in sub-Sahara Africa, a volunteer with the Tibetan refugee community, and a teachers aid for the developmentally disabled and blind. For fun she loves to hike in beautiful forests and mountains with her dog Moonie, dance to live music, and spend time with her inspiring and wonderful friends and family.
Deb Delman currently serves as the founding advisor to The Pangaea Project, with plans to attend graduate school full-time in pursuit of a Master's degree in teaching in 2010.
Ernest Bloch, II, Advisor
Co-Founder, The Pangaea Project
Deb Delman currently serves as the founding advisor to The Pangaea Project, with plans to attend graduate school full-time in pursuit of a Master's degree in teaching in 2010.
Executive Director Emeritus, PacifiCorp Foundation
Executive Director, Philanthropy Counsel
Ernie Bloch brings more than two decades of experience in philanthropy and board governance to his work in advising corporations, foundations, individuals, families and not for profit organizations on strategic philanthropy, organizational networking and coalition-building and governance issues.
Bloch's experience includes designing, implementing and directing corporate charitable giving and employee community involvement at NERCO, a PacifiCorp mining subsidiary. Bloch was instrumental in founding the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning, and became its first Executive Director in 1989. The Foundation distributed grants over a six-state region that reached $3.0 million per year. He oversaw the growth of the foundationís permanent endowment to more than $40 million.
Upon retirement in 2002, Bloch became Executive Director emeritus of the Foundation, and ex-officio Board member. He then founded Ernest Bloch, II, LLC, Philanthropy Counsel. The firm provides philanthropic advisory, strategic planning and governance consulting services to individuals, families, corporations, foundations and nonprofit organizations. Bloch's objective is to provide client donors a strategy for linking their values to lasting, measurable community benefit. Bloch has a special interest in assisting donors and clients in organizing programmatic partnerships that allow them to leverage their resources to more successfully achieve common charitable goals.
Bloch also assists organizational clients in designing and implementing fundraising and board development plans that will allow them to achieve their program mission and meet the publicís heightened expectations of non profit accountability. Bloch serves as a neutral facilitator of board discussions for organizational clients when governance conflicts or other difficult issues arise.
Bloch continues to serve as a board member or advisor to a variety of not for-profit and charitable organizations including PacifiCorp Foundation For Learning (Board of Directors, Evaluation Committee and Advisor), Jubitz Family Foundation (Board Advisor), Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) (Board of Directors and Executive Committee), Providence Medical Center Foundation (Board of Directors), Multnomah Education Service District, (Chair, Resource Development Committee) and World Affairs Council of Oregon (Board of Advisors).
Laura Guimond, Advisor Previous Director of External Relations, Mercy Corps
Laura Guimond was the previous Director of External Relations at Mercy Corps, an international, nonprofit humanitarian agency that works to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Mercy Corps works in more than 35 countries and has headquarters offices in the US, Scotland and Hong Kong. Based in Mercy Corps’ US headquarters in Portland, Oregon, Laura managed relations with a variety of constituents, including colleague agencies, community groups, donors and public officials. She led Mercy Corps's involvement in ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History (www.one.org) and served on its operating committee.
Before joining Mercy Corps, Laura served as the Director of Development at the World Affairs Council of Oregon. She lived for many years in Washington, DC, where she worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations, including the Advocacy Institute, the Citizens Democracy Corps, and the Eurasia Foundation. Laura received her MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and her BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies from Douglass College at Rutgers University. She has studied abroad in Brazil, Spain and Italy. Laura serves on the Advisory Board of the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and is an active member of the City Club of Portland and Northwest VEG. Her articles and photographs have appeared in national social justice, animal welfare and vegetarian publications such as Satya, Herbivore, Alley Cat Action and VegNews.
Chip Shields, Advisor
Oregon State Senator, District 22
Since founding Better People, a non-profit, living wage job placement center in N/NE Portland, Chip Shields has dedicated his efforts to improving the lives of all Oregonians. Better People has provided hundreds of living wage jobs for N/NE Portland residents. In addition to that work, Chip has taken a pivotal role in some very important campaigns. Chip played a lead role in helping pass the Multnomah County measure to fund schools a year ago.
In 2002, he played a key role in passing Oregon's increase in the minimum wage. For his efforts, Chip was recognized with the Skanner newspaper Drum Major for Justice Award and received a Hero of Labor award from the Oregon AFL-CIO last fall. Chip Shields has also been very involved in community and statewide volunteer activities:
Oregon Center for Public Policy board member.
Oregon Criminal Justice Reform Coalition Member
Chair of the National Association of Social Workers PAC
Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good
Mayor's Gang Task Force
Stand For Children, member
Human Rights Campaign, partner member
Coalition for a Livable Future
Chip Shields graduated from Portland State University with a master in social work. His spouse Shelda Holmes is a public health nurse.
Carri Munn, Advisor and Board Development Trainer
Consultant, Decisions Decisions
Carri has played key roles in growing businesses and nonprofit organizations, focusing on systems development, strategic human resources management, marketing, and project management. Her experience includes three years at the Community Development Network providing support to Portland’s community development corporations, initial organization of the Portland Community Land Trust, and nearly a decade as acquisitions manager and marketing director for property management companies.
Carri received her Masters Degree in Nonprofit Management and Public Administration from Portland State University. She graduated cum laude from the University of Florida with a BA in Political Theory and a minor in Philosophy. She has expertise in program evaluation, research and policy analysis, human resources management, online communications, and web development. Carri previously served as the co-chair of CNRG, the Community Nonprofit Resource Group.
Carri maintains a regular yoga practice that provides her the patience and energy to thoroughly enjoy mothering two preschool-age children. Aside from the constant flow of snacks, she can whip up a great dinner party for ten using the bounty of her urban garden. She enjoys middle-eastern dance, the ancient art of henna, and checking out the local music scene with her husband. Use caution while driving: this consultant commutes by bike.
Tim Snider, Advisor and Legal Counsel
Attorney, Stoel Rives
Tim Snider was raised in Manila, Philippines, where his parents served as missionaries. There he attended an international school where he interacted with students from many different countries, as well as immersed himself in Filipino culture on a daily basis. He believes that growing up in a foreign country was instrumental to forming his worldview and the person he is today. Having experienced the benefits of international service-learning firsthand, he believes that the work accomplished by The Pangaea Project is unique, exciting and extraordinarily meaningful.
Tim graduated magna cum laude from Wheaton College with a degree in business and economics in 1999, and summa cum laude from Willamette University College of Law in 2003. He is currently an associate in the Litigation Department in the Portland office of Stoel Rives LLP. He represents businesses in a variety of lawsuits in state and federal courts.
Tim serves on the Board of Directors for the Federal Bar Association for the District of Oregon. He has been a member since 2004, and is in charge of the FBA’s quarterly newsletter which publishes practical articles for legal practitioners in federal courts. Lately, Tim has felt a strong desire to serve in an advisory capacity to a non-law related non-profit organization focused on education. He learned of The Pangaea Project through his wife, and is very excited about how The Pangaea Project seeks to incorporate cross-cultural experiences into developing young leaders who will make a difference in their communities.
Executive Director, Environmental Justice Action Group
Neighborhood Program Coordinator, City of Portland
Jeri Sundvall-Williams has been organizing with communities of color and low income communities in workplace and Environmental Justice since 1994. She has been educating students on EJ issues for over ten years through speaking engagements, conferences and teaching a senior capstone at PSU for five years.
Jeri was initially introduced to Environmental Justice issues in 1994 while working as a hotel worker exposed to toxic chemicals. From there she became an organizer for low income and workers of color to address on the job exposures and workers rights. Her work has also included participation in the creation of the 1998 Lead Comprehensive plan for the City of Portland and the Portland Brownfield Showcase community advisory committee, which is nationally known model of community involvement.
In 2000, Jeri was appointed by Governor Kitzhaber to the Portland/Vancouver Bi-state Transportation and Trade I-5 Corridor Task Force to address healthier solutions in transportation for our region. Some successes from that collaborative process is the creation of an ongoing EJ workgroup convened by the Oregon Department of Transportation and a 1% mitigation fund for the North/Northeast community. EJAG and the community also defeated the expansion of I-5 in 2001 in EJAG’s “No more lanes” campaign.
Also in 2000, Jeri co-founded the Urban Workers Union with the Worker’s organizing committee which organized Diamond parking lot attendants who won and election an a contract within a year of their conception. Since 2001 she has served on the Delta Park to Lombard project, overseen the community enhancement fund grants and is currently serving on the Columbia River Crossing Task Force
In 2006, Jeri went to work for the City of Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement where she is a neighborhood program co-coordinator and the project manager for over $300,000 in funding for Diversity Leadership Programs. These projects fund community-based organizations of color and immigrant and refugee communities to build capacity within their organizations to teach and encourage civic engagement from their constituencies.
Awards
- 1997- The Steve Lowenstein Award for serving poor and underprivileged communities by the city of Portland.
- 1998- The Matthew Gonzales organizing award for outstanding organizing by the Workers’ Organizing Committee.
- 2004- Robert Liberty Regional Leadership Award for EJAG’s Oregon Steel Mills Victory.
- 2006- The Alston Bannerman Fellowship Award which gives the recipient $15,000 for a sabbatical. This is a national Award given to 10 activists of color annually in the US.
Warner Munro, Advisor
Trustee, Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund
I feel honored to introduce myself, Warner Munro, as an Advisory Board member for The Pangaea Project. I'm an Oregonian and have been here the entire 43 years of my
young life. I grew up on the outskirts of Portland , attended Jesuit high school and furthered my education at the University of Oregon (class of '87). After graduating from college I figured I better broaden my horizons, cross the pond and see all the world has to offer. It was that three month backpacking journey through Europe that summer that would change my life. I've since hitched, bused, trained, hiked, boated and wandered on the soils and seas of 78 countries, which in turn has led me to The Pangaea Project.
So many times on my adventures I found myself thinking, "if only there was a way to get inner city kids out of their surroundings and see all the world has to offer. It would change lives in so many incredible ways."
Being a director for my family’s foundation, the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, and a huge music fan, I just so happened to stumble into an Everyone Orchestra fund raiser for Pangaea a few years back. That magical evening I found out what Pangaea was all about. I tracked down the one and only Deb Delman and the rest is history!
I continue to travel six months of the year but at some point I sure hope to meet all of the fabulous people who put so much time and effort into one of the greatest causes I've
ever been involved with.
Aysha Ghazoul, Advisor and Alberta Street Community Campaign Chair
Owner, Zaytoon Bar
For Aysha Ghazoul, owner and general manager of Zaytoon, starting a new business was personal. To her, true success meant building and operating an establishment that exuded history, character and purpose, and respected the bustling spirit of diversity for which Northeast Portland is known.
Raised in Mosul (Iraq), Aysha melded pieces of her past with her present until the aesthetic, menu and spirit of Zaytoon best mirrored her cultural upbringing. Aysha and her family left Iraq in 1980, at the start of the Iran-Iraq war, and settled in England where Aysha completed school and pursued a business and finance degree in Manchester. Blessed also with a gift for storytelling and a growing passion for film studies, Aysha took a leap of faith and moved to Oregon to attend the Northwest Film Center in downtown Portland. Here she completed her thesis documentary “My American Grandmother”—a personal introspection that explores the relationship between an Iraqi filmmaker and her Texan grandmother. The film was well received at festivals across the country, culminating in a one-year broadcasting contract with the Oxygen Media Channel.
Karen Belsey, Advisor and School Partner Liaison
Associate Director, Open Meadow Alternative Schools
Karen Belsey has been involved in the field of youth development in Portland for close to 20 years. During her tenure as a policy planner and grants manager she has had the opportunity to assist in the formation of several programs--and a few organizations--dedicated to educating, inspiring, and training young people so they can look forward to the future with hope. Her experience supporting service-based learning programs such as Portland YouthBuilders, Open Meadow Alternative School's Corps Restoring the Urban Environment, and Civic Action Teams has taught her the importance of exposing and involving young adults in real-world issues and giving them the tools to make a difference. Her own personal experience performing service work both in the U.S. and overseas in Fiji has affirmed her belief in the power of experiential learning. She fiercely believes that these rich and transformational experiences should be available to all people and not limited to those with financial privilege.
Jill Walters, Advisor and School Partner Liaison
Executive Director, Portland YouthBuilders
Juan Carlos Ocaña-Chiu, Advisor
Public Participation Coordinator, Portland Development Commission
Former Vision Committee Coordinator, Office of Mayor Tom Potter