Our Board of Advisors
Kyle Dodson
OUTREACH and PUBLIC RELATIONS ADVISOR
Kyle is the Director of Community Service and Civic Engagement programs at Champlain College in Burlington, VT. Before joining the Champlain College staff in August of 2008, he founded and spent four years as the Principal of the Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
He was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Boston Principal Fellows Program, a one-year intensive program to train new leaders for the Boston Public Schools. Before becoming a Principal, Kyle spent eight years as a Student Life Administrator at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, VT. Prior to his career in education, he was a vice president of mortgage-backed securities trading at PaineWebber, Inc. in N.Y.C. He played four years of Varsity basketball in college, including being elected captain in his senior year. He holds a B.A. in History from Harvard, an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia, and an Ed.D. from the University of Vermont in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.
Kyle have known Garang for the last several years. Most of that time he dealt with Garang as a student at Champlain College. In Kyle own words “From the moment you meet Garang, the overwhelming impression you get is of someone who is very smart and highly motivated. Over the course of time I learned about Garang’s foundation work through him and several of his professors/mentors here at Champlain College. My interest in the Foundation, is really an interest in Garang. Garang is the kind of guy who makes things happen, and I like being associated with “doers”. Garang is solution-oriented and Burlington, Sudan, and the rest of the world need more people like him. “
Mike Harris
LEGAL AND POLICY ADVISOR
Mike Harris, Esq. – Mike works as a lawyer at the Burlington, VT law Collins McMahon & Harris, PLLC, (www.vt-law.org) that he runs with two partners.Mike’s law practice primarily focuses on civil litigation, representing clients before state and federal courts and administrative bodies in a variety of subject areas. He also provides clients general legal and contract matter advice and handles some business transactions and real estate matters. Mike enjoys helping people solve problems with legal implications, and he has represented a variety of nonprofit corporations.Mike has worked as a Burlington lawyer in private practice since 1987, after graduating Middlebury College (B.A. Biology, cum laude, 1980), receiving his law degree from the University of Wisconsin -Madison (J.D.,magna cum laude, 1986) and working from August 1986-1987 as a law clerk for the Honorable Albert W. Coffrin III, the former chief Judge for the Federal District Court for the District of Vermont.
Mike is married, has three children and lives in Williston. VT. He believes that getting an education truly serves as a springboard for opportunity. By gettinginvolved with NSJOF, Mike can help others achieve this goal, as well as helping improve conditions in another part of the world. As Mike says:
There is an oft quoted saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” NSJOF takes this self-starting approach one step further, by in essence funding the future teachers who will teach others to fish. It has been my good fortune to meet Peter Garang Deng, and learn about the organization he has developed. Garang thoroughly understands the cultures where NSJOFoperates, and has effectively communicated his mission, and its details, to others (both in the U.S. and abroad) now involved in NSJOF, who are bringing that mission to fruition. I am happy to provide whatever counsel and advice I can to assist this venture.
Besides spending time with his family, Mike’s non-work activities include running (including marathons and half-marathons), biking, gardening and homebrewing.He’s served on Williston’s Conservation Commission since 1995, with an interest in public trails and land conservation. The Commission has helped Williston permanently conserve over 1,200 acres in over 10 conservation easement or land acquisition projects.
More Advisors coming soon!