Laura Barrett, Executive Director

Laura Barrett is the Executive Director of the Transportation Equity Network and National Policy Director for the Gamaliel Foundation. She been a community organizer for more than 20 years. Laura previously worked as a field organizer for the Center for Community Change, and has served as director of Housing Comes First, the Missouri Public Interest Research Group (MoPIRG), and the Campaign for Jobs and Housing. She was the campaign manager for a ballot initiative that resulted in the passage of the largest per capita housing trust fund in America ($5 million annually), the St. Louis Housing Trust Fund. She has helped groups to win millions in public transportation funding, and has negotiated community benefits agreements and positive workforce development policies on the state, local and federal levels. As the civic engagement director for Gamaliel, she has helped local affiliates to register 12,000 low-income and immigrant voters, and to make more than 125,000 voter contacts about non-partisan issues in the 2008 fall election. She holds a Master's in Social Work from Washington University.

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Marcus Brandon, Online Director

Marcus Brandon is a lifelong resident of Greensboro, NC, where his family instilled in him the value of grassroots organizing from an early age.  Recognizing the need for political candidates and progressive organizations to have access to high quality, affordable counsel and advice, Mr. Brandon founded KMB Consulting, a DC-based firm that enables progressive campaigns and organizations to raise money, run new media programs, and be effective in their communications. His signature client is the Young People's Project, an organization that uses literacy to shape minds and futures and gives students the space to advocate on their own behalf to make change in their own school and community. During the 2008 presidential election, Mr. Brandon served as National Finance Director and Director of Online Organizing for Dennis Kucinich. KMB Consulting has also worked with progressive organizations such as the Progressive Majority, Equality Virginia, We Are America Alliance, among other non-profits, PACs, and campaigns. The firm continues to be involved with the Youth Empowerment Movement, Immigration Issues, Civil Rights and Social Justice Issues, currently focusing on transportation equity with TEN.

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Buck Bagot, Federal Field Director

Mr. Bagot has worked for 38 years as an organizer of non-profit community development corporations and also of community, tenant and labor organizations.  He has served as a non-profit development leader, local public official, and organizer of advocacy campaigns for Congressional legislation.  Mr. Bagot received a BA from Harvard College in 1974.  Mr. Bagot credits the social movements of the 1960s for inspiring his lifelong commitment to ending poverty, racism, sexism and war.

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Casey Stanton, Maryland State and Federal Coordinator

Casey Stanton, Gamaliel Foundation Field Organizer, coordinates between Transportation Equity Network’s federal legislative agenda, local affiliate organizations, and strategic partner organizations. She is especially focused on building power with Gamaliel affiliate organizations in Maryland to transform transportation in the region.  Before joining the Transportation Equity Network, Ms. Stanton organized with Gamaliel affiliate organizations in St. Louis, Missouri and in South Bend, Indiana. In St. Louis, she worked developing fellow organizers and local leaders and established a $250,000 Foreclosure Rescue Fund. In South Bend, Ms. Stanton played an instrumental role in building a new organization that convened a 1,300-person public meeting and won key commitments from public officials on immigration reform, parent involvement, racial profiling and economic development. Ms. Stanton is originally from Massachusetts and holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame.

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Renee Brereton, PRISCM Lead Organizer

Renee Brereton joined PRISCM in October as the Lead Organizer following her staffing of the Gamaliel national health care campaign. As lead organizer for PRISCM (Partnership in Renewal Southern and Central Maryland), she has overall responsibility for membership recruitment, executing issue campaigns, staffing taskforces and organizational committees, and board and leadership training. She served as grants coordinator for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and has directed two organizations in Montana and Colorado. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work.  PRISCM has engaged in transportation issues working to stop cuts in bus routes, expand support for development inside the 495 beltway, built relationships with state and county transportation officials, participated in county council hearings and conducted a tour of metro stations to educate public officials about development issues around metro stations.

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Stephen Boykewich, Media Director

Before joining TEN/Gamaliel, Stephen Boykewich served as media strategist for social justice organizations including the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, the Indian Worker Congress, and the International Center for Transitional Justice. As a journalist and commentator, Stephen has worked on four continents for outlets including Agence France Presse, The Financial Times, The Moscow Times, BBC, CBC, and Pakistani Television. He is also the founder of Prescient Media, a web design and media strategy shop. Born and raised in Rutherford, NJ, Stephen holds a BA from the University of Chicago and an MFA from the University of Virginia. He lives in New York City.

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Cynthia Jarrold, Rosa Parks Federal Policy Intern

Cynthia Jarrold has worked with the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2), an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation in metropolitan Kansas City, for the last four years. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Central Baptist Theological Seminary, where teaches as an adjunct. Cynthia is a licensed minister and served for nine years as an associate at Leawood Baptist Church. She is also trained in peace-building and conflict transformation. 

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Karen Kelsey, Administrator

Ms. Kelsey first became associated with TEN/Gamaliel in 2006 through The Gamaliel Foundation’s Individual Donor Campaign as the Data Base Coordinator for 20 participating regional affiliates.  She began her administrative activities as Office Manager at Senne, Kelsey, & Associates, a family run Forensics Engineering firm, active primarily in Civil Litigation.  In the same field, she served as a Researcher for Attorneys and Paralegals, assisting them in the preparation of their cases.  Ms. Kelsey currently serves as the “Hub” of Transportation Equity Network, generally providing support and distributing information as needed by the TEN Staff.  Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Ms. Kelsey holds a BA in The Teaching of Modern Dance from the University of Illinois.  She continues to live in St. Louis.

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