Gar Alperovitz
Gar Alperovitz is Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political-Economy at the University of Maryland and a founding Principal of The Democracy Collaborative. He is a former Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, of the Institute of Politics at Harvard, of the Institute for Policy Studies, and a Guest Scholar of the Brookings Institution. His most recent book (co-authored with Lew Daly) is Unjust Deserts: How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take It Back, www.unjustdeserts.com (New Press, 2008). Alperovitz is also author of America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty and our Democracy, www.americabeyondcapitalism.com (John Wiley & Sons, 2004). He is also author (with Jeff Faux)
of Rebuilding America (Pantheon) and co-author (with Thad
Williamson and David Imbroscio) of Making a Place for Community
(Routledge, 2002). Well-known works in other areas include: The
Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (Knopf) and Atomic Diplomacy
(Simon & Schuster). Alperovitz received his Ph.D. in Political
Economy as a Marshall Scholar at Cambridge University, a Masters Degree
from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science
Degree from the University of Wisconsin. Previously he was a Legislative
Director in the U.S. House of Representatives (with Rep. Robert Kastenmeier
of Wisconsin) and the U.S. Senate (with Senator Gaylord Nelson of
Wisconsin), and a Special Assistant concerned with United Nations
issues in the Department of State.
Armand Biroonak
Armand Biroonak has been a Research Assistant with the Democracy Collaborative since May 2009 and is working on a project with Gar Alperovitz to develop a successor book to America Beyond Capitalism. He also is a research and policy associate focusing on economic and education issues for the Campaign for America’s Future. He has co-authored numerous reports and issue briefs, including “The Bridge to a New Economy: Worker Training Fills the Gap” published in early 2010. Biroonak received his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in History and Political Science from the George Washington University.
Steve Dubb
Steve Dubb is Research Director of The Democracy Collaborative and has worked for the Collaborative since 2004. Dubb is the principal author of Linking Colleges to Communities: Engaging the University for Community Development (2007) and Building Wealth: The New Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social and Economic Problems, which was published by The Aspen Institute in 2005. Previously, he was Executive Director of the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), a U.S. and Canadian nonprofit association that provides education and technical assistance to university and community-based housing and retail cooperatives. For much of the past two decades, he has worked in various positions in the cooperative or civil society sector. Dubb received his Masters and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. He received his Bachelor's in Economics (with honors) and Spanish from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ted Howard
Ted Howard is the founding Executive Director of The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland. Howard directs the Collaborative’s partnership with The Cleveland Foundation on the Evergreen Cooperative Business Initiative, a path-breaking strategy to create green jobs and wealth for low-income families in six of the city’s underserved neighborhoods.
For the past three decades, Howard has worked in the not-for-profit/civil society sector, including more than 15 years in international development with NGOs and agencies of the UN system. Most recently, he was the Executive Director of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives, a research and policy institute.
Howard served for nine years as Chairman of the Board of Search for Common Ground, the world’s largest conflict resolution NGO. He also serves on the board of LIFT, a national organization dedicated to engaging college students and youth in combating poverty in our nation’s urban areas.
Kelsey Merrick
Kelsey Merrick has worked with the Democracy Collaborative as an intern since July 2009. She is currently a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in Economics and Government and Politics. She is also a current intern with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, assisting with research on poverty trends and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Weite Zhang
Weite (Victor) Zhang has been a Research Assistant for the Democracy Collaborative since May 2009 and is working on a project with Gar Alperovitz to develop a successor book to America Beyond Capitalism. He specializes in Macroeconomics and Global Economic Affairs. He has previously worked in High-Tech Manufacturing as well as Global Logistics fields and was co-author of a book published in China. He received his B.S. degree in Finance and International Business from the Michigan Technological University and his M.A. in Economics from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
David Zuckerman
David Zuckerman has been a research assistant with the Democracy Collaborative since June 2008. Zuckerman is currently an Undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in Government and Politics. He is also enrolled in a five-year joint BA/MPP program with the University’s School of Public Policy graduate program. |
