Our Team
Meghan Kendall
Program Director
Meghan graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in History and Political Science and a minor in English. She oversees LEAP program development and the summer intern program. She is passionate about global human rights issues and aims to devote her career to help alleviate social injustice.
Carter Via
Curriculum Development/Travel Director
Threshold’s founder and executive director, Carter Via, began organizing and leading work trips and educational cross-cultural immersions in the early 1990’s. As the founder and executive director of Bridges to Community Inc., he led hundreds of trips to Nicaragua for individuals of all ages.
In the late 1990’s, Carter worked with Dr. Wangari Maathai—founder of the Green Belt Movement and Nobel Peace Laureate (2004)—to design the Green Belt Safaris.
After nearly 10 years, Carter was introduced to the Kibera Slum (Nairobi, Kenya) and with an incredible grassroots leader named Agnes Musau, he created Cross-Cultural Thresholds in 2008 and built the Drug Fighters School and Feeding Center, a primary school and feeding program for nearly 300 children.
To develop these concepts at a deeper level and carry them to a wider audience, Thresholds has recently partnered with Lauren Calahan, long-time educator, to create a leadership curriculum and expand our reach into schools, civic groups and religious communities.
Lauren Calahan
Founder and Executive Director of LEAP Educational Programs
For 25 years, Lauren has dedicated herself to creating and teaching personalized curriculum to students from pre-school to college. An entrepreneurial educator and philanthropist, her passion is to unite communities, listen to each student’s vision, voice and vitality, empower him or her to strive towards a personal best, and design and implement a plan of action that creates a positive change in the world. Lauren uses her educational and philanthropic experiences, combined with her skills at coaching, teaching and mentoring, to design and lead LEAP’s educational, administrative and partner-alliance initiatives.
To transform our nation’s approach to leadership and outreach, and empower the next generation to unite with ingenuity and conviction to create the solution to today’s chronic issues, Lauren will scale the LEAP model throughout the country.
Lauren majored in Psychology at Brown University, attended Bank Street College and taught, consulted and designed outreach programs for public and private schools, including The Little Red School House, Horizons, Collegiate School, Greenwich Country Day School, Fairfield Country Day School, Ox Ridge School, Noble and Greenough and Derby Academy.
Mich Zeman
Founding Director of LEAP
After graduating from the University of Nebraska with majors in philosophy and history, Mich and his wife, Mary, moved to Kenya where they helped run a mission station in the remote Northern Frontier District. Mich built an orphanage and managed water projects along with teaching literacy. Returning to America, he took a position as a middle school teacher and director of an on-site teacher training program for the University, while completing a masters degree in curriculum and instruction.
In 1979 he earned a Masters of Divinity degree from the Yale Divinity School, during which time he served as Director of the International Student Center and worked as a Teaching Assistant to Prof. Henri Nouwen.
Taking a position as Associate Minister of Norfield Congregational Church, Mich developed other leadership skills while doing a graduate residency in psychoanalysis at the Westchester Institute.
In 1990 he opened Wellspring Pastoral and Psychological Counseling, working with children, youth and adults as a certified psychoanalyst. Five years later he was called to lead the Talmadge Hill Community Church as its Minister. For the past fifteen years Mich has built the church, growing it by more than 1000%, and inspired a significant local and global outreach ministry.
John Hair
Design Consultant
Justin Brubaker
Technical Advisor
Amy Forte
Curriculum Development/ Teacher
Deborah Rosen
Curriculum Development/ Teacher
Carter Via
Curriculum Development/ Travel Director
Meghan Kendall
Program Director
Lauren Calahan
Founder and Executive Director of LEAP Educational Programs
Mich Zeman
Founding Director of LEAP
Michael Spencer
Peter McCrea
Amy Forte
Curriculum Development/Teacher
Amy began her career as special education teacher, and then returned to school to receive her nursing degree and a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with Children and Adolescents. She worked in the Westport School System as a school nurse working with elementary, middle, and high school aged students. In the spring of 2004 Amy obtained a Master’s of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. Most recently Amy worked at Green’s Farms Congregational Church in Westport serving as the Associate Minister and Youth Minister at the church for seven years before leaving to open a private counseling practice.
Peter McCrea
Peter McCrea is a Business Development Advisor for Foundation Source. Foundation Source provides administrative and philanthropic advisory services to over 1000 private foundations, representing nearly $5 billion in assets.
Originally from California, Peter was a founding member of the American Cinema Awards Foundation, honoring legendary performers in film, television and music for the benefit of the Motion Picture and Television Fund; subsequently, he was an advisor to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which oversees 60,000 acres of parks and open space in Los Angeles County.
Peter is a member of the Westport Green Village Initiative, an organization devoted to the local food movement and environmental sustainability. From 2009 to 2012, he served as Chairman of the Livelihoods Council at Save the Children, focused on food security and financial security through agricultural support and microfinance. Peter is a Trustee of the Lemmon Foundation, a conservation foundation founded by the late actor. He is a liaison to other professionals that can support the LEAP model and has aided in marketing and film production for LEAP.
Timo Platt
Timo Platt advises LEAP on adding discipline to its social entrepreneurship operations. Timo is the founder and CEO of PoKos Communications Corp, the developer of a next-gen communications platform.
Robin Johnson
Robin worked much of his life in Media; he was a publisher of magazines, newspapers and internet sites you might have read. He is familiar with international business and has been stationed overseas several times. He recently embarked on a second career as a social worker. Currently in the program at Smith College, his new goal is an MSW in 2014. He hopes to counsel children, adolescents, and their families locally. He is terrifically pleased with the communication potential that LEAP brings to young adults in their formative years.The program overlaps with a number of his own interests in teaching young adults the tools that they will need to create change in their world.
Joe Duwan
Joe Duwan is a retired investment banker and equity analyst from Darien, CT. He assists and advises LEAP on its funding and financial operations.
Adam Kimberly
Adam brings a background which combines his current role as a private equity investor (www.montiscapital.com) with prior roles in education and non-profit management. He’s a passionate believer in LEAP’s opportunity to develop and connect tomorrow’s leaders, and he’s very proud that his sister Lauren has the vision and is developing the team to make that happen!
Michael Spencer
The Rev. Michael Spencer serves as the Dean of Chapel and Religious Life at St. Paul’s School, a coeducational, independent Episcopal boarding school in Concord, NH. He is the Chapel’s primary voice in preaching and teaching, in the direction of liturgy, social justice, global outreach, environmental, diversity, and interfaith initiatives. He is also a member of the interdisciplinary Humanities Department and has initiated student service trips and partnerships in Appalachia and Haiti.
Michael consults with LEAP on how to successfully integrate LEAP’s model of collaborative immersion into prestigious schools and civic organizations. In addition, he is developing the LEAP of Faith curriculum to create collaborative opportunities for faith-based individuals and organizations.
Richard Bartels
At Race Rock Capital and predecessor firms, Rich has raised more than $950 million for select managers from institutional sources. Earlier, Rich founded Rosenberg Institutional Equity Management with four partners. He negotiated a joint venture with Nomura Securities resulting in the establishment of a series of Luxembourg unit trusts. As head of the Portfolio Rebalancing Desk at Jefferies & Company, he increased portfolio-trading revenues. While at Batterymarch he assisted in securing and exploiting different alliances to bring in more than $1 billion in emerging market assets in less than fifteen months enabling firm to be sold because of improved bottom line. Rich advises LEAP on how to present the model as a new and powerful form of impact investing, a program which essentially invests in developing better relationships between humans around the globe.
Deborah Rosen
Curriculum Development/Teacher
Deborah is a life coach who specializes in relationship issues and women and their self-esteem. She coaches people to find their passions and live the life of their dreams.
More recently she has focused on working with leadership organizations to coach participants to create projects to serve their communities as well as meet their personal goals. During the course of her tenure, over 150 community projects were initiated. As a head coach, Deborah trained the coaches who delivered the programs to the participants. As a result, the participants learned to live powerful lives and not be stopped by obstacles or barriers that hindered them previously.
Justin Brubaker
Technical Advisor
Justin Brubaker brings over 15 years of technical expertise to the table with a high concentration in web and mobile development. Justin has developed technical solutions for top brands such as FedEx, Merrill Lynch, Scholastic, United States Equestrian Federation, and others. His passion for technology and the human interface experience is what drives him to create new and exciting digital experiences.
John Hair
Design Consultant
John Hair has been an art director and communications designer for over 25 years. He designed the LEAP brochure and website.
Timo Platt
Robin Johnson
Joe Duwan
Adam Kimberly
Richard Bartels
LEAP: We're out to change the world...starting with ourselves.
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