Staff
We’ve Moved!
The Center moved to historic downtown Leesburg, Virginia on December 20th. We have upgraded all of our office systems in order to serve you better. Our new address is: Nonprofit Risk Management Center, 15 N. King Street, Suite 203, Leesburg, VA 20176. Our telephone number has not changed: (202) 785-3891.
Dianne M. Dunleavy, Office Manager
Dianne is a new addition to our team. Before joining our staff, Dianne worked for many years as a legal assistant and office manager for some of Washington’s best-known law firms. During her career she has also worked as a Staff Assistant for the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In addition to managing the administrative aspects of the Center’s operations, Dianne attends Georgetown University where she studies literature and hopes to someday receive a Master’s Degree in American Literature.
While the team is often traveling, Dianne keeps the home fires burning, and she is prepared to assist you. Dianne is available to take your calls or help you with any questions you have about the Center and its products and services. She is also willing and eager to help you sort through any questions that may arise while using our online tools.
Dianne lives near our office in downtown, historic Leesburg. She is honing her new risk management skills by looking both ways before crossing Market Street on her short walk to our office and staying on the look out for the occasional distracted driver trying to read the marquis at the Tally Ho Theatre. Her aspirations for the upcoming Summer months include spending many hours in the garden where she will courageously attempt to grow edible food. Assuming she survives that effort, Dianne looks forward to meeting many of our clients at this year’s Summit in Minneapolis.
Jennifer Chandler Hauge, Senior Counsel and Director of Special Projects
Jenny is the type of person you want advising your senior management team, board or risk management committee. She spots the issues and works with you to find practical and feasible solutions based on more than 16 years' experience delivering technical assistance to tax-exempt organizations on legal and board governance issues, and hands-on board experience as a trustee of numerous public charities and foundations. Her prior senior management roles — for a statewide nonprofit during its start-up years, for a community development corporation during a turn-around, and most recently working on public policy and best practices models at the national level — give her a broad perspective.
Originally educated as an employment lawyer, Jenny is the co-author, with Melanie Herman, of Taking the High Road: A Guide to Effective and Legal Employment Practices for Nonprofits. She also designs and presents workshops and Webinars on employment, governance and finance topics for the Center. She received her undergraduate degree in French and English with Distinction from Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH) and her JD from Boston College (Newton, MA). Jenny's a member of the New York, New Jersey and American Bar Associations and makes a mean decadent chocolate cake.
Her risk-taking indulgence is lots of traveling and telecommuting; thus Jenny's reachable any time through our Leesburg, VA office, but may actually be somewhere else when you speak with her.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
- “Risk Management: Who, What, Where, When and How," Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows Program, July 18, 2008, Baltimore, MD
- “Risk Management for Associations: What You Need to Know,” 2008 Annual Meeting, ASAE and The Center, August 19, 2008, San Diego, CA
- “Board Retreat,” Womanspace, Trenton, NJ, September 20, 2008
Melanie Lockwood Herman, Executive Director
In a world that is fraught with danger, it is comforting to know that Melanie Lockwood Herman is holding on tight to the handlebars of the D.C.-based Nonprofit Risk Management Center. The Center provides training, technical assistance and informational resources to help nonprofits take a practical approach to managing risk so that they can fulfill their missions and stay out of trouble.
A prolific author of a more than a dozen comprehensive (and comprehensible!) guides on various risk management topics, Melanie has delivered countless workshops, seminars, and keynote presentations for organizations simply unwilling to leave success to chance. Melanie earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Urban Affairs from American University (Washington, DC) and a Juris Doctor from George Mason University (Arlington, VA). She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association.
In August 2007 Melanie was named to the 10th annual NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50, a list of "executives and thinkers ... selected for the impact they have now and for the innovative plans they are putting in place to evolve the charitable sector."
A calculated risk taker, Melanie loves raw fish, scalding coffee, and riding her 1964 Norton Electra or 1970 BSA Bantam motorcycles (she always wears her helmet). To be on the safe side, she also serves as Lay Leader and organist of her church.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
- ”Managing Special Event Risks,” 2008 Annual Conference, Public Risk Management Association, June 2, 2008, Anaheim, CA
- “Protecting Your People,” Insurance & Liability Resource Centre for Nonprofits, June 5, 2008, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- “Risk Management for Associations: What You Need to Know,” 2008 Annual Meeting, ASAE and The Center, August 19, 2008, San Diego, CA
- “Risk Management for Associations,” 2008 Association Law Symposium, ASAE and The Center, September 19, 2008, Washington, DC
- “Insurance Boot Camp for Foundations,” Conference of Southwest Foundations, October 2, 2008, Austin, TX
Michael J. Moye, Project Manager
When people ask why he isn’t retired, Mike answers with a question of his own. In order to re-tire, don’t you have to tire first? True, he did accept the designation from one of the nation’s leading financial institutions where, during the course of his career, he managed the bank’s commercial and personal lines insurance production and service in addition to optional and collateral protection insurance programs for the loan portfolio.
His insurance knowledge spans thirty years experience with major insurance companies serving variously as a surety and fidelity bond underwriter, property and casualty marketing representative, and independent insurance producer. Mike also helped during the creation and implementation of the Write Your Own (WYO) adjunct to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by acting as liaison with certain insurance companies. That effort began his longstanding relationship with the program. Following Katrina, he signed up with the government to assist stricken communities and citizens in Louisiana with floodplain management and insurance issues. Recently, he has contributed to the creation of training material for disaster assistance personnel.
Despite his tongue in cheek response to the retirement question, we know that he does occasionally tire from training for and running marathon and ultra-marathon races. As President of the local running club, Mike likes to risk runs around the back roads of Loudoun County dodging deer and drivers while enjoying the beautiful countryside that can be found there.
John C. Patterson, Senior Program Director
John is our staff member with the longest tenure. In a sense, he is the institutional memory of the organization but we all know about memories and senior moments. John has been with the Center for over a decade, but even before joining our staff, he had a long career with nonprofit organizations and government agencies. John is our staff "has been." He has been a lot of different things in his more than four decades of service. He has been the executive director of a community-based nonprofit serving people with developmental disabilities, a school teacher, a staff member of a nationally affiliated youth-serving organization, director of volunteers for a juvenile offender program, project director for a juvenile justice research project, and director of planning for a state criminal justice agency. In addition, he has been a consultant in juvenile justice and youth protection for many federal and state agencies as well as a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations. You can see that John has truly earned his title of staff has been.
During his tenure with the Center, John has written several of our publications and serves as a consultant on child sexual abuse issues with many of our clients. He regularly delivers training and technical assistance.
John grew up out West in New Mexico. Despite being in the East since 1980, he still misses the scenery, culture, people and, of course, New Mexican cuisine. There is nothing like Hatch green chilies. He has a BS Ed. from the University of New Mexico.