Chris Atwell, Writer
Chris is a freelance writer who specializes in speeches, scripts, Web copy and media materials. Chris’ recent work on the American Federation for the Blind website, Senior Site, was recognized with a 2008 Silver Communicator Award. He is currently the speechwriter for Earl G. Graves, Sr., the publisher and CEO of Black Enterprise magazine, where he also writes scripts for the annual Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Award Gala.
Chris has penned speeches and scripts for a host of celebrities, public officials and business leaders, including Danny Glover, Julian Bond and Al Roker. Prior to going out on his own, Chris was a senior writer at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, where he wrote speeches for the organization’s president, Gloria Feldt, and prepared scripts for Planned Parenthood’s corps of celebrity supporters, such as Kathleen Turner, Mathew Broderick and Blythe Danner. Earlier in his career, Chris was a staff reporter for the City Sun, a Brooklyn-based African-American weekly, where he received an Excellence in Journalism award from the New York Guardians Association.
Warren Kass, Graphic Designer, Kass Communications
Warren is an award-winning graphic designer and creative director with deep experience in both the for-profit and non-profit worlds. His corporate clients have included Häagen-Dazs, the Bank of New York, Minolta, National Geographic and KLM Airlines, among others. Warren’s logo, packaging, brochure and direct mail designs have launched many successful advertising campaigns that helped his clients increase sales and garnered dozens of creative awards from his peers.
Warren and his wife, Jane, are committed volunteers for the American Cancer Society, recently traveling to Washington to lobby Congress for increased funding for cancer research. For years Warren has served as a facilitator/leader for the society’s Man-to-Man Support Group. He is also a board member of Alumni & Friends of LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, an organization that raises funds to provide scholarships for gifted students.
Jennine Meyer, Senior Consultant
Jennine has substantial experience providing strategic and technical communications assistance to non-profit organizations and foundations. A specialist in international issues, Jennine has worked for organizations such as the United Nations Population Fund, the U.S. Millennium Campaign, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Global Fund for Women and Ipas. She was a senior associate for four years with Douglas Gould and Company and was also part of the communications team at Children’s Rights, an American child welfare reform organization. A former reporter and researcher for the Wall Street Journal’s SmartMoney magazine, Jennine served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe and lived for a time in Ethiopia. She speaks French.
A. Ty Risby, Film Producer, Brown Bag Films
Ty started his career as an account executive at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and later went freelance by writing and producing spots for MTV’s Rock the Vote campaign, featuring Chris Rock and Public Enemy’s Chuck D.
In 2004 Ty produced a series of public service announcements for the Kaiser Family Foundation and BET, which earned an Emmy nomination. That same year he opened his company, Brown Bag Films and has produced a diverse slate of work for clients such as Nike’s Brand Jordan, Showtime, Sundance Channel, BET and KFC. He produced show openings for HBO’s Entourage and Def Poetry, as well as a DVD for Bad Boy Entertainment’s Bad Boys of Comedy.
Ty recently completed a behind the scenes documentary on the making of Reflections, a non-profit film on HIV awareness, directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood. He jokes that the explosion in media and technology means everyone must be prepared for their 15 minutes of fame. “At some point we’ll all have our own reality show.”
About Us / Our Team
// Operate with intention. Aim for excellence.
Bonnie McEwan, President
Bonnie founded Make Waves in January of 2007 after working over 20 years in nonprofit marketing and communications. She is the firm’s chief strategist and directly manages its qualitative research activities, moderating focus groups and analyzing the competitive landscape of the various fields where our clients operate. Immediately prior to opening Make Waves, she served for six years as Executive Vice President of Douglas Gould and Company, a communications consultancy that works with public interest organizations. There she led the firm’s practice in Economic and Social Justice, working with clients such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the United Nations Population Fund and the Ford Foundation.
She has held the top communications position with two national nonprofit organizations, Girl Scouts of the USA and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and has been on the adjunct faculty of the Milano Graduate School at the New School for 13 years. During the 1997-98 academic year, Bonnie served as Acting Chair of Milano’s Nonprofit Management program.
Bonnie is a published author who has served on several nonprofit boards, notably the Empire State Pride Agenda, and is profiled in the leadership book, “Thriving in 24/7: Six Strategies for Taming the New World of Work,” by Sally Helgesen. Her awards include a national Silver Anvil from the Public Relations Society of America. She is a Top 1,000 Reviewer on Amazon.com. Bonnie holds a MS in Nonprofit Management from the New School and was trained in focus group moderation at the Burke Institute.
Kathleen Duncan, Executive Vice President and CFO
Kathleen started her career in retailing, holding buying positions with Bloomingdale’s and Bonwit Teller. She later became a vice president at Hanover Direct, a catalog mail order company, where she oversaw product development and the visual presentation of merchandise in multiple catalogs.
In 1992 Kathleen was recruited by Girl Scouts of the USA to become the first woman to direct their national merchandising operation, which develops and sells products carrying the Girl Scout trademark. There she pioneered a more aggressive branding and licensing approach for the organization, expanding the business to generate over $50 million in annual revenue.
At Make Waves Kathleen specializes in analyzing nonprofit organizations to assess their potential for carrying out earned income initiatives and develops earned income strategies for those organizations that show promise. On occasion, she also directs stage productions, video and photo shoots and handles the sourcing of photographers and other visual professionals for Make Waves clients.
Joan Grangenois-Thomas, Account Director
Joan brings over 20 years of consulting experience to Make Waves, where she directs the execution of media strategies and oversees our company’s training activities. Prior to joining us in spring 2007, Joan spent more than four years with Douglas Gould and Co., where she focused on conducting message and media trainings for clients and foundation grantees. This included two major initiatives for the Ford Foundation: For an Economy that Works for All, which focused on low-wage work, and Religion & Culture--Meeting the Challenge of Pluralism, which sought to insert the voices of progressive religious scholars into the public discourse.
Joan has traveled widely to deliver quality training programs to nonprofit organizations. She crisscrossed the US in her work for the Ford Foundation and went as far as Dakar, Senegal to serve on the training team in Advanced Advocacy for country heads of the United Nations Population Fund. Most recently, she developed and delivered message trainings for the Open Society Institute, Barnard College and the Revenue Watch Institute.
Joan is certified by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a facilitator in their World of Difference Institute, where she delivers anti-bias and diversity training on behalf of ADL to a variety of audiences, including students in middle and high school. Joan previously served on the board of Open Door, a community health clinic for low-income people in Westchester County, NY.
Ami Watkin, Account Executive
Ami joined Make Waves in August 2007 after learning the ways of Capitol Hill while working in the Public Policy and Advocacy office of Girl Scouts of the USA in Washington, D.C. There she focused particularly on the issues facing Latina girls, a passion stemming from her experience abroad. An accomplished writer, Ami is Make Waves’ web master and the editor of our blog, Ripples and Wipeouts. She is developing an expertise in Web-based media strategies and has had considerable success generating Web visibility for Make Waves’ clients, including SmartTransportation.org and Friends of Animals, both grantees of the Hidary Foundation, as well as Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.
Earlier in her career, Ami taught English in Mexico, working for Interlingua and Universidad Cuauhtemoc, where she primarily taught introductory levels of English, focusing on grammar and oral communication skills.
Ami holds a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies from Vassar College. She has spent ample time abroad, living in London and Mexico, and traveling throughout Europe. Ami is fluent in Spanish.
Leah Kopperman, Senior e-Strategist
Leah is an experienced nonprofit e-communications professional who focuses on the integration of online and offline marketing strategies. She has broad online knowledge in development, membership, social networking, interactive content and media relations. An online native since 1989, Leah’s understanding of electronic communications has grown along with the Internet. During the seven years she spent working in various e-communications roles at Barnard College, she took the school from a small, static website to a multifaceted online presence, which now includes an e-newsletter, a private alumnae networking directory, a podcast series, an online course catalog, message boards, blogs, and a Facebook application.
Beyond e-communications, Leah has substantial offline experience in the non-profit sector, where she has worked in event management, media relations and publishing for organizations such as the Women’s Prison Association and Hadassah. Leah is a former board member of The Stonewall Chorale, where she still sings, and a current member of the communication committee of the Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. She holds an MS in nonprofit management, an MA in sociology, and a BA in psychology.
About Us / What Makes Us Different
// Issues and causes are our true clients.
First and foremost, we believe that people are attracted to nonprofits because of issues, values and ideals. While individual organizations are important, it’s their underlying missions that move people to social action and progressive change. Thus, we believe that issues and causes are our true clients.
We work with nonprofit organizations to create forward movement on key issues in the fields of human rights and civil liberties, health and medicine, economic justice and social equity. We also work together with other companies and professionals when collaboration across organizational boundaries is likely to move the issue ahead on the public agenda. Our focus is on cooperation rather than competition.
We pride ourselves on developing nonprofit marketing initiatives that are measurable and produce documented results. We want to know what works, what doesn’t, and what really makes waves.
About Us / Overview
// We're all about making an impact.
A lot of marketing and communications efforts don’t make much of an impact. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of clutter out there in the media marketplace and just being seen or heard is not enough. Make Waves uses research, analysis and a full complement of techniques and tools to create strategies that help our clients generate funding, media attention and policy clout. Making noise is not enough. Let us help you make waves.