WVWV Leadership Team

Page S. Gardner, Founder and President, WVWV

Page S. Gardner conceived of and founded Women's Voices. Women Vote. She is an expert in the voting patterns of women voters, with a particular expertise in unmarried voters. She began this project dedicated to increasing the share of unmarried women in the electorate.

During her twenty years experience as a political and communications manager and strategist, Ms. Gardner has worked at senior levels for the most competitive presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, and congressional campaigns in all parts of the country. Ms. Gardner also has managed some of the most hotly debated national public policy issue campaigns, including those related to reproductive rights, civil rights, national budget priorities, technology and trade. Ms. Gardner has been credited with designing and implementing some of the most creative and successful issue and legislative campaigns, as well as staging come from behind candidate victories in key battleground races. She is regarded as one of the top strategists in the country.

Ms. Gardner has a magna cum laude degree from Duke University. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Virginia.

Ruth Ferguson, Chief Finance Officer, WVWV

Ruth Ferguson is a management consultant to non-profit and governmental organizations, specializing in finance, compliance and organizational structure. From 1994 to 2003 she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Commonwealth Corporation, a quasi-public workforce and economic development agency in Massachusetts. Prior to that Ruth was CFO of Crittenton Hastings House, Vice President for Administration and Finance for the Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications, and Franchising Manager for Warner Amex cable television. She began her career in politics as a policy analyst for the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She was appointed to serve as the first staff director for the first-in-the-nation Caucus of Women Legislators in the Massachusetts State House. During this time Ruth was active in the campaign for passage of an Equal Rights Amendment in Massachusetts, and was co-chairperson of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus. As a result of these activities Ruth was profiled in the national magazine, Redbook.

Ruth was a founder of the Boston Club, has served on the Board of Directors of the Women's Technical Institute, and is involved in many local community-based organizations. Ruth is a graduate of Cornell University and received an MBA from Boston University. She lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts with her husband, Peter Wright, and their son, James.

WVWV Board of Directors

Page S. Gardner, Founder and President, WVWV

Chris Desser, Fellow, Tomales Bay Institute

Chris Desser is a fellow at the Tomales Bay Institute, a think tank focused on developing the concept of The Commons as an overarching analytical structure organizing across sectors and disciplines. She served on the California Coastal Commission and the San Francisco Commission for the Environment. In 2003, she co-founded Women's Voices, Women Vote, a project that successfully increased the participation of single women in the electoral process. Chris was the director of the Funder's Working Group on New Technology, an association of foundations concerned with the environmental, cultural and political implications of emerging technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology. She was co-editor of Living with the Genie' Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery (Island Press, 2003). Chris has practiced environmental law has served on the boards of many companies, foundations and progressive non-profits including WDN, The Rockwood Leadership Program, Patagonia, Mother Jones Magazine, and the Rainforest Action Network.

Michael Lux, President, American Family Voices

Michael Lux is the co-founder and CEO of Progressive Strategies, L.L.C., a political consulting firm focused on strategic consulting for non-profits, PACs, and progressive donors. Since starting the company, Mr. Lux has launched a number of important new projects, including American Family Voices, an issue advocacy group working on pocketbook issues for American families, and the Progressive Donor Network, which works to coordinate a network of individual donors, issue advocacy groups, and top flight political consultants and strategists.

Mr. Lux has a diverse background in the consulting, labor and consumer advocacy world. Lux serves on the boards of several important organizations, including the Arca Foundation, the Proteus Fund, 21st Century Democrats, Progressive Majority, the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, and the Clinton-Gore alumni association.

Mr. Lux is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Mimi Mager, Partner, Heidepriem & Mager

Mimi Mager is a partner in the public affairs firm Heidepriem & Mager. She served four years as Director of Congressional and Federal Affairs for Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly of the District of Columbia.

From 1987 through 1990, Mager worked for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, where she designed and implemented the grassroots legislative campaigns. She served as a member of the Clinton-Gore transition team, Special Assistant/Deputy to the Director of VISTA, Executive Director of the Friends of VISTA, Executive Director of the Women's Campaign Fund, Senior Advisor in the Michael Dukakis, Mondale-Ferraro, and Fred Harris presidential campaigns, and Legislative Assistant to Senator Jim Abourezk (D-SD). Mager serves on the Board of Directors of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Bright Beginnings Inc., and Friends of VISTA. She is a founding member of EMILY's List and currently sits on its national steering committee. Mager graduated cum laude from American University's School of Government and Public Administration.

Willliam McNary, President of USAction

William McNary has been called one of the most electrifying and inspirational speakers of our time. McNary serves as the President of USAction, the nation's largest coalition of progressive grassroots organizations working together to win social, racial, economic and environmental justice.

He is also the Co-Director for Citizen Action/Illinois, the Illinois affiliate of USAction. Citizen Action/Illinois is the state's largest public interest organization working on an ambitious agenda that includes health care reform, environmental safety, utility reform, public education funding and campaign finance reform. He served as the Legislative Director of the state's largest public interest organization for twelve years.

One of the leading advocates for health care reform, McNary has traveled extensively across the country, addressing churches, labor unions, health care providers, senior citizen organizations, community groups and others. He was appointed by the Illinois Senate President to serve as the Consumer Representative to the Illinois Department on Aging's Senior Pharmaceutical Review Committee. McNary currently serves on the Climate Change Advisory Group for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He was the Vice Chair of Consumer Affairs for Governor Blagojevich's transition team.

McNary is on the Board of the Center for Budget and Tax Accountability, an organization that promotes fair and progressive tax policy. He is also on the Board of Directors of Public Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to building national grassroots support for public financing of elections.

McNary has run Leadership Training forums where he teaches everyday citizens how to effectively lobby the legislature. These groups have included the AARP, the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and the NAACP.

He was a labor union member of UNITE/HERE where he was elected as the president of his local for two years. He was elected and once served as the Parent Representative for the Local School Council of the Chicago Public Schools.

Over five election cycles, McNary has worked with the Rainbow/Push Coalition where he co-directed targeted voter registration and "Get Out the Vote" campaign efforts. He has a degree in journalism and communications from the University of Iowa.

John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress

John Podesta is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Progress. Mr. Podesta served as Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001, where he was responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy, and served in the President's Cabinet and as a Principal on the National Security Council.

Mr. Podesta is currently a Visiting Professor of Law on the faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center, a position he also held from January 1995 to 1997. He has taught courses on technology policy, congressional investigations, legislation, copyright and public interest law. Mr. Podesta is considered one of Washington's leading experts in technology policy, and has written a book, several articles and lectured extensively in these areas. Mr. Podesta is a 1976 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, and a 1971 graduate of Knox College.