Staff

Grant Faulkner, Executive Director

As a boy, Grant spent his allowance on all sorts of pens and paper, so there was never much question that he would become a writer. He received his B.A. from Grinnell College in English and his M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He has published stories and essays in The New York Times,Poets & WritersWriter’s DigestThe Southwest ReviewThe RumpusGargoyle, and The Berkeley Fiction Review, among dozens of others. He’s also the founder and editor of the lit journal 100 Word Story, and has a collection of 100-word stories, Fissures, coming out in the spring of 2015. He believes quite simply that everyone is a writer—that we create our world through the stories we tell—so he enthusiastically prods everyone he meets to write a novel and discover how life can be transformed through a daring creative act.

 


Chris Angotti, Chief Operating Officer

Chris Angotti is a former middle and high school teacher who believes in encouraging creativity among all ages. In his spare time, he tries to make his own things, as well as read, watch, and listen to as much as he can. Also, he will never get tired of looking at dogs. Here at the office, Chris oversees our nonprofit’s daily operations—including budget, HR, and internal systems—and collaborates with all staff on big-picture strategy and fundraising.

 


Rebecca Stern, Director of Programs

Rebecca Jackson Stern was an elementary and middle school teacher for a decade, after which she was a Senior Digital Editor at Pearson Education, where she worked on a tablet-based curriculum. Rebecca co-edited an anthology of essays by notable authors for kids called Breakfast on Mars.

Rebecca has experienced NaNoWriMo from every angle: she had her fifth and sixth grade students participate in the Young Writers Program, did a victory dance in the 50K winner’s circle, served on the Associate Board, and now is our Director of Programs.

In the office, Rebecca oversees the development of our websites, collaborates with staff on strategic planning, and leads the program team. When she’s not working, you can find Rebecca poking around in bookstores, trying to break her addiction to Candy Crush, drinking shots of espresso, and hanging out with Laika, her cosmonaut dog.

 


Dave Beck, Technical Director

Brownian motion is Dave’s career arc. With a B.A. in Italian Literature and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence, he has worked as a chef, reporter, editor, museum exhibit developer, website designer, computer programmer, and now the Director of IT for the most awe-inspiring community on the planet. When he’s not helping people achieve their literary dreams he builds wooden kayaks, writes browser-based interactive mysteries, and creates extravagant book-themed birthday parties. He and his beloved twin daughters are attempting to watch every great movie ever made.

 


Tim Kim, Director of Communications

As Director of Communications, Tim oversees communications, including the blog, newsletter, and general updates from HQ. In other words, he is a glorified town caller. Please feel free to picture him with a speaking-trumpet, as it is his accoutrement of choice—preferably bedazzled rather majestically to separate him from the other town callers. As a former NaNoWriMo intern himself, Tim also oversees our intern program, the most difficult part of which is frantically searching for ways to permanently retain these fantastic folks.

Tim has worked for Once, Wired, and San Francisco magazines, as well as at Condé Nast. He is searching for new ways to humble-brag about the fact that he is only two degrees of separation away from Taylor Swift, and that his dog is possibly the cutest dog ever.

 


Sarah Mackey, Director of Community Engagement

Sarah is a nap enthusiast and fanatical knitter with a background in libraries, an English degree, a diploma in Public Relations, a toddler named Eleanor, and a cat named Weasley. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and thus spends a great deal of time on webcams and Google chat with her coworkers. As Director of Community Engagement, Sarah is responsible for coordinating NaNoWriMo’s more than 800 volunteers around the world, running various social media accounts, working with hundreds of libraries, bookstores, and community spaces through the Come Write In partnership, coordinating the Ambassadors program, and helping to organize the annual Night of Writing Dangerously fundraising gala.

 


Shelby Gibbs, Operations Manager

Shelby Gibbs received her B.A. in English Literature from Mills College in Oakland, California. She has written literary criticism, essays, and the occasional poem on the color purple since childhood. Before NaNoWriMo, she worked at a small publishing house and penned a senior thesis on Virginia Woolf. In her free time, she enjoys grocery shopping (especially the free samples), and further exploring her native Bay Area. At HQ, she holds down the fort by tending to office plant life, managing NaNoWriMo’s Donation Station and Store, helping out with bookkeeping and financials, planning the Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon, and managing the intern program.

 


Heather DudleyHeather Dudley, Lead Forums Moderator

Heather is a 30-something mother of two and a hopeless writing addict. She is currently the Lead Forums Moderator for the community forums. A relapsed webmaster with extensive moderating experience, she started volunteering in the NaNoWriMo forums in 2003. Her dreams came true in 2007 when she was asked to join staff as the Forums Moderator. She wrangles the hundreds of thousands of posts and participants that flow through the forums on a daily basis, moving them around, answering questions, and reporting feedback to the staff back at HQ. In 2012, she was promoted to Lead Forums Moderator, and is responsible for overseeing the volunteer and staff moderators over both the main and YWP websites.

 


Jezra Lickter, Web Developer

Jezra enjoys writing code in various programming languages, as well as riding a bike, trying not to fall off a skateboard, and playing the bagpipes. When he grows up, he hopes to be an an astronaut.

 


Paige KnorrPaige Knorr, Community Liaison

By day, Paige works for a youth emergency shelter in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. By night (evening, weekend) here at NaNo HQ, she flits around in the background coordinating the ML Mentors program, answering questions in the forums, and tackling assorted other projects related to our team of NaNoWriMo volunteers around the world. Paige also has a degree in Professional Writing, hosts karaoke on Saturdays, and enjoys anything involving science-fiction or cats.

 


Rob DiazRob Diaz, YWP Forums Moderator

Rob hoped to major in Coffee Studies at Rutgers University but settled for a degree in Computer Science instead. This degree helped him get a foot in the door at a large software company where he spent over 13 years as Chief Coffee Officer. Rob signed up for NaNoWriMo in 2006 and has participated alongside his wife and children every year since then. He has now had five short stories published, two plays produced and has become a regular contributor to the Write Anything blog. Rob is often found on baseball diamonds or marching-band fields, or in his dungeon plotting new ways to bring on a golden age of Vegetarian World Domination. Or drinking coffee—he’s been known to do that occasionally, too.

 


Learn more about NaNoWriMo.
http://nanowrimo.org/en/staff/
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