Staff
Nell Levin
Nell is the Coordinator for the Tennessee Alliance for Progress (TAP), a statewide, multi-issue value-based progressive think and act tank that she helped organize in 2001. She was formerly the Government Relations Director of Tennessee Network for Community Economic Development and the Coalition Coordinator/Legislative Liaison for Tennesseans for Fair Taxation.
She is the former host of the Tennessee Progress Report radio show on Radio Free Nashville. Her writing has appeared in papers across Tennessee, including the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Nashville Free Press, the Tennessean and Nashville City Paper, where she was a regular columnist. She is a weekly Community Blogger for the Tennessean, Nashville's leading newspaper.
She is a graduate of the Midwest Academy Organizer Training program and the Leadership Training in the Politics of Meaning led by Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun magazine.
Nell is also a songwriter and former professional musician who toured with bands in California, Indiana, Colorado, Alaska, Nashville, and Asia. She currently plays fiddle in the Shelby Bottom String Band.
She moved to Nashville from Los Angeles in 1989, primarily because of Nashville's music scene. She went to the grocery store and was shocked to find out that, unlike California, Tennessee was taxing food. This led to a job with Tennesseans for Fair Taxation. She has been highly engaged in grassroots politics in Tennessee ever since.
Dan Joranko, Ph.D.
Dan Joranko was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAP for four years. He is now working part-time for TAP as the Coordinator of the Green-Collar Jobs Task Force of Nashville/Davidson County. Dan is a former community organizer from Chicago. He worked as the Nashville Organizer for Kilowatt Ours, a sustainability initiative based around the film of the same name. He is also adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt Divinity School and runs and teaches a weekly class for prisoners and Vanderbilt students at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison. He has been active at the Nashville Peace and Justice Center and is the Administrative Council Chair at Hobson United Methodist Church, a nationally-recognized interracial congregation in Nashville that does outreach to the homeless. He has a Ph.D. in Resource Development from Michigan State University.
Eric Schechter, Ph.D.
Eric Schechter has been the webweaver of TAP since 2006. His Ph.D. is in Mathematics, which is irrelevant to his political activism, which began in 2006. Eric is active in several local political groups, particularly the Nashville Peace Coalition -- Eric loves to go to peace rallies. Eric is also the manager of the Nashville Progressive Calendar.
Rev. Eugene TeSelle, D.D.
Gene, our Newsletter Editor, is also on the Board of Directors; his bio can be found on the Board's page.
Vicki Baldwin
Vicki Baldwin, Director of Development, graduated from Carson-Newman College with a degree in Communications & Journalism. Originally from Georgia, Vicki moved to Tennessee in 1983 and has since gained over 11 years of experience in non-profit fundraising, development and special events. Ms. Baldwin has worked with several organizations, including The Alzheimer’s Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Cumberland Heights, Kilowatt Ours and the TN Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Ron Ault
Webmaster and Art Director, Ron is a musician and graphic designer living in Hermitage, TN.
Ron graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1976. Since then Ron has made a successful career in Visual Communications working as an illustrator at Kelly AirForce Base - San Antonio TX, Production Artist at Lewis & Thompson Advertising - San Antonio, TX, Graphic Designer at Saturn - Spring Hill, TN, Art Director at Stumpf Bartels Advertising, Nashville, TN and Graphic Designer at Barnes & Company, Nashville, TN. Ron spent the past 10 years as a Usability Designer at Deloitte & Touche in Hermitage, TN.
Ron was awarded the International Gold Quill Award in 2001, as well as numerous Addy Awards from the San Antonio Advertising Federation.
Ron also plays fiddle and mandolin with Nashville's The Secret Commonwealth.
