Training Faculty
Heather Colburn
Political Consultant
Heather currently serves as a political consultant for progressive non-profits, political organizations, campaigns and candidates for public office. Some of her clients have included the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, the League of Conservation Voters, Fair Wisconsin and Nancy Nusbaum for Congress. She work with organizations to develop effective messages, craft long and short term strategic plans and to build infrastructure to support their current and future fundraising goals. She is also an established trainer, having trained over 1,400 people in the fundamentals of fundraising, including groups like EMILY’s List, the ACLU, GLAAD, Yes We Can!, LCV and HRC.
In the 2006 election cycle, Heather also served as the Deputy Campaign Manager on the Fair Wisconsin campaign, a statewide initiative to defeat a constitutional amendment banning civil unions and gay marriage. Fair Wisconsin raised over $5.3 million, more than any other initiative of this sort in history. Ending the campaign with significant infrastructure including over 12,000 donors and 11,000 volunteers, Fair Wisconsin is positioned to be one of the most powerful progressive organizations in Wisconsin.
Prior to becoming a consultant, Heather served as a member of the Senior Staff at EMILY’s List as the Major Gifts and Events Director. Heather also served as the Finance Director for Tammy Baldwin’s successful 1998 Congressional bid. Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Congress as the first woman from Wisconsin and the first open lesbian in Congress. Heather managed a fundraising operation that raised $1.6 million dollars, the most ever raised for a Wisconsin congressional campaign.
Joe Fuld
President
The Campaign Workshop
Joe Fuld has been fighting for causes and campaigns for the past 20 years. Joe has worked for a long list of clients including: the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the California Nurses Association, Defenders of Wildlife, DC Vote, the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, as well as many other groups, candidates and ballot measures.
Prior to becoming a political consultant Joe served as the Northeast Political Director at the DNC in 1996, and between 1991-1995 managed 10 political campaigns throughout the country.
Joe is a seasoned political trainer and facilitator. He has been the lead trainer for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute’s Candidate and Campaign Training School for the past ten years. He has also conducted trainings for many other groups including The Nature Conservancy, Campaign Corps, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
Kelton Morgan
President
Campaign Services Group, Inc.
Kelton Morgan is a seasoned political professional with over 17 years of experience in his field. He has handled voter contact campaigns for over a dozen United States senators, several governors and numerous members of congress.
He has served as national voter contact director for 3 presidential campaigns, including john McCain’s 2000 campaign where Morgan identified, targeted and turned out unprecedented
numbers of independent and cross-party voters.
Kelton is also an accomplished photographer and chef. He currently resides in New York’s east village and San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and 2 young daughters.
Courtney Snowden
The Raben Group
Courtney is Senior Associate at the Raben Group, puts a wealth of grassroots organizing, electoral, and policy experience to work for her clients. An accomplished political strategist, Ms. Snowden works with the firm’s corporate and non-profit clients to help them identify and reach their policy goals through direct lobbying, strategic planning and coalition building, and by developing and implementing effective legislative and public relations message campaigns.
Prior to joining The Raben Group, Ms. Snowden served as the senior lobbyist for the National PTA, directing their advocacy efforts on a variety of legislative issues including budget and appropriations, vouchers, and No Child Left Behind. In addition to serving as the face of PTA on Capitol Hill, in the White House and before the relevant federal agencies, Courtney led an effort to mobilize PTA’s six million members and effectively prepare them to serve as competent citizen activists on behalf of “every child, with one voice.”
During her tenure at National PTA, she chaired the National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE), a coalition comprised of more than fifty education, civic, civil rights and religious organizations devoted to defeating state and federal efforts to create publicly funded private school voucher programs and tuition tax credits.
Before working for National PTA, Ms. Snowden served as the first Federal Policy Manager for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where she developed proactive strategies to raise awareness among members of Congress and the public on the detrimental impact of bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity in our nations' schools. Courtney was also instrumental in the effort to retain a hate crimes prevention program in the legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act also known as No Child Left Behind. This program - funded under the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program - provides resources to educate our nation’s young people about the importance of respecting diversity and preventing hate-based harassment and violence.
Ms. Snowden began her career in the office of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), where she was responsible for advising the Congresswoman on an array of legislative issues including small business, labor and Native American and women's issues. Immediately following her congressional service, Courtney worked in the political department of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay and lesbian civil rights organization in the United States.
In the realm of electoral politics, Courtney directed minority outreach efforts during the final two weeks in John Cranley’s 2006 bid to unseat incumbent Rep. Steve Chabot in Ohio’s 1st Congressional District. In 2004, Courtney served as the Director of Communications and Detroit Field Operations for the “No On 2” Campaign, the organized effort to defeat the anti-gay marriage initiative in Michigan. She also lent her expertise to the Karen Thurman for Congress campaign in 2002 and to the Tammy Baldwin for Congress campaign in 2000.
Ms. Snowden earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. A highlight of her undergraduate career was her candidacy for the Beloit City Council. Although the youngest candidate in the nine person field, Courtney garnered broad community support and was only five percent shy of winning a council seat.
