Speakers at the 2009 Up2Us National Conference
Paul Caccamo, Executive Director
Mr. Caccamo is a 20-year veteran of the non-profit sector. He received his Master's Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and his Bachelor's Degree at Georgetown University's Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service. Mr. Caccamo has received numerous academic awards and citations for leadership, including one of Harvard's most prestigious graduate awards for innovation in the design of social service programs. He founded the America SCORES national office in 1999 and Up2Us in 2008.
Nicola Goren, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service
Nicola Goren is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Federal Agency that oversees America’s service and volunteering programs, including AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, Senior Corps, Learn and Serve America and other domestic volunteering programs.
Goren is an 11-year veteran of the agency, having served since 2006 as Chief of Staff to the former CEO, David Eisner. Goren joined the agency in 1998 as Associate General Counsel and led the successful AmeriCorps rulemaking process and grants streamlining initiative. Goren worked between 1993 and 1998 in the legislative branch, first with the Congressional Budget Office and then with the Office of Compliance. She is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Brandeis University.
Goren resides in the District of Columbia with her husband and two sons.
Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools
Kevin Jennings is the founder and former executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Prior to his tenure at GLSEN, Jennings served as History Department chair and a history teacher at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and before that as a history teacher at Moses Brown School in Rhode Island. Jennings has also authored six books including Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir which was named a 2007 Book of Honor by the American Library Association and Telling Tales Out of School which was the winner of the 1998 Lambda Literary Award. Jennings received an A.B. in history from Harvard, an M.A. from the Columbia University Teachers College and an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business.
Edwin Moses, Olympic Gold Medalist, Track and Field
Edwin Moses will always be remembered for one of the most dominant reigns in world sport. For a remarkable nine years, nine months and nine days, he remained invincible in the 400 metres hurdles, being unbeaten in 122 consecutive races (107 finals). Bounding over the 10 three-foot obstacles, he took an unprecedented 13 steps in between the hurdles instead of the usual 14 and managed to produce a rare winning mix of speed, grace and stamina.
By the time he retired from the sport in 1989, Moses had won two Olympic gold medals, in Montreal in 1976 and Los Angeles in 1984 and a bronze in Seoul in 1988. He would almost certainly have won a third gold, but for the American boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. In 1983 he broke the world record for the fourth time in Koblenz, Germany, with a time of 47.02, a mark which stood for the next nine years. During his career he won three World Cup titles and two World Championships.
Moses took up athletics at high school after he was dropped from the basketball team and as a relatively unknown 20-year-old he was to stun the athletics world at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, winning the gold medal in a world-record time of 47.64 seconds. On August 26, 1977, he lost to the German Harald Schmidt in Berlin but from this moment on for almost a decade Moses was to remain unbeaten. Even when that historic run was finally ended by Danny Harris, Moses showed his true measure as a champion by producing one of his finest performances. At the 1987 World Championships in Rome he won a titanic battle to claim a wonderful gold, holding off the challenge of Harris and Schmidt.
Moses is one of the few athletes to become a true global ambassador of sport. He was the first athlete to pioneer the acceptance of controlled professionalism in athletics, and, as a sports administrator, he is best known for his work in the development of policies against the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He was responsible for the development of drug control policies and procedures as Chairman of the Substance Abuse, Research and Education organisation.
A qualified physicist, Moses has been a member of the International Olympic Committee Ethics Commission since 2000. In 2000, he was elected by his fellow members to become the inaugural Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy. He is an accomplished public speaker and motivator, and has been speaking to corporations and other organisations for over 20 years.
Monica Seles, Professional Tennis Player, Member of The International Tennis Hall of Fame
Monica Seles was the dominant player in women’s tennis in the early 1990s. She became a tennis sensation in 1990 when she became the youngest ever winner of the French Open, at 16, beating Steffi Graf in straight sets. With a punishing two-fisted forehand, fierce backhand and a strong return of serve, she is considered by many to be the first power player in the women's game, paving the way for subsequent champions like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
In her career Seles won nine Grand Slam titles – the Australian Open four times, the French Open three times and the US Open twice. She would have won even more, but in 1993 she was stabbed by a crazed fan of rival player Steffi Graf. Following this incident, she did not play again for over two years and although she had some further success when she returned to full-time competition, winning the 1996 Australian Open, she was never again able to consistently reproduce her best form.
Born in Novi Sad, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), she began playing tennis at the age of six, coached by her father Karolj Seles. She won the prestigious Orange Bowl junior tournament in Miami, Florida, where she caught the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and in 1986 the Seles family moved from Yugoslavia to the United States and Monica enrolled in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where she trained for two years.
Seles played her first professional tournament in 1988 at the age of 14 and won her first career title at Houston in May 1989, where she beat Chris Evert in the final. Seles’s victory at the French Open the following year made her an instant star. Facing Graf in the final, she saved four set-points in a first-set tie-breaker, which she ultimately won 8-6, and went on to take the match in straight-sets and become the youngest ever French Open champion at the age of 16 years 6 months.
From 1991 to 1993, Seles dominated women's tennis, winning 22 titles and reaching 33 finals out of the 34 tournaments in which she played. She won the Australian Open three times in that period, the US Open twice and the French Open twice. She had a 55-1 win-loss record in Grand Slam tournaments, the only defeat being in the 1992 Wimbledon final where she lost to Steffi Graf. She was unable to play at Wimbledon in 1991 because of injury.
After becoming a US citizen, Seles helped the United States to win the Federation Cup in 1996 and 2000 and she also won a Bronze Medal at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney. After winning 53 career titles up to 2003, Seles sustained a foot injury that sidelined her from the Women’s Tour and effectively ended her career.
Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director, Positive Coaching Alliance
Founder and Executive Director of Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit formed at Stanford University with the mission to create a movement to transform the culture of youth sports so that all youth athletes have a positive, character-building experience.
For more than 10 years, Jim was director of the Public and Global Management Programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he also taught courses in leadership and non-profit issues. US News named Stanford’s Public Management Program the top nonprofit business management program in the nation in 1992.
He has a degree in elementary education from the University of North Dakota, a Masters in Public Affairs from the University of Oregon, and an MBA from Stanford.
Since its founding in 1998, Positive Coaching Alliance has developed a network of more than 130 trainers across the U.S., who have delivered 5,000 workshops for youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes. Jim was named one of the Top 100 Sports Educators in the U.S. by the Institute for International Sport in October 2007. Dan Doyle, IIS Executive Director, described PCA as “the finest organization of its kind in the United States.”
In March 2004, Jim was named an International Fellow by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public - an organization that recognizes outstanding social entrepreneurs.
He is the author of six books: The Double-Goal Coach; Positive Coaching; Shooting in the Dark: Tales of Coaching and Leadership; Positive Coaching in a Nutshell; Positive Sports Parenting; and The High School Sports Parent.
Jim is a member of the faculty in Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program where he teaches courses in coaching, leadership and sport and spirituality.
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Paul Caccamo, Executive Director
Mr. Caccamo is a 20-year veteran of the non-profit sector. He received his Master's Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and his Bachelor's Degree at Georgetown University's Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service. Mr. Caccamo has received numerous academic awards and citations for leadership, including one of Harvard's most prestigious graduate awards for innovation in the design of social service programs. He founded the America SCORES national office in 1999 and Up2Us in 2008.
Nicola Goren, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service
Nicola Goren is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Federal Agency that oversees America’s service and volunteering programs, including AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, Senior Corps, Learn and Serve America and other domestic volunteering programs.
Goren is an 11-year veteran of the agency, having served since 2006 as Chief of Staff to the former CEO, David Eisner. Goren joined the agency in 1998 as Associate General Counsel and led the successful AmeriCorps rulemaking process and grants streamlining initiative. Goren worked between 1993 and 1998 in the legislative branch, first with the Congressional Budget Office and then with the Office of Compliance. She is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Brandeis University.
Goren resides in the District of Columbia with her husband and two sons.
Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools
Kevin Jennings is the founder and former executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Prior to his tenure at GLSEN, Jennings served as History Department chair and a history teacher at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and before that as a history teacher at Moses Brown School in Rhode Island. Jennings has also authored six books including Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir which was named a 2007 Book of Honor by the American Library Association and Telling Tales Out of School which was the winner of the 1998 Lambda Literary Award. Jennings received an A.B. in history from Harvard, an M.A. from the Columbia University Teachers College and an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business.
Edwin Moses, Olympic Gold Medalist, Track and Field
Edwin Moses will always be remembered for one of the most dominant reigns in world sport. For a remarkable nine years, nine months and nine days, he remained invincible in the 400 metres hurdles, being unbeaten in 122 consecutive races (107 finals). Bounding over the 10 three-foot obstacles, he took an unprecedented 13 steps in between the hurdles instead of the usual 14 and managed to produce a rare winning mix of speed, grace and stamina.
By the time he retired from the sport in 1989, Moses had won two Olympic gold medals, in Montreal in 1976 and Los Angeles in 1984 and a bronze in Seoul in 1988. He would almost certainly have won a third gold, but for the American boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. In 1983 he broke the world record for the fourth time in Koblenz, Germany, with a time of 47.02, a mark which stood for the next nine years. During his career he won three World Cup titles and two World Championships.
Moses took up athletics at high school after he was dropped from the basketball team and as a relatively unknown 20-year-old he was to stun the athletics world at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, winning the gold medal in a world-record time of 47.64 seconds. On August 26, 1977, he lost to the German Harald Schmidt in Berlin but from this moment on for almost a decade Moses was to remain unbeaten. Even when that historic run was finally ended by Danny Harris, Moses showed his true measure as a champion by producing one of his finest performances. At the 1987 World Championships in Rome he won a titanic battle to claim a wonderful gold, holding off the challenge of Harris and Schmidt.
Moses is one of the few athletes to become a true global ambassador of sport. He was the first athlete to pioneer the acceptance of controlled professionalism in athletics, and, as a sports administrator, he is best known for his work in the development of policies against the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He was responsible for the development of drug control policies and procedures as Chairman of the Substance Abuse, Research and Education organisation.
A qualified physicist, Moses has been a member of the International Olympic Committee Ethics Commission since 2000. In 2000, he was elected by his fellow members to become the inaugural Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy. He is an accomplished public speaker and motivator, and has been speaking to corporations and other organisations for over 20 years.
Monica Seles, Professional Tennis Player, Member of The International Tennis Hall of Fame
Monica Seles was the dominant player in women’s tennis in the early 1990s. She became a tennis sensation in 1990 when she became the youngest ever winner of the French Open, at 16, beating Steffi Graf in straight sets. With a punishing two-fisted forehand, fierce backhand and a strong return of serve, she is considered by many to be the first power player in the women's game, paving the way for subsequent champions like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
In her career Seles won nine Grand Slam titles – the Australian Open four times, the French Open three times and the US Open twice. She would have won even more, but in 1993 she was stabbed by a crazed fan of rival player Steffi Graf. Following this incident, she did not play again for over two years and although she had some further success when she returned to full-time competition, winning the 1996 Australian Open, she was never again able to consistently reproduce her best form.
Born in Novi Sad, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), she began playing tennis at the age of six, coached by her father Karolj Seles. She won the prestigious Orange Bowl junior tournament in Miami, Florida, where she caught the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and in 1986 the Seles family moved from Yugoslavia to the United States and Monica enrolled in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where she trained for two years.
Seles played her first professional tournament in 1988 at the age of 14 and won her first career title at Houston in May 1989, where she beat Chris Evert in the final. Seles’s victory at the French Open the following year made her an instant star. Facing Graf in the final, she saved four set-points in a first-set tie-breaker, which she ultimately won 8-6, and went on to take the match in straight-sets and become the youngest ever French Open champion at the age of 16 years 6 months.
From 1991 to 1993, Seles dominated women's tennis, winning 22 titles and reaching 33 finals out of the 34 tournaments in which she played. She won the Australian Open three times in that period, the US Open twice and the French Open twice. She had a 55-1 win-loss record in Grand Slam tournaments, the only defeat being in the 1992 Wimbledon final where she lost to Steffi Graf. She was unable to play at Wimbledon in 1991 because of injury.
After becoming a US citizen, Seles helped the United States to win the Federation Cup in 1996 and 2000 and she also won a Bronze Medal at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney. After winning 53 career titles up to 2003, Seles sustained a foot injury that sidelined her from the Women’s Tour and effectively ended her career.
Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director, Positive Coaching Alliance
Founder and Executive Director of Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit formed at Stanford University with the mission to create a movement to transform the culture of youth sports so that all youth athletes have a positive, character-building experience.
For more than 10 years, Jim was director of the Public and Global Management Programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he also taught courses in leadership and non-profit issues. US News named Stanford’s Public Management Program the top nonprofit business management program in the nation in 1992.
He has a degree in elementary education from the University of North Dakota, a Masters in Public Affairs from the University of Oregon, and an MBA from Stanford.
Since its founding in 1998, Positive Coaching Alliance has developed a network of more than 130 trainers across the U.S., who have delivered 5,000 workshops for youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes. Jim was named one of the Top 100 Sports Educators in the U.S. by the Institute for International Sport in October 2007. Dan Doyle, IIS Executive Director, described PCA as “the finest organization of its kind in the United States.”
In March 2004, Jim was named an International Fellow by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public - an organization that recognizes outstanding social entrepreneurs.
He is the author of six books: The Double-Goal Coach; Positive Coaching; Shooting in the Dark: Tales of Coaching and Leadership; Positive Coaching in a Nutshell; Positive Sports Parenting; and The High School Sports Parent.
Jim is a member of the faculty in Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program where he teaches courses in coaching, leadership and sport and spirituality.
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