Our team
CORI

As Network Coordinator, Sarah provides support, connectivity, and resources to the people and communities in CORI’s fast-growing Rural Innovation Network.

Megan is the AmeriCorps VISTA Leader, connecting various CORI sites with VISTAs to expand their capacity to create change. She focuses on being a facilitator and educator, recruiter, resource generator, mentor, liaison, and ambassador of the AmeriCorps program.

In his role for CORI, Justin is responsible for supporting rural community partners with executing effective program recruitment strategies related to tech talent development.

Shaniqua works with a team of program managers and partners with community leaders, training providers, employers, and civic organizations to co-develop and execute workforce development strategies that enable rural workers and organizations to expand the technology workforce. She builds and manages national partnerships with training organizations and large tech employers.

Kate engages individuals, foundations, and corporations to build and leverage philanthropic support for CORI’s mission. An experienced resource and relationship development leader, Kate has raised millions of dollars to support big ideas and the organizations that advance them.

As part of the research team, May is involved in knowledge-gathering projects about rural America. Previously, as a community manager, she helped guide communities participating in CORI’s Rural Innovation Initiative through the process of developing strategy for thriving tech economy ecosystems.

Brēyana works with Rural Innovation Network communities to develop and implement strategies that increase interest and participation in entrepreneurship, digital skilling, and tech career development programs, with a particular focus on engaging program participants that represent the full diversity of their communities.

As Senior Development Associate, Emily manages key operations for the development team and builds grassroots support for CORI by engaging with individuals. Having been born and raised in the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut, Emily draws upon her personal connection to rural America for inspiration.

Amanda leads the Research, Knowledge, and Evaluation team in providing a better understanding of the economic dynamics of rural America and evaluating our programs guiding communities towards tech-driven prosperity using rigorous analysis and real-world insight.
RISI
To execute on CORI's mission, we engage our sister organization Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc. (RISI), a taxable nonprofit. RISI staff is listed here.

As the Director of People Operations and Culture, October is an advocate for the organization — its staff and its leadership — as well as a sponsor for culture building, values development across the organization as it matures out of the startup phase.

In her role on the broadband team, Dani enjoys learning from her colleagues and assisting with mission-driven writing and editing projects that expand broadband access and help alleviate societal inequities in rural communities across the country.

As a member of the mapping and data analytics team, Camden develops software to analyze and communicate data about rural communities. His career has focused on combining data-driven analysis and visualization to help public-interest organizations more effectively understand and convey their data.

As the regional director, Brandon leads the organization’s overall expansion strategy in the southeastern U.S. His roles consist of building and managing relationships with local and regional leadership and digital economic development stakeholders, identifying opportunities in the Black Belt and Mississippi Delta regions, with an emphasis on BIPOC and underserved communities that would benefit from a technology ecosystem.

Mike manages all aspects of accounting, financial reporting, and development of financial polices and procedures for the organization.

Austin Danforth is a seasoned storyteller, photographer, and editor who honed his skills over more than a decade as an award-winning journalist.

Matt is the founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, which he launched in 2017 to reverse the nation’s growing rural opportunity gap and create economic prosperity for small town residents across the country.

Nora leads the Rural Innovation Initiative team, where she works directly with communities to help them develop strategies for building thriving tech economy ecosystems. She’s a rural community enthusiast, and loves getting to discover new and diverse communities across the country.

As the Placemaking Fellow, Lisa collaborates with community members in rural downtowns to develop placemaking plans around their innovation hubs so that everyone in the community feels welcome and empowered.

Dalila works behind the scenes at the organization and provides support across all teams to ensure they have the resources to accomplish their work. As a member of the operations team, she is focused on helping the organization codify policies and procedures as it grows in its mission.

John has been coding professionally and personally for over a decade. Although he has specialized in web mapping and visualization for most of that time, his skills range from scripting simple utilities to crafting fullstack applications to spec.

Veronique manages the finances, payroll, and accounting for the CORI and RISI teams and strives for her work to empower all team members to become positive contributors to the organizational mission.

Brittany is a member of the mapping and data analytics team. As a data fellow, she supports efforts to gather, interpret, and communicate data that assists the organization in its service to rural communities.

As a member of the broadband team, Myles actively engages with public and private stakeholders in the development of broadband solutions to serve rural communities across the country.

Alex leads the team’s efforts to help communities plan new fiber networks by building feasibility models, creating business plans with capital stacks that take advantage of state and federal subsidies, and devising partnership structures that align the incentives of public and private entities.

Robin oversees the financial infrastructure and organizational strategy of CORI and RISI, a role that includes the design and management of finance practices, prioritizing and evaluating business development new opportunities, and setting future goals and objectives.

As a broadband consultant, Kirstin helps rural communities develop and execute broadband expansion plans, incorporating best practices for affordability, adoption, and inclusion along the way.

Olivier Leroy is data engineer in the mapping and data analytics team. He is fluent in several data languages and ready to serve well-documented and fresh data in all pipeline flavors. For Olivier, good data is actionable and well contextualized, baked fresh with good ideas and truthful content from the ground up.

Lizette guides and engages communities to support them in developing strategies for building innovative tech economy ecosystems. Liz is passionate about connecting with diverse and underrepresented communities nationwide, while using her background in urban and regional planning as a lens for inclusive, creative problem solving.

As a Research Associate, Dolley supports web development, mapping and data visualization efforts, along with general IT infrastructure. Dolley has years of experience working with web based technologies and social impact organizations.

Zack leads special projects related to finance, operations and organizational strategy. Zack’s prior experience spans both the nonprofit and private sectors. Most recently, Zack worked at EY-Parthenon as a strategy consultant.

In his role on the Rural Innovation Initiative team, Nick supports rural communities with the development and implementation of strategies to build and scale tech economy ecosystems.

Molly supports rural communities as they develop and grow strong entrepreneurial ecosystems, creating scalable tech startups in rural America. Prior to joining the team, she worked with social impact startups at MIT Solve, worked with international women leaders in STEM and entrepreneurship with the State Department, led the Incubator and Accelerator programming at Singularity University.

As a member of the mapping and data analytics team, Drew develops data tools to help define and execute analytics for the organization.

Betsy leads the Mapping and Data Analytics team supporting the organization’s efforts in data visualization, mapping, and web development.

In his role as an Entrepreneurship Consultant, Josh is dedicated to supporting rural communities in the development of tech entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Anna is a member of the broadband team. As an analyst she works with other members of the broadband team to support projects that organize and plan for broadband deployment in rural areas.

Sparkle is a highly accomplished leader, currently supporting the organization’s people operations and culture with a track record of success in over 20 years of experience, including a strong background in full life-cycle recruitment and talent acquisition.
CORI Innovation Fund

From Wall Street to Main Street, Jay brings a wealth of experience to his role as Managing Partner of CORI’s Innovation Fund, which provides investment capital to growth businesses located in opportunity zones in small communities.