Rob "Biko" Baker - Executive Director

The Executive Director of the League of Young Voters, Rob "Biko" Baker is a nationally recognized young leader. In his home community of Milwaukee, he has organized town hall meetings and used the power and agency of art to inform, mobilize, and motivate young people to participate in civic life. Baker has served as the deputy publicity coordinator and young voter organizer for the Brown and Black Presidential Forum. He has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News and CNN, has interviewed luminaries Cornell West, Russell Simmons, and Howard Dean, and has been on panels with many of the nation's strongest progressive voices. Baker is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, a frequent contributor to The Source, serves on CIRCLE's research advisory board and is a board member of the New Organizing Institute.

 

LaToya Santiago - Executive Assistant

Latoya Santiago was a childcare teacher for 3 years, and has two beautiful children of her own: Marvin and Marriona, who keep her moving. When she isn’t with her kids, she attends Lakeland College, earning credits toward her bachelors degree in Accounting and Business. In 2004, Latoya worked for the Young Voter Alliance where her drive and ambition caught Biko's attention. When Biko needed an Executive Assistant, he had his ideal candidate in mind - and luckily for all of us, she took the job. In her short seven months of employment, LaToya has grown tremendously and is proud to support the Wisconsin League. She loves doing this work because it helps her grow as a person and a woman who can do whatever she wants- as long as she puts her mind to it-so watch out!

Sean Gardner - Operations Director

Sean Gardner hails from Santa Fe, NM. He attended University of New Mexico, as a Theatre major where he wrote and produced plays, short films and comedy sketches, and actively protested. In addition to being a supremely talented problem solver in the League's Operations office, he’s also a writer, director, actor, producer and editor of a few short films. His films have played at The Santa Fe Film Festival and South By Southwest. Recently, he moved to Brooklyn with his girlfriend and while on the job search, contemplated the range of skills he picked up from a variety of jobs that taught him everything from summarizing lawsuits to crafting the perfect grilled cheese. Wanting to find a position where he could employ much of that skill-set on a daily basis, he came to the League in early 2009. He’s proud of his affiliation with The League because it allows him to be part of a group of passionate, driven young people working for and achieving change. He obsesses over: films, comedy, music, food. He writes funny things sometimes. And his record collection might be better than yours.

 
Sam Patton - Online/Systems Director

Sam graduated from Oberlin College in 2005 with degrees in Film Production and English; moved to New York City immediately after college but rapidly lost interest in the overt commercialism of the entertainment industry.  Through a home town (Oxford, Mississippi) connection, started as an intern at the League in early 2007 and has not looked back since. His commitment to social justice comes from the examples of his friends and family; the education he received in school and the education he receives every day, seeing the dignity of the working class and our undeniable opportunity for progress provided we treat each other as a real community. Sam identifies strongly as a Mississippian and feels a certain responsibility, as a Southern white man, to be an example for all the progressive kids in the South who feel that our cultural legacy must be to reinforce the positive ideals of our history - bravery in the face of challenge, the quest for redemption - while redefining progressive politics in the red states.

Rachel Bishop - National Programs Director

Rachel Bishop first got involved with youth organizing in 2004 as a high school junior, jumping on board with the anti-Bush youth movement as a volunteer in Oregon, Ohio and Pennsylvania. She first joined the League in 2007 as an intern in our National Operations office. Things quickly snowballed and by the time she graduated from NYU with a degree in Politics in 2009, she was working full-time as a National Operations Associate. These days, she holds the even fancier-sounding title of National Programs Director, lives in Brooklyn with her best friend and an unwelcome mouse named Stan. In her spare time, she enjoys playing guitar and other such activities that warrant complaints from neighbors. 

 

Carey Jenkins - National Training Director

Carey Jenkins attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. He wore many hats during his stint at Running Rebels Community Organization - Youth Advocate, Crisis Mentor, Safe & Sound Program Director, Going Home Project Crisis Provider, and Tutor - and also an Educational Assistant for Milwaukee Public Schools. Currently he is the League of Young Voters’ National Training Director. Inspired by his son DeShawn T. Jenkins, in his four and a half years he has come to feel a sense of pride in The League's mission. Some of his accomplishments include winning an anti gun commercial contest from which his song was featured on Milwaukee public transit and local television. He used to rap and opened for major acts such as Common. He has been a ball boy for the Milwaukee Bucks, coached basketball and soccer, and can generally play just about any sport. His passion is writing, his goal is to be a professor, he hopes to make violence a National Issue, and then maybe when he has some of those accomplished he’ll go ahead and settle down and get married.

Nicola Wells - Maine League Director

Nicola Wells has been with the League since the end of September, 2010. She focuses her work on statewide organizing and directing communications for the League. She’ll also be working closely with Maine Leaguers on our 2011 strategic planning and civic engagement programs. Before coming to the League of Young Voters she worked with the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a project of the Center for Community Change, helping community organizations build state and local organizing campaigns and strategic plans. She also spent her time working on social media organizing and bridging the gap between online and offline activism. Nicola helped to co-found the Reform Immigration for America’s Cell Phone Action network, one of the largest cell phone action lists in the country. Nicola is also co-founder of Standing Firm, a blog of Immigrant Rights and Organizing. Before working with the Center, she worked with immigrant communities in Tijuana, Mexico and Paris, France. She currently lives in Lewiston and works in our Portland office 2-3 days a week.