Board of Directors
Paul Bennett, Secretary
Paul Bennett serves as Building & Operations Coordinator with the Mertz Gilmore Foundation (MGF), a private grant-making institution that supports and promotes healthy communities, the performing arts, and a sustainable environment. Paul manages the upkeep of building systems within the foundation's four-story brownstone. He also serves as MGF's liaison to progressive nonprofits that use the space for meetings and events. (Read full bio.)
David Borden
David Borden is founder and Executive Director of StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network.
Borden played the leading role in pioneering use of the Internet for education and organizing in drug policy reform after founding DRCNet in late 1993. Since 2000 he has overseen DRCNet's work on the Higher Education Act Reform Campaign, an effort to repeal a federal law that denies students financial aid because of drug convictions. He has initiated programs including the John W. Perry Fund scholarship program and the Out from the Shadows international conference series. (Read full bio.)
Marisa Garcia
Marisa Garcia began working in drug policy reform in 2000 after being denied financial aid under the Higher Education Act Drug Provision due to a minor marijuana offense. Shortly after being denied aid she came into contact and became active with Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
She formed an SSDP chapter on her campus and began working with the national office telling her story to reporters from all over the country. She has appeared in numerous venues including The New York Times, US News & World Report, The Rolling Stone, CNN and FOX. (Read full bio.)
Kris Lotlikar, Treasurer
Kris Lotlikar is the Vice President of Marketing for Renewable Choice Energy, a clean energy company that is growing new markets for clean energy technologies, such as wind power and solar power. He is a founder and the first national director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. (Read full bio.)
Steven Silverman, President
Steven Silverman is the founder and executive director of Flex Your Rights (FYR). He is also the writer and executive producer of FYR's original video, Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.
He was previously a campus organizer for the campaign to repeal the Higher Education Act's aid-elimination penalty. The law blocks financial aid to low-income students reporting drug convictions. As part of his work, Silverman prompted students to describe the details of the police stops and searches leading to their minor drug arrests. A disturbing pattern emerged, and various legal and law enforcement experts confirmed his conclusion: The vast majority of people are mystified by the basic rules of search and seizure and due process of law. (Read full bio.)
Chad Thevenot
Chad Thevenot has served as the chief operating officer of the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) since October 2004. He is an alumnus of IHS's summer seminar program and was awarded a Humane Studies Fellowship from IHS in 2001 and 2002 while earning a master's degree in Communications, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In December 1991, he earned a bachelor's degree in Business Management from the University of Texas in Austin.
Prior to working with IHS, Chad served as the director of grants and outreach for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) in Washington, D.C., where he directed the nation's largest marijuana policy reform grant-giving program. At MPP, Chad was also responsible for managing MPP's celebrity outreach campaign. (Read full bio.)
