The U.S. Chamber BCLC is happy to introduce the official blogging team for the 2010 Global Corporate Citizenship Conference, “Frontier Markets. Global Partnerships. Local Solutions.“ This volunteer team will bring you updates from the U.S. Chamber headquarters during the 2.5-day event, September 27-29, 2010. During the conference, follow tags #globalcsr and #bclcevent on the blog and Twitter.

2010 Conference Blogging Team

Abby Flottemesch, Development & Engagement Director, Atlas Corps (Email Abby)

Abby Flottemesch is the Development & Engagement Director for Atlas Corps. In this role, she is responsible for developing the resource partnerships and overseeing the communications outreach of the organization both on national and international levels. Abby brings more than 10 years of social sector experience in development, communications, project management, youth leadership development, and community organization, which also includes being an Atlas Corps Fellow 2008-09 in Bogota, Colombia — part of the first group of American Fellows that served in Colombia. She served in the Fundacion Saldarriaga Concha, a Colombian foundation that provided resources to organizations that worked with disabled individuals and the elderly. Most recently, Abby worked as a Development Strategist for the Inter-American Culture and Development Foundation (Washington, DC) and the Fundacion Escuela Nueva (Bogota, Colombia). She also worked for The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP)—a national, student-powered hunger relief organization connected with the innovative DC Central Kitchen. Her five years with the organization included serving as the first Coordinator of the Campus Kitchen at Augsburg College (Minneapolis, Minn.) to becoming the first Development Director and leading the fundraising and marketing efforts as well as organizing the annual CKP Leadership Conference. Prior to her experience at CKP, Abby served as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Puerto Rico and organized community development efforts throughout the northern part of the island. Abby graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Communications and Spanish with a minor in Marketing from the University of Minnesota Duluth. While in school, Abby served as the President of the Student Association and participated in experiential learning experiences in Belize, China, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela. Abby successfully completed the Fundraising for Small Nonprofits course offered by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Deborrah Gilbert, Executive Director, Moretta Economic Development Corporation (Email Deborrah)

Deborrah Gilbert is the Executive Director of the Moretta Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2006. MEDC is an intermediary agency focused on capacity building to advance community economic progress through collaboration, community engagement, training and technical assistance. MEDC supports public-private partnerships in projects and initiatives related to entrepreneurship, small business development, and emerging market development. Deborrah has provided consultant support as a subject matter expert in the evaluation and analysis of HOPE VI for housing authorities, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other public policy initiatives involving complex issues of affordable housing and community development and revitalization. She specializes in systems and evidence-based methodologies to create the framework for building capacity and sustainable economic development through the identification and implementation of best practices for internal and external stakeholders. Deborrah is the Sr. Advisor for DeMar Communications, LLC, a strategic planning and business consulting firm established in 2000. She’s served on Chamber of Commerce advisory boards for economic development issues, worked directly with individual businesses, regional and international corporate brands. Beborrah has been an invited presenter for community-based and trade organizations and her work has been profiled by ABC News’ Money Matters, other national publications, and syndicated radio programs. Earlier in her career, she served 14 years as a sworn peace officer and public safety administrator for the California State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Chris Gassman, M.B.A. / J.D. Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business (Email Chris)

Chris is a joint degree M.B.A. / J.D. candidate for 2012 at Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an EDF Climate Corps Fellow and Board member of Net Impact CMU. Color Chris a jack-of-all-trades with an adventure addiction, though most of his work over the past decade we can trace back to a common thread: people, planet, and profit. Sometimes this has taken on the form of coaching and developing leaders or building public awareness through various Global Reporting Initiative endeavors. Other times it’s been about challenging the status quo and innovating from within. Now that he has found his way to Tepper (for a M.B.A.) and Pitt Law (for a J.D.), the next question is where to go from here? For Summer 2010, Chris has worked on client energy efficiency and overarching “Carbon Foodprint” strategies for Compass Group as a Climate Corps Fellow (an EDF program run in partnership with Net Impact). Looking to the future, the important thing to him is not so much where he sits but what he does and the impact it has; odds are you will most likely find him quietly shaking up the world from the inside out.

Malaka Gharib, New Media Coordinator, ONE Campaign (Email Malaka)

Malaka Gharib is a new media coordinator at the ONE Campaign. Her duties are to help develop social networking strategies, manage the organization’s blog and promote new content online. Malaka has a strong background in writing for the Web. Before coming to ONE, she was a social media strategist and copywriter at Virilion, an interactive media agency. Past clients at the firm include a major energy lobbyist, eBay and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. She also was a daily blogger for Wonkette, a political humor website. In addition, Malaka was a producer at Al Jazeera English television in Washington. She coordinated interviews for Al Jazeera’s live news hours and contributed to the network’s coverage of the 2008 presidential election, the War on Gaza and the Mumbai attacks. Malaka graduated from Syracuse University with a dual degree in magazine journalism and marketing.

Julie Lloyd, Assistant Director, Center for Social Value Creation, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland (Email Julie)

Julie Lloyd is the Assistant Director of the Center for Social Value Creation at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. She regularly blogs on behalf of the center on topics relating to the role of business in society, and is responsible for developing and executing the center’s strategic communications plan. Her expertise in digital media was honed while working in the music industry, running an independent record label with worldwide distribution and sales and securing licensing agreements with major broadcast media. Julie earned an MS in public relations, with a focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is a native of Rochester, N.Y. and received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Rochester.

Diana Mao, President, Nomi Network (Email Diana)

Diana Mao is the Co-Founder/President of Nomi Network, a leading non-profit organization bridging the private, public, and non-profit sectors through enterprise and education to end human trafficking. She discovered this issue, while conducting micro-finance research in Cambodia for an international micro-finance institution. She received a B.A. in Business Economics/Accounting and Chinese at the University of California Santa Barbara and a Masters in Public Administration at Wagner, New York University. Diana also blogs for the Huffington Post.