Staff and Board

Staff Bios

Maggie Avener - Technical and Training Specialist
Maggie got her start with community radio at the age of 5, helping her father with his show on WERU in mid-coast Maine. In high school, she became a program host and all-around volunteer with WERU. Since leaving Maine, she has become increasingly more excited about the technical aspects of radio. Maggie first became involved with Prometheus in 2006 as an Intern, and facilitated radio workshops at the Prometheus barnraising in Greenville, SC. She has also worked on radio projects with the Asian Community Development Corporation in Boston's Chinatown, the Grassroots Radio Conference, the Seattle Girls School, and Seattle's Collective of Collectives.
 Maggie is a licensed extra class ham radio operator and an SBE Certified Broadcast Radio Engineer.

Danielle Chynoweth - Director of Planning
Danielle has 20 years of experience in community media and building grassroots social justice organizations. She co-founded the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and led its purchase and conversion of the downtown post office building into a Community Media and Arts Center, home to Radio Free Urbana 104.5 Low Power FM.  

From 2001-2008, she served as a City Council Member and then as Mayor Pro Tem for Urbana, Illinois. During that time she served on the Telecommunications and Public Access TV commissions and instigated public wireless, broadband, and arts programs. 

She founded the Broadband Access Committee which facilitated the successful application process for $22.5 million in Broadband Technology and Opportunities Program funds for Champaign-Urbana. As Vice President of OJC Technologies, she assisted dozens of educational and non-profit organizations in strategic planning and communications.  She co-founded of CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, a grassroots, multi-racial civil rights organization. Danielle has presented on independent media and arts at the National Conference for Media Reform, Allied Media Conference, Midwest Social Forum, Creative Media Workshops in Thailand and Burma, and as part of the School for Designing a Society in Italy and Evergreen State College. She holds a Masters degree in Political Science from the New School for Social Research.


Brandy Doyle - Policy Director
As policy director, Brandy advocates for rules that support low power radio and democratic media at the Federal Communications Commission and in Congress. She has been involved in community radio since 2003, when she got her start as a local news reporter for WMNF Community Radio in Tampa, Florida. While in Florida, she also worked as the communications director at a medical research organization for four years, freelanced for the local paper, managed communications for small nonprofits, fought for bicycle transportation infrastructure, and worked on an organic farm.

Vanessa Graber - Community Radio Director
Vanessa is a bilingual (English/Spanish) communications specialist with over 12 years media experience. She got her start in radio at WIUP-FM, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s (IUP) college station hosting a variety of music shows. It was there she started the first Spanish language radio program in Indiana County. While in college, Vanessa also worked as a general assignment reporter and weekend news anchor for WDAD 1450AM. After earning a BS in Communications Media from IUP, Vanessa returned to her native Philadelphia to work for commercial stations WUSL Power 99 FM and WJJZ 106.1 FM in public affairs and promotions. 

She went on to earn a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Communications Technology from IUP in 2004 where she was a Graduate Scholar. That same year, Vanessa attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a Roy H. Park Doctoral Fellow in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. As a Park Fellow, Vanessa conducted research on international communications development and served as an instructor of media production courses. While in North Carolina, Vanessa also served as a producer at the community radio station, WCOM in Carrboro and at news station WCHL. 

Vanessa has studied journalism and communications in Costa Rica, the US Virgin Islands, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. Most recently, Vanessa served as Development and Communications Director at a Hispanic non-profit organization in Camden, NJ where she worked on an array of political and social issues that affect Latinos.  Vanessa also skates for the Penn Jersey SheDevils Roller Derby team in Philadelphia and creates her own line of locally sold hair accessories.

Jeff Rousset - National Organizer
Jeff has been harnessing the power of media to build social movements in Philly and across the country for five years. As a grassroots organizer, he has supported and trained students, workers, veterans, and environmentalists to elevate their voices and strengthen their struggles. Jeff first came to Prometheus during our successful campaign to pass the Local Community Radio Act, when he helped garner national media attention and organized calls to Senators blocking the bill.

Recently, he has worked with Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Civilian-Soldier Alliance to support the leadership of active-duty servicemembers and veterans using media and organizing to build a GI resistance movement. Last summer, he embarked on a three-month long caravan to the U.S. Social Forum as Poverty Working Group Field Organizer. Jeff received his B.S. in Communications from Drexel University, where he focused on the democratization of media in the United States.

Anthony Mazza - Administrative Director

Anthony received his BAS in sociology from Temple University in 2000. He joined Prometheus as a volunteer in the Fall of 2002, joining the staff in 2003 as Administrative Director. In the following years, he took on the primary responsibility of ensuring a sustainable future for the organization. This has included working with the Board of Directors, office administration, and managing of Prometheus's finances.

Ian Smith - Program Director
Before teaming up with Prometheus, Ian spent a year at the School District of Philadelphia teaching Spanish in grades K-6. He is down with the cause.

Stephanie Thaw - Director of Development and Communications

Stephanie has been working on social justice issues in Philadelphia for more than 20 years.  She spent several years raising money in support of HIV/AIDS work at ActionAIDS, where she coordinated Dining Out for Life, at he AIDS Fund, where she grew the AIDS Walk from $625, 000 to $1.2 million in a two year time frame, and at MANNA, where she introduced Pie in the Sky, an event that continues to raise significant revenue in support of their mission.

Stephanie was the founding director of Reboot Philadelphia, an organization that worked to bridge the digital divide in underserved communities, and served as director of development at Habitat Philadelphia.  Most recently, Stephanie was the chef/owner of Sweetie’s Pie Diner, a vegetarian restaurant serving locally sourced foods.

Board members

Nan Rubin, Chair
NAN RUBIN has been creating and supporting community-based media projects for more than thirty years. She built two community radio stations – WAIF in Cincinnati, and KUVO in Denver – and she is a founder of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and AMARC (Association Mondiale des Radio Diffuseurs Communautaires/World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters).  Her business COMMUNITY MEDIA SERVICES has been advising public television and radio stations, independent producers, media service organizations, social justice groups and foundations since 1985.  Her specialties include feasibility studies, policy analysis, organizational assessments, and facilities and technology planning, and she has worked extensively with minority and ethnic media, especially Native media. 

Nan has been central in helping shape the modern media reform movement through her efforts focused on expanding access to spectrum and communications infrastructure.  She organized the influential Highlander Media Justice Gathering; assisted the Ford Foundation on building grass roots activism for media policy; coordinated an important  national project on public television preservation for the Library of Congress; and helped create the Media Justice movement.   Nan chairs the  Board of the Prometheus Radio Project and serves informally as technology and strategic adviser to a wide range of media and telecommunications groups, youth media projects, and independent production organizations. Read more  . . .

Cheryl Leanza, Treasurer
Cheryl is the President of her consulting firm, A Learned Hand, LLC, www.alearnedhand.com. In this capacity she serves as policy advisor to the United Church of Christ’s historic media advocacy arm and as the Co-Chair of the Leadership Conference of Civil and Human Rights Media & Telecommunications Task Force. Her clients have included National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Future of Music Coalition, Public Knowledge, and Native Public Media, among others. Cheryl also teaches communications policy and First Amendment at Georgetown University. Read more . . .

Sakura Saunders, Secretary
Sakura is a media activist that has been involved with community radio for the past seven years. She served as program director and office coordinator of KDVS, a 9,200 watt college/community radio station in Davis, CA. In addition, she also helped start KDRT-LP, a low power radio station also serving Davis, CA. Sakura formerly worked at CorpWatch.org, an investigative journalism website that investigates corporate malfeasance. Sakura's radio work has appeared on Democracy Now! and Sprouts Radio, and her writing has been published on CorpWatch.org and in the San Francisco Bay Area publication, Fault Lines, for which she is also a volunteer editor. Sakura is passionately involved in mining issues as they relate to human rights and is the editor of the website protestbarrick.net.

Kai Aiyetoro

Kai Aiyetoro served as Low Power FM Director with the NFCB from April 2002 through October 2004. Kai is semi-retired and part time Operations Manager of the Spiritual Empowerment Center in Baltimore MD.

Kai previously served as COO for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters; General Manager at WRFG-FM in Atlanta, GA; Program/Music Director at KJLU-FM in Jefferson City, MO; Development Director and Operations Director at KKFI-FM in Kansas City, MO. Read more . . .

Shauna M. Duffy, CPA, MBA

Shauna is a Senior Accountant in the Not-for-Profit Division at Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co., Ltd., a public accounting firm.  She provides audit, tax and consulting services to nonprofit clients. Shauna is also an adjunct professor in the Graduate School at Johnson & Wales University, teaching several accounting courses. Read more . . .

Jeanette Foreman
Jeanette is a Public Policy Consultant and media and social justice policy "edu-actionist." She works with WRFG-FM 89.3 Community Radio in Atlanta.

Nathaniel James, MSc

Nathaniel is an independent consultant, focusing on strategic planning (communications, content, community), innovation and organizational development (including business & programmatic development, coaching, event design and facilitation) in the social enterprise, non-profit and philanthropic sectors.  Current clients include Native American Public Telecommunications and Inspired Legacies.  Read more . . .