The Junior Statesmen Foundation is pleased to announce the election of five new members of its Board of Directors. Jennifer Anastasoff, Amy Demske, Steve LaVoie, Jay Maguire and Anne Raby Gates were elected to four year terms as JSF Directors. Short biographies of the new Directors can be found below.
Additionally, Alex Evans, June Thurber-Paine, and Jim Lintott were re-elected to new terms. The 2012 class of joins nine other civic minded alumni and friends of JSA who make up the fiduciary Board of Directors that governs the Junior Statesmen Foundation and supports the activities of the student-run Junior State of America.
The Board of Directors also elected a new slate of officers to lead the foundation. Re-elected to their posts were Alex Evans, President; Marty Barash, Vice-President and Susan Thurman, Treasurer. Joining them for the upcoming term with be Amy Demsky, who was elected Secretary.
Jennifer Anastasoff
Co-Founder and CEO, Fuse Corps
Jennifer is a co-founder of Fuse Corps and the founding CEO. She has significant experience engaging the corporate sector in pro-bono projects in particular in education. Prior to starting Fuse Corps, Jennifer engaged top corporate professionals in pro-bono projects as well as in education as founding CEO of a teacher recruiting organization and founder of an international corporate service fellowship program. Her prior work includes teaching through Teach for America and serving as an analyst in the California Legislature. She has spoken and presented papers at Harvard University and its Business School, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Comparative International Education Society Conference. Jennifer has a Masters in Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she received the prestigious Public Service Fellowship.
As a student at Pacifica High School, Jennifer served as the Northern California
Governor for JSA and attended the JSA Summer Schools at Stanford and Georgetown.
Amy J. Demske
Senior Government Relations Director, Arent Fox LLP
Amy has spent more than twenty years helping shape state and federal health policy. Since 2003, Amy has worked as a senior lobbyist for the law firm Arent Fox, representing healthcare innovators on federal legislative and regulatory matters. Amy’s practice consists of hospitals, health systems, device and drug manufacturers and provider organizations and she writes and speaks to groups about the implications and intersection of legislative and regulatory changes to the Medicaid and Medicare programs, healthcare system and delivery change, implementation of the Affordable Care Act and coverage and payment for emerging technologies. Amy also provides professional services to non-profit and charitable organizations, and received the firm’s Pro Bono award in 2009 for outstanding contributions to the public interest.
Prior to joining Arent Fox, Amy directed the federal operations for Broydrick &Associates, a Wisconsin-based government relations firm, and managed the health care practice at the Carmen Group. Amy served on the legislative and budget team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (then Health Care Financing Administration) during passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, focusing on federal budgeting, Medicaid’s charity care program for public hospitals, state financing programs, demonstration programs, and the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Amy received the Administrator’s top award for service for the development of the President’s FY 1998 Medicare and Medicaid legislative program. In 1991, Amy served as a leadership aide to Florida House Majority Leader Anne Mackenzie, and in 1994 assumed the role of Legislative Director for Florida’s health care agency and as Governor Lawton Chiles’ legislative liaison. In this role, Amy led a statewide campaign in support of the Governor’s comprehensive health care reform legislation to increase access to care for Floridians.
Amy is the immediate Past Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Social Services, responsible for advocating for programs and services to support the county’s safety net. Amy has also served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), representing foster children that have been removed from their home due to abuse and/or neglect.
As a student at Watchung Hills High School in New Jersey, Amy was the first JSA student leader on the East Coast and organized the first JSA convention on the East Coast after attending the JSA Summer School at Georgetown University.
Anne Raby Gates
Exec. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Disney Consumer Products
Anne returned to her role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Disney Consumer Products (DCP) in October 2009. She is responsible for DCP’s finance and accounting functions and leads budgetary and strategic planning reviews. Gates also oversees franchise development and management, the North America Sales team, and the division’s information technology function. Previously, Anne was Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Europe and Emerging Markets. She was responsible for all merchandise licensing and support functions for DCP’s European region, which consists of United Kingdom; France; Benelux; Iberia; GAS (includes Germany, Austria, Switzerland); Nordic and Italy. In addition, Gates was responsible for DCP’s Emerging Markets in Asia, Europe and Latin America and oversaw the Disney Store Europe.
Anne’s experience at The Walt Disney Company began in 1991 as a Senior Manager for Operations and Planning. In 1993, she was promoted to Vice President, Division Finance and Planning and was named Vice President, Planning and Business Development at Disney Interactive in 1997. Following an assignment as vice president, Operations Planning, The Walt Disney Company, Anne was promoted to Senior Vice President and named DCP’s Chief Financial Officer in 2000. She was promoted again to Executive Vice President in 2001. Prior to joining Disney, Anne worked for PepsiCo. Her roles included a position as manager, Business Development for KFC International, based in London, for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Anne received a bachelor of arts in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and a master of science in operations research from Columbia University. Anne was a JSA leader at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto and attended the Junior Statesmen Summer School at UC Davis.
Steven LaVoie
Chairman and CEO, Arrowstream
Steve founded ArrowStream in 2000 and serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Steve’s extensive experience in foodservice and finance, combined with his passion and commitment to building trust among trading partners, has helped him develop a unique vision for reshaping the foodservice supply chain. Since founding ArrowStream, he and his team have been dedicated to building the world’s most efficient supply chains. Prior to forming ArrowStream, Steve was President of the Sterno Division at Blyth Industries, a $1.3 billion global consumer products company. Previously, Steve held several positions at Blyth Industries including Vice President of International and Corporate Controller.
Steve earned his Master’s degree in public and private management (MPPM) from the Yale School of Management and his Bachelor of Arts from The University of California, Berkeley. Steve has earned many professional recognitions including: Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2010 Midwest honoree, finalist for the Illinois Technology Association (ITA) 2010 CEO of the Year, and Supply and Demand Chain Executives’ 2009 Pros to Know. He serves on the Board of the Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis and chairs its investment committee. He has been involved with the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association since 1999.
Originally from Sonoma, CA, one of Steve’s teachers gave him the announcement about The Junior Statesmen Summer School. He gave up a baseball road trip that summer to attend the program at U.C. Davis and the experience had a deep affect on his life.
Jay Maguire
Principal, Maguire Strategies
Jay provides business development services, political strategy advice and direct legislative advocacy to an array of clients in Washington, DC and in Austin, Texas, with interests in procurement, appropriations, transportation, health care, renewable energy, insurance, tobacco regulation, biotech, pharmaceuticals, and tax matters.
He joined the Washington offices of the Chicago-based law firm of Bell, Boyd and Lloyd in 1997 as Legislative Representative for clients of the firm. He provided lobbying, media relations, crisis management and campaign finance services and advice to clients in a wide range of industries—from the mutual fund trade association to a major ship-husbanding contractor. He represented Computer Associates, then the world’s largest software manufacturer before the US Congress and the Virginia legislature, where he obtained solid results against an entrenched special interest which sought to legally infringe the intellectual property rights of the client. He successfully managed a multi-state project over five years to prevent the implementation of selective taxation of small tobacco manufacturers to the benefit of Big Tobacco.
In 2005, he left Bell, Boyd and formed Maguire Strategies, a boutique government affairs shop with clients in Florida, Texas and Washington, DC and strategic partnerships with lobby shops and law firms in several capital cities.
As a student at Pasadena High School in Texas, Jay attended the Junior Statesmen Summer School at Georgetown University. Subsequently, Jay also worked as a counselor and speakers program assistant at the program and served as a counselor and assistant director at the JSA Summer School at UT Austin. Jay currently serves as chair of the JSA Texas Advisory Committee.
