Executive Director
Dorothy Jones-Davis
Dorothy joined Nation of Makers as its Executive Director in March 2017. An eternal optimist and connector, Dorothy is deeply interested in finding ways to create connections between a diversity of makers, leveraging their collective skills to harness solutions for the world’s challenges, grand and small. She envisions Nation of Makers as a collaborative community, one where organizations of different types can learn from one another and share best practices, and where shared engagement fosters the development of long lasting partnerships that have outcomes that reach farther than any one entity could accomplish alone.
Dorothy's interest and passion for making began when she was a child (see her Medium post on Why She Makes), from tinkering with broken electronics with her dad, to learning about the crafts her ancestors made as members of the Cherokee and Blackfoot Tribes. In college, her “maker fix” came in the laboratory, as a neuroscientist.
Dorothy received a B.A. in Psychobiology from Wellesley College, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. She worked as a scientist in the Bay Area before moving to Washington, DC, as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in 2012. In this role, she worked at the National Science Foundation investigating non-”traditional” technologies, policies, practices, and business models for STEM education. This work led her straight to a formal involvement in the maker movement, and to her eventual role as a co-founder of the DC non-profit NationOfMakers.org (this organization later transferred name and digital assets to the new national Nation of Makers non-profit). In this capacity, she served as the co-producer of the DC Mini Maker Faire, the National Maker Faire, and contributed to the National Week of Making. While in this capacity, Dorothy collaborated with the White House Office of Science and Technology policy and also served as a representative on the White House Interagency Working Group on Making.
As a scientist by training, in 2014, Dorothy joined the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) where she created and managed public-private partnerships in Neuroscience between the NIH, the Food & Drug Administration, academia, non-profit and advocacy organizations, and industry partners. In her spare time, she continued to be an active member of the maker community, co-producing the National Maker Faire and the National Week of Making, and serving as a member of the Nation of Makers transition group.
Dorothy brings, in addition to her passion and experiences within the maker movement, her expertise in partnership development, and she aims to use her diverse skillset to lead the organization to its fullest potential in partnership with the wealth and diversity of maker organizations, large and small, rural and urban, throughout the United States.
In her spare time, Dorothy enjoys building and making (costumes, headbands, jewelry, duct tape bows, circuits, and just about everything else) with her eight-year-old daughter.
The Transition Group
The Transition Group was a collection of community members tasked with the details regarding the formation of the Nation of Makers nonprofit organization. This group helped to structure and push forward the formation of the Mission, Vision, and Values of the new organization with direct community input. The Transition Group layered the framework for the organization including finding the initial four Board Members, forming the legal entity, organizing community elections for three Board of Directors seats, building a pool of additional qualified candidates willing to serve as board members, and facilitating a call for Executive Director candidates.
Together with many from the maker community, the Transition Group has helped kickstart the Nation of Makers nonprofit.
With all their hard work done, the Transition Group disbanded once the Board of Directors and Executive Director were in place. The mission of the new leadership of Nation of Makers is built on the solid foundation created by the Transition Group and the larger Nation of Makers community.
Bergen McMurray
I've been involved in Maker Culture for over a decade as a member of multiple Makerspaces in Seattle. In 2013 I co-founded HiveBio Community Lab and currently run the day-to-day operations along with my team. Collaborative culture has always been a driving factor in my life and career. I believe in the culture of abundance that is created when individuals from disparate backgrounds come together to create something awesome. Collaboration is key to innovation!
- At university, studied Clinical Psychology, Graphic Design, and Political Science. I love learning new things!
- Worked professionally in photography and Graphic Design for ~10 years.
- Ran a small for-profit company called Deviant Design, which was focused on silkscreening and clothing design.
- Education Director for a Circus Arts company called Pure Cirkus.
- Worked with the Allen Institute for Brain Science on the Human Brain Atlas projects. Our work has been published in Nature and the Journal of Comparative Neurology, and is currently being printed as a full color printed Brain Atlas.
- Co-Founded HiveBio Community Lab, a DIYbio Makerspace in Seattle, WA, in 2013 and is currently acting CEO.
- Day job: Technical Support Engineer at Tableau, a data visualization company.
Chad Elish
I've always tinkered and have been passionate about building and making since I was a young child in a family owned cabinet shop. In middle school, I was in the last class able to use the school shop school before it got shut down. In high school, the shop was closed to students and was only used for the maintenance of the building. I went to college and got an associates degree in networking and computers. After I graduated, I heard about what a hackerspace was. I didn’t hesitate to check it out and join. During the first 3 months, I fell in deep into the culture and ended up running for a board position. From there, I’ve fought to push the maker movement forward through grass root efforts as well as local government.
I’m in this to aid in the movement and for all of the people who weren't/aren’t able learn the these important skills and get their hands dirty.
- HackPGH President - Founded 2009 - Pittsburgh First Maker/Hackerspace.
- Maker Faire Pittsburgh Producer - Formed 2011 - A partnership between HackPGH and The Children’s Museum Of Pittsburgh
- BVIFC Director - A Non-Profit Flying Club
- Apple IT consultant for a small firm.
Dana Woodman
I am the Executive Director of Chimera Arts & Makerspace in Sebastopol, California, as well as a software developer and installation artist.
I founded Chimera in early 2012 as a place to bring talented, creative and innovative people in the North Bay together. I have worked as a software consultant and serial entrepreneur for nearly a decade, working with companies large and small as well as starting a few of my own. I studied fine art at the University of the Pacific.
- Founder of Built By BIG, a software/hardware/art incubator.
- Co-founder of Hack Sonoma County
- Co-founder of NorCal.js
- Co-founder of Startup Sonoma
I love laser cutting, wood working, software/hardware development, welding, and basically anything else that involved fire or electicity.
Learn more about Dana here.
Dorothy Jones-Davis
Recently, she was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Division of Engineering Education and Centers within the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Engineering, where her primary area of interest was in understanding the ways in which perceived educational “disruptions” such as the Maker Movement can be leveraged to improve access to pathways in engineering education and careers for traditionally underrepresented populations.
Dorothy has made presentations and served as a panelist on the topic of the Maker Movement at a number of venues, including:
- US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trademark Resource Center Annual Summit
- IEEE Innotek Conference
- World Maker Faire
- Served on the White House OSTP Interagency Working Group on Making
More about why Dorothy makes can be found here
Ian Cole
A bit of a motto: “I make stuff and I like to help those who make stuff or want to learn to make stuff. Simple, right?”
- Co-Founder, Maker Faire Orlando
- Co-Founder, The Maker Effect Foundation
- Co-Founder, MakerFX Makerspace, Orlando, FL
- Treasurer (Former) and current member, FamiLAB, Orlando’s Hackerspace
- Formal Education: B.S., Computer Science, Florida State University; M.B.A., Crummer School of Business at Rollins College
- Vice President, Digital Marketing, Vistana Signature Experiences
More background - "Making our Community" - Pecha Kucha Orlando - Feb 2012
Kari Love
- Member of NYC Resistor - Formed 2008 (non-hierarchical, maintains gender parity)
- Former NASA contractor and current small business owner, wants to use institutional lessons-learned to lower barriers to access resources for maker organizations
- Arts-with-technology career trajectory, advocates to keep the Arts in STEAM
- Passionate about all forms of inclusion, heavily influenced by being a Girl Scout for 12 years
- Self-managed co-op apartment building member, community-supported agriculture member, individualized study degree graduate, overall lifelong habit of service to “outsider” goals within strong organizations
- Makes things professionally (soft robots, space suits, costumes, and puppets) and recreationally (cat wigs, edible art, game installation in the back of a box truck for Lost Horizon Night Market)
Kipp Bradford
I like to “make stuff that matters” to me and hopefully to others. I’ve been making stuff since I was a kid, and all of my professional career has involved making things. I’m currently working on things that make cold.
- Biomedical engineer
- Licensed HVAC technician
- Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab
- Founder of start-ups in the fields of transportation, consumer products, HVAC, and medical devices, some of his more interesting projects have turned into kippkitts
- Author of Distributed Network Data (hardware hacking for Data Scientists, with Alasdair Allan)
- Frequent speaker at Open Hardware Summit and past co-chair
- Contributed a chapter to Building Open Source Hardware
- Cofounded the Data Sensing Lab
- Advisor to Highway1 (a leading hardware start-up accelerator)
- Founded the Innovation Institute, an NSF-funded project that teaches innovation to underserved youth in New York City
- Co-founded Revolution By Design, a non-profit education and research organization dedicated to empowerment through technology
- Founded and co-organizes the first ever community-run Maker Faire, what is now the Rhode Island Mini Maker Faire
- Founded the Washington, DC Mini Maker Faire, which is now the National Maker Faire
- One of the USA Science and Engineering Festival’s “Nifty Fifty”
- Currently serves on the boards of The Maker Education Initiative, The Providence Athenaeum, and the technical advisory board of MAKE Magazine
- Fellow at the College of Design, Engineering and Commerce at Philadelphia University
- Program committee member and a keynote speaker for the O’Reilly Solid conference
- Recognized as a leading innovator by Frost & Sullivan
- Former Senior Design Engineer and Lecturer at the Brown University School of Engineering
- Former board member at AS220, helped found the Fab Lab there, and started the Fab Academy at AS220
- Former board member at The Steelyard, an industrial arts maker space in Rhode Island
- Former Adjunct Critic at the Rhode Island School of Design
Stephanie Santoso
From 2014-2016, Stephanie served as the first-ever Senior Advisor for Making at the White House, where she helped develop President Obama’s Nation of Makers initiative, to broaden access to the Maker Movement.
Stephanie is currently working with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Infosys Foundation USA to develop initiatives to support Makers with innovative solutions to challenging problems and create more opportunities for students to engage in Making. Stephanie is also on the advisory board for California Community Colleges CCC Maker initiative. As a Maker, she’s an avid sewist, experimenting with wearable electronics and tinkering with 3D printing.
More details about Stephanie can be found here.
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