• Membership team
  • Donor relations managers
• Contact the membership staff

The membership team

John Von Kannon

Vice President for Development

As Vice President for Development and Treasurer, Von Kannon oversees the Heritage development operations. He is also a trustee of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment in Bozeman, Montana, and a Trustee of the Philadelphia Society.

He is the former publisher of The American Spectator. Before that, he served as vice president of the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento and as president of Russell & Von Kannon, a Chicago-based marketing and consulting firm. Raised in Lafayette, IN, he earned a degree in government from Indiana University. He now resides in Washington, DC with his wife Cindy and his son and daughter.

Bob Russell

Counselor to the President

Bob Russell, Counselor to the President of The Heritage Foundation, is a founding partner of Robert Russell & Associates, a marketing, fundraising, and financial planning firm that has worked since 1976 with many groups central to the conservative movement. A graduate of Wabash College, Russell served in the United States Army Intelligence Corps before attending Wharton School of Finance. He married his wife, Ruth Ellen Drake, in 1967. They have lived and raised their daughter and son in the Chicago area and now count 3 grandchildren, and 20 nieces and nephews among their family.

Colin Stewart

Director of Development

Educated at Gordonstoun School in Scotland, Oxford University (M.A., English) and London Business School (M.B.A.), Colin Stewart has over 25 years professional experience in development, executive leadership and sales and marketing in business and the nonprofit sector.  Before joining the Heritage Foundation, Stewart served as Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council in Washington, DC.  In business, he served as Chief Operating Officer for Speer Communications in Nashville, TN; Vice President/Western Division for New England Digital Corporation in Los Angeles, CA; Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Morgan Creek Productions in Century City, CA; and Vice President of Marketing and Sales for EMI America in Los Angeles, CA.

Colin Stewart and his wife Katie have two daughters and reside in Northern Virginia, where he serves as chairman of the board of trustees for Trinity Christian School of Fairfax, VA.  He is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists (A.R.C.O.) and plays keyboards for the worship team at Manassas Assembly of God.  Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are proud citizens of the United States, having taken the oath of citizenship in 1995.

Carsten Walter

Director of Membership Programs

Carsten Walter has worked in Heritage’s development office since 1988. He is responsible for planning, implementing, and managing the direct marketing program in support of the overall financial goals of The Heritage Foundation. He works closely with Heritage staff and outside marketing partners to communicate and build relationships with Heritage’s 200,000 individual members to ensure that their conservative values are represented in Washington. Walter regularly speaks on fundraising, specializing in direct marketing and building relationships with members.

Earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Rochester in 1986 and an MBA in marketing from George Washington University in 1995, Walter worked on the Dole for President campaign in 1987 and 1988 before joining Heritage.

Walter lives in Montgomery Village, Md., with his wife, Abigail, and their two children, Wilson and Christian.

Roxana Laing

Manager, Gift Planning Programs

Roxana Laing has worked in The Heritage Foundation’s gift planning office since 1993, administering the Heritage Legacy Society and helping Heritage Members plan long-range gifts through their estates and other gift-planning vehicles. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Connecticut and lives in Kensington, Maryland with her husband Michael and their two young daughters.

Nathaniel Ward

MyHeritage.org Editor

As Editor of MyHeritage.org, Nathaniel Ward is in charge of communicating the Heritage Foundation’s conservative message to Heritage members and supporters using online media. He works with Heritage policy experts to bring the facts on today’s important issues to the public and advance the conservative agenda.

Before joining Heritage, Ward worked with the communications staff on President Bush’s reelection campaign. He earned a degree in government from Dartmouth College, where he worked as an editor at The Dartmouth Review. He lives in his native Washington, D.C.

Christie Fogarty

Associate Manager of Membership Programs

Christie Fogarty manages Heritage’s direct marketing program. She is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation, as well as our effectiveness in promoting conservative values, through written communications with our 300,000 Members.

Christie earned her B.A. in Marketing and Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. Before joining Heritage, she worked at the Charles G. Koch Foundation as a development apprentice. A native of Pennington, NJ, she currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband John.

Anne Judge

Manager of Development Research

Anne Judge was born in Orange, Texas, and grew up in Independence, Missouri. She earned a BA degree in Economics at University of Dallas. Before joining Heritage, she worked at U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a Deputy Director of Corporate Research for one year. Anne also worked at the Rome, Italy campus of the University of Dallas as a coordinator of student life for two years. She currently resides in Arlington, VA.

Donor relations managers

John-Peter C. Fogarty

Director of Donor Relations

John Fogarty is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation, as well as our effectiveness in promoting conservative values, to Heritage Members living throughout the United States. He directs Heritage’s nation-wide donor relations program, which is made up of four Regional Mangers (Northeast, South, Midwest and West) and Heritage’s Community Committee program.

Prior to joining Heritage, John served as both Director of Annual Giving and Associate Director of Development at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC.  Before CUA, he was a Senior Management Analyst for the Higher Education Consulting practice of KPMG Consulting (now BearingPoint) focusing on business process analysis, organizational redesign and change management. 

John earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from The Catholic University of America. A native of Long Island, New York, he lives with his wife in Arlington, Virginia.

Jessica Dean

Manager of Donor Relations, Western Region

States Covered: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

Jessica Dean is responsible for communicating the mission and work of The Heritage Foundation to Heritage members living in the Western region of the United States. 

Formerly Jessica Dickson, Jessica Dean has returned to Heritage after getting married and spending two years in Aviano, Italy where her husband, Captain William Dean, a fighter pilot with the United States Air Force, was stationed. While in Italy, Jessica worked as a strategic advisor for the European Foundation for Democracy, a Brussels-based think tank that promotes freedom and democracy in Europe.

Before joining Heritage, Jessica was associate director of DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund dedicated to supporting liberty through limited government, personal responsibility and free enterprise. In this capacity, she helped donors make charitable contributions through their donor-advised accounts to organizations that promote freedom and the principles set forth at America’s founding. Prior to this, she was director of fund development and communications for Girl Scouts of Carolina Low Country in Charleston, SC. She began her career with The American Spectator magazine.

Jessica earned a bachelor's degree in political science and cognitive studies from Vanderbilt University. She resides in Buckeye, Arizona with her husband, Captain William Dean.

Steve DeBuhr

Manager of Donor Relations, Midwestern Region

States Covered: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio

Steve DeBuhr is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation and our effectiveness in promoting conservative values to Heritage Members living in the Midwestern region of the United States.

Steve comes to Heritage from the Family Research Council (FRC), a public policy think tank that champions the importance of marriage and family in society, where he served as the senior director of Development. In this role, he managed the activities of the major donor field staff and maintained the responsibility for donor relations in several states. Before being promoted, he was the lead producing donor relations specialist representing the 12 states across the Midwest and East Coast.

Prior to FRC, Steve worked for ten years in sales and sales management. He began his sales career at Procter and Gamble in Chicago and later moved to Indianapolis in sales and management with Laura’s Lean Beef company and Palmer Snyder. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

He currently lives outside of Indianapolis with his wife Diana and three children, Alison, Mikaela, and Isaac. He has coached church-league youth basketball, enjoys many hobbies outdoors and serves in leadership positions at his local church.

Rebecca Eddy

Manager of Donor Relations, Southern Region

States Covered:Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee

Rebecca Eddy is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation and our effectiveness in promoting conservative values to Heritage Members living in the Southern part of the United States.

Rebecca comes to us from the Leadership Institute, where she had served as a major gifts development officer with responsibility for donor relations in a six-state region. Prior to joining the Leadership Institute, she worked as Director of Donor Relations for Enterprise Development International and as Assistant Director of Development for the National Fatherhood Initiative and Judicial Watch. Before entering the nonprofit sector, she gained four years successful sales experience as a Senior Account Executive at WAVA Radio, Salem Communications’ flagship station in the Washington, DC metro market, where she received the Outstanding Sales Achievement Award for sales billing in 2001 and 2002.

Rebecca spent two and a half years in Johannesburg, South Africa focusing on religious studies at Rhema Bible Training Centre. She is currently completing her coursework for a bachelor’s in Nonprofit Management and also serves on the board of the Freedom Center in Leesburgh, VA. She lives with her husband, Jacques, in Reston, VA.

Nick Reid

Manager of Donor Relations, Central West Region

States Covered: Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

Nick Reid is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation and our effectiveness in promoting conservative values to Heritage Members living in the Central Western region of the United States.

Nick was the 2006 GOP candidate for U.S. Congress in Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District where he won his primary election with 59 percent of the vote.  Prior to running for Congress, he served as press secretary to Congressman Jim Ryun of Kansas

Nick began his career in public policy coordinating Heritage's outreach efforts to State Legislators and Governors as our State Relations Project Coordinator.  A year later, Nick was promoted to Deputy Director of U.S. Senate Relations, where he became Heritage's liaison to members and staff of the U.S. Senate.  In addition, he has previous experience serving as a youth and young adult pastor at his church in Alexandria, VA. 

Nick attended Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana where he met his wife, Elizabeth Long.  He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in political science and pre-law with a minor in mathematics. 

Nick and Beth are the proud parents of four children: a son, William (deceased), and three daughters: Susan, Lucy, and Mary Lou.

Doug Stamps

Manager of Donor Relations

States Covered: Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Southern California

Doug Stamps is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation and our effectiveness in promoting conservative values to Heritage Members living in the Western region of the United States.

Doug comes to us from Koch Industries, where he served most recently as Associate Director of Federal Affairs. Prior to representing Koch’s political interests, he worked on Koch’s federal and state legal reform initiatives. Before joining Koch, Doug served on the Bush/Cheney ’04 campaign, both at campaign headquarters in D.C. and as a field director.

Prior to the campaign, he helped coordinate production of The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom and served as Heritage’s Deputy Director of U.S. Senate Relations. In addition, he has previous experience teaching high school government and economics in his native Texas, where he also coached basketball.

Doug completed his B.S. at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, TX. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife, Anglea, and two sons, Charlie and Landry.

Jeffrey S. Trimbath

Manager of Donor Relations, Eastern Region

States Covered: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia

Jeffrey Trimbath is responsible for communicating the mission of The Heritage Foundation and our effectiveness in promoting conservative values to Heritage members living in the Eastern region of the United States. 

Before coming to Heritage, Jeffrey served as Director of Abstinence Education at the Administration for Children and Families within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, where he managed over $165 million in discretionary and block grant funding which supported America’s young people in making the healthy choice to abstain from sexual activity until marriage. Prior to that, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of ACF, where he directed speechwriting and advised the Assistant Secretary on a variety of policy, management and faith-based issues.

Prior to his work for the Bush Administration, Jeffrey held various positions in public policy and non-profit management in his home state of Pennsylvania, including the REACH Alliance, the Pennsylvania Family Institute, the National Fatherhood Initiative, and the Senate of Pennsylvania. 

He holds a Master of Divinity degree, with honors, from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He earned his undergraduate degree from Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.

A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he now resides in Crofton, Maryland. He and his wife, Jill Diane, are the proud parents of three children – Sarah Elizabeth, Katherine Sophia, and James Joseph.

Contact the membership staff

Our Membership Office staff is always eager to answer your questions about our work and how to become involved as a Member of The Heritage Foundation. Representatives in our Membership Office can be reached between the hours of 8:30 am and 5:30 pm Eastern Time by calling 800-546-2843, by emailing us at membership@heritage.org or by sending your correspondence to:

Membership Office
The Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusettes Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002