State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

Marcia B. VanderVoort

Vice President

Marcia VanderVoort has been with the State Legislative Leaders Foundation since 1981 and has served as Vice President since 1999.

Over the years Marcia has served as assistant to the President, and has been involved with creating, planning and managing many of our national and international educational programs. She has also assisted in editing several major research studies. She works closely with the Board of Directors and has responsibility for the annual board meetings and the National Speakers Conference.

Marcia is a graduate of Newcomb College of Tulane University. She and her husband Tom have two adult children: Betsy, a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and John, a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, now serving in the Air Force.

Marcia B. VanderVoort can be contacted at mvandervoort[at]sllf.org

Debra J. Bohlin

Program Assistant, Educational Programs

Debbie Bohlin is responsible for assisting with program logistics. She is in charge of preparing the program notebooks for all SLLF national educational programs and manages the contact database. Debbie and her husband reside on Cape Cod and together have 6 children and 6 grandchildren.

Debra J. Bohlin can be contacted at dbohlin[at]sllf.org

Roberta G. Duane

Editor, The Handbook; Director, Educational and Spouses Programs

Roberta G. Duane has been with the SLLF since 1987. Beginning as an office assistant, her responsibilities have steadily grown to the point where she is now in charge of the Foundation`s principal reference texts, serving as Editor of The Handbook of State Legislative Leaders and The National Speakers Directory. Roberta also manages several of the Foundation's national educational programs including all of the Foundation's highly popular Spouses Programs. Roberta lives on Cape Cod, she has one son and two spectacular granddaughters.

Roberta G. Duane can be contacted at rduane[at]sllf.org

Janice M. Govoni

Program Manager, Educational Programs

Janice Govoni joined the SLLF team in 1989. She handles what all of us regard as one of the most challenging and important jobs in our office: travel and lodging for all program participants. Janice maintains detailed grids and schedules for every national program and meeting the SLLF conducts including the National Speakers Conference annual meeting. Her precision is exceptional.

Janice and her husband Tom live on Cape Cod and have 2 grown children.

Janice M. Govoni can be contacted at jgovoni[at]sllf.org

Janneck Herre

Bureau Chief & Executive Assistant to the Director, TLA/ SLLF Europe

Janneck Herre was born March 19, 1973 in Berlin, Germany. He studied in Berlin, Germany, and Williamsburg, Virginia, focusing on Modern History, Political Science and American Studies. He is now a graduate student in these fields at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Before joining the staff of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, he worked as a Program Manager for the Partnership of Parliaments, the Initiative Berlin-USA, and the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation. Aside from this, he worked for the artist Christo in 1995, when he wrapped the German parliament building, the REICHSTAG. He frequently teaches English.

Janneck is a member of the Partnership of Parliaments, the Berlin Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the NAACP, and the German Organization for the United Nations. In his spare time he likes to read, go to concerts and the movies, and spend time with friends.

Janneck Herre can be contacted at jherre[at]sllf.org

Thomas H. Little, PH.D.

Director of Curriculum Development and Research

Thom Little is the Director of Curriculum Development and Research for the State Legislative Leaders Foundation. He has coordinated and participated in numerous educational and training programs for state legislative leaders and advocacy groups over the last ten years. He has made presentations on effective advocacy for the National Education Association (June, 2000), at a conference sponsored by the National Center for Children in Poverty, the Institute for Child and Family Policy and the Chapin Hall Center for Children (2003) and before the Democratic Caucus of the North Carolina House of Representatives (2004). In addition to his work with SLLF, he is a Lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he teaches courses in state government, American politics, leadership and elections.

Little earned his Doctorate from The Ohio State University in 1991 and taught at the University of Texas at Arlington from 1992 to 1999, after three years at American University in Washington, DC. His areas of teaching and research specialization include state politics, legislative politics, political parties, term limits, Congress and state legislative leadership. Dr. Little has published more than a dozen articles on these topics in a variety of academic journals and has published seven book chapters on the attitudes and activities of state legislative leaders. Dr. Little has served as a consultant for the Leadership Development Program of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC since 1991. He is also a member of the Selection Committee for the William M. Bulger Excellence in Leadership Award and is active in several political science associations, having chaired numerous panels and discussion sessions in those organizations.

As the Director of Research and Curriculum for the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, Dr. Little has worked closely in the writing and production of several publications including, State Legislative Leaders: Keys to Effective Legislation for Women and Children, Welfare Reform and the Advocacy Community: Opportunities Missed, Opportunities on the Horizon, What Have You Gotten Yourself Into? A Guide for New Legislative Leaders, and several case studies about legislative leadership.  He is also the co-author of The Legislative Branch of State Government: People, Processes and Politics (ABC-CLIO, 2006).

Dr. Little and his wife, Dr. Catherine Scott-Little, reside in Greensboro, North Carolina with their two daughters, Virginia (10) and Rebecca (7) where they are active in church. Dr. Little serves on the Board of Directors of the Greensboro Ballet and the UNCG Baptist Student Union Alumni Association.

Thomas H. Little, PH.D. can be contacted at tlittle[at]sllf.org

Marty Madden

Washington Liaison

Martin G. Madden served in the Maryland State Senate from 1995 to 2002 where he was elected Senate Minority Leader in 1998. While in the Senate, he was a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and Chairman of the Joint Committee on Welfare Reform. He also served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1991 to 1995.

In 2003, Madden was named as a Special Assistant to the Governor during the 2003 session of the General Assembly.

Marty Madden currently serves on the board of the Maryland Humanities Council and is a member of the Selection Committee for the William M. Bulger Excellence in State Legislative Leadership Award. He previously served on the boards of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, St. Vincent Pallotti High School, and the Prince George's County Literacy Council. In February of 2006, he was presented with the First Citizen Award from the Senate of Maryland for his serve to the citizens of his state.

Madden attended Iona College, where he received a B.A. in Economics. The father of four children, Donald, Thomas, Christina and Marguerite, he currently resides in Clarksville, Maryland with his wife, Julia.

Marty Madden can be contacted at mmadden[at]sllf.org

Ken Morton

Managing Editor, Publications

Ken joined the State Legislative Leaders Foundation in 2000. He is the Foundation´s webmaster and managing editor of publications. He is also co-editor of the Massachusetts Political Almanac, an annual directory of Massachusetts State Government. Before moving to Cape Cod in the spring of 2000, his career trajectory took him through a number of positions from Publicist to Acquisitions Editor with various publishing companies in New York and Boston.

Ken Morton can be contacted at kmorton[at]sllf.org

Papalinka Paradise

Marketing, Publishing and Special Events

Papalinka Paradise was hired for her exceptional creative talents in design and marketing and her strong editorial skills. Prior to joining the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, Papalinka was the Marketing Manager for Professional Staffing Group in Boston. She is also the Co-Editor of the Massachusetts Political Almanac.

Papalinka and her husband, John, live in Sandwich with their three children Lily, Anna, and Griffin.

Papalinka Paradise can be contacted at pparadise[at]sllf.org

Alfons Schöps

Director of the Transatlantic Leadership Academy and European Representative of SLLF

Alfons Schöps was born on January 3rd, 1966, in Berlin, Germany. After graduating from high school in Berlin, Mr. Schöps began his studies at the Free University of Berlin where he studied Political Science and Law. From January 1991 until December of 1992, Mr. Schöps served as Chief Assistant to a member of the German Federal Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag). In January of 1993, Mr. Schöps began the first of six years as Deputy Executive Director of Initiative Berlin-USA e.V. At that time, he also assumed the Executive Directorship of the Partnership of Parliaments, a position which he holds to this day. Between December of 1995 and March 1999, Mr. Schöps served as Program Director to the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation in Berlin. In 1999, the SLLF announced the creation of SLLF/Europe, a new branch dedicated to bringing key European, American, and Canadian parliamentary leaders together to examine public policy issues of mutual interest. Alfons was made Director of European Operations. The European office of SLLF is based in Berlin, Germany.

In 2001 he was elected Chairman of the Board of the Steuben-Schurz-Association in Berlin/Brandenburg, and he became elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Initiative Berlin-USA e.V.

Alfons Schöps can be contacted at sllf[at]erlinoffice.org

Sharon M. Smith

Program Manager

Sharon Smith joined the SLLF team in 2004. She handles travel and logistics for various SLLF programs.  She graduated from Bridgewater State College in 2004 with a B.A. in Communication Studies and Public Relations and from Suffolk University for her Masters in Public Administration in 2008.

Sharon M. Smith can be contacted at smsmith[at]sllf.org