SHELLY CRYER is the founder of the Initiative for Nonprofit Sector Careers, a research and advocacy project begun in 2002 and now housed at American Humanics. The project launched the national Nonprofit Sector Workforce Coalition and through this and other programs works to cultivate a skilled, prepared, and diverse next generation of nonprofit sector leadership. Shellys initial research was funded by The Forbes Funds and conducted in partnership with New York Universitys Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

For the past seventeen years, Shelly has worked as an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations, designing and implementing strategic media and public education campaigns, conducting research, and assisting with development efforts. She focuses on womens rights, public health, and international affairs, and has spent significant time working for coalitions of nongovernmental organizations that have collaborated around major UN initiatives. Shelly worked on the Beijing Womens Conference, the Cairo Population Conference, and with the Coalition for an International Criminal Court, among other campaigns.

Shelly served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Baruch College of the City University of New York, teaching graduate courses on the media, policy, and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to working as a consultant, Shelly served as research associate for the Feminist Majority Foundation, where she helped launch a national Rock for Choice benefit concert series and organize a diverse coalition of community leaders to investigate violence in Los Angeles. She also conducted campaign work in Oregon and Utah for the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project. She began her professional life as a journalist in Colorado, covering public policy and the arts for a weekly newspaper and hosting a radio show for the regional public station . . . and paying rent by waiting tables and adjusting ski bindings at Crested Butte mountain.

Shelly received a Master of International Affairs, with a concentration in public health, from Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in 1997. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Duke University in 1989. She is married to Michael Stern, music director of the Kansas City Symphony and founder of the IRIS orchestra based in Memphis. They and their two daughters divide their time between New York City and Kansas City, Missouri.

Shelly Cryer is available for interviews and speaking engagements. Click here for contact information.