Board of Directors

Betsy Knorr
President, Board of Directors

Betsy Knorr has over 30 years of experience driving strategy and execution uniquely balancing strategic planning, business development, operations, and information technology delivery. She is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Marpai Health focusing on utilizing artificial intelligence to change the overall healthcare experience for their members leveraging leading edge technology.

Betsy has deep experience driving change in multiple industries including manufacturing, oil and gas, and finance with a focus on healthcare for the last 20 years. She has played many roles from leading major change programs to driving business development as a Chief of Staff, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer. Betsy has managed a book of business of over $250,000,000 and has extensive experience from operations to finance and customer satisfaction.

David Simon
Director of Strategic Planning, Board of Directors

Dave Simon is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Memo Furniture, a design-driven contract furniture company based in Seattle. Dave brings a wide breadth of design and management experience gained from over two decades of creative leadership within the furniture industry. His prior roles have spanned from design author to senior management at notable brands such as Metro Furniture, Brandrud, and Herman Miller.

Dave’s leadership is marked by a drive to discover new value and a belief that design is inherently multi-faceted; requiring not only a sensibility around form and function but consideration of the entire eco-system linked to a design’s execution. Dave lives near Seattle on Bainbridge Island with his wife and two sons and enjoys cooking, cycling, and paddle boarding the local waters of the Puget Sound.

Brian Graham Board of Directors

Brian is a accomplished Designer, Advocate and Business Leader. Brian offers a strategic approach in the design, development and marketing of workplace & healthcare furniture. “I’m an interior designer who has evolved into a furniture designer, and it informs everything that I do. While it's important to understand the object that we're designing, it’s even more vital to understand how it’s going to be used. That’s why planning is the foundation of everything that we do.” Graham’s design solutions have been recognized by the most prestigious organizations in the U.S., including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), The International Interior Design Association (IIDA), The Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), The International Facilities Management Association and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design’s GOOD Design Program.

Matt Danyliw Treasurer, Board of Directors

As the President of Avanto and OrderBahn, Matt is a proven leader in implementing real-life solutions to complicated transaction processing, reducing costs, and improving quality. Matt has over 26 years of practical experience in consulting, software implementation, operations, accounting, acquisitions, project management, C Level reporting and dashboard development, and ROI analysis. Before joining Avanto, he worked as a practicing CPA, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and Senior VP of Professional Services, spending 15 years in leadership roles within the office interiors industry.

Matt has implemented practical, cutting-edge software and is always looking to help balance leveraging technology with change management and realistic expectations to maximize return on investment.

Creative Competence IDO Mentor Board of Directors Education

Angela Clark
Board of Directors

Angela is a design and product development executive with a passion for creative leadership that contributes to the greater good. She has robust design and product development experience at leading international brands, notably IKEA and Pottery Barn. Her career has spanned from designing medical devices, exercise equipment, and fragrance delivery systems to decor, furniture, and storage solutions for the home. Having earned multiple design awards and patents, she brings her creative thinking, design, strategy, and business expertise into developing products, services, and experiences that have a lasting positive impact.

An adjunct professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art, her alma mater, she teaches Marketing & Design and Professional Practices Entrepreneurship. Angela has served IDO as Mentor, Managing Director, and Program Director, opening the chapter model in Cleveland. Additionally, she continues her entrepreneurial spirit as an operator in start-up organizations. She believes in the power of design to create positive change in people's lives and our communities.

Board of Directors Emeritus

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Martin Linder
Founder, Board President Emeritus

Martin Linder is the Founder of IDO, an industrial designer with MSL Design, Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University, and community actionist. A MFA graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art his innovative work includes InVision Technologies and Reveal Imaging’s explosive detection system industrial and software design programs which are utilized in public transportation facilities throughout the world. His award-winning furniture designs for companies, including Steelcase Inc., Knoll International Design America, and Herman Miller grace the worlds businesses, hospitals, and homes.

For these achievements, Martin has been honored with the IDEA Industrial Design Excellence international award, the Nightingale Health Care Product Innovation award, and the Progressive Architecture Furniture Innovation award. In addition to his success as an industrial designer, Martin has also distinguished himself as a design educator holding the title of Emeritus Full Tenured Professor.

His education and community activities have been honored with the Jefferson Public Service, Core 77 Education Innovation, Sarlo Distinguished Faculty Awards, and recognition in Most Admired Design Professors in Academia by Design Intelligence. San Francisco State University has honored Martin with an endowed scholarship in his name.

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Grant Specht
Secretary, Board of Directors Emeritus

Grant Specht has a long history of working for nonprofit organizations, including over 28 years as a legal aid attorney providing free legal assistance and representation to low-income, disabled and elderly clients.

Grant worked at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles for 16 years, where he served as a Directing Attorney from 2003 to 2018, including four years as the Directing Attorney of its North Hollywood office. From 2002 to 2003, he served as a Bet Tzedek staff attorney and Training and Litigation Supervisor.

His previous work includes 12 years with Channel Counties Legal Services Association, first as a staff attorney and later as Managing Attorney of the firm’s Ventura County office in Oxnard, California. Prior to his work with Channel Counties he served as a Deputy Public Defender with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s office.

Grant graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1980 and received his J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1985. He is admitted to practice in California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Leadership

Michael Cushing Executive Director

Michael is a warm, dynamic nonprofit and public sector leader with over 20 years of experience. His strengths include staff management and development, fundraising, program development and management, partnership development, event planning, and membership development.

Michael worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation for five years. His initial assignment was managing a nature center in Manhattan, where he taught programs on the flora and fauna of the park. His next role involved developing and leading a borough-wide program to offer outdoor education experiences, including kayaking, camping, and rock climbing. Following the success of that program, Michael was assigned to lead the city’s flagship recreation center, where he opened the facility, trained and managed the staff and programs, and partnered with community organizations. In these roles, Michael developed a passion for creating and running programs to foster public engagement and community enrichment while managing facilities and open spaces and mentoring staff members to develop their leadership skills.

Shortly after moving to the Bay Area with his family, Michael was hired as Executive Director of San Francisco City Guides, an organization affiliated with the San Francisco Public Library that offers historical and cultural walking tours of San Francisco. In his eight-year tenure in this role, he spearheaded transformative initiatives, fostering strong partnerships and collaboration to enrich the community. He also led substantial growth in the organization’s size, scope, and financial reserves. In this role, he gained extensive experience in managing a staff of over 300 volunteers and working closely with a very active management board.

Most recently, as the Director of Membership at the Bar Association of San Francisco, Michael led member engagement through educational programs and community-building events. In this role, he developed a membership recruitment and retention strategy, ensured data integrity, and fostered partnerships.

Michael offers a rare combination of strengths—visionary leadership, top-notch operational instincts and experience, energetic management and team-building skills, and a willingness to roll up his sleeves and pitch in wherever he sees a need.

Amy Berk
Program Director, SF

Amy Berk is an artist and art educator who taught at the San Francisco Art Institute from 2006-2022, serving as Chair for the Contemporary Practice program from 2011 to 2013. She co-directs the award-winning City Studio program which engages underserved youth in their own neighborhoods through sequenced art classes that are both rigorous and joyous. She has shown her work internationally, was one of the founders of the web journal stretcher.org and the artist group TWCDC.com.

Since 2019 she and Chris Treggiari have collaborated on ARTivate which creates opportunities for youth to explore artmaking and citizenship in the public sphere. She LOVES working with the mentors and Board of IDO and creating programming that is engaging and joyful.

She remains committed to giving teens (and adults) a much-needed voice, a safe place in which to speak and helping them find the proper tools to do so.