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In her role as Senior Director, Institutional Giving at SBP, Elizabeth is responsible for developing programs and raising funds to support the organization's mission of shrinking the time between disaster and recovery. In addition to earning revenue from foundations, government grants, and individual donors, she develops and manages partnerships with regional, national and global companies to align corporate philanthropic and business strategies with SBP's 5 Interventions. As part of her role, she builds strategies and new programs that allow the organization to improve the way America prepares for and recovers from disasters. Elizabeth has worked at SBP since 2014.

Elizabeth started her career as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Ortho-McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. She then took a leap of faith to chase the American dream of owning a business and opened a coffee shop (Saxbys) with her husband near Georgetown University in Washington, DC. After six years and many lattes later, they sold the shop and moved to New Orleans. Elizabeth has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University. She is originally from Lancaster, PA.

Liz co-founded SBP in 2006 after spending two weeks volunteering in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. What she and her then boyfriend, Zack thought would be a one-time, two week trip, led to a passion for direct impact and system change.

Today Liz is the Chief Operating Officer, leading SBP’s ongoing long-term rebuilding work in 10 disaster-impacted communities around the country, where she provides oversight for all volunteer management, client services and construction activities. Liz has also led the expansion of SBP’s innovative Opportunity Housing program which redevelops blighted New Orleans properties into affordable homes for first time low-moderate income homebuyers, and generates revenue which is re-invested into SBP’s owner occupied rebuilding program.

Through SBP’s partnership with Toyota, Liz led her team to reduce the average time to rebuild a house from 116 to 61 days. The model used to achieve these results has become SBP’s standard construction model, applied to all of the organization’s work nationwide.

Liz speaks on a number of topics including disaster recovery and women’s leadership. She has delivered addresses at her alma mater, Boston College and participated on panels at the Farmers Insurance Open Executive Women’s Day.

In 2008 Liz was named the CNN Hero of the Year for her innovative work in helping Katrina survivors return home and in 2016 she was nominated as a CNN SuperHero of the Decade for her continued work in disaster recovery in South Louisiana following devastating floods that summer.

In recognition of her dedication, Liz has twice been named a White House Champion of Change (2011 & 2013) and in 2011 was awarded an Urban Innovation Fellowship at Tulane University to scale and replicate SBP’s model across the country, with support from the university.

Prior to founding SBP, Liz taught middle school in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, upon her return from Lesotho where she served with the Peace Corps.

Liz received a B.A. from Boston College, an M.A. from The George Washington University and an honorary doctoral degree from Muhlenberg College.

Liz and her husband, Zack, live in New Orleans with their son, Jack, and two cats.

Reese May, a two-time combat veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, has worked for SBP on major disaster recovery efforts in six states.

As Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Reese oversees SBP’s operations across the country. In this capacity, Reese consults with community and elected leaders at all levels, on how best to develop and implement and long-term disaster recovery programs that avoid common mistakes and barriers to a prompt, efficient and predictable recovery.

Reese’s work and policy recommendations to high ranking government officials following severe flooding in South Carolina and West Virginia have enabled those states to realize a more efficient, and effective recovery.

Reese joined the SBP team as an AmeriCorps member in 2011. He later took on the responsibility of exporting SBP’s model to communities impacted by disasters more recent than Katrina, and helped to open SBP’s operations following the 2011 tornado in Joplin, MO.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated the New York area, Reese permanently relocated to NYC, accepting the role of Director of East Coast Operations and leading SBP’s recovery efforts in NY and NJ. Since then, Reese has taken on the role of National Recovery Director and has lead SBP operations in San Marcos, TX; Columbia, SC, and White Sulphur Springs, WV.

Reese’s work is driven by the mission to ensure that each new community recovery should be built upon lessons of the last. These hard earned lessons can and should improve how communities recover. May does not define ‘community’ by geographic proximity. Rather, he believes that community is defined by shared experience, and the collective wisdom of shared experience should inform better approaches to community resiliency and recovery wherever disaster strikes.

May, a native of Mendenhall, Mississippi, holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Southern Mississippi and is a Truman National Security Fellow.

Reese lives in New York City with his wife.

As Chief Recovery Officer, Thomas is responsible for shaping strategic direction, program expansion, and team building for SBP's disaster recovery and resilience programs. Previously, Thomas served as the Continuous Improvement Officer, guiding SBP’s adoption and adaptation of the Toyota Production System and standardization of SBP's operational practices.

Before joining SBP as an AmeriCorps member, Thomas managed production and new projects for an artisan tile company in Chicago. After his AmeriCorps service term, Thomas directed operations for SBP’s site in Joplin, MO after the 2011 tornadoes.

Following his time in Joplin, Thomas served as the Executive Director of SBP’s Hurricane Sandy recovery operation in New York, guiding SBP’s Owner Occupied Rebuild program, as well as Project UPLIFT—a home elevation pilot program supported through the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery. Thomas and the New York team have spearheaded growth in organizational capacity and client outreach.

Driven by the conviction that “a problem isn’t a problem without a solution,” Thomas sees all problems as inherently solvable. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Northeastern Illinois University. Born on Long Island, he was raised in northern Connecticut with his two brothers and sister. He currently resides in Rockaway Beach with his dog, Arla Guthrie.

Zack co-founded SBP in 2006 after spending two weeks volunteering in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. What he and his then girlfriend Liz (now wife), thought would be a one-time, two week trip, led to a passion for direct impact and system change.

Zack’s realization that a delayed recovery causes extensive human impact and that too many survivors suffer unnecessarily, drove SBP’s mission of shrinking time between disaster and recovery. Today, Zack directs the strategic vision, marketing, partnership development, and fundraising for SBP.

Following disaster Zack plays a direct role in the advisement of local and state government officials, and has worked closely with elected officials from South Carolina, New York and West Virginia, as well as with appointed officials at HUD, helping them to craft effective long-term recovery programs. Among the innovative SBP programs that Zack has designed include: Opportunity Housing, an innovative blight eradicating/affordable housing program that turns blighted properties into well-built affordable housing; and Disaster Resilience and Recovery Lab, which among other things, shares SBP’s learnings and model with at-risk and disaster impacted communities.

Zack speaks nationally on a broad array of topics including disaster resilience and recovery policy, organizational culture development, high-impact innovation and leadership. His work has been featured in Newsweek, US News and World Report, Politico, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

Before founding SBP, Zack was an E. Barrett Prettyman Teaching Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center and he ran an indigent criminal defense practice in Washington, DC. One of Zack's most meaningful victories was freeing a man who served 23 years for a murder that he did not commit.

For his work, Zack has been recognized as one the 2018 Social Entrepreneurs of the Year by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, New Orleanian of the Year and Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project Champion of Justice, and he has received the Manhattan Institute Social Innovation Award.

Zack received a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and a J.D. from the American University Washington School of Law. He has also received an Honorary Doctorate from Muhlenberg College, and a distinguished alumnus award from Washington College of Law.

Zack and his wife Liz, live in New Orleans with their son, Jack, and two cats.