Introducing the 2025 Practitioner Insights Speakers

This summer, SHECP is welcoming five practitioners who work to address varying causes and consequences of poverty, in widely differing roles, as part of the 2025 Practitioner Insights event series. These events are open to interns participating in poverty-related internships through SHECP Member Schools.

The Practitioner Insights series provides an opportunity for summer interns and all members of the SHECP community to hear from innovative and dynamic leaders doing anti-poverty work. In addition to sharing how their agencies are trying innovative solutions to address poverty in their community, speakers are invited to reflect on their career path, how they have found ways to maintain hope in the face of potential burnout and provide advice to the current interns who are just beginning their own professional journeys.

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This series of Practitioner Insights will open with Michael McKee, CEO of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. McKee joined the organization in 2009 to lead development and planning, and was named CEO in 2013. The Food Bank has grown tremendously under his leadership, something acknowledged by the network: Michael is the 2024 recipient of Feeding America’s John van Hengel Fellowship Award, considered the highest honor in food banking. The award recognizes an executive of a partner food bank for excellence in leadership, local impact and national influence, and entrepreneurial spirit in the area of hunger relief.  

Previously, McKee served as executive director for the Virginia Institute of Autism, a private special education day school in Charlottesville, Va.. Prior to that, he was the senior director of development for the University of Virginia Health System, where he shared responsibility for planning the Health System’s $500 million capital campaign as well as major gift fundraising for the cardiovascular enterprise.  

McKee began working in the not-for-profit sector in 1986 when he joined Russ Reid Company (now, one&All), the world’s largest company specializing in nonprofit communications. During his nine-year tenure at the company, McKee led development and public relations teams, serving a variety of faith-based human service and education organizations.  

McKee serves on the Board of Directors of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks and He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California, and resides with his wife and two children in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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The next practitioner insights guest is Biz Harris, Executive Director of the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance (MELA). At MELA, "Biz charts the course for the organization, builds strategic partnerships, and maintains a culture of innovation, equity, and core-values alignment. She leads the organization in building and adapting strategic plans, and coordinates staff to meet goals aligned to MELA’s mission. Biz earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Emory University in order to explore how communities of faith work together to make change and brings passion for collaboration and community to her work. Harris has demonstrated continued success in bringing people together to work toward a common goal.

Early in her career, she was the co-coordinator of the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program, which focused on building the capacity of preschool-12 and higher education leaders, practitioners, and advocates to advance equitable policies for Mississippi students. Following that, she worked with the Tallahatchie River Foundation to launch their local collective impact initiative around pre-kindergarten. When Morgana Freeman, Executive Director of the Tallahatchie River Foundation, devised the concept for the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance in 2018, she asked Harris to join the team as one of the organization’s founding members, alongside former Executive Director Dr. Angela Bass. In addition to her work with MELA, Biz is the founder and volunteer director of Nurture Our Future, a non-profit that provides out-of-school learning & enrichment experiences, parent support and service referrals, and books to families in Laurel, Mississippi."

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Following Harris will be a session with both Liz Brandt, Director of Community Engagement at the Bonner Foundation and Kendra Montejos Edwards, Senior Research Associate at the Charles Butt Foundation.

As Director of Community Engagement at the Bonner Foundation, Liz Brandt supports a national network of 75 colleges and universities including teams of administrators, students, faculty, and professionals to enhance community engagement initiatives through annual conferences, resource development, strategic planning, in-person site-visits, consultation, webinar series, learning cohorts and communities, and grant-making initiatives. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Sociology at Centre College where she was a Bonner Scholar, taking leadership roles as Senior Intern and a Bonner Congress Representative.

After graduating, Brandt worked as a Campus Organizer for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group before returning to Centre as Coordinator of the Bonner Program and Community Engagement. Brandt also focused on curriculum change, helping to develop a Social Justice Minor at Centre and serving on the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty Internship (SHECP) committee. Brandt earned her master’s degree in Higher Education with concentrations in Administration & Leadership and Educational Policy from Drexel University. Her master’s thesis is published in the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement (2022) where she studied the barriers and pathways for Community Engagement Professionals (CEPs) to thrive in higher education. She was selected as a 2022-2023 Engaged Scholar with Campus Compact and is currently serving as a Student-Centered Engagement Research Fellow for the Community Engagement Professional Competency research project with Campus Compact. Brandt’s areas of expertise include community engagement strategy and leadership, program development and management, higher education, student development and leadership, and capacity building and professional development.

"Kendra Montejos Edwards joined the Charles Butt Foundation in January 2023 as the Senior Research Associate. Previously, Kendra worked as the Assistant Director of Admission and Multicultural Recruitment at Centre College. She led initiatives on recruiting and supporting Latinx, immigrant, and DACAmented students by creating programming and improving institutional policies. Prior to her Assistant Director role at Centre, Kendra co-founded an afterschool program for k-12 students in Danville, Kentucky, that focused on meeting students’ educational and social-emotional learning needs. During her time with the After-School Program, they received several local and national grants. Kendra entered the public education system in the U.S. as an immigrant student and English language learner. Kendra believes public schools thrive when we address student and family needs.

​Kendra is completing her Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned a Master of Science in Educational Policies and Evaluations Studies at the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology at Centre College. She specializes in research looking at the intersection of immigration and educational policy by centering student stories of resistance. Kendra believes students, families, and teachers should inform education policy. She has also worked on research projects focused on STEM education, computer science teacher certification, and racialized learning environments."

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To close out the summer, SHECP will be joined by Evelyn Rupert, Director of Communications for Legal Aid D.C., which provides free civil legal services for low-income clients in Washington, DC. In her role, she oversees Legal Aid's external communications channels to showcase the organization's work, impact, and clients; make legal information and resources accessible to the client community; and advance policy priorities. She also manages press inquiries and handles media relations.

Rupert joined Legal Aid DC in 2024 after three years as Director of Communications at the Georgetown University Prisons and Justice Initiative, which offers higher education and employment training to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. She previously worked on strategic communications at Creative Associates International, a global development organization, where she primarily covered and supported programs in Central America and the Caribbean. Rupert got her start in journalism and has also worked as an editor for local and national news outlets. Rupert earned her B.A. in journalism and mass communications from Washington & Lee University and her M.A. in strategic communications from American University.  

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For more information any of SHECP's virtual events, email us at info@shepherdconsortium.org.