Campus Progress Staff

Kurston Cook

Special Projects Manager

As Special Projects Manager, Kurston oversees planning, logistics, and outreach for national and local Campus Progress events. 

Prior to joining Campus Progress, Kurston served as the National Young Worker Program Coordinator for the AFL-CIO and before that he was Deputy Director for the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, a national student initiative which engages young people through leadership development, policy research, and organizing training.

Kurston graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science and History; and was awarded a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship from the Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Kurston has extensive political organizing experience; having worked for the NARAL, the Democratic National Committee, and numerous candidate campaigns within the states of Michigan, Washington, Pennsylvania and California.

Anne Johnson

Director

Anne Johnson is the Director of Campus Progress, the youth division of the Center for American Progress. Prior to joining CAP Anne was a senior campaign specialist at the National Education Association, where she focused on creating opportunities for young members within the union, built grassroots fundraising programs, and managed numerous member political engagement programs and electoral campaigns. Anne also founded a member-candidate development program while at the NEA. Prior to NEA, Anne served as the national field director for SEIU COPE, supervising a staff of union organizers to develop local and national fundraising and political engagement programs.

Originally from Minnesota, Anne was the deputy field director on Paul Wellstone’s 2002 re-election campaign. After the campaign Anne helped found Wellstone Action, a nonprofit youth political training organization. Through her work she has become a respected expert on youth issues, partnering with organizations such as People for the American Way, the Center for American Progress, Rock the Vote, the Student PIRGS, and many others. She has also consulted with numerous state and federal candidates and progressive organizations on developing young voter turnout programs around the country. Anne has also worked on state and federal Get Out The Vote programs on both the candidate and independent side.

Anne has developed curricula and led trainings for numerous organizations and campaigns, including Obama for America. She has also worked with the National Democratic Institute’s Middle East and North Africa Program on political trainings and election monitoring in the West Bank and Gaza.

A University of Minnesota graduate, Anne began her career working at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, as a fellow at the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

Rebecca Kaplan

Special Assistant

As Special Assistant, Rebecca assists the Campus Progress team with scheduling, meeting briefings, events, and other tasks.

Prior to joining Campus Progress, Rebecca served as an associate for the White House’s Office of Management & Administration. During the Fall of 2012, she interned at the White House for Vice President Biden’s office, working in scheduling and advance. She has also interned for the New York City Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications, Mayor Bloomberg’s office, and UK Parliament. Rebecca holds a B.S. in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University.

Tara Kutz

Video Communications Associate

As the Video Communications Associate, Tara films, produces and edits original video and multimedia content for CampusProgress.org and covers events hosted by Campus Progress or related to its core issue areas and youth advocacy. She also assists with social media strategy and outreach.

Tara holds a BA in Journalism from Purchase College, State University of New York, concentrating in Media, Society and the Arts. Before joining Campus Progress as an intern and consultant, Tara served as the Media/Communications Fellow for the National Service-Learning Partnership, a founding board member of the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, and a board member of the Michigan Community Foundation's Youth Project. Her video work for Campus Progress has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Showbiz Tonight, MSNBC, The O’Reilly Factor, CBC, Your World with Neil Cavuto, The Huffington Post, Think Progress, and more.

Naima Ramos-Chapman

Associate Editor

As the Associate Editor, Naima writes, edits and helps develop and review content for the Campus Progress website. Prior to joining Campus Progress, Naima interned at the Investigative Reporting Workshop, where she researched and reported on foreclosure and challenges facing the working poor. She also interned at Colorlines where she wrote on race, gender, immigration and pop culture. A graduate of Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Naima holds a B.A. in Print Journalism. While an undergraduate student, Naima contributed to both school newspapers as well as the CUNY blog NYCityWatch.org. She currently blogs on representations of race in the media on the Huffington Post BlackVoices blog, Postbourgie. Follow her on Twitter @NaimaRamChap.

Brian Stewart

Communications Manager

As the Communications Manager for Campus Progress, Brian oversees the editorial work, public relations and rapid response, and online strategy of the organization.

Prior to joining Campus Progress, Brian was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Iowan, overseeing a daily print newspaper, a nightly TV newscast, and a website, which collectively reach more than 50,000 people daily. Brian is a graduate of the University of Iowa where he studied journalism, English, and American studies. While a student, Brian helped launch an on-campus contribution-based magazine, Off Deadline, and interned at the Student Press Law Center, an advocate for high school and college students’ press rights, where he reported on high school censorship, social networking, and student government secrecy.

Brian has appeared in Politico, The Des Moines Register, CBSNews.com, and UWIRE.com; he has been interviewed by Huffington Post Live, ESPN’s “College GameDay,” and several radio programs including Radio America and Ed Fallon’s The Fallon Forum.

Emily Tisch Sussman

Policy Fellow

As Policy Fellow, Emily oversees all guns policy advocacy, organizing, and events at the national and federal levels.

Prior to joining Campus Progress, Emily worked as a Democratic strategist and most recently served as the Executive Director of Young Democrats of America, the nation’s largest partisan, youth-oriented political organization. She ran YDA through the 2012 Election, with record-breaking youth-participation, and previously worked as an advocate for a variety of high-profile issues and previously served as Co-Director of Government Affairs for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to the free legal representation of LGBT members of the military.

Emily is a member of the New York Bar, earned her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and holds a Bachelors of Social Work from Skidmore College. She is a regular contributor to Fox, MSNBC, and local news outlets, and has been quoted on Politico, Bloomberg, and on other various media sources.

Tobin Van Ostern

Deputy Director

Expertise: Health care, new media, elections, advocacy

As the Deputy Director for Campus Progress, Tobin oversees the development of policy recommendations and the coordination of government affairs work that leads to their enactment.

Prior to his work at the Center for American Progress, Tobin was the national director of the official student wing of the Obama for America campaign—Students for Barack Obama—as well as a national co-chair of the campaign. In this capacity, he led Students for Barack Obama from its initial launch with 20 chapters in 2006 to over 1,000 chapters nationwide by Election Day in 2008. Tobin enjoys combining his interests in politics and technology in order to better engage young adults in the political process.

Tobin is a graduate of The George Washington University, where he received a B.A. in international affairs and specialized in conflict and security studies. He has been interviewed or written about by the Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, Politico, RealClearPolitics, techPresident, The Hill, The Nation, The Washington Post, and others.

Abraham White

Communications Associate

As Communications Associate, Abraham serves as a point of contact for members of the press and writes rapid response content, blog posts, and press releases.

After graduating with a degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego, Abraham joined the 2010 re-election campaign for Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in Los Angeles. Following that victory, he made his way to Washington for a brief stint at EMILY’s List, and then traveled to New York with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to help with their get-out-the-vote efforts for now-Congresswoman Kathy Hochul. Most recently, he completed an internship with the press office of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) tracking news coverage, writing releases, and drafting talking points.

Katie Wilson

Advocacy Manager

As Advocacy Manager, Katie oversees Campus Progress’s programs designed to engage, empower, and support the organization’s network in their efforts to advance progressive causes.

Prior to joining Campus Progress, Katie gained extensive campaign experience, managing the Media Tracking Project at Obama for America’s Chicago headquarters in 2012 and in 2010 she served as canvass director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s successful 2010 re-election campaign. Katie attended the University of Nevada and earned a degree in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. Katie is driven by her friends and family, especially her nieces and nephews. Katie enjoys cooking, singing karaoke, and is a diehard San Francisco Giants fan.

Layla Zaidane

Online Communications Associate

As the Online Communications Associate, Layla works to develop online campaigns, maintain the Campus Progress website, and communicate CP’s mission with graphic design, messaging, and social media.

Before joining Campus Progress, Layla worked for LivingSocial as a marketing specialist, consulting with business owners across the country to increase their online presence. Previously, she has held roles promoting the public's voice in public education with DC VOICE and developing outreach strategies to connect college students with federal news at the Partnership for Public Service. Layla graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and holds a BSFS in international politics. In her spare time, Layla enjoys playing soccer, traveling, reading, and trying really hard to cook.