Equality Maryland:
Staff and Board Biographies

Equality Maryland Staff

Dan Furmansky, Executive Director

Dan Furmansky is the Executive Director of Equality Maryland (formerly Free State Justice), a role he assumed in November 2003. Click here to read his biography.

Susan Francis, Development Director

Susan joined Equality Maryland in April 2006. She has a long history of development and advocacy work, and is committed to working on social justice issues. Susan spent over 12 years working for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio as their Development and Communications Director. Susan has both a Masters and a Bachelors degree in Journalism from Ohio University. Susan and her partner, Sandy, relocated from Columbus, Ohio in 2005 and live in Baltimore, Maryland.

Artie Bray, Office Manager

Artie joins EQMD from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where he worked in the Finance & Administration and Movement Building departments. During his tenure at the Task Force, he built and maintained relationships with state and local LGBT leaders, worked to revamp the organization's Pride outreach activities, assisted in the management and maintenance of the organization's fundraising and accounting database, and served as a member of the management team of the annual LGBT organizing conference, Creating Change. Prior to his work at the Task Force, Artie served as the Director of Volunteer Services at Caritas House, which provides support to people living with HIV. He also served on the President's Council on Sexual Orientation at West Virginia University, and held numerous positions in WVU's LGBT student group, BiGLM. He holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology & Anthropology (with a focus on Social Inequality), as well as a minor in Women's Studies. Artie resides in Prince George's County.

Mike Klein, Development/Communications Associate

Mike is a graduate of Fordham University and spent four years as a high-school physics teacher. He also has experience in radio marketing support and in the coordination of outreach efforts for the National Federation of the Blind. Mike, who lives in Anne Arundel County, is a volunteer for Baltimore Pride and has assisted with fundraising events for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore.

Carrie Evans, Director of Policy & Planning

Carrie comes to us from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) where she was the state legislative director. She started work with HRC in 2003. Carrie worked with state and local legislators and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations in pursuing their GLBT-related legislative agendas. She drafted legislation, provided analysis of legislation, tracked GLBT-related state legislation and published the year-end legislative report, Equality from State to State: GLBT Americans and State Legislation.

Prior to her tenure at HRC, Carrie was the state legislative lawyer at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 2001 to 2003. Carrie moved to the area from Baton Rouge, La., where she was the director of direct services at the Battered Women's Program. While in Louisiana, she served on the executive committee of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence and was the board president of the Lambda Community Center in Baton Rouge. Additionally, Carrie served on the board and was co-chair of the Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus (LAGPAC).

Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Minot State University (North Dakota), a master's degree in sociology from Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) and a LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto). In law school, Evans specialized in Aboriginal/First Nations law and worked with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) in implementing a treaty land entitlement agreement between the federal and provincial governments and 72 of the First Nations in her home province of Saskatchewan.

Mary Zicari, Field Organizer

After graduating from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY with a Bachelors degree in American Studies, Mary Zicari moved to Washington, DC to work for the Human Rights Campaign. During her tenure at HRC, Mary worked on the No on One campaign to protect Maine's anti-discrimination law and the No Discrimination in the Constitution campaign in Massachusetts to protect marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Equality Maryland, Inc. & Equality Maryland Foundation, Inc.
Board of Directors

Dana Beyer, M.D., Equality Maryland Vice President

Dana is a retired eye surgeon who was recently a candidate for State Delegate in District 18. She is currently Special Assistant to Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg of the Montgomery County Council.

She practiced medicine and surgery in Miami, Mississippi, Africa and Asia, and has since become an advocate on health issues ranging from the effects of DES (diethylstilbestrol) and environmental toxins called endocrine disruptors on human sexuality and reproduction, comprehensive sex education in the Montgomery County Public School system, and a ban on trans fats in Montgomery County. Dana has lobbied as a board member of Equality Maryland and serves as co-chair of its committee, Trans-Equality Maryland. She has worked with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign, and is a nationally known advocate for gender rights, serving on the Board of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Dana lives in Chevy Chase with her two children -- David, now a senior at Brown, and Jonathan, a freshman at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Charles Butler, Esq., At Large


Scott Davenport, Equality Maryland President

Scott recently retired from his position as Vice President for Enterprise Risk Management at Capital One Financial Corporation. Scott and his partner of almost 30 years, Tim Fisher, were legally married in Massachusetts in 2005, and they live with their two teenage children in Bethesda. Scott joined the board in 2005, and previously served on the board of the Family Pride Coalition for 6 years, the last two of those as Co-chair of the Board. Scott has been active in GLBT parenting since the birth of his children in the early 90s.

Steve Haddad, Fund Development Committee Chair

Steve is a private consultant specializing in fund-raising and nonprofit management. For over a decade, Steve has helped catalyze revenue growth at a number of nonprofit organizations, in fields ranging from social services to higher education to the environment. Most recently, he served as Chief Development Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters and, for six years prior to that, led fund-raising efforts for McDaniel College (Westminster, Md.), first as Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations and then as Associate Vice President of Development. Currently, he provides fund-raising and management consulting services to both nonprofit and private sector clients. A graduate of Indiana University (Bloomington, In.), he has served as an advisor and grant reviewer with the Corporation for National and Community Service and made numerous presentations across the country addressing the issues of community service and social justice.

Lawrence S. Jacobs, Esq., Immediate Past President

Lawrence (Larry) has developed a practice in helping same-sex couples protect their assets and loved ones through partnership planning. Larry has been a vocal advocate for civil rights issues. In 1995, he was appointed to the Human Relations Commission by Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan. He was elected as Chair of the Commission in 2000. Passionately interested in the well-being of students, he co-founded the Safe Schools Coalition of Montgomery County in 1995. He has also served as Chair of the Board of Education’s Family Life Advisory Committee and as a co-chair of the Safe Schools Action Group.

Margaret Lancaster, Esq., At Large


Sandra J. Schmidt, Equality Maryland Foundation President

Sandra lives in Silver Spring with her partner, Rita, and their daughter.

Ronald J. Taylor, M.D., At Large

Ron is a retired psychiatrist residing in Baltimore. He is active as a member of the Executive Committee of the Governing Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Ron also serves on the boards of both Movable Feast and the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore -- where, in each organization, he serves as treasurer and on various committees.

David Toth, Treasurer, Equality Maryland

Dave is employed as the Payroll Administrator for the American National Red Cross in Washington DC. Dave has been working with state and local political leaders for 6 years on wide range of issues from LGBT rights to community improvement concerns. Dave joined the Equality Maryland Board in 2005. Dave is attending the University of Maryland pursuing a major in Human Resource Management and a minor in Political Science. He lives in Columbia, MD with his partner, Ken Bohon, his daughter Amber and son Brandon.

Lise Van Susteren, M.D., At Large

Lise is a practicing psychiatrist who ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Maryland last year. She spoke out forcefully at an Equality Maryland rally on the dangers of "conversion therapy" and later hosted the kick-off party for Equality Maryland's PAC. Last fall she was trained by Al Gore at The Climate Project in Nashville to present his global warming slide show. Since then she has made or scheduled over 20 presentations to audiences locally as well as in New York and Alaska. If you are interested in Lise presenting at your club, class or group meeting, please contact her at vansus@starpower.net.

Patrick L. Wojahn, Esq., Secretary

Patrick lives in College Park and is a staff attorney with the University Legal Services in Washington, DC, advocating for individuals with mental illness with cases of abuse and neglect in the mental health system in Washington, DC. He has a long history of LGBT civil rights activism, previously serving on the Board of Directors for Action Wisconsin, a state-wide LGBT civil rights group, and as co-chair for the National Queer Student Coalition. He and his partner, Dave Kolesar, are plaintiffs in the Maryland lawsuit for marriage equality.