James Vaughan
James Vaughan is a rising senior at the University of Houston, a native Houstonian, and a proud Texan. He is studying political science with a minor in finance. While attending YAF’s National Conservative Student Conference in Houston last summer, he met the 2021 Reagan Ranch interns. They convinced him to apply to be an intern, […]
Damaris Martinez
Damaris Martinez joined YAF’s team as the office operations coordinator for the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon, Illinois. As a child living in California, Damaris grew up listening to stories of her mother’s life in Cuba under Fidel Castro’s Communist regime. Damaris’s grandfather was a political prisoner in Cuba for 21 years. Upon his […]
Hunter Morrow
Hunter Morrow serves as a program officer for campus advancement for Young America’s Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa (UI), where he founded the Young Americans for Freedom chapter. Hunter helped Iowa YAF host influential speakers during his four-year chairmanship at UI, including Bay Buchanan, Elisha Krauss, Burt Folsom, and Vice […]
Becket Adams
YAF is excited to welcome journalist Becket Adams to our National Journalism Center (NJC) team at the Foundation’s national headquarters. Adams got his start in journalism more than a decade ago. As a member of NJC’s 2010 fall program, Adams served as a research assistant to the Washington Examiner’s David Freddoso, aiding in producing and […]
Charlie Jones
Charlie Jones serves as a program officer for YAF chapter services, working with Young Americans for Freedom chapters across the country to promote conservative ideas on our nation’s high school and college campuses. Charlie is a graduate of Michigan State University (MSU), where he double majored in international relations and political theory & constitutional democracy. […]
Aléjandro Flores
Matt Cutler
Matt joined Young America’s Foundation in January 2022 as a senior development officer at the Reagan Ranch Center. Prior to joining YAF, Cutler served for six years as the director of development at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy (SPP). In this role, he worked closely with the dean and other senior leadership to […]
Nick Baker
Nick Baker serves as the assistant editor of Young America’s Foundation’s campus news publication, the New Guard. Nick studied economics, political science, and Catholic studies at Saint Louis University and The Catholic University of America. He is currently working on attaining a master’s degree through the Illinois Institute of Technology. He first got involved with […]
Madison Hahn
Madison serves as Staff Attorney for the Foundation. She works closely with the Chief Counsel and Deputy Counsel on all legal matters that affect the Foundation. She is especially excited to support YAFers on campus as they express their First Amendment rights. Madison graduated summa cum laude from Kennesaw State University with a BA in […]
Alejandrina Piper
Alejandrina (Ale) Piper joined YAF’s team in mid-October as assistant to the director at the Reagan Ranch Center. Ale’s mother immigrated from Colombia, and her paternal grandmother immigrated from Puerto Rico. She was raised with a great appreciation for the opportunities America has afforded her family, who shared with her the importance of hard work. […]
Michael Mastrianna
Michael joined Young America’s Foundation as associate director of YAF’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Free Enterprise. In his role, Michael works to educate and inspire students to embrace free market policies and solutions through state-of-art conferences, lectures, and educational content. A Connecticut native, Michael attended Eastern Connecticut State University and graduated in 2016. During his […]
Abby Drass
Abby joined Young America’s Foundation’s team as a graphic designer at YAF’s national headquarters. Abby and her husband are originally from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just outside of the beautiful city of Philadelphia. As an emerging graphic and interactive designer, Abby aims to break complicated information down to a level that is easily absorbed and understood […]
Jerry Schnake
Jerry Schnake serves as Young America’s Foundation’s volunteer trainer and coordinator at the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home. His love of Dixon, Illinois, and its local history drew him to the Reagan Home. Jerry has lived in Dixon since 1963. He also lived in Woodland Hills California for 2.5 years pursuing a career in the music […]
Paul Matthews
Paul Matthews (CPA, CFA®) joined Young America’s Foundation as chief financial officer (CFO). In many ways, this appointment marked a return to the organization, as Paul had previously worked with the Foundation as a student at Wabash College in the early 1990s. Specifically, as an incoming college freshman, Paul attended YAF’s 1991 National Conservative Student […]
Kelley Billy
Kelley Billy joined YAF’s team as the assistant to the president at Young America’s Foundation and works directly with YAF’s president, Governor Scott Walker, to coordinate public engagements, events, and media requests on his behalf. Kelley also manages logistics for Governor Walker as he champions Young America’s Foundation’s mission across the nation, meeting with students, supporters, […]
Kelleigh Clarke
YAF is excited to welcome Kelleigh Clarke back to our team as director for foundation relations. In this position, Kelleigh will work to cultivate relationships with key foundations and leading supporters through proposals, reports, and stewardship projects. Kelleigh first became interested in policy and writing through her AP government course in high school. This prompted […]
Jaime Hahn
An Atlanta-area native, Jaime graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2020 with a B.S. in organizational and professional communication. After co-founding the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at her school in 2017, Jaime attended her first YAF conference. Her chapter hosted Katie Pavlich, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and Michael Knowles. Additionally, her chapter organized YAF’s 9/11: Never […]
Ilinca Scalco
Ilinca Scalco is a development officer at Young America’s Foundation. Before joining the team, Ilinca graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a major in Political Science and International and Global Studies. Ilinca immigrated to America from Romania with her family when she was 11 years old. Because she grew up in […]
Madison Habersetzer
As conference director at the Reagan Ranch Center, Madison Habersetzer is responsible for outreach to students on the West Coast. She helps equip students with the resources and skills they need to effectively defend conservative values on campus and to inspire more students to stand up for freedom! Madison is originally from Washington State and […]
Breana Marsh
Breana became involved with Young America’s Foundation her senior year at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. During her time at GCU, Breana served as a board member of her Young Americans for Freedom chapter (GCU YAF). GCU YAF hosted numerous speakers through Young America’s Foundation, including Andrew Klavan, Michael Knowles, and Allie Stuckey. The […]
Vera Markov
Vera grew up in the former USSR where she and her family were regularly oppressed for their conservative and Christian beliefs. She left Ukraine to obtain a degree in nursing in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she also met her husband. They moved to the United States in 1992 in an effort to leave behind the […]
Adam Ochs
Adam Ochs currently serves as a member of our Reagan Ranch Center staff in Santa Barbara. He grew up in a conservative family in Northern California. After looking for an organization to grow his conservative values, he discovered YAF. He first got involved as a student attending our conferences in high school, and like most […]
Emily Jashinsky
Emily is the director of the National Journalism Center. She is also the culture editor at The Federalist. Emily previously covered politics as a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. Prior to joining the Examiner, Emily was the spokeswoman for Young America’s Foundation. She has interviewed leading politicians and entertainers and appeared regularly as a guest […]
Ken Caldwell
Ken serves as the accounts payable accountant. He is responsible for coding and processing invoices and expense reports, maintaining vendor records, issuing payments and preparing 1099s at year-end. A wealth of accounting experience enables Ken to contribute to account analyses, bank reconciliations, general ledger activities, the annual financial audit and month/year-end closes, along with performing basic […]
