Board of Directors

President and CEO of the Phelps Stokes Fund. Former professor and university administrator (Princeton, U. Mass, Rutgers, Harvard and Tufts). Former corporate executive and hospital administrator.

Dr. Edgar S. Cahn is the creator of Time Dollars and the founder of TimeBanks USA, as well as the co-founder of the National Legal Services Program and the Antioch School of Law (now the David A. Clarke School of Law). He is the author of “No More Throw Away People: The Co-Production Imperative,” “Time Dollars” (co-author Jonathan Rowe, Rodale Press, 1992), “Our Brother’s Keeper: The Indian in White America,” (1972) and “Hunger USA.” The development of Time Dollars is just one achievement in a career that, since the early 1960′s, has been dedicated to achieving social justice for the disenfranchised. His own life is an example of dedication to strongly held principles and ideals, and he brings to audiences a powerful vision, sincere compassion, spontaneous humor, and the ability to inspire others.
Edgar Cahn is the originator of Time Dollars, the creator of the Co-Production principle, and the President and Founder of the Time Dollar USA. A compelling speaker, Edgar possesses the eloquence, passion, and sense of humor to inspire in his audiences a sense not only that social justice matters, but that it calls for immediate action. For over four decades, his own life has stood as a model for action and as a testament to his abiding concern for the rights, welfare, and dignity of the disenfranchised.

A graduate of the Yale law school, Edgar entered the legal profession determined to use the law to achieve social justice. He started his career in government as special counsel and speechwriter for Attorney General Robert Kennedy under President John Kennedy. As part of that role, he was assigned by Kennedy to the Solicitor General’s office for the government’s amicus brief in civil rights sit-in cases. Edgar also worked to spearhead the first national campaign against hunger and malnutrition in the US, and in doing so, he authored an influential report entitled Hunger USA, which led to legislation enforcing shipments of food to severely malnourished communities on Indian reservations and in the southern United States. His work to fight hunger also involved initiating the earliest litigation to challenge the administration of the food stamp and commodities program, establishing the standing for potential recipients, and assisting in the preparation and defense of controversial documentary, “Hunger in America.”

In 1963, Edgar’s life and work seeking social justice first became known at a larger scale when the article he co-authored with his late wife, Jean Camper Cahn, titled “The War on Poverty: A Civilian Perspective” was published in the Yale Law Journal and became the blueprint for the National Legal Services program. Using their model and working closely with Sargent Shriver and the War on Poverty, Edgar and Jean co-created the National Legal Services program under the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Johnson administration.
Having left the government for work with the Field Foundation in 1968, Edgar founded the Citizens Advocate Center as watchdog on government whose primary purpose was to challenge the colonialism of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That same year, he authored “Our Brother’s Keeper, the Indian in White America.” Leading American Indian activists did the research for the book, which was intended as a catalyst for change in national policy and which helped to spearhead the official adoption of Indian self-determination as national policy.

In 1972, Edgar and his late wife created and founded the Antioch School of Law, which later became the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law and continues the tradition established in the Antioch days to emphasize social justice as a critical role for the law. As law-school deans, Edgar and Jean were the first pioneers of clinical legal education in the US, an approach which is now to be found in law schools throughout the nation.

In 1980 after a massive heart attack that nearly claimed his life, Cahn stepped outside of the law to create yet another social invention, a local, tax-exempt currency called Time Dollars, which are designed to validate and reward the work of the disenfranchised in rebuilding their communities and fighting for social justice. As a distinguished fellow at the London School of Economics, Edgar completed the work on Time Dollars that has led to Time Dollar initiatives being funded by government and major philanthropic foundations in the United States in areas as widespread as juvenile justice, community health, education, public housing, community building, wraparound services for children with emotional disorders, immigrant workers’ rights, and elder care.

As the president and founder of the Time Dollar USA, Cahn’s experience with Time Dollars led him in 1995 to develop a radical new framework for social welfare and social justice that turns recipients of service into co-producers of change. He called this new approach “Co-Production.” An example of Co-Production principles at work can be seen in Washington, DC, his home city, where in 1996 he founded the Time Dollar Youth Court, whose mission is to enlist youth in changing the shape of juvenile justice in DC. Sanctioned by the DC Superior Court, the Time Dollar Youth Court is now among the largest youth courts in the nation. Its innovative design enlists more than 400 youth each year, the majority of them former delinquents, as active shapers of a new form of justice for DC youth.

Besides creating the National Legal Services program, pioneering clinical legal education, and enjoying a long and distinguished career as an advocate for the nation’s disenfranchised, Edgar has held positions at the University of Miami School of Law, Florida International University, the London School of Economics, Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University and the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law.

Cahn’s educational background includes a B.A. magna cum laude from Swarthmore College, an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Honors include: Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, Fulbright Scholar (Cambridge University), Order of the Coif, Articles & Book Review Editor, Yale Law Journal; Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities; Founder’s Award, National Council on Aging; American Association of Law Schools William Pincus Award for Outstanding Contribution to Clinical Legal Education; Point of Light 1997; Co-op Quarterly 1998 Building Economic Alternatives Award for Outstanding Work in Fostering a Sustainable Economy; Medal of Distinction, D.C. Superior Court 2000.

Irvin L Dallas is the founder and president of Dallas Associates, and specializes in organizational strategy and operations and financial management. He has worked for the Government of the District of Columbia in its efforts to develop a community-based mental health system. He has worked on management consulting projects for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He has worked on projects in Ohio (Franklin County and Cuyahoga County) and Pennsylvania (Chester and Montgomery Counties) assisting health care organizations to develop managed care financial operations. He has led numerous financial operations and management assessment audit for the counties. Mr. Dallas worked with the Chicago Public School System in assessing their administrative personnel and financial conditions. He has also participated in numerous management and business development workshops. Mr. Dallas worked with community health centers in Massachusetts to develop managed care and health maintenance organization (HMO) products and has served as the director of finance and operations in various managed care environments. As the Project Leader at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Mr. Dallas developed and implemented centralized accounts receivable and statistical reporting systems. He has also served as Senior Auditor at Touche Ross with a client base that included small and start – up companies. He was worked as an economist performing economic impact studies of bank acquisitions and mergers. Irvin has written several newspaper articles about healthcare, business development and commercial enterprises. Irvin has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Loyola University of Chicago, Illinois and master degrees from Sangamon State University, Springfield, Illinois, and Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts in Political and Mathematical economics, respectively.

Kathy Perlow, is the Membership Coordinator for the Community Exchange TimeBank in Allentown, PA.  She has been part of the Community Exchange program since its beginning in October of 1999.  She holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from American Intercontinental University.Kathy has over 25 years experience working with volunteers which explains her passion for TimeBanking.   Kathy is a member of the Society of Volunteer Administrators of the Lehigh Valley. She serves as Volunteer Coordinator for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Eastern Chapter of PA “Light the Night Lehigh Valley Walk” and serves on the Fund Raising and Event Committee for the Celtic Cultural Alliance in Bethlehem, PA.She has co-authored two publications on TimeBanking:  “Community-Based Participatory Research Shows How a Community Initiative Creates Networks to Improve Well-Being”, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, December 2009 and “Time Banking and Health: The Role of a Community Currency Organization in Enhancing Well-Being”, Health Promotion Practice, August 5, 2010. The Community Exchange TimeBank is an initiative of the Division of Community Health of Lehigh Valley Health Network and funded by the Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust.  The program began in 1999 and currently has 550 individual members and 20 organizational partners.

Lisa Conlan is a national family leader in the field of children’s mental health and has worked with families, communities and states for over the last 20 years. Ms. Conlan has worked extensively with family run 501c 3 nonprofit organizations to develop sound business infrastructures and programs. Ms. Conlan served as the Executive Director of the Parent Support Network of Rhode Island and she worked for the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health for over seven years. Ms. Conlan has provided extensive technical assistance in the area of system building across all system of care components and is a national co-trainer for Primer Hands On, Skill Building in Strategy for System of Care Leaders. Ms. Conlan continues to share her experiences across the country in the areas of strategic planning, program development, family and community organizing, state and community partnerships, conflict resolution, contract development, public policy and advocacy. Currently Ms. Conlan is the Executive Director of the RI TimeBanks and sits on sits of the Board of Directors of TimeBanks USA.

Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Human Ethology; Areas of interest and ongoing research: the evolution of altruism and reciprocity and risk, reciprocity, and social networks among the Bushmen of the Kalahari and Enga of Papua New Guinea.

This summer, Ruston Seaman embarked on a new undertaking in his role as Founder and President of New Vision Renewable Energy, using principles of Co-Production to empower people who are investing their time and talents in their communities through renewable energy concepts.  Building community, however, is nothing new for Ruston, who has spent his life working in rural community developments through the lens of Christian ministry.  He has been the Senior Pastor at People’s Chapel in Philippi, West Virginia since 1996 and, between 2008-11, he was the National Director for Rural Development at World Vision, an organization he had been a part of since 1998.  He and his wife were also the first directors of the Appalachian ministry of World Servants, an international mission organization.  In 1986, he founded Appalachian Community Care, a non-profit dedicated to addressing the challenges of poverty in the Appalachian community.  Besides these highlights, Ruston has been an integral part of many community development organizations, such as TimeBanks USA, Christian Community Development Association, Philippi Youth Basketball League, and Evangelicals for Social Action.

Sheryl Walton, MPH, is a community health educator specializing in supporting residents, parents, community groups, and agencies seeking to build on the assets and strengths of low-income, multi-cultural communities to improve health and quality of life. Areas of experience include planning, training, and technical assistance in the broad field of community-based public health, with an emphasis in resident leadership development and engagement, root causes of racial and ethnic health inequities, community-based participatory research and evaluation, policy and media advocacy, economic development and health, and community organizing. She prides herself on integrating community residents’ perspective with public health prevention methodologies. Co-author of “Building Local Government and Resident Partnerships to Improve Health: Lessons From the Field,” in Community Organizing & Community Building for Health