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Dunaway resigns as executive director of Equal Rights Washington

Dunaway resigns as executive director of Equal Rights Washington
Four or five applicants are being considered for interim role, says ERW by Robert Raketty - SGN Staff Writer Equal Rights Washington announced on Thursday that Fran Dunaway, the organization's executive director for the last eight months, would be stepping down to return to her video production company. Board Co-Chairs Brie Gyncild and Ryan Mello broke the news to ERW supporters in an e-mail. "It is with deep appreciation of all of her work that we announce to you that after 8 months as Executive Director of Equal Rights Washington, Fran Dunaway will be leaving her position," the e-mail reads. Jason Bennett, executive board member of ERW, credited Dunaway with increasing the organization's donor base and significantly growing its membership and online advocacy programs. He said she has met her two objectives, which was to establish a staff-led organization and to build the infrastructure for a statewide advocacy organization. "We are deeply appreciative of all the work that Fran has done for us in the eight months she has been working for us," said Bennett. "We are sad to see her go back to her production company at this time. We are grateful for the work she has done for us." According to Bennett, Dunaway has resigned - effective April 1st - to direct her full attention to her company, Crossfade Media. He said that he was not aware of any pressure on Dunaway to step down. "We are going to hire an interim executive director. We have already started that process," said Bennett. "We are hoping that there is going to be some kind of handoff between Fran and our interim executive director once we decided who that is. Then, we are going to conduct a full nationwide search for a permanent executive director." The organization has narrowed a list of potential interim executive director candidates to "four or five applicants, but no names that we have settled on yet," added Bennett' Last July, the organization announced it had hired Dunaway because of her nonprofit experience, media savvy and fundraising skills. She holds a Bachelor in Psychology with a minor in Management and a Masters of Education in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri. She also worked as a human resources administrator and executive director for eight years before going to film school. Dunaway began her political activism on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community as a member of the Bellingham steering committee of Hands Off Washington. She worked with Seattle-based LHKK Media to defeat anti-Gay ballot measures in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Oregon. More recently, she was the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Campaign's Seattle steering committee and a former member of HRC's Board of Governors. In her capacity with HRC, she had volunteered for numerous campaigns at the federal and local levels. She had also co-chaired the Seattle HRC dinner for two years and helped raise $500,000 for HRC over a five year period. Dunaway, had told the Seattle Gay News last July that she hoped to develop a signature fundraising event for ERW in Seattle and other cities throughout the state. However, her plan was never fully realized. George Cheung had acted as interim executive director for three months until a national search for an executive director, which resulted in Dunaway's hiring, could be completed. Cheung, has a Bachelor in Political Science from Brown University and a Masters in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Bennett believes the organization is well positioned to move ahead with its mission to secure equality for all Washingtonians. He citied ERW's new Director of Political and Governmental Affairs John Vezina, Associate Director Lee Frankl and Office manager Mathew Lee, who he said were "very capable" of carrying out the work of the organization.