Our Team
Headquarters Team
Burners Without Borders is a dynamic, global community representing years of effort by countless people. There is a small group embedded in the Burning Man Project who keep the BWB engine humming. These are the folks on the other side of the Contact Us form, and we would very much like to invite you to Get Involved.
We share open roles, as well as partner and affiliate job postings, volunteer opportunities, and more ways to get involved in our Newsletter, News and Updates and on our social media.
Christopher Breedlove (he/him),
Director of Civic Activation
Christopher met BWB in 2006 in Black Rock City and quickly got hooked. Over the years he’s worked with BWB in a variety of roles, including Board President (2012-2015), and joined the staff when BWB became a part of Burning Man Project. Today, he focuses on long-term vision and strategy for the program and has a soft spot for sustainability projects and human-centered design. In his free time, Christopher spends his time making silkscreens, laser cuts, and at Russian steam baths.
Ryan Rising (he/they)
BWB Program Manager
Ryan previously directed the Permaculture Action Network from 2014 to 2023 where they organized days of action “on the road to Burning Man,” building regenerative farms and land projects. Ryan teaches ecological design and community organizing, drawing on 20 years of experience facilitating collaborative groups within social movements. Find Ryan drumming and dancing while building the “better world we know is possible” through music, art, and collective action.
Jaymie “Sticky” Braun (she/her),
BWB Program Coordinator
Jaymie first volunteered with BWB Sacramento as a project translator. Having a passion and drive for the work, she soon became the BWB Program Coordinator. Jaymie supports the BWB team in fulfilling their mission to make a positive impact around the world. She finds herself inspired by individuals who are willing to stand out and be the difference in their communities and has a small obsession with composting toilets.
Heather “Tranquility” Nuanes (she/her),
Civic Activation & BWB Coordinator
Heather provides administrative support and project management to BWB and the Regional Network Teams. Heather has served Black Rock City as a Black Rock Ranger since 2008. She considers it an honor and a privilege to volunteer with diverse, interesting and creative thinkers to help mediate conflict and contribute to our community. When she isn’t covered in dust or thinking about it, you can find her serving a bowl of tea in the Japanese tradition of chado, or “The Way of Tea”.
BWB Advisory Board
Burners Without Borders is a program of Burning Man Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. However, BWB wasn’t always officially a part of the BMP nonprofit (and BMP wasn’t always a nonprofit!). We are an ongoing experiment in how to best serve the Burning Man community and the world at large.
Burners Without Borders held onto its Board of Directors in an advisory capacity when the organizations merged. This body meets regularly to help guide the mission of BWB and to provide insight, support, and advice to the Headquarters Team.
Current Advisory Board Members
David Katz
David Katz (DK) first came to Burning Man in 2010, and unfortunately has been hooked ever since. He has been involved in Kostume Kult for many years, including 4 years a theme camp lead and way too many years working on events and the development of the organization. Trained as an attorney, DK has specialized in a number of areas including non-profit law, project finance, real estate and Health Care. Currently working in Revenue Cycle Management for Health Care entities, DK loves lecturing and advising groups on various aspects of non-profit law including entity selection and formation, non-profit governance and contracts. He has developed courses on these subjects for the Burning Man Global Leadership Conference and various regional leadership conferences. DK has been active in Burners Without Borders for a number of years and enjoys lending his expertise to an organization focused on the principle of civic engagement and community building. DK enjoys motorcycle riding, photography and travel.
Jennie Kay Banta
Focused on the intersection of Change, Community, and Communications, Jennie Kay has a long history of building and connecting communities in the Community Arts and Nonprofit sectors. Over the past 20 years in the Burning Man community, she has been a theme camp leader, Regional Contact, and Burning Man regional events producer. Jennie Kay carries a lifelong belief we are all in this together, with a deep passion for inclusion-driven programming and mapping individual behavior change to building greater shared outcomes.
Based in the Bay Area, you can find JKay traveling, spending time outdoors, playing board games, and proselytizing for the hot glue lifestyle.
Jim Taflinger
Burning since 2010. Jim has been Co-Regional Contact for Georgia since 2012, along with being a member of the Southeast Leadership Roundtable (SERT) Planning Committee. On playa he has been found volunteering with Greeters and ManWatch.
Jim has been an active member of the Regional Network LLEO (Local Leadership Event Organizers) group and was introduced to Burners Without Borders at the 2012 Global Leadership Conference. Since then, Jim has been instrumental in facilitating BWB Civic Ignition Grants. Jim brings to BWB an extensive background of working with nonprofits. This includes working with AIDS organizations for over 20 years at the national, state, and local levels. His drive to embrace social responsibility developed around the personal belief that we can only keep our talents and skills by sharing with others.
Besides participating in the Burning Man culture, his other passion is political activism with an emphasis on voter equality. He has been an elected member of the Georgia Democratic State Committee for 12 years. Jim lives in Athens, Georgia with his husband.
Mercedes Martinez
Mercedes Martinez followed a career as a teacher and actor with work in film production. She has combined the most challenging aspects of all three in her latest vocation, parenting. She also serves on the boards of Burning Man Project and Homeboy Industries, a gang rehabilitation program out of Los Angeles.
Mercedes is a longtime Burner and founding member of the theme camp, Ashram Galactica. Her involvement in the mission of Burning Man beyond Black Rock City goes back to the 2005 Burn and the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts that led to the founding of Burners Without Borders.
BWB Foundational Folks & Former Staff
BWB is made up of the countless people who have given their time, energy, and skills to the community. Everyone who has worked with BWB is a mentionable member of this community. However, there are a few folks we’d like to note in particular:
Carmen Mauk BWB Co-Founder
Tom Price BWB Co-Founder
Marian Goodell Hurricane Katrina Volunteer & Burning Man Project CEO
Jimmy Levi BWB Program Coordinator 2010-2014
Shawn Saleme BWB Program Coordinator 2017
Molly Rose BWB Program Manager 2019-2023
Chris Weitz Supported the founding of BWB
Matt and Karine Maynard Hurricane Katrina Volunteer
Spoono Hurricane Katrina Volunteer
Matt ‘Starchild’ Deluge Hurricane Katrina Volunteer
Chrissie Wilson Hurricane Katrina Volunteer
Richard ‘Big Stick’ Scott Hurricane Katrina Volunteer
Chris “Chaos” Neary Hurricane Katrina Volunteer
Tom Laporte BWB Volunteer & the ‘voice of the man’