Our Executive Director

Juan Muro (he/him)

Prior to his time in the nonprofit world, Juan worked at Starbucks as an Operations and Training Store Manager leading teams and helping to develop talent from within the organization. Juan has put those skills to use at Free Geek and has been working to make the organization better since his arrival in 2018. At Free Geek he has brought operational excellence, ability to build great teams and a people centric lens to delivering impact. Juan’s leadership doesn’t only apply to Free Geek. He and his former foster siblings formed a group called FAYCES dedicated to influencing systemic change for the foster care community in San Diego County where he grew up. In partnership with the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and Child Welfare Services Juan and his peers advocate for policy changes that positively enrich the lives of past, current and future foster youth. With his experience in operational excellence and nonprofit leadership Juan found himself perfectly placed for the Executive Director role at Free Geek. In preparation for this role, Juan graduated from the Executive Leadership Academy at WVDO and received his Nonprofit Tech Readiness Certificate from NTEN. He has spent the last four years in service to the Free Geek community.

 

Our Associate Director

Betsy Glickman (she/her)

Betsy is no stranger to non-profit work and community building. Her past work includes community organizing around houseless rights and advocacy, as well as food justice work. She is excited to get involved in creating more equitable digital access across class divides here in our local community. In Betsy's personal life, she spends as much of it on a bike as she can. Whether that is commuting, weekend joy rides, community outreach by bike, or long-distance tours with friends or her wife. Every anniversary, she and her wife plan a trip to see rural areas they haven’t been to before. Betsy states, "Nothing will connect you to our planet and the need to save it like a bike ride."

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Our Management Team

 

Dwindell Feeley (he/him) -- Manager of Development & Customer Experience

A first-generation American who was born in New York to Haitian immigrants and adopted out of foster care, Dwindell is a lifelong advocate for marginalized communities. He began his professional career as a project intern at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Rockland County, NY, and was promoted first to Project Manager and then to Program Manager before being recruited to move to Portland and work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Columbia Northwest. While in New York, he created a program for at-risk youth called Start One More Something, supervised the Rockland County Court Ordered Visitation Program from 2017-2019 to create safe visitation for families going through custody battles, and participated in local committees such as the AFFCNY (Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York) Advisory Board. Following the national unrest after the murder of George Floyd, Dwindell launched his own grassroots community nonprofit, #LoveYourBlackCommunity, which has raised $50,000 to serve over 175 Black Portlanders by offering direct assistance, education, and resources like school supplies and community Free Fridges providing food for low-income neighbors. His personal motto is “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” When Dwindell isn’t on the clock, he likes to see live music, go hiking, provide help to the houseless, make music, cook, read, and keep in touch with close friends.

 

 

Cali Avila (he/they) -- Manager of Operations

Cali, or Riot, is a first gen, 2Spirit queer, from Kumeyaay territory, also known as Imperial Beach, CA.

Cali is the manager of HR & Operations at Free Geek. His mission is to inspire and challenge spaces to meet the needs of their people while protecting and nurturing trans and BIPOC bodies. He moved to Oregon six years ago after traveling all over to find his home and believes he found it here in Portland. When he's not doing community support work, you can find him playing video games or debating with folks over Star Wars & Marvel series. He believes that his intersectionalities are a privilege - a privilege that he intends to use to educate and uplift those around him. This is the way!

 

María Lara (she/her) -- Manager of Programs

María was born and raised in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. She moved to Portland from Mexico in 2019. She's founded several businesses, the most recent being a small family business called Panal 3D, in which María and her brother taught low-income children in their hometown how to design and print their own 3D projects to help their communities stand out as students, and to develop professional, creative, and technical skills to serve them in the future. Unfortunately, funds were limited, and there was more demand than they had the capacity to meet. This project, however, awakened in María, a passion to continue this work of teaching tech skills to vulnerable communities and to bridge the digital divide.

She came to Free Geek as our first Digital Navigator in January of 2021, and much of her work focused on serving senior citizens whose first language is Spanish. In May of 2022, María was promoted to Manager of Customer Experience. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences from Universidad de LaSalle Bajío, located in León, Mexico.

She is passionate about social justice through an empathy lens, and as an immigrant, María has lived experiences that bring different perspectives to Free Geek.

When she isn't at work, she enjoys spending time with her partner and her dog, Sabina. She is a plant and garden enthusiast and loves the outdoors and roller skating!

 

Durran Champie (he/him) -- Manager of Receiving and Recycling

Durran first volunteered with Free Geek in 2014 before applying and being hired in March of 2017, bringing an extensive amount of customer service, supervisory, and management experience. He has been an avid computer enthusiast since grade school.

"My parents saw that computers were going to be commonplace sooner than most. They made many sacrifices, such as working long hours and serving meager meals to ensure that we had a computer, even if it wasn't the best computer available. This was in the early 1990s, and computers were incredibly cost prohibitive. There were no organizations doing anything close to the work that Free Geek does today. I feel fortunate that I had the experiences I did growing up, and I want to do all that I can to help Free Geek provide the same opportunities to those that don't have good access to computers."

 

Amber Schmidt (she/her) -- Manager of Technology

Amber started with Free Geek as a volunteer intern at the front desk in 2012 while pursuing her degree in Psychology and Criminology. Years later, she leads our technology refurbishment operations and oversees our IT team. Amber's professional background is in retail and people management, with over a decade of experience in a management role. She quickly became enamored with the work of Free Geek and learned she could use her background in management and her coursework in human behavior to facilitate the interfacing between humans and technology. She found that she had a knack for computer hardware and enjoyed the puzzle-like aspects of troubleshooting a broken machine. In her off time, Amber streams on Twitch, enjoys walking and playing with her giant dog, Milo, and still maintains an avid interest in the psychology of crime by reading books or watching documentaries regularly. She can probably eat her weight in Vegas (sushi) rolls and can most likely beat your pinball high score.

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Our Board Members

Free Geek’s board is made up of a collection of community members. In keeping with our core values, members have a diverse range of skills and mission-related interests. It's the responsibility of these volunteer representatives to set and refine Free Geek’s vision. They are also tasked with making organization-wide decisions. 

 

Kyle Kasner (he/him) -- Board Chair

Technology Infrastructure Specialist.  Previously IT Administrator for Free Geek.  Skills in computer hardware, computer repair, and Windows.

LinkedIn profile

Marcus Carter II (he/him) -- Board Treasurer

Marcus is Director of Social Equity at Cinder. He is a teacher, organizer, and catalyst for social equity across corporate, non-profit, and grassroots organizations. Marcus is also a member of Portland Workforce Alliance, TechTown PDX, SW SHRM, WO:KE PDX.

LinkedIn profile

Nicole Frisch (she/her) -- Board Secretary

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Fidel Ferrer (he/him) -- Board Member

Fidel is the Executive Director at Project LEDO, a nonprofit organization which works to enhance students’ success in STEM. Roughly 10 years ago Fidel immigrated to the USA from Cuba. Fidel was introduced to Free Geek by a friend and he joined Free Geek’s (since remodeled) 24h volunteer program where he earned his very first computer. During his undergraduate education at PSU, he worked as a research scientist in a HIV lab at OHSU, and realized the difficulty of achievement in science without the support of a diverse community. This brought him to founding Project LEDO. At Project LEDO, Fidel witnessed the transformative power of mentorship to low-income, Title I elementary school students. His commitment to his community and his sense of responsibility regarding the disparities of the digital divide are the driving forces that keep him pushing forward to achieve a brighter future for all!

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Jamison Purry (he/him) -- Board Member

Jamison is a 43-year-old African American, a father of three, and a husband. He served in the Army National Guard as a medic for seven years. Jamison is passionate about creating better communities, advocating for veterans, people of color, and people with disabilities, bridging socioeconomic gaps due to education disparities, and emphasizing the importance of strong families. Currently, Jamison works for Catholic Charities of Oregon as a Disaster Relief Case manager Supervisor.

He brings the expert knowledge and lived experience of our service members, communities of color, and people living with disabilities. He sees the value in intersecting identities and seeks to impact the community to further create an equitable environment for marginalized communities.

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Emilee Preble -- Board Member

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Rachel Sample -- Board Member

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Matt Keating -- Board Member

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Sara Stiles (she/her) -- Board Member

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The Free Geek Team