Board

Bob Perry is retired Court Reporter for NH Superior Court; member of the Board of Trustees at the Rochester Opera House.  As a state Representative, Bob served on the House Election Law Committee and the Citizen-Funded Election Task Force.   He currently resides in Strafford, NH.

Treasurer Beverly Cotton is a formerly a registered nurse specializing in critical care then branched off to pursue my other interest, that of accounting with an emphasis on fraud and technical solutions. I served as Associate Vice President of Student Finance at SNHU and as a Client Success Manager at Ellucian.

I am involved with the Weare and Hillsborough County Democrats, the Capitol City Task Force- a non-partisan advocacy arm of AARP, and co-chair of the Greater Concord Team. I volunteer with Hospice House and am involved with advocacy for the American Cancer Society. My heart is in advocacy largely for healthcare issues and for those issues surrounding our most fundamental right to democracy.

Secretary Linda Bundy is a retired educator who worked for twelve years as a paraprofessional with students ranging from preschool to eighth grade. She then returned to college to earn certification in elementary and special education, and taught for sixteen years at Great Brook School in Antrim. For the first few years of retirement she was fortunate to have the time to be able to help elderly family members who needed assistance. After that, when considering the next chapter in her life, she felt that it was imperative to participate in actions striving to counteract those who are working to manipulate democracy to advantage the few at the expense of the majority of our citizens. One of Linda’s mentors during her educational career said that good special education is simply good education, and it benefits all students. Similarly, real democracy is a system of government that operates for all of its people. Volunteering with Open Democracy Action provides her with ways to work toward making our democracy function as it should.

Chair Jeff Taylor is the former New Hampshire State Director for the campaign finance reform and voting rights groups, End Citizens United and Let America Vote. He pushed candidates to adopt a comprehensive reform agenda and prioritize democracy reform legislation at the state house. Previously, he has worked on numerous local, state, and federal campaigns in New Hampshire. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 2018 with a degree in Political Science and has lived in New Hampshire ever since. (Manchester, NH)

Vice Chair Dave Andrews is currently a Data Validation Fellow for the Redistricting Data Hub which is a nonpartisan project of the Fair Representation in Redistricting Initiative to provide publicly-available data and services for the redistricting process.  He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2011 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and has lived in New Hampshire his entire life. He currently resides in Chichester, NH.

Bob Emory has been a New Hampshire resident for more than 40 years. Before retirement, Bob was a paramedic at Frisbie Memorial Hospital (Rochester, NH) and a volunteer firefighter (Barnstead Fire Rescue). His passions include spending time with his wife of over 50 years, Fran; visiting his daughter Jess, a high school math teacher; walking in the woods with Teddie, the border collie; and HAM radio (KD1CT). Through his work at Open Democracy, Bob hopes to work towards building a democracy that is representative of the New Hampshire population and protects the interests of all.

Amanda Merrill lives in Durham. She is proud to be New Hampshire-educated, from grade school in South Hampton through graduate studies at Dartmouth. Her service to New Hampshire began with five terms in the House of Representatives,  where she focused on environmental and energy issues and became Deputy Minority Leader; this was followed by one biennium as a House policy staff member and two terms in the state Senate, where she served on the Senate Election Law and Veterans Affairs committee. Mandy was a member of the Secretary of State’s 2023-24 Special Committee on Voter Confidence.

Staff

Olivia Zink, Executive Director

Olivia has been working as a community organizer in New Hampshire since 2000. Before becoming OD's Executive Director, she served as the Grassroots Engagement Coordinator for the Governing Under the Influence Project in Concord, a project of the American Friends Service Committee. Olivia served as the Program Director for the Coalition for Open Democracy for four years. She has worked on a broad range of campaigns for economic and social justice with groups including the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance, National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare and the Priorities NH Campaign. Olivia also spent a year in Bolivia working with the Democracy Center. In 2008, she was named one of New Hampshire’s “40 under 40,” by the NH Union Leader. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Sustainable Living, and a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University with a master’s degree in Community Economic Development.

Doreen Desmarais, Administrator

Doreen has more than 30 years experience in office administration, serving the non-profit, educational, labor union and for profit sectors. She has been the Administrative Assistant to the NH School Principals Association and currently manages administration, finance, and event planning for Open Democracy in Concord. In her free time Doreen enjoys gardening, volunteering and spending time with her family and pets.

Sam Cassin, High School Voter Registration Coordinator

In his free time, Sam still loves doing freelance work in scouting prospects for the NFL Draft, spending quality time with friends and family, and supporting the Boston sports teams.