Executive Team

Office of the President & CEO

Paul Schmitz, CEO

Paul Schmitz founded Public Allies Milwaukee in 1993, and has served as the national CEO of Public Allies since 2000. Public Allies’ mission is to advance new leadership to strengthen communities, nonprofits, and civic participation. Since 1992, Public Allies has supported more than 2,800 diverse young leaders in 15 communities across the country to turn their passion to make a difference into a career in community and public service, and promoted leadership approaches that engage the next generation and diverse communities.

Paul writes and speaks often on topics of national service, civic engagement, community building, diversity, nonprofit workforce development, and social entrepreneurship. Paul currently serves as Chair of the Nonprofit Workforce Coalition, Co-chair of Voices for National Service, a board member of Our Good Works, a blogger on leadership for The Washington Post, and a faculty member of The Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. As a private volunteer, Paul co-chaired the Obama campaign’s civic engagement policy group and was a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Team. Paul graduated phi beta kappa from UW-Milwaukee in 1994 with a degree in political science, and received their “Graduate of the Last Decade” alumni award. He was also a Next Generation Leadership Fellow with the Rockefeller Foundation. He lives with his three children Maxwell, Maya and Olivia in Milwaukee. 

Cris Ros Dukler, COO

Cris brings more than 20 years experience of executive leadership in the nonprofit, public and private sector.  Cris is a reformer who led state regulatory departments in Texas and Wisconsin, and served as COO of a regional nonprofit overseeing $11 million budget and 400 employees working to improve foster care services in 2 states.  She was a partner in a venture that invented “electronic benefit transfer cards” for distributing government benefits, e.g. food stamps, preventing fraud and enhancing the dignity of users.  After the business was sold, Cris joined UPC Health Network, where she directed an $80 million business employing 350 workers in Wisconsin and Illinois.  She started a respiratory therapy business in Illinois that became the most profitable in the company. Cris was an advisory board member of Scholastic, Inc., has served as a vice- chair of Wisconsin Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin, an advisory board member of Public Allies Milwaukee, and has held several other volunteer roles.  A cum laude graduate of the Philippine Normal College in Manila, Cris has a Masters in Educational Psychology from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

Finance & Administration

Tim Hosch, VP

Tim came to Public Allies in February 2003 and manages accounting, fiscal reporting and information technology.  Tim is a Certified Public Accountant and was previously the Controller at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, where he managed accounting, payroll, purchasing and federal grant reporting.  He is a graduate of Carroll University with a bachelors in Accounting.

Marketing & Development

Nell Daniel, VP

Originally trained as an artist and designer, Nell has worked as an educator and nonprofit leader for arts and youth development organizations in Washington, DC and New York City for over 17 years. She has been invited to speak nationally on topics ranging from design, education, diversity, and social entrepreneurship, and her work has been featured in media such as the Today Show, the New York Times, Fast Company and others. Nell has a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, an MA in nonprofit law and business from Columbia University, and a PhD in Education from New York University.

Program Operations

David McKinney, VP

David served as an Ally in 1996-1997 at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, and then led youth programs at the Mid-Town Neighborhood Association. In 1998, David joined Public Allies Milwaukee as a neighborhood organizer for the Milwaukee Youth Initiative, a project of Public Allies and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation to empower youth leadership at the neighborhood level. From 1999-2002, David served as a Program Manager at Public Allies Milwaukee, supporting Allies and leading local evaluation efforts. In August, 2002, David joined the national office as Continuous Learning Officer, providing coaching, technical assistance and monitoring for our local programs. He was promoted to Vice President of the Leadership Network in October 2005. David currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Tikkun Ha’ir, a Jewish social justice organization, and on the advisory board of the Beyond Racism Project with the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.

Leadership Practice

Michelle Dobbs, VP

Michelle Dobbs returned to Public Allies in 2005 to lead our training and consulting practice. Michelle was Director of Training and Learning at Public Allies Milwaukee from 1994-1997, and national Vice President of Programs from 1997-2000, where she led the creation of Public Allies’ baselines, standards and evaluation approach we use to this day. In between her time at Public Allies, Michelle was a corporate trainer and coach with ING Financial Services in Hartford, CT, and a novelist (she is currently finishing her second novel). Michelle is a graduate of Howard University with a BA in Communications.