Denise Chaykun is the operations and evaluation specialist for the Leadership Development Initiative at SPN. In this capacity she helps state think tanks on their operations and evaluation efforts.

Ms. Chaykun came to SPN by way of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. She was a member of the first class of the Koch Associate Program (KAP), which focuses on Market-Based Management®. When she joined the Foundation staff, she worked to develop leaders and entrepreneurs for the market-oriented, non-profit sector through KAP and as director of the Foundation's internship program. Prior to that, Ms. Chaykun ran the television training program at the Leadership Institute, which helped politicians, policy experts, activists, and others to be more effective communicators on television.

Ms. Chaykun is originally from the Philadelphia area. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and history from Bucknell University, where she was a founding member and a president of the Bucknell University Conservatives Club and appeared in a New York Times Magazine cover story about student activists.

E-mail: chaykun@spn.org

Phone: (703) 740-0315