NCTE can provide fun, engaging, and informative speakers to discuss a variety of topics important to the transgender community. These topics include, but are not limited to:

• Hate Crimes
• State and Federal Legislation
• Campus Policies and Procedures
• Employment Discrimination
• Housing and Homelessness
• Homeland Security and Privacy Issues
• Health

Speaking engagements can cover a range of issues and can be adjusted in length and content to fit your needs.

To schedule a speaking engagement, please contact Simon Aronoff.

NCTE Speakers and Trainers

Mara Keisling, Founder and Executive Director of NCTE
Mara is the founding Executive Director of National Center for Transgender Equality. A Pennsylvania native, Mara came to Washington after co-chairing the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition. Mara is a transgender-identified woman who also identifies as a parent and a Pennsylvanian. She is a graduate of Penn State University and did her graduate work at Harvard University in American Government. She has served on the board of Directors of Common Roads, an LGBTQ Youth Group, and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition. Mara has almost twenty-five years of professional experience in social marketing and opinion research.

Mara has presented at numerous colleges and universities across the country from Pennsylvania State University to Sweet Briar College in VA to the University of Utah. She has been described as a thoroughly engaging speaker who combines humor, insight and personal perspective to keep her audience involved and invested in the topics at hand.

Simon Aronoff, Deputy Director of NCTE
Simon directs NCTE’s programs and communications. Before joining NCTE, Simon served as a Senior Account Executive at Fenton Communications, a public interest communications firm. In that role, he focused on providing communications and strategic planning counsel to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender nonprofits. He has held an appointed seat on San Francisco’s Transgender Civil Rights Implementation Task Force and served on the board of directors of the Transgender Law Center, a civil rights organization advocating for California’s transgender community. He is a graduate of Smith College.

Justin Tanis, Program Manager for NCTE
Justin Tanis is the Program Manager for the National Center for Transgender Equality. Prior to that, he served in Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), an international organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians, as the Director of Leadership Development from 1996 - 2005. In that position, he was responsible for conferences, educational programs and resources for people in 22 different countries. He was also an MCC minister in Boston, Honolulu and San Francisco before being employed at the denomination’s headquarters.

Justin’s education includes a degree in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College (1987), a Master’s of Divinity degree from Harvard University (1990) and a doctorate from San Francisco Theological Seminary (2002). He is a published writer and experienced lecturer.