Meet Our Staff

Airan Wright

Web administrator

Airan is many things, including code monkey, visual consultant, woodwinder¹, illustrator, photographer, diver, and sushi chef². He lives in Chicago with his wife Kelly and their twin daughters. Airan serves as website administrator for various endeavors, including Foundation Beyond Belief and Mr. Deity, chairs the communications committee for his daughters' PTO, and likes to work quietly³.

¹This is the preferred term; see The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman; ²His sushi is edible, not beautiful; ³Unless he is performing--then, not so much

Brittany Shoots-Reinhard

Director of Special Projects

Brittany Shoots-Reinhard is a PhD. Candidate in social psychology at The Ohio State University, where she researches how people’s thoughts about their attitudes, personality, goals, and other topics influence their judgments and behavior, as well as how jurors respond to statistical evidence.  As director of special projects, Brittany is responsible for keeping all of our various initiatives on track. She has been a member of Foundation Beyond Belief since April 2010 and served as an intern in summer 2011.  Brittany and her husband live in Columbus, Ohio. 

Claire Vinyard

Social Media Coordinator

Born and raised in Chicago, Claire attended college at UW Madison and is currently studying law at NYU. As social media coordinator, Claire keeps our accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Atheist Nexus, and elsewhere humming with news not only of the Foundation itself but of our past and present beneficiaries.

Dale McGowan

Executive Director

Dale is editor and co-author of books including Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers and presents workshops for nontheistic parents across the United States. He was named 2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University. Dale incorporated Foundation Beyond Belief in 2009 and launched the charitable giving program in 2010.

He lives in Atlanta with his wife Becca, an elementary educator, and their three kids.

Kelly Wright

Blog editor

Kelly Wright grew up in western Colorado, but these days she finds herself living in Chicago with her husband Airan and their twin daughters. She has been an editor since 1998 and a skeptic for as long as she can remember. When she isn’t busy earning a paycheck by editing anything and everything sent her way, she splits her time between parenting, volunteering, writing, making music, reading good (and not-so-good) books, and—in precious stolen moments—lounging on a Lake Michigan beach.

Noelle George

Program coordinator, Volunteers Beyond Belief

Noelle is a chemical engineer with experience in engineering and project management. She has served as Ambassador Director for Atheists Alliance International and founded and served as President of SECULAR Center USA. Upon SCUSA's merger with Foundation Beyond Belief, Noelle became program coordinator for Volunteers Beyond Belief. She is originally from Seattle, and now lives in Houston with her husband and daughter Sonia.  Noelle enjoys reading, writing, playing the piano, and rare occasions when she gets a full night's sleep.