Our Team 

A Kansas City native, Geoff joined the LISC team in September 2019 as the Executive Director.  He is a seasoned policy expert with strong community connections, having spent more than 13 years as the District Director and General Counsel for U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II, who represents Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District.  In addition to his public policy leadership, Geoff spent more than a decade as a Kansas City firefighter and EMT.  He continues to serve as a Rescue Specialist on a FEMA Urban Search & Rescue team, having responded to multiple natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and an EF-5 tornado in Joplin, MO.  Geoff’s most unique experience was spending six months in Antarctica as a contract firefighter at McMurdo Station, a U.S. National Science Foundation research hub.  Geoff is married to a Kansas City public school teacher and has two young daughters who both attend Kansas City Public Schools.  Their family resides in a century-old home in the Historic Northeast neighborhood.

Abigail is a passionate, experienced, slightly potty-mouthed nonprofit administrator, and let’s be honest – she’s the glue that keeps our LISC office together. Her past experience has allowed her to lead and participate in nonprofit planning, fundraising, organizing, promoting and coordinating international medical relief efforts and volunteer-led events. She is able to take a vision and execute direction and can Tweet with the best of them. Ask Abigail about her eclectic Hyde Park home or her international travels providing medical care to underserved communities throughout the world.

Kelli joined the LISC team in September 2019. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Emporia State University, a master's in Family and Human Development from Arizona State University and is a PMP®-certified project manager. Though she grew up in Kansas City, Kelli lived in Dallas for almost a decade, working in corporate account management and program management. Before joining LISC, Kelli was a Program Manager with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, focusing on issue resolution, data analysis, and goal attainment. She’s also an accomplished artist, an avid consumer of all things related to horror, and collector of fun glasses.

Effervescent, resilient and community oriented are the perfect words to describe Holly Long.  Holly is a Kansas City, Missouri native and a proud graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C.  She received her Master’s in Science Management (Organizational Leadership) from Baker University and is a certified lecturer and individual, executive and organizational coach with Strengthscope US. Prior to joining LISC, Holly spent the last 15 years working in the office of Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II, where her genuine heart for community was matched with learning the skills and tools necessary to make a true sustainable impact in her local, regional, national and global community. Holly is a huge supporter of the Kansas City Alumni of Historical Black College and Universities, where she annually presents workshops to students who are interested in attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and the Central Exchange. Holly is an active member of Memorial Church International.  Holly is married to Ryan Long and is the mother of Raelyn and Christian Long.

Jeremy Staab, a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, joined LISC in June 2023 bringing with him over 15 years in community development and grantmaking. Over his career, Jeremy has learned the importance of resilience and the strength of community when it comes to creating social-economic change. Guided by community values and cultural bearers, it has been Jeremy's passion to create the conditions for prosperity and equity for the next generations.
As a first-generation Native American college graduate and the first to hold an M.B.A., he is familiar with the challenges and opportunities of creating equity and inclusion firsthand. Jeremy received his MBA in 2014 through Baker University and completed his undergraduate studies in business at Haskell Indian Nations University. He enjoys cooking, hiking, jiu-jitsu, and foolishly strumming his guitar.

Daniel Serda is a city planner specializing in economic development, urban design, and stakeholder-driven community planning. He currently serves as an economic development program officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Greater Kansas City (LISC GKC), where he serves as team lead for commercial corridor, small business, and real estate development training initiatives. He manages our local Business Development Organization (BDO) network, through which LISC links on-the-ground entrepreneurial support organizations to a national network to enhance capital access and provide technical assistance to women- and black/brown-owned small businesses. He also serves as our local lead for LISC’s national Building Innovation for Equitable Childcare initiative, which supports community partners incorporating high-quality, affordable child care facilities into development projects that offer enhanced workforce development and transit access opportunities.
Dr. Serda joined LISC GKC staff after five years as principal of inSITE planning, a small development-focused consulting firm with public, private, and non-profit clients engaged in housing and economic development projects, and a dozen years in higher education, including roles as a full-time faculty member in KU's urban planning program and nearly a decade as executive director of the Kansas City Design Center.

Hailing from the LISC Indianapolis office, Carlie Turner brings two and a half years of experience as a Program Officer for Place-Based Community Development, where she earnestly supported Quality of Life Neighborhoods through impactful plan implementation and capacity building for community development corporations.
Carlie’s background includes consulting with community-based organizations to strengthen collaborative relationships and enhance organizational competencies. Her experience supporting implementation of Quality of Life plan housing strategies will be invaluable as we move forward with our Regional Housing Initiative.
A proud graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Carlie is excited to return to her roots in Kansas City, Kansas. She’s eager to make a difference in her hometown and work alongside our dedicated team and community partners.
Outside of work, Carlie enjoys exploring new cities, shopping, and finding the best spots for live music. 

Amanda Wilson joined LISC as a Program Officer in 2016. Her focus is on providing capacity building support and technical assistance to local community development corporations (CDCs), leading local affordable housing policy efforts, and leading our work to create safe and healthy neighborhoods. Prior to LISC she worked to build neighborhood association capacity as a program manager for a local nonprofit funding organization and supported community engagement for infrastructure projects for a large engineering firm. Amanda holds a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University, and before finding planning and community development as a career path, she was a volunteer and fundraising event coordinator for a conservation land trust and served as an AmeriCorps volunteer for two years with a watershed group in the Portland, Oregon area. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Missouri State University. When she’s not working, you can find her working on her 1914 house, proselytizing the value of preserving old windows and plaster in KC’s urban core historic homes, petting stray cats, hiking, spending time with friends, or weeding her fruit and native plant garden.