Washington Evaluators is proud to announce the first recipient of the new Volunteer of the Year Award is Nick Zyznieuski. The award recognizes members of the organization who make significant contributions to the success of the organization and for the benefit of the Washington, DC evaluation community.

In 2017, as a member of the program committee, Zyznieuski launched and coordinated the new Washington Evaluators Mentor Minutes program. The initiative is designed to encourage other members to engage with other in short-term mentorship relationships.

"Through Nick's service, the Mentor Minutes initiative has provided an outlet for evaluators to learn from those in their community and to build personal and professional connections," Program Chair Giovanni Dazzo wrote in Nick's nomination. "These benefits are in line with our mission of strengthening the evaluation community in Washington, DC."

The Mentor Minutes initiative was approved by the Board of Directors in 2016 as a proof of concept, and fully launched in 2017 with 10 successful mentor-mentee pairings.

"We are proud of Nick's leadership on this initiative and thank him for recognizing the important role mentoring has in strengthening our evaluation community," said 2017 Washington Evaluators President Nick Hart. "We look forward to Nick's continued engagement as a leader in Washington Evaluators in the months and years ahead."

Zyznieuski is currently a monitoring and evaluation specialist at the Dexis Consulting Group in Washington, DC. He holds a masters degree from the University of Kentucky and a bachelors degree from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.