Peter & Adrienne Barris

Managing General Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Peter joined New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 1992 and was named the managing general partner in 1999. Since that time, NEA’s assets under management have grown from $1B to over $13B and the firm has expanded its operations to India and China. Under Peter’s leadership, NEA has invested in industry-transforming technology companies like CareerBuilder, Tableau, Diapers.com, Groupon, Juniper Networks, Macromedia, Salesforce.com, TiVo, and Workday. Peter has been named several times to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors, to Crain’s Chicago 50 Top Tech Stars, to the Washington Tech Council’s Hall of Fame, and to the Washington Business Hall of Fame.

Katherine & David Bradley

Katherine is the president of CityBridge and directs the foundation’s day-to-day work. CityBridge’s signature projects include the Early Years Education Initiative, Breakthrough Schools, and the Education Innovation Fellowship.

David is the chairman of Atlantic Media, whose holdings include The Atlantic, National Journal Group, Government Executive Media Group, and Quartz. Previously, David was the founder and chairman of both the Advisory Board Company and the Corporate Executive Board, now public companies listed on NASDAQ.

David M. Bradt, Jr.

Managing Director, Andersen Tax

David Bradt is a Managing Director for Andersen Tax, one of the largest independent tax firms in the world. David has 39 years of experience in tax practice and has extensive experience providing investment consulting, tax planning, financial planning and tax-reporting services to high-net-worth individuals, family offices, corporate executives and family business owners. In addition, David has been named one of the 250 Best Financial Advisors by Worth magazine and has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The Honorable Ann Brown & Donald Brown (in memoriam)

The Honorable Ann Brown served as Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from March 1994 to November 2001. For more than two decades prior to her appointment, Mrs. Brown was a consumer advocate. She served as vice president of the Consumer Federation of America for 15 years and as chairman of the board of the consumer advocacy group Public Voice from 1983 to 1994.

Donald A. Brown, an attorney and real estate entrepreneur, was active in real estate development and finance for over 60 years. In 1956, he founded the law firm of Brown, Gildenhorn & Jacobs in Washington, D.C., which specialized in real property and housing. He also founded and served as chairman, director, and a senior partner in each of the JBG Real Estate Companies. Concurrently, Mr. Brown served as a senior lecturer on the faculty of the Harvard Business School from 1983 to 1995.

Arthur Bushkin

Arthur Bushkin has a 50-year career focused on harnessing the power of technology for social good. He has run government programs, corporations, and nonprofit foundations, and he concentrates on writing and philanthropy.

Kathy Calvin

Kathy Calvin is president and CEO of the United Nations Foundation. Prior to joining the UN Foundation as chief operating officer in 2003, she served as president of the AOL Time Warner Foundation. She previously served in senior positions at AOL, Hill and Knowlton, and U.S. News & World Report. From 1976 through 1984 she was U.S. Senator Gary Hart’s press secretary.

Kathy was also named one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Rock the World” in 2011 and listed in Fast Company’s “League of Extraordinary Women” in 2012.

Art Marks (in memoriam) & Nancy Casey

Art Marks was the managing general partner for Valhalla Partners, where he worked with media, Internet marketing, and security-related companies such as Bidtellect and Vubiquity. Prior to Vallhalla, Art was a general partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he was directly involved in over 60 portfolio company investments. He also served as the chairman emeritus of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association and was on the board of VPP.

Steve & Roberta Denning

Steven A. Denning is the chairman of General Atlantic LLC, a global private equity firm with twelve offices around the globe and over $20 billion of assets under management. Mr. Denning is chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University and former co-chair of the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He remains on the board of TNC and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bridgespan Group.

Roberta Denning currently chairs Stanford’s Arts Advisory Council and Humanities and Sciences Council. She is a trustee of the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York and a trustee of SFMOMA, and she is a member of the management committee for the Anderson Collection at Stanford University.

William & Denise Dunbar

Will Dunbar co-founded Core Capital Partners in 1999. Prior to Core, he was founder and CEO of Pebble Hill Capital, an early-stage, technology-focused investment company, and an early investor in webMethods, one of the most successful software IPOs in NASDAQ history. Will began his investment career at Venture America, where he was involved in the early-stage funding of Discovery Communications and Digene, both of which became multibillion-dollar companies.

Kristin Ehrgood & Vadim Nikitine

Kristin Ehrgood is the president and board chair of the Flamboyan Foundation, a path-forging private family foundation that generates catalytic and sustainable results in education for students most affected by inequity in Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Her previous work included co-founding with her husband Sapientis, a Puerto Rico-based organization that worked to eradicate poverty and inequity through quality education for all students, as well as various positions with Teach for America, including the director of New Site Development and executive director, of the NJ Region. Ehrgood currently serves as the board chair of DC School Reform Now, sits on the boards of Teach for America–DC and Venture Philanthropy Partners, and is a trustee of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundations.

Vadim Nikitine is the founder, owner and president of CCM Group, a holding company with assets in the commercial real estate and clean energy sectors. CCM’s real estate companies are partners in approximately 9 million square feet of commercial space, and the company is actively involved in all phases of the development, leasing, and management of a wide array of residential and commercial properties. In 2006, with his wife, Kristin Ehrgood, he co-founded the Flamboyan Foundation, a path-forging private family foundation that generates catalytic and sustainable results in education for students most affected by inequity in Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Vadim sits on the boards of RARE and the Maret School and is a trustee of the US Olympic and Paralympic Foundations.

Michelle Freeman / The Carl M. Freeman Foundation / Joshua M. Freeman (in memoriam)

Michelle DiFebo Freeman is the owner and CEO of the Carl M. Freeman Companies, a real estate company established in 1947 that specializes in land acquisition, land planning, development, and redevelopment and the management of award-winning, amenity-rich residential communities, neighborhood shopping centers, and commercial properties. Ms. Freeman is also president and chairman of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, which has been giving grants to organizations where her employees live, work, and play since 1947.

Michele V. Hagans

Michele V. Hagans is the president and CEO of the Fort Lincoln Realty Company and Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation. She sits on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Federal City Council, HEROES, Inc., and Fight For Children. Michele holds undergraduate and master’s degrees and a doctoral degree from Howard University and an MBA from George Washington University.

Robert G. Hisaoka

Robert G. Hisaoka is the president of Luxury Imports of Bowling Green and chairman of Carsquare. He is both an investor and on the boards of Sionic Mobile, Precise Target, and Carsquare. Robert is an active angel and venture investor. He is a member of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. and a trustee of the Federal City Council. Robert founded and chairs the Joan Hisaoka Gala to honor his late sister, Joan and to fulfill her desire to help others living with cancer.

Allan & Shelley Holt / The Hillside Foundation

Allan M. Holt is a senior partner and managing director of The Carlyle Group and chairman of Carlyle’s US Buyout group, the firm’s largest investment fund. Mr. Holt is vice chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and a director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

David & Michelle Joubran

David Joubran is the co-founder, president, and CEO of Acumen Solutions, a privately held business and technology consulting firm dedicated to providing innovative solutions to Fortune 500 companies and government clients. Acumen Solutions is a recognized leader in enterprise cloud transformation, working with customers to develop strategies to migrate their business processes and systems into cloud-based architecture.

Jack Davies & Kay Kendall

J.L. (Jack) Davies is a minority owner of Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Following his retirement as founder and president of AOL International, Jack has been very engaged with VPP, serving on the board and the Executive Committee. Jack is also on the board of Scholastic, the global children’s media company, and has served on countless other nonprofit boards. Currently, he is on the board of Teach for America DC Region and the Economic Club of Washington.

Kay Kendall serves as chair of the DC Arts and Humanities Commission following a long-term involvement with the arts in D.C., including having served as president of the board of the Washington Ballet. Kay is also a past board chair for the Maret School and currently is on the board of THEARC in Anacostia and CityDance.

Jeong & Cindy Kim

Jeong H. Kim is the chairman of Kiswe Mobile Inc., a start-up focusing on interactive mobile video. Prior to that, he was the 11th president of Bell Labs, the communication industry’s most heralded research organization. His background ranges from being a CEO of a high-technology start-up to a senior executive of a Fortune 500 corporation.

Charito Kruvant

Charito Kruvant is the founder and CEO of Creative Associates International. She is also a board member of the Calvert Group and WETA and on the advisory board for the Global Education Innovation Initiative.

Cal & Jeff (in memoriam) Leonard

Jeff Leonard was the co-founder and CEO of the Global Environment Fund, a private equity firm established in 1990. GEF invests around the world in growing businesses that produce technologies, products and services leading to a lower carbon economy, more efficient use of resources and environmental improvement. Jeff was a founding board member of Beacon House, an educational program in NE Washington, D.C., as well as of the National Council on Science and Environment. He was a member of the board of New America and previously served as board chair for City Year–DC. Jeff was an avid outdoorsman with special passions for adventures in oft-piste skiing, wilderness hiking and fly fishing.

Jimmy Lynn

Jimmy Lynn is a co-founder and board member of Kiswe Mobile. He’s also an adjunct faculty member and special advisor at Georgetown University. He is on the board of the National Foundation on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition as well as the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.

Phillip Merrick & Caren DeWitt Merrick

Caren DeWitt Merrick is a founding investor in VPP. She is also an entrepreneur, investor, and board member in innovative technology companies, social impact nonprofits and financial services businesses.

Mario & Dana Morino

Mario Morino is the chairman of the Morino Institute and co-founder of Venture Philanthropy Partners. His career spans more than 50 years as an entrepreneur, technologist and civic and business leader. Mario now focuses his time as a member of the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, which advances the theme that “performance matters.”

Fred & Karen Schaufeld

Karen Schaufeld is passionate about creating and supporting effective philanthropy. She founded 100WomenStrong to create change in Loudoun County through grants to nonprofits. She also co-founded AART (All Ages Read Together), a school readiness program for low-income preschool children.

Doug & Gabriela Smith

Gabriela Smith is the founder and president of The Crimsonbridge Group and the Crimsonbridge Foundation. In over 15 years of active philanthropic work, she has designed and launched innovative programs and partnerships in education. She is a founding investor and board member of Venture Philanthropy Partners and serves on the Georgetown University Board of Regents and the Harvard Kennedy School Dean’s Council. Her professional experience includes roles at the World Bank and Catholic Charities. She received a MA in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and both an MA in Latin American studies/economic development and a BA in economics from UCLA.

Read more about Gabriela in this spotlight blog.

Earl & Amanda Stafford

Earl W. Stafford is the chairman and chief executive of The Stafford Foundation, Inc., a faith-based charity that promotes the precepts of Jesus Christ by providing support and assistance to the underserved, helping them to become self-sufficient.

C. Eugene Steuerle

Gene Steuerle is a fellow at the Urban Institute, where he founded or cofounded the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, the Retirement Project, and the Project on Opportunity and Ownership. He is also the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 18 books and over 1,500 articles and columns largely addressing issues of federal policy. In addition to spending time with his wonderful wife, two children, five stepchildren, and grandchildren, he is a cofounder and chair emeritus of ACT for Alexandria, a community foundation.

Harry (in memoriam) & Rachel Weller

The Weller family cares about education.

Catherine West

Catherine West spent nearly 30 years in financial services with increasing P&L responsibility. She worked closely with the White House and Elizabeth Warren to set up the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau before joining the Capital One Financial Corp board.

Jim Feldman & Natalie Wexler

Natalie Wexler is an education writer and the board chair of The Writing Revolution, a nonprofit that trains teachers at high-needs schools in a method of expository writing instruction. She also serves on the board of the DC Scholars Public Charter School. She previously worked as a lawyer and a legal historian and has written three novels.

Cliff & Debbie White

Cliff White was a founding partner of NEW Customer Service Companies Inc. (NEW), the nation’s leading provider of extended service plans and buyer protection programs. He is also currently a partner in SWaN investors, a diversified private investment fund with several dozen investments, including the Washington Nationals Baseball Club & Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Mr. White also sits on the board of the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region, where he and his wife have their family foundation, where he serves on the Foundation’s Sharing Montgomery Grants Committee, and where he is the founder of the Foundation’s Neighbors in Need Montgomery Fund, which assists vulnerable county residents in need of safety net services, as well as workforce development and educational opportunities.

Antonio (Tony) Marquez

Chairman, VPP+Raise DC; Senior EVP, President of Commercial Banking, EagleBank

Tony Marquez, Senior EVP, President of Commercial Banking at EagleBank, joined the VPP+Raise DC Board in 2017. Prior to EagleBank, Tony established the real estate lending franchise for HSBC for the Washington, D.C. market in 2005. Earlier he was the head of Commercial Real Estate lending at Chevy Chase Bank (1999 to 2005) and prior to that held various lending positions at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and The Riggs National Bank here in Washington, D.C. Tony has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry in the region. He is also the former board chairman for the Latin American Youth Center. Tony is a graduate of George Washington University with a B.A. and an M.A. in International Affairs and also holds an MBA from Adelphi University.

Peter Barris

Managing General Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Peter joined New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 1992 and was named the managing general partner in 1999. Since that time, NEA’s assets under management have grown from $1B to over $13B and the firm has expanded its operations to India and China. Under Peter’s leadership, NEA has invested in industry-transforming technology companies like CareerBuilder, Tableau, Diapers.com, Groupon, Juniper Networks, Macromedia, Salesforce.com, TiVo, and Workday. Peter has been named several times to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors, to Crain’s Chicago 50 Top Tech Stars, to the Washington Tech Council’s Hall of Fame, and to the Washington Business Hall of Fame.

Cliff White

Vice Chair, VPP+Raise DC; Partner, SWaN Investors

Cliff White was a founding partner and the financial architect of NEW Corp. (now NEW Asurion Corp.), the world’s largest consumer product protection company. He is now a partner in SWaN Investors, a diversified private investment fund with dozens of investments, including the Washington Nationals Baseball Club. Mr. White is an active philanthropist, honored as the 2017 Montgomery County Philanthropist of the Year. He serves on the board of the Greater Washington Community Foundation where he founded and chairs the Neighbors In Need Montgomery Fund, focused on helping county families help themselves out of poverty as well as emergency responses to the economic effect of COVID on these families. He and his wife, Debbie, are avid supporters of education and workforce development for young people and adults in their County.

Carol Thompson Cole

President & CEO, Venture Philanthropy Partners + Raise DC

Read Full Profile

David M. Bradt, Jr.

Managing Director (Retired), Andersen

David Bradt is a retired Managing Director for Andersen, one of the largest independent tax firms in the world. David has 39 years of experience in tax practice and has extensive experience providing investment consulting, tax planning, financial planning and tax-reporting services to high-net-worth individuals, family offices, corporate executives and family business owners. In addition, David has been named one of the 250 Best Financial Advisors by Worth magazine and has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Catherine Buell is a community development executive and industry veteran with over a decade of experience in large-scale urban development. She is currently Head of Community Development, Amazon in the Community at Amazon.

Previously she was the Vice President, Policy and Programs at the Greater Washington Partnership, past president and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority, served as the executive director for St. Elizabeth’s East in Washington, D.C., and started her career at Patton Boggs LLP in the areas of real estate and private equity.

Curtis L. Buser

Chief Financial Officer, The Carlyle Group

Curtis L. Buser is Carlyle’s Chief Financial Officer and serves on the firm’s Management Committee and Executive Group. Mr. Buser is responsible for corporate and partnership financial management and reporting, treasury functions, and fund management and is an integral part of the firm’s public company investor reporting and information technology group. Mr. Buser joined Carlyle in 2004 as a managing director and served as the firm’s chief accounting officer. From May 2014 until December 2014, he served as Carlyle’s interim Chief Financial Officer. He is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Buser was an audit partner with Ernst & Young, LLP. He began his career with Arthur Andersen in 1985 and was admitted to the partnership in 1997. He is a graduate of Georgetown University. Mr. Buser served on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council from 2007 to 2010.

Antoinette (Toni) Bush

Executive Vice President and Global Head of Government Affairs, Newscorp

Bio: Coming Soon

Manal Corwin

Principal in Charge, Washington National Tax Practice at KMPG

Bio: Coming Soon

Jack Davies

Founder, AOL International

J.L. (Jack) Davies is a minority owner of Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Following his retirement as founder and president of AOL International, Jack has been very engaged with VPP, serving on the board and the Executive Committee. Jack is also on the board of Scholastic, the global children’s media company, and has served on countless other nonprofit boards. Currently, he is on the board of Teach for America DC Region and the Economic Club of Washington.

Joe Del Guercio is the President and CEO of the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation. He leads strategic direction for the Foundation and works closely with grantees, staff, and the Board of Directors to ensure alignment between the Foundation’s vision, grant-making and impact. Joe also works as Managing Director of the private investment firm founded in 1972 by A. James Clark. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston College. Outside of the philanthropic work he leads with the Foundation, he serves on the Investment and Grants Committees for the US Soccer Foundation and is actively involved with the National Youth Baseball Academy and Cycle for Survival.

Charlene M. Dukes

President Emeritus, Prince George’s Community College

Dr. Charlene M. Dukes is the President Emeritus of Prince George’s Community College and has thirty years of progressive leadership experience and administrative responsibility in higher education. With approximately 40,000 students at six locations, including the Largo Campus, Prince George’s Community College offers 200 credit and workforce development and continuing education programs. She holds memberships in a variety of professional associations and serves on the boards of directors of key nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.

The College is home to the National Cyberwatch Center, an Advanced Technological Education site funded by the National Science Foundation, and is designated a 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance at the two-year level. In partnership with the Prince George’s County Public Schools, the College is home to seven programs that award the high school diploma and associate degrees concurrently, including the first middle college in the state of Maryland, the Academy of Health Sciences; the Information Technology Early College at two sites; the Dual to Degree program, the Teacher Academy, and two P-TECH (Pathways to Technology Early College High School) programs.

Josh Edelman

Senior Advisor at the Gates Foundation

Josh Edelman is a Senior Advisor with the US Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supporting individual portfolios with strategy development while also focusing on division-wide implementation of DEI and talent development to enhance expected investment outcomes. Before becoming a Senior Advisor, Josh was a Deputy Director on the K-12 team within the US Program co-leading a 7-year, 500M portfolio focused on increasing the number of Black, Latino, and low-income students who earn a high school diploma, enroll in a postsecondary institution and are on track in their first year to attain a credential with labor market value. Prior to being a Deputy Director, Josh was a Senior Program Officer on the k-12 team supporting efforts to prepare students for college and career success in Tennessee and Florida and oversaw the 7-year, 90M investment in teacher effectiveness in the Memphis City/Shelby County Schools. Before Gates, Josh was the Deputy Chief of School Innovation (OSI) for the DC Public Schools. OSI oversaw efforts to support and empower 58 DC public schools through the infusion of unique programmatic elements targeting student investment and achievement. Prior to working at DC Public Schools, Josh was the Executive Officer of the Office of New Schools (ONS) at Chicago Public Schools, which worked to recruit, develop, and support new schools and ultimately, hold them accountable to high performance measures. He has also held various leadership positions at The SEED Foundation, first on the board of directors, then as principal of The SEED School, a public charter boarding school in Washington DC. Josh also taught for ten years before working with SEED. He taught social studies for three years at Milton Academy in Massachusetts and seven years at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California. Josh has a bachelor’s degree in American History from Harvard University, a master’s degree in Education from Stanford University, and a second master’s in Educational Administration, also from Stanford University. Josh is or has served on the boards of AVID (current), Breakthrough Collaborative, Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, City Works DC (current), City Year DC, Education Forward DC (current), EL Haynes Public Charter School (current – board chair), Maya Angelou Public Charter School and The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools.

Carol Emig

President, Child Trends

Carol Emig is the president of Child Trends, an independent research center focused on improving the lives of children and youth. Her career has focused on using research and evidence to strengthen public policies and programs that serve children and youth. Prior to leading Child Trends, she was executive director of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care and deputy director of the National Commission on Children.

As a strategic partner, Child Trends provides data collection, data analysis, and research design support to VPP. This includes the administration of school climate surveys to support the Ready for Work initiative in Prince George’s County, analyzing youthCONNECT partner data and working with VPP investment partners to produce high-quality evaluations for programs supported by the Social Innovation Fund.

Terri Lee Freeman

Executive Director, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture

Nora Gardner

Partner, McKinsey & Company

Nora Gardner is a partner in McKinsey’s Washington, D.C. office and the leader of the intersection between McKinsey’s Organization and Public Sector practices. She led the development of McKinsey’s Talent System Assessment Tool and has expertise in human capital, leadership development, human capital analytics and organizational change. Prior to joining McKinsey, she held postdoctoral fellowships from the American Cancer Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She is married, has two daughters, and in 2015 was named Working Mother of the Year by Working Mother magazine.

As an advisor to the VPP board, McKinsey provides guidance in matters of overall governance and stewardship. In particular, McKinsey has played a key role in shaping VPP’s approach to comprehensive planning, refining VPP’s “core definitions,” and setting direction for the organization. The firm also provides significant guidance on candidate assessment and conducts strategic planning efforts for some of VPP’s investment partners.

Wendy has been a dedicated advocate for children represented by her longstanding leadership with organizations addressing health, legal, and educational issues affecting vulnerable youth and families. She was a leader of Raise DC—part of the StriveTogether network—and is now a Board member of VPP+Raise DC and Mary’s Center, as well as Board Chair of Educare DC.

María S. Gómez

Founder and Former President and CEO, Mary’s Center

María S. Gómez, R.N., M.P.H. serves as the Philanthropy Strategy Advisor for the Robert I. Schattner Foundation where she works with the President to align the mission of the foundation with projects delivering innovative programs in the DC region.

In her prior endeavor, she was the Founder, President, and CEO of Mary’s Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) providing healthcare to 60,000 participants across seven locations, a budget of $80M and a staff of 800. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently recognized María’s legacy of providing care that prioritizes the social determinants of health on their Culture of Health Blog. President Barack Obama selected her as one of the 18 recipients of the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.

María currently serves as a board member for the Washington Housing Conservancy, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, CityBridge Foundation, and Suburban Hospital and on the Advisory Boards of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and the Smithsonian American Women History Initiative. Originally from Colombia, South America, she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Clint Grimes

Senior Vice President/Chief Procurement Officer, Capital One

Bio: Coming Soon

Michele V. Hagans

President, Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation, Inc.

Michele V. Hagans is the president and CEO of the Fort Lincoln Realty Company and Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation. She sits on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Federal City Council, HEROES, Inc., and Fight For Children. Michele holds undergraduate and master’s degrees and a doctoral degree from Howard University and an MBA from George Washington University.

Artis G. Hampshire-Cowan

Principal & Managing Partner, Leveraged Leadership, LLC

Ms. Hampshire-Cowan is the founder and principal of Leveraged Leadership Group, LLC. She recently completed a 24-year tenure at Howard University, which included serving as senior vice president and secretary, interim chief operating officer, and acting president. She is a sought-after speaker and trainer but is also recognized for her profound concern for children, underserved populations, quality education, and the future of the Greater Washington region.

Jermaine Johnson

Regional President Greater Washington and Virginia, PNC Bank

Jermaine Johnson was promoted to Regional President for PNC Bank in Greater Washington and Virginia in 2020. He has oversight for all aspects of PNC’s operations, including Retail Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, Wealth Management, and community-based activities. Previously, Jermaine led PNC’s Middle Market, Government Contracting and Large Corporate Banking Groups in Greater Washington and Greater Maryland. A 26-year veteran of the financial services industry, Jermaine has experience helping companies across a wide range of industries in need of cash flow and asset-based financing. Prior to joining PNC in 2005, he held positions with Bank of America and GE Healthcare Financial Services. Jermaine is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Fairfax. He has served on the boards of Teach for America, the First Tee Program and Catholics for Housing. Currently he serves as the Chair Elect of the Board of Trade. Jermaine holds a Finance degree from James Madison University.

Leana Katz

Philanthropist

Leana is passionate about helping children in need and to that end, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in abuse and neglect cases from 2007 through 2017. In 2016 she received the Cleary Award for “vision and commitment to making a positive difference for children” from SCAN of Northern Virginia and in 2017 joined SCAN’s board. Leana is involved with 100WomenStrong, a donor-advised fund supporting nonprofits in Loudoun County, and she and her husband are donors and active members of Venture Philanthropy Partners in Washington, DC. Prior to marriage (2006) and kids (2007), Leana worked in federal consulting for Accenture.

Leana is also an avid runner and has completed ten marathons – most recently qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon in 2017. She and her husband Marc, a local entrepreneur, have three children, ages 11, 7, and 4.

Leana earned her BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Smith College (2000).

Bill Keating

Owner and CEO, Waste Acquisition Group LLC

Bill Keating is the owner and CEO of the Waste Acquisition Group LLC (“WAG”). Mr. Keating founded WAG in 2016 as a holding company for SaniJohn Services and Rapid Roll-Off LLC. WAG focuses on strategic acquisitions in the waste collection, hauling and processing industries. Mr. Keating is a member of the RLJ Private Equity Executive Network and a member of the Board of the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. Prior to founding WAG, Mr. Keating was President of Bowie’s Inc., a Washington, D.C. based waste hauling company, President and COO of Urban Service Corporation, a D.C. based transportation firm, and Vice President at AmeriChoice Healthcare where he assisted the ownership team in selling the company to UnitedHealthcare. Mr. Keating received his A.B. in Government and Economics from Dartmouth College and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

M. Charito Kruvant

Founder & Chairperson of the Board, Creative Associates International, Inc.

M. Charito Kruvant is the founder and Chairperson of the Board of Creative Associates International. She is also a board member of the Calvert Group and WETA and on the advisory board for the Global Education Innovation Initiative.

Leland Kruvant

President & CEO, Creative Associates International

Leland Kruvant was named President & CEO of Creative Associates International on April 25, 2017. Previously, he was named President on October 1, 2014.

With Leland’s experience in finance, technology, program management and strategic planning, Creative expanded its geographic footprint and increased its technical services. Leland started his career with Creative in 1992 in program support positions. He left Creative and worked for a number of technology companies in key strategic roles. Returning to Creative in 2003, Leland successfully managed several projects funded by the U.S. State Department and was subsequently promoted to positions of increasing responsibility. Prior to his appointment as President in 2014, Leland was the Vice President of Strategic Planning.

A strong believer in building relationships, Leland travels extensively to visit projects and meet with clients, partners, host governments, field staff and beneficiaries of Creative-implemented programs. He is deeply committed to achieving Creative’s mission to support people around the world to realize the positive change they seek.

B. Doyle Mitchell Jr.

President and CEO, Industrial Bank

Doyle Mitchell Jr. is President and CEO of Industrial Bank, the largest minority-owned commercial bank in the Washington Metropolitan area and the sixth largest African-American owned financial institution in the country. Industrial Bank was founded in August 1934 and is celebrating 84 years of service.

A native Washingtonian, Mr. Mitchell was born and raised in the Washington banking community that his grandfather (Industrial Bank’s founder) and father helped to create. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University in 1984, he began a full-time career with Industrial Bank. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1990 and succeeded his father as president in 1993.

Mr. Mitchell is a member of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. President’s Circle and the Archbishop Carroll High School President’s Council, his alma mater. He also serves on the board of the Anacostia Bid Development Group, Venture Philanthropy Partners, and New Sewell Music Conservatory.

He received the 2015 Minority Business Leader Award from the Washington Business Journal; the 2015 Torch Award from the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation; the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable Chairman’s Award; and the 2015 Human Servant Award from Training Grounds DC. Industrial Bank received the 2013 DC Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Legacy Award.

Mr. Mitchell is the immediate Past-Chairman of the National Bankers’ Association (NBA), which represents the nation’s minority banks. He served two consecutive terms as Chairman and continues to serve on the Board. He is also a member of the Independent Community Bankers of America’s Safety and Soundness Subcommittee.

Mario Morino

Chairman, Morino Institute; Co-Founder, Venture Philanthropy Partners

Mario Morino is the chairman of the Morino Institute and co-founder of Venture Philanthropy Partners. His career spans more than 50 years as an entrepreneur, technologist and civic and business leader. Mario now focuses his time as a member of the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, which advances the theme that “performance matters.”

Meena Nankani

Vice President, JP Morgan Private Bank

Bio: Coming Soon

Lauren Peterson

Director, Peterson Family Foundation

Lauren Peterson is the director of the Fairfax, Virginia-based Peterson Family Foundation, which focuses its efforts on human services, health care and education. In support of her family’s philosophy of giving back in communities where they live and do business, Lauren shows her dedication to the community by serving on several boards including the Schar Cancer Institute, Gleaning for the World, Rainbow Therapeutic Riding Center and Teach for America, just to name a few.

Julie Rogers

Consultant

Julie Rogers is the immediate former president and CEO of the Meyer Foundation and the founder of Washington Grantmakers. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, where she continues to advise nonprofit and philanthropic leaders.

Jeffrey Schragg

Founder, Newton Grange Consulting

Jeff Schragg is the Founder of Newton Grange Consulting.  Jeff has over 35 years of experience counseling his clients through highly complex tax and business matters. He also has extensive mergers and acquisitions experience and has brought sophisticated tax planning and advice to Fortune 500 companies, S corporations and partnerships. Prior to founding Newton Grange Consulting in 2018, Jeff served as a tax partner with International, National and super-regional public accounting firms. In addition, Jeff has conducted and lead several tax courses for local universities, the DC Bar, AICPA and Greater Washington Society of CPAs.

In his role as advisor, Jeff brings his strong background and expertise, advising VPP on corporate structure, tax, legal and compliance matters.

Bradford L. Seamon, Sr.

Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer, Seamon Corporation

Bradford Seamon is the chief operating officer and co-founder of the Seamon Corporation, which supports federal programs and private organizations that deliver health, safety, and human services to communities across our nation and the world. After starting Seamon Corporation, he was the chief administrative officer for Prince George’s County, returning to Seamon Corp. as COO when his tenure as chief administrative officer of Prince George’s County ended in May 2014. Prior to starting at Seamon Corporation, he served as a senior staff auditor at Deloitte, controller at Synergics, Inc., and project controller at SMS Data Products, Inc.

Bill Shore

Chairman, Community Wealth Partners; Founder & CEO, Share Our Strength

Billy Shore is the founder and CEO of Share Our Strength, an organization founded with the belief that everyone has a strength to share in the fight against hunger and poverty. The organization is known for finding scalable, pragmatic solutions to social problems and today is focused on ending child hunger in America, where one in five kids do not get the food they need, through the No Kid Hungry campaign. Shore is also the chairman of Community Wealth Partners and the author of four books focused on social change.

Les Silverman

Director Emeritus, McKinsey & Company

Les spent much of his professional life as a management consultant, including 23 years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a founder and the first leader of McKinsey’s Nonprofit Practice (later the Social Sector Office). Les was an adviser to Mario Morino and VPP from its earliest days and is now an honorary member of the board.

Edward Skloot

Consultant

Edward Skloot consults with social sector organizations, helping them strengthen their programs, management and cultures. Before starting this “third act” in 2013, he was, for five years, a professor of the practice of public policy at Duke and the founder of its Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society. Immediately preceding his academic tour, he worked 18 years as the founding CEO of the Surdna Foundation, a $1 billion grantmaker based in New York City. Edward is on several boards, writes and speaks about the sector and provides pro bono help to numerous groups. Surdna was the lead foundation funder of VPP. Edward served on its board for several years and became an honorary board member in 2014.

Gabriela Smith

Founder and Executive Chair, The Crimsonbridge Foundation

Gabriela Smith is the Founder and Executive Chair of the Crimsonbridge Foundation. In over 15 years of active philanthropic work, she has designed and launched innovative programs and partnerships in education. She is a founding investor and honorary board member of Venture Philanthropy Partners and serves on the Georgetown University Board of Regents and the Harvard Kennedy School Dean’s Council. Her professional experience includes roles at the World Bank and Catholic Charities. She received a MA in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and both an MA in Latin American studies/economic development and a BA in economics from UCLA.

Read more about Gabriela in this spotlight blog.

Stu Solomon

President & CEO, Connected DMV

Stu Solomon is the President & CEO of Connected DMV. Previously, he dedicated 31 years of his career to Accenture, where he served and led a variety of power sector businesses, while also serving as Managing Director of the Washington DC office. He also served as a member of the Accenture Global Leadership Council and the North America Leadership Team. Mr. Solomon has a long track record of commitment to the local community, serving in leadership roles on a variety of non-profit and civic boards including the Economic Club of Washington DC, Greater Washington Board of Trade, KIPP DC, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, Junior Achievement, and Baylor University Advisory Board of the Hankamer School of Business.

David Sylvester

Partner, 3rd Gen Law Group LLP

David Sylvester is a partner with 3rd Gen Law Group LLP, where he represents emerging technology companies and the investors in those companies. A New Orleans native and former resident of that city’s Calliope Housing Projects, David is active as a volunteer in education and economic development issues in the Greater Washington area and in New Orleans. A former partner at VPP, David currently serves on the Board of Directors of VPP.

Bob Templin

Senior Fellow, College Excellence Program, The Aspen Institute

Bob Templin is a senior fellow in the College Excellence Program who is focusing on the preparation of the next generation of community college leaders. Templin served as the president of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) from 2002 to 2015. During that time, NOVA became Virginia’s largest public institution of higher education, one of the nation’s largest and most diverse community colleges and one of the leading associate’s degree-granting institutions in the United States. Templin also serves as a professor in the community college leadership program at North Carolina State University.

Rachel Moore Weller

Science & Technology Writer & Investor

Rachel Moore Weller is a science and technology writer who also invests in enterprise technology startups. For much of her career, Rachel translated into lay language the research results of basic scientists at the National Institutes of Health who studied cell signaling in autoimmunity and autoinflammation.

Following her treatment for breast cancer in 2014, she decided to focus more on technology and less on disease. Currently, she writes for several data science startups who are using machine learning and A.I. to improve the fields of predictive analytics in industry and preventative diagnostics in medicine; she also ghostwrites on these topics for private equity investors.

Rachel is the chair of the board of the River School, a nationally recognized innovator in language and literacy instruction and social-emotional learning. She is especially interested in issues related to education and access to quality health care. She graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in 19th century intellectual history.

Marcela Urrutia Zamora

Vice President Federal Government Relations, Verizon

Bio: Coming Soon

E. Ivan Zapien

Partner, Hogan Lovells

E. Ivan Zapien is a bilingual lawyer, executive, advocate, and leader with international and domestic experience in government affairs management and campaigns. He advises clients on diverse strategies, capitalizing on the opportunities of the current environment, while minimizing risk. Prior to joining the firm, Ivan managed Walmart’s Mexico and Central America foundation, communications, government relations, and sustainability efforts. Before moving to Mexico City, he served as the vice president for federal government relations and head of Walmart’s Washington office. These experiences resulted in international management experience in government, public relations, and corporate communications. He has vast experience as a leader in Democratic politics, having served as national outreach director of the House Democratic Caucus and as executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Council of the Democratic National Committee. Ivan has been recognized as one of the “Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business and as one of the top lobbyists by Latino Magazine.