Mary Beth Blaufuss
Presidente de la Junta
Mary Beth Blaufuss (Beth) is a former English teacher who has taught in Australia, Nashville, and Prince George’s County at various private, public and religious schools. Ms. Blaufuss led Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, DC for twelve years. As vice-principal she implemented the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and expanded the program to include IB for all as the school’s president. She serves as the senior director for principal support for the Partnership for Inner City Education. She has served on boards at the Latino Student fund, the Harpeth Hall School, and St Anselm Abbey School. She consults with a variety of nonprofits on strategic planning, capacity building, program design and curriculum development. Blaufuss is a graduate from Yale College and received a Master’s Degree from Vanderbilt. Beth has been serving as an advisor for GGA and has extensive experience as head of school. Beth will transition from advisor to Board Chair.
Janice Parker
Board Vice-Chair & Parent Board member
Janice Brown Parker, M.S., CCC-SLP is a 30+-year Speech-Language Pathologist for the District of Columbia Public Schools. She also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Parent SPA, Inc., providing counseling and training to parents of children with speech, language, and hearing problems. She assesses communication skills, evaluates the results of comprehensive plans, and documents outcomes of intervention services. She collaborates with parents, teachers, and other professionals, advocates for teaching practices, and participates in school-wide curriculum and literacy teams. She also enthusiastically supervises graduate students and clinical fellows because she understands the importance of providing guidance and support to aspiring clinicians to help them enhance their personal development and career growth. As Founder and Facilitator of Parent SPA, LLC, she addresses the role of parents in all aspects of the clinical process to increase parental involvement as informants and participants in the clinical processes of evaluation and management; and to educate parents relative to speech, and language, and hearing difficulties in children and adolescents.
Laura Bartos
Tesorero de la Junta
Laura Bartos is a Vice President at JBG SMITH working on their Washington Housing Initiative, a platform devoted to preserving affordability for working people in communities across the region where there is a high risk for displacement. She has worked in the real estate industry for over 5 years in various investment and asset management roles across asset classes like office, senior living, apartments, and retail. Prior to a career in affordable housing, Laura worked as an 8th grade science teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina as a corps member with Teach for America. Laura was born and raised in Rochester, NY and holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and public health from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Laura is a founding member of Level Leaders - a multiracial network of women committed to real action for racial equity. Through angel investing and authentic conversations about the racial wealth gap, Level unites powerful women from various industries and backgrounds through the common goal of uplifting businesses led by Black women. With this in mind, Laura believes in the power of a strong female network that supports women to achieve big goals in historically male-dominated industries.
Shobha George
Secretario de la Junta
Shobha George is a solution facilitator who conducts business with a stance for equitable prosperity and relies upon 15 years of Fortune 500 project planning and implementation experience. She has effectively presented vision, perspective, or position to build collaborative environments in organizations, which include non profits, U.S. Government agencies, and corporations. Shobha is currently a Change Agent in the Value Management Organization at the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System. Financial literacy, service learning and entrepreneurship have been endeavors she supported at the Education division in USA TODAY and in her volunteer work. For more than a decade, she raised funds for the Josh Anderson Foundation as means to provide teenage suicide prevention resources in high schools throughout the nation. Shobha grew up in the DC Metro area, is a graduate of University of Maryland at College Park with a BS in Finance, and has a MBA from Thunderbird School of International Management.
Shalini Benson
Tesorero de la Junta
Shalini Benson aporta más de 20 años de experiencia en los sectores público y sin fines de lucro. Shalini ha servido a cinco agencias federales, todas en calidad de apoyo a la misión. Como miembro de la Agencia Federal de Administración de Emergencias, dirigió las operaciones financieras y presupuestarias del Programa Nacional de Seguros contra Inundaciones, una empresa de 5 mil millones de dólares; supervisó los aspectos de relaciones humanas de una organización de más de 400 personas y desarrolló relaciones con las partes interesadas dentro de los poderes ejecutivo y legislativo. También fue Vicepresidenta de la sede central y de operaciones de A Wider Circle, una organización local sin fines de lucro que lucha contra la pobreza. Shalini es licenciada en Filosofía Política por la Universidad de Brandeis y tiene un máster en Política Pública por la Universidad de Georgetown.
Maureen Colburn
Miembro de la Junta
Maureen Colburn es una ejecutiva con más de quince años de experiencia en liderazgo en los sectores de educación pública y sin fines de lucro. Actualmente se desempeña como directora ejecutiva de JUST TRYAN IT y está capacitada para trabajar en colaboración con una variedad de interesados para desarrollar y hacer crecer organizaciones, sistemas de talento y programas de educación de calidad. Maureen fundó la Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, una escuela pública charter de gran éxito en Baltimore y estableció una red de escuelas de liderazgo para mujeres jóvenes en la ciudad de Nueva York junto con escuelas afiliadas en todo el país. Tiene una licenciatura en historia y teología de la Universidad de Fordham y una maestría en administración de organizaciones sin fines de lucro de la Universidad de Nueva York.
Elaine Harris
Secretario
Elaine es la fundadora de Golden Rule Technology, una empresa que utiliza nuevas tecnologías, el pensamiento del diseño y la innovación para aportar nuevas soluciones a los problemas de parcialidad e inclusión. Antes de la Regla de Oro, Elaine cofundó Breakthrough Marketing Technology, una consultoría de análisis de negocios y marketing donde trabajó con líderes empresariales de manufactura, tecnología y publicidad usando conocimientos basados en el mercado para apoyar la toma de decisiones estratégicas. Forma parte de la Junta Directiva de la Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del MIT y de la Junta de Asesores para la Diversidad, una empresa de tecnología en el espacio de la diversidad y la inclusión. Elaine es licenciada en Ingeniería Química por el Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts (MIT) y tiene un MBA de la Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Calvena Jordan
Miembro de la Junta
I am Calvena Jordan, from Virginia by way of Richmond. I graduated from Virginia Union University in 2013 with a BA in Criminal Justice.
Upon graduation, I worked in the Secretary of Commonwealth’s office under Governor Terry McAulife’s Administration. As a Restoration of Rights Specialist, our office helped the most citizens in Virginia’s history to restore their civil rights; 200,000 ex convicted felons went on to vote in local, state and national elections, gain access to better job opportunities and restore other civil rights that were once revoked.
My journey then took me across the country to Phoenix, Arizona where I founded a non-profit to help young girls with their interpersonal skills. This work inspired me to self-publish a multi-purpose book for girls, “Love Yo Self”, a short story to empower young girls to love and accept themselves, followed by journal pages to encourage practicing using a healthy outlet to express themselves.
Max Levasseur
Miembro de la Junta
Max Levasseur is a seasoned business professional with expertise in Technology Strategy and Operations Management. He has worked in a range of public and private arenas, including Fortune 500 corporations, the Federal Government, and innovative tech start-ups. Max is currently a Sr. Technical Program Manager in the Engineering division of Google. As a long-time resident of the DC Metro area, Max has contributed more than a decade of volunteer service to youth welfare and education in the District, including terms on the boards of a child development center and public charter schools, and time as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. Max is a graduate of Harvard College with an AB in Economics and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Lakisha Myrick
Board Member (Parent)
Mrs. Lakisha Myrick (Queen) is currently a Team Coordinator at Community of Hope and currently furthering her education in areas of Mental Health, Counseling, and Adverse Childhood Experiences. Lakisha is also a certified Domestic Violence advocate. As an advocate for parents and children, she has served on many school boards, PALC and is a current Ward 5 parent leader with PAVE, advocating for parents and students to have a voice and identify resources. Lakisha’s interest in education is a result of seeing deficits in education based on economic class. She works to ensure all have resources that broaden academic and social horizons. Lakisha wears many hats such as a Missionary at church, a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, friend, Case Manager and advocate, all roles she holds dear to her heart. Lakisha uses all of these roles to support her community to not only want better but to do better as well!
Mary Pendleton
Miembro de la Junta
Mary Pendleton es la Directora de Alfabetización de la Preparatoria DC. Como primera Directora de ELA de la organización, sus responsabilidades se han centrado en la supervisión y la propiedad del desarrollo del currículo, el liderazgo programático y el desarrollo de los líderes de ELA en las cinco escuelas. Fue miembro del cuerpo de profesores de Teach for America en Nueva Orleans. Mientras estaba en el aula, Mary enseñó en los grados 3 a 12 antes de pasar a desempeñar funciones de liderazgo docente, como la de Directora de Departamento de ELA y Líder de Grado. Mary tiene una licenciatura en trabajo social de la Universidad de Georgia y un máster en educación de la American University.