Amy Falk Sheldon is the Director of Resource Development at National Parent Teacher Association (National PTA), the largest child advocacy organization in the U.S. She also maintains Sheldon Strategic Fundraising, LLC, a consultancy in which she founded in January 2008 to help nonprofits develop long term relationships with individual and foundation donors. Prior to National PTA, Amy served as Vice President for Strategic Partnerships for the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP), where she was responsible for building partnerships with foundation and corporate partners seeking to strengthen the pipeline of students enrolling and succeeding in college. A graduate of Northwestern University, Amy has nearly 30 years of development experience working with national and regional nonprofits.

Andrea is the Managing Partner of Howard Insurance, a private insurance advisory firm serving the complex risk management needs of its clients since 1945.  In addition, she has been an insurance advisor for Raffa Financial Services since 2006. For over a decade, Andrea has earned a trusted reputation for her consultative approach to providing life insurance solutions for individuals, business owners, and executives. Her areas of expertise include the use of insurance in the areas of family wealth transfer planning and business succession planning. Andrea has extensive experience in all areas of executive and employee benefit strategies. We are grateful to Andrea for her work on the Leadership Luncheon Host Committee.   Thanks to her passion for the cause and perseverance, she helped to raise over $30,000.  Her “make it happen” approach set the tone for the new members of the committee, who saw her lead and got actively involved – resulting in the most financially successful Luncheon in recent years. Andrea sits on the Board of Directors of the Washington Women’s Leadership Initiative, is an active member of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU), and the Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP). Andrea graduated from the University of Delaware, earning a degree in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and Economics. Andrea holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and Certified in Long Term Care (CLTC) professional designations.

Lynn is the Chief Advancement Officer at Georgetown Day School where she provides oversight for its external affairs, including development, communications, alumni engagement, and community relations. Lynn brings over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit world, setting strategy, developing fiscal capacity, establishing partnerships with foundations and individuals to enhance philanthropic giving, and honing her expertise as a communicator. Lynn most recently served as the Vice President of Philanthropic Partnerships for the Alliance for Excellent Education, a national policy and advocacy organization working to ensure that all at-risk middle and high school students receive the support they need to meet challenging academic standards, graduate from high school and college, and develop the necessary skills and capacity to become productive citizens in the global economy. Previously, Lynn served in leadership roles at the Internet Society, the Salzburg Global Seminar, the American Association of University Women, and the National Governors Association. She serves on the Board of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and co-founded and co-chaired the African American Women’s Giving Circle of Washington Area Women’s Foundation. In addition to her deep experience in strategic leadership, marketing and external relations, fundraising, and relationship building, Lynn has two adult children, Marcus and GDS alum Sasha ’10. In Lynn’s spare time, she loves to read, go for long walks, and spend time with close friends over a good glass of red wine.

Jana Taylor Jennings serves as Senior Associate General Counsel at global cyber security company Tenable, Inc. As the company’s first in-house employment law specialist, Jana is responsible for providing labor and employment advice and counsel to human resource professionals and other business partners in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to joining Tenable, Jana served in various leadership roles within the Legal Department at Urban One, Inc., and she also worked in private practice – as an Associate at Gordon Rees, LLP and at Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. Jana earned her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University School of Law and her undergraduate degree in Broadcast Journalism from the Honors Program of The Ohio State University. She was also recognized as one of the top leaders under the age of 40 by the Network Journal and by the National Bar Association.

Dr. Jennifer Parker Porter, a Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, is medical director of Chevy Chase Facial Plastic Surgery, LLC and a Clinical Associate Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. A native Washingtonian, Dr. Porter completed her undergraduate studies at Brown University and was awarded a full tuition merit scholarship to attend Duke University School of Medicine. After completing her residency in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, she completed a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. Subsequently, Dr. Porter was recruited to return to Baylor College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor, to lead the Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training for the residency program in the Bobby A. Alford Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communicative Sciences. While at Baylor she was successful in establishing the Baylor Facial Plastic Surgery Center prior to her return to Washington DC area. Chevy Chase Facial Plastic Surgery, LLC was established in 2003 in Chevy Chase, Maryland by Dr. Porter. The practice draws from near and far and has grown through the years due to a solid patient referral base. Dr. Porter is certified by both the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. Additionally, she is a Fellow of the prestigious American College of Surgeons. Dr. Porter has given many scientific presentations, served as guest editor for several scientific journals, and published 4 book chapters and 16 journal articles. She has also served her community as a business member of the Western Montgomery County Citizen’s Advisory Board and through charitable donations.

Joyce is Vice President, Goldman Sachs Office of Government Affairs in the Washington, DC office, where she joined in November 2009. Joyce currently serves as a member of Bryce Harlow Foundation Board, Common Threads Advisory Committee; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Corporate Advisory Committee; Johnson C. Smith University Board of Visitors; and as board member and treasurer of The Faith and Politics Institute. In 2007, she also founded the African-American Women on the Hill Network. Joyce graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy Studies. She completed the Leadership Development Program for Minority Managers at Johns Hopkins University and received an MBA from Johns Hopkins.

Lori Weinstein is CEO Emerita of JWI Jewish Women International – an organization of more than 100,000 donors and supporters. For more than 20 years she has led the organization’s mission and work to bring gender parity and equity to all women and girls. She has also led the organization’s advocacy priorities around reproductive justice, gun violence prevention, domestic violence initiatives and equal pay/paid leave. In addition, as part of JWI’s philanthropy, Lori launched an initiative to build 100 children’s libraries in battered women’s shelters across the country. JWI is a leader in the development of programs to promote healthy relationships and dating abuse prevention in colleges, universities and high schools around the country. In her work to advance the political, social and economic agenda for women and girls, Lori has spoken at scores of conferences and to organizations and groups both domestically and internationally. Today she serves as a consultant to non-profits, as well as to individuals and families for their philanthropic giving and sits on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations.

Michelle Rice is the President at TV One and CLEO TV, where she oversees the networks’ business, operational, and creative aspects. In her role, she works with strategic partners to create linear and digital content campaigns in response to a myriad of political and social issues that profoundly impact communities of color. Prior to joining TV One, Michelle had stints at iNDemand, NBC Cable Network and Black Entertainment Television (BET). A graduate of Temple University and the University of Southern California, she is actively involved on the Boards of several local civic, community and charitable organizations, including EasterSeals, Calvary Women’s Services and United Way of the Nation’s Capital.

Sally has served clients in the public and private sector for over 25 years and is known for her collaborative style in the leadership roles she has held.  In her current role, she is a leader in Deloitte’s government health sector practice, helping clients solve their toughest operational challenges by bringing the latest digital and analytic solutions to bear on organizational decision-making, data-driven internal and external communications, and disciplined innovation in the healthcare industry. Sally’s passions around inclusion, gender, and diversity in high performing teams have provided her the opportunity to speak internally and externally to clients and audiences on innovations and trends that enhance organizational performance. Sally is known to build cohesive, productive and engaged teams and to seek and encourage innovation in business and client delivery and individuals. Sally is a leader invested in the continued exploration of the power of community, philanthropy and social impact efforts and serves as a champion for the D2i (building our people, building our world) initiative at Deloitte. D2i is designed to grow our younger professionals through volunteer experiences internationally. Sally has co-authored two Deloitte studies, focused on women’s leadership and trends – The Paths to Power: Advancing Women in Government and The gender dividend: Making the business case for investing in women.

Teresa is a proven executive with over 30 years of experience leading global organizations serving the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She is known for her track record of transforming underperforming organizations to consistently deliver results far exceeding company and industry expectations. She retired as Senior Vice President of the Americas with Xerox Corporation, where she led the company’s most profitable and highest revenue growth division worldwide. In addition to her fiduciary profit and loss responsibility, she was accountable for strategy development, industry-specific services, solutions design, and overall client engagement. She previously held other executive positions in leading companies, including Senior Vice President, U.S. Federal Operations with Xerox Corporation. In that role, she led the winning pursuits of the largest contract awards in the company’s history. She was the Healthcare Industry General Manager with Xerox Global Services and Senior Vice President, U.S. East Sales with W. W. Grainger, Inc., where she had profit and loss responsibility over $1B in revenue and led over 600 employees.| Dedicated to giving back to the community in Teresa’s retirement, she served as Vice President and Chief Member Officer of The Executive Leadership Council, the preeminent membership organization for black board directors, CEOs, and senior executives. The member services department she led was responsible for developing, coordinating, and marketing programs, benefits, and initiatives to enhance, inform and engage the organization’s more than 800 members professionally and personally. Within her first year, she took the organization from 5 annual programs to over 40 and automated several processes that increased member engagement and improved operational efficiency and effectiveness. Teresa serves as the Washington Area Women’s Foundation Board Secretary, the Hampton University School of Engineering Advisory Board, and the Port Discovery Children’s Museum Board. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington, is on the Board Finance Committee, and is a Women in Technology member. She formerly served as Suited for Change Board Treasurer, the U. S. State Department Overseas Schools Advisory Council, and the Xerox Political Action Committee. She is a recipient of Maryland’s Top 100 Women Award, the Black Women’s Leadership Council Award, and the YWCA Woman of Excellence Award. Teresa earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business. She received executive leadership certificates from Dartmouth University, Tuck School of Business, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Smith College.

Tiffani Whittaker serves as Managing Attorney and Director of the Diversity Committee at Allied Title & Escrow. Throughout her career, Tiffani has served as a legal professional with a track record of community involvement, fundraising and strategy implementation. Such community involvement includes The Links, Inc. (Potomac Valley Chapter), Jack & Jill of America, Inc. (Washington, DC Chapter), National Cathedral School, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Federal City Alumnae Chapter). She also has dedicated her time to causes impacting women, children, people of color and those with Autism, and has served as a volunteer fundraising and advising for political campaigns. Tiffani holds a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tim Abercrombie is a Principal at Abercrombie & Associates and is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park where he received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting. With more than 30 years of experience in the public and private accounting fields, Tim’s breadth and depth of experience in private and public accounting, brings high quality service to small businesses or nonprofit organizations. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association of Black Accountants, and the Maryland Society of Accountants, and he has also been a strong force as a board member (past and present) with several organizations, including Best Kids, Center for Nonprofit Advancement, Center for Watershed Protection Board Members, Greenwood Elementary School PTA, and Second Avenue Condominium Association.

Victoria Vrana is the Deputy Director of Philanthropic Partnership at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she oversees initiatives focused on policy, data, infrastructure and celebrating and increasing everyday giving in the US, China, India, and the Middle East. Prior to her role with the Foundation, she served as the Vice President of Communications and Assessment at Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) where she was responsible for the organization’s overall internal and external communications and assessment of VPP and its portfolio’s performance. Victoria studied in Germany and Hungary and has a degree in comparative literature from the University of California at Davis. She also serves as a PayPal Giving Fund board member.