| Nancy Bocskor | Jamie Brown | |
| Marjorie Clifton | Tasha Cole | |
| Lawrence Duncan | Anne Saunders Fabry | |
| Jessica Hogle | Kristin Hughes | |
| Linda Kramer Jenning | Emily Lenzner | |
| Jessica Marventano | Chris McGowen | |
| William Minor | Lisa Moxley, Esq | |
| Irene Kinya Mururu | Alyse Nelson | |
| Pamela O’Leary | Jim Phalen | |
| Wendy Susswein | Kimberly Woodard |
Board of Directors
Susannah Wellford Shakow, Esq. – Chair of the Board
Over the past nine years, Susannah Shakow has founded two organizations designed to raise the political voice of young women in America.
In spring 2007, Ms. Shakow founded Running Start to inspire young women and girls to political leadership. Running Start furthers the work begun by the Women Under Forty Political Action Committee (WUFPAC), which Susannah cofounded in 1999 and led for the first five years. WUFPAC is a national women’s group dedicated to electing young women to political office. A nonpartisan organization, WUFPAC is the only political action committee in the United States devoted to helping young women of all parties run for elected office.
Ms. Shakow speaks frequently to colleges, law schools, political groups, trade associations and nonprofits about the importance of involving more young women in politics. She has also lectured about politics to many international groups, including women from Kuwait, Southeast Asia, Korea, Bahrain and Russia. She was invited to Kuwait by the Kuwaiti government in spring 2006 to meet Kuwait’s first women candidates and to advise them on their campaigns, and in the summer of 2009 the State Department sent her to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to meet with women and youth leaders in those countries.
After receiving her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1998, she worked for several years at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, lobbying for state and local governments, foreign governments, corporate entities and trade associations before Congress and the Executive Branch.
Prior to law school, Ms. Shakow worked for Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Task Force in the Clinton White House. As a member of the Health Care War Room staff, she planned and executed grass-roots health care events for the President and First Lady and coordinated speaking events for Congressional Members and White House staff on health care reform issues. She is also a former Legislative Assistant for Senator Wyche Fowler from Georgia.
Ms. Shakow is a 1990 graduate of Davidson College. She and her husband John (an attorney at King & Spalding LLP) live in Washington, DC and have twin nine year old sons, Ben and James.
Nancy Bocskor
Nancy Bocskor helps individuals and organizations raise money and win campaigns – without losing their souls, savings or sanity. Her mission, in the United States and internationally, is to teach citizens how to communicate with passion to affect change in their communities.
Her current projects include working with CLIME (the Center for Liberty in the Middle East) to launch a Women’s Online Activism Institute in the Middle East, and setting up a young women’s leadership program for the Navajo Nation called the “Window of Hope” Foundation.
She is an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management where she teaches both an online and a “live” fundraising course. Nancy started her political career in the office of then-freshman Congressman Newt Gingrich. She has served as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill, as a campaign manager, as a fundraiser and as a political educator. In 1990, Nancy started The Nancy Bocskor Company, a political consulting firm specializing in training for officeholders, candidates and campaign workers, and fundraising for Members of Congress.
Nancy has taught campaign schools in all 50 states and a dozen foreign countries, and consistently receives top marks for her innovative techniques and her humorous anecdotes. Nancy was selected by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies as a “mentor” to women candidates from the Middle East, where she spent a week in Turkey training more than a dozen candidates from Jordan, Morocco and Algeria. One of her candidates was the top woman vote getter in Jordan and is now a member of the Parliament. She conducted a three-day leadership conference for women from Belarus in late 2007, and just returned from teaching 75 attendees from 22 countries at an International School of Fundraising held in England.
Nancy is a Vice President of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale, where she chairs the school’s Curriculum Committee. She is on the board for Running Start, an organization that encourages young women to run for office, and Food for Thought, an organization promoting education in Liberia and Zambia. Nancy’s work on behalf of her clients has been highlighted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on National Public Radio. Named a “Rising Star in Politics” by Campaigns & Elections magazine, she was featured in the PBS documentary, “Vote for Me: Politics in America.” She has served as a political analyst for CNN, and has appeared on C-SPAN.
The Democracy Coach November 19th, 2007 – Translated from Die Welt (original article) Nancy Bocskor spreads democracy throughout the world…..the lively American travels from one country to the next coaching candidates on how to win elections, especially encouraging women to make it into parliament.
Jamie Brown
Jamie Brown has a proven track record of success in Washington, DC, wearing many hats: as chief legislative affairs officer for a Cabinet agency, as a White House lobbyist, as the chief lobbyist for a major high tech company and as a Senate staffer. In 2008, Politico named her one of “50 Politicos to Watch.”
Jamie joined Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc. after serving as Google Inc.’s first in-house lobbyist. She was an early addition to the technology titan’s Washington office, and set to work establishing an effective advocacy presence in the nation’s capital. Jamie led efforts to create a Political Action Committee, develop a training curriculum for Congressional staff to promote the brand, and shape the company’s public policy messages. Her experience at Google gave Jamie valuable insights: an ability to understand the needs and views of corporate innovators and advocates, and an insider’s perspective on the legislative and political challenges facing cutting-edge businesses today.
Prior to her time at Google, Jamie served as a Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs in the White House. In that capacity, she managed the Senate strategy for the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. She also served as the liaison to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Afffairs Commit- tee. These duties placed her amidst successful efforts to enact class action reform, bankruptcy reform, PATRIOT Act reauthorization and numerous other civil and criminal reforms.
Before serving in the White House, Jamie held positions at the U.S. Department of Justice, including Acting Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, Director of the Office of Intergovernmental and Public liaison and Advisor to Attorney General.
From 1998-2002, Jamie worked as a lobbyist at Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand, where she represented clients before Congress and the Executive branch on issues including trade, appropriations, tort reform, base closure and environmental regulations.
Jamie began her career as a Legislative Counsel to U.S. Senator Connie Mack (R-FL), a member of the Senate Republican leadership.
A Connecticut native, Jamie currently resides in Washington, D.C.
Marjorie Clifton
Marjorie Clifton is principal of Clifton Consulting LLC and has over 16 years of marketing, communications and public affairs experience. Marjorie began her career working in the technology field developing some of the first social media tools and digital imaging products for women, she later went on to become a product manager and spokesperson for Kodak and Sony. Since 2003, she has been a consultant for corporations, non-profits, political campaigns and foundations advising them on their strategic communications, branding and strategies that leverage women’s leadership worldwide. As part of this work she also builds and leads leadership and communications trainings across the country and internationally.
Marjorie has worked with a range of clients including C-level executives of Fortune 100 companies, Members of Congress, presidential campaigns, political pundits, faith leaders and advocates. Her clients have included the US Department of State, the Federal Reserve, the US Department of Energy, Booz Allen Hamilton, Verizon, General Motors, Ebay, Boeing, Pfizer, the American Red Cross, the American Medical Association and the Nature Conservancy.
Marjorie is co-founder of Community in Her Corner, a non-profit focused on professional development and local community building for female entrepreneurs. She is also a published author, speaker and media commentator. Marjorie is a board member of American University’s Women in Politics Institute WeLEAD program and she is co-founder of the Next Step Program for Running Start.
Marjorie received her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Spanish from the University of Texas, where she is currently a fellow for the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation. She has her master’s in acting and corporate theater from Drama Studio London. Marjorie currently lives in Washington, DC.
Tasha Cole
Through her work in Florida and Washington DC, Tasha Cole has established a profile that now includes proven experience with legislative process, policy and research, scheduling and event management, coalition building and outreach, messaging and policy analysis, staff supervision and office management, and press and media relations. She has developed a network of state and national activists, Administration officials, Congressional Members and staff, corporate executives, non-profit and community leaders, newsmakers, political consultants and state and local elected officials. And Tasha has used her political and congressional experience to advance issues and help elect candidates to office. And as an active and proven fundraiser, she has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for various causes and candidates for office.
Tasha currently works as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Frederica S. Wilson from Florida’s 17th Congressional District where she opened, hired and managed a 12-Member staff and implemented operational and personnel procedures. Tasha began working on behalf of the District as the Communications Director for the former Representative from the 17th Congressional District, Kendrick Meek and later was promoted to Senior Advisor. As Senior Advisor, Tasha managed the execution of events, meetings, workshops, seminars and programs to advance the legislative, community, and political priorities of the 17th Congressional District, Congressman Meek, and the office
During the 2010 election Tasha was Deputy Campaign Manager for Kendrick Meek’s high-profile campaign for Florida’s open U.S. Senate campaign. As deputy campaign manager she was involved in every aspect of the campaign including operations, fundraising, scheduling, communications, staff management, working with the campaign consultants and political and candidate development.
Most recently Tasha was recruited to serve on the Board of Directors for Running Start, a national organization whose mission and vision is to engage young women in politics. Running Start was formed when it became clear that the pool of young women considering careers in politics and running for elected office was far too small.
Tasha began her political career as constituency outreach director for the Florida Democratic Party working on numerous statewide and local campaigns including the Gore/Lieberman Florida Campaign and Recount Effort in 2000 and as the early vote director for the Kerry/Edwards Campaign in Florida. She has also worked as the state director for SEIU in Florida and served as a senior advisor for the Coalition to Reduce Class Size, a statewide ballot initiative to reduce class size that was approved by more than 2.5 million Florida voters on Election Day.
In 2008, Tasha worked as the director of political affairs for the Democratic National Convention Committee in Denver. As the liaison to national, state and local elected officials, and more than 200 allied groups, she worked with various convention departments to facilitate requests and arrangements for these stakeholders.
Tasha graduated with honors from Florida A&M University with a degree in broadcast journalism and worked for several years as a documentary producer and television reporter for a statewide public affairs program and as a media relations consultant for non-profit organizations and associations.
Tasha is the proud recipient of numerous honors, including an Emmy in public affairs for a PBS documentary on domestic violence centers, the Women In Communications Rising Star Award and the grand prize in the Florida Bar Media Awards Contest.
Tasha was born in Alabama and has lived in various states including Texas, Missouri, Connecticut, Illinois, Florida and Washington DC.
Lawrence Duncan
Larry Duncan is Vice President for Federal and State Government Relations and PAC Affairs at Lockheed Martin Washington Operations. In this capacity, Mr. Duncan serves as a senior liaison to Federal and State government officials on national defense programs and business issues of importance to the corporation. Mr. Duncan also manages the Lockheed Martin Employees Political Action Committee (LMEPAC), serving as Treasurer with responsibility for LMEPAC filings with the Federal Election Commission and compliance with all federal and state election laws and regulations. Mr. Duncan works with Lockheed Martin operating companies to provide counsel on state and local government issues, including tax, environment and workplace safety, and he assists in developing strategies to win new business at the state and local level. Mr. Duncan also manages the Washington Operations community affairs budget in support of organizations and special events key to Lockheed Martin’s external relationships, including the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and the Presidential Inauguration.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Duncan served from 2002 to 2008 as Vice President for Congressional Relations, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Lockheed Martin Corporation. In that capacity, Mr. Duncan was responsible for the development and implementation of legislative strategies before the U.S. Congress to address international trade and regulatory issues, tax, pension and liability issues, information technology and communications policy, homeland security, export controls, space transportation policy and other matters of importance to the corporation.
Before joining Lockheed Martin in 2002, Mr. Duncan practiced law in Washington, DC for several years and provided legislative and regulatory counsel to many Fortune 500 companies and business organizations. Mr. Duncan’s legal career began at the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, where he represented media and entertainment companies, telecom carriers, and trade associations before Congress and the Administration. Thereafter, at the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard McPherson & Hand, led by former Senate Majority Leaders George Mitchell and Bob Dole, Mr. Duncan provided legislative and regulatory counsel to telecom and satellite carriers, entertainment companies, professional sports leagues, and a variety of advanced technology clients, including Lockheed Martin. Prior to the practice of law, Mr. Duncan worked as a member of the Senate floor staff under the Secretary of the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Duncan received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia Law School, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics. Mr. Duncan is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the State Bar of Pennsylvania. He also is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.
Mr. Duncan is active in the Washington, DC community, serving on the Board of Trustees for Ford’s Theatre; the Board of Trustees for The Phillips Collection; the USO Metropolitan Washington Board of Directors; the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington Board of Directors; and the USA Board of Directors for the Children of God Relief Fund, which supports Nyumbani, an orphanage for HIV-positive children in Nairobi, Kenya. Mr. Duncan also serves on the Board of Directors for the Public Affairs Council and the Business Industry Political Action Committee.
Born in Yokosuka, Japan and raised in Brunswick, Maine, Mr. Duncan resides in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife, Janell, and their two young children, Alexandra and Lawrence IV (“Lance”).
Anne Saunders Fabry
Ms. Fabry is a Director, Government Law and Strategies with Brown Rudnick LLP, advising as well as developing and implementing legislative strategies for private companies, local governments and non-profit organizations in a variety of industries before the federal government.
Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, she was Director of Legislative and Corporate Affairs for The Michael Lewan Company which specialized in developing and executing public policy strategies for domestic and international corporations. Her past work experience includes the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute, the office of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman as well as the Democratic National Committee and multiple campaigns. Ms. Fabry continues a long relationship with the moderate House Democrat community as an active member with the New Democrat Coalition, and the Blue Dogs.
Ms. Fabry is a 1988 graduate from Mount Vernon College with a dual concentration in International Relations and Urban and Comparative Societies, where she received the Outstanding Sophomore Award and participated in their Honors program. She is past-president of the Women’s Congressional Golf Association and a member of Women in Government Relations. Ms. Fabry has served on the Steering Committee for the Women’s High Tech Coalition and over the past 8 years has served on the Steering Committee and as a Director on the Board of Women Under Forty Political Action Committee.
She is a native of the Washington, DC area and currently resides in Rockville, Maryland with her husband.
Kristin Hughes – Regional Member
Kristin Hughes was most recently the Senior Director for Gap Inc.’s Government Affairs and Public Policy. In this capacity Ms. Hughes oversaw the Company’s global public policy and legislative advocacy, issue management and civic outreach activities. She represented the interests of the Company on key reputational, legislative and policy issues to communities at large and to public officials at all levels – local, state, federal and around the world.
Prior to joining Gap Inc.’s Global Responsibility team, Kristin was based in Washington, DC where she managed international public policy for the Hewlett-Packard Company, including international trade policy, business development and corporate social responsibility partnerships with governments and multilateral organizations. Ms. Hughes also has experience working with the United Nations and other international organizations and has worked as a private consultant representing municipalities, universities and other similar organizations.
Kristin spent a number of years working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for a Senators Mark Hatfield (R-OR) and Bob Dole (R-KS) and also worked in the Oregon State Legislature for now Congressman Gregg Walden (R-OR). She is a native of Montana, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She has studied in Germany and France; she holds a Juris Doctor from American University in Washington, DC and is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Linda Kramer Jenning
Linda Kramer Jenning is the Washington editor for Glamour and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Her work at Glamour focuses on issues that touch the lives of the magazine’s 12.3 million readers and on projects like the annual Glamour Women of the Year honors. She covered both conventions for the magazine and has written articles on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and a feature with health care advice from HHS Secretary Sebelius, Nancy-Ann DeParle and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
Linda began her journalism career with the Associated Press in New York, San Francisco and Oregon. She worked in television at the CBS affiliate in Portland, Oregon, before returning to print journalism to freelance for Time magazine and other publications. She later joined Time Inc.’s People magazine and served as Acting Bureau Chief and Deputy Bureau Chief in Washington, DC. At People, she reported on four presidential cycles, profiled members of Congress from then Speaker Newt Gingrich to Senator Dianne Feinstein and covered breaking news and human interest features.
She holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She teaches Feature Writing and the Journalism of Conscience in the Georgetown Master of Professional Studies Journalism program. She also has taught undergraduate journalism at Georgetown College and was academic director from 2006-2009 of the Georgetown Summer Journalism Workshop for high school students. She was the 2006 Shapiro Fellow in the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University. She also has taught in the Bo
ston University Washington Semester program. Journalism honors include awards for Glamour’s political coverage from the National Women’s Political Caucus and from the Planned Parenthood Federation, Time Inc.’s 2007 Henry Luce Award for Outstanding Story for her article on a wounded marine, and a Henry Luce Award for Deadline Reporting for leading People’s coverage of the 2006 Sago, W.Va., mining disaster. She serves on board of the Alumnae Association of Smith College, the Media Advisory Board of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and the Speakers Committee of the National Press Club. She is a past board member of the Journalism & Women Symposium and chairs its scholarship committee. She lives in Alexandria with her husband.
Jessica Marventano
Jessica A. Marventano joined Clear Channel Communications, Inc. as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs in April 2004 where she currently oversees the company’s lobbying activity before Congress, the Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.
Prior to working at Clear Channel, she served as Senior Director/Policy Counsel of Comcast Corporation. Before joining Comcast in July 2003, Jessica served as Majority Counsel for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she was chief advisor to the Chairman on all broadcast, cable and satellite policy issues. She started her tenure on the hill as Legislative Counsel for Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL). In between Hill positions, Jessica was an associate at the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, Chartered where she focused on legislative and regulatory work on behalf of the firm’s telecom and media clients; including SBC, Verizon, The Walt Disney Company, Lockheed Martin, NBC, and Ameritech New Media.
Ms. Marventano was selected to be in Broadcasting & Cable’s Women in Media in 2002.
She currently serves on the Radio Board of the National Association of Broadcasters and Board of Directors of The Media Institute.
Ms. Marventano received a J.D. from Western New England College School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Stonehill College. She resides in Arlington, Virginia with her husband and their two children.
Chris McGowen
Chris McGowen is the Director of State Government Affairs at Novo Nordisk and a leading lobbyist in the pharmaceutical industry. Chris began his political career in 1992 as a producer for C-Span and later became Press Secretary to Congressman J.C. Watts. In this role, Chris helped pass welfare reform and was instrumental in facilitating the “Contract with America” agenda. Through this experience, Chris gained an appreciation for the vital role health care plays in public policy.
After leaving Capitol Hill, Chris lobbied in the state of Georgia on behalf of organizations including the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Turner Broadcasting and Cohn & Wolfe Public Affairs. In Georgia, Chris built on his legislative experience and developed an extensive knowledge of Medicare and Medicaid policy.
Since joining Novo Nordisk in 2003, Chris has moved the national diabetes crisis to the forefront of states’ legislative agendas. As a diabetic and person living with Polymyositis, Chris brings a unique and personal perspective to the job. He is driven to change the course of diabetes and stays attuned to the challenges that diabetics face. Chris has also collaborated with the Institute for American Futures to create “What Diabetes will look like by 2025.” This powerful study and colloquium sheds light on the mounting human and financial costs of diabetes state by state.
Chris is a member of the Washington Government Relations Group, American League of Lobbyists, Press Club, Public Relations Society of America, and a board member of the Public Affairs Council.
William H. Minor
William Minor counsels corporations, associations, and professional firms on compliance with federal lobbying statutes and rules, including the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and the congressional and Executive Branch gift and travel rules. He also advises clients on complying with the Federal Election Campaign Act, represents clients before the Federal Election Commission and other agencies, and provides guidance on state and local lobbying, ethics, and campaign finance laws.
He is the author of the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) portfolio on the regulation of corporate lobbying, part of the BNA Corporate Practice Series. Mr. Minor speaks frequently on political law matters, is regularly quoted in the press on developments in this area of the law, and was named by Washingtonian magazine as one of Washington ’s Top Lawyers for campaign and election law.
Mr. Minor also represents clients before Congress and the executive branch on a variety of issues, including financial services, e-commerce, and privacy law.
Active in DLA Piper pro bono projects, Mr. Minor was named Pro Bono Partner of the Year for the Washington, DC office in 2004. In 2007, the Capital Area Food Bank awarded him its Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Keeping the Dream Alive Award for his work in support of federal funding for the Food Bank’s expanded operations. Mr. Minor also serves on the Board of Directors of DC Habitat for Humanity and is a former Board President of the housing charity.
Prior to joining DLA Piper, Mr. Minor served as legislative assistant to US Rep. Edward J. Markey. Mr. Minor has also worked for Marttila & Kiley, a political consulting firm, and previously held positions with the American Civil Liberties Union, US Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Irene Kinya Mururu – Regional Member
Ms. Mururu, or Kinya as she is known to her friends and co-workers, is currently pursuing a Masters of Public Administration at Howard University in Washington, D.C. prior to her graduate studies, Kinya worked for Representative Donna Edwards (D-MD04) as a Constituent Service Representative, to help constituents navigate federal agencies by acting as a facilitator and in some cases, an advocate on various issues. Before joining Representative Donna Edwards’s staff, Kinya served as a research analyst at Macro International Inc., a firm based in the Washington, DC area which focuses on research and evaluation, management consulting, information technology.
Kinya had previously worked for three years at the Montgomery County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Pre-Release and Reentry Services Division as a Resident Supervisor where she served as a correctional officer and counselor to inmates participating in the reentry program. Kinya joined the Montgomery County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as an intern during her last year of college. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from University of Maryland at College Park.
Kinya has a strong interest in gender and social issues, and spends her free time learning and raising awareness about the challenges women face all over the world. Kinya travelled to Kenya with the International Youth Corps (IYC); Realizing the Dream, Inc. a nonprofit organization that seeks to champion freedom, justice and equality by working to redress poverty, build community and foster peace through nonviolence. Her IYC project is a collaborative study with two other Corps members to provide young leaders with dreams of elected office the tools they need to succeed in achieving their goal.
Kinya has also participated in the Prevent Human Trafficking summer program in Thailand where she was exposed to local insight and perspectives on effective strategies to combating human trafficking.
A graduate of WeLEAD: Women Bringing Women into the Power Center, a bipartisan leadership training program run by the Women & Politics Institute’s Young Women Leaders Board at American University. Kinya served as community outreach chair of the WeLEAD Alumni association. She is a member of the National Capital chapter of the US National Committee for UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women).
Kinya was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, and moved to the United States of America with her family in 2000.
Alyse Nelson
Alyse Nelson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership. A co-founder of Vital Voices, Ms. Nelson has worked for the organization for twelve years, serving as Vice President and Senior Director of Programs before assuming her current role. She has worked with women leaders to develop training programs and international forums in over 120 countries and has interviewed more than 200 international leaders. Prior to Ms. Nelson’s work with VVGP, she served as Deputy Director of the Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative at the U.S. Department of State. Her position aided Former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s commitment to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy objective. Ms. Nelson helped design, coordinate, and implement Vital Voices conferences, projects and initiatives throughout the world. Ms. Nelson worked with the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House and U.S. Department of State from July 1996 to July 2000. She attended to UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995 and has served as an advisor to the US Delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She completed her graduate degree work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and she is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves as a Board Member of Running Start, which helps young women and girls in the United States get involved in politics and their communities. In 2006, she was named one of “Ten Women to Watch” by the Washingtonian Magazine, and in 2007, she was honored by Emerson College with the Distinguished Leader Award.
Jim Phalen
Jim Phalen is a partner in King & Spalding’s Washington, D.C., office, where he is a member of the Litigation & Antitrust Practice Group, focusing on commercial litigation and arbitration. He has represented clients in a range of commercial disputes including professional malpractice, breaches of Stock Purchase Agreements, civil RICO, state deceptive/unfair trade practices, antitrust and insurance coverage.
Mr. Phalen serves as a member of a Hearing Committee for the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility, and he represents soldiers in their appeals of Army disability assessments. Mr. Phalen is also a member of the Street Law Board of Directors, and coordinates King & Spalding’s Washington office’s participation in Street Law’s Breakfast with a Legend Program in certain D.C. Public Schools.
He is interested in Running Start because he has two young daughters of his own, and he believes that all young women will benefit from Running Start’s message, whether or not they aspire to political office.
He received his A.B., cum laude, from the College of the Holy Cross, and his J.D. from Northwestern University, where he was active in the Legal Clinic.
He is admitted to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Pamela O’Leary
Pamela is the Executive Director of the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN), which trains college women for careers in public policy. She grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Environmental Science. Pamela earned an M.A. in Applied Women’s Studies from Claremont Graduate University, serving as a teaching assistant at Scripps College and completing a graduate internship at the Office of the Focal Point for Women at the United Nations. She first came to Washington, DC as a Women’s Research and Education Institute (WREI) Congressional Fellow, working in the Office of Representative Carolyn Maloney.
Prior to becoming PLEN’s Executive Director, Pamela worked as Development Manager for the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum, Call Time Manager for Representative Maloney’s campaign, and a Resident Consultant for Alpha Omicron Pi.
Wendy Susswein
Wendy Susswein currently serves on the board of directors of the Strathmore Hall Foundation, an acclaimed concert hall and education center in Montgomery County, MD. She sits on both the Executive and Nominating Committees. She was formerly a program officer and director of philanthropic outreach for the Arlington Health Foundation, a $300 million organization providing health and social services grants as well as technical assistance to nonprofits in the Washington area. Prior to that she spent 11 years at the Council on Foundations in several capacities including director of affinity group and regional association services where she oversaw the coordination of joint programming for over 30 special interest groups. In addition, she organized special programs for foundation CEOs on “civil investing” and organized numerous educational programs for foundation trustees and other staff. Wendy is a member of Leadership Montgomery and a community reviewer for Montgomery County Health and Human Services.
Kimberly Woodard
Kimberly Woodard has extensive corporate experience. She is currently Director of Federal Government Relations for Walmart, where she has worked since March 2004, and manages the company’s outreach initiatives to the Democratic Caucus. In this position, Kimberly is responsible for developing strategies and programs to advance the company’s outreach efforts and political priorities. She is a key contact between the company and several congressional caucuses, as well as the White House. She has developed a profile in Washington that includes experience in political fundraising and event management.
Prior to joining Walmart, Kimberly worked for 7 years in the Governmental Affairs Department at McLane Company, Inc., a Temple, Texas-based corporation that is the largest nationwide distributor of food and other products to convenience stores and one of the largest distributors of such products to fast food restaurants, where she established the company’s government relations practice and managed a $1 million department budget. At McLane Company, Kimberly primarily focused on tobacco issues and positioned the company to be proactive and aggressive on critical legislative and regulatory issues.
She began her career in government relations when in 1990 she joined Food Distributors International, a trade association representing the food distribution industry. While there she worked in a number of capacities, rising from Legislative Assistant to Associate Director for Government Relations over the course of 7 years.
Kimberly graduated from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. Following graduation she was recognized as a Point of Light, a program established by President George H.W. Bush that honored individuals for their commitment to community service.
Kimberly serves on a number of Boards, including the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (Executive Committee), a non-profit, non-partisan public policy, research and educational institute that aims to help improve the socioeconomic circumstances of African Americans and other underserved communities; the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee, which supports Democratic incumbents and candidates running for federal office; and Running Start, a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring young women and girls to run for political office. Additionally, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of Howard Theatre Restoration, Inc., a non-profit organization that is leading a collaborative effort with the District of Columbia and other private entities to raise funds to revitalize, preserve, and protect The Howard Theatre, a precious piece of DC history. Kimberly is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She was born in Washington, DC where she returned after graduating from college and stayed until moving to Texas in 1997. In 2004 Kimberly returned to the District of Columbia, where she currently resides. Kimberly is a sports enthusiast, who enjoys professional football, tennis and golf. She is a life-long devoted fan of the Washington Redskins.
