Bill Bentley

Bill Bentley is president and CEO of Voices for America’s Children, the nation’s largest network of multi-issue child advocacy organizations. With more than 60 members nationwide, including DC Action for Children, Voices advocates for effective public policies to improve the lives of children at the local, state and national levels. Bill was also one of the formative leaders of the Children’s Leadership Council.

Bill began his career in public service as a juvenile probation officer in Florida. Later, as president and CEO of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, Inc., Bill led the development and implementation of local innovative demonstration programs addressing maternal and child health, child welfare, juvenile justice and family support programs.

He has served as executive director of the Florida Governor’s Commission on Community Service and on the senior management teams at the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Points of Light Foundation.

Bill earned his master’s of social work from Florida State University. He and his wife live in Silver Spring, and have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Jennifer Burton

Jennifer Burton is a founding partner in Envision Communications, where she brings 20 years of experience working for campaigns in over 30 states from state Senate to U.S. Senate. Jennifer has won numerous awards for her political advertising, which has helped elect many members of Congress and state-wide office holders.

In addition, Jennifer has worked for many companies and organizations, assisting with branding and image campaigns. Previously, she was a partner at Murphy Putnam Media and worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and for House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt.

Jennifer also serves on the boards of the Mental Health Association of Montgomery County,  the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Stone Soup Films. She lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with her two daughters, Paloma and Lucia, and their rambunctious Golden Retriever, Cosmo.

HyeSook Chung, Executive Director and Secretary

For the past 14 years, HyeSook Chung has worked to improve the lives of children through direct service, advocacy and program management. HyeSook has worked for various nonprofit organizations focusing on the areas of child care, early childhood development, welfare-to-work and school readiness.

In the fall of 2007, she began consulting for Washington Area Women's Foundation to support the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative and the DC State Board of Education. While supporting the Collaborative, she worked with corporations and foundations to design and implement goals, programmatic design and grantmaking strategies for the Collaborative. For the DC State Board of Education, she conducted a preliminary Birth to Three Needs Assessment.

Before beginning a career in consulting, HyeSook worked at the National Association of Counties managing two grant-funded educational and technical assistance projects in the areas of early childhood development and school readiness. In addition, she coordinated activities for the presidential task force on early childhood development, which included working with a special task force of county commissioners.

Earlier in her career, much of HyeSook's work was training and assisting family support workers, home visitors and outreach workers in community-based programs in the greater Boston area. In addition, HyeSook worked with the Head Start Quality Improvement Center and the Early Head Start Resource Center supporting the Early Head Start programs throughout the country.

HyeSook serves on numerous boards focused on young children, including the D.C. T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Advisory Board, the Every Child Ready Advisory Board of the AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation, the Oral Health Work Group at Children's National Medical Center and the Voices for America's Children Member Leadership Council.

As a volunteer, HyeSook is extremely active at her children's DCPS school.

She is the proud mother of Lindsay and Brady.  

J.R. Clark

J.R. Clark, a partner in the Public Finance Practice Group, focuses his practice on public finance. He has extensive experience as bond counsel and underwriters’ counsel on a variety of tax exempt and taxable borrowings including revenue bonds for the benefit of 501(c)(3) organizations and corporations operating in enterprise zones, governmental obligations structured as tax increment financings, certificates of participation and payments in lieu of taxes. He also represents his clients’ interests before legislative and other governmental bodies. He was named part of the Legal Elite for 2009 by the readership ofWashington SmartCEO.

Before joining Squire Sanders, J.R. served in the executive office of the mayor of Washington DC as director for council affairs in the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, where he advised the mayor on all legislation before the District of Columbia Council. In this capacity, he oversaw the implementation of the mayor’s legislative agenda.

Before working with the mayor, J.R. served as assistant general counsel in the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer. There he worked with the legislative branch on the District of Columbia’s budget and finances.

J.R.’s prior experience also includes counseling several major US corporations on various corporate issues including negotiating and structuring settlements on a variety of matters including warranty and other contract claims. J.R. has also represented clients before the Public Service Commission on complex telecommunications matters.

J.R. is a member of the National Bar Association, National Association of Bond Lawyers and the American Bar Association. He serves on the Executive Committee of the DC Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of Trustees of Graduate School USA. J.R. serves on the boards of several local organizations including the American Red Cross National Capital Region and Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, and on the Advisory Board of the African American Real Estate Professionals and Jumpstart

Jon Fernandez, Chair

Jon Fernandez is Managing Director for the Federal City Council, a non-profit organization comprised of over 200 business leaders in Washington D.C. and dedicated to progress in the nation’s capital.  He is responsible for developing and managing the organization’s major projects, which are currently focused on public education reform, long-term economic development, transportation and infrastructure. He works with elected and appointed government officials, leaders in the business community, and issue experts in the D.C. area to advance the work of the Council.  Previously, Jon was policy director for Mayor Anthony Williams, serving as the administration’s point person for legislation and government relations. 

Jon has a J.D. from Georgetown University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University. He serves on several other boards, including the Latin American Youth Center and the YouthBuild Public Charter School. He lives in Hyattsville with his wife, Melissa, and two wonderful children, Gabriella and Zachary.

Jacquelyn L. Lendsey, Vice Chair

Jacquelyn Lendsey has two decades of service managing national and local nonprofits, many of which focused on service to and advocacy on behalf of children, youth, women and families. More recently, she served as vice president for programs and communications at the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. Previously Jacquelyn led national public policy and advocacy efforts for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Jacquelyn has served on the Boards of Directors of Mentors, Inc., Davis Memorial Goodwill and the National Minority AIDS Council. She is also a former member of the national board of directors of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She currently serves on the board of the Consumer Health Foundation and Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. She is a member of Leadership Greater Washington.

A native Washingtonian, Jacquelyn received her master’s of education from Howard University. 

Erica Lurie-Hurvitz

Erica Lurie-Hurvitz is the director of public policy at ZERO TO THREE, a national nonprofit organization supporting professionals, policy makers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. She is responsible for leading the organization’s federal and state policy and advocacy work on issues affecting vulnerable infants, toddlers and their families. Her expertise includes early care and education and child welfare policy. Prior to joining ZERO TO THREE in 1996, Erica did development work for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a national organization focused on increasing opportunities for people in low-income communities.

Erica earned her J.D. from Georgetown University. She lives in the District with her husband, John, and three incredible children, Arthur, Asa and Ruby.

Bonnie Politz

Bonnie Politz is vice-president and senior technical expert at FHI360, a D.C.-based, global nonprofit organization, where she focuses on domestic and international efforts to strengthen youth development.

Since 1972, Bonnie has been actively engaged in efforts to improve community and public systems serving children, youth and families. She has served as a site manager for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s New Futures Initiative, a reform effort designed to improve school achievement, reduce adolescent pregnancy and school dropout rates, and increase employment skills and opportunities for youth. She has also held various positions spanning eight years in the District of Columbia government, focusing on child welfare, juvenile justice and children’s mental health systems. Earlier in her career, she developed sentencing alternatives for juvenile clients at the D.C. Public Defender Service and worked as a teacher/tester on a federally funded research project at the National Child Day Care Association.

Bonnie is a native Washingtonian and earned a master’s of public administration from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maryland.

Warren Romine 

Warren Romine is a Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Washington, D.C. office, where he is a member of the Aerospace Defense Government (ADG) Group. His responsibilities include leading acquisition support assignments, fairness opinion valuations, and divestiture and sale advisory engagements.  

Warren has advised Fortune 500 corporations, middle-market public companies and privately held businesses. He has led several cross-border transactions with Canadian and European companies. His experience includes advisory assignments for government contractors, such as Raytheon, M7 Aerospace, and DME, and aviation-related companies, such as PAS Technologies, Avborne Heavy Maintenance and DynaBil.

 
Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Romine worked in the investment banking divisions at Jefferies Quarterdeck and Merrill Lynch & Co. and had advisory assignments with DNE Systems, Esterline Technologies, Engineered Support Systems, Smiths Group PLC, Wescam, BBA Group PLC and Indal Technologies.

Warren earned his M.B.A. from Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in accounting from Morehouse College, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Warren serves as a director for RELM Wireless, a developer and manufacturer of communication devices for federal, state and municipal agencies. He is registered with FINRA as a General Securities Principal (Series 7, 24 and 63).

Nicole Wade

Nicole Wade is a Senior Compliance Specialist for Fannie Mae where she performs risk assessments, testing, and reviews for legal/regulatory compliance, MBS Trust compliance and enterprise anti-fraud controls.  Prior to joining Fannie Mae, she spent several years at IBM as a Financial Analyst and Business Controls Advisor.

Nicole earned an MBA in Finance from The George Washington University and a B.S. degree in Human Development from Howard University.  She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and is working toward completing her Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) designation.  She and her husband Derrick live in Bowie, MD with their son Justin.

Lodie White

Lodie White is an associate at the law firm Patton Boggs, LLP. She advises clients in the electricity sector on compliance with federal statutes and regulations. Ms. White also advises clients on energy policy, sustainability development and climate change, with a special emphasis on renewable and alternative energy development, generation, and distribution.

Before joining Patton Boggs, Lodie was a staff attorney at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), where she worked in the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Enforcement.

At Patton Boggs, Lodie also advises foreign sovereigns on U.S. foreign policy and provides strategic advice on how best to enhance their relationships and advocate their policy objectives with the U.S. government. Specifically, she focuses on human rights issues and energy development.

Lodie serves on the board of directors of the Foundation of the Energy Law Journal and as a trustee of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. She earned her J.D. at American University and her M.B.A. from Wayne State University.

Emeritus

Diane Bernstein, Marion Guggenheim, Cynthia McGrath, Elizabeth Siegel, Clarice Dibble Walker, Susan Zox-Smith

Past Chairs

Gregory McCarthy, Diane Bernstein, Deborah Both, Maureen Lewis

Advisory Board

Nathaniel Beers

Early Stages, District of Columbia Public Schools, Office of Special Education

Helen Blank

National Women’s Law Center

Danielle Ewen

Center for Law and Social Policy

Julienne C. Johnson

Front of the Bus Productions

Lori Jackson

The Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust

Ann Segal

Wellspring Advisors, LLC