Local community and business leaders work together to advance our mission to ensure public schools are places all 麻豆国产 can thrive.
Marie Sylla-Dixon is a trailblazing leader and global Fortune 500 senior executive with over 20 years of government affairs, public policy, diversity, equity & inclusion, social impact, M&A and public affairs, working with highly matrix organizations and with regulated consumer facing industries.
She helps companies shape and advance industry-defining agendas and navigate complex policy and reputation challenges globally, federally and at the state and local level. Also she has an expertise in advancing DEI for culture transformation, and new market expansion. Her superpowers are in harnessing an organization's purpose, and people to push forth its business and policy agenda while positioning companies as thought leaders.
With a start-up mentality Marie has been able to successfully build and transform new corporate functions that add value proposition and position the organization's reputation for recognition and long-term success. Marie thrives in helping organizations in using data and metrics in storytelling and problem solving. What brings Marie joy professionally is working in a great culture with fun, mission driven organizations and people while driving results.
Scott Goldschmidt is a partner at Thompson Coburn, LLP, where he represents institutions of higher education and education companies. His practice focuses on navigating the day-to-day and long term legal demands facing the education industry, with an emphasis on regulatory and transactional matters. Scott also has particular experience in the areas of student affairs, anti-discrimination matters, contract drafting and review, and policy development.
Prior to joining Thompson Coburn, Scott served as Deputy General Counsel for The Catholic University of America, and prior to that, as a law clerk for the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Office of the General Counsel.
Scott is a proud City Year alum, serving as a corps member in a Washington DC elementary school during the 2008-2009 school year. During his time at City Year, Scott worked full time to improve the literacy and math skills of twenty fifth-graders and organized and oversaw an after-school program. One of Scott's favorite memories from his time at City Year is serving as a director of Camp City Year, a week-long spring break opportunity for elementary school 麻豆国产. Scott lives in Kensington, Maryland with his wife Jen and their two young daughters.
David L. Goldblatt brings a wealth of experience to his clients in legislative advocacy and real estate development. For his clients, Mr. Goldblatt provides access to governmental officials and guidance on how to traverse government agencies and programs. He regularly provides advice and counsel to clients on a vast range of local legal, legislative and policy issues. Mr. Goldblatt has drafted numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives that have been enacted or adopted by the District of Columbia on a variety of subjects. Mr. Goldblatt has a keen understanding of D.C. economic development programs and initiatives, including tax increment financing, business improvement districts, surplus property dispositions, real property tax exemptions, payment in lieu of taxes and industrial revenue bonds. He played a central role in legislation that spurred the economic revitalization of Washington, D.C.
Mr. Goldblatt also has vast knowledge of real estate related issues including public financing and public-private partnerships. He lives in D.C. with his wife and 2 children
Brandee Tate is a Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the K鈥12 Education team. Prior to joining the foundation, she was the Manager of Data & Accountability for D.C. Public Schools, where she led the analysis and strategic use of student achievement data across the district. Specifically, she was responsible for the reporting and analysis of accountability data, including summative assessment (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) results, adjusted cohort graduation rates, National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment scores, and data elements and metrics reported in the DC School Report Card (required under the Every Student Succeeds Act).
Previously, she was the Manager of Evaluation & Analysis at OneGoal, a college access organization that supports underserved high school 麻豆国产 with enrolling, persisting, and graduating from college. She also has experience in the postsecondary space, having been a policy analyst for the University System of Georgia supporting policies centered on increasing the number of Georgia residents with postsecondary credentials. Tate earned a B.A. in Sociology from Princeton University and an M.P.P. from UC Berkeley.
Lobby on behalf of CSX Transportation at the federal and local level. Proven record and trusted reputation have been instrumental in advancing and defending numerous legislative and administrative initiatives. Lead several transformational rail projects through coalition building, acquiring federal funding, engaging the community and government, and navigating permitting processes - leading to their ultimate approval and construction.
Jit is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP in the US Strategy service line Monitor Deloitte and leads the Pricing & Profitability Management practice. Jit has over 12 years of experience in revenue enhancement services including customer and channel strategy, pricing, corporate strategic planning, and M&A. His project work includes pricing analytics, pricing strategy, and pricing policy design and execution, all to identify and capture improvement opportunities. He holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Jeffrey Franco has over 25 years of experience in leading and managing large-scale nonprofits, and providing strategic consulting, business development and change management for both public and private sector organizations. As CEO of Camino Consulting Group and Founder and Co-Leader of Transformation Leadership Institute, Jeffrey has worked with local and national nonprofit CEOs to support and advise on strategic planning, board training and development, executive coaching, interim leadership, fundraising, and diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) facilitation and training. Jeffrey also serves as Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland where he currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in nonprofit management and leadership. He also serves on the boards of Potomac Conservancy, Outward Bound, and the Center for Inspired Teaching.
Jeffrey has served as the interim CEO/ED at various nonprofits with budgets between $4-$14 million and staff sizes from 15 to 100 employees in Washington, DC, Miami and San Francisco. At those organizations, he led in a medium- and long-term capacity to support and lead those non-profits through leadership transitions and, in some cases, organizational issues. Jeffrey was the Interim Executive Director for City Year in Miami; Rising for Justice in Washington, DC; Youth Speaks in San Francisco, and St. Ann鈥檚 Center for Children, Youth and Families; just to name a few. In these interim roles, Jeffrey was responsible for managing the staff, operations, programs, and fundraising, and leading the organization through major change management processes, organizational turn around, leadership transition, and new Executive Director onboarding and coaching. Jeffrey continues to serve as an executive coach for many of the new leaders of these organizations.
Prior to founding Camino Consulting Group, Jeffrey served over 12 years as both the Executive Director of City Year in Washington, DC and as Senior Vice President and senior leader of the $200 million national organization. Under his leadership, City Year Washington, DC tripled the size of its staff, quadrupled the number of 麻豆国产 served, increased its budget from a $2.3 million to $8.6 million operation, and established City Year鈥檚 first multimillion contract with the DC Public School System. During this time, Jeffrey secured multiple 7 figure individual gifts and established national corporate investments for multiple City Year sites across the country. Prior to his work in the nonprofit sector, Jeffrey served as the Director of Global Business Development and Project Manager at Voxiva, Senior Consultant at Deloitte Consulting, Associate Director of Marketing and Sales at Corporate Executive Board, and Consultant at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. Jeffrey鈥檚 professional accolades and accomplishments include being named the 2013 American University Kogod School of Business Alumni of the Year, alumnus of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, graduate of the Co-Active Teaching Institute Leadership Program, graduate of Leadership Greater Washington, and graduate of the Leadership Sanctuary. He graduated with a B.A. from Fairfield University, a Masters degree in International Affairs and an M.B.A. from American University. Jeffrey is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, enjoys traveling, has completed 5 marathons and an Ironman triathlon, walked the 500-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain, completed the 150 Mile Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and 600 mile Ride the Rockies bike ride.
Alexis L. Squire is a proven tri-sector executive with over 15+ years鈥 experience in advancing local and national social impact efforts through grantmaking, public-private partnerships, fund development, strategic communications, and civic and community engagement. Currently, Alexis serves as the Chief Equity and Impact Officer for DC Fire and EMS, where she provides administration and coordination of external relations, including strategic communications and community relations, and multi-sector partnerships and collaborations.
Alexis is a trusted advisor and philanthropic thought-leader and served as the District鈥檚 Chief Service Officer and Director of The Mayor's Office on Volunteerism and Partnerships in Washington DC. In this cabinet appointed role, she served at the helm of the District鈥檚 Commission on National and Community Service, awarding nearly 8 million in federal AmeriCorps and private grant funding to area nonprofits in support of key focus areas such as education, environmental sustainability, and civic engagement. Before her time in public service, for over a decade, Alexis designed catalytic fund-development and engagement efforts such as the Ice Bucket Challenge, Executive Sleep Out, various giving campaigns, strategic communications, and community and volunteer efforts at leading local and national nonprofits with missions centered around access and equity in health, housing, and workforce development.
Alexis is graduate of the University of Maryland and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy鈥檚 Executive Leadership in Philanthropy program. Alexis also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Philanthropy DMV, formally Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG), a regional philanthropic membership organization that advances social justice. Alexis is a third generation Washingtonian and the daughter of two retired DC Public School educators. She resides in her Ward 7 community with her husband and two charming sons, Alexander (6) and Levi (4).
Garrick joined the Auto Innovators in January 2021 and currently leads the Federal Affairs team that serves as the liaison for the automotive industry, advocating and educating throughout the policy environment. Garrick previously served as Head of Federal Affairs, North at CSX Transportation and has over 30 years of experience guiding government affairs, strategic, financial and crisis communications, and community relations on behalf of utilities, nonprofits, universities, medium-sized businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Garrick received a Master of Arts degree in public policy from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dean Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. began his tenure as Dean and Professor of Law at HUSL on July 1, 2024. Dean Fairfax previously served as the 19th Dean of the American University Washington College of Law, the first Black man to lead that law school. He previously served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School, where he founded and directed the Criminal Law and Policy Initiative.
Dean Fairfax鈥檚 scholarship is published in books and leading journals, and he teaches and conducts research on criminal law and procedure, professional responsibility and ethics, criminal justice reform, racial justice, and civil rights legal history. He has championed diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts throughout higher education and the legal profession, and he is a member of the Association of American Law Schools Steering Committee leading the Deans of the nation鈥檚 200 law schools.
After clerking for federal judges on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Dean Fairfax served as an Attorney General Honors Program Trial Attorney in the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, where he handled a wide array of white-collar and corruption investigations and prosecutions. He then practiced at a large international law firm, where he handled corporate internal investigations, strategic counseling, complex trial and appellate litigation, securities enforcement and other white-collar criminal matters, and pro bono civil rights and indigent criminal defense cases.
Markus聽Weiss is a globally minded executive with more than two decades of leadership experience spanning聽biotechnology, manufacturing, technology, construction, and international development. Known for his strategic clarity, operational rigor, and people-first leadership, he has helped shape complex organizations across continents, guiding both early-stage transformations and mature market expansions.鈥ㄢ
Markus聽has lived and led across Europe, North America, and Latin America, with additional experience delivering high-impact initiatives in Africa through global development finance institutions. His leadership portfolio includes scaling operations, managing crisis response, driving M&A integration, and architecting long-term growth strategies in highly regulated, innovation-driven sectors.
With a sharp eye for patterns in data and human systems,聽Markus聽blends analytical acuity with emotional intelligence to mobilize diverse teams and align stakeholders toward enduring value. He is frequently sought after for his ability to navigate ambiguity, activate technology, and embed resilient cultures during moments of pivotal change.鈥ㄢ Markus聽is a Board Leadership Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors and serves on the boards of multiple nonprofit and industry organizations, contributing to initiatives focused on innovation, leadership development, and community impact.
Branden Isaac is a Senior Vice President with JLL in Washington, DC where he specializes in tenant representation. Branden provides expertise in strategic planning, office lease negotiations, acquisitions, and dispositions. For 10 years, Branden has provided real estate brokerage and advisory services to nonprofits, businesses, municipalities, and educational institutions throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.聽
Branden received his B.A. from The University of Maryland 鈥 College Park and a M.A. in Real Estate Finance at Georgetown University. Branden has been an active leader within the community with his professional affiliations聽such as a board membership with AAREP (African American Real Estate Professionals), DCBIA (District of Columbia Building Industry Association), and Philanthropy DMV (Formerly Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers).
A native Washingtonian, Branden is passionate about working with mission-driven organizations and connecting with individuals who are intentional about improving the lives of DC residents.
