Home ›

Our Board

Board of Directors

Lynn Chalmers
Vice Chair
Child Advocate

Ms. Chalmers, born and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland, has had a long-standing interest in addressing the needs of disadvantaged women and children in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. She has been a community volunteer since the inception of Crossway Community, Inc. Ms. Chalmers has served in numerous positions on the Board of Directors and has served as chair of the fund-raising committee.

Angela Elkins
Secretary
Director, MSW Program, University of Maryland, Shady Grove

Ms. Elkins is a clinical, assistant professor at the University of Maryland Social Work School. She has spent more than 30 years in the practice of social work focusing on family and child welfare. Her particular areas of interest are the links between school, community, and family within the framework of social work. She has served on the Crossway Community, Inc. board guiding the organization’s evolution with attention to evidence-based best practices.

Holly Fine
Principal, Fine Films, Inc.

Ms. Fine is an editor and producer who has won 75 Local Emmys, 10 National Emmys, and four Peabody Awards for her remarkable documentary film vision. Her work is unique because it is produced entirely in film rather than video. Her work on CBS's "60 Minutes" has kept her atop the documentary world during the past three decades. Ms. Fine founded, with her husband, Paul Fine, Fine Films, Inc.

Peter M. Kirby
Chair
Palisade Holdings

Mr. Kirby was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Winston & Straw, where he represented corporate clients on a wide range of matters. During the course of 25 years of practice, he represented electric utilities, energy companies, major domestic and international airlines, international pharmaceutical companies, and food and beverage companies. Throughout his career, Mr. Kirby has been particularly active in the energy policy arena and has addressed both U.S. and international groups regarding energy policy trends, as well as electric utility industry restructuring. He recently formed Palisade Holdings, a company that manages a variety of business activities, including real estate investments and various energy projects. Mr. Kirby is a generous philanthropist and an active Georgetown alumnus. He is a member of the Blue and Gray Society and the Hogan Society. He and his brother John have also established the John J. Kirby Scholarship Fund at the Law Center in memory of their father, a 1936 Georgetown Law graduate and close friend of Paul Dean. Kirby's former leadership roles include serving as an Alumni Senator, a member of the Board of Governor's Executive Committee, and Chair of the National Law Alumni Board.

Donna Morea
President U.S., Europe and Asia, CGI-AMS, Inc.

Ms. Morea holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA with high honors from Wesleyan University. She is currently a member of CGI's senior management team, leading the business in the U.S., Europe, and Asia and the global delivery operations in India. Ms. Morea began her career at American Management Systems, Inc. in 1980 and has more than 25 years’ experience developing IT solutions and business process services practices that focus on strategic, enterprise-wide solutions for both private and public sector clients. She serves as the Chair for the Northern Virginia Technology Council. She also serves as the Secretary of the Board for the George Mason University Foundation, is a trustee with the Committee for Economic Development, and is a member of the Wesleyan University Board of Trustees.

John Nields
Treasurer
Senior of Counsel, Covington & Burling, LLP

Mr. Nields is an attorney at Covington & Burling, LLP, with more than 30 years of experience in government and private practice. He specializes in white-collar criminal defense, civil litigation and arbitration, and has particular expertise in criminal appeals and cases involving the U.S. Congress. Mr. Nields received his BA from Yale University and his LLB from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Mr. Nields formerly served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York (1969-1974); senior law clerk to Associate Justice Byron R. White of the U.S. Supreme Court (1974-1977); chief counsel to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, U.S. House of Representatives (1977-1979); special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice (1979- 1980); chief counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran (1987); and special counsel for Rhode Island's commission to investigate the failure of Rhode Island's Insured Financial Institutions (1991-1992).

Lester Poretsky
Chief Executive Officer, Poretsky Properties and Poretsky Management Co.

Mr. Poretsky is the CEO of Poretsky Properties and Poretsky Management Co. In his capacity as president of the Poretsky Family Foundation, he has focused primarily on the needs of under-served parents and children. His philanthropy and commitment have been instrumental to Crossway Community, Inc.

Best Practices Committee

Rosemary Chalk

Ms. Chalk is the director of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of National Academies, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. She has directed and served as the study director for several projects within the National Research Council since 1986, including studies on special educational finance, family violence, child abuse and neglect, and research ethics. Academy reports that she has edited include: Violence in Families (1998), Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect (1993), and Responsible Science (1992). Prior to joining the Academy staff, Ms. Chalk was a consultant for science and society research projects in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was the program head of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 1976-86, during which time she developed projects in the areas of science and human rights, secrecy and social responsibility in science, and professional ethics activities within the science and engineering societies. Ms. Chalk has a BA in foreign affairs from the University of Cincinnati.

Sharon Dubble

Sharon Dubble, Ph.D., moved to Baltimore in 1996 to become the first director of Loyola University Maryland's Montessori graduate program, the Washington Montessori Institute (WMI). This institute, now the largest graduate program in the School of Education, incorporates the Association Montessori Internationale (A1\4I) teacher training within a full graduate degree course of study. Internationally renowned, Loyola's WMI attracts students from across the nation and around the world. Dubble pursued undergraduate studies in social work, and she has a Ph.D. in Education with a focus on educational philosophy. She holds both the Primary and Elementary diplomas from the Association Montessori Internationale. Dubble has more than 20 years of teaching and administrative experience in Montessori schools and is a national and international lecturer and consultant on Montessori education. She is co-author of The Whole-School Montessori Handbook (1999), which develops a framework for school organization and administrative practice centered on principles of human development. Currently director and chair of Loyola's new Center for Montessori Education, Dubble’s focus is on leading efforts to advance outreach to families and children in Baltimore City and research in Montessori education.

Heidi Hartmann

Heidi Hartmann is the president of the Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), a scientific research organization that she founded in 1987 to meet the need for women-centered, policy-oriented research. Dr. Hartmann is also a research professor at the George Washington University. Dr. Hartmann is a co-author of Still A Man's Labor Market: The Long-Term Earnings Gap; Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave; Equal Pay for Working Families; and Survival at the Bottom: The Income Packages of Low-Income Families with Children. She has published numerous articles in journals and books, and her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lectures widely on women, economics, and public policy; frequently testifies before the U.S. Congress; and is often cited as an authority in various media outlets. Prior to founding IWPR, Dr. Hartmann was on the faculties of Rutgers University and the New School for Social Research, and she worked at the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences. In 1994, Dr. Hartmann was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship Award for her work in the field of women and economics. She is vice-chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations and co-editor of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy.

Kristin Moore

Dr. Moore is president of Child Trends, Inc. A social psychologist, Dr. Moore has been with Child Trends, Inc., since 1982, studying the determinants and consequences of adolescent parenthood, trends in child and family well-being, the effects of family structure and social change on children, and the effects of welfare and welfare reform on children. Dr. Moore is a member of the Family and Child Well-Being Research Network established by the National Institute of Child Health and Human development to examine over a five-year period the factors that enhance the development and well-being of children. As a Network member, Dr. Moore is working on several projects to enhance child indicators data and to develop new analytic data resources to inform both scientific research and policy making. Dr. Moore serves on the bipartisan Federal Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators. In 1991, she was given the Presidential Award from the National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting. She is also a member of the Board of the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy, where she chairs the Task Force on Effective Programs and Research.

James O'Hara

Mr. O'Hara is an attorney with Jones Day and practices in corporate tax law and has had extensive experience in acquisitions, dispositions, restructurings, joint ventures and general transactional planning. These activities often are subject to IRS tax rulings and occasionally involve tax legislation. He received a BS from King's College, an LLB from The Catholic University of America, and an LLM from Georgetown University. He has been an adjunct professor in the graduate tax program at the Georgetown University Law Center since 1976. Mr. O'Hara is a frequent speaker at tax forums and is listed in the tax law section of "The Best Lawyers in America."