Board of Directors

Marketing Co-Chair: Mary Grate-Pyos and Susan Rose

Member Services Chair: Sumi Krishnan

Programs and Events Chair: Christine Guzman

Public Policy Chair: Julie Taylor

Strategic Partnership: Corporate Sponsors Chair: Virginia Grant and Organizations Chair: Antonella Lo Re

Technology/Communications Chair: Layla Masri

The Board of Directors has accepted the following Advisory positions for the 2007-2008 year:

Pamela Bethel – Advisor

Vanessa Brown – Advisor

Victoria Looney – Advisor

Karen Maples – Advisor

Joyce Nohowel – Advisor

Olga Polemitou – Advisor

Pam Bethel – is a litigation partner in the O’Riordan Bethel Law Firm, LLP. The firm handles legal representation for businesses, non-profits, financial institutions and individuals. The firm’s attorneys have extensive experience in have extensive experience in government contracts, construction law and litigating claims related to employment discrimination, securities law violations, criminal white collar fraud matters, as well as representing lawyers, doctors and accountants against claims of misconduct before administrative and licensing authorities. Pam has regularly represented corporations as well as individuals, handling several cases that have received national notoriety. She represented a Washington, D.C. bookstore in opposing Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s grand jury subpoena to produce records identifying book purchases made by Monica Lewinsky. Pam argued a First Amendment issue of first impression, defeating the Independent Counsel’s claims to unfettered access to information from the bookstore’s records of customer book purchases. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and CNN Headline News.

Vanessa Brown – is the president of BSV Consulting, Inc., a strategic & business consulting firm dedicated to developing roadmaps for business growth. The firm works with businesses in many industries, including information technology, biotechnology, professional services, accounting, financial services and retail. Vanessa also speaks on business planning and strategic planning topics around the area and recently appeared on Tomorrow’s Business Radio, a show hosted by Steve Mandell, Pepper Hamilton, LLP.

Norma Byron – is President of The Ashlawn Group, LLC, providing management, technical, product development, warhead design and manufacturing process-engineering solutions. Formed in 2000, Ashlawn currently manufactures the largest known unit production of fuel cells. With 20+ years experience in business development with Primex Technologies and Olin, Norma successfully led key domestic and international marketing efforts for tank ammunition. President, Women In Defense (2001-2003), Norma currently serves on the Small Business Division of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and on NDIA's Washington Chapter Board. Norma holds a BA from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Marymount University, Arlington, VA.

Molly Gimmel - is the co-founder and Executive Vice President of Design To Delivery Inc, a consulting firm that helps businesses win and manage government contracts. She has been working in the field of government contract and acquisition management since 1991. Her expertise is in proposal management, pricing, contract and subcontract management, FAR and regulatory compliance, and contract financial management. She is a member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), and Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), and is the Chairperson of the Government Procurement Special Interest Group for NAWBO’s Northern Virginia Chapter. She is a Certified Professional Contract Manager, has a Masters of Science in Contract & Acquisition Management, and a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing.

Virginia L. Grant - is President  & CEO of Diversity Solutions, Inc., with more than 25 years of Information Technology experience and an extensive background in applications development, systems operations, and telecommunications management.  Additional core talents are in Human Capital, particularly in assembling and developing high-performance teams to provide professional, technical and administrative management consulting services to support strategy development and refinement, program management, human capital and enterprise systems management initiatives.  In 1999, Ms. Grant created Diversity Solutions, Inc. (DSI) as a professional management consulting company focused on providing solutions to the Federal Government and private industry.  In 2004, Ms. Grant created IntelliStrat as a business unit focused on providing services to the United States Intelligence Community.  Ms. Grant has a Masters of Science Degree in Computer Science from Pace University, and both a Master of Science in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Pre-Law from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  Ms. Grant is in the process of making application for the J.D. Program, Intellectual Property Law at Georgetown University.  Additionally, Ms. Grant serves on the Board of the National Association of Business Women Owners, Northern, VA Chapter as Director, Strategic Alliances – Corporate, and is a member of several professional organizations, including the Intelligence & National Security Alliance (INSA), National Association of Inspector Generals (AIG), National Contract Management Association (NCMA), Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE).  Ms. Grant holds a Top Secret/SCI security clearance.

Antonella Lo Re - is the president and founder of DiLoReGroup LLC, a company that provides talent assessment and development services for your key company positions to maximize their contribution to your strategic growth. We help businesses and nonprofit organizations in the selection, retention and management of the most important asset – people. We achieve our mission using a spectrum of proven psychometric tools and training programs that can transform hiring, development and management of talent in your organization.

Vicki Vey Looney - is President of newly established Thoroughbred Motor Sports of Virginia , Dulles, VA ( http://www.stallion4u..com/) representing an exciting, innovative and fuel efficient mode of transportation for the discerning buyer.  Having sold ACEncrypt Solutions, Inc. in the fall of 2006 after five years of operation, Ms. Looney also continues to dedicate her time to providing consulting services to corporations requiring business development expertise to tackle challenging business environments.

Karen Maples – is the president of Myutiq, LLC, trusted business & strategy advisor to growth-oriented CEOs. Winning companies distinguish themselves from the competition. Myutiq, LLC helps clients discover opportunities for strategic advantage through…innovative approaches to marketing, savvy leverage of technology, customer driven operations design and metrics driven implementation.

Layla Masri – is the President of Bean Creative, Inc., a studio of digital developers who fuse design and development in web and interactive environments. After working as an advertising copywriter and marketer, Layla realized the web would be an exciting and dynamic framework for her promotional skills. Founded in 1997, the company specializes in web, game and interactive development for education, non-profit, kid, and corporate websites. As head of new business development, Layla has grown Bean Creative from a once home-based business into a studio that works nationally-known clients such as PBS, the American Red Cross, National Geographic and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carla Morelli – is President of FreyerMartin, is a pioneer in the personal bill-paying industry.  As a successful consulting career and volunteer work demanded increasingly more of her time, Carla found she needed a financial assistant to manage details on a day-to-day basis. After searching around the country to no avail for a company offering that service, she formed FreyerMartin in 2003 to provide exactly the kind of support she’d wanted.  Since FreyerMartin’s inception, Carla has implemented innovative new ideas and processes, including designing the first client management system for this young industry.  She sits on the Certification Committee for the American Association of Daily Money Managers, and is helping to create the first certification program for professionals who handle clients’ daily finances.  Carla’s goal is that FreyerMartin be the first company to be nationally recognized for high-quality personal bill-paying services.  To that end, Carla and her team spend the day working with corporations on providing FreyerMartin’s Executive BillPay^SM service to executives and other top staff, and generally educating the public on a dynamic new industry

Joyce Nohowel - is president for DCM Corp, providing board and executive level consulting to companies who are in growth mode and need assistance getting the strategic plan off the shelf through her insightful execution know-how.  She is able to provide a fresh perspective to corporate initiatives by applying her seasoned experience acquired through numerous company, product, market, and unique sales channel launches.  Ultimately, her clients are able to generate value to corporate vision through her pragmatic, yet creative insights and sense of “getting it done”.

Olga Polemitou – is the President & CEO of Aristion, Inc., a company that provides CFO and financial management services. From performing basic accounting services to providing the complex financial advice that will help you meet the challenges of an ever changing business environment, Aristion provides financial services to companies both large and small to help make your business profitable.

Lurdes M. Ramos - is Chief Financial Officer of Cord Caruso Capital Partners, LLC, bringing over 20 years of extensive banking experience to Cord Caruso Capital Partners. She has in-depth experience in the Audit, Commercial, Private Banking, and the Wealth & Investment fields. Over the past 20 years, she has specialized in helping clients grow their businesses by providing value added services such as credit facilities, treasury management, financial planning, estate planning, insurance, and corporate strategy development. During her vast career, Ms. Ramos has participated in numerous merger and acquisition transactions; playing a key role in the planning, assessment and approval stages of these transactions. As the Chief Financial Officer of Cord Caruso Capital Partners, Ms. Ramos contributes decades of wisdom and experience in the finance arena.  Ms. Ramos holds a series 7, 66, variable annuities, and life & health licenses. She has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting & Finance and a MBA with a focus on Global Management.

Susan Rose - is President of Two Sisters Creative, a full-service graphic design agency specializing in publication design and development, including Annual Reports, corporate brochures, and other complex collateral. She has 16 years experience writing copy for brochures, newsletters, ads, and other marketing collateral, as well as providing project management for large projects. Her partner and big sister Karen has 20 years experience designing award-winning collateral for large corporations. Susan has a B.S. in Journalism from Kansas University and an M.S. in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University and Karen has a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art.

Amy Smith – is the president of Amy Smith Consulting, LLC, founded in July of 2001 in an effort to support an industry that she is passionate about, the association and non-profit community. As a former association educator, Amy was tasked with developing an eLearning program in the late 1990's - and what an undertaking that was! Even today, the technology choices can be overwhelming, the stakes are high, and many people don't know where to begin. With this in mind, Amy wished back then that there was someone to hire to help navigate the eLearning world. From this project she realized that she found her calling.

Julie Taylor – is President of Capital Strategy & Development, LLC. After moving to Washington, D.C. to work on the congressional staff of U.S. Representative Porter Goss, Ms. Taylor became interested in the organizations that conceived and promoted the ideas being debated on Capitol Hill.  She joined the Heritage Foundation – the nation’s leading conservative public policy research organization – to raise funds for policy research marketed to members of Congress, Executive Branch officials, and the nation’s news media.  She rose to become the Foundation’s chief proposal writer, composing hundreds of successful proposals that helped the Foundation to increase its annual giving by more than $3 million dollars. She was recruited to become one of the first professional fundraisers for the Competitive Enterprise Institute – described in the Wall Street Journal as the best environmental think tank in the country.  As Director of Development, she designed and implemented a major gifts program that increased the annual budget by 54% in just under 2 years. When her former employer and treasurer of the Heritage Foundation was named president of Capital Research Center, Ms. Taylor was tapped to manage the reorganization of the development department.  Founded in 1996 by Julie Taylor, Capital Strategy & Development has built on this experience to offer resources for development, marketing and communications professionals and evaluation tools for philanthropists.  Through educational seminars, personal consultations, and creative outsourcing, CSD offers clients new ways of approaching old challenges for annual funding, major gifts, and planned giving.