Paul Gaj-Cappello is a Vice President at Argo Development Partners, a privately funded development company working on large-scale sustainable energy projects. In this role, Paul is responsible for project management, engineering, and construction for Argo’s flagship project which is being developed to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) and fertilizer from agricultural waste.

Prior to joining Argo, Paul was a Senior Director for Supply Management at Washington Gas, where he managed a team of supply chain professionals and ran initiatives to create cost savings, streamline major construction projects, and enhance supplier diversity. Paul also worked as a Managing Director at energy consultancy PowerAdvocate (formerly Wood Mackenzie) leading teams across the U.S. in strategic sourcing and category management projects. Outside of work, Paul’s interests include travel, music, and the outdoors.

Paul has a B.S. Chemical Engineering degree from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife Maureen.

Taryn Fielder is the Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Veris Residential, a publicly-traded multifamily real estate investment trust listed on the New York Stock Exchange (VRE). In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of legal operations and serving as the principal legal advisor to the Board of Trustees and management team for matters related to commercial and capital market transactions, securities, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance.

Taryn previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE: WRE) from March 2017 – February 2022. She served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for ASB Real Estate Investments from 2013 to March 2017. Prior to that, she was Assistant General Counsel for DiamondRock Hospitality Company, a publicly-traded REIT. In addition, she spent nearly seven years with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) in their Real Estate Group, and several years practicing corporate and real estate law with Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett LLP in New York City.

Taryn is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Eckerd College. Taryn serves as a fiduciary director on the Eckerd College Board of Trustees, where she also chairs the Student Life Committee. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Capital Poison Center.

She lives in McLean, VA with her husband, Ryan, their three amazing young children, a goofy mutt, and a very ornery cat.

Kelly O’Shields is Vice President, Finance at Elme Communities, a multifamily-focused real estate investment trust. In this role, she is responsible for managing the financial planning and analysis, capital markets, and treasury functions of the company. Prior to assuming this role, Kelly was the Director of Property Accounting, then served as a project manager for the transformation of Elme Communities into an apartment operator and helped build the operational platform now used today. With over 13 years of experience in accounting and finance, her previous roles at E*TRADE and PwC included a focus on financial statement audits and controls, policy development, and enterprise transformation project management. She is passionate about people, processes, technology, and teams. Kelly holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Florida and is a certified public accountant.

Jennifer Thorpe-Lewis is a retired senior commissioned officer who served in the active-duty Air Force for over 22 years. During that time, she held positions of authority within the acquisition career field, nationally and internationally, including contracting officer, joint service officer, and commander. She also earned a BA in Business Administration from Howard University, a MS in Contracting Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a MS in Military Operational Arts and Science from the Air Command and Staff College.

In recent years, Jennifer has held positions of leadership within several educational institutions, where her children attend, including parent working group co-chair at a DC public elementary school and president of the parent-faculty association at a DC public charter school, where she has overseen budget execution in excess of $70K.

Siobhan is celebrating her 10th year of involvement at 826DC this year; she started volunteering on field trips at the Museum of Unnatural History, became a regular at AST for many semesters, has done proofing and editing for some of our past chapbooks, and has been a member of the Development Committee since 2020.

Originally from New York, she is a long-term DC resident, currently living in the Forest Hills area, where she has recently taken up gardening. In her professional life, she’s spent the past two decades working in marketing and business development, primarily at several notable DC law firms. Prior to that, she worked for a large executive education and research firm. She is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

Her favorite 826DC book is the 2016 field trip classic, Cupcake & Mr. Bob.

Abigail Smith is a partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC. Clients rely on Abigail to advise on a wide range of securities offerings. She helps public companies and foreign private issuers with corporate governance and ongoing discloser obligations under U.S. federal securities laws. Her experience includes public and private U.S. and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and reorganizations. Abigail holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Mary Kate Mullaney is the senior director, financial and executive communications for GE. In this role, she has worked closely with GE’s executives and teams from across the world to demonstrate GE’s transformation through a period of significant company and market change. She is responsible for communicating with media, employees, and other stakeholders on GE’s strategy, financial performance, and M&A activity, as well as building messaging and engagement strategies for GE’s CEO and leadership team.

Mary Kate has a strong background in media relations, executive communications, public affairs, and thought leadership with experience across GE’s businesses and regions, including leading communications for the planned spin-off of GE Healthcare, developing the external affairs strategy for the merger and public company launch of Baker Hughes and GE Oil & Gas, creating GE Africa’s first region-wide sustainability program, and building research and events on GE’s global public policy priorities. Previously, she supported digital product development at Major League Baseball Advanced Media and editorial content and planning at Global Policy Journal and World Policy Journal.

Mary Kate earned an MSc in international political economy at the London School of Economics and a B.A. in political science from Providence College. She lives in Boston with her husband Mark, son Lincoln, and dog Windy.

Allison (Alli) Flicker is a communications professional with nearly 15 years of experience working within news, public relations, and executive communications.

Alli has spent the last nine years working for Amazon (first in Seattle, WA, now in Arlington, VA). In her various roles, she’s supported Amazon’s philanthropy programs (Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, Disaster Relief by Amazon, Amazon Future Engineer) and Amazon’s upskilling programs for employees with internal and external communications support. In her current role, she supports one of Amazon’s CEOs with his communications to employees, customers, investors, and sellers. She provides in-person support for him in the field, at events, and in media
interviews.

Prior to Amazon, Alli was a local reporter and anchor at KHQ-TV in Spokane, WA. She also spent a year at NBC as a Page, working for NBC Nightly News and MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Alli is a New York native, originally from Long Island. She is happy to be living back on the East Coast, closer to family, and excited to be more active within the D.C. community. She comes from a family of writers, married into a family of storytellers, and through Amazon’s writing-heavy culture, spends a lot of her workday writing and presenting. She earned a BA in Media Studies/Leadership from The University of Virginia.

Aneesha Badrinarayan is Director of Assessment Initiatives at the Learning Policy Institute, where she leads projects related to math, ELA, and science performance assessments. For the last decade, her work has focused on supporting states, districts, and educators to develop and implement student-centered systems of assessment that support all learners. Her passion for coherent and balanced systems of assessment stems from a commitment to high-quality teaching and learning for all and a deep interest in helping practitioners and leaders navigate their systems to achieve that vision. Prior to LPI, she was the Director for Special Initiatives at Achieve, a museum professional, and a neuroscientist. Aneesha earned a M.S. in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, where she served as a research fellow for the National Institute of Mental Health, and a B.A. in biology from Cornell University.

Ashley is currently the client services director at EHS Partners, a boutique consultancy that specializes in leading broad operational improvement efforts. She leads the operational components of the EHS Partners’ program, including process logistics and management, project communications, data analysis and management and ongoing implementation support. She also is actively involved in the development of new orientation and training tools and ongoing systems development as well as marketing and research.

Prior to joining, she designed and facilitated executive education courses on strategic change in large organizations for the consultancy of Pascale & Brown. There, she helped clients research and brainstorm alternative organizational models and improve employee and client feedback.

Ashley earned her BS in Political Science from Santa Clara University. She is passionate about childhood literacy and is active in her community, volunteering with the Junior League of Washington for the past seven years and volunteer coordinating 826DC’s former Reading All Stars program for its last four years.

Ron Charles writes about books and literary culture at The Washington Post. He also serves as
the book critic for CBS Sunday Morning. Since 2013, he’s hosted an interview series with poets sponsored by the Library of Congress, and he’s served as the MC for the PEN/Faulkner Fiction
Prize ceremony since 2017.

Ron came to The Post in 2005 from the Christian Science Monitor, where he served as Books
editor. Before that, he was a high school teacher in Missouri and a college teacher in Illinois.

In 2009, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Excellence in Reviewing. In 2011,
he won first place for Arts & Entertainment commentary from the Society for Features
Journalism. In 2014, Charles served as a judge for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

He lives with his wife, Dawn, a high school English teacher, in Bethesda, Maryland. They have
two daughters: Elissa, who lives in California, and Madeline, who teaches 7th-grade English in
D.C.

Sid Phillips is the Chief Growth Officer at Hanover Research, a leading market research and analytics firm headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. With over 15 years of experience in education research and consulting, Sid has played a pivotal role in Hanover’s expansion and impact across the education sector, including K-12, higher education, and non-profit organizations. Since joining Hanover in 2007, Sid has led the company’s ventures into both higher education and K-12 markets, founding the K-12 practice to address the unique challenges faced by school districts, regional agencies, and educational institutions. His leadership has been instrumental in ensuring that underserved sectors gain access to high-quality, tailored research that enables data-driven decision-making, even when resources are limited.

Sid holds two B.A.s in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Virginia, a Certificate in Organizational Leadership from Harvard Division of Continuing Education, and has completed advanced training in venture capital at Stanford University’s School of Engineering. He is also an active advisor and mentor to edtech startups and serves on advisory boards, supporting growth and business development in the sector. He is also a member of the Restoration Anglican Church and a volunteer head coach for McLean Youth Soccer Club. Sid’s dedication to educational innovation, access for everyone, arts education, strategic planning, and organizational development aligns closely with the mission of 826DC, and he hopes to be an advocate for expanding awareness and increasing fundraising and programming for the organization.