COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL
JEREMY BEALE
Washington Business Journal
ALS Association's local chapter plans 2015 fundraisers, including Ice Bucket Challenge redux
After the famed Ice Bucket Challenge raised $115 million for the ALS Association, the local chapter has already charted the course for its new fundraising campaigns slated for this year: “Dine to Defeat ALS,” “Walk to Defeat ALS” and, yes, the ALS Challenge, an Ice Bucket Challenge redux it plans to roll out again for the month of August.
“Dine to Defeat ALS” is designed to honor leaders and philanthropists in the community, thus challenging and raising awareness among businesses in the region about the illness commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the nonprofit’s [...]
WASHINGTON NATIONALS SET TO BEGIN MLB-MANDATED FAN SCREENING WITH METAL DETECTORS
Washington Nationals fans will have to take a few extra steps — literally — before they can head to the stands at Nationals Park to watch the team’s exhibition game April 4 against the New York Yankees, or their season opener two days later against the New York Mets.
The Nats are one of 29 teams adding freestanding, gate-shaped, walk-through metal detectors at select entrances around the ballpark, as mandated by Major League Baseball last year in consultation with theDepartment of Homeland Security [...]
‘CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA GETS $3M IN GRANTS FOR BUSINESS SCHOOL
The Catholic University of America got a new infusion of funds to promote further study of "principled entrepreneurship"
The Catholic University of America'sSchool of Business and Economics received a $3 million grant to advance the study and practice of principled entrepreneurship [...]
MLB COMMISSIONER ROB MANFRED THINKS BOTH D.C. AND BALTIMORE CAN HOST ALL-STAR GAMES
With Rob Manfred, the newly appointed Major League Baseball commissioner, in town this week, the question everyone wanted answered was what the future holds for competing markets Washington and Baltimore to ever host an All-Star Game.
In his first official public appearance as commissioner during a Wednesday visit at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, the 10th MLB commissioner responded in a way that may make both markets happy: He would have no issue awarding both cities All-Star Games back to back [...]
Greater Washington Business Leaders
How I ... Make businesses more age-friendly
Mario Acosta-Velez, head of the Age-Friendly Business Initiative task force.
With the senior population steadily growing, the World Health Organization established the Age-Friendly Initiative to ensure the elderly are better integrated into society.Verizon Mid-Atlantic’s Mario Acosta-Velezwas tapped to lead the Age-Friendly Business Initiative’s task force in D.C. to urge companies and organizations in the nation’s capital to reform their practices to meet the needs of the rising senior population.
Thank you for being a founder
Bonnie Moore, president and founder, Golden Girls Network
Bonnie Moore, who started a roommate-finding service for elder women, believes all single middle-aged women, herself included, should pursue youth. She sums herself up, saying, “I’m not your traditional woman.” She is an empowered 70-year-old who drives a red convertible Ford Mustang with the top down, listening to classic rock, nodding her head along to the beat.
HOW I ... FORECAST THE ECONOMY OF BEER
Lester Jones, chief economist, National Beer Wholesalers Association
Fascinated by the drink that has endured the test of time — beer — Lester Jones was hired as the chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association last year from the Beer Institute. Through extensive research, analytics and, yes, a beer or two, he has distilled the industry down to a science, from the moment the barley is grown to when bottles are stocked on the shelf.
Patty Brooks-Nobles Outstanding Directors Awards 2015
Patricia Brooks-Nobles, Chair-elect, Junior Achievement Board of Greater Washington
Patty Brooks-Nobles has dedicated more than a decade to ensuring that young minds receive the same opportunities she was offered when she, herself, was a recipient of services provided by Junior Achievement of Greater Washington. Fueled by her own experiences with the organization, she’s poised to lead the board of the nonprofit that reaches 53,000 local students by providing financial literacy education in the region. Her recent board work includes assisting in the creation of Finance Park, an experiential financial literacy center for children in Fairfax County, and she hopes to build two more within the next five years.
DOUGLAS DONATELLI OUTSTANDING BUSINESS DIRECTOR
Douglas Donatelli, board chairman, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Washington.
Doug Donatelli has been involved with Catholic Charities, a nonprofit that locally serves 116,000 men, women and children of all economic, religious and social backgrounds, for more than 20 years. His tenure dates back to a group his wife ran called “The Year 2000 Society” that consisted of young professionals in Catholic Charities. The real estate executive has been a board member for the past seven years, first with the Catholic Charities Foundation and later as chairman of Catholic Charities when the two boards merged.
HOW I ... GOT MY PRODUCT IN THE OSCAR SWAG BAG
Elena Yearly started training programs to help others start businesses similar to her Nostalgia Baskets, which customizes gift baskets.
Elena Yearly has a simple end game with Nostalgia Baskets: tears of joy. Her personalized gift baskets have made their way to the Emmys and the famed $160,000 Oscar gift bags and the homes of the likes of Tina Fey and Matthew McConaughey.
NOT JUST TALK
Betsy Fischer Martin, executive-in-residence, American University School of Public Affairs; Washington contributing editor, More Magazine.
Betsy Fischer Martin has come a long way from a khaki-clad waitress serving 18 varieties of baked potatoes. Catching the journalism bug, she'd arrived at "Meet the Press" as an intern and left 22 years later as executive producer. Now enjoying traveling and fine fiction, Fischer is an executive-in-residence at her alma mater, giving back to the university who helped rocket her career.
YOU WANT A FRANCHISE WITH THAT?
Heather Rosen, president, FranNet Virginia
Heather Rosen, a former lawyer, learned the art of argument even at age 6. However, a health crisis and impending family caused her to leave her law career and open a franchise consulting business — itself, by the way, a franchise. Now, realizing the opportunity she was granted, this Broadway aficionado strives to offer people in similar situations their own fresh starts in business.
HOW I... GOT A MACARTHUR GRANT
Michael Jenkins, founder, president and CEO, Forest Trends
Michael Jenkins, a former senior forestry adviser for the World Bank and agroforester in Haiti, started Forest Trends 15 years ago — after working in the 1990s in global security and sustainability for the esteemed MacArthur Foundation. This year, those worlds collided when MacArthur awarded Forest Trends one of its highly coveted MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, a $1 million prize.
AN ARCHITECTUAL ACE
Jeremy Burge, managing principal, D.C., Clark Nexsen
Jeremy Burge, named one of Building Design and Construction magazine's "40 under 40" leaders in architecture for beingClark Nexsen's youngest managing principal in 2013, sees the world in shapes, angles and symmetry. When he is not designing buildings — such as the National Naval Medical Center or Operation Smile headquarters — he's playing tennis or creatively flavoring booze. Just give him candy and some peppy tunes, and he's a happy man.
MINORITY BUSINESS AWARD NOMINEE: BUWA BINITIE
Managing principal, Dantes Partners LLC
From an early age, Buwa Binitieunderstood the significance a home brings to a family. Moving from Nigeria to the United States, he was raised to believe a home is more than a place you rest your head.
So given his niche in real estate, he has made it his life's work to establish healthy communities throughout distressed and low-income residencies of the District. He has done so as the managing principal at Dantes Partners, a real estate firm with a focus on urban neighborhood revitalization.
He has led the company in securing more than $300 million in public and private financing to create or preserve more than 1,000 affordable and workforce housing units in the city. And he's primarily responsible for the New Communities Initiative to redevelop four public housing communities — Barry Farm, Park Morton, Northwest One and Lincoln Heights.
MINORITY BUSINESS AWARD NOMINEE:
DAVID GEEVARATNE
Co-founder and president, New Signature
David Geevaratne may only be 5-foot-2, but he's got some tall ambitions for his company. He is a first-generation Sri Lankan who's entrepreneurial spirit kept him from graduating college, opting instead to leave early to start his first business. D.C.-basedNew Signature was founded in 2003 and has grown to more than $10 million in revenue in 2013 and about 90 employees. The company's revenue growth has earned it Inc. 5000 honors for the past four years.
New Signature, which uses Microsoft tools to solve business challenges for commercial customers, was named in the top Microsoft partner in the U.S. in 2014, beating out tens of thousands of others. But behind the success of the company, professional development and education stand out as its core principles: Geevaratne allows each employee four hours a week for professional development.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 25 YEARS
Nancy McLernon, president and CEO, Organization for International Investment
Nancy McLernon dreamed of being a strong, independent woman from an early age, not just another cog in a wheel. At OFII, where she's spent a quarter-century working on behalf of some of the world's biggest brands — Airbus, L'Oreal, Samsung, Volvo, to name a few — to make it easier to plant U.S. locations, she's anything but a cog. Just ask her fellow participants at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where she hosted a talk with Commerce SecretaryPenny Pritzker.
HOW TO STAGE GRACEFULLY
Colin Hovde, producing artistic director, Theater Alliance
To watch theater is to gain entrance into another world. Colin Hovde, always been influenced by the stories behind everything, has been Theater Alliance's artistic gatekeeper into those other worlds since 2012. In return, the theater, which moved with the H Street Playhouse into the Anacostia Playhouse, has drawn 20 nominations under the region's prestigious Helen Hayes Awards this year alone.
HOW I... HOPE TO MAKE VALENTINE'S DAY EASIER
UrbanStems, co-founded by Ajay Kori and Jeff Sheely
Last year, this time, UrbanStems foundersAjay Kori and Jeff Sheely were trudging through snow, hand-delivering their first bouquets assembled with flowers from South American farms to D.C. customers as a brand new startup. This year, they're expanding their flower delivery model to Manhattan, still hoping to benefit off of the Valentine's Day rush, but, they hope, with much milder weather.
HIS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Meet Lars Dyrud, CEO and president, OmniEarth Inc.
Whether, it was dreaming of becoming an astronaut or watching The Dukes Of Hazzard, Lars Dyrud thrived on excitement. Pushing his way through university after university, and more fast food jobs than he'd like to count, this pizza-loving space physicist came to found OmniEarth, an Arlington startup that captures enough satellite images to change the way we view Earth.
HOW I ... OPENED MY FIRST STORE — AT 16
Breana "Bree" Britt, owner and co-founder, Bree's Sweet Treats LLC
It's not every day the region hears about young entrepreneurs starting their own business — at age 11. That's when Breana "Bree" Britt, baking since 5, first established her own online bakery, opening a Bree's Sweet Treats storefront at the ripe age of 16. Bree talks about juggling the honor roll and teenage life and how she goes from student by morning to proud bakery owner by afternoon.