BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Kenneth Merritt is a partner at DayBlink Consulting, a private firm focused on helping businesses manage change and grow. Ken has over twenty-five years of progressive leadership experience in strategy and transformation across multiple industries, types of organizations, and business functions. His specific transformation expertise is designing & delivering enterprise effectiveness & efficiency. Kenneth has also served as a Board Director for both a private operating company and not-for-profit organizations.Ken joined the Washington Latin Board of Governors in the fall of 2019.

Elizabeth Pollitt Paisner is the Director of Financial Analysis and Feasibility for Quadrangle Development Corporation, a leading full-service real estate developer in Washington, DC and the surrounding region. Prior to joining Quadrangle in 2014, she worked for the Office of Economic Development Finance for the Government of the District of Columbia. She has been involved in real estate and economic development in DC for over 20 years. Early in her career, she served as a senior consultant to Arthur Andersen. She serves on the board of the Hill Center on Capitol Hill and is the parent of a rising sixth grader at Washington Latin. She has a Masters in Public Policy from University of California, Berkeley and a BS in Business Administration from Villanova University. And she used a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Laurie Ballenger is General Counsel to The Donohoe Companies, Inc., one of the DC region’s largest real estate companies, and is involved in all aspects of the company’s real estate and operating businesses. She has over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate law in both private practice and as a corporate executive. Prior to joining Donohoe, she practiced commercial real estate law with the firms of Bregman, Berbert, Schwartz & Gilday, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and also served for nine years as General Counsel to The Artery Capital Group, LLC, a privately-held commercial real estate company. Laurie and her husband have five children, four of whom are students at Washington Latin. She joined the board in 2018.

Alyse Graham is a teacher and lawyer with broad public sector experience.   Alyse graduated from Yale University and received her law degree from Stanford Law School.  She served as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and she has taught criminal law and criminal procedure at George Mason University Law School and American University School of Law.  Five years ago, Alyse joined Teach for America and became a teacher at Everett Middle School in San Francisco. She taught science and social studies in both Spanish and English as part of the school’s dual immersion curriculum, and served on the school’s Parent Engagement Committee.  Alyse has also served on the Superintendent’s Committee on Equity for the San Mateo Foster City School District and consulted to Amplify, a national curriculum developer, on a new NGSS-aligned K-8 science curriculum. Alyse is a native Washingtonian who lives here with her husband and three children. 

Priya Jayachandran is the President of The National Housing Trust (NHT), a Washington D.C. based nonprofit, focusing on affordable housing preservation. Priya came to NHT from Volunteers of America, where she served as the Senior Vice President of Affordable Housing Development. Previously she worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, serving as a Senior Policy Housing Tax Credit Advisor, Acting Director of the Program Administration Office, and finally Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs. Prior to joining HUD, Priya spent over 15 years in community development real estate banking in New York and Washington, DC. During that time, she led teams delivering debt and tax credit equity, Historic Tax Credits and New Markets Tax Credits for real estate developers of affordable housing and charter schools. Priya has also worked for the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) in La Paz, Bolivia as a consultant to women’s microcredit organizations and for Credit Suisse as an investment banking analyst. Priya earned her BA from the University of California and her MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Carl McFadgion is a partner in the full-service Real Estate Construction, Property Management and Investment solution company, Affinity Group, LLC and the Director of Strategy & Logistics for the District of Columbia Public School’s River Terrace Education Campus in Northeast, DC.  Carl has over 18 years of experience in Facilities, Operations, Management, and Construction as well as Entrepreneurship that equipped him with a solid knowledge of all faucets of business. Having held senior positions in Operations and Management, he has been directly responsible for the overall administration, coordination and evaluation of the various organizations’ operational functions; which includes directing and coordinating the activities of both direct and support personnel. Carl is most proud of his work to rebuild the Boys to Men mentoring program at the New Samaritan Baptist Church in Washington, DC. His efforts helped to improve the visibility, processes, systems implementation, and management of the program. He received his BA in Communications from Howard University in Washington, DC. 

Josiah Osgood is Professor and Chair of Classics at Georgetown University. His teaching and research cover many areas of Roman history and Latin literature, with a special focus on the fall of the Roman Republic. He is the author of many published books, including How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders. Josiah has earned BA, MA, and PhD degrees from Yale University. He is the winner of numerous awards and prizes.

Fabiana Sofia Perera is an Associate Professor at the William J Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. Her work and research focuses on security and defense issues relating to Latin America and to resource-dependent countries in particular. Prior to joining the Perry Center, Fabiana was a Rosenthal Fellow at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary for Policy, Western Hemisphere Affairs. Fabiana has experience working in the public and private sectors. She worked as a research associate at Mitsubishi International Corporation focusing on Latin America and the energy and infrastructure sectors. She also has experience serving at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Fabiana holds an MA in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University and earned a PhD in Political Science from The George Washington University. For her doctorate, Fabiana completed fieldwork in Venezuela and Ecuador. Her research and analysis have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, CNN.com, and War on the Rocks. Fabiana grew up in beautiful Caracas, Venezuela and in another life worked in retail and lived in Michigan.

Lisa Gail Rucker brings more than 25 years of experience in the fields of grants management, youth and adult education, training, organizational development, and nonprofit leadership.  She has worked to create community- based programs and city-wide systems to help youth and adults obtain the education, training and other services, opportunities and supports needed to succeed in life.  Lisa served most recently as is the Director of the Center for Youth Development at United Way of the National Capital Area and was the founding manager for LEARN24’s (the District of Columbia’s Out-of-School Time Network) Institute for Youth Development at the University of the District of Columbia. Before joining the United Way of the National Capital Area, Lisa was the founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Youth Development at the DC Trust. Before serving in this role, Lisa led the Literacy Initiatives at the DC Trust, including the Lifelong Learning Initiative. Lisa has also worked at Friendship House, where she was Director of Community Services and Community of Hope where she was the Youth and Adult Education Program Manager. Lisa completed her master’s degree coursework in International Education and Training at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, a Graduate Certificate in Adult Education from the University of the District of Columbia, and received her BA from the University of Virginia. She has taught SAT, ESL, and GED courses both in Africa and the US, and worked with at-risk youth at Upward Bound and the Freedom Youth Academy. Lisa resides in Columbia Heights with her husband Souleymane Diallo and their five children, four of whom attend Washington Latin. Since joining our community, Lisa has been an active volunteer at the school as well as at Capitol Hill Montessori School, as well as serving on the DCPS Special Education Parent Advisory Board and working with the parent advocacy group Parents Amplifying Voices Everywhere (PAVE).