2025-2026 Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is the guardian of Congressional School’s mission. It is the responsibility of the Board to establish policies consistent with our mission, to provide fiduciary oversight of the school’s operations, and to engage in long-range strategic planning to ensure Congressional’s future success.
Board committees include:
Advancement (Admission, Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising), Committee on Trustees, Executive, Finance, and Strategic Planning.
Executive Committee
Caroline Kane
Board Chair
Caroline Kane
Board Chair
Caroline Kane is the Director of the Managing Partner's Office for WilmerHale, an international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers located throughout 12 offices in the US and Europe. Caroline works with the firm's management to execute on the firm's strategic, operational, and cultural priorities.
Caroline, her husband George, and their three children (classes of '26, '28, and '32) have been members of the Congressional community since 2015. Caroline has served as a room parent, a CSPO divisional coordinator, and the Vice President of the Congressional School Parents Organization.
Scott Lobel
Treasurer
Scott Lobel
Treasurer
Scott Lobel is a Partner in the Antitrust and Competition and Environmental and Product Liability practices at Bates White Economic Consulting. He has more than 20 years of experience providing advanced economic and financial analysis in complex litigation involving antitrust, intellectual property, and product liability issues. He has testified in Federal court on damages resulting from patent infringement, written reports on the valuation of a patent portfolio, and led project teams on several of the highest-profile antitrust cases over the past 20 years. Scott is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Scott has been a member of the Congressional School community since his older daughter arrived in the Infant/Toddler program in 2009; his younger son joined her at Congressional in 2013. Since 2019, Scott has served on the Congressional School Finance Committee. In the broader community, Scott is also an active youth baseball and basketball coach in various leagues across Northern Virginia.
Dr. Edwin P. Gordon
Head of School
Dr. Edwin P. Gordon
Head of School
Baylor University
Baylor University
Cornell University
Latoya Asia Smith
Vice Chair
Latoya Asia Smith
Vice Chair
Latoya is an experienced labor & employment lawyer, HR executive, DE&I practitioner, and educator. Her professional experience includes roles as outside counsel at an international law firm representing companies across various industries, in-house counsel at a financial services company and an energy company, a strategic HR business partner and labor relations manager at a global petroleum manufacturing company, a DE&I executive at a global risk assessment company, an adjunct college professor, and as a high school teacher in Niamey, Niger. In her current role at Dominion Energy, she is responsible for the strategic oversight of, among other things, employee experience programs and initiatives, talent acquisition compliance, workforce development, talent management, employee & leader development programs, HR technology strategy & analytics, and HR shared services.
Latoya serves on several boards, to include as a member of the Virginia Energy Workforce Consortium, a member of the Center for Energy Workforce Development Executive Council, and as a member of the Edison Electric Institute DEI Executive Advisory Committee. Latoya also serves as an adjunct faculty at George Mason University’s School of Business and as an adjunct lecturer with Georgetown University’s Master of Professional Studies in Human Resources Management program.
Latoya lives in Alexandria, VA, with her husband and two daughters. Latoya has been a member of the Congressional School community since 2018, when her oldest daughter (class of ’31) enrolled as a student. Latoya previously served as a member of the Congressional School Parent Organization (CSPO) leadership team (Primary School Division: 2020-2021) and as a preschool room parent (2019-2020) and Kindergarten room parent (2022-2023).
Selvin Akkus-Clemens
Secretary
Selvin Akkus-Clemens
Secretary
B.A., Economics, Boğaziçi University
M.A., Political Science, Purdue University
Ph.D., Economics, New York University
Selvin Akkus-Clemens is a Managing Director at FTI Consulting with more than 14 years of experience advising clients and regulators on complex economic issues, with a focus on arbitration, securities litigation, and antitrust matters.
Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Dr. Akkus-Clemens worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as a senior financial economist within the Office of Litigation Economics. She was recognized with four SEC awards for individual contributions to litigation support and rulemaking, including Chair’s Award for Excellence.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Akkus-Clemens worked on high-profile antitrust cases involving mergers, monopolization claims, and competition policy. She conducted econometric and market power analyses in several mergers, including the seventh-largest global merger in 2013.
In the past, Dr. Akkus-Clemens has served as a room parent as well as a CSPO member representing the Little School. She has been serving on the Board since 2023. She and her husband, along with their two children (classes of ’30 and ’33) have been members of the Congressional community since 2017.
Board Members
Khelin Aiken
Khelin Aiken
Khelin Aiken is the proud mother of one Congressional student (Class of 2031), a future Colt, and a loving wife to Justin Aiken. She co-leads the school’s Affinity Groups, where she helps foster connection, belonging, and inclusive community dialogue.
Professionally, Khelin is a healthcare attorney and compliance leader with over 15 years of experience advising pharmaceutical and life sciences companies on complex legal, regulatory, and compliance matters. She currently serves as Senior Counsel at Johnson & Johnson, focusing on market access strategy and healthcare compliance. Her career spans leadership roles in both private practice and industry, including serving as a partner at a global law firm and as Assistant General Counsel at a Fortune Global 500 company.
Khelin brings a curious, collaborative, and solutions-oriented mindset to her work, skilled at aligning legal strategy with business goals, leading cross-functional teams, and navigating change with integrity and clarity. She is passionate about cultivating inclusive environments where diverse perspectives drive innovation and growth. Her approach is grounded in her core values: integrity, authenticity, accountability, positivity, and creativity.
Outside of her professional and school commitments, Khelin serves as a board member of Uplift, a strategist for Ms. JD, a member of Alfred Street Baptist Church, and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Friends and colleagues describe her as diligent, loyal, and deeply committed to education, opportunity, and family. As a trustee, Khelin is honored to support Congressional School’s mission to foster active learning, intellectual rigor, and the development of thoughtful, lifelong learners and leaders.
Karen Arnold
Karen Arnold
Karen Arnold is the Founder of K-TEQ Solutions, LLC – a management consulting firm providing strategic planning, organizational development, and executive coaching. Her career spans more than twenty years in leadership and operations with Pharmaceutical Research and Development organizations, the US Department of Defense, and the US Army. She has worked with supply, shipping, and logistics for the military, as well as organizational design for supply organizations for the government. In addition to supporting multiple global clinical trials as a Supply Chain professional in the biotech space, she has provided operations oversight for a women’s health research non-profit, where she was able to improve cross-functional operations to more effectively deliver outcomes towards the research grants. She began her career as an Officer in the US Army, with multiple deployments in support of peacekeeping operations.
Karen has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School, Harvard University, and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical (Aerospace) Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She is also accredited through the International Coach Federation (ICF) as an Associate Certified Coach.
Although new to the Congressional community, Karen has parented two children through multiple military moves, experiencing both public and private school settings.
Charles Clancy
Charles Clancy
Charles Clancy is the chief technology officer of The MITRE Corporation where he leads science, technology, and engineering for the company and the six research centers they operate for the federal government. Prior to MITRE he was the Bradley Distinguished Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he led interdisciplinary research and experiential learning in security for the university. Dr. Clancy started his career leading research and development programs at the National Security Agency.
In addition to the Congressional School, Dr. Clancy serves on several boards across the scientific and national security space, including with the National Academies and three defense-funded university research centers.
Dr. Clancy was named a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his contributions to cybersecurity and wireless communications. He is an elected member of the Virginia Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He has co-authored six books, over 200 academic papers, co-invented 15 patents, and co-foundered five venture-backed startup companies. He received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, masters in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, and doctorate in computer science from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Clancy and his husband Andrew joined the Congressional School community as parents in 2022, with their three children Fiona, James, and Colin.
Donald Gibson
Donald Gibson
As a Managing Director at Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate, Donald has nearly 25 years of experience developing, financing, designing, and constructing facilities for higher education institutions and government agencies. He brings extensive project management and real estate expertise to the Congressional Board. Donald has a Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Ohio State University. Donald is actively involved with professional organizations, job training, and recruiting in the real estate and construction industries. Donald and his spouse, Sharon, have one child at Congressional (class of ’26) and support the Congressional School's continued growth and development.
Emily Hughes Ilich
Emily Hughes Ilich
Allyson Judge
Allyson Judge
University of Virginia, B.A. History, 1997
Allyson has been involved with the Congressional School community since 2008 - as a parent, as a faculty member, and as an interim member of the administration. As a member of the Congressional parent community, Allyson has served as a CSPO Room Parent, a member of the Gala Committee, and Co-Chair of the Gala. She has worked for Congressional School in a professional capacity: as a Preschool Teacher Assistant for seven years; as Interim Director of Advancement; providing data and administrative support for several Gala events; and as a substitute teacher. Allyson and her husband Tim are proud to continue supporting Congressional School as parents of two alumni (classes of '18 and '21).
Allyson graduated from the University of Virginia in 1997 with a degree in History. Prior to joining the faculty at Congressional School as a Preschool Teacher Assistant in Mrs. Welty's classroom, she worked for 17 years at Fannie Mae in varying capacities supporting the Financial Accounting and Capital Markets technical teams and business areas. In her work as a Database Administrator and as a Business Analyst, Allyson supported audit and financial reporting closing cycles; conducted systems testing from a technical and business use case perspective for regular systems upgrades and special projects; and acted as a liaison between the business and technical teams working on project definitions, requirements, scope, and timelines.
Jacqueline Medina
Jaqueline Medina
Jackie Medina is a Vice President of delivery services for federal government IT at GovCIO. She is experienced with leading programs and portfolios in health information technology (HIT), digital, cybersecurity, and large-scale modernization. Jackie started her career in molecular biology research and development (R&D). She is a certified PMP and SAFe Agilist with consulting experience in small companies (COO, co-founder) as well as in large, top ten consulting firms (small cog, large machine).
Jackie graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's Degree in Biology. She later attended Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and graduated with a Master's in Business Administration from the International Executive MBA program.
Jackie has served as a member of Congressional's Finance Committee since 2019. She is pleasantly surprised to find herself as proud mother of Kyle ('25) and twins Lia and Evie ('27), and also shares her life and space with husband Servio (Parent Ambassador) and his beloved bicycles.
Cheryl Vance
Cheryl Vance
BS in Management of Information Systems, University of Alabama
Program for Leadership Development (PLD), Harvard Business School
Cheryl Vance is the Founder and Principal of VictorLee Group, which is a management consulting firm focused on maximizing an organization’s performance through increased efficiency and productivity. Throughout her career, she has been focused on the operational aspects of organizations either through technology or project management, with both Fortune 500 companies, such as IBM and GE, as well as nonprofits. She has held various leadership roles where she has mentored and coached many successful professionals. Her passion is helping others succeed. In 2018, Cheryl’s work was recognized by Harvard Business School with the Making A Difference Award at the Global Alumni Leadership Summit.
In Cheryl’s free time, she loves to volunteer. She is on the Board of Trustees for Congressional School and on the Board of Everyone Home DC, a nonprofit focused on supporting the holistic needs of individuals and families at risk or experiencing homelessness. She is also a Chapter Advisor for the Psi Delta chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi at Shenandoah University. Cheryl was recognized by Harvard Business School with the Making a Difference Award.
Jeanette Allen
Jeanette Allen
Dr. Jeannette Allen is a passionate educational leader with more than 20 years of proven capability in rendering outstanding program management and educational planning initiatives across various K-12 settings. Jeannette has experience in implementing critical strategic interventions focused on curriculum management, staff development, and student achievement. She is a dedicated Educational Manager who advocates a culture of excellence in compliance with state and federal guidance and laws. She has experience in crisis management, principal support, policy writing, and strategic planning.
Dr. Allen began her career as a social worker with a non-profit organization that partnered with DC Public Schools. For the last 20 years, Jeannette has worked in Virginia, where she served in various roles such as, teacher, lead teacher, assistant principal, principal, interim assistant superintendent, and director in three northern Virginia public school systems.
Jeannette graduated from George Mason University (GMU) with a Bachelor’s in Social Work. She later returned to GMU to receive a Master’s in Education in Curriculum and Instruction and Master’s in Education Leadership. She earned her Doctorate in Education, in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from George Washington University and she received an Executive MBA from James Madison University.
Jeannette was raised in Queens, New York, and has lived in the northern Virginia area for 28 years. She is a fluent Spanish speaker. Dr. Allen has received training and certifications in Restorative Justice Training and Trauma-Informed Care.
Anthony Chang
Anthony Chang
Anthony Chang is the founder and managing partner of Silverline Equities, a real estate investment firm established in 2024. Silverline focuses on acquiring and enhancing office buildings in well-located, mixed-use neighborhoods across the Washington, D.C. region. The firm collaborates with high-net-worth investors, family offices, and institutional funds to capitalize on generational investment opportunities. In addition to its investment platform, Silverline offers comprehensive advisory services for clients with commercial real estate challenges, ranging from finding an office lease to complex portfolio REIT transactions.
Anthony began his career at Rockefeller Center in New York City with Tishman Speyer and later worked with Hines, Broadway Partners and RXR. In 2012, Anthony relocated to Virginia, advising clients on commercial leasing at Cassidy Turley, with notable tenant assignments such as finding Cvent a new headquarters. He then joined WashREIT where he led the leasing and asset management teams, transforming a diverse metro D.C. portfolio of office buildings and neighborhood shopping centers. Anthony founded the Virginia office of Stream Realty Partners in 2021 where he built a successful leasing and marketing team while working directly with clients including Asana, Federal Realty, and Elme Communities.
As an active leader in the real estate community, Anthony serves on the boards of NAIOP Northern Virginia, the Fairfax County Council of Economic Opportunity, and Urban Land Institute, where he is currently Chairman of the Washington District Council and former Global Trustee. He holds a Master of Science in Real Estate from New York University and dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Government and Economics, with a concentration in Design and Environmental Analysis, from Cornell University. Anthony and his wife Michelle joined Congressional in 2020 with their two children (Classes of ’27 and '28) and have been active as a family with the Arts Guild, Taste of Home, Advancement Committee, and Fall Festival.
Erika Evans
Erika Evans
Erika Evans is a Global Talent Strategy Leader at Accenture helping to shape design and experiences for Accenture's 500,000+ people in 120+ countries. She joined Accenture from DayNine Consulting where she helped lead the transformation of the fast-growth start-up by aligning people & culture to support business strategies.
A member of the Congressional community since 2012, she has served as a Room Parent, a CSPO member representing the Little School, co-chair for the Congressional Fund, and a member of the gala committee.
Erika is a Northern Virginia native. She and her partner, Evan Howard, currently live in Arlington and are proud parents to three current Congressional students: Cole ‘25, Perrey '29, Tate '32.
Lauren Harris
Lauren Harris
Lauren A. Harris is the owner and Executive Director of Little Ambassadors' Academy (LAA). LAA proudly serves preschool-age children since 2011 and has grown into three campuses located in Arlington, VA. Lauren believes that every child deserves to have a strong foundation to prepare them for success in primary school and beyond. Lauren is a Northern Virginia native that has worked with children for over 20 years in multiple capacities. She has her Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education (Towson University) and a BS in Business Finance from North Carolina A&T State University.
Lauren continues to serve her community in a variety of ways. She championed and worked tirelessly with Arlington County Childcare Office to update child care regulations and served on the Arlington County Workforce Childcare committee (2014-2018). Lauren represented Arlington County when she presented at the annual National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) conference on childcare regulatory changes and strategies to engage stakeholders innthe community (2014). In 2015, she served as the Co-Chairperson of the first Arlington County training day that provided training for over 150 childcare professionals in Arlington County and other areas.
Lauren is also a Professional Development Specialist with the Center for Professional Recognition, a national credentialing program; which helps early childhood educators obtain their Childhood Development Associate (CDA) credentials. In addition, Lauren is a Board Member for Dominion Heights Community Association, Read Early and Daily (R.E.A.D.), and Langston Boulevard Alliance (LBA). She also serves on Arlington County's Fiscal Affairs
Advisory Committee (FAAC).
Lauren is an incredibly committed wife and mother. In her free time, she enjoys coaching cheerleading, t-ball, and spending quality time with her family. Lauren is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
Partnering with families with small children and leading educational administrators and teachers who impact the youngest learners has truly been her life’s passion. She continues to put children and families first at Little Ambassadors’ Academy.
Angie Howard
Angie Howard
Angie Howard has been a proud employee of the United States Department of State since 2002. Originally posted to Barbados and Hong Kong as a Foreign Service Officer, she was an instructor at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington before she began serving as an attorney specializing in U.S. immigration law and policy. Angie has extensive experience with federal litigation and is a member of the bar of both the U.S. Supreme Court and the state of New York. She is currently practicing employment law with a focus on accountability and discipline, and she recently completed the Diversity and Inclusion for Human Resources Certificate Program at Cornell.
Angie, her husband Edward, and their two children (classes of '25 and '29) have been members of the Congressional community since 2016 . Angie has previously served as a CSPO divisional coordinator as well as the Vice President (2020-2021) and President (2021-2022) of the Congressional School Parent Organization. Go Colts!
Dana Maisano
Dana Maisano
Carly Schacknies
CSPO Board Liaison
Carly Schacknies
Carly Schacknies is a seasoned marketing and communications professional with experience building brands and engaging audiences in her work with nonprofits, youth programs, healthcare startups, and law firms. She is currently the Director of Marketing for a leading global business immigration law firm. Carly, her husband Mark, and their two sons have been a part of the Congressional community since 2017. Carly has served as a Congressional School Parent Organization (CSPO) room parent (2019-2021), Vice President (2021-2022), and President (2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025).