Commissioners
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Chandra Walker Holloway was elected President of the Montgomery County Commission for Women (MCCFW) in June 2012. Ms. Holloway is an attorney with a law practice in downtown Silver Spring which specializes in family law matters. Ms. Holloway graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center and has worked in the area of civil litigation for more than ten years. Prior to starting her own law practice, Ms. Holloway worked in the area of antitrust litigation at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, LLP. Ms. Holloway also practiced in the area of general civil litigation while working for Bonner Kiernan Trebach & Crociata, LLP and the Counsel Office for the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO).
Ms. Holloway practices law in Maryland and the District of Columbia; she is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, Montgomery County Bar Association and D.C. Family Trial Lawyers Association. She has also served as member of the Montgomery Taskforce on Teen Dating Violence and as a committee member for the Montgomery County Choose Respect Teen Dating Conference. |
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Maria Montserrat Alvarado was appointed to the Commission in July 2011. Montse has a B.A. in Political Science from Florida International University and a Master’s degree from the George Washington University’s School of Political Management concentrating in Advocacy Politics. Currently the Director of Operations for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Montse leads initiatives in development, communications, events/conference planning and administrative/financial management. Montse is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian and is a competitive classical and jazz vocalist. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Shepherd’s Table, a homeless shelter in Silver Spring, MD and contributor to the online women’s magazine AltCatholica. She is a resident of Chevy Chase, MD. |
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Jennifer Cryor Baldwin, a resident of North Potomac, is the Vice President of Regional Care Coordination at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Prior to her position at CareFirst, she held two positions at Kaiser Permanente; the first as the Chief Nurse Executive, then, the Area Administrator for the District of Columbia and Suburban Maryland for Kaiser Permanente. Prior to that as a Regional Nurse Executive with Kaiser, she has also held positions as the Senior Vice President for Patient Care and Services, the Chief Nurse Executive at Holy Cross Hospital, and has held nursing, administrative and policy positions at Inova Fairfax and Inova Fair Oaks Hospitals, Georgetown University Hospital, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Baldwin holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Villanova University .In addition to her professional career, she has completed many marathons, including the Boston Marathon. |
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| Liz Callihan was born and raised in Washington, DC, and has lived in Bethesda since 1994. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University in 1990. After working as an independent communications consultant for 14 years, she has just signed on as the online communications specialist for the United States Institute of Peace. Prior to her contract work, she was vice president of operations for the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. She has served on the Board of the Montgomery Country National Organization for Women since 2004. | |
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Lorna Phillips Forde, a 25 year resident of Germantown, MD, was appointed to the Commission in July 2012. Through her various affiliations, she has a long history of serving and advocating for women and children in the community. She is a Small Business Owner in Montgomery County and a Certified Contracts Manager with over 20 years of professional experience in Finance and Contract Management. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Pittsburgh and a Certification in Contracts Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. She has previously served on the Deputy Superintendent’s Minority Achievement Advisory Council, Co-Chair of Measurements, currently serves as Chair of Community Partnerships on The Menare Foundation Board and is a member of LeadershipMontgomery, Women Business Owners of Montgomery County and the Montgomery County (MD) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (serving as President 2009-2013). |
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Debra A. Bright Harris is the Director of Articulation, Transfer and Academic Services at Montgomery College. Previously, she worked for 13 years as the Director of Admissions and Student Services at George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Washington University and a Masters of Education from Harvard. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on the "leadership experiences of black women in community colleges." She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the National Council of Negro Women - Potomac Valley Section. She is a resident of Silver Spring. |
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Catherine Hill is a Director of Research at the American Association of University Women, where she focuses on gender equity in education and the workplace. Previously, Dr. Hill was a Study Director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and a City Planner in New York City. She has a bachelor and master’s degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in policy development and planning from Rutgers University. She and her husband lives in Takoma Park, within walking distance of her five local nieces and nephews. |
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Wilma K. Holmes is the principal of the Flower Valley Elementary School in Rockville, a position she has held for 16 years. A resident of Olney, Ms. Holmes has worked for the Montgomery County Public Schools since 1964, holding positions from classroom teacher to Director of Human Relations, Equal Employment Officer, and Supervisor of Elementary Education, before returning to her first love, working with students and faculty in the school building. She is a member of the Montgomery County Alumni Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Silver Spring Chapter of the Links, Inc., and the planning committee for the County Executive's Arts and Humanities Council Executive Ball. |
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Maliha Ilias holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Population, Family and Reproductive Health from Johns Hopkins University. Her doctoral thesis focused on the effect of perinatal depressive symptoms and anxiety on birth outcomes in low-income African American women. She has a great deal of work and research experience in public health in general and in women’s health in particular, including a summer 2006 internship sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at the Health Services Academy of the Pakistan Ministry of Health. She is currently working as a Health Specialist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases where she helps manage the preclinical services contracts for the Bacteriology and Mycology Branch. Her past experience includes teaching at an Elementary School in Philadelphia and working as a journalist in Pakistan. Ms. Ilias lives in Silver Spring with her husband and two children. She is fluent in English and Urdu/Hindi. |
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Colleen Kelly is the Federal Compliance Counsel for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). She has been an advocate for women's issues for over 25 years - particularly in the area of financial independence. As the Vice President of State Government Affairs for CUNA for over 17 years, she worked to develop legislation and programs to help women and families attain financial literacy. She volunteered over 5 years for the Commission for Women's Legal Call-Back Program and the Counseling and Career Center. She earned a degree in Economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder and her law degree at Catholic University of America. She currently lives in Bethesda with her husband and two teenage sons. |
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Nick Martinez moved to Montgomery County in 2002 after completing his B.S. at Colorado State University in 2000. Nick is a Financial Advisor and partner at Edward Jones Investments, with his office in North Bethesda. He is the regional Growth Leader for the firm and has mentored numerous junior Financial Advisors. Nick is a member of the Rotary Club of North Bethesda, which provides scholarships and educational materials to County students. He currently resides in Silver Spring. |
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Barbara S. Mintz retired from a legal career with the federal government as an Administrative Judge with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) where she decided cases involving employment, discrimination and labor issues. Prior to becoming a judge, she litigated cases before the MSPB, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and the EEOC. She obtained her JD from the George Washington University School of Law and has an undergraduate degree from Temple University in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting. During the past decade, she has served in various capacities, most recently as President, of the Jewish Council for the Aging (JCA). JCA is a Montgomery County-based non-profit organization which seeks to help older adults of all backgrounds in the Greater Washington, D.C. region maintain their independence, dignity, vitality and self-respect through a variety of programs, including transportation, elderly day care, training in personal and employable skills, and intergenerational activities. |
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Larniece McKoy Moore is an attorney employed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a Civil Rights Specialist in the Office of Small Business and Civil Rights. She earned her law degree from Howard University and is a resident of Silver Spring. She has worked in the Legal Services Advocacy Project in Minnesota and with the U.S. Department of Justice. With the firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi, LLP in Minneapolis, she was the Diversity and Professional Development Manager. Ms. Moore is a member of the Junior League of Washington and served on the board of the Domestic Abuse Project. |
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Manar Sweillam Morales is the President & CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. Ms. Morales is a national expert and long-time advocate of women in the legal profession. She is a frequent speaker and author on workplace flexibility and the advancement and retention of women. Prior to founding the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance, Manar served as the Executive Director of the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR). As Executive Director, she led all of PAR’s initiatives, programs, and operations. She played an integral role in forming the Diversity & Flexibility Connection, a series of discussions between prominent general counsel and law firm chairs leading to best practices for the retention of diverse attorneys including those working on reduced hours or flexible work schedules. Ms. Morales began her career as an employment litigator representing clients in all aspects of labor relations and employment law. In addition, Manar is an adjunct faculty member of Georgetown University. She has taught classes in Labor and Employment law and Entrepreneurship at Georgetown. Manar is a 1997 graduate of the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University and a 1993 graduate of Cornell University. |
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Katie L. Smith serves as a Legislative Aide for U.S. Senator Michael F. Bennet of Colorado. Ms. Smith began her career on Capitol Hill as an intern on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee under the chairmanship of the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, she held the positions of Publications and Events Coordinator at the Institute for Higher Education Policy, and Communication and Academic Programs Coordinator at the Women & Politics Institute. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from American University, and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Clark Atlanta University. In addition to her professional career, she volunteers regularly at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington, D.C. as a reading tutor. She is also a former partner with College Bound-DC where she mentored high school students in the college preparatory process. She is a resident of Silver Spring. |
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