Local community and business leaders work together to advance our mission to ensure public schools are places all students can thrive.
Emily Sanford Fisher is Executive Vice President, Clean Energy, and General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) in Washington, D.C. EEI is the trade association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Emily oversees and coordinates clean energy policy engagement across EEI and across the federal government. She also is responsible for managing EEI’s litigation and legal affairs, covering a wide range of energy and environment regulatory and policy issues, at the state and federal level. Both the Office of the General Counsel and the Environment Department at EEI report to her.
Prior to joining EEI in 2008, Emily was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. She served at the U.S. Embassies in Bangkok, Thailand and Bogotá, Colombia. She also worked at the law firms Dewey Ballantine llp and Dickstein Shapiro llp in Washington, D.C., representing investor-owned electric companies and independent power producers in a range of regulatory proceedings and transactions.
Emily received a B.A. in international affairs with a concentration in economics from the George Washington University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was the Administrative Editor of The Georgetown Environmental Law Review. She is admitted to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia. She was 2014-2017 Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Ecosystems and is currently one of that group’s Vice Chairs for Deep Decarbonization. She serves on the Board of the Energy Bar Association and was appointed to the Energy Systems Integration Group’s Advisory Council in 2019. Emily lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and son.
Marie Sylla-Dixon is a trailblazing leader and global Fortune 500 senior executive with over 20 years of government affairs, public policy, diversity, equity & inclusion, social impact, M&A and public affairs, working with highly matrix organizations and with regulated consumer facing industries.
She helps companies shape and advance industry-defining agendas and navigate complex policy and reputation challenges globally, federally and at the state and local level. Also she has an expertise in advancing DEI for culture transformation, and new market expansion. Her superpowers are in harnessing an organization's purpose, and people to push forth its business and policy agenda while positioning companies as thought leaders.
With a start-up mentality Marie has been able to successfully build and transform new corporate functions that add value proposition and position the organization's reputation for recognition and long-term success. Marie thrives in helping organizations in using data and metrics in storytelling and problem solving. What brings Marie joy professionally is working in a great culture with fun, mission driven organizations and people while driving results.
Scott Goldschmidt is a partner at Thompson Coburn, LLP, where he represents institutions of higher education and education companies. His practice focuses on navigating the day-to-day and long term legal demands facing the education industry, with an emphasis on regulatory and transactional matters. Scott also has particular experience in the areas of student affairs, anti-discrimination matters, contract drafting and review, and policy development.
Prior to joining Thompson Coburn, Scott served as Deputy General Counsel for The Catholic University of America, and prior to that, as a law clerk for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the General Counsel.
Scott is a proud City Year alum, serving as a corps member in a Washington DC elementary school during the 2008-2009 school year. During his time at City Year, Scott worked full time to improve the literacy and math skills of twenty fifth-graders and organized and oversaw an after-school program. One of Scott's favorite memories from his time at City Year is serving as a director of Camp City Year, a week-long spring break opportunity for elementary school students. Scott lives in Kensington, Maryland with his wife Jen and their two young daughters.
David L. Goldblatt brings a wealth of experience to his clients in legislative advocacy and real estate development. For his clients, Mr. Goldblatt provides access to governmental officials and guidance on how to traverse government agencies and programs. He regularly provides advice and counsel to clients on a vast range of local legal, legislative and policy issues. Mr. Goldblatt has drafted numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives that have been enacted or adopted by the District of Columbia on a variety of subjects. Mr. Goldblatt has a keen understanding of D.C. economic development programs and initiatives, including tax increment financing, business improvement districts, surplus property dispositions, real property tax exemptions, payment in lieu of taxes and industrial revenue bonds. He played a central role in legislation that spurred the economic revitalization of Washington, D.C.
Mr. Goldblatt also has vast knowledge of real estate related issues including public financing and public-private partnerships. He lives in D.C. with his wife and 2 children
Brandee Tate is a Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the K–12 Education team. Prior to joining the foundation, she was the Manager of Data & Accountability for D.C. Public Schools, where she led the analysis and strategic use of student achievement data across the district. Specifically, she was responsible for the reporting and analysis of accountability data, including summative assessment (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) results, adjusted cohort graduation rates, National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment scores, and data elements and metrics reported in the DC School Report Card (required under the Every Student Succeeds Act).
Previously, she was the Manager of Evaluation & Analysis at OneGoal, a college access organization that supports underserved high school students with enrolling, persisting, and graduating from college. She also has experience in the postsecondary space, having been a policy analyst for the University System of Georgia supporting policies centered on increasing the number of Georgia residents with postsecondary credentials. Tate earned a B.A. in Sociology from Princeton University and an M.P.P. from UC Berkeley.
Lobby on behalf of CSX Transportation at the federal and local level. Proven record and trusted reputation have been instrumental in advancing and defending numerous legislative and administrative initiatives. Lead several transformational rail projects through coalition building, acquiring federal funding, engaging the community and government, and navigating permitting processes - leading to their ultimate approval and construction.
Hermann is an Assistant Vice President & fiduciary advisor in Merrill Lynch’s Washington DC market. Since 2018 he has served as a personal CFO and ‘hub’, organizing & integrating the various elements of clients’ financial lives and serving as their single point of contact in addressing their wealth-building, preservation and tax mitigation goals. He works side-by-side with endowments, foundations, industry leaders & families across 23 states in defining their goals and exceeding benchmarks through strategic long-term planning. He ensures his clients benefit from the 8 lines of business within the Bank of America enterprise & the wide assortment of partners on stand-by ready to fulfill on his clients’ every need.
As an MBA graduate from Louisiana State University, and holding a business degree from the University of Maryland Global Campus, Hermann is passionate in leveraging his finance expertise to educate and inspire his community. He is an active volunteer and has assumed leadership roles within local organizations geared around facilitating mentorships, internships and apprenticeships for community college students in Montgomery County, MD & Washington DC. He collaborates with local industry leaders to make Montgomery County a prime ecosystem for biotech & life science careers, and is very much involved in the buzzing and emerging sector in the county.
Daphne Turpin Forbes, Assistant General Counsel and Managing Attorney is a trusted legal and business advisor at Microsoft with 20+ years of practice in the U.S. Public Sector and Commercial Regulated Industries. Her corporate experience spans in-house at companies like Microsoft, Discovery Communications, ACS State & Local Solutions (formerly Lockheed Martin IMS), Hyatt Hotels, and General Motors.
She is lead counsel and managing attorney responsible for supporting Microsoft’s Health & Life Sciences and Public Sector businesses (“HPSI”); an $11.8B Enterprise Operating Unit comprised of three business segments of Microsoft’s U.S. Industries: specifically, State & Local Government, Education, and Health and Life Sciences advising clients on various legal matters including; complex technology and professional services transactions, legal, compliance and regulatory issues, data privacy and security matters, critical infrastructure considerations, government and enterprise cloud, Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), public sector contracts/procurement law and ethics, public policy considerations; matters raised by U.S. Attorneys General; and health and life sciences regulations. Prior to her role in HPSI, she also supported the company’s financial services and federal government business verticals.
Daphne is a DEI champion and has served on various non-profit boards and advisory councils nationally and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Daphne recently served as Chairwoman and County Commissioner of the Liquor Board in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She has also served as an adjunct law professor at Howard University School of Law where she co-instructed a class on Technology and Law. Daphne is a member of the Maryland State Bar and National Bar Associations and is the corporate recipient of the Microsoft MVP Circle of Excellence (Gold Club) Award, the National Bar Association’s Clyde E. Bailey Corporate Leadership Award and is the 2020 recipient of Michigan State University’s Distinguished Alumni Award. She is a graduate of Michigan State University, and the American University Washington College of Law. Daphne lives in Prince George’s County, Maryland with her husband and their two young adult children.
Jit is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP in the US Strategy service line Monitor Deloitte and leads the Pricing & Profitability Management practice. Jit has over 12 years of experience in revenue enhancement services including customer and channel strategy, pricing, corporate strategic planning, and M&A. His project work includes pricing analytics, pricing strategy, and pricing policy design and execution, all to identify and capture improvement opportunities. He holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Jeffrey Franco has over 25 years of experience in leading and managing large-scale nonprofits, and providing strategic consulting, business development and change management for both public and private sector organizations. As CEO of Camino Consulting Group and Founder and Co-Leader of Transformation Leadership Institute, Jeffrey has worked with local and national nonprofit CEOs to support and advise on strategic planning, board training and development, executive coaching, interim leadership, fundraising, and diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) facilitation and training. Jeffrey also serves as Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland where he currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in nonprofit management and leadership. He also serves on the boards of Potomac Conservancy, Outward Bound, and the Center for Inspired Teaching.
Jeffrey has served as the interim CEO/ED at various nonprofits with budgets between $4-$14 million and staff sizes from 15 to 100 employees in Washington, DC, Miami and San Francisco. At those organizations, he led in a medium- and long-term capacity to support and lead those non-profits through leadership transitions and, in some cases, organizational issues. Jeffrey was the Interim Executive Director for City Year in Miami; Rising for Justice in Washington, DC; Youth Speaks in San Francisco, and St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth and Families; just to name a few. In these interim roles, Jeffrey was responsible for managing the staff, operations, programs, and fundraising, and leading the organization through major change management processes, organizational turn around, leadership transition, and new Executive Director onboarding and coaching. Jeffrey continues to serve as an executive coach for many of the new leaders of these organizations.
Prior to founding Camino Consulting Group, Jeffrey served over 12 years as both the Executive Director of City Year in Washington, DC and as Senior Vice President and senior leader of the $200 million national organization. Under his leadership, City Year Washington, DC tripled the size of its staff, quadrupled the number of students served, increased its budget from a $2.3 million to $8.6 million operation, and established City Year’s first multimillion contract with the DC Public School System. During this time, Jeffrey secured multiple 7 figure individual gifts and established national corporate investments for multiple City Year sites across the country. Prior to his work in the nonprofit sector, Jeffrey served as the Director of Global Business Development and Project Manager at Voxiva, Senior Consultant at Deloitte Consulting, Associate Director of Marketing and Sales at Corporate Executive Board, and Consultant at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. Jeffrey’s professional accolades and accomplishments include being named the 2013 American University Kogod School of Business Alumni of the Year, alumnus of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, graduate of the Co-Active Teaching Institute Leadership Program, graduate of Leadership Greater Washington, and graduate of the Leadership Sanctuary. He graduated with a B.A. from Fairfield University, a Masters degree in International Affairs and an M.B.A. from American University. Jeffrey is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, enjoys traveling, has completed 5 marathons and an Ironman triathlon, walked the 500-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain, completed the 150 Mile Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and 600 mile Ride the Rockies bike ride.
Alexis L. Squire is a proven tri-sector executive with over 15+ years’ experience in advancing local and national social impact efforts through grantmaking, public-private partnerships, fund development, strategic communications, and civic and community engagement. Currently, Alexis serves as the Chief Equity and Impact Officer for DC Fire and EMS, where she provides administration and coordination of external relations, including strategic communications and community relations, and multi-sector partnerships and collaborations.
Alexis is a trusted advisor and philanthropic thought-leader and served as the District’s Chief Service Officer and Director of The Mayor's Office on Volunteerism and Partnerships in Washington DC. In this cabinet appointed role, she served at the helm of the District’s Commission on National and Community Service, awarding nearly 8 million in federal AmeriCorps and private grant funding to area nonprofits in support of key focus areas such as education, environmental sustainability, and civic engagement. Before her time in public service, for over a decade, Alexis designed catalytic fund-development and engagement efforts such as the Ice Bucket Challenge, Executive Sleep Out, various giving campaigns, strategic communications, and community and volunteer efforts at leading local and national nonprofits with missions centered around access and equity in health, housing, and workforce development.
Alexis is graduate of the University of Maryland and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Executive Leadership in Philanthropy program. Alexis also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Philanthropy DMV, formally Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG), a regional philanthropic membership organization that advances social justice. Alexis is a third generation Washingtonian and the daughter of two retired DC Public School educators. She resides in her Ward 7 community with her husband and two charming sons, Alexander (6) and Levi (4).
Garrick joined the Auto Innovators in January 2021 and currently leads the Federal Affairs team that serves as the liaison for the automotive industry, advocating and educating throughout the policy environment. Garrick previously served as Head of Federal Affairs, North at CSX Transportation and has over 30 years of experience guiding government affairs, strategic, financial and crisis communications, and community relations on behalf of utilities, nonprofits, universities, medium-sized businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Garrick received a Master of Arts degree in public policy from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. is the Dean of American University Washington College of Law. Before joining AU, Fairfax taught at the George Washington University Law School, where he served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law.
Dean Fairfax began his legal career as a judicial law clerk to Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, and to Judge Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Fairfax then worked as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, and as a Counsel in the DC office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
Fairfax has served on the boards of the National Bar Association and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and is currently on the boards of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He is a member of the American Law Institute and was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to the Judicial Conference of the United States Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules. Dean Fairfax graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School in northeast D.C., and earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College. After earning his master’s degree in constitutional history from the University of London, Fairfax graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was an NAACP LDF Scholar and served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
