Leadership

Foggy Bottom West End Village

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Executive Director Denise Snyder

Denise Snyder has 40 years of experience running small and mid-sized nonprofits in the Washington area. She brings experience with volunteers, program development, organizational management, and fundraising. She has been involved with villages for several years and is energized by the sense of community they create. Denise joined our village in April 2019.


	*Board of Directors:* Myrna Fawcett, President (founding member) William Kincaid, Vice President and Treasurer Pat Kellogg, Secretary Richard Bienia Morris Chalick Phyllis Kramer Ris Lacoste Christine Searight Nadia Taran C.B. Wooldridge (founding member)	*Past Founding Board Members:* Beverly Gyllenhaal Jackie Lemire Monroe Wright Rebecca Coder Lorna Grenadier John Seichter Susan Haight Carl Vacketta Mary Bernstein

Board Bios

Pat Kellogg
Retired Internist

As a long term resident of Watergate West (25 years) and a retired internist (after 39 years in practice), Pat Kellogg has both a personal and professional interest in “aging in place” and the mission of the Village.

She is a born and bred New Englander who moved to Bethesda after college. Then followed a career in medicine in Bethesda and Rockville while raising her family. She retired from the practice of General Internal Medicine last summer. Now she enjoys classes at Georgetown University and OLLI in Art History, understanding ballet and classical music. Her longtime hobby is reading fiction with her book club. Washington’s vibrant theater and travel are interests to share with her husband, Amitai Etzioni. They have family both here in Washington and overseas.

Phyllis Kramer
Retired Therapist

In nearly 30 years in private practice, Phyllis Kramer has counseled scores of clients working through isolation and illness and depression and dysfunction. As a therapist, Phyllis focused on areas of treatment particularly relevant to Village members – social isolation, grief and caregiver counseling.

Although retired, Phyllis is active in Foggy Bottom area as a Board member for St. Mary’s Court and she teaches a course in professional development at GW’s School of Medicine. She holds several certifications, among them gestalt therapy, family therapy and hypnosis for specific disorders.

Phyllis and her husband James M. Banner Jr. have traveled widely in Europe and Asia, but especially enjoy walking near their home along the banks of the Potomac River. Phyllis also enjoys the area’s museums, and is an avid theater-goer and movie buff.

Myrna L. Fawcett
Elder Law Attorney

Myrna specializes in Elder Law and representation of adults with special needs. She is a member of the board of many prominent Washington and national organizations. She has participated in multiple programs on issues involving hoarding, advanced directives, bioethical issues and financial options for seniors.

Why she supports FBWE Village: I always want to be engaged and vital within my community. FBWE village will offer me that support as I grow older.

Ris Lacoste
Award-Winning Chef

Village members may already know Ris from her namesake restaurant RIS at 2275 L Street NW, where she and her staff serve seasonal American cuisine. But fewer members may be familiar with Ris’ long professional path to her own concept that wound its way from her hometown New Bedford, Massachusetts through San Francisco and then to Paris. Paris was a life-changing move that led her to work at the famed La Varenne École de Cuisine, where she was hired to type and edit recipes, then eventually earning a culinary degree. After a stint as a sous chef in Burgundy, Ris returned to the states where she worked with celebrated chef Bob Kinkead beginning in 1985, helping him open 21 Federal in Nantucket, MA, and Twenty-One Federal in Washington, DC.

Ris has earned numerous awards as well as a nomination from the legendary James Beard Foundation, and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) named her "Chef of the Year" in 1999 and awarded 1789 Restaurant its "Restaurant of the Year" prize in 2000.

Ris is a Board member for several local organizations, including the RAMW, where she is a member of its Education Foundation. She is also a member of the Board of DC Central Kitchen and she is on the Advisory Board of the Hospitality High School of Washington, DC. Ris was also the first recipient of the Village’s Torch Award for Community Spirit for her service to the community. It is this service that she hopes to extend further as a new Board member for the Village, promoting Village services, and of course the benefits of great food and drink and her love and connection to cooking.

Bill Kincaid
Former Director of Health for the City of St. Louis

During Dr. Kincaid's 45-year career as a physician he has served as the Director of Health for the City of St. Louis. He was involved with community preparedness efforts to combat bioterrorism, and infectious disease outbreaks such as avian influenza. Dr. Kincaid also served as a hospital board member, a Medicaid managed care medical director, and on local non-profit boards. He was on the faculty of the Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice.

Dr. Kincaid has a long-standing interest in a variety of public policy issues, including public and private investment in community health and the maintenance of public health infrastructure and systems. His other interests include the development of health education projects for physicians and consumers, local efforts that address community needs, and programs for special at-risk populations.

Christine Searight
Senior Director with the GW Hospital

Christine Searight joined the Foggy Bottom West End Village in January 2022. She was drawn to the Villages’ mission for providing the resources to community members who wish to age in place and for ensuring they can stay engaged & active in the Foggy Bottom/West End community.

Christine is a marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience growing well-known brands like Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, and USA TODAY. She is currently the Senior Director, Strategic Marketing, Communications, and Business Development at GW Hospital. She holds a BA in History and an MBA in Marketing from the George Washington University.

C.B. Wooldridge
Meeting/event manager

C.B. is a professionally trained social worker, (MSW), who came to Washington to join Health and Human Services to write national welfare policy. He later managed regional offices.He’s now an independent meeting professional, managing meetings and special events. C.B. is very active with St. Paul’s Episcopal Parish, especially active with services for and involving seniors.

Why he supports FBWE Village: “I see it as a multi-pronged opportunity: to honor and respect our older citizens; to celebrate and give back to our special community; to be a voice on the Board for us “renters,” and hopefully, encourage us savvy seasoned seniors, sages and seers to stay engaged, active and involved.”

Nadia Taran
Retired Librarian

Nadia had a rewarding 35 year career as a public librarian, starting at the Free Library of Philadelphia and ending with the Fairfax Country Public Library. She enjoys city life with her husband Al and they have lived in the West End since 1988. When she retired in 2009, she was ready to trade-in commuting for service opportunities closer to home.

Nadia previously volunteered with the National Park Service, Global Language Network, and currently serves on her condo board. She has been a Village member since the village launched in 2013, and helped create the Balance Series which evolved into Health and Wellness. She also serves on the Village Program Committee, and recently joined the Washington Area Village Network (WAVE).

Nadia's other interests include: reading, ballet class, choral singing, cooking/baking, yoga and improving her Russian. In her own words, "the Village connected me to new neighbors and having a library close by is my idea of heaven."

Morris Chalick
Retired Psychiatrist

Morris had been a proud Washingtonian for almost 53 years, having come here after military service to work as a psychiatrist for the Peace Corps here in DC. He was born, reared, and completed all of his schooling through his psychiatric residency in Philadelphia. A medical draft then took him to a year in San Francisco-Oakland and then another year outside of Da Nang, Vietnam.

Morris has been in private practice here and has also worked at Group Health and the Board of Veterans Affairs.

Morris also acted for about 20 years in theater plus a bit of film and training videos. He enjoys calligraphy, sculpting in clay and plastic and metal, singing and playing shakuhachi (flute).

Richard Bienia
Retired Foreign Service Officer

Richard was born (long ago) in a hospital located one block from the current Village office. After a long period of education, he served for a decade on the faculty of a medical school. He departed academic medicine to join the State Department... working in numerous, often obscure, foreign countries. His major life accomplishment was to talk Bari (also a village member) into marrying him. They retired in Washington in 2007.

:: Foggy Bottom West End Village: 2430 K Street, NW : Washington, DC 20037 : 202-333-1327 ::