Meet Our Leadership Team

Lynn Golub-Rofrano, Executive Director
Lynn Golub-Rofrano is the founding Executive Director of Georgetown Village which launched in 2011.  Since launching Georgetown Village, Lynn has guided the Village’s expansion to almost 200 members while increasing the level of services to meet the needs of some of our aging and frailer members. In addition, Lynn has worked to increase the number of programs and activities for the many active members of Georgetown Village.
Lynn strongly believes in the Village movement and the concept of Neighbors Helping Neighbors as well as the value of community building.  Her husband is a federal employee and like many of you, they have lived overseas while working for the government.  These experiences definitely reinforced the importance of community and neighbors helping neighbors. In her spare time, Lynn enjoys going to the theater, reading, knitting, traveling, and spending time with her two grown children.
Lynn has a Master’s degree in Social Work and an Education Specialist (Masters +30) in Education and Administration Supervision.  As Executive Director of Georgetown Village, Lynn also serves on faculty for Catholic University of America as a field supervisor for social work students.
During her time at Georgetown Village Lynn completed the Washington Area Geriatric Education Consortium Master Faculty Certification in 2015.  In 2017, Lynn attended the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, and holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management.
Varnita Holtzclaw, Executive Assistant
Varnita joined the staff of Georgetown Village in 2017.  Since that time, Varnita has taken an active role in Village Administrative and Member Service Coordination.
In addition, Varnita works closely with GV Committee Chairs and Board Members to assist them as they fulfill their roles and responsibilities.  Prior to working at Georgetown Village, Varnita served as an Executive Administrative Assistant and Office Administrator for ACAP.  She has more than twenty years of experience in Customer Service, Human Resources Management, Database Management, and various Operations and IT Support roles for non-profit, State, Local, and Federal Government agencies.
Varnita has three children Patrick, Dorian, and Taylor ages 16, 15, and 14.  Our members and volunteers often comment on how much they enjoy Varnita’s can do attitude, and positive approach.  Give us a call and we’re sure you’ll enjoy speaking with Varnita as well!
Bethany Whitfield, Volunteer and Member Coordinator
Bethany Whitfield joined Georgetown Village as the Volunteer and Member Coordinator in March 2023.
In this position, she will be working to support members and volunteers of this wonderful community. Originally from Florida, Bethany has lived in the DMV for the past seven years. She previously worked in publishing and international education, and is  excited to bring her passion for community-based work to Georgetown Village.  Feel free to reach out at any time if you have any support needs, questions, or simply to say hello!

 

Meet Our Board of Directors

Carol Kelly, President
With forty years of successful advocacy work, Carol A. Kelly is the founder and CEO of Kelly Advocacy Outcomes which assists clients in Washington and across the country with their legislative and regulatory needs for healthcare matters.  She currently serves as Adjunct Faculty at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (George Washington University) and has served previously on the board of the Society for Women’s Health Research.
Ms. Kelly has worked twice for the public sector and has represented companies and trade associations, giving her a wide-ranging view of the advocacy and policy environments of Washington. She joined the Board and Executive Committee of the American Benefits Council serving as its first Chairwoman from 2002-2003.  Ms. Kelly has an MA from the University of Virginia and a BA from the University of Delaware.
Josh Kuhnert, Treasurer
Josh grew up in South Louisiana and has lived in Georgetown since 2007 on Volta Place and Q Street. He holds a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Northwestern, MS in Financial Engineering from Columbia and studied in the Finance PhD program at UT Austin. He has focused professionally on investment management and currently manages Institutional and Private Client portfolios for Wells Fargo Private Bank.
Josh and family are devoted to the Georgetown community, volunteering with Georgetown Village, Citizens Association of Georgetown, Friends of Volta Park, Concerts in the Park and other neighborhood groups.
Michael LaCour-Little, Assistant Treasurer
Michael LaCour-Little is Professor of Finance-Emeritus at California State University Fullerton. Prior to retiring from the university in 2016, Dr. LaCour-Little was Chair of the Department of Finance and Executive Director of its Real Estate and Land Use Institute.
He has also recently retired from Fannie Mae, where he was a Senior Director – Economics in the Economic and Strategic Research group for six years. In that role, he managed a portfolio of research projects and a team of economists. Dr. LaCour-Little was an executive in the mortgage industry prior to joining the faculty of Cal State Fullerton in 2006. From 2003-2008, he also served as Executive Vice President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. Prior to earning his doctorate in 1996, he spent decades in banking at both Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
His main research interest is real estate finance. He has published over forty articles and book chapters on housing finance and mortgage markets in peer-reviewed academic journals, including Real Estate Economics, The Journal of Banking and Finance, The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, The Journal of Housing Economics, The Journal of Real Estate Research, The Journal Fixed Income, and Housing Policy Debate, and serves on a number of editorial boards. A native of California, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of California.
Emily Sommers, Secretary

Ms. Sommers is a Washington, DC native. She has a J.D. from Catholic University Law School, where she was a teaching assistant and an editor on the Law Review; an M.A. from George Washington University; and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. She retired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2018, where she had worked since 1990.
While at the FDIC, Ms. Sommers worked as a supervisory counsel in the failed bank section of the General Counsel’s office, supervising a staff of 13 employees in investigating failed banks and analyzing and determining whether litigation should be instituted against professionals associated with failed institutions. If so. Ms. Sommers and the staff worked to develop a case to present to the FDIC Board of Directors for authority to sue. After she graduated from law school in 1977, and prior to coming to the FDIC, Ms. Sommers worked for the Department of Energy, supervising a litigation staff of 11 employees in preparing and trying violations of DOE oil pricing regulations by major U.S. refiners before the agency administrative bodies and the federal courts.  Ms. Sommers lives in Hillandale, where she is co-chairman of the Program Committee with Carol Kelly, and enjoys travel, theater, walking/hiking, 2 book groups, and the many wonderful museums, lectures, concerts and other activities life in Washington offers.
Judith Bunnell 
Judith Bunnell offers a unique background and perspective in entrepreneurship, finance, and complex budget strategies and implementation. She is a proven entrepreneur and investor. In addition, she has been an investment banker and has led the development and management of large municipal budgets and operations. Judith is a leader in concrete organizational growth, financial strategies and business acumen in K-12 education and state and local governments. Judith has decades of experience in programming and development for a variety of education-related non-profits and for-profits. She has managed outreach and financial campaigns both large and small, and started, grew and sold her own education for-profit company.
Currently, she serves as an angel investor and volunteer leader on multiple boards including Harvard University, Georgetown Ministry Center and her Parish Council. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University and a B.A. from Yale University.
John Doolittle
John Doolittle grew up in LaGrange, Illinois a western suburbs of Chicago. He took an early interest in public speaking which lead to a fascination with first radio and by 1949 television. He attended Northwestern University majoring in communication with a specialization in Radio-TV and Film.  After graduation he joined WBBM Radio, Chicago as a producer and later as the station’s press information director. He worked on air for stations in Hammond and South Bend, Indiana before moving to Atlanta to join WSB Radio where he covered the growing racial and anti-Viet Nam War events. The station is also where he met his future wife, Ellen Baker, who was employed in the television side of the facility.
In 1970, John received a Masters degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. From there, he and his wife moved to Madison to pursue doctoral degrees at the University of Wisconsin, his in Communication Arts, hers in Psychology. After finishing their degrees, John and Ellen moved to Indiana University where he taught in the School of Journalism and she was a Post Doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. In 1980  Washington beckoned with new challenges.
John joined the American University School of Communication faculty where he designed and taught courses in radio-television news production. He also served as Director of the Schools Journalism division for several years. In addition he kept his skills sharp working one summer as producer of WRC’s morning hours of talk radio and writing and producing news for the Voice of America. Subsequently, he was a visiting professor at Stanford University where he pioneered the Journalism programs which included student-produced newscasts on local cable tv outlets.  Later years at A.U. he became an associate director of the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence which helped faculty develop their technical teaching skills. Research interests included studies of the effects and history of mass media. His book, Don McNeill and His “Breakfast Club” chronicled the development and growth of early morning network programing and sparked a renewed interest in one of the pioneers of broadcasting.
Now an Emeritus Professor from American University since 2013, Doolittle volunteers with: The National Park Service and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Friends of Theodore Roosevelt Island, the Washington National Cathedral, the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive, and Georgetown Village.  Doolittle and his wife are original owners of their Cloisters home moving there in 1987.  As a Georgetown Village volunteer John’s most frequent assignment is to assist Village members with computer-related issues. His years working in electronic media environment and experience preparing faculty and students to use technology more effectively have paid off handsomely.
Betty Greenwold
Betty graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a psychology major and an MA degree from Lesley University.  She has worked as a small business administrator and a mediator for the majority of her career.  Betty has also been a volunteer in the field of senior services since 1970, a member and then long-time president of the National Council of Jewish Women, DC section, and worked in their joint program for seniors with the Washington JCC.   She has served on the Hillandale Board where she resides and has been a Georgetown Village volunteer with Village for several years.  She has been married to Mark Greenwold for 58 years, and has three children and six grandchildren. Fortunately, two daughters and four of their grandchildren live in DC.
Patricia Murphy
A native of New Jersey, Patty Murphy moved to Georgetown in 1965 after graduating from Saint Francis University. She has lived here in a variety of houses, from tiny Pomander Walk to her current “real” house on Dent Place. She had an interesting career in the Intelligence Community, primarily in the legal and legislative arena, and spent a year on a Congressional Fellowship working on legislation resolving the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. During those years she also completed a Masters at Georgetown University.
Patty is a founding member and volunteer of Georgetown Village, and enjoys seeing the organization grow and prosper. She also volunteered at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital for twelve years, and briefly volunteered at the Peabody Room helping to preserve documents that were damaged after the library fire. Patty enjoys entertaining friends and family, cooking, gardening, and traveling.
Frederick R. Rickles, MD, FACP
Frederick R. Rickles, MD FACP, attended Indiana University as an undergraduate and received his MD degree from the University of Illinois. He trained in Internal Medicine and Hematology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Following training, he served in the Army Medical Corps as Director of the Coagulation Research Laboratory at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and is a Vietnam Veteran.
Dr. Rickles was recruited to GWU as the Associate Vice President for Health Research and Technology Transfer in 1998, and joined the Division of Hematology/Oncology as Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Physiology. He established a practice in his area of expertise, disorders of blood clotting (e.g. thrombosis and hemostasis), and has had a thriving practice with referrals from all over the world. Author of 110 peer-reviewed publications, 69 books, book chapters, editorials and reviews, and 115 abstracts, Dr. Rickles served as Vice President of the National Hemophilia Foundation and a member of multiple Study Sections of the NIH, American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. He was one of the co-founders of the Subcommittee on Cancer and Thrombosis of the International Society of Hemostasis and Thrombosis and a member of multiple scientific and education committees of the American Society of Hematology. He was an editorial board member of the Journal of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Thrombosis Research, Thrombosis and Hemostasis and Blood Coagulation and Fibrinolysis.
Before coming to GWU, Dr. Rickles had been on the faculties of the University of Connecticut, Emory University and was the Deputy Director of the Hematologic Disease Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. He retired from active practice at The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, as of July 1, 2021, but continues to teach residents and fellows at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Washington, DC, GWU and the NIH. He remains an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at GWU, an honor he received in 2016.
Dr. Rickles and his wife, Kathryn, a retired medical social worker, live in Georgetown and Kathryn is a volunteer for Georgetown Village.
Toni Russin 
Toni joined the board in September 2014. She and her husband Jonathan have lived in Capitol Hill, Cleveland Park, finally settling in Georgetown in the 1990’s. During many of these years they worked overseas, in Turkey, the Dominican Republic, Spain and Russia. They raised four sons in Santo Domingo and Washington. In 1990, Toni was the co-founder and head social worker of Hope Housing Inc. providing affordable cooperative housing to formerly homeless families. She also worked as a social worker in the Washington Head Start programs and community organizing at Howard University. She is committed to the village concept of neighbors helping neighbors of all income levels. Toni has a BA cum laude from Smith College and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University in 1963. She currently serves as Past President, and chairs the membership committee for the Village.
Michele Seiver
Michele Seiver is a well-known and active resident of Georgetown and has volunteered her time for many worthwhile organizations. She has been a volunteer for Georgetown Village for almost 6 years and has a special interest in helping older adults. Michele was extremely helpful during the vaccination assistance program that Lynn directed for us, cheerfully driving our members across the city to ensure they were able to receive a vaccine. In conversations with our leadership, Michele has stated she is willing to serve as the chair of the Event Committee that would focus on our annual fundraiser, coordinating with the Development Committee and other member entertainment events, in addition to assisting with membership. Michele is a talented interior designer and has been recognized for her award winning work.
Rebecca Risser Siemer 
Originally from Dallas, Texas;  I have a Bachelor’s in International Comparative Politics from the University of Central Florida and a master’s in Global Security and Strategy from Johns Hopkins University.  I’ve lived in DC for 15 years, I met my husband here and we have two beautiful boys. I have worked in politics and policy as well as the Tech industry. I discovered my talent for fundraising while serving as Political Assistant at the Congressional Black Caucus PAC and have put this to use recently raising money for Classroom Grants as a volunteer with the Daughters of the American Revolution.  For many years I volunteered as a museum docent at Anderson house and have been volunteering with Georgetown Village since its 2nd year.
Michael D. Usdan, PhD
Michael Usdan served as President of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) from 1981 through 2001.  As of July 1, 2001, he became a Senior Fellow at the organization.  Before joining IEL Mr. Usdan was Connecticut’s Commissioner of Higher Education from 1978 through 1981. From 1974 through 1978 Michael was President of the Merrill-Palmer Institute in Detroit.
Michael received his masters and doctoral degrees from Columbia University, having previously completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University.  He worked on the staff of the late Dr. James B. Conant in the latter’s famous studies of American education and has taught at Columbia University, City University of New York, Northwestern and Fordham Universities, and in schools in New York City and White Plains, and served as a member and president of the school board in the city of New Rochelle, New York from 1969 to 1974.
Mr. Usdan  has written many articles and books on various aspects of education. Several themes dominate his writing: problems relating to urban education, the relationship of government and politics to education, and the growing interest in developing closer relationships between elementary – secondary and higher education.  He has been a consultant to local and state boards of education and educational organizations throughout the country and has spoken at and participated in numerous meetings, both in the United states and internationally in nations such as China, India, Nepal, Hungary, Russia, and Japan.
Martha Williams 
I am a lifelong resident of the Greater Washington area, born at Columbia Hospital for Women growing up in first in the Glen Echo area and then in post war Rockville. Except for a brief time in New Hampshire where my husband was stationed with the Navy and a few brief years in the Kenwood area of Bethesda, I’ve lived my entire adult life in the city of Washington. I graduated from Hood College in Frederick, prepared to teach English, however by the time my oldest child was college aged and I was ready to return to the work force, I decided instead to try Real Estate. I began with Begg Real Estate, originally a Georgetown firm, then spent most of my 35 plus year career with Evers and Company, now associated with Long and Foster. In order to work in the whole metropolitan area, I held licenses in DC, Maryland and Virginia.
While the children were growing up, we lived in Chevy Chase, DC where along with a lot of volunteerism at Lafayette School, I was an ANC 3-G Commissioner. I have served as a Vestry member and as Junior Warden at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church where I have been a member for many years. I have also served on the Board of Directors for both The Westchester where I currently live, and The Kenwood House where I lived prior to moving to The Westchester.  My membership in Georgetown Village was the result of outreach done by Lynn and Gail Nordheimer.
As I was considering retiring and wondering what to do with my time, they did a presentation at The Westchester which opened the Village world for me. Up until then, I was unaware of how active and vital the movement was for the seniors of this city. It has enriched my life and been an essential connection with the community and the rest of the outside world, particularly during Covid.
Gail Nordheimer, Past President & Advisory Board Liaison
Gail Nordheimer, a certified fundraising executive, served local, national, and international organizations throughout her 35-year career in development. She administered comprehensive development programs at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, the League of Women Voters of the US, The American National Red Cross, and at Washington Hospital Center Foundation.
As President of Gail Nordheimer Associates and in partnership with Staley, Robeson, Ryan St. Lawrence, she provided fundraising counsel and organizational management to nearly 100 non-profit organizations. She was named the “Exceptional Fundraising Executive of the Year 2009” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP-DC).
Gail served as President of Georgetown Village for three years and as Co-President of Georgetown Village for one year before being named Immediate Past President. She is President of the Board of the Hillandale Homeowners Association, chairs a committee of Charter 100 and is a member of the Corcoran Women’s Committee.  She and her husband Gary enjoy traveling and appreciate time with their family which includes five grandchildren.

Advisory Board

Thomas L. Birch
Nancy Taylor Bubes
Barbara Hall
Joan Kennan
Henrietta Q. LaMotte
Malcolm Peabody
Nancy Regan
Nancy Roll
Ann Satterthwaite
Patricia Scolaro
Leslie C. Smith
Elizabeth Verville