Antoinette is the Chief Storyteller and founder of Two Cups of TLC, LLC which is an educational consulting company specializing in helping leaders discover authentic paths and pursue experiential, lifelong learning opportunities. She is unafraid to pioneer healing techniques to include forgiveness and traumatic transitions in the workplace.

Scot was born in Massachusetts, raised in Metro-Detroit, and has over 20 years of local government experience. He has spent much of his career working for Cary, N.C., in the heart of North Carolina’s Triangle region which is continually ranked as one of the best places to live and work in the United States.

Irtefa has spent the last decade working on issues of DEI as a community organizer, local government employee, graduate student and university staff member. She helped build and expand the vision for Albemarle County’s Office of Equity and Inclusion in her inaugural role as Coordinator for Equity and Accountability.

Nelsie L. Birch was appointed Chief Financial Officer for Albemarle County on May 6, 2020. Ms. Birch brings over 20 years of public and private sector experience in finance, budgeting, and administration, with experience working in the District of Columbia, Alexandria, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Highland Park, Illinois.

Jesse, the Director of Equity and Inclusion with Albemarle County, VA, has over 5 years of progressive leadership experience in the development, implementation and facilitation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to advance and support educational, business, and governmental environments.

Eric D. Campbell serves as a Senior Practitioner in Residence, Public Administration program at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University.  Most recently he served as City Manager of Harrisonburg, Virginia where he oversaw a municipal operation of 800 employees and a total budget of approximately $300 million.

Marc Carraway was a full-time musician before beginning a career as a public educator. He served as principal of Madison County High School, leading the school to full accreditation. Marc then served as Director of the Blue Ridge Governor’s School, a regional program for science education, for 17 years, and retired in 2022. Marc is currently the President of Scuffletown Consulting, LLC.

Tyler is a Senior Organizational Development Consultant at the University of Virginia with two decades of experience working across state and federal government agencies, international manufacturing, higher education, and health care.

Karen has designed and delivered executive, leadership, and management development programs and facilitated organizational development interventions for both public, private, and non-profit organizations.

Lorenzo Dickerson is a filmmaker/photographer and founder of Maupintown Media with documentary films that focuses on sharing stories of African-American history and culture in Virginia. His own Maupintown Film Festival is held annually at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Kaki Dimock currently serves as Chief Human Services Officer for Albemarle County. She has spent her career in human services leadership positions within local governments and nonprofits. Kaki believes in the power of relationship-building, truth-telling, humor, and teams to meet our challenges. 

Dr. Andrea Douglas is the Executive Director of the African American Heritage Center.  Dr. Douglas, holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. in arts management and finance from Binghamton University, NY.

Carmen has almost forty years of professional experience working in local, state, and federal sectors and in universities, providing her with deep insights into organizational leadership, team development, and facilitation as a guide and coach for senior executives, mid-level managers, and next-generation leaders.

A CPA who found her passion in local government finance and administration, Bridgette has dedicated over 27 years to the County of Midland and the surrounding community. She is a proud graduate of Northwood University and has certificates in leadership from both the Harvard Kennedy School and UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

Jordan Hardy serves as a Learning and Development Specialist for Henrico County in Organizational Learning and Talent Development (OLTD), a division of Human Resources.

Ms. Harlow is the Assistant Director of Leadership Development at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service and is also the VLGMA (Virginia Local Government Association) Conferences Coordinator.  Her passion is building leadership capacity for local governments.

Dr. Hartwig has served as a leader in the business and faith communities of Charlottesville for over twenty years. Prior to this, he served for ten years as a chaplain at Princeton University.  He has extensive experience serving both nonprofit and for-profit entities in the areas of conflict management, work-place culture, mediation, facilitation, and reconciliation in the US and Europe.

Fabrice serves as the Deputy City Manager at the City of Lancaster, TX.  He joined the City of Lancaster as a graduate intern in December, 2013. Fabrice obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Public Budgeting and Financial Management from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Annie serves as the Assistant Dean for Public Service and Director of the Program in Law and Public Service and the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center at the University of Virginia School of Law. Annie was a former local government attorney in Henrico and Albemarle Counties.

Dr. Donna Klepper joined the Federal Executive Institute as a faculty member in March 2016 after working as an adjunct faculty member at FEI since the mid 1990s. Donna currently serves as faculty for the Leadership for a Democratic Society (LDS) program, facilitating teams, teaching in the program, coaching, and serving as the FEI faculty liaison to the FEI Alumni Association.

Donna Krauss has made her career serving Stafford County Government for the past tweny years. She began her career as a social worker within the Department of Social Services in January of 2000. In the years that followed she has had various roles. She became the Assistant to the County Administrator for Human Services in 2005- 2008.

Ashley, a Florida native, has spent her career serving North Carolina local government communities through Human Resources. She is currently the Assistant Human Resources Director for the Town of Cary, which is in the heart of North Carolina, is one of the fastest growing cities in the south and is continually ranked one of the best places to live and work in the US.

An adept strategic thinker with more than 35 years of experience in solving public problems and controversial issues in governmental organizations and local communities, Lemmie joined the Kettering Foundation as director of exploratory research after a distinguished career in public service.

Felicia Logan is the former Director of Leadership Development for the International City/County Management Association.  Her primary role was to develop leadership activities specifically for ICMA members from the most senior credentialed managers to the emerging leaders and others.

Joe Mazzola is the Director of Organizational Development and Performance Management for the City of McKinney, TX, a suburb of Dallas.  It is one of fastest growing communities in the nation and was rated by Money Magazine in 2014 as the number #1 small city in America to live in.  

Rysheda McClendon is the County Attorney for Stafford County, Virginia, a position she has held since 2018 and her local government career spans well over a decade. She has served in nearly all levels of the County Attorney’s office, first interning before becoming an Assistant, Senior Assistant, and then Deputy County Attorney.

Dr. June Mighty is an Organizational & Talent Development Division Chief in the City of Santa Barbara, CA. She is a multi-faceted and multidimensional thinker who offers practical concrete real-world solutions. She is gifted at pulling apart seemingly complex organizational problems and assisting organizations, management, and individuals in figuring out powerful workable solutions.

Mike Murphy is the Director of Inclusion & Community Programs at the CFA Institute and Principal at IDEA Minds. He has dedicated 25 years as a local government leader in the City of Charlottesville.  He exhibited leadership that consistently identified and addressed issues impacting marginalized communities.

John Nalbandian retired from the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas with national recognition for his teaching, research, and service.  John’s academic career focused on educating students for careers in local government, helping the university earn its U.S. News and World Report number one university ranking in “city management and urban policy” education.

Mark Nozaki is President and co-founder of Odyssey Leadership Consulting which is an organization and leadership development firm that serves government, private, and non-profit organizations. He has been a faculty member for OPM’s Center for Leadership Development and the Federal Executive Institute during the past 18 years.

Nancy Olivo has served local government throughout her career, providing leadership in achieving their vision, mission and strategic goals through innovative human resources, organizational development, change management and leadership development initiatives.

Steve served as a Virginia local government manager for over 38 years, including City Manager of Staunton - the birthplace of the council-manager form of government - from 2007 - 2019.

Mr. O’Neill is serving as Executive in Residence and Fellow for the Joseph P Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities, College of Charleston, whose mission is to leverage the intellectual resources of the college in support of the economic and cultural vibrancy of communities throughout South Carolina and the world.

Siri Russell is the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a position created to be an integral part of the School’s leadership team and an important advocate for equitable and responsible use of data to serve the common good. She is interested in how data science can empower communities, individuals, and policy-makers to improve outcomes and maximize societal benefits.

Dr. (Lieutenant Colonel (retired)) Christopher Shannon has 35 plus years of experience in leading, supervising, managing, training, evaluating, and in various administrative positions. Additionally, he has experience in aircraft maintenance, space satellite systems technology, and various other military and non-military-related academic education and training roles.

Kristy Shifflett is the Chief Operating Officer of the County of Albermarle, VA. Kristy joined Albemarle in 2012 and has served multiple roles in Finance & Budget, Strategic Planning and Project Management. Kristy began the first centralized project management office to improve performance of organizational projects by providing formal and repeatable project management processes.

Kathy Snyder is the Midland Area Wellbeing Coalition Coordinator. In addition to over 25 years of experience in education, she holds master’s degrees in both counseling and applied positive psychology. Kathy has certifications in resilience, change, diversity and inclusion, psychological safety, coaching, and PERMAH Survey administration.

Shanone Sport is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist for Henrico County, VA. In this role, she provides strategic guidance, leadership, and resources to support the county in continuing to build a culture of inclusion and belonging in the organization.

Kyle Stannert joined the City of Fort Collins in January 2021, serving as one of two Deputy City Managers.  In this role, he serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and supports service areas in delivering exceptional service.

C. Seth Sumner is currently on staff with the City of Cleveland, Tennessee. He previously served as City Manager of his hometown, Athens; as Assistant City Manager of Savannah; and as City Manager of Clifton. He completed the Senior Exectutive Institute with his Leadership-ICMA class in 2012. Seth is an engaged citizen working to improve the lives of others. 

Doug Walker, Practitioner-in-Residence, joined the Virginia Institute of Government in 2023 after a long and distinguished career in local government.

Marci is a faculty member at the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Executive Institute. She is the Faculty Chair for the Senior Executive Service Leading Edge Program, delivers with FEI’s flagship program—Leadership for a Democratic Society, and designs a variety of leadership development programs for leaders across government.

Ashley Weldon, SHRM-CP, is a Learning and Development Consultant for the University of Virginia (UVA). In this role, she develops and facilities courses and cohort programs that deliver essential communication and leadership skills to all UVA employees.

Steve is a learning & development consultant and certified executive coach with 29 years of experience in leadership and learning professional roles in the Federal Government, private sector, and uniformed service. Steve began his career as a Naval Officer in the aviation community.

Randy is currently the City Manager for Poquoson, Virginia where he has served in this capacity since June 1, 2009.  Prior to this, he was the County Administrator for Spotsylvania County and Deputy County Administrator, Assistant County Administrator and Director of the Office of Management and Budget  for the County of Fauquier.

John currently serves as President of JHW Consulting Services and provides executive education, coaching and consulting services for organizations throughout the country.  He is a frequent lecturer at the Federal Executive Institute and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia’s Center for Executive Development.

Jordy Yager is a journalist based in his hometown of Charlottesville, Va. where he currently serves as the Director of Digital Humanities at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.