Capital City is governed by a Board of Trustees. Our volunteer Board provides oversight, support and expertise for the successful operation of the school. The Board of Trustees meets bi-monthly. While meetings are public, the Board reserves the right to hold closed executive sessions when dealing with confidential matters like personnel issues.

 

2012 – 2013 Board Members

David Bennett, Chair

David Bennett was appointed vice president, corporate partnerships, of the National Geographic Society in August 2011.  He leads the team that builds integrated funding and marketing partnerships with corporations that work with National Geographic to further its mission to inspire people to care about the planet.

Prior to joining National Geographic, Mr. Bennett was chief advancement officer of Safe Kids Worldwide, an international injury prevention organization. In this role, he was responsible for the fundraising, communications and public policy functions of an organization with over 350 affiliates in the United States and operations in 17 other countries. His previous experience includes serving as vice president of United Cerebral Palsy of America and as director of the Fundraising and Sponsorship Group of Odell, Simms & Lynch, a consulting firm that provides services to nonprofit organizations. Early in his career, Mr. Bennett worked in federal politics as a finance director for two United States Senate campaigns and as a fundraiser for a national political party. Mr. Bennett is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

 

Patrick Canavan

Patrick Canavan is the parent of two students at Capital City.

 

Simmons Covington-Lettre, Vice Chair

Simmons Lettre is the co-founder and Executive Director of Charter Board Partners, a non-profit that fosters exceptional charter school governance by recruiting, training, and supporting effective charter school board members.

Ms. Lettre’s prior work focused on education communications, school district improvement, and comprehensive school reform at organizations including Education Resource Strategies, Boston Plan for Excellence, Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, and New American Schools. She also taught first grade at a charter school in Massachusetts. Ms. Lettre has a Masters in School Leadership from Harvard University and a B.A. in Psychology from Davidson College.

 

Candace Crawford, Secretary

Candace Crawford is Assistant Director for K – 12 School and District Assistance at The Education Trust, a non-profit focused on eliminating the achievement gap and improving achievement for all students. Previously, she was Senior Associate for Teacher Quality. During her first two years at Ed Trust, Ms. Crawford coordinated the Instructional Practices of Effective Teachers study, a two-year study of middle school math teachers in the Kansas City, MO area.

She has taught sixth-grade math and middle and high school history. She has also worked in higher education, serving as an assistant director of residential life and assistant women’s basketball coach at Bowdoin College. Ms. Crawford earned her M.A. in Education Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Alix Guerrier

Alix Guerrier is a co-founder of a new educational web company, LearnZillion. Prior to founding LearnZillion, he was a consultant in McKinsey & Company’s Education Practice, where he advised school systems and foundations on strategic matters. His previous work experience includes: teaching in and directing an after-school program in one of Boston’s public housing projects; working as a member of the housing group in the public finance department of an investment bank in New York; and teaching full-time for several years, including in an international school in Brazil.

He most recently taught math at a public charter high school in San Francisco, and subsequently served on the Board of Trustees for the school. He currently sits on the board of Guidestar. Alix has an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a Master’s in Education from the Stanford University School of Education. He graduated from Harvard University with an AB in physics. He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, D.C.

 

Andrew Marino

Andrew Marino is a Managing Director at The Carlyle Group focused on U.S. buyout opportunities in the industrial sector. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2005, Mr. Marino was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley where he focused on mergers, acquisitions and restructuring assignments in a variety of industries in both the U.S. and Europe.

For four years prior to business school, Mr. Marino lived and worked in Hong Kong identifying private equity investments in China and Southeast Asia. Mr. Marino is a graduate of Dartmouth College and received an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He has extensive experience in both for profit and not for profit boards of directors, including the board of a private high school.

 

Joseph Michalczyk

Joseph Michalczyk is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been part of the Transaction Services group since 1998. He has extensive diversified financial management experience providing merger and acquisition advice, as well as finance and accounting services to publicly and privately owned companies of various sizes and industries. He has worked on numerous large private equity, venture and multi-national transactions during his tenure at PwC. Mr. Michalczyk is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the American, Virginia, and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountants, and a published author of several thought leadership pieces. He is currently a member of the Best Buddies Virginia Advisory Board.

 

Carol Mitten

Carol Mitten came to Washington, D.C. 25 years ago with her M.B.A. from The Ohio State University. After working eight years for a small commercial real estate appraisal firm, she bought the firm and ran her own company for 12 years. In 2003, she left small business to serve in Mayor Anthony Williams’ cabinet as the Director of the Office of Property Management. Currently she is the Chief of Lands at the National Park Service – National Capital Region.

Ms. Mitten was appointed to the Zoning Commission for the District of Columbia in 1999, where she served for eight years, including seven years as Chair. She is a past president of the Washington, D.C. Association of Realtors and has served on numerous boards. Ms. Mitten serves on the board of Our Nation’s Capital, a non-profit committed to addressing Washington D.C.’s fiscal imbalance.

 

Susan Sabella, Treasurer

Susan Sabella is the Operations Director for the Healthy Building Network, an environmental non-profit concerned with the environmental, health and social impacts of green building materials. Her other work in the environmental movement includes 13 years working for Greenpeace USA as Oceans Program Director and Antarctic Campaigner.

Prior to joining the Healthy Building Network, Ms. Sabella worked for seven years as a founding administrator in charge of business and operations at Capital City. Since departing Capital City’s staff, she has served as Treasurer and President of the Capital City board. Ms. Sabella is a parent of one current student and one Capital City alumnus. She is a graduate of Boston College.

 

Christina Theokas

Christina Theokas currently serves as Director of The Education Trust, a position she has held since 2008. In her role, she works to identify what contributes to the education gap among different students. She frequently presents the results of her team’s research to national audiences of education professionals.

In addition, she has served as a supervisor of assessment in the Alexandria Public Schools and a school psychologist at a private special education school in Massachusetts. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colby College, she also received an M.A. in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College and a Ph.D. with honors in Child and Adolescent Development from Tufts University.

 

Jennifer Van Driesen

Jenny Van Driesen is a Partner at Latham & Watkins and has practiced with the firm since 1997. She is currently serving as the Chair of the Washington D.C. Finance Department and the Co-Chair of the Private Equity Finance Group. Her practice includes advising equity sponsors, borrowers and lenders in the structuring, negotiation and documentation of private and public financing transactions.

Ms. Van Driesen has substantial expertise in acquisition financings, debt restructuring and financings in workout situations. She received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Duke University. She is a member of the Maryland Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.