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Michael B. Smith
The Washington Center President
Michael Smith was named president of The Washington Center in December 2004. Mike had first joined The Washington Center in 1976 when a staff of 6 served 300 students from 30 colleges annually. Mike has served in various capacities within the organization, including director of student services, vice president of administration and student life, vice president of operations, senior vice president, and executive vice president and chief operating officer, before his appointment as president.
Under Mike’s leadership, The Washington Center’s enrollment has grown by over 5% per year for the past four years. Over 50% of the Center’s enrollments are women, over 22% are students of diverse backgrounds and 15% are international. In 2007, The Washington Center was able to provide over $1 million dollars of financial assistance to its students. Corporate, foundation and individual contributions and pledges increased 50% from 2006 to 2007 and state-funded scholarships and federal grants and stipends grew by more than 30%.
In 2006 a strategic plan was developed that embraces the three pillars of The Washington Center – professional achievement, civic engagement and leadership. Additionally, The Washington Center has developed new and exciting programs, both in Washington and abroad, that are designed to increase the emphasis on international student participation, including the US/China Bilateral Trade Program funded by Boeing Corporation and the Ford Motor Company Global Scholars Program.
Recently, Mike has worked to add several distinguished new members to The Washington Center’s Board of Directors; create a new Council of Presidents composed of prominent leaders of afflicted colleges and universities; and form an International Advisory Board composed of a council of ambassadors who are providing advice and assistance as we branch out to other countries.
Prior to joining The Washington Center, Mike worked for five years as a student counselor/resource teacher in the Norwood, Massachusetts public schools. He also served in the armed services and is a Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Navy (1969-71). He received his master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, his bachelor's degree in history from Ohio Northern University and an associate's degree from Dean College.
An active alumnus of Ohio Northern University, Mike has served on the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors since 1989. He and his wife, Barbara, reside in Washington, D.C. and have two grown children, both alumni of The Washington Center.
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Eugene J. Alpert, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Eugene J. Alpert has been with The Washington Center since 1993. As senior vice president, Gene Alpert oversees the academic seminars and the more than thirty associate faculty who teach the courses required of students in the internship program. He also works closely with Washington Center liaisons, including those on the National Liaison Advisory Board, and the ten academic advisory committees composed of more than 200 faculty at affiliated institutions who provide assistance with specific Washington Center internship programs.
Every four years, Gene continues the tradition he started in 1984, when The Washington Center offered its first national political convention program. This prestigious program, which recently completed its sixth convention cycle, brought approximately 400 participants to Boston and New York in 2004.
Before joining TWC, Gene was an associate professor of political science at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. A faculty member for 17 years, he was chairman of the political science department, director of the master of liberal arts program, director of the TCU Washington Internship Program, and director of the university's self-study for re-accreditation.
He is the author of numerous articles pertaining to experiential education and the political process including "Conventional Wisdom: A Television Viewer's Guide to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions," published by C-SPAN.
Gene Alpert holds a Ph.D. and M.A. degree in political science from Michigan State University and a B.A. from the University of Rochester. In 1982, Alpert served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, working in the area of media communications for the House and Senate leadership. He is a member of numerous professional associations and advisory committees, including the National Society for Experiential Education (immediate past president); National Capital Area Political Science Association (former council member); American Political Science Association, the National Collegiate Honors Council and the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (alternate director). He has received awards of recognition for his contributions in experiential education from the National Society for Experiential Education, Furman University and, prior to joining the organization, The Washington Center.
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David M. Anderson, Ph.D.
Vice President, Government Relations
David leads The Washington Center's Government Relations department, managing
$2.85 million in state appropriations. The Washington Center
currently has partnerships with Puerto Rico, The City University of New York
and the following 16 states: Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maryland,
Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Washington, Oklahoma, South Dakota,
Delaware, Arkansas, North Dakota, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arizona. David
also oversees appropriations from the U.S. Congress.
David joined The Washington Center in August 2004 from Youth04, a nonpartisan youth civic engagement effort. At that time, Youth04 became a joint project of The Washington Center, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and The Johns Hopkins University Washington Center for the Study of American Government. David continued to serve as executive director of Youth04 through the November 2004 election.
He was previously the Task Force director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at The George Washington University. The 16-member Task Force was co-chaired by former U.S. Representatives Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) and Rick White (R-WA).
Anderson is the author of Youth04: Young Voters, the Internet, and Political Power (W.W. Norton & Company, 2004) and co-editor (with Michael Cornfield) of The Civic Web: Online Politics and Democratic Values (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003). He has also written numerous articles about Internet politics, family policy, and communitarian public philosophy as well as three dozen op-eds for the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, The Hill and other newspapers.
He taught at The Graduate School of Political Management at The George
Washington University from 1995 to 2006. He also taught in the philosophy
departments at The George Washington University, the University of
Cincinnati, Trident Technical College, and the College of Charleston.
David Anderson received his B.A. in philosophy from The George Washington University in 1981 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1990. He lives in Potomac, Maryland with his wife and two children.
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Jennifer Clinton , Ph.D.
Vice President for Operations and Federal Relations
Jennifer Clinton joined The Washington Center in November 2002. She has led The Washington Center's development initiatives with the federal government, managing over 1.5 million dollars in federal grants and contracts. Jennifer also serves as chief of staff to the president and is involved in developing and improving general operations of the organization.
Previously, Jennifer Clinton worked in international trade and education. She worked as a manager of international marketing for the Telecommunications Industry Association. She also worked as a special assistant to the executive vice president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a government agency that provides financial services to U.S. companies who invest in emerging markets worldwide. Prior to her service at OPIC, Jennifer worked as program manager for the STS Foundation, a nonprofit, international educational exchange organization.
Jennifer Clinton earned her Ph.D. degree in French Literature from the University of California , Davis and her bachelor's degree in political science and French from Marquette University.
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Joseph Johnston, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Joseph S. Johnston, Jr. is senior vice president and leads the Institutional Relations department of The Washington Center. His responsibility is to develop and maintain relationships with colleges and universities using or considering TWC's services. He is also responsible for the overall marketing and student recruitment efforts for the institution. In addition, Joe directs a team of professional staff overseeing the operations of TWC's enrollment services.
Prior to joining TWC, Joe worked for 17 years with the Association of American Colleges and Universities. As AACU's vice president for programs, and then as vice president for education and global initiatives, he led a succession of multi-institutional initiatives to strengthen undergraduate education. Prior to joining AACU, he served as assistant to the president at Bryn Mawr College.
Joe Johnston is author of several books on international education and the integration of liberal and professional education, as well as several scholarly and professional articles. He has served on the boards of the National Humanities Alliance and the National Security Education Program and the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina at Asheville . He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at Warren Wilson College.
A native of Virginia , Joseph Johnston earned a B.A (with Phi Beta Kappa honors) in English literature from Randolph-Macon College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Chicago . He also has an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Donald H. Kandel
Vice President, Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Donald H. Kandel, chief financial officer and vice president of administration, joined The Washington Center in June of 2007. Don’s responsibilities include recording and reporting The Washington Center financial operations while also managing the Offices of Human Resources, IT, Administration and Risk Management. Don is also in charge of the oversight of The Washington Center’s Headquarter Building and Academic Learning Center.
After moving from Philadelphia, PA to Maryland in 2005, Don worked as the chief financial officer for Global Impact of Alexandria, Virginia. While in this position, Don managed the introduction of a new business line increasing the organization’s revenues by over $45 million in fifteen months. Don has vast experience with developing systems, controls and procedures that will be a great asset to The Washington Center.
While living in Philadelphia, Don held several management positions in non-profit organizations including United Cerebral Palsy Association of Philadelphia, The Crime Prevention Association of Philadelphia, and The Private Industry Council. He also worked for Dow Jones and Company in Princeton New Jersey, in the 1980’s.
Don has served on several boards, both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He still volunteers with an international youth group, conducting exchange programs with Bulgaria, and has personally chaperoned several of these trips over the past few years.
Don earned a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in Business Administration. He has done post graduate work at both Drexel University and LaSalle University.
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Pilar Mendiola Fernández
Senior Vice President for Advanced Leaders Programs and International
Pilar Mendiola Fernández is an expert in the field of education and the development of advanced leadership training. She has ten years of experience designing educational programs for the young leaders of the world.
Pilar serves as senior vice president of advanced leadership programs at The Washington Center. She is responsible for creating and implementing advanced leadership initiatives and international projects for TWC with institutions of higher education, as well as the public and private sectors. She is also responsible for raising scholarship and program grants for international initiatives and for forging ties with international organizations based in Washington , D.C.
Pilar created a new division within TWC to bring young leaders to Washington for rigorous training in public policy. She designed and implemented several programs of elite leadership for the most outstanding students of the world. The NAFTA Leaders Internship Program, established in 1996, has received considerable recognition throughout North America as the best program of its kind. Her efforts have been particularly successful in Mexico , where over the last eight years, 18 Mexican states have partnered with TWC to fund their student's participation in Washington Center programs.
In 2003, under the leadership of Pilar, The Washington Center launched the prestigious Bush Mulroney Salinas Graduate Fellowships in NAFTA studies. Recently, Pilar directed TWC's groundbreaking international expansion with more than 16 countries.
Pilar Mendiola Fernández received a bachelor's degree in communication and graduated with honors from the University of the Americas-Puebla in Mexico . She has a Masters in Economy with a concentration in North American relations.
Pilar was born in Veracruz , Mexico and resides in Washington, D.C..
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Arleen Ramirez Borysiewicz
Senior Vice President, External Affairs
Arleen Ramirez Borysiewicz is an 18-year veteran of The Washington Center, joining the organization in 1987.
As senior vice president for external affairs, Arleen Borysiewicz has three major responsibilities. In the fundraising area, Arleen is responsible for securing funding for various program initiatives, for scholarships for minorities and women, for leading TWC's legislative and private sector partnership in Puerto Rico , and for forging strategic partnerships with long-standing donors. In the external affairs area, she oversees a team of professional staff managing The Washington Center's website, publications and marketing materials, branding efforts, and donor relations activities. Her third major role is leadership of The Washington Center's Congress programs that enroll approximately 250 student interns each year, and oversight of the organization's congressional speaker series with more than 50 lectures by members of Congress annually.
In 2004, Arleen Borysiewicz took the lead in securing a 2.55 million dollar appropriation from Congress to create the Norman Y. Mineta Internship Immersion Program. The program will recruit and place Asian Pacific Americans in defense-related internships. In January 2005, Arleen secured a two-year partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation to launch an African initiative that seeks to recruit college students from Sub-Sahara Africa to participate in TWC programs.
Since joining the organization, Arleen has taken on increasing leadership roles in the development area that includes corporate and foundation fundraising, event planning, capital campaign, alumni, and the annual fund.
She developed the Minorities in Congress Program in 1993 with a more than half a million dollar seed grant from various corporations and foundations. From 1993-1996, Arleen directed the prestigious Minority Leaders Fellowship Program, overseeing the program's fundraising, programmatic, and recruitment and selection efforts.
Prior to joining The Washington Center, Arleen was associate publisher for the Cable Television Information Center. Before that, she produced public affairs shows for the Philippine government's public television station.
Born and raised in Manila , Philippines , Arleen Ramirez Borysiewicz earned her bachelor's degree in broadcast communication from the University of the Philippines . She holds a master's degree in public administration from The George Washington University.
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Peter Stephens
Managing Director, Internships/Advance Leadership
Peter Stephens is a public policy professional with 15 years of experience. During his tenure at The Washington Center, Peter Stephens has introduced market-based management reforms designed to improve operations and client satisfaction.
He has also cultivated an increasingly large international constituency of senior policy practitioners that have joined The Washington Center's flagship North American Advanced Leadership Training program. Tasked with training the next generation of North American leaders, Peter's innovative methods have placed young professionals in change-driving positions in key posts across the public policy field.
Before joining The Washington Center, Peter Stephens was director of governmental affairs for the Council of the Americas . There he served as the U.S. private sector representative to the FTAA Sustainable Development Accord and also worked on Trade Promotion Authority, sustainable development, global warming, drug trafficking & certification and the NAFTA report card. From 1991-1996, Peter was a public affairs officer at the Canadian Embassy in Washington , D.C.
His areas of expertise are trade, international organizations, and North American political culture. Peter Stephens is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maine (Canadian Studies). He earned his M.A. in international relations from the University of Manitoba ; an M.A.T. in social studies from Trenton State/Escuela Americana, Spain; and a B.A. in political science from Rutgers University.
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