Leadership Fairfax Celebrates the Class of 2023 
Congratulations to all of the ELI and LFI graduates of 2023! We celebrated this year’s graduating class at a ceremony on June 7 at the beautiful Reston Town Center Pavilion featuring a cocktail reception, speeches from the ELI and LFI Class Voices: Bianca Moskaitis, ELI’23 and Mitchell Crispell, LFI’23, and the honoring of the Torchbearer Award winners who exemplify the organizational commitment to the community: Cheri Danaher, LFI’15, Ramona Carroll, LFI’19, Devan Strebig, ELI’17, Brian Kincaid, ELI’17 and Casey Veatch, LFI’99. Graduates received diplomas and the “official” Leadership Fairfax Torch pin. We hope the flame of leadership will continue to inspire each and every one of our newest grads. 
LFI Class of 2023

Eric Becker
Joe Breen
Tram Bui
Deborah Cabala
Judith Cabelli
Stuart Cain
Jennifer Clawes
Nina Crawford
Mitchell Crispell
Diane Cullo 
Karen De Mijango
Joanna Foard
James Horner
Jennifer Madden
Andrea Martinez
Matt McCall
Redic Morris
Katherine Pardo
Brenda Richardson
Sharri Robinson
Sheryl Simeck
Sierra Simmons
Natalie Sposato
Purnima Sudeswaran
Suzanne Swistak
Charles Taggart
Alexander Thalacker
Elizabeth Toumanios
Susie Truskey
Mark Viani 
Laura Ware
Phyllis Weech
ELI Class of 2023

Amber Bailey
Jack Belo
Maire Buckley
LaTasha Byrd
Emily Collins
Dawn Cutler-Tran
Agata Fallon
Leslie Gadaleta
Dillon Johnson
Brian Kelley
Tina Mally
Reaves McElveen
Bianca Moskaitis
Abe Nader
Andrea Richardson
Nicholas Rinehart
Brian Simms
Veronika Smith
Kristy Vitter
Nathalie Washington
Mary Williams
Yuqing Xiong
Cynthia Bailey, LFI'18 and Chair of Leadership Fairfax with Graduate Susie Truskey, LFI'23 and attorney for Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley and Walsh.
Cornerstones Partners with Starkist and Feed the Children  
Leadership Fairfax staff were honored to participate in Cornerstones’ recent Starkist and Feed the Children event at St. John Neumann Church. Volunteers helped to distribute boxes of food and supplies to families in our community facing food insecurity. This annual event supplies 400 families with healthy food and necessary supplies. Learn more about Cornerstones here.  
Welcome Lavina Colaço, YLN Advocacy Manager 
Lavina Gangwani-Colaço recently joined the Leadership Fairfax team as the Youth Leadership Network Advocacy Manager. In her role, she manages the Youth Leadership Network programming, resources and annual conference. She brings event management, administration, project management and curriculum development knowledge to the role. She is a former Educator and Administrator for Miami Dade County Public Schools, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Safe Community Coalition and as a Food Allergy Mentor for Children's National Hospital, and she is fluent in Spanish. If you or your business is interested in educational opportunity for your youth team, council or group, contact Lavina!  
Leadership Fairfax Connects with Young Nonprofit Professionals Network for Happy Hour Networking at Caboose Commons 
We were excited to be a conduit for connecting twenty+ young nonprofit professionals at our collaborative networking event with YNPNdc on June 21 at Caboose Commons. YNPNdc is a volunteer network offering mentoring and networking opportunities to young professionals in Northern Virginia, Maryland and DC. We look forward to more opportunities to support their efforts and mission to build connected professional leaders.  
Thank you to Chair Cynthia Bailey and Welcome Dominic Boniauto  
Cynthia Bailey, LFI’18 will transition to her role as Past President at the end of June and Dominic Boniauto, LFI’19 will be stepping into the role of Chair of the Board. Cynthia is the Deputy County Attorney for Fairfax County and Dominic serves as the Director of Advocacy and Community Outreach for Inova Health System. Cynthia guided the Leadership Fairfax board through the last year supporting class days, building new features for LFI’s courthouse experience, and lead the charge to implement new programming. In recognition of her service to Leadership Fairfax, Cynthia was the recipient of the golden gavel to honor her time and commitment to the organization.
 Volunteers Wanted for Advancement Committee 
Leadership Fairfax is looking for energetic and enthusiastic, volunteers to join our Advancement Committee chaired by Brian Willey ‘06. The Committee reaches into the community to Develop, Cultivate, and Sustain relationships and ask for Annual Partnerships, Event Sponsorships, and class participants from corporations and organizations in Fairfax County to Advance Leadership Fairfax’s mission. In this fiscal year ending June 30, our Advancement Committee met its goal raising over $100,000 for Leadership Fairfax. If you want to connect with the larger alumni family and like building relationships, please contact Director of Partnerships and Recruitment, Kim Stewart to join our Committee!
Youth Résumé Training – August 15  
Join us for our Youth Leadership Network virtual Power Hour on Tuesday, August 15 at 1 pm. Led by our Director of Leadership Programs and Certified Professional Résumé Writer, Susan Sims, ELI’12, LFI’22, attendees will learn best practices, items to highlight and how to stand out. This program is designed for youth ages 15 and up.  

Tuesday, August 15 
1 – 1:45 pm 
Online Training  
 
Call for Proposals for Youth Leadership Network Conference in November 
Our Annual Youth Leadership Conference is scheduled for November 11, 2023.

We are looking for facilitators to lead one-hour workshops throughout the day. Our audience will be 16–19-year-old scholars interested in community leadership and personal development. If you are interested in being a facilitator, submit a syllabus and/or proposal via email to Susan@leadershipfairfax.org by September 3, 2023. Please indicate if you would be willing to run the one-hour workshop more than once during the day.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: Strength Finder Assessment, Resilient Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Conversational Intelligence, Advocacy, Peer Coaching, Leading without a Title, How to improve your influence through question asking, Introverted Leadership, Leading Across Generations, Leading Yourself, How to find support you need - Mentors, Coaches and any other topic that speaks to leadership development for youth.  
 
Lt. Colonel Gun Lee, LFI’15 was appointed Chief Deputy, Investigations Bureau of Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. This appointment is part of a strategic realignment of the organization.  
Tiffani Moore, LFI’21 was elected as President of Women in Housing and Finance, Inc., an association of women and men that actively promotes its members in the fields of housing and financial services while retaining a focus on women members.  
Susan Sims, ELI’12, LFI’22 graduated from the 8-month Civic Circle Cohort led by Volunteer Fairfax developing a framework to create real and sustainable change in community leadership service. 
Volunteers Needed! Join a Leadership Fairfax Committee and Support the Next Generation of Leaders!  
We’re now actively recruiting for our committees. If you’re interested in using your event management, project management, mentoring, marketing, or curriculum development skills to help further the mission of Leadership Fairfax, then we have a committee for you! Check out our list of committees below and email Susan Sims if you’re interested in volunteering!  

Marketing and Communications: Meet at 2:30 pm every third Thursday virtually to discuss communications strategy, advertising, and the oxford comma.  

LFI Program Committee: Meet first Thursday of the month at 4 pm virtually. Research and compose community topic guidance for LFI Cohort Teams. Review evaluations and make recommendations for future trainings and learning opportunities.  

NEW! Events Committee: Help plan our newest line of events – From Happy Hour Open Space to quarterly Lunch and Learns – book speakers, write event descriptions, secure locations and volunteers. No schedule for meetings determined yet.   

ELI Coach or Mentor: Volunteer to partner with a current ELI student for 6 mentoring or coaching sessions between January and May.  

ELI Team Advisor: Meet with ELI Program Committee in July, September, January and March. Must attend class day on October 10. Collaborate with an ELI Team to guide them in all things project management – from defining scope, to identifying SMART goals, to reviewing their project management plans, a team advisor serves to make sure the ELI volunteer service project starts off and finishes strong.  
 
THANK YOU TO OUR ANNUAL PARTNERS