Board Of Directors

David R. Ford: Board Chairman

David Ford is the Vice Chairman of Aegis Senior Communities LLC, a leading developer and operator of seniors housing communities. His is also an advisor and investor in other businesses outside the seniors-housing industry. David previously served as the COO and General Counsel of a government contracting firm that provided IT consulting services to defense and other federal agencies. For the first two decades of his professional life, he was an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare, technology and government contracting industries. David is a member of the Executive Board of the American Seniors Housing Association, and was a founder of Kalorama Village, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to helping seniors "age in place."

Janice Wisely: Board Member

Janice Wisely is a Technical Project Manager at Opower in Arlington, VA, where she is responsible for delivering energy efficiency software solutions to utility companies. She has previous work experience as a project, production and warehouse manager in the manufacturing industry for both Nestle and Johnson & Johnson.  Janice completed her MBA from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business in May of 2013 and has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Jonathan Schwebel: Board Member

Jonathan is a senior associate at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) in Rockville, Maryland where he helps publicly traded companies navigate the complex landscape that is executive compensation and corporate governance. Prior to him joining ISS, he spent many years at Bloomberg LP in New York City.  Jonathan received his BA in History and Political Science from Syracuse University. This is Jonathan's 5th year with Minds Matter after spending 4 years in the NYC chapter holding various positions. He is incredibly excited to help build this chapter and assist incredibly talented students find opportunities through education.

Barbara J. Culliton: Board Member

Barbara J. Culliton is President of The Culliton Group, a consulting enterprise that specializes in the development of editorial strategies and writing workshops in biomedical science and policy. In this capacity, she advises scientists and graduate students at a number of major scientific organizations.  In 1988  Barbara was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a former member of its governing council. She is one of the few journalists to be so honored. Barbara worked as an investigative reporter at Science and founded scientific journals for Nature Publishing,  headquartered in London.  She is a co-winner of the George Polk Award in Journalism for her work at Science. For many years Barbara was Times-Mirror Visiting Professor in Writing about Science at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her work can be found at www.BarbaraCulliton.com.

Carolina Martinez: Board Member

Carolina Martinez works at Identity, Inc., a non-profit organization that serves at-risk Latino youth and their families in Montgomery County, MD. She currently is an After School Program Coordinator for the organization but was previously a Youth Development Counselor. As a Youth Development Counselor, Carolina implemented a positive youth development curriculum in after-school programs for high school students. She received her BA in Sociology and Political Science from the University of San Diego in 2011. Carolina feels privileged to have been given the opportunity to work with youth at Identity and looks forward to continuing this passion with Minds Matter.

Gina Valo: Board Member

Gina Valo is an Associate Director of Technical Project Management at Opower in Arlington, VA, where she leads the team responsible for delivering energy efficiency software solutions to the nation's largest utility companies. She has previously worked in operational roles at Google, Square, and several early stage technology companies. Gina served as a Minds Matter mentor for two years  before moving to the D.C. area in 2013. Gina is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan where she earned her B.A. in Organizational Studies.

Thomas Kramer: Board Member

Thomas Kramer is responsible for financial management, and administrative stewardship at energy efficiency software company Opower (NYSE: OPWR). Previously, he cofounded and served at CFO at Cvent (NYSE: CVT), the largest event-management technology company in the US, where he helped grow the organization from its wee beginnings to profitability and 850 employees. Thomas was recently named CFO of the year in Washington, DC, by Washington Business Journal. A child of public school education, Thomas would like to see everybody have equal opportunities. He earned a Master's at the Norwegian School of Economics, and an MBA at Harvard Business School. In his spare time he tries desperately to match his 5 and 7 year old boys' public school math knowledge, but keeps coming up short.