Staff Biographies

Patricia Donnelly has been serving as the Executive Director of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia since the summer of 2002. She has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, most of which has been in education and the performing arts. Her previous positions included director of development and public education for the Woodstock Center at Georgetown University and associate director of admissions at Marymount University. Her professional expertise is in program management, fund development, and administration. Patricia has a BA in economics from Mary Washington College and an MS in organizational leadership from Marymount University. She serves on the Board of VANNO (Virginia Network of NonProfit Organizations) the Virginia Literacy Foundation and WETA's Community Advisory Council, and serves on the executive committee of the Virginia Literacy Leadership Council. She received the 2007 Nancy Jiranek Award for Leadership Excellence in Literacy, and is a graduate of Leadership Arlington, class of 2003. Outside of the office, Patti enjoys gardening, cycling, winter sports, and the performing arts. pdonnelly@lcnv.org

Katie first connected with LCNV in 2006, when she became an AmeriCorps member, a position she held for two years, teaching a total of sixteen classes. In 2008, she became a program assistant for the Council's tutoring and classroom programs, a position which has allowed her to explore the potential of migrating training resources and teaching materials to an online environment. She graduated from James Madison University with a BA in art history and completed an internship the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She grew up in a diverse first-generation American family and has always maintained an interest and participation in the visual and performing arts. kbeckman@lcnv.org

Elise Bruml has an undergraduate degree from Harvard. She also earned a master's degree in education from the University of Chicago. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, she taught English as a Second Language in Malaysia for two years. She has extensive experience working as a program administrator and as a researcher in education-related projects. She has participated in curriculum development for an experiential-learning course at George Mason University and recently presented at a state-sponsored ESOL conference. Before joining the Literacy Council's staff, she tutored in both LCNV tutoring programs and was an area placement advisor in the ESOL one. She now serves as the Council's Director of Tutoring Programs. tutoring@lcnv.org

Rebekah Bundang graduated from Swarthmore College with a BA in linguistics and languages, specializing in Spanish. She worked in human resources and tutored in ESOL before moving to the Washington DC area and joining the Literacy Council. For several years she managed the Council's administration including human resources, accounting, and technical support, and has been assessing students for almost as long. She now manages the Basic Literacy Tutoring Program. basiclit@lcnv.org

Suzie Brindle Eaton has been with LCNV as the Senior Director of Development since August 2009. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in social work with a minor in economics from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining LCNV, Suzie worked as a community organizer for Clean Water Action and as a development associate with Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. Suzie’s favorite time of year is autumn because it means cheering for her Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Panthers, and fantasy football team. She also enjoys reading, running, and cooking new recipes. seaton@lcnv.org

Erin Finn has been with LCNV since September 2004, first as an AmeriCorps member, then as the Family Learning Program Director from 2005-2008 and finally in her current position as Classroom Program Director since 2008. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a minor in sociology from the University of Tennessee. Erin enjoys reading cooking blogs, cheering for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers rowing team, and anything involving spending time with her family, friends, and golden retriever. efinn@lcnv.org

Matt is the Grants and Publications Specialist for the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia and has been with the organization since 2005. He earned a BA in English at CSU Fresno and an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University. His job experiences range from teaching ESOL classes overseas (and in America) to developing web-based applications for a software company to working in reality TV post-production. He supports Borussia Dortmund of the Bundesliga and enjoys cooking, gardening, and brewing beer at home. mkollmeyer@lcnv.org

Randi has been with the Literacy Council since September 2008. She is responsible for financial and accounting issues as well as human resources. Before joining the Literacy Council, she was Director of Finance and Accounting for the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, a local not-for-profit corporation that has since moved to Denver, and Controller of the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art. Randi has been a Florida CPA since 1984. Her educational achievements include a BA in French and an MEd in foreign language instruction from SUNY at Buffalo. She also has an MBA from Florida International University. Randi taught ESOL in Colombia, South America, at the university and high school levels. She also taught classes to executives of U.S. corporations doing business in Latin America. Locally, Randi was on the Adult ESOL teaching staff with Fairfax County Public Schools. She is currently a substitute teacher for Literacy Council ESOL classes. rlittman@lcnv.org

Amy Moy is the ESOL Learning Centers Specialist for the Literacy Council and has been a program staff member since 2005. Amy holds a BA in history from the University of Virginia, and an MA in educational technology from San Diego State University, where her studies focused on workforce education and lifelong learning. She also earned a certificate in workforce instruction from James Madison University's Workforce Development Campus. Her professional experience includes designing instructional programs and coordinating educational activities within corporate, academic, and nonprofit settings. She has taught ESOL classes for adult learners sponsored by community-based, public school, and community college programs. Amy originally joined the Council in 2004 as a volunteer class aide in an ESOL class, and continues to be inspired by the dedication of LCNV’s students. learningcenters@lcnv.org

Stacy has been with the Lieracy Council since July 2010. She has a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin and an MA in English from Georgetown University, where she taught writing at the School of Continuing Studies. Prior to moving to Northern Virginia, she worked in Boston as an AmeriCorps member for Generations Incorporated and as senior grants manager for the Boston Children’s Museum. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at Trinity Washington University. Stacy has a longstanding love for the literary but also the performing arts, having played oboe, sung soprano, and danced ballet from an early age.

Belle Peñaranda has been serving as the Director of Volunteers (formerly Director of Community Outreach) since November 2006. She earned her BA from the College of William and Mary with a double major in history and art history. This is her second stint at the Literacy Council—she spent exactly one year at LCNV as the AmeriCorps*VISTA Family Learning Program Assistant in 2003-2004. From 2004 to 2006, she was an associate ESOL coordinator at Hogar Immigrant Services at Catholic Charities. In her free time, Belle enjoys staying active by teaching group fitness, running, and practicing yoga. volunteers@lcnv.org

Carisa Coburn Pineda is the Family Learning Specialist for the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia. Carisa has been with the Council since 2004, first as a lead teacher for the Family Learning Program and then as program staff in 2005. Carisa has experience in children's literacy and parent involvement in education having formerly worked at Reading Is Fundamental as well as the National PTA. Carisa has a BA from Occidental College with a double major in English and comparative literary studies and Spanish literary studies. She has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing with an emphasis in fiction from the University of Maryland, College Park. Carisa is a fluent native Spanish speaker; she spent her childhood in Latin America and the Caribbean and graduated from high school in Costa Rica, her mother's home country. She enjoys writing and playing the violin. familylearning@lcnv.org

Wayne Shewmaker has been with LCNV since mid-2006. Wayne holds an MBA in finance from George Washington University. He spent 27 years at the Federal Reserve Board where he was a banking financial analyst. Over the last 15 years of Wayne's Fed career, he was involved extensively in developing databases and managing banking data. During our nation's financial crisis at that time, he created a Microsoft Access relational database that enabled the Fed to track information related to the numerous commercial bank and savings and loan failures that occurred between 1985 and 1995. Wayne also was a computer instructor with Fairfax County Adult Education for six years, teaching Microsoft Access and other software applications. Before joining the Literacy Council he created databases for a local community bank using Access and Excel and automated their daily, weekly, and monthly reporting processes. wshewmaker@lcnv.org

Minta has been with the Council since September 2009. She graduated from Clark University in May 2008 with a degree in biology. During her final semester at Clark, she worked as a research assistant for a professor studying the mountain pine beetle outbreak in the western United States and continued working on this research in Colorado as a field assistant in the summer. After returning to the east coast she processed and analyzed the collected data. In the spring and summer of 2009, she traveled with her father to Turkey and Greece where they lived and worked on farms for two months. If she’s not at LCNV, you can usually find her climbing a mountain, riding her bike, or traveling to far-off lands. mtrivette@lcnv.org

Executive Assistant Lizette Zurita has been with the Literacy Council since 2001. She also helps out in the Family Learning Program as a children’s teacher and volunteers with the ESOL Program as an interviewer. Lizette is a fluent native Spanish speaker. info@lcnv.org