Government

I am a retired Commercial Attache of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service, having served in Moscow, London, Brussels, and headquarters over the past 10 years. As commercial diplomats we counseled, assisted, and advocated for U.S. companies exporting to or investing in country markets worldwide. I now reside in north Arlington, Virgina, a Washington, D.C. suburb.

I am a Supervisory Management Analyst with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. I am the HR director for the Office of Air and Radiation, an organization of 1,100 people who implement the Clean Air Act and run voluntary programs such as Energy Star. I am an HR generalist, which means that I work in pretty much every aspect of HR as well as in Equal Employment Opportunity and diversity. I have occupied this position since 2008. I have been an employee of USEPA since 1992. (This is typical; EPA employees tend to stay with the agency.)

I am now the President and Artistic Director of a performing ballet company called Ballet Mobile (www.balletmobile.org) . We are a non-profit group of volunteers who bring GOOD ballet (and hope, beautiful music, group movement, visual imagery, and love) to non-traditional locations like nursing centers and assisted living facilities. Our overarching goal is to help people feel better and improve their well-being through our “house calls” (no curtain calls!). The folks we serve would rarely – if ever – have the opportunity to see good ballet. Ballet Mobile is in its 6th year now. While I never stopped teaching ballet and choreographing, I worked for the Department of Defense for 30+ years, retiring in 2008 as a Senior Executive and then being hired back to work at a specialized (and first-of-its-kind) language center, a University-Affiliated Research Center devoted entirely to the Science of Language (http://www.casl.umd.edu/). I was originally hired by Department of Defense for my Russian skills to be a teacher in their specialized school, and I moved up through the ranks. I am most proud that I achieved senior standing in both the Technical and Management tracks.