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MELODY BARNES
At age 8, Melody Barnes sold cupcakes to support U.S. Sen. George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign. She recalls enjoying her first taste of civic service, even if McGovern’s presidential bid proved unsuccessful. By high school, Barnes was involved in student government and seeking out opportunities to give back and crea[...]
SHAZA ANDERSEN
Shaza Andersen could have opted for early retirement in 2017 when the first bank she founded, WashingtonFirst Bank, was acquired by Sandy Spring Bank. But her work wasn’t finished and, along with former colleagues, she founded Fairfax County-based Trustar Bank, which opened for business in 2019. Success this time around has be[...]
FRAN RANDALL
In college, Fran Randall formulated her career goal: She wanted to specialize in international tax transactions. While she initially envisioned herself working at a law firm, Randall realized there were other career paths — and that her comfort working with and analyzing data made accounting a good fit. One thing Randall never[...]
KRISTIN BAUM
Kristin Baum has always been fascinated by the idea that things and places have a history. While antiquing with her mother, she’d contemplate how a prior owner used an item she found. That ability to see the world through another perspective has proven valuable in her career as an architect. Once, while designing a building [&[...]
LAKSHMI WILLIAMS
Lakshmi Williams’ 30-plus-year career as a lawyer has run the gamut in terms of industries she’s worked with, including software, nonprofit, energy, and transportation. But she finds her role as general counsel and corporate secretary at toll road operator Transurban North America in Tysons, which she’s held for nearly a d[...]
YVONNE ALLMOND
For 30-plus years, Yvonne Allmond has taught free financial literacy classes — so long, in fact, that she typed some of her original class notes on a typewriter. While much has changed in that time, the basics haven’t, nor the need to help people navigate issues such as taking out loans, financing a business or […]
CAPRICE BRAGG
Caprice Bragg first visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on a weekday in 2017 while interviewing for the role she’d eventually land. The Chinese “Terracotta Army” exhibit was on display, and she recalls how the museum’s atrium was filled with light and people. “I really was struck by how busy the museum was and [&h[...]
JILL VOGEL
Jill Vogel thought that her clerkship in political law would “merely be a short indulgence,” and then she’d go back to “real work.” But it turned out that she loved that area of the law more than insurance, family and criminal law, and now the former state senator has dedicated her entire career to it. […]
PAULA PANDO
If there’s an overarching theme to Paula Pando’s presidency of Reynolds Community College, she says, it’s removing barriers to completing degrees for the 15,000-plus students who attend classes each year at the college’s various campuses. Such efforts have included opening food pantries, providing mental health services [...]
LYN McDERMID
Lyn McDermid briefly debated whether she wanted to go back to work when the opportunity arose to join Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration. She had already retired twice from chief information officer jobs, first at Dominion Resources (now Dominion Energy) and later for the Federal Reserve. But the chance to serve as secretary[...]
LYNNE HUGHES
Lynne Hughes has seen many, many examples of children who have blossomed and begun to heal following a three-day weekend at Comfort Zone Camp. They may arrive weighed down by a proverbial backpack full of rocks only to leave less burdened, she says. “They’re taller and visibly brighter by the end of the weekend.” Since [&h[...]
