Tene Dolphin
Chief of Staff
Executive Office of the Mayor
 
With more than ten years of management experience, Tene Dolphin, 35, serves as chief of staff for Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration. Her experience ranges from project and operations management to professional event coordination and educator.

 

During Fenty's energetic grassroots run for mayor, Dolphin served as chief operations manager for the Fenty campaign, where she was responsible for the day-to-day campaign activities of the office staff and volunteers.

 

Before joining the Fenty management team, she worked in several business management and communications positions including as director of administration and operations at Westin Rinehart, a leading strategic communications consulting firm, and as business manager for Washington-based trade association, Vinyl Siding Institute.

 

Her campaign experience was honed during the 2004 presidential campaign cycle, where she served as director of special projects for the Democratic National Committee. There she was responsible for implementing emergency plans, organizing travel for 400 staffers being deployed to surrogate operations around the nation, and coordinating logistics for all new hires.

 

Dolphin also served as an educator for several years in Maryland's Prince Georges County. With revamping the city's school system at the top of Fenty's priorities, Tene's experience as a third grade teacher brings additional insight and perspective to the mayor's office.

 

Dolphin graduated with honors from Howard University in Washington, D.C., with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. She has always remained an active humanitarian, volunteering for several organizations including Habitat for Humanity, United Negro College Fund, and the National Council of Negro Women, to name a few. Originally from Philadelphia, Dolphin now resides in the Arboretum neighborhood of Washington.

 

 

Carrie Brooks
Director of Communications
Executive Office of the Mayor

 

With more than 10 years experience in the field of public relations and communications in both the public and private sector, Carrie Brooks joins the Mayor’s office as the Director of Communications after more than five years on Capitol Hill. Brooks worked for Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) as both her communications director, managing overall communications strategy, constituent outreach and national media efforts, but also as her Washington director, overseeing everything from day-to-day operations to legislative initiatives.

 

Her private sector public relations career has included working with FORTUNE500 technology companies and various consumer clients. Brooks' work focused on strategic communications planning as well as basic media relations. She has worked for two California city governments, including the cities of Lake Forest, in the city clerk's office and Anaheim, in the public information office. Brooks also worked in the public information office of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a federally funded think tank focused on international conflict-resolution. Brooks received her bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations from California State University, Fullerton. Growing up in the District, she is also a proud graduate of the District of Columbia Public School System.

 

Cathy L. Lanier 
Chief of Police
 
Cathy L. Lanier serves as the Chief of Metropolitan Police Department by DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. She officially assumed the leadership position on January 2, 2007 making her the first woman to serve in this leadership position in MPD’s history. On April 3, 2007, members of DC Council approved confirmation. Chief Lanier has spent her entire law enforcement career with the Metropolitan Police Department, beginning in 1990. Most of her career has been in uniformed patrol, where she served as Commander of the Fourth District, one of the largest and most diverse residential patrol districts in the city. She also served as the Commanding Officer of the Department's Major Narcotics Branch and Vehicular Homicide Units. 
More recently, Chief Lanier served as Commander of the Special Operations Division (SOD) for four years, where she managed the Emergency Response Team, Aviation and Harbor Units, Horse Mounted and Canine Units, Special Events/Dignitary Protection Branch, and Civil Disturbance Units. During her tenure as SOD Commander, she established the agency’s first Homeland Security/Counter-Terrorism Branch and created an agency-wide chemical, biological, radiological response unit known as the Special Threat Action Team. 

 

 

Brender L. Gregory
Director, District of Columbia Department of Human Resources 
 
Brender L. Gregory serves as the director of the District's Department of Human Resources. Ms. Gregory joins the Fenty cabinet after serving as special assistant to the general manager and acting assistant general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). She was responsible for the coordination, planning, and implementation of all aspects of the Division of Workforce Planning and Administration for more than 10,000 union and non-union employees at WMATA. Her areas of responsibility included human resource management services, organizational development, civil rights, employee and labor relations, compensation and benefits, medical services, training and career development, and employee programs. She also chaired the WMATA Health and Welfare Trust with oversight for more than $20 million in assets.

 

Prior to assuming her role as assistant general manager for workforce development at WMATA, Ms. Gregory was a seasoned 23-year District of Columbia Government employee where she served as chief of staff for the District of Columbia Department of Transportation from 2004-2006. In this capacity, she was responsible for executive leadership and support, as well as direct oversight of all agency management support functions for approximately 760 employees. Areas of responsibility included human resources, training, EEO and civil rights, facilities, customer service, labor relations, integrity and compliance, procurement and budget.

 

 

 

Ginnie Cooper serves as the District of Columbia Public Library as Chief Librarian.  Charged with the mission of transforming the District of Columbia’s Public Library System with the help of good staff and community supporters, she has worked in libraries in five states, most recently as Executive Director of the Brooklyn Public Library.  A librarian since 1970, Ms. Cooper is a past president of the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association.  Ms. Cooper was named 2001 Layperson of the Year by the Portland, Oregon, Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and is a recipient of the Charlie Robinson Award made by the Public Library Association to recognize a public library director who has been a risk-taker, an innovator and an agent for change.  She believes in the power of public libraries to make a difference in the lives of individuals and in communities.  

 

 

 

Carla Brailey, former director of the Office of Boards and Commissions has been promoted to the serve as the Executive Director of the newly established Office of Community Affairs. 

 

Previously a lecturer in the Afro-American Studies Department at Howard University and an adjunct professor at Prince George’s Community College, Ms. Brailey brings considerable experience to the position. This new role will also include the responsibility of Senior Advisor for Religious Affairs.  Carla's experience as an Evans E. Crawford Graduate Fellow at Howard University’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel and her Masters of Divinity will certainly be useful to her as the primary representative and liaison between the Mayor and the District’s faith-based communities.

 

 

 

Appointed by Mayor Fenty, Linda Argo is the director of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), responsible for the agency’s public service enhancements. Previously Argo was DCRA’s deputy director, she successfully established the agency’s Office of Communications and Customer Service (OCCS), which is radically overhauling the way DCRA delivers information and services to the public. Her office assumed responsibility for regularly communicating with civic groups and advisory neighborhood commissioners (ANC), coordinating complex multi-agency inspections actions, providing up-to-date information and increasing the number of services on the web and meeting regularly with business and industry partners.

 

Ms. Argo has been responsible for a major initiative to enhance Internet, phone and face-to-face service delivery. Under her leadership, DCRA recently completed intensive cross-training of the Permit Center's staff in customer-service solutions. The Center opened their new streamlined permitting center on June 18. Argo is also implementing a comprehensive overhaul of call center, long a source of frustration for DCRA customers.

 

Argo has 30 years of management experience, the last eight of which have included managing major innovations in District government customer service. She served as the chief of staff and public information officer at the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) for nearly six years and established OCTO’s public information and communications center. She also led teams that developed the agency's first strategic plan, emergency operations and business continuity plan, risk management program and performance standards for the city's first performance-based budgets.

 

Before joining the District government, Argo was senior vice president of corporate relations and administration for the College Construction Loan Insurance Association where she managed communications, marketing and government relations. Earlier positions included a stint at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, as executive director for education finance and director of business development at the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae).

 

Argo graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara and has a master’s degree from the University of Southern California. She lives in the District, with her husband, David.

 

 

Chancellor Michelle Rhee was appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty June 12, 2007. She leads District of Columbia Public Schools, a district numbering 50,000 students and 144 schools. In the Mayor’s search for a change agent for schools in the District, experts in education recommended Ms. Rhee, who had already transformed many urban public school systems through her work with The New Teacher Project (TNTP).  Chancellor Joel Klein, whose work in New York City’s public schools is a model for effective change, said of her appointment that it was “the choice D.C. needs, given that, year in and year out, they have not gotten results.”  Results drive the Chancellor every day.  Whether she is developing effective measurements to track student achievement and teacher quality; talking with principals and teachers in one-on-one meetings; developing new measures to hold herself and staff accountable for their roles in student achievement; traveling throughout the community to engage parents and other stakeholders in our schools; establishing partnerships with neighborhood organizations; meeting with business leaders as she transforms a broken organizational structure into one that works for students and families; or ensuring that needed repairs are completed to create physical learning environments serve students, Chancellor Rhee’s vision rests on results. 

She had these results in mind when she founded The New Teacher Project (TNTP) in 1997, and it is now a nationally recognized leader in understanding and developing innovative solutions to the challenges of new teacher hiring.  As Chief Executive Officer and President, she partnered with school districts, state education agencies, non-profit organizations, and unions, to transform the way schools and other organizations recruit, select, and train highly qualified teachers in difficult-to-staff schools.  Her work implemented widespread reform in teacher hiring, improving teacher hiring in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami, New York, Oakland, and Philadelphia.  Thanks to TNTP, 23,000 new, high-quality teachers were placed in these schools across the country.

Ms. Rhee’s commitment to excellence in education began in a Baltimore classroom in 1992, as a Teach-for-America teacher.  The lesson she learned at Harlem Park Community School informs her mission today: with the right teacher, students in urban classrooms can meet teachers’ high expectations for achievement, and the driving force behind that achievement is the quality of the Educator who works inside it. 

Chancellor Rhee currently serves on the Advisory Boards for the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ); the National Center for Alternative Certification (NCAC); Project REACH of the University of Phoenix’s School of Education.  She is an Ex-Officio Member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees.  Chancellor Rhee’s expertise on education is also informed by a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Cornell University, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

 

As the Secretary for the District of Columbia, Stephanie Scott is responsible for authenticating proper use of the Seal of the District of Columbia and she attests to the authenticity of official records, bond documents, and documents of the executive branch. The Secretary also serves as the Chief Protocol Officer of the District. She holds a doctoral degree in psychology from the City University of New York Graduate School. Dr. Scott was a researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, District of Columbia for five years before leaving academic work in 2003 for more direct involvement in local government.

 

In 2003, Dr. Scott joined the District of Columbia government as Chief of Staff in the Office of Council Member Adrian Fenty. In 2004, she resigned to become Campaign Chief of Staff for Adrian Fenty’s successful re-election campaign. After the 2004 election, she continued to serve as treasurer of Adrian Fenty’s Constituent Services Fund. She also became a consultant, serving the Ward 4 Council Office as webmaster and editor of the Ward 4 Weekly Newsletter.
 
Dr. Scott has been very active in her community, serving on the board of the Takoma District of Columbia Neighborhood Association (formerly Plan Takoma), the Takoma Anti-Crime Task Force, and as an active participant in the PTA at Shepherd Elementary School in Northwest, where her two young children attend. Dr. Scott’s husband, Lt. Col. Les’ A. Melnyk, PhD, is a Historian and Public Affairs Officer at the National Guard Bureau.
 

 

Summer Spencer
Director, District of Columbia Department of Employment Services
 
Summer Spencer joins the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services after serving as executive director of the Center for Alexandria’s Children, a child advocacy center focused on the investigation, treatment and prevention of child abuse. Prior to that, she served for five years as the first executive director of the Workforce Organizations for Regional Collaboration (WORC).

 

Founded in 2000, WORC brings employers and service providers together to lead individuals in the Greater Washington, District of Columbia region to pathways to independence.  In April 2005, WORC became an affiliate of Goodwill of Greater Washington, an organization that educates, trains, employs people with disadvantages and disabilities, creating a stronger workforce and a more vital community.  Ms. Spencer served as the vice president of training and employment for Goodwill of Greater Washington, while still retaining her position as executive director of WORC until September 2006.
 
Ms. Spencer graduated from the University of Richmond with a degree in accounting. While working as a CPA at Grant Thornton LLP, she realized that she had another passion. Ms. Spencer began volunteering at a homeless shelter in Northern Virginia, where she worked with the residents on a weekly basis to help them look for jobs, write resumes and prepare for interviews.  She enjoyed this volunteer activity so much that Ms. Spencer decided to make a full-time career of it.  She began working in the employment department of Community Family Life Services (CFLS) in Washington, District of Columbia, where she helped prepare individuals to reenter the workforce. While at CFLS, Ms. Spencer also started working with other local providers who were meeting monthly to share information about the various activities in the workforce development field. Workforce Organizations for Regional Collaboration (WORC) was formed as a result of these monthly meetings, and Ms. Spencer served as its first executive director.
 
Ms. Spencer is a member of the Board of Directors for Leadership Washington as well as the Jobs Coalition.  She has also served as chair of the Community Relations Committee of the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area and co-chair of the Greater Washington Board of Trade Health Care Task Force's Regional Workforce Work Group.