DCAYA Announces New Board Members

At the June 2012 meeting of the Board of Directors, DCAYA took its first steps towards board diversification and the fulfillment of one of the major tenants of our strategic plan. Last week we enthusaitically welcomed Graham McLaughlin from the Advisory Board Company and Eric Robinson from the National Endowment for Democracy to the DCAYA Board of Directors.

"While we will always have a strong executive director presence in our board composition, we recognize that positioning DCAYA for future development and stability will require the addition of new optics, insights, skills and expertise " said DCAYA's Executive Director Maggie Riden of the board appointments.

Bios for Graham and Eric are below:

Graham McLaughlin, The Advisory Board Company

Originally from North Carolina, Graham McLaughlin currently serves as the Director of Community Impact at The Advisory Board Company, a global research, consulting, and technology firm partnering with 125,000 leaders in 3,200 organizations across health care and higher education.  Prior to leading the organization’s corporate social responsibility efforts, Graham served across multiple areas of the business, including General Manager of the firm’s international performance technologies service delivery team and has worked as a management consultant specializing in targeted marketing and sales channel strategy for Fortune 500 technology firms.  In addition to his keen business acumen and extensive local, national, and international network Graham brings a depth of compassion and standing commitment to youth issues. He has worked as a wilderness therapy instructor, and currently volunteers with incarcerated youth on a weekly basis. It was this foray into local youth issues that originally brought Graham to DCAYA and we are pleased to have the opportunity to add him to our board.   

Eric Robinson, National Endowment for Democracy

Born in Mogadishu Somalia and raised in Ypsilanti Michigan, Eric moved to the DC area over 12 years ago to join the National Endowment for Democracy as the senior program officer for East and Horn of Africa. Prior to the Endowment Eric spent extensive time working throughout the non-profit sector, spending with the United Nations in Somalia and spending 5 years with a national non-profit organization that did capacity building training for immigrant led civil society organizations in the United States.  Eric’s rich understanding of community led civil society movements in marginalized communities and passion for community advocacy are a major part of what brought him to DCAYA and we are thrilled to have both his energy and expertise in this area on our Board.

DCAYA's staff and existing board members look forward to introducing all of our members and allies to these dynamic representatives at the next opportunity. 

Questions about DCAYA's Board of Directors and strategic plan may be forwarded to Maggie Riden, DCAYA's Executive Director.