Governance

Leanna Beaber started her legal career working at O'Melveny & Myers, where she specialized in securities, finance, and governance law, including serving as the in-house specialist on "blue sky" laws for the firm. She advised the heads of public and private international companies, as well as collaborating with multinational nonprofit organizations. 

After leaving O'Melveny & Myers, Leanna joined The Hunger Project and oversaw the design and development of an international participatory democracy community of practice.  She has continued her commitment to work that will make a positive social impact through volunteering.

Leanna grew up in California, studied in France in high school with School Year Abroad, and graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Intercultural Relations and an MA in Anthropological Sciences. She studied Mandarin at East China Normal University before earning her JD from New York University School of Law. 

An active WIS volunteer, Leanna has served as the Fund-A-Student chair for the WIS Auction, as a WISPA Primary School representative, and on the Annual Giving team. She is married to Jamie Beaber, a partner at Mayer Brown. Their two children are members of WIS Classes of 2031 and 2033.

Jefferson Burnett is Senior Vice President at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). His portfolio includes global education and international students at independent schools, NAIS’s partnership outreach and foundation relationships, and providing thought leadership on governance as well as national and global trends and challenges relevant to the independent school community, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution, school business model transformation, and demographics.

He is also a Board member of Independent Schools Association Network (ISAnet), and the International Council for Advancing Independent School Accreditation (ICAISA) as ex officio (voting); he is a past trustee of the Edmund Burke School. Jefferson also serves on the WIS Professional Development Collaborative  Advisory Council and the Advisory Board of the Klingenstein Center at Teacher’s College, Columbia University.

Jefferson has an A.B. in anthropology from Columbia University, Columbia College and an M.Phil. in social anthropology from the University of Cambridge, King’s College. Jefferson is a graduate of St. Michael’s Country Day School and St. George’s School, Rhode Island, as well as the Sherborne School in England.

Melissa Mileff Burnett is a design professional specializing in residential interiors and historic decorative arts. She has worked for several museums in Washington, DC and California, including in curatorial positions at the Textile Museum and the Monterey History and Arts Association.

Melissa has served on boards of several national and local organizations, including the Monterey Museum of Art, the American Institute of Architects, and the National Architectural Accrediting Board, and has advised other arts, educational, and political organizations. Currently, she serves on the board of Transformer, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that supports emerging artists.

Melissa holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oklahoma, where she was recognized as the Alpha Rho Chi recipient, and received her MA in the History of American Decorative Arts from Parsons School of Design. In 2016, she and her husband Jason moved back to Washington from California. Their son Sebastian is a member of the Class of 2030.

Pierre A. Chao has three decades of strategy management consulting, investment banking, equity analysis, investing and policy analysis expertise in the aerospace/defense/government services industry. He is currently a Founding Partner of Renaissance Strategic Advisors, a 39-person boutique aerospace/defense strategy, market insight and M&A planning and due diligence firm; and a Co-Founder/Operating Partner of Enlightenment Capital, an aerospace/defense private debt firm with $477 million of assets under management. 

Prior to establishing RSAdvisors in 2008 and Enlightenment Capital in 2012, Mr. Chao was the Director of Defense-Industrial Initiatives at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC-based, non-partisan defense and foreign policy think tank, where he still remains as a Senior Associate.

Before joining CSIS in 2003, Mr. Chao was a Managing Director and senior aerospace/defense analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was responsible for following the U.S. and global aerospace/defense industry. He remained a CSFB independent senior adviser from 2003-2006. Prior to joining CSFB, Pierre was the senior aerospace/defense analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter from 1995-1999. He served as the senior aerospace/defense industry analyst at Smith Barney during 1994 and as a director at JSA International, a Boston/Paris-based management consulting firm that focused on the aerospace/defense industry (1986-88, 1990-93). Mr. Chao was also a co-founder of JSA Research, an equity research boutique specializing in the aerospace/defense industry. Before signing on with JSA, he worked in the New York and London offices of Prudential-Bache Capital Funding as a mergers and acquisitions banker focusing on aerospace/defense (1988-90). Over the course of his Wall Street career, Mr. Chao’s team was ranked #1 by Institutional Investor every year eligible and he was on the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team every year eligible. He was also ranked the #1 A&D analyst by corporations in the 1998-2000 Reuters Polls, the #1 A&D analyst in the 1995-99 Greenwich Associates polls, and appeared on the Wall Street Journal All-Star list four of seven years. He participated in 31 landmark aerospace/defense equity offerings/IPOs raising $11.7 billion. 

He is a guest lecturer at the National Defense University and the Defense Acquisition University, has served on multiple Defense Science Board, National Academies, and Army Science Board task forces, and was a member of the Defense Business Board (2010-2013). He is a member of the board of directors of IIA and SolAero Technologies, and he was a member of the board of directors of KeyW Corporation (Nasdaq:KEYW) (2010-16), Vistronix Intelligence & Technology Solutions (2014-16) and the Truman National Security Project (2007-18). 

Pierre earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Political Science and Management Science from M.I.T.

Pierre and his wife Amy have been at WIS since 2006, having enrolled two of their three children — daughters Mia (Class of 2021) and Chloe (Class of 2023) — in the French program.

Rick Cruz has served in leadership roles in companies, nonprofits, and government agencies — and has extensive experience in organizational management, partnerships, business development, strategic planning, and external relations. 

He is currently an executive at Arabella Advisors, a mission-driven Certified B Corporation dedicated to helping philanthropists increase their impact and make a difference on the issues that matter most to them. As Arabella Advisors’ chief revenue officer, Rick Cruz oversees communications, marketing, and client development efforts, all of which help grow the organization’s reach and philanthropic impact.  

Over the last decade, Rick has served in senior roles at leading social sector education and youth development enterprises, including College Board, America’s Promise Alliance, FSG, Teach for America, DC Prep Public Charter School, and the DC Public Charter School Board. 

Rick began his career in the professional services sector, working at the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) in Washington, DC and London for more than a decade. There he assumed successive leadership roles and built teams that helped global corporations develop their strategic planning, finance, risk management, and governance capabilities.

Rick is deeply committed to advancing access to quality education and currently serves as chair of the DC Public Charter School Board. That independent board oversees the 66 nonprofit organizations and their 126 schools, which educate nearly half the public school students in the District of Columbia. Rick is a frequent panelist and speaker about public education and reform efforts.

Rick also holds board positions at several local and national nonprofits. He is a member of the Pahara-Aspen Fellowship and the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Rick earned a BA in Philosophy from Yale University. He resides in Washington, DC with his wife Leslie and their two children, Luca and Belén, members of the WIS Classes of 2025 and 2026.

Rachel Firschein is an Executive Director of Taxable Fixed Income Sales and Trading at Raymond James & Associates in Washington, DC. In this capacity, she manages Community Reinvestment Act investments and single-family housing loans and securities. Prior to joining Raymond James & Associates, she was a Managing Director of Taxable Fixed Income Sales and Trading at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and previously held similar roles at GMAC-RFC Securities, Friedman, Billings & Ramsey, and Freddie Mac. She has an MBA from George Washington University and a BA from Rutgers University.

Rachel is actively involved as a volunteer with a number of charitable and educational organizations in the Washington, DC area. She serves on the board of the Friends of Barker, a Washington, DC adoption agency and the Gladney Center for Adoption – National Capital Area Family Association. Rachel and her husband Joseph are the proud parents of two WIS lifers — daughters, Jenny (Class of 2025) and Ava (Class of 2031).

Wesley Flamer-Binion has nearly two decades of experience in a wide range of roles in the real estate industry, including brokerage, development, construction management, and finance (commercial mortgage bond ratings and investments). He is currently Vice President of Credit for Toronto-Dominion Bank's Investment Portfolio, where he is responsible for new investments and management of a $13 billion portfolio of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS); he is also involved in managing the bank's UK RMBS portfolio and other structured products. Prior to TD, Wesley was a senior ratings analyst at Moody's primarily focused on structured commercial real estate securities including CMBS and CRE CLOs.

Currently living in New York City, Wesley enjoys being outdoors in his spare time — tennis, sailing, skiing, cycling, hiking, and gardening are among his favorite activities. He is engaged in the local community, volunteers regularly with his local block association, and founded a community group to support investments in underserved Brooklyn parks. Wesley also is a member of the French American Foundation Transatlantic Forum. 

Wesley is a WIS graduate and received a B.A. from Columbia University – Columbia College and an MBA from Columbia Business School. 

Sophie Hawkins' French and American heritage make her a "typical" WIS parent who holds an appreciation for many cultures. As a fluent French speaker, she believes deeply in the educational model offered at WIS and enrolled both of her daughters—members of the Classes of 2022 and 2023—in the French/English dual language program.

Sophie graduated from Princeton University, where she met her husband, Val. After living in London, they both went on to attend Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Sophie has always had a passion for education. She has volunteered as a teacher alongside her professional commitments. Prior to taking on the role of full-time mother, she worked at Merrill Lynch and UBS, specializing in investment banking and asset management, respectively.

Renata Hesse is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group. Her practice focuses on antitrust counseling, cartels, and merger clearance. Ms. Hesse is frequently recognized as a leading and influential antitrust lawyer, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property matters in high-tech industries. She is currently co-chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Spring Meeting and is a frequent speaker at antitrust and legal forums.

Ms. Hesse counsels some of the world’s biggest companies on a range of high-stakes antitrust matters. Most recently, she advised client Praxair, Inc. in its $80 billion merger of equals with Linde AG; Amazon on its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market; Tanker Investments on Hart-Scott-Rodino matters for its $188 million merger with Teekay Tankers; and United Rentals Inc., the world’s largest equipment rental company, on antitrust matters in its $1.3 billion acquisition of Neff Corp.

Ms. Hesse joined Sullivan & Cromwell following a distinguished career in government, including leading the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice twice as Acting Assistant Attorney General and serving that division for more than 15 years. Ms. Hesse also served as Senior Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, where she advised Chairman Genachowski on transactions pending FCC approval.

Ms. Hesse earned a JD (’90) from Berkeley School of Law and a BA (‘86) from Wellesley College. Her children are members of WIS Classes of 2025 and 2026.

James Iker has more than 20 years of real estate, finance, investment, and management experience. He is currently the Chief Investment Officer at JBG Smith, an S&P 400 Real Estate Investment Trust that owns and/or operates a portfolio of nearly 20 million square feet in and around Washington, DC. Mr. Iker is a member of JBG Smith’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee. He also served two terms as the inaugural Chair of JBG’s Management Committee.

From 2008 to 2017, Mr. Iker served as a Managing Partner of the JBG Companies and as the co-head of Investments. He was responsible for JBG’s investment strategy including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, investor relations, and fundraising. During Mr. Iker’s tenure, JBG successfully raised seven Opportunity Funds totaling more than $3.6 Billion of discretionary equity.

Mr. Iker formed part of the senior leadership team that merged The JBG Companies with Vornado Realty Trust’s Washington, DC business and created JBG Smith as a publicly traded company in July 2017.

Prior to joining JBG in 2002, Mr. Iker co-founded and managed a real estate investment firm in Orange County, California. He has previously served on the advisory board for the Urban Land Institute and currently serves as a board trustee for the Federal City Council, as a member of the National Council for the World Wildlife Fund, and as a member of the Dean’s Council at the Yale School of Architecture.

Mr. Iker earned his BA at the University of Phoenix and his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Iker and his husband Hayes Nuss have been at WIS since 2014. Their two children, Sophia and William, are members of the Class of 2028.

Katherine Kinsella is a returning WIS trustee, having previously served from 1990-1996. Kathy’s husband, Ed James, was a WIS Board member from 2000-2006 and both of their daughters are WIS lifers: Erin ’03 and Mara ’06.

Now retired, Kathy enjoyed a 40-year career as a high-level communications strategist in the advertising, marketing, and public relations fields. She began her career in strategic communications at The Kamber Group, an independently-owned communications company working with non-profit and labor organizations, where she was a senior vice president and director of marketing and advertising.

In 1991 she founded Kinsella Media, where she was a nationally recognized expert in the design, preparation, and dissemination of legal notice in class actions and bankruptcies. One of the primary architects of the field, she pioneered the methodology and quantification methods that became the industry standard for due process notice to unidentified class members and claimants in national and international litigation. Among many hundreds of cases, her work has facilitated billions of dollars in restitution for asbestos, breast implant, and Holocaust victims, as well as Black Farmers, Native American Farmers and Individual Indian Trust account holders alleging US government discrimination or mismanagement. She is the author and co-author of many articles, a contributor to class action handbooks and practice guides, and was a frequent speaker at conferences, events, and symposia.

Rohit Kumar is a principal and Co-Leader of PwC’s Washington National Tax Office. In his role, Mr. Kumar advises clients on all aspects of domestic policy including tax policy. His insights and knowledge enable companies to assess critical policy issues more effectively and develop legislative strategies to address those issues from both a technical and political perspective.

Prior to joining PwC, Mr. Kumar served as the Domestic Policy Director and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. He served 11 consecutive years in the Office of the Republican Leader for three different senators, having previously been Director of Policy and Senior Counsel to Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist and Senior Policy Advisor and General Counsel for Senate GOP Leader, Trent Lott. In all of these roles, Mr. Kumar worked in close collaboration with Senate leaders in developing and implementing all aspects of domestic policy including tax, trade, budget, and health care. Mr. Kumar also held positions in the Office of Senator Phil Gramm as Legislative Director and Chief Counsel, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs as Deputy Chief Republican Counsel and clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. Kumar received his J.D. from the University of Virginia. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Duke University. He and his wife Hilary Chapman have a daughter in the Class of 2028.

Edgar Nehme currently is the Chief Investment Officer for a family office. He has worked in an investment capacity for the past two decades, initially in New York City and most recently in Washington, DC. Prior to joining the WIS Board as a trustee, Edgar served on the Investment Subcommittee.

Edgar relocated to DC to join the KAUST team managing a university endowment for the first co-ed and graduate university in Saudi Arabia. Edgar was the Managing Director and was responsible for absolute return strategies.

Before joining KAUST, Edgar was in New York in different investment roles. Previously he was a principal, underwriting emerging market debt for Latin American corporate and sovereign issuers.

Edgar earned a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (1993) and an MBA from Stanford University (1997). 

Edgar was born and raised in Mexico City in a family of Lebanese descent. He moved to the United States in 1995 to obtain an MBA at Stanford University and has remained since. He is married to Kristin Cassola, born in Milan, Italy, who currently works as a professional Italian instructor for State Department and DoD staff members. Edgar and Kristin enrolled their daughters (Classes of 2021 and 2023) at WIS. They are native speakers of English, Italian, and Spanish. 

Nandini Oomman is a global health and development specialist, and the Founding Curator and CEO of The Women’s Storytelling Salon™. Previously, Nandini was the Director of The HIV/AIDS Monitor at The Center for Global Development (CGD), influencing the role of big donors in global development (using research) to improve their performance and increase the effectiveness of aid dollars. 

Nandini has more than 20 years of research, program and policy experience in global development. She has worked at The World Bank in Washington, DC and in Hanoi, Vietnam. Earlier jobs at the Rockefeller Foundation in NY, and at the Indian Health Organization, an HIV/AIDS prevention organization in India, as well as consulting assignments with the Packard Foundation, created a life-long passion to improve people’s lives with a focus on health and education. Nandini is also fascinated by the art and science of storytelling, which led to the creation of The Women's Storytelling Salon™, a storytelling platform that is dedicated to making women and girls visible in their leadership and participation in the workforce.

Nandini has a BSc in Biochemistry from McGill University, and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also has an IB Diploma from the United World College (UWC) in Canada.

She has published widely in academic journals, is a Huff Post and Medium blogger, and has served on Boards of several organizations. In education, she was a Board member and Vice Chair of the Board at The United Nations School (UNIS) in Hanoi (2012-2015) and is currently a Board member of Paper Airplanes (2017-present), a young start-up social enterprise that bridges gaps in language, higher education, and professional skills training for conflict-affected individuals using virtual learning technology and the benefits of peer-to-peer connections. Her children are members of WIS Classes of 2019 and 2022.

John Reppas is a technology expert who operates at the intersection of academic, government, and private-sector innovation. He is the Director of Public Policy for the Neurotechnology Industry Organization (NIO), where he is responsible for government engagement, advocacy, international initiatives, and public-private collaboration to advance commercial neuroscience. John is also an investor in, and adviser to, a number of early-stage companies that operate in regulated markets, and has extensive prior experience in healthcare and technology private equity. 

John graduated from Oxford University with a Bachelors of Medicine, received his MD from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and his PhD from the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He received further fellowship and postgraduate training at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

John and his wife Solange Brown have three children, all of whom attended WIS.

Myra Riggs is a compliance professional currently working for American Express. She has 20 years experience in insurance and risk management services.

She holds a Bachelor of Musical Arts from University of Michigan and a Juris Doctorate from Fordham School of Law. She has two sons attending WIS — in the Classes of 2027 and 2031 — enrolled in the French language program. 

Kleber Santos is the President of Capital One’s Retail and Direct Bank and has been with Capital One since 2006. Prior to joining Capital One he was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company in Washington DC from 2001 to 2006 and, prior to that, a civil engineer at Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção in Brazil.

Kleber holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a Master’s degree in management information technology from UVA's McIntire School of Commerce. He also holds a BS in civil engineering from Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil. Kleber is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Kleber is a member of the corporate advisory board of the UVA Darden School of Business, a board member at The Clearing House and a board member at Early Warning Systems. He has two children enrolled at WIS: Luana (Class of 2023) and Leandro (Class of 2026).

Miguel Savastano is a Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund, with oversight responsibilities for the IMF’s work on sovereign debt management and banking crisis prevention and resolution. He joined the IMF in 1990 as part of the young professional program, and has worked in six departments in different capacities. He has written extensively on monetary and exchange rate policy issues, financial crises, and IMF programs.

Miguel was a member of WIS Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2017. 

Miguel received a BA in Economics (summa cum laude) from the Universidad del Pacifico (Lima, Peru), and a MA and PhD in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. His children are members of WIS Classes of 2017 and 2022.

Constantine Stavropoulos is the owner and operator of The Tryst Trading Company, a DC food group consisting of several restaurants (Tryst, The Diner, Open City, Tryst at the Phillips, The Coupe, Open City at the National Cathedral), and a catering operation (Who's Cookin?); Constantine led the design and construction of each.

Constantine is a founding member of Think Local First, with its mission to "transform DC's economy by developing and implementing solutions that strengthen the local independent business community".  He is also the President and founder of the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District (BID), a non-profit dedicated to promoting a clean and safe Adams Morgan for people to live, work, and play. 

He earned a BA in international business and finance from American University and attended American University in Paris. The family has been at WIS since 2000; wife Djinn is an active volunteer. Their son Romain graduated from WIS in 2014 and daughter Margot is a member of the Class of 2025.

Marc Williamson was born and raised in Annapolis, MD. He received his BA in Philosophy from Swarthmore College, his MA in Philosophy from Columbia University, and his JD from New York University School of Law. Marc has lived and worked in London, Brussels, and New York. He is a partner of Latham & Watkins, where he practices international antitrust law; his professional focus is on obtaining multi-jurisdictional antitrust approvals for large mergers and acquisitions.

A long-time supporter of independent education, Marc has previously served on the Board of Trustees of Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland.

Marc’s wife Tricia is an Executive Director in the legal department of UBS Financial Services Inc. Marc and Tricia live in the Forest Hills neighborhood of DC with their children William and Daphne. William is a member of WIS Class of 2023.

Suzanna Jemsby, Head of School
Eric Brown, WISPA Co-President