Board of Directors
Board of Directors at 2010 Living in the City Annual Reception
Lawrence A. Thrower, Esq., President
Mr. Thrower has served on the THC Board since 2005. He is Principal of the law office of Lawrence A. Thrower, practicing in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Thrower is member of Christ Lutheran Church, Washington, DC. Mr. Thrower states, “I volunteer because I want to help. I believe that we all should attempt to use our talents in such a way as to make the world a better place when we leave it than when we arrived.”
Melissa Barrett, Vice President
Ms. Barrett has served on THC’s Board since 2007, and is currently the chair of the Fundraising and Development Committee. She is counsel in the Washington, DC law firm of BuckleySandler LLP, where she specializes in federal and state mortgage lending law. Ms. Barrett is a member of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Dupont Circle where she previously served as Senior Warden. Ms. Barrett is past president of Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington and served on its Board of Directors for ten years. Ms. Barrett is passionate about helping the homeless and particularly about helping underprivileged families obtain and maintain housing.
Phyllis LaPlante, Secretary
Ms. LaPlante has been a THC Board member since 1998, currently serves as Secretary, and was President in 2006. A certified Jungian Analyst, she is a member of Christ Lutheran Church, the Jungian Analysts of Washington Association, and the Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts. She serves on the THC board because “given the world’s problems, it is a privilege to be affiliated with an organization that offers solutions.”
Robert C. Leland, Treasurer
Mr. Leland has served on both the Transitional Housing Corporation and the THC Affordable Housing Board of Directors since 2008. Mr. Leland has over 30 years of experience as a senior executive and consultant in local and national nonprofit and government organizations engaged in affordable housing finance and development, community economic development, and municipal planning. In 2002, he established RCLeland Consulting LLC in Washington, DC to provide project management, research, training and technical assistance services to a variety of clients that have included a private real estate management company; municipal and federal government agencies; local, regional and national nonprofit organizations; and state associations.
Mr. Leland is a parishioner of St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, where he has been active in its outreach programs, including THC’s Adopt-an-Apartment Program. He is also a Loan Committee Member of a seven-state Community Development Financial Institution financing rural water and sewer infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, and small businesses. Mr. Leland states, “Linking my outreach mission activities at St. Columba’s with my service on both THC boards gives me an opportunity to offer my experience in affordable housing development and nonprofit management to help advance THC’s mission of direct service to at-risk and homeless families.”
Winell Belfonte
Ms. Belfonte has served on the THC Board since 2007. She is Principal with the Reznick Group, a national leader in accounting, tax and business advisory services. A frequent speaker on accounting and auditing principles, Ms. Belfonte has become well known for her technical expertise. She has spoken to many nonprofit and real estate audiences including the Rural Housing Services’ annual Rural Housing Conference. Ms. Belfonte is an active member of the community who currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Bowie State University Business School and is a former Board member of Housing Opportunities for Women. Ms. Belfonte states that she volunteers with THC in order “to lend my expertise in affordable housing and help to create and provide permanent housing to the graduates of THC.”
Peter J. Plocki, Immediate Past President
Mr. Plocki has served on the THC Board since 2003 and was President of the Board from 2007 through 2008. His involvement with THC began as a volunteer renovating the building that would become Partner Arms 2. He is a Senior Attorney with the General Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Department of Transportation and attends St. John’s Episcopal Church, Norwood Parish in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Mr. Plocki gives his time and resources to THC “because of its longstanding track record of successfully empowering homeless families to transform their lives and become productive, self-sufficient members of their communities and because of the dual manner in which the organization accomplishes this important goal: by filling the area’s critical need for transitional and affordable housing and by providing high quality supportive services to go with that housing.”
Frank Demarais
Mr. Demarais was elected to the THC Board in 2003 and served as Treasurer from 2003-2006, and 2008. He is Vice President and General Manager at Manna Mortgage Corporation, Washington, DC’s first non-profit mortgage company offering low cost services to low and moderate income home buyers and to home owners refinancing high cost loans. Mr. Demarais previous worked at Fannie Mae as Vice President of Product Development and led affordable housing programs in Fannie Mae’s National Community Lending Center. Mr. Demarais also serves on the board of Neighborhood Housing Services of America, a non-profit financial intermediary providing financial services to the non-profit affordable housing sector nationwide.
Mr. Demarais states, “Working for affordable housing, in an employment and volunteer capacity, reflects a desire to make best and highest use of knowledge and skills developed over a career in mortgage and housing finance. The non-profit housing sector relies on the contribution of experienced housing and finance professionals to sustain and expand affordable housing opportunities for the large percentage of our population who live with housing uncertainty.”
Bill Amt
Mr. Amt has been on the THC board for 11 years, and has served as board secretary and treasurer in the past. He is a member of Christ Lutheran Church, Washington, DC and attends St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church. Mr. Amt, LGSW, is the social worker for Adult Day Programs at IONA Senior Services in Washington, DC. Bill has been volunteering with homeless-related organizations for about thirty years and is committed to THC’s mission of making sure that homeless families have the resources they need to realize their full potential.
David Griswold
Mr. Griswold has served as a member of THC’s Board of Directors since 1999, and served as President from 2005-2006. He is the retired Chief of Staff to U.S. Senators John and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Mr. Griswold is currently pursuing graduate studies at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. He is affiliated with St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in DC, and is active in St. Margaret’s education and outreach programs. Mr. Griswold states, “THC was formed, and continues to grow, in direct response to God’s call to us to provide healing and renewal for families who need a new start. It is rewarding to be able to play a small part in this work.”
Bennett Gray
Mr. Gray is the Senior Director of National Forums and the NAIOP Research Foundation at NAIOP, located in Herndon, VA. NAIOP is a commercial real estate development association for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial and mixed-use real estate. He has been a THC board member since 2008. Mr. Gray is an active member of St. Alban’s church in Washington, DC, and is also a member of the Association Foundation Group, a professional network for those involved with leading, managing, and raising funds for foundations related to membership organizations.
Mr. Gray said that volunteering with THC provides a meaningful way for him to connect with his extended community and is a great opportunity to give back.
Phil Hecht
Mr. Hecht has been on the THC Board since 1990 and has served as President and Vice President. Mr. Hecht is a partner at K & L Gates LLP, Washington, DC where he specializes in complex commercial litigation. He is a member of Christ Lutheran Church, Washington, DC. “I give my time to THC as an act of gratitude for what I have been given,” says Mr. Hecht.
Martha Jewett
Ms. Jewett has been on THC Board since 1996. She is a registered nurse who is parish nurse at Christ Lutheran Church, Washington, DC, and has been an Army Reserve nurse for 31 years, retired. Ms. Jewett also worked for 35 years in DC hospitals, HN obstetrics, critical care and emergency care night supervisor at Children’s Hospital. She is partner parish representative to Samaritan Ministries of Greater Washington and on the Thrivent Lutherans Board-DC Chapter that is currently sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity house in DC. Ms. Jewett states that she “believes in the work of THC because it has successfully provided furnished apartments with social services support to help families succeed in transitioning out of homelessness. Also, THC has responsibly taken care of the bricks and mortar as well as the lives with which we are entrusted. In addition, THC Affordable Housing is helping with the affordable housing need in DC.”
Vanessa Perry
Ms. Perry has been a board member of THC since June 2008. She is an Associate Professor of Marketing, School of Business, George Washington University. Ms. Perry states, “It is a shame that so many families in our area do not have a stable, secure place to live. I’m happy to do whatever I can to improve this situation.”
Jim Roumell
Jim Roumell is Founder and President of Roumell Asset Management, LLC. Mr. Roumell founded the firm in 1998 after more than a decade as a financial advisor. Before founding Roumell Asset Management, he was a Registered Principal at Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., and an Associate Vice President at Derand Investment Corporation of America. Mr. Roumell was selected to participate in, and won, two consecutive Wall Street Journal stock picking contests (in 2001 and 2002) before the contest was discontinued. He is a graduate of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Alison Herrick
Ms. Herrick has served on the Board since 2009. Ms. Herrick is the Vice President for Housing and Community Development Finance at Fannie Mae. Ms. Herrick joined Fannie Mae in 1994. Ms. Herrick holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Georgetown University and completed coursework at Oxford University, United Kingdom. Ms. Herrick is a certified public accountant in the District of Columbia.
Shelly Gardeniers
Shelly joined the Board of Directors in June 2010. A Maryland native, she returned to the US at the end of 2009 after 10 years in the Netherlands where she held several management positions, including Head of Business Planning & Control for Holland’s largest staffing company (Randstad) and Director of Diversity & Inclusion for Sara Lee International bv. A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Shelly is a lifelong member of Chew’s United Methodist Church in Owensville, MD. Her priority since returning to the U.S. has been to invest her time and energy in her community (the Greater Washington Area) primarily in the areas of stable housing for struggling families and employment for the disabled.
