Events

Gil Klein, 67, a long-time journalist and journalism educator in Washington, D.C., is the author of "Trouble in Lafayette Square: Assassination, Protest & Murder at the White House," published in May 2018. For 22 years, he was a national correspondent for the Media General News Service, writing for 23 newspapers in the South. His deep interest in American history has led him to explore past stories of where he lives and work. As he often walked across Lafayette Park on his way to work, he began collecting the tales in this book, even as he covered the White House during the George H.W. Bush administration.

He was the 1994 President of the National Press Club and wrote its centennial history in 2008, “Reliable Sources: 100 Years at the National press Club.” He toured the United States for the Club, holding forums on the First Amendment, Freedom of the Press and the Future of Journalism, and he remains the Club’s historian.

After leaving Media General, he was a journalism professor at American University’s Washington Semester Program, and now he is working with the University of Oklahoma to create a Washington program for its journalism school.

A graduate of Rollins College, he earned a Masters degree at American University before launching his journalism career. He lives with his wife, Gail, in Arlington, Va. and they have two grown children.

Richard Rubin created and founded the Alexander Kartveli Association in the former Soviet country of Georgia in 2013 to promote and encourage high school students to pursue STEM and undertake professions that bring them into closer contact with European and American educational scientific and science based organizations.   The story of Alexander Kartveli, a pioneering aviation engineer and innovator who became a US citizen after emigrating from Europe in the late 1920’s and is considered one of the most important aircraft designers in US history, reinforces the need for the development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation skills both in the scientific community and among students with an interest in STEM in Georgia in today’s world.  In early February 2018, the Alexander Kartveli Association opened the Kartveli Learning Center at the Embassy of Georgia in Washington DC.  

Mr. Rubin is a developmental and emerging market economist and financial expert with over twenty-five years of experience working for private consulting firms, investments banks and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a United States export credit agency.  Mr. Rubin is founder of his own consulting firm, Project Finance Advisors, that engages in technical and financial diligence for U.S. based companies as well as providing financial diligence service to multilateral credit agencies seeking to structure and verify the creditworthiness of various programs and loans. Mr. Rubin has arranged financing for clients from private equity funds, multilaterals banks, export credit agencies and other sources of capital.

Mr. Rubin’s geographic expertise includes the Caucasus region and Georgia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa, Central America, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and areas within the Russian Federation.  Mr. Rubin was OPIC’s Senior Finance Office for Russia and the NIS for four years and performed economic diligence and loan negotiations with a number of Russian enterprises as well as Russian government entities.

Mr. Rubin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, an MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Stanford University. 

Nicole Lynn Lewis serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Generation Hope, an organization which she founded in March 2010. As CEO, Nicole oversees all aspects of Generation Hope’s operations.

Nicole founded Generation Hope because after completing college as a teen mother despite tremendous obstacles, she wanted to help other teen parents earn their college degrees and achieve stable and successful futures. She named the organization Generation Hope because in her own words, "Hope is the number one, necessary, secret ingredient to anyone’s success."  Generation Hope reduces poverty one family at a time by providing direct sponsorships, one-on-one mentoring, and case management to D.C. area teen parents who are attending college.

In just six years, Nicole has created a truly unique and thriving organization that is gaining national attention for its sole focus on college completion for teen parents.  As a testament to her work, Nicole was named a 2014 CNN Hero in June 2014.  She is emerging as a leader in the youth, higher ed, and teen pregnancy/parenting fields.

Prior to founding the organization, Nicole worked for five years with other nonprofit organizations dedicated to youth and/or poverty, providing expertise in the areas of strategic planning, fundraising, and marketing/public relations. Before her nonprofit work, Nicole was a communications and public relations professional for two years with companies in the Washington DC area, such as GEICO. She is also a nationally known author and speaker on topics such as teen pregnancy and parenting, youth development, goal achievement, and self empowerment.

Nicole holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy and Communication from George Mason University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William & Mary. She was named the 2013 Distinguished Alumna by George Mason University's School of Public Policy for her innovative work with youth through the founding of Generation Hope and was elected to the William & Mary Alumni Association Board of Directors in that same year.  Also in 2013, Nicole was selected and inducted into the National Leadership Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa.  In 2014, she was named a CNN Hero, an honor only given to two dozen changemakers across the globe annually.  She is also a two-time TEDx speaker, a member of the 2016 Leadership Greater Washington Signature Class, and a member of the 2017 Leadership Montgomery Core Program.  In 2016, she was named a finalist in the 13th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business for Female Executive of the Year for Government or Non-Profit -- an international recognition.  Nicole previously served on the Board of Directors for Healthy Teen Network, a national organization focused on teen pregnancy, parenting, and prevention.

Nicole and her husband, Donté Lewis, live in Maryland with their two daughters and son.

C. Brian Williams is a graduate of Howard University and a DC resident for over 25 years. Brian first learned to step as a member of his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Beta Chapter in 1989. After living in Africa he began to research stepping, exploring the many sides of this exciting, yet under-recognized American art form and founded Step Afrika! in 1994. Williams has performed, lectured and taught in Europe, South & Central America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. He is a founder of the historic Step Afrika! International Cultural Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Under Brian’s leadership, stepping has evolved into one of America’s newest cultural exports and inspired the designation of Step Afrika! as Washington, DC’s official Cultural Ambassador. Brian has been cited as a “Civic/Community Visionary” by NV Magazine and “Nation Builder” by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. He is featured in Soulstepping, the first book to document the history of stepping, and several documentaries discussing the art form. Brian is also a recipient of numerous awards including the Mayor’s Art Award for Innovation in the Arts and the Pola Nirenska Award for Contemporary Achievement in Dance. Most recently, Brian received an appointment from Mayor Muriel E. Bowser to serve as a Commissioner for the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities.

Anne Midgette is a 1986 graduate of Yale University. After college, she lived for over a decade in Munich, Germany, reviewing opera, music, and art throughout Europe for The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and other publications. In 2001 she became the first woman to review classical music for The New York Times on a regular basis. She continued as a classical music critic, theater critic, and arts writer for the newspaper until 2008 when she took over as the chief classical music critic for The Washington Post,

In addition to her contributions to periodicals, Midgette has co-authored two biographies. With Herbert Breslin, she wrote the book The King and I, about Breslin's 36 years managing the tenor Luciano Pavarotti, which was published in 2004. She subsequently collaborated with the pianist Leon Fleisher on a book about his life, My Nine Lives, published in November 2010.

Commissioner David Hudson, an officer in The Salvation Army for 42 years, is currently the National Commander of The Salvation Army, stationed at National Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

Prior to coming to National Headquarters in November 2015, Commissioner David was the Chief Secretary for the Western Territory, located in Long Beach, California. He and his wife, Commissioner Sharron Hudson, have a wide range of experience as Salvation Army officers, including several territorial and divisional appointments. The Hudsons were corps officers (pastors) for 14 years, including appointments in Oregon, Idaho and Southern California.

David has Business Management degree and a Master of Science Degree in Organizational Leadership. Sharron holds a Masters Degree in Christian Leadership and is currently the National President of Women’s Ministries. They have been married for 41 years and have two daughters, Jennifer and Amy, as well as two grandchildren.