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Board of Directors Bios

	Ellen Babby (2024-27) I have been familiar with OLLI’s national footprint for many years through my career in higher education and have been extremely impressed with the leadership, range of study groups and superb quality of American University’s program. Through a deep commitment to lifelong learning, I began taking classes a number of years ago. These have so greatly enriched my life. I have been keenly interested in expanding my engagement with OLLI and fully enjoy my work on the Lecture Committee as well as a “Welcomer” to new members. I have held leadership positions in various higher education nonprofit organizations, with the core of my career as Vice President at the American Council on Education. For the past several years, I have served as an independent nonprofit management consultant specializing in strategic planning, organizational development, governance, and advancement. A native of Montreal and author of a book and several articles, I hold a Ph.D. in French Literature from Yale University.
	JOHN BARGERON (2020-23) (2023-26) An OLLI member since 2014, John Bargeron is a former Chair of the Board and current Coordinator of the Welcomer program. He previously served as Chair of the Nominating Committee for the 2019 Board elections and has served as SGR for multiple classes over the years. John’s professional experience includes more than 35 years with the US State Department, specializing in the Middle East and transnational organized crime. He has served in Jerusalem, Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Managua, and as Chief of Civilian Observers with the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), the peacekeeping force between Israel and Egypt based in the Sinai. Other foreign affairs experience includes a two-year detail to the Pentagon to work on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Before joining the State Department, John taught modern European history at Cedar Crest College. He has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (graduate) and Emory University (undergraduate).
	Joe Belden, Vice Chair (2025-28) Joe Belden has taught OLLI study groups since 2017 and chaired the Lecture Committee since 2023. He has served on a number of nonprofit boards and writes regularly for The Daily Yonder and other publications. From 1989 to 2015 he was Deputy Exec. Dir. of the Housing Assistance Council (www.ruralhome.org). He also worked at USDA, on Capitol Hill, and for other nonprofits. Belden is the lead author of books on affordable housing and food issues. He is a graduate of the Univ. of Texas-Austin and the Baylor Univ. Law School.
	Ed Feinberg (2025-28) Ed Feinberg joined OLLI in 2017. He has been a member of the OLLI Nominating Committee and is currently serving on the curriculum committee and the strategic planning committee. Ed has taught "Survivors and Descendants of the Holocaust: A Search for Meaning" for the past four fall semesters. He was the founding director of what evolved into a large, multidisciplinary early intervention program that serves young children with disabilities and their families. A psychologist by training, Ed has served on many nonprofit boards and has been an adjunct instructor at George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University. He is a docent at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Ed has a B.A. from the School of International Service at The American University and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park.
	David Flaxman (2023-26) David Flaxman is a summa cum laude graduate of the Honors College of Michigan State University and has a master’s degree in mathematical logic from Johns Hopkins University. In a long successful career in the Information Technology industry, he invented software, built companies, and consulted numerous large enterprises. He now is engaged primarily as a musician, performing with several distinguished choral groups in DC and serves as president for two of them. He speaks French and Italian and currently teaches music and Italian for OLLI.
	STUART FRISCH (2021-24) (2024-27) I’ve been taking classes enthusiastically at OLLI since 2013. I am Chair of the Personnel Committee and a member of the Governance Committee. Over the years, I have often served as a Study Group Representative and a Welcomer for new members. I also have mentored several foreign students in the OLLI-IAP program. I am a graduate of Brooklyn College and Harvard Law School. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the late 1960s. I spent most of my legal career in government—10 years at the EEOC and 25 years at the Department of Justice, where I was a senior executive.
	PENELOPE HANSEN (2021-22) (2022-25) Penny Hansen has been a member of OLLI since 2011 and an ongoing Study Group Leader since 2014. Her ever-evolving course, Today’s Supreme Court: A Class for Citizens, has been presented 21 times. In 2021, she added a new class, Populism and the Presidency to her OLLI efforts, and now serves as co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. "Prior to retirement, she had a 30-year career at the Environmental Protection Agency, implementing the country’s first recycling, hazardous waste, Superfund, acid rain, and environmental technology verification programs. She was educated at Skidmore College, Johns Hopkins University, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Her post-EPA life focused on consulting on environmental issues domestically and around the world, along with other volunteer work. She is a proud fourth generation Washingtonian and a passionate believer in an educated citizenry.
	LISA HARPER (2024-27) Serving on the Board of Director of OLLI would give me the opportunity to support at a higher level this remarkable organization, which has transformed my retirement. When I started teaching at OLLI in 2019, I soon realized: This is my tribe. I found smart, energetic, well-traveled, multilingual seniors who, like me, wanted to continue a journey of learning and friendship. I have enjoyed teaching courses in French and English on such diverse topics as French songs, Josephine Baker, Moroccan history, and Ethiopian crosses. Joining the OLLI "tribal council" would allow me to contribute another part of my skill set--strategy thinking, mission orientation and the desire to exceed expectations. I acquired these skills as I rose to senior management positions at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over a 45-year career.
	DAVID HENSLER, Treasurer (2020-23) (2023-26) Dave Hensler has been an OLLI member for five years, is Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, as well as serving on the Finance Committee and the Investment Subcommittee, and the Lecture Committee. Dave assisted OLLI in getting a substantial increase in its annual payment from the AU Endowment and in improving the investment return on the Friends of OLLI Fund. In Dave’s view, the Board’s principal responsibilities should be to continue the good work that OLLI’s recent leadership has done in strengthening the OLLI staff, rationalizing the budget process, and increasing the classroom space available to OLLI, as well as to prepare OLLI to meet the unexpected challenges that will inevitably occur. Dave is currently on the Board of Directors of the Duke Ellington Fund and is a Trustee of the Foundation of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Dave is also the outside General Counsel, on a pro bono basis, for the largest Native American scholarship fund. He is a Senior Counsel at Hogan Lovells US LLP.
	Diana Jamieson, Secretary (2024-25) Diana has been an enthusiastic member of OLLI for twelve years and spreads the message that OLLI classes have enriched her life. She has often been a study group representative and has served on the Nominating Committee for two years, once as chair of the committee. She previously was a mental health professional in the field of clinical social work. Since retirement she has worked as a Hospice volunteer and continues to be a docent at a historic house in DC.
	Jeff Porter (2023-2026) Jeff Porter joined OLLI in the Spring of 2017. He initially was a class member of Current Events and Public Policy before becoming a Study Group Leader for the class. Jeff became the Chairman of the Social Committee in the Spring of 2019. He has arranged a variety of events for OLLI. Among these are happy hours, coffee breaks, and SGL luncheons. He was also very instrumental in helping to coordinate OLLI’s 40th Anniversary celebration. Prior to the pandemic, he arranged several gatherings in the OLLI Social Space where members could interact with one another. Jeff started his career teaching English in the Milwaukee Public Schools. After eight years in 1978 he moved to the DC area and operated lobby shops in area office buildings. Since then he served as a manager at the former Sutton Place Gourmet and most recently as the Director of Catering at Whole Foods P St. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin where he earned a BA in political science and then a MA in curriculum and instruction. Jeff is most enthusiastic about OLLI when members can satisfy their thirst for knowledge while at the same time engage in social activities and make new friends.
	Lesley Rubinger, Chair (2024-2027) OLLI has had an enormous impact on my life – in 3 states! When I moved to the Berkshires in 2010, not knowing anyone, it was my OLLI classes that paved the way to new friendships and becoming a Board Member and Editor of the Catalog. In 2020, having retired (after a long career in membership and development) to Virginia and in a lockdown, OLLI at George Mason on Zoom was right there to stimulate brain waves and stave off the isolation. And, in 2021, back in civilization, I joined OLLI-AU and was immediately enthralled with the number and variety of classes. Tony tapped me for Catalog Editor and I feel that joining the Board is a wonderful next step to become even more immersed in this wonderful organization. I am a lifelong learner. My work as a tour guide at the Kennedy Center and the Holocaust Museum (and chair of the museum’s Advisory Board) has furthered my education in those two areas (I tell all my tours about OLLI’s performing arts and history courses!). I want to help spread the word that OLLI-AU provides countless opportunities to explore, grow, and challenge oneself in new areas of adventure that may have only been in one’s imagination. My best friend, a neuro-scientist, ended her last TED talk with this thought: “The best way to age gracefully with cognitive resilience is to continue learning for the rest of your life.” Through my work on the Board and the Membership Committee, I hope to encourage others to do just that.