Patricia Donnelly
Patricia Donnelly has been serving as the Executive Director of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia for six years. She has over 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector, most of which has been in education and the performing arts. Her previous positions included Director of Development and Public Education for the Woodstock Center at Georgetown University and Associate Director of Admissions at Marymount University. Her professional expertise is in program management, development and administration. Patricia has a B.A. in Economics from Mary Washington College and an M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Marymount University. She serves on the Board of the Virginia Literacy Foundation, WETA’s Community Advisory Board and is a graduate of Leadership Arlington, class of 2003. pdonnelly@lcnv.org
Rebekah Bundang
Rebekah Bundang graduated from Swarthmore College with a BA in Linguistics and Languages, specializing in Spanish. She worked in human resources and tutored an ESOL student before moving to the Washington, DC area and joining the Literacy Council. She now manages all aspects of the Council's administration, including human resources, accounting, and technical support. rbundang@lcnv.org
Belle Peñaranda earned her B.A. from the College of William and Mary with a double major in history and art history. This is her return to the Literacy Council after serving as the AmeriCorps*VISTA Family Learning Program Assistant immediately after graduation. After her service at the Council, she worked at Catholic Charities Hogar Hispano as an associate coordinator for the ESOL program for two and a half years. Belle is an experienced volunteer coordinator, teacher trainer, ESOL instructor and curriculum developer. volunteers@lcnv.org
Elise Bruml
Elise Bruml has an undergraduate degree from Harvard. She also earned a master's degree in education from the University of Chicago. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, she taught English as a Second Language in Malaysia for two years. She has extensive experience working as a program administrator and a researcher in education-related projects. Before joining the Literacy Council's staff, she volunteered in the organization's ESL tutoring program for five years, both as a tutor and as an area placement advisor. esol@lcnv.org
Susanne N. O'Neill
Susanne O'Neill has a B.S. in Elementary Education from Trenton State College and a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology with a specialty in Gifted Education from the University of Virginia. She has taught grades kindergarten to eighth at a gifted center and as a gifted resource teacher. She has been a presenter at state and national conferences on identifying gifted students, especially from minority populations. She has also been a VPI Extension agent for Youth at Risk and developed a state-wide latchkey children's educational program. She has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Alaska, the Red Cross Disaster Action Team in California, and most recently as a teacher in Costa Rica with Hands Across the Waters. She also teaches an ESOL literacy class in Prince William County.basiclit@lcnv.org
Erin Finn
Erin Finn graduated with a BA in psychology from the University of Tennessee, and volunteered as a children’s reading tutor in elementary schools and the Children’s Hospital cancer ward. She served as an AmeriCorps Member for a year with the Literacy Council where she taught nine adult ESOL classes and managed several class sites. She had additional training as a service team leader for a week in Honduras working on a water engineering project. Erin is also fluent in American Sign Language and is currently tutoring a Literacy Council special needs student. familylearning@lcnv.org
Amy Moy
Amy Moy holds a master’s degree in Educational Technology from San Diego State University, where her studies focused on Workforce Education and Lifelong Learning. She has also earned a certificate in Workforce Instruction from James Madison University's Workforce Development Campus. She has over nine years of experience designing instructional programs and coordinating educational activities within corporate, academic, and nonprofit settings. She has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adult learners sponsored by community-based, public school, and community college programs. learningcenters@lcnv.org
Wayne Shewmaker
Wayne Shewmaker holds an MBA in Finance from George Washington University and he spent 27 years at the Federal Reserve Board where he was a banking financial analyst. Over the last 15 years of Wayne's Fed career, he was involved extensively in developing databases and managing banking data. During our nation's financial crisis, he created a Microsoft Access relational database that enabled the Fed to track information related to the numerous commercial bank and savings and loan failures that occurred between 1985 and 1995. Wayne also was a computer instructor with Fairfax County Adult Education for six years, teaching Microsoft Access and other software applications. Recently, he created databases for a local community bank using Access and Excel and automated their daily, weekly and monthly reporting processes. wshewmaker@lcnv.org
Lizette Zurita
Lizette Zurita has been with the council for five years now. She also helps out in the Family Learning Program as a children’s teacher and volunteers with the ESOL Program as an interviewer. Lizette is a fluent native Spanish speaker. info@lcnv.org
Martha G. Picarello
Martha G. Picarello began her career with the Literacy Council in 2002 as a volunteer ESOL instructor; since then she has served the Council as both a Program Director and consultant. Before working for the Council, Martha served various government agencies as a consultant for Accenture, Ltd. A native Hoosier, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Indiana University before relocating to Northern Virginia. mpicarello@lcnv.org
Carisa Coburn Pineda has a BA from Occidental College with a double major in English & Comparative Literary Studies and Spanish Literary Studies. She has a Master's in Fine Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Fiction from the University of Maryland, College Park. Carisa's involvement with the Council began in 2004 as a Lead Teacher for the Family Learning Program and she is currently a Program Associate for the program. Her experience is in the area of children's literacy and parent involvement in education having formerly worked at Reading Is Fundamental as well as the National PTA. Carisa is a fluent native Spanish speaker. cpineda@lcnv.org
Matt Kollmeyer
Matt Kollmeyer has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing. Before joining the Literacy Council, he tutored college students and managed the online writing lab at George Mason University for three years. Prior to that, his job experience ranged from teaching ESOL classes overseas and in America to developing web-based applications for a software company to working in television post-production. mkollmeyer@lcnv.org
