Our Team

Amy C. Mauro, Esq. is an accomplished and transformative leader who has worked on critical policy issues and strategic organizational change for twenty-five years, in both District and federal agencies and in three branches of government.

Chuck Bean was Executive Director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments from 2012 through early 2023. He is an executive and civic leader with more than 30 years of experience in government, nonprofits and philanthropy.

Milton Douglas retired from the DC Fire & EMS Department in 2022, after 35 years of service, at the rank of Assistant Fire Chief of Technical Services.

Kate Fogle manages the Foundation's Virtual Exhibit, the History of the DC Fire and EMS Department in Photos, Videos, and Oral Histories, and supports the Washington, DC Fire and EMS Museum on behalf of the Foundation.

Olaf P. “Pete” Pedersen, III has served on the Foundation's Board of Directors since its early days of incorporation and most recently took a lead role in the Foundation's DC Firefighters Memorial Helmet Project.

Tommy Wells is a long-time DC resident, attorney, and public servant.

Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly, Sr. was nominated by Mayor Muriel Bowser on September 4, 2020 to lead the 2,200 member DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. He was confirmed by the Council of the District of Columbia on December 15, 2020.

Larissa Bergin is a Partner at Jones Day. Her practice addresses the antitrust concerns arising from M&A matters, joint ventures, federal investigations, and commercial practices.

Lisa Fitzpatrick is Founder and CEO of Grapevine Health, a digital health media company whose mission is to build trust and improve patient engagement among Medicaid patients through delivering culturally appropriate and relatable health information.

Carrie Kohns is the founder and CEO of strategic communications consulting firm, K&K Group, where she has been guiding political, corporate and nonprofit clients since 2018. She has more than two decades of experience in political strategy, policy development and communications management.

Ronald Siarnicki spent 24 years in the fire service as a volunteer and professional firefighter before retiring and then serving as Executive Director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation for 22 years.

Balchander Jayaraman is a recognized leader with over 18 years of emergency preparedness experience that includes evacuation and response plan development, Continuity of Operations planning, resilience assessment, HSEEP compliant exercise and scenario design and training, evacuation map creation, and program and project management. He is an effective consensus builder who has successfully worked with business leaders, government officials, advocacy groups, and community based organizations to generate support for innovative approaches to emergency preparedness planning.

Steve Blivess is Chief Legal Counsel for Frederick County Public Schools. Blivess has spent the past 20 years as an attorney and labor relations professional with experience in litigation, as counsel to government executives, Fortune 500 corporations, family-owned businesses and individuals.

David Hoagland is President of Local 36 of the International Associated of Fire Fighters, representing over 2,000 members of the DC Fire & EMS Department. He is currently a Lieutenant and was most recently assigned to Engine 9 in the Adams Morgan/U Street neighborhood.

Renee McPhatter is proud Ward 7 resident who has lived in the District of Columbia for over 30 years. She is Associate Vice President for Government and Community Relations at George Washington University.

John Sollers retired from the DC Fire & EMS Department in 2021 at the rank of Assistant Fire Chief. During his 35 years with the Department, he specialized in special operations, incident command and response to technical rescue and hazardous materials incidents, logistics and facilities, fleet maintenance, program management, emergency planning, operational readiness, and instructing and training and motivating team members.