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.

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.

Dr. Babak Sarani is Professor of Surgery and Emergency Medicine and Chief of Trauma Surgery at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. He and GW Hospital led the effort to provide whole blood to the paramedics in the DC Fire and EMS Department and to write the protocols which allow them to administer this life-saving modality to critically injured patients, resulting in a dramatic decrease in firearm-related deaths in Washington, DC. GW. Continuing to partner with the Washington, DC Fire Department, Dr. Sarani created and leads the only deployable Extrication and Amputation service in the District.

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.

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.

Dr. Robert Holman is Associate Dean of Admissions at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He retired from the practice of medicine in 2024, after serving as the Medical Director of the DC Fire and EMS Department for eight years, the Department's longest serving Medical Director. He served in that role following 24 years of private practice of Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine.

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.

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.

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.