About Us

Bonnie McCabe, PhD was born in Washington, DC to a pediatrician mother and engineer father. She grew up in Alexandria where she and her family lived on a farm. Horses were her first passion and she rode throughout her life. For the last 16 years of her career, she served the DC government as a health policy analyst, developing Medicaid programs in DC agencies. McCabe is a board member of Washington Literacy Center, Quality Trust, Opera Camerata, English-Speaking Union of the United States, and Jamaican Women of Washington. She has been an executive director of several agencies both in the United Kingdom and the United States and has worked on many campaigns and has advocated for a national organization on Capitol Hill.

Marilyn was born and raised in Los Angeles.  She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.S. in Political Science and Criminal Justice and has an M.S. in Political Science from California State University Fullerton.  She also studied one year at Vaxjo University in Sweden.

Marilyn is doing a two-year temporary duty assignment in the Program Operations Division of the Defender Services Office of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. She is on leave from her job at the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia, where she has investigated hundreds of federal criminal cases ranging from white-collar crimes to international drug trafficking cases to espionage.  Before working at the Public Defender Service, Marilyn worked at the Consulate of Guatemala in Los Angeles, California, on immigration protection matters.  While in graduate school, Marilyn worked as a behavior therapist with children and young adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other disabilities.

Marilyn began her association with Rotary in Rotaract, holding various positions there including President.  She has been a member of the Rotary Club of Washington, D.C., for eight and a half years and is currently the Immediate Past President, Nominations Chair and Membership Co-Chair of the Club. She also has been a member of the Foundation Board, serving first as Sergeant-of-Arms and Secretary and now as President Elect and Board member.  She is also the Assistant Governor (Area 7) and Youth Services Chair for Rotary District 7620. She has twice been honored as Rotarian of the Year. She received a District Governor’s Citation Award for her work in Rotaract in 2017, a District Rising Star Award in 2018, a District Governor’s Citation Award in 2019 for her work in Interact and RYLA, and a District Governor’s Citation Award in 2023 for her work in Youth Services.  Marilyn is a Paul Harris Fellow +6 recipient and is a member of the Paul Harris, PolioPlus and Bequest Societies. She is the only Rotarian in the entire district to be a charter member of Rotary International’s Membership Society and was recently honored at the Service Above Self reception in Melbourne for sponsoring 76 Rotarians in her Rotary tenure.

In addition to all her work in Rotary, Marilyn has a long involvement with several community organizations.  Marilyn also serves as President of her condominium association, Board of Directors of the Columbia Heights Educational Campus-MCIP,  Board of Directors of the Cal State DC Scholars Advisory Board, Board of Directors of the National Women’s Foundation, among others.  She is a proud Northern Virginia 40 Under 40 Honoree, serves as Vice Chair of one of her city’s commissions, and is currently a precinct election officer.  Marilyn is married to David Caballero and lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Anna Eleanor Fierst is a current Board Member of the WNDC Educational Foundation and Past President of the WNDC (2013–2016). For many years before taking a leadership role at the WNDC, Fierst used her background in publication management and marketing for the non-profit, for-profit, and association sectors to produce a monthly newsletter for the WNDC. Previously (22011–2013), she was Vice President of Administration.In addition, she served on the board of the Washington Free Clinic in NW Washington, and for several years on the Board of Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras. Currently, she serves on the Board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill. For the Educational Foundation, Fierst has participated as an interviewer and active participant in oral history projects to document the lives of women in Washington DC. In addition, she has facilitated the WNDC-EF’s annual calendars/planner.. She holds a BA in history from Columbia University.

Nuzhat Sultan, co-founder and for 29 years principal of Washington Art Associates, a company that implemented educational art and architecture tours for museum membership programs. In 2008 she closed WAA and in 2011 she joined the WNDC where she became Director of the Visual Arts and Museum Affairs Committee assuming the role of caring for and maintaining the permanent art collection of the WNDC’s historic Whittemore House. She also curates four exhibitions a year of Washington-area artists in the WNDC’s Wolf Ballroom, as well as exhibitions of the permanent collection in the Upstairs Gallery. Sultan is on the WNDC Board of Directors and, for 3 years, served as Vice President of the WNDC Educational Foundation.

Toni-Michelle C. Travis is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. She has taught and conducted research on urban politics, racial and gender dimensions of elections, and public policy issues. Her publications include Uneven Roads on U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics; Democratic Destiny and the District of Columbia; The Meaning of Difference. Her current research is on the mayoral administration of Walter E. Washington, the first elected mayor of Washington, DC in the 20th century. She has served as a political analyst on Virginia and national politics on C-span, CNN, NPR, and local NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates. From 1998 to 2002 she hosted “Capital Region Roundtable,” a public affairs television show in the Washington DC area. She has been a fellow at the Rothermere American Institute of Oxford University. In the American Political Science Association, she is a co-founder of the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics section and has served as president of the National Capital Area Chapter and the Women’s Caucus. She is a graduate of Bard College and earned a PhD from the University of Chicago.

Rosalyn L. Coates recently retired after 40 years of federal service. She began her legal career as Assistant Regional Attorney with Chicago Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

She moved to Washington, DC to serve as Legal Counsel to the Chief of the Equal Employment Opportunities Office at the Library of Congress. During her tenure at the Library of Congress, she served in several positions including Assistant General Counsel and Legislative Counsel. She retired as legislative counsel with the US Merit Systems Protection Board in January 2020.

Ms. Coates has extensive experience in strategic planning, budgeting, and organizational development gained through her years of service as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union and President of the Board of Directors of the Oracle Set Foundation, Inc.

Ms. Coates holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Iowa, College of Law.