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Meet Our Staff
Robbie Jacobs
Executive Director
Robbie Jacobs joined CCW as their Executive Director in August 2023. His career in youth choral music has seen him hold senior positions with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the London Youth Choir, and most recently the Boston Children’s Chorus where he was Executive Producer. Robbie is passionate about breaking down barriers of access to singing opportunities for young people, and offering transformative music education experiences to diverse communities across the city. As an artist, Robbie sings regularly with the GRAMMY nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble, holds a Masters in Choral Conducting from the Royal Academy of Music, and was the Senior Choral Scholar of the Choir of King’s College Cambridge where he studied Music as an undergraduate. Hailing from the UK, he is an avid football (soccer) fan, and an aspiring chef.
Margaret Nomura Clark
Artistic Director
A San Francisco native, Margaret Nomura Clark joined the Children’s Chorus of Washington as Artistic Director in August 2016. Under her leadership, CCW has partnered with many arts organizations in DC and beyond including: Dance Institute of Washington, Washington Performing Arts, Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, GenOUT, Washington Master Chorale, Strathmore Children’s Chorus, The Washington Chorus, US Army Band Pershing’s Own, Duke Ellington High School, Sticks+Bars, Roanoke Valley Children’s Chorus, Shenandoah Valley Children’s Chorus, Boston Children’s Chorus, and Princeton Girlchoir. She has been fortunate to work under the baton of NSO’s conductor Gianandrea Noseda, and additional conductors JoAnn Falleta, Christopher Bell, and Julian Wachner. Under her direction, CCW has performed at The Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, The White House, the Supreme Court, the Washington Nationals, the opening of the District Wharf, and in South Africa in celebration of Nelson Mandela’s centenary.
For more about Artistic Director Margaret Nomura Clark, click here.
Cécile Audette
Beginning Bel Canto Director
Sarah Chapin
Director of Production
Donald Cotton
Associate Artistic Director
Dr. Lester Green
Assistant Director and Principal Pianist
Christen Hernandez
Treble Chorus Director, Musicianship Curriculum Coordinator
Megan Ortman
Program Manager
Maxine Pagliano
Senior Advisor
Anaya Shaw-Taylor
Prep Assistant
Anne Tyler
Prep Director, Theory Instructor
Yukiko Wilson
Advanced Bel Canto Accompanist and Theory Instructor
Catherine Whitby
Programs and Operations Associate
Meet Our Board
List of Services
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Carol Emig (President)
Former President & CEO, Child Trends
Parent of CCW Alumna
Carol has spent her career at the intersection of public policies, programs, and research to
advance the well-being of children and youth. She has worked in government and the nonprofit sector, most recently as President & CEO of Child Trends, the nation’s leading research center focused on children and youth.
Prior to that, she was Executive Director of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care; Deputy Director of the National Commission on Children; director of a state children’s advocacy organization; and, early in her career, research assistant to First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
In addition to serving as President of the Board of the Children’s Chorus of Washington, Carol chairs the Board of Directors of Raising a Reader, a national early literacy and family engagement program. In the past, Carol has served on the Boards of the Stoneleigh Foundation and Reach Out and Read, and as an advisor to the Board of Venture Philanthropy Partners.
Carol has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
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Michael J. Rodis (Vice-President and Chair, Governance)
Owner, SweetPeas LLC
Mike joined the board in June 2020 with extensive experience in human capital and operations with employers including Sunrise Senior Living, The Mills Corporation, Discovery Communications, Frito-Lay and Marriott. He currently serves on a number of private company and non-profit boards. Mike has a BBA and MBA from The College of William and Mary.
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Jacob Clark (Co-Chair, Diversity)List Item 3
Eye Physician and Surgeon
Parent of CCW Chorister
Jacob Clark is an ophthalmologist in private practice in Old Town Alexandria. He is currently the Ophthalmology Section Chief at INOVA Alexandria Hospital. Originally from Puerto Rico, he came to the Washington area over 30 years ago. He served on the Board of the Logan Circle Community Association in the late 1990s. In his free time, Jacob enjoys playing the piano, hiking and exploring our area's beautiful trails on his bicycle. He lives in Chevy Chase, DC, with his husband, Doug Loescher, and their daughter Jenna, who has been a chorister at CCW starting on Treble the winter of 2015, moving through Bel Canto and currently in Concert Chorus.
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Kim C. D'Abreu (Co-Chair, Diversity)
President & CEO, Diversity Dimensions Consulting, LLC
Kim C. D’Abreu is President & CEO of Diversity Dimensions Consulting, LLC, and Co-founder & Principal, of Partners for Racial Equity. She is a seasoned leader in the non-profit space who brings 25 years of experience designing and managing national, impactful workforce diversity and inclusion programs. As a credible thought leader within the education, healthcare, and non-profit sectors, she has built an impeccable reputation for managing the culture and complexities of environments. She is trained as an executive coach and, as such, is an effective communicator with high emotional intelligence. She has a wealth of experience connecting with nonprofit leaders, foundations, and health and education executives to explore new opportunities for addressing social equity issues in our society.
As a New York transplant living in Washington, DC, Kim spends her spare time enjoying live music and theater and relaxing with her daughter and two cats Brook & Lyn.
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Katherine Silverthorne (Chair, Development)
Climate Policy and Strategy Consultant, AnnDyl Policy Group
Parent, CCW Alumna
Katherine is starting her second term on CCW’s board, having served as VP for Operations and chair of the Gala Committee in past years. She is an attorney and senior environmental policy professional with more than 20 years of experience working on climate change policy. Katherine has served on the board of a number of non-profit organizations, and as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development.
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Dave Steadman
After two plus decades in nonprofit fundraising, most recently as Chief Development Officer for The National Theatre Foundation in Washington, DC, Dave is back in the classroom pursuing a Master's in Public Administration (with a focus on nonprofit management and education policy). Prior to The National, Dave served St. Albans School in a variety of leadership roles, spearheading major gifts, alumni relations, and Annual Giving. Dave started his career in the Advancement Office at Hamilton College (his alma mater, where he received a B.A. in Music and English), managing the regional event and student engagement programs before serving as the College's first Director of Young Alumni Giving. Dave has also been a frequent presenter at professional fundraising conferences across the country. He met his wife Daphne (herself a founding CCW chorister and Board alumna) singing with The Washington Chorus (a symphonic chorus in which they both continue to participate). They live in the District with their two kiddos.
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William CatherwoodList Item 2
Program Manager, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)
Parent, CCW Alumna
In addition to managing the St. Elizabeths Technology Services (SETS) Program Management Office (PMO), Bill is a CCW Board veteran. He is starting the first year of his fifth term, having also served on the board 2005-2011 and 2015-2021. Bill previously worked at American Management Systems and Georgetown University, where he earned his degree in history. He lives in Chevy Chase, MD, where he and his wife Jean Sperling raised their four children.
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Colette ColemanList Item 4
Vice Provost and Dean of Students, The George Washington University
Parent of CCW Alumna
Colette Coleman is the Vice Provost and Dean of Students at the George Washington University. She is a seasoned higher education administrator with extensive experience in leading, developing and designing strategic programs. She is a servant leader who is passionate about developing cross cultural leadership capacity in college students.
Colette has experience in organizational leadership and building high functioning collaborative teams. She came into higher education with experience building nonprofit, corporate, and entrepreneurial organizations.
Colette is an advocate for girls’ education and women in the work place. She is mother to two girls and a wife of 20 years. Born in St. Catherine Jamaica, she remains in love with her small island. In her spare time she enjoys reading, cooking, scrabble and exploring new cultures and communities.
Colette received her Master’s degree from The George Washington University. She is an alumna of The University of Toledo with a Bachelors of Arts in Liberal Studies. Colette also spent some of her undergraduate studies at The School of Fine Arts at Howard University studying Arts Administration.
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Kathy Crabtree
Kathy Crabtree is an organizational consultant and certified executive coach. She draws on her 20+ years in the service industry and 10+ years of diverse consulting experience to uncover innovative solutions to complex business problems. She is passionate about guiding individuals and teams discover their purpose, identify their strengths, and maximize their potential.
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June Das Gupta
Quality Control, Pennsylvania Multifamily Asset Managers
Parent of CCW Alumni
June is starting her fourth year on the CCW Board and served as VP of Development from 2019-2021. She and her husband, Bejoy, are proud parents of Gayatri (CCW 2005-2013) and Dinesh (CCW 2007- 2017). She is currently employed by Pennsylvania Multifamily Asset Managers in Bethesda and performs quality control reviews of Management & Occupancy Reviews. She is a former President of the St. Albans School Parents' Association and served on the school's Governing Board.
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Ryan Kellett
VP Audience, Axios
Ryan has lived in Washington D.C. since 2011 pursuing a career in media. He recently was appointed VP of Audience at Axios after over a decade in newsroom of The Washington Post. Ryan holds a bachelors degree in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College in Vermont. Originally from San Francisco, he grew up singing in the San Francisco Boys Chorus which gave him opportunities to perform with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, and numerous other institutions in the Bay Area.
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Kevin Latner
Principal, Latner and Associates
Parent of CCW Chorister
Kevin started his tour on the board of CCW in 2022. He is an attorney, economist and senior strategy consultant in food and agriculture with more than 30 years working on trade, development and environmental policy. Kevin has has served as a senior executive and on the board of a number of non-profit organizations Cotton Council International, Leather and Hide Council of America and the Sustainable Leather Foundation. His son Abraham has been a chorister with CCW since 2019.
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Arthur Paterson
International Program Manager, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Parent of CCW Alumna
Arthur worked for over 35 years with NOAA to create and support teams for coordinating international ocean science and supporting coral reef conservation and ocean/climate science.He also served on two NGO boards including Gala Hispanic Theater, where he helped grow their fundraising program, and the Thomas Circle Singers, where he participated in the search process for a new director.
A singer himself, Arthus is especially delighted to return to CCW since his daughter's participation inspired her passion for music.
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Marsha Pearcy
Managing Director, Equinox Search
Parent, CCW Alumna
Marsha Pearcy is an executive search consultant with Equinox Search, where she represents clients globally across all real estate industry sectors. Prior to joining Equinox in 2001, she worked at Russell Reynolds Associates where she served the entire spectrum of real estate clients and co-managed the firm’s global real estate industry practice. She co-founded the Russell Reynolds Associates Mexico City office, its first in Latin America. Based in Washington, DC, she is fluent in Spanish and grew up internationally living in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Marsha holds a BA from the College of William and Mary and is a member of the Urban Land Institute
She served previously on CCW’s board from 2013 to 2019.
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Karen Philipps
Middle School English Teacher, Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy
Parent, CCW Alumna
Karen Philipps joined the CCW board after living the chorister experience vicariously through her daughter Katie who sang with the chorus for nine years. Karen traveled with CCW as a chaperone to South Africa in 2018. For sixteen years, Karen taught middle school English at Holton-Arms. In September 2020 she began a new teaching position at the Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville. Prior to teaching, Karen worked in fundraising at Lasell College and the Winsor School in Boston and at Holton-Arms, where she was the director of the Centennial Capital Campaign. Karen earned a master’s degree in English at Boston College and a B.A. in English with a minor in Asian Studies at Williams College. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Bethesda.
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Tony Small
Director of Arts Academy, St. Vincent Pallotti High School
Tony Small is the new Director for the Pallotti High School Arts Academy in Laurel where he is launching a ground breaking new theatre as well as a new community afterschool and Saturday Arts center. His undergraduate university (Anderson University) is honored him this with the prestigious 2021 music Alumnus Award; he is also and MFA candidate at Goddard College.
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Candace Weir
Sr. Executive Coordinator, SiriusXM
Candace Weir is an Sr. Executive Coordinator with SiriusXM and provides administrative, scheduling and meeting & event planning assistance to C-Level (CEO, CIO, CMO) executives in the Automotive and Digital Subscriptions Divisions. Prior to joining SiriusXM (then XM Radio) in 2006, she was Executive Coordinator to the President of the Development Division at the Mills from 1995-2006. With more than 30 years experience in administration, travel planning, budgetary planning/reconciliation as well as meeting & event planning, she offers a wide range of expertise in business logistics. Candace studied Art History at Baylor University and enjoys traveling the world.
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