Our own Alexander Tu introduces his friends Dr. Michael and Joan Kim. Husband and wife team, Michael and Joan Kim, are both pharmacists and entrepreneurs. They currently have ownership in multiple pharmacies in the District of Columbia and have owned eight different pharmacies since 2005.
Michael Kim graduated from Howard University College of Pharmacy in 1998 and was part of the first ever entry-level PharmD class to graduate from the College of Pharmacy. Joan Kim graduated from St. John’s College of Pharmacy in New York in 1995 and worked in both hospital and retail settings before moving to Maryland to start a new life with Michael.

Joan has helped countless patients' lives over the years with her vast knowledge of alternative medicine and nutrition. She has been featured in local newspapers and has been a featured speaker representing women in pharmacy. She has been able to juggle being a business owner, pharmacist, wife, and a fantastic mother to six children.

Michael has been the recipient of several awards since graduation, including the Bowl of Hygeia award, the Howard University College of Pharmacy Alumnus of the Year award and the Washington DC Pharmacy Association Pharmacist of the Year award. He has been featured in multiple pharmacy publications and has been interviewed by many news media outlets.Michael is the current Chairman of the Care Pharmacies Board of Directors, was a Vice President of the National Community Pharmacist Association (NCPA) for six years and is a board member of the Howard University College of Pharmacy Board of Visitors.

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Our own Kenny Barnes introduces his long-time friend Kymone Freeman. Freeman is an award-winning playwright, activist and commentator. He is the subject of one chapter of the book Beat of a Different Drum: The Untold Stories of African Americans Forging Their Own Paths in Work and Life (Hyperion). He is a 2010 Green for All Fellow & co-founder of We Act Radio DC’s Best Social Justice Radio Station 2017 by Washington City Paper and 1st Place 2017 Public Media Journalists Association Award winner for his Lion and the Map Commentary from the Anacostia Unmapped radio series on WAMU/ NPR’s most successful local production in 2016. He founded the Black L.U.V. Festival in 1997 & was honored at the Kennedy Center as a Mayor's Art Award Finalist for Excellence in Service to the Arts 2005.

The 25th Anniversary of the Black Luvfest was the largest event of the 50th Anniversary of the Ft. Dupont Amphitheatre Summer Series sponsored by the National Park Service in 2022. He was featured as a contributing writer in the most controversial Ebony Magazine in recent history as the last publication in print and PBS Online Film Festival for his short film Fresh Prince of Anacostia. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Washington Informer and NY Times: Can Anacostia Build a Bridge w/o Displacing Its People? He has appeared nationally and internationally on BBC, French 24 TV, German ZDF, RT, CGTN America, Cuban National TV and TV One.

Freeman serves on the board of the Douglass Community Landtrust and is publishing a novel, Nineveh: a conflict over water with Strong Arm Press. He was honored by the Catalogue of Philanthropy at the Word Museum with the 2022 Change Maker Award.

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PP Jennifer Hara introduces Director de Guzman to help us begin the celebration of AAPI Heritage Month.

Ben de Guzman is the Director of the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (MOAPIA). He has been a leading voice at the local and national level on issues of racial equity, immigrants' rights, veterans affairs, and LGBT justice for more than two decades. He comes to MOAPIA from the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, where he served as the Community Outreach Specialist. During his tenure there, he helped execute two major first time events for the Office- the “District of Pride” LGBTQ cultural performance event and the 32nd Annual 17th Street High Heel Race, presented by the Mayor’s Office as lead organizer.

He has authored articles and op-eds that have appeared in mainstream and special interest media, anthologies, and academic publications, including the Encyclopedia of Asian American Issues Today. In 2015, he received a Community Service Award from Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, and is pleased to come to MOAPIA and help recognize exciting new leaders moving forward. In June 2019, he was recognized by the Capital Pride Alliance in Washington, DC as a Capital Pride Hero. In October 2019, he received one of the Twenty Outstanding Filipino Americans Award for LGBT Advocacy.

As an advocate for equity and recognition for Filipino veterans of World War II, he played a key role in two of the most significant legislative victories on behalf of these soldiers. He led communications, outreach, and political strategies for the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project that led to the passage of the Filipino Veterans of WWII Congressional Gold Medal Act in 2016. He also served as the National Coordinator for the National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity, where he organized a national legislative campaign that created the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund in 2009.

For almost ten years, he was principal staff at the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), where he managed the policy and programmatic work for NQAPIA and its federation of 40 Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander LGBT groups around the country. He spearheaded efforts to promote national LGBT campaigns around comprehensive immigration reform and a national LGBT Pride Month campaign from Asian American/ Pacific Islander advocacy organizations.

Ben is the son of Filipino immigrants and was born and raised in New Jersey. He first moved to the District in 1997 and is a proud resident of Ward 1.

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Our own May O'Brien introduces Judge Griswold who shares with our club her leadership perspectives. After serving for 30 years as an Administrative Law Judge in state and federal programs, Judge Nancy J. Griswold was appointed to serve as Deputy Director for the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs at the United States Department of Labor. Prior to her appointment as Deputy Director, she served as Chief Administrative Law Judge and Agency Head for the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, which is responsible for deciding the third level of appeals for denials of payment for Medicare goods and services.

She began her career as an attorney practicing personal injury law in Shreveport, Louisiana, before accepting a position as a Workers Compensation Judge for the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Administration in 1990. She then served as the Chief Judge there for 3 years, during which she established Louisiana’s Workers’ Compensation Mediation Program.

In 1995, she accepted a position as a U. S. Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration and, over the next 15 years, served in various management positions, first as Hearing Office Chief Judge in Shreveport, Louisiana, then as Regional Chief Judge in Boston, Massachusetts and finally as Deputy Chief Judge in Washington, DC. During her years as Deputy Chief, she served as alter ego to the Chief Judge and assisted in formulating and implementing the Commissioner’s backlog reduction initiatives.

Judge Griswold graduated from Louisiana State University in Shreveport with a BA in English and then earned her JD from Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas. In her spare time, she enjoys watercolor, cooking, singing, playing piano and travel.

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Our own Jeanne Shen introduces her friend and neighbor, Bill Causey to discuss his new book on John Houbolt, the unsung hero of the Apollo Moon Landings.
In May 1961, President Kennedy announced that the United States would attempt to land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth before the end of that decade. Yet NASA did not have a specific plan for how to accomplish that goal. Over the next fourteen months, NASA vigorously debated several options. At first, the consensus was to send one big rocket with several astronauts to the moon, land and explore, and then take off and return the astronauts to earth in the same vehicle. Another idea involved launching several smaller Saturn V rockets into earth orbit, where a lander would be assembled and fueled before sending the crew to the moon.

But it was a small group of engineers led by John C. Houbolt who came up with the plan that propelled human beings to the moon and back-not only safely, but faster, cheaper, and more reliably. Houbolt and his colleagues called it 'lunar orbit rendezvous,' or 'LOR.' At first the LOR idea was ignored, then it was criticized, then finally dismissed by many senior NASA officials.

Nevertheless, the group, under Houbolt's leadership, continued to press the LOR idea, arguing that it was the only way to get men to the moon and back by President Kennedy's deadline. Houbolt persisted, risking his career in the face of overwhelming opposition. This is the story of how John Houbolt convinced NASA to adopt the plan that made history.

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This week our club does something unusual in dipping into our own vast pool of members with captivating stories. Our own Board Secretary, Todd Miller, introduces also one of own, John Kropf. John Kropf ’s latest book Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company (University of Akron Press) has been praised by the Washington Post as “well-written and, for those of a certain age, suffused with nostalgia.” John has also published a travel adventure book based on his two years in the central Asian country of Turkmenistan, Unknown Sands: Travels in the World's Most Isolated County. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Middle West Review, and elsewhere.

John currently works as the Chief Privacy Officer for a Fortune 500 company. He previously served in the federal government with Departments of Justice, State, Homeland Security, and USAID. He also teaches as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School.

Color Capital of the World is available from the University of Akron Press, your local independent bookstore, or any of the big chain stores.

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Preston Brashers is a senior policy analyst at the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget who focuses on tax policy. His research centers on tax and fiscal reforms to promote economic growth, simplify taxes, and reduce the role of the federal government in Americans’ everyday lives.

Preston’s work has been featured by news outlets such as The Washington Times, The Epoch Times, The Daily Caller, MSN, The Chicago Tribune, The Center Square, and The Washington Examiner. He has had TV appearances on CNBC, Newsmax, and the Salem News Channel. Preston is also a frequent guest on radio shows across the country.

Prior to joining Heritage, Preston was a tax policy specialist in the Research and Fiscal Analysis division of the Washington state Department of Revenue. There he led modeling of the fiscal impacts of various business taxes.

Previously, he was a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he provided transfer pricing consulting and compliance services to multinational companies in the United States and around the globe.

Preston received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY and his B.S. in economics from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.

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Our own Past President Jennifer introduces today's speaker Ms. Gabrielle Webster.
Gabrielle Webster is a visionary thought leader and youth development expert who is sparking positive change as President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW). As a skilled convener who engages communities, business leaders, philanthropists and partners in service of capital area youth and their families, Gabrielle has put to use her strategic planning, management abilities and development skills to fuel unprecedented growth for BGCGW. Under her leadership, BGCGW, which serves more than 21,000 youth, is exceeding financial goals and achieving record accomplishments. Gabrielle is the driving force behind a first-ever $30 million comprehensive campaign. Gabrielle also tripled the number of Clubs in the metro area, earning BGCGW the distinction of being among the top 5% of BGCA (Boys & Girls Clubs of America) affiliates in the nation. In 2022, BGCGW celebrated its first National Youth of the Year in 75 years. Gabrielle is further blazing new trails with plans for a flagship Center of Transformation at the Nation’s Boys & Girls Club, which will serve as an incubator to pilot and implement innovative programs across local sites and ideally the BGCA movement.

Gabrielle has a depth of leadership experience as a nonprofit and public sector professional with a track record of growth and exceeding expectations. Prior to BGCGW, she raised more than $220 million as part of her leadership roles at three large non-profit organizations, which operate in the Washington metropolitan area, the Mid-Atlantic region and at the national level. Gabrielle served as the Chief Development Officer at the United Way of the National Capital Area as well as National Vice President for the American Heart Association, where she was charged with the development, implementation, and execution of a new national business to consumer campaign. Prior to that role, she was Vice President of the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society where she managed a $36 million budget across nine states. Before her career in the nonprofit sector, Gabrielle spent more than a decade with the Eastman Kodak Company and she held several leadership positions in marketing, sales, university relations, and engineering technology.

Gabrielle was selected by Washingtonian Magazine as a 2022 Washingtonian of the Year. She was also a National Science Foundation Fellow, a National Biomedical Symposium Fellow and a Polaroid Scholar. She was chosen to attend the Center for Creative Leadership in 2009 as one of the top executive directors at the American Heart Association.

Gabrielle earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Xavier University and a Master of Physical Chemistry degree from Atlanta University. Gabrielle is also a graduate of the Leadership Greater Washington program and was recently awarded a Harvard Business School Executive Education Certificate for Strategic Agility and Inclusive Leadership.

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Our own Club Historian Monica Smith introduces her colleague from the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Franz, to help our club continue to celebrate Women's History Month by taking a look back at a recent exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Kathleen Franz, Ph.D. is Chair of the Division of Work & Industry and Curator of Business History at the National Museum of American History. Her scholarship has focused on the intersections of technology, popular culture, and gender history.

Her first book, Tinkering: Americans Reinvent the Automobile, explores the gender dynamics of technological knowledge and invention. She was also the project director for the recent exhibition, Girlhood (It's complicated), that looked at the various ways in which girls and young women had political influence and advocated for social, cultural and political change in the U.S. from 1800 to the present.

Dr. Franz holds a BA in American Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University.

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