What's Up at LGW - Annual Meeting 2023 Recap

On June 20 we once more welcomed our community of leaders – members and the public alike – to take a closer look at what we’ve been up to over the past year, and take a peek at what’s to come.

As shared by our outgoing Board Chair, Rachel Kronowitz (’15), there are three things the LGW board, committees, and staff have worked on implementing over the past year:

• First, a task force was formed that took a hard look at our membership structure to address any unintended or structural barriers to entry; the staff has incorporated proposed changes as the result of that work into our LGW structure. 
• Second, another task force took a hard look at our equity commitment and drafted an equity statement articulating LGW’s long-standing mission and commitment to addressing inequities that hold our region back that was adopted by the Board and is now included on our website
• And finally, a third task force has been working on strategic approaches to elevating the experience in the Signature Program; that work will be incorporated into the development of the 2024 Signature Program and will continue in the years to follow. 

But of course that’s not all. There was also time to celebrate our achievements over the past year…

... to celebrate the work of an incredible community partner, Building Bridges Across the River, led by Rahsaan Bernard (’20) and Scott Kratz (’21), presented by Mike Schwartz (’05) on behalf of the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation...

and to welcome our new Board Chair, Alex Orfinger (’98).

... and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bid farewell to Debbie Kaplan (’17), COO and VP of Programs at LGW, who is retiring on June 28.

We’re fortunate though that Debbie is Lifetime LGW Member, and there’s no doubt in our minds that she’ll be in enthusiastic attendance at all of our programs and social events!

And speaking of socializing, it wouldn’t be an Annual Meeting without some mixing and mingling. As the crowd spilled into the theatre café we couldn’t help but be thankful for all of the amazing leaders who connect, collaborate, and have bit of fun because of their involvement with Leadership Greater Washington. And while we’ll have to wait another year for the next Annual Meeting, there’s so much more to come before then. Stay tuned…

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and thank you to our sponsors, Woolly Mammoth Theater and Bank of America. We look forward to seeing you all again not just next year, but at many of the exciting events we have coming up!