Washington Life Magazine - May 2016

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Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein and President Deborah Rutter

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43;)6 WASHINGTON’S HEAVIEST HITTERS, TOP INFLUENCERS AND KEY DECISION MAKERS

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&33/7 JANE MAYER’S ‘DARK MONEY’ *33( POWER DINING AT THE TADICH GRILL *%7,-32 A JETSETTER’S GUIDE TO TRAVELING IN STYLE

PA RT I PA ES! RT PA IE RT S! IE S!

PLUS: INSIDE THE NEWLY-RENOVATED NORWEGIAN AMBASSADOR’S RESIDENCE LUXURY PERKS AT INOVA WOMEN’S HOSPITAL | ANA GASTEYER PERFORMS AT ARENA STAGE

EXCLUSIVE FAMILY PORTRAITS: POWER PARENTS WITH THEIR ACCOMPLISHED SONS & DAUGHTERS

OUT HERE, YOU CAN GET COMPLETELY LOST. And find exactly what you’ve been looking for.

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EDITOR'S LETTER

FEATURES THE POWER LIST ...........................................

OPINION: Money in Pollitics by Connie Morella and Mike Peabody ...........................

PORTRAITS OF POWER FAMILIES ................

LIFESTYLES FYIDC

Great Ladies Luncheon and Fashion Show .................

Parties, Parties ,Parties!...........................................

HOME LIFE

INSIDER'S GUIDE Derby Days,Theater

FASHION EDITORIAL Jetsetters ......................

JEWELRY REPORT Pearly Whites .................

Picks,Time for Wine and Celebrating Ireland ...........

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE .........................

REAL ESTATE NEWS

PERFORMING ARTS An Interview with Ana Gasteyer............................

Kith and KIn ......................................................

SOCIAL CALENDAR ...........................

THE DISH Tadich Grill Takes the Pompous Out of Power Dining ...........................

INSIDE HOMES The Norwegian Ambassador's Residence ................

OPEN HOUSE Luxury Homes on the Market ........

INOVA Where Hospital Meets Hotel ....................

HOTEL WATCH The Carlyle .............................

POLLYWOOD EMBASSY ROW Embassy Chefs.....................

Children's Ball ...................................................

St. Patrick's Day with Enda Kenny...........................

WASHINGTON SOCIAL DIARY AROUND TOWN Herman Wouk: 101 and Counting.........................

HOLLYWOOD ON THE POTOMAC

Studio Theatre Gala ..............................................

The Congressman Comes to Washington .................

OVER THE MOON

Book Party for Steve Case's "The Third Wave".............

Spring in Middleburg .............................................

Elle Power Women in Washington .............................

Bishop John T.Walker School Benefit .........................

Women Making History Awards...............................

Leukemia Ball ....................................................

Running Start Awards ............................................

Environmental Film Festival Award...........................

Vital Voices Gala ..................................................

Nat Geo's "Outback Wrangler" Party ........................

American Task Force Lebanon Gala...........................

Smithsonian Secretary Honored ................................

The Hirshhorn's Suspended Animation ......................

THE COST OF LIBERTY NSA Whistleblowers ......

Celebrating 'Carmina Burana' with The Washington Ballet .....................................

BOOK TALK Jane Mayer's "Dark Money" Exposes Billionaires Behind the Radical Right..............

Sophie Habsburg Handbag Preview .................................................

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ON THE COVER David Rubenstein and Deborah Rutter (Photo by Tony Powell) TOP FROM LEFT: Evan Morgan and Gloria Borger from Power Family Portraits (Photo by Tony Powell); Exterior of the Norwegian Ambassador's residence (Photo by Tony Brown); Fashion editorial photo Left: REISS Rima open collar long coat ($495) ELIZABETH & JAMES sapphire dress FRNVY ($385) REISS gaia suede and vinyl ankle heels ($285) Bloomingdales, Chevy Chase, MD Right: BURBERRY the Kensington trench coat ($1,795) Burberry, CityCenter, DC TIFFANY & CO. chain in 18k rose gold ($300) Tiffany's Chevy Chase, MD STUART WEITZMAN nudist song patent heels ($398) Bloomingdales, Chevy Chase, MD BOSS calfskin purse ($1,195) Hugo Boss, City CenterDC (Photo by Kate Warren) ABOVE: from Mother's Day Gift Guide SHINOLA continental wallet ($395) Shinola Logan Circle.; Jim, Jade and May Lintott at the Children's Ball (Photo by Tony Powell).

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T H E I N S I D E R’S G U I D E TO P OW E R , P H I L A N T H R O PY, A N D SO C I E T Y S I N C E 1 9 9 1

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Nancy Reynolds Bagley EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Virginia Coyne SENIOR EDITOR

Kevin Chaffee ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND SENIOR WEB EDITOR

Erica Moody ASSISTANT EDITOR

Catherine Trifiletti COLUMNISTS AND CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Evan Berkowitz, Janet Donovan, Roland Flamini, Patrick McCoy, Vicky Moon, Stacey Grazier Pfarr and Donna Shor ART DIRECTOR

Matt Rippetoe PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHER

Tony Powell CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Tony Brown, Ben Droz, Alfredo Flores,Vithaya Phongsavan, Kyle Samperton and Jay Snap

PUBLISHER & CEO

Soroush Richard Shehabi ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Jeryl Parade ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Rita Khawand BOOKKEEPER

Michelle Frazer WEB TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT

Eddie Saleh,Triposs Mihail Iliev LEGAL

Mason Hammond Drake, Greenberg Traurig LLP INTERNS

Aubrey Almanza, Evan Berkowitz and Claire Handscombe FOUNDER

Vicki Bagley CREATIVE DIRECTOR EMERITUS (*)

J.C. Suarès CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE BOARD

Gerry Byrne Washington Life magazine publishes ten times a year. Issues are distributed in February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, November, and December and are hand-delivered on a rotating basis to over 150,000 homes throughout D.C., Northern Virginia, and Maryland. Additional copies are available at various upscale retailers, hotels, select newstands, and Whole Foods stores in the area. For a complete listing, please consult our website at www.washingtonlife.com. You can also subscribe online at www.washingtonlife.com or send a check for $79.95 (one year) to: Washington Life Magazine, 2301 Tracy Place NW, Washington D.C., 20008. BPA audited. Email us at info@washingtonlife.com with press releases, tips, and editorial comments. Copyright ©2011 by Washington Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial content or photos in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. Printed in the United States. We will not be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. *deceased

EDITOR’S LETTER

POWER PLAYERS & MONEY IN POLITICS

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Our annual power list highlights How about some clothes and jewelry 100 of the most influential worthy of a ride on a private jet? people in Washington who are Check out our high-flying “Thelma not elected officials and don’t work and Louise”-themed fashion shoot at on Capitol Hill or in the Obama GrandView Aviation in Baltimore.

Administration. Those in the know In Performing Arts, don’t miss my argue that these individuals are really interview with former “Saturday Night running Washington. They comprise Live” cast member Ana Gasteyer. We a formidable group of insiders who attended elementary school together at have knowledge, influence, money and Sidwell Friends and it was a true pleasure access to power. Many have shaped catching up and hearing about her the 2016 presidential campaign, upcoming show at Arena Stage. Speaking either as strategists, fund-raisers or of theater, flip to FYIDC for new shows members of the media, while others and other fun events debuting this oversee businesses that make up the month, including the annual DC Funk capital’s core: our hospitals, universities, Parade, a wine festival and the Preakness sports teams and innovation hubs.

Stakes.

The list includes bankers, builders Spring gala season is in full and corporate leaders as well as sway, so turn to our party pages restaurateurs and directors of art institutions. Not for stunning photos from the surprisingly, a great number are lobbyists with direct Children’s Ball, the Leukemia access to those making our laws. Our comprehensive Ball, the Washington Ballet’s compilation also showcases the rise of women to power. opening of “Carmina Burana” This year, 28 women made our list, four more than in and a special focus on events 2015. celebrating powerful women: Vital Behind-the-scenes at our fashion shoot at We’re proud of our beautiful “Power Families” Voices’ Global Leadership Awards, GrandView Aviation in Baltimore. photo feature by Tony Powell showcasing influential Running Start’s Young Women fathers and mothers with their accomplished sons and to Watch Awards, Elle Magazine’s daughters. Find out what the younger generation admires about Power Women in Washington and the National Women’s History their parents in quotes I found especially poignant with Mother’s Museum’s first-ever Women Making History Awards.

Day and Father’s Day just aroud the corner.

Next month, you’ll want to stay tuned for coverage of It’s hard to ignore the massive influence money has on politics, Washington’s “Nerd Prom.” The White House Correspondents’ an issue brought to the forefront by candidates as diverse as Donald Association Dinner pre-parties and after-parties bring Hollywood Trump and Bernie Sanders. Former Rep. Connie Morella and celebrities and A-list locals together for one glorious weeekend, and Peabody Corporation President Mike Peabody, both leaders of Issue we were there to capture it all.

One, a bipartisan group that believes campaign finance reform is possible, offer some solutions in a well-thought opinion piece.

The influence of the Koch Brothers also cannot be ignored. We interviewed investigative journalist Jane Mayer about the Kansas oil tycoons and other billionaires behind the rise of the radical right, a topic explored in her latest book “Dark Money.”

Nancy R. Bagley Ready for some power dining after all this money talk? Join us Editor in Chief for a look inside the acclaimed Tadich Grill, Washington’s newest dining hotspot with the scoop on its most popular dishes.

Readers wishing to contact Nancy Bagley can email her If you need to plan a power hospital stay, you’ll want to know at nbagley@washingtonlife.com that Inova’s new women’s hospital is catering to high-end clientele with spacious deluxe rooms and cushy amenities.

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FYIDC The Insider’s Guide to Washington

BY ERICA MOODY

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Join in the craic (i.e. fun) with this major Irish cultural festival curated by the Kennedy Center’s Alicia Adams.

Dozens of performances from some of Ireland’s best contemporary musicians, dancers and theater companies will pay tribute to the Emerald Isle and highlight Ireland’s relationship with America. Don’t miss the literature series featuring panel discussions with more than 20 Irish and American writers and musicians, including Eavan Boland and Colum McCann. Theater productions include the Sean O’Casey classic “The Plough and the Stars” and on opening night artistin-residence Fiona Shaw will be joined on stage by the National Symphony Orchestra.There’s even a Redhead Day celebration and special whiskey and beer tastings. The Kennedy Center, May 17-June 5, kennedy-center.org/festival.

A NIGHT AT THE THEATER AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER Political scandal runs through this Wendy Wasserstein drama that is set in Georgetown and stars Susan Marie Rhea as a U.S. senator’s daughter whose personal life leads to a media frenzy when past indiscretions are revealed. USA Today called it a “brave and ambitious play that portrays with withering accuracy the damage wrought by the tart-tongued TV culture of Washington.” The Keegan Theatre, runs May 7-May 28, tickets range from $35-$45, keegantheatre.com.

HEDDA GABLER A housewife returns from her honeymoon and is disenchanted with her daily life, but a preoccupation with public perception holds her back.

This Ibsen classic is rendered anew in a contemporary adaptation by Mark O’Rowe at Studio Theatre that looks at “power, control and self deception while offering a nuanced portrait of one of the most fascinating figures in modern drama.” Studio Theatre, runs May 11-June 19, studiotheatre.org.

GREEN FESTIVAL EXPO

GREEN SCENE

It’s the ultimate marketplace for environmentally friendly goods and services.Take your mother along (since moms get in free to the 12th annual expo) and explore more than 250 exhibitors, listen to more than 50 inspirational speakers and indulge in delicious vegan and vegetarian food. Walter E.Washington Convention Center, May 6-8, tickets start from $12 for a single day at the festival, greenfestivals.org.

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TIME FOR WINE GOODSTONE INN WINE DINNER Treat yourself to a romantic evening in Middleburg at Goodstone Inn & Restaurant’s one-night-only Oregon Carabella Vineyard Wine Dinner. Canapes will be served at 5:30 p.m. in the carriage house followed by a 6:30 p.m. wine dinner with guest speaker Mike Hollok, winemaker for Carabella Vineyard, and a spectacular four-course meal with sommelier-selected wine pairings. The wine dinner is limited and the cost is $135 per person. For reservations, call the inn at (540) 687-3333.

VINOFEST Jon Batiste and The Wailers headline this all-day wine and music event on the Southwest Waterfront showcasing 25 vineyards including Justin Vineyards, One Hope Wine and Da Luca. Foodies will love the offerings from local favorites such as Milk Bar,Toki Underground and Maketto.You can also volunteer with Martha’s Table in exchange for free admission to the festival. The Yards Park, May 7, 5 to10 p.m., general admission tickets are $55.VIP tickets are $99 and include early festival access at 3 p.m., a private VIP lounge with a sponsored bar, premium wine tastings, catering and exclusive VIP gifts from festival sponsors,VinoFest.com.

DC FUNK PARADE

MARCH TO THE MUSIC Join thousands of funk fans for this oneof-a-kind parade, day fair and music fest to celebrate funk music and the U Street neighborhood.This second annual funk parade and music fest will include free evening performances at venues like U Street Music Hall and DC9. During the day, you can find marching bands and beat-boxers, dragon and lion dancers, artist and vendors, drum corps and more. All events are walking distance from U Street Metro Station.

Saturday, May 7, noon to 10 p.m., funkparade.com.

THE PREAKNESS

DERBY DAYS

It’s the time of year for big hats and equestrian revelry at one of the region’s most anticipated horse shows. Make a day of it at the 141st Preakness Stakes, where the crowd is ranked second only behind the Kentucky Derby. Sip Black Eyed Susans and mint juleps in dapper attire while rooting for your favorite Thoroughbred to make its way to the Triple Crown. Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Md., May 21, preakness.com.

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P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F T H E K E N N E DY C E N T E R , P H OTO O F H E D D A G A B L E R C A S T M E M B E R S K I M I Y E C O R W I N , S H A N E K E N YO N , J U L I A C O F F E Y, A N D AV E R Y C L A R K BY T E D DY WO L F F F O R ST U D I O T H E AT R E , P H OTO C O U RT E SY O F G O O D STO N E I N N , P H OTO C O U RT E SY O F D C F U N K PA R A D E .CO M , P H OTO O F H O L LY H U F F BY K Y L E S A M P E RTO N F O R WA S H I N GTO N L I F E

THE KENNEDY CENTER’S IRELAND 100

FYIDC | THE DISH

TADICH GRILL TAKES THE POMPOUS OUT OF POWER DINING America’s third oldest restaurant out of San Francisco looks to make a different kind of history as Washington’s new power dining spot.

BY C AT H E R I N E T R I F I L E T T I

Cioppino,Tadich’s most popular dish (Photo by Tony Powell)

General Manager Ron Robbins (Photo by Tony Powell)

t is no accident that Tadich Grill is nestled comfortably between the U.S. Capitol and the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue NW – a location that beckons to K Street big-wigs and politicians alike. Tadich President Gerard Centioli says parking the restaurant at the “heart of the political district was a natural fit” and General Manager Ron Robbins tells us that on any given day powerful people are shuff ling in for lunch or post-work drinks. He casually spouts off the names of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, The Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

Not bad for a restaurant that’s only been open six months. Robbins thinks its quick success can be attributed to his competent and diligent staff. Each Tadich server has been in town long enough not to be intimidated or even fazed by powerful diners. “When we did our hiring process, we made it a point of hiring only professionals... people who have been in D.C. and in the business for a long time.”

Robbins, a self-proclaimed Washington political geek, recognizes even the most obscure faces among the District’s elite and is confident that kind of service will make Tadich Grill a Washington establishment for years to come.

By way of spreading the word, he adds that “the best marketing is what you do inside the four walls and how well you take care of people.”

It also helps that Tadich’s name precedes it. It is the second outpost for the ICON group, which runs the original Tadich Grill in San Francisco – a restaurant that has been on the food scene for a cool 167 years, making it the third oldest in the country.

Despite its age, Tadich Grill has evolved to keep up with the times while maintaining traditional elements that make it timeless. Rich Honduran mahogany, semi-private booths and Sinatra crooning overhead create the feeling that you’ve stepped into another era.

Ambiance and service aside, Tadich’s signature cioppino is reason enough to stop in for lunch or dinner. The Italian seafood stew

originated on San Francisco’s docks in the 1800s when fishermen, many of them Italian immigrants, would ask their buddies what they were “chippin in” to the communal stew that fed crews after a long day at sea. Add a warbled Italian accent and the name cioppino was born.

At Tadich, the dish’s preparation is classic – fresh fish and tomatobased broth spiced to perfection. Each spoonful dazzles, offering a different kind of seafood and balanced f lavor in every bite. If any broth is left over, it must be mopped up with Tadich’s signature sourdough bread, shipped daily from San Francisco’s Boudin Bakery.

Robbins expects power players to continue trickling in, especially as this year’s election ramps up, but he and his team aren’t daunted, “Once they’re in, they’re just people,” he says. Centioli feels compelled to mention that Tadich doesn’t lean left or right, “One of the great things about dining is that it’s a bipartisan experience.” And it’s true: cioppino is definitely something everyone can agree on.

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WHAT TO ORDER: Cioppino: A heaping bowl of stewed tomatoes, scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, bay shrimp, whitefish and crab, served with crusty bread.

Broiled Lump Crab Cakes: With garlicky spinach, shoestring potatoes and Old Bay-spiked butter.

Bread Pudding: Baked brioche scraps smothered in a Bourbon and caramel sauce.

1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004 202-638-1849 www.icon.com ($25 - $42)

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FYIDC | SOCIAL CALENDAR

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TENNIS BALL The Washington Tennis & Education Foundation will honor six time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee for her outstanding contribution to sports and recognize the positive impact of the youth center she funds in her hometown community of East St. Louis, Ill. Proceeds will support the foundation’s programs and the disadvantaged student athletes it serves. Ritz-Carlton, Washington D.C.; 6 p.m.; business attire; $500; sponsorships start at $3,000; contact 202-2919888, wtef@wtef.org.

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VIRGINIA GOLD CUP Spring kicks into high gear as crowds wearing their finest colorful attire cheer their favorites horses at this annual steeplechase extravaganza.

The all-day event features a hat competition and a prize for the best tailgate picnic display. The Plains, Va.; 10 a.m.; ticket prices vary; sponsorships start at $6,500; contact 540364-2627.

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A VINTAGE AFFAIR

Children’s Hospital’s Board of Visitors will sponsor its 19th annual spring benefit to benefit various patient programs and cutting-edge medical research. Guests will enjoy creative cuisine accompanied by complementary wine pairings along with a silent auction that includes rare wines and exotic trips. Union Market’s Dock 5; 7:30 p.m.; cocktail; sponsorships start at $5,000; contact Cherry Bourque 202-237-7575, cherrybourque@gmail.com.

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PHILLIPS COLLECTION GALA This year’s gala highlights the symbiotic artistic relationship between Qatar and the U.S. The “East Meets West” theme recognizes and celebrates the Arabesque influence on modern art. The Phillips Collection; 6 p.m.; black-tie; $1,375; sponsorships start at $16,500; contact Laith Alnouri, 202-387-2151, lalnouri@ phillipscollection.org.

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Carmine Taglialatela, Val Markovici and Felix Bighem at the 2015 Virginia Gold Cup. (Photo by Ben Droz)

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WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL

continually inspires guests to take action against the debilitating disease. Washington Marriott Wardman Park; 12 p.m.; $125; sponsorships start at $3,000; contact Shelbi Bivons, 443641-1228, Shelbi.Bivons@nmss.org.

SCHOOL GOLDEN GALA Fifty years of educating global citizens is a cause to celebrate and Washington International School alumni, faculty and other supporters will do just that during a weekend of events honoring groups and individuals who have contributed to the school’s success. Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium; 6:30 p.m.; “Golden Best” attire; sponsorships start at $2,500; contact Darcy Langdon, darcylangdon@ wis.edu.

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MARCH OF DIMES GOURMET GALA The much-awaited culinary competition featuring dishes prepared by 50 members of Congress is back for its 34th year.

The annual fundraiser is a change of pace from a typical Washington gathering and shouldn’t be missed. Proceeds benefit March of Dimes’ key initiatives. National Building Museum; 6 p.m.; business attire; sponsorships start at $5,000; contact 202-256-9426, marchofdimes@manessgroup.com.

WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA BALL One of Washington’s most anticipated galas celebrates WNO’s 60th anniversary season and its inaugural staging of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle.” Guests dine at various embassies before moving to the O.A.S. for dessert, dancing and unforgettable musical performances. Organization of American States; 9 p.m.; black-tie; $1,000; sponsorships start at $5,000; contact Michael Solomon, 202-416-8453, masolomon@kennedy-center.org.

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MS WOMEN ON THE MOVE LUNCHEON Over the last 10 years, this luncheon series has raised over $2.5 million for multiple sclerosis research and community efforts. CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell will act as mistress of ceremonies of the annual event that

Nancy Zirkin, Marc Lefkowitz, Elise Lefkowitz at the 2015 Phillips Collection Gala. (Photo by Ben Droz)

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FYIDC | social calendar

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CHARITYWORKS 100 POINT VINTAGE WINE DINNER Rare wines will flow at Charity Works’ dinner this year, hosted by Cynthia Vance at her McLean residence. Proceeds benefit the National Military Family Association Martha’s Table. Cynthia Vance Residence, McLean, Va.; 6 p.m.; $5,000; sponsorships start at $10,000; contact 703-286-0758, charityworks@aol.com

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HELEN HAYES AWARDS As always, the 32nd annual Helen Hayes Awards will honor excellence in professional theater across the Washington metro area. Nominees for the 47 award categories are chosen by a panel of judges who attended over 200 performances before selecting their favorites. Lincoln Theatre; 6:30 p.m.; $150; contact Michael Kyrioglou 202-337-4572.

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STRONGER TOGETHER GALA The Center for Popular Democracy will honor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and others for their work to empower and engage communities to actively participate in the nation’s democratic process. Supporters, partners and friends of the organization will gather to reinforce founding principles of equity, opportunity and democracy. The Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill; 6 p.m.; $250; sponsorships start at $1,000; contact Benjamin Linsley, 347-985-2374, blinsley@populardemocracy.org.

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EMBASSY CHEF CHALLENGE Eat like an ambassador at the 8th annual gala showcasing international fare prepared by a dozen embassy chefs. The competition will recognize winners with the Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice Awards. In addition to world-class cuisine, guests will enjoy a silent and live auction. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center; 6 p.m.; $250; sponsorships start at $2,500; contact 202-661-7581, info@ CulturalTourismDC.org.

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Senator Al Frankin at the 2015 March of Dimes Gourmet Gala. (Photo by Jeff Malet)

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june S & R FOUNDATION WASHINGTON AWARDS GALA

For one night, the iconic Evermay Estate garden will turn into a celebratory gathering that recognizes emerging talent from Washington’s art and music scenes. Performances by the 2015 winners and a live auction are sure to delight the crowd. Evermay Estate; 7 p.m.; garden cocktail attire; $550; sponsorships start at $2,500; contact info@sandr.org.

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legendary Washington native, Marvin Gaye.

Performances will include some of Gaye’s most acclaimed music that heavily influenced the Motown era and opened doors for successors of the R&B genre. Kennedy Center; 5 p.m.; black-tie; $1,000 ;sponsorships start at $5,000; contact 202-416-8338, springgala@kennedy-center.org.

Save the date WL Sponsored Events

KEN NEDY CENTER SPRING GALA

JunE 16: Step Afrika! VIP Gala

Whoopi Goldberg will host the Kennedy Center’s rooftop bash to pay tribute to the

JUNE 23: Cuisine des Artistes

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POLLYWOOD The Nexus of Politics﹐ Hollywood﹐ Media and Diplomacy | Hollywood on the Potomac, Children’s Ball and more!

Gabrielle Giffords with Cecile Richards at the Elle Women in Washington Dinner.

(Photo by Tony Powell)

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pollywood

Fabio and Maria Trabocchi Jamie Dorros, Norah O’Donnell, Carrie Marriott and Kristen Olson

Melvin Gordon wl sponsored

Children’s Ball The Ritz Carlton | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Callie and Brad Nierenberg Richard Jonas

CAPITAL SPLENDOR: More than $3.2 million was raised at Children’s National Health System’s annual Children’s Ball chaired by Alison and Kurt Newman and emceed by FOX News anchor Bret Baier.

Baier brought down the house with a rap he performed on a dare during the live auction, at the encouragement of his co-host Norah O’Donnell. The fun continued with dancing to the live tunes of Rhythm Collective. The Children’s Innovation Award was presented to Cerner Corporation president Zane Burke for creating the first pediatric health information technology institute in the nation.

View all the photos at www.washingtonlife.com

Henry and Lee Fonvielle, Andrea and Enrico Cecchi

Katelin Haney and Jackie Williamowsky 22

John Ackerly, George Chopivsky, Tripp Donnelly and Dave Bohigian

Sally and Mark Ein

Albert Small, Marcy and Neil Cohen andTina Small

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POLLYWOOD | EMBASSY ROW

Fine Dining The definition of a diplomat: an individual sent abroad to eat on behalf of his country.

BY ROLAND FLAMINI

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apoleon is once said to have remarked that an army marches on its stomach, referring of course to the need to keep soldiers fed if they are to be fighting. The same can be said of diplomacy, except that the food is much better. To be head chef to an ambassador is to have a key role in the life of an embassy, and it’s a dual role. He or she is responsible for preparing regular meals for the ambassadorial family; but the chef is also frequently called upon to feed the masses – guests at large dinners as well as receptions where the throngs can reach Biblical proportions.

It’s not just loaves and fishes, either.

Embassy fare can be quite elaborate and at its best reflects the cuisine of the country it represents. At British Embassy functions, for example, guests are often served mini-helpings of the familiar fish and chips in paper cones.

Prominent among these dispensers of national culinary culture is Michel Bastid, the new head chef at the Embassy of France.

Bastid has worked with the legendary Michel Troisgros and with the Marcon brothers at their three-star restaurant Auberge la Coulemelle. He took up his present post in March, and the day after his arrival got a taste of things to come by having to create a gourmet dinner for 80 Washington food critics and other journalists.

Working in America is still a process of discovery. “Fish and meat are superb quality, maybe more expensive than in France,” he says. “Vegetables are also good, but fruit is more complicated: pineapple, pears and apples come from California and are bought quite green, and sometimes have to be vacuum packed and cooked to be usable. Flour is used in a different way than in France, gluten levels are not the same, and so is the way that products react.You have to adapt.”

His own taste runs to pot-au-feu, which he calls “an emblematic dish of French gas-

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French Embassy Chef Michel Bastid prepares specialties from his homeland using mostly American ingredients. (Courtesy Photo)

tronomy,” and poularde demi deuil (chicken in half mourning, a specialty of Lyon’s cuisine par excellence). Inevitably, the food served is strongly conditioned by the likes and dislikes of his ambassador, Gerard Araud – “very little meat, Mediterranean vegetables and fish, and for dessert, fruit.”

For Ryo Iizawa, who shares chefs’ tasks with Teruhito Amemiya at the Embassy of Japan, the menu at the ambassador’s residence is also conditioned by the preferences of its occupants. That would be the affable Kenichiro Sasae and his very charming wife, Nobuko. In the state-of-the-art kitchen chef Amemiya focuses on Western cuisine, leaving the Japanese dishes to Iizawa. As everyone knows from sushi bars, preparing Japanese dishes lends itself to performance. Recently guests at an embassy dinner watched Iizawa’s elaborate preparation of Japanese soba (thin noodles made from buckwheat flour) from scratch. He calls the dish “an excellent example of traditional Japanese food and rela-

Chef Teruhito Amemiya is master of the cutting board at the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence.

(Courtesy Photo)

tively scarce in the United States – overshadowed by the ramen boom.”

While Iizawa confesses that his favorite food is curry – especially Indian curry, Amemiya rhapsodizes over American beef. “I like the way the flavor of beef changes every time I cook it,” he says.

The turnover among Washington’s embassy chefs is considerable, and ex-chefs have significantly enriched the District’s restaurant environment. Why so many changes? The heavy demands of the job are a factor, but it’s not unknown for a new ambassador to import his own chef to head his kitchen. Belgian Ambassador Johan C. Verbeke did just that when he moved here from London, his last ambassadorial post, in 2014, so he could continue to enjoy chef Kevin Henoumont’s waterzool (a wine-deep Flemish chicken stew) and other Belgian delicacies, and have a gifted chocolatier on hand to maintain his embassy’s tradition of seducing guests with irresistible chocolate-based desserts.

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Jean Saulders, Kris Balderston, Brian MacCraith and Catherine MacCraith

Adrian Crawford Kpmg and Irish Amb. Anne Anderson

Sarah Powell and Colm O’Molloy

WL EXCLUSIVE

Alaina Bokov and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny

ST. PATRICK’S DAY WITH ENDA KENNY Residence of the Irish Ambassador | PHOTOS BY JAY SNAP

Efeturi Oghenekaro, Elizabeth Lewis, Joann McLean and Terry Schaefer

Roisin Cheshire, Donal Keane and Aisling McEvoy

THE LUCK OF THE IRISH: After a breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden, an Oval Office meeting with President Obama and a Friends of Ireland luncheon, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny ended St. Patrick’s Day in Washington with a reception at the Residence of the Irish Ambassador. Guests, mostly clad in green, included Irish Amb. Anne Anderson who mingled with the Irish taoiseach (leader). He has held the post since 2011 and has made his St. Patrick’s Day visit to the U.S. an annual tradition. Among the issues he discussed with politicians earlier in the day were immigration and transatlantic trade.

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HOLLYWOOD ON THE POTOMAC

‘THE CONGRESSMAN’ COMES TO WASHINGTON Former New York Rep. Bob Mrazek pens a political dramedy drawing from his experiences on Capitol Hill.

B Y J A N E T D O N O VA N

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etired Rep. Michael Andrews (DTexas) was in the lobby of the Motion Picture Association of America waiting for his former colleague, Bob Mrazek (DN.Y.), to arrive for a private screening of his movie “The Congressman.”

Andrews, who at one time served on the House Ways and Means Committee, remembers when trade associations like MPAA treated him and his wife to drinks and lavish dinners. He recalls being at the MPAA in 1986 for a screening of “Bull Durham” when, at the end of the movie, Rep. J. J. Pickle (D-Texas) got up and said, “Well, hell, if I had known baseball was like that I would’ve played more of it.” (If you’ve seen “Bull Durham,” you’ll catch the drift; if not, it’s a must-see. ) Prior to the screening, Mrazek, who wrote and directed “The Congressman,” discussed important themes in the political comedy and what he expects audiences will gain from them. He expressed hope that viewers would be prompted to think about what being American means in the current political landscape. “There’s a lot of flag waving and a lot of patriotism about silly things rather than the important issues of what our country is founded on, and that’s an idea,” Mrazek said, “If there is a message, that’s it.”

In the movie, Maine Congressman Charlie Winship (played by Treat Williams) gets caught on video failing to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and faces public condemnation for disregarding one of America’s most beloved patriotic symbols.

Fed up with Washington and the corruption of special interest lobbyists, Winship retreats to a remote island to regain the idealism that drew him to Congress in

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the first place.

Beyond the thoughtful story arc, one of the film’s highlights is the cast that executes it. George Hamilton, who plays Laird Devereaux, an ultra-smarmy lobbyist, nails

the role with uncanny precision.

Mrazek had fun writing the role and personifying it in such an exaggerated way.

Hamilton, he said, “brought the character to life very richly.” During certain outtakes the cast and crew burst into laughter when Hamilton delivered incredible punch lines.

“George should have played a lobbyist long before now, ...” Mrazek said. “As that smiling barracuda he was summing up a lot of the worst situations we’ve had. I just wish I had written more scenes for him because every time he’s on screen he just lights it up.”

Mrazek talks about filmmaking as if it’s second nature. He tells us that before

entertaining the idea of going into politics, he was enrolled in film school, and it wasn’t until Robert Kennedy got assassinated in 1968 that he changed course to begin his 40-year political career. “Now I am doing what I wanted to do when I was a young man,” he says of his filmmaking endeavors.

Mrazek’s penchant for storytelling came at an even earlier age. When he recently came across two books he wrote and bound as a 10-year-old, it struck him how important the role of storytelling was in his life. He goes on to explain that of the eight books he’s written since, five were fiction. That experience, he says, equipped him for script writing.

The politico-tur ned-director also emphasized the effectiveness of writing about values that he so firmly believes in: “courage, honor, sacrifice and love.” Those themes and Mrazek’s undeniable patriotism influenced the filmmaking process, and “The Congressman” reflects his ideals in full.

“I’m an optimist by nature,” he said.

“I believe in our country and I believe in the values and the ideas on which it was founded, and I believe in the American people,” Mrazek said. “But sometimes out of fear about change and what’s happening in the world, people can change the things that aren’t necessarily part of the fabric of our Constitution.”

After the screening, attended by former Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) and other past and current members of Congress, guests participated in an fascinating Q & A. One reporter asked: “As you reflect on your time in Congress, what piece of advice would you give yourself if you were starting back all over again based on what you’ve learned?”

Mrazek’s repley: “Not to run.”

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David Bradley and Steve Case

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Katherine Bradley WL EXCLUSIVE

‘THE THIRD WAVE’ BOOK PARTY David and Katherine Bradley Residence | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL ENTREPRENEURIAL SOIRÉE: Katherine and David Bradley fêted Steve Case and his new book, “The Third Wave: An Entrepreneurs Vision of the Future” during a warm, laughter-filled gathering attended by Case’s close friends in the tech industry, journalism and government. “It’s like an AOL reunion,” one guest noted. Atlantic Media founder David Bradley said he so enjoyed the book that he read it in less than three hours on a plane ride back from Qatar.

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Fred Ryan and his daughter Genevieve Ryan

José Andrés

Allen Gannett, Susanna Quinn and Trever Faden

Emerald Stewart, Tolu Adeyemi and Jade Floyd

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Denise Grant and Frank Raines

Walter Isaacson

Judy Woodruff

Jennifer Nycz Conner, Meredith Balenske and Meredith Carden

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Kristen Soltis Anderson and Michelle Freeman

Sen. Cory Booker

Jean Case, Cecile Richards and Janet Murguía

ELLE WOMEN IN WASHINGTON DINNER Kreeger Museum | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Gabrielle Giffords Elle Publisher Kevin O’Malley and Gina Davis

POWER WOMEN, SMARTLY DRESSED: Guests at a private dinner hosted by ELLE and HUGO BOSS were surrounded by Monets, Picassos and Renoirs to celebrate the magazine’s sixth annual Women in Washington Power List. The honorees, all wearing Hugo Boss designs of course, included Case Foundation CEO Jean Case, FedEx’s Gina Davis, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, attorney Karen Dunn, Homeland Security advisor Lisa Monaco, LaRaza’s Janet Murguía, pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. (Attorney General Lore a Lynch and House Republican Caucus Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers were honored in absentia.) Elle Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers invited guests to nominate women to run for office in an on-site mobile Twitter video booth.

Robin Givhan and Sheila Johnson

Robbie Myers and Gerrit Ruetzel VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

Joan Wages, Susan Whiting, Christina Walevska and Ann Veneman

Reps Carolyn Maloney and Eleanor Holmes Norton Jennifer Bogart, Linda Jenckes WL SPONSORED

WOMEN MAKING HISTORY AWARDS The Mayflower Hotel | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Ale and Stu van Scoyoc

Annie Totah, Leo Sahakian and Jan Du Plain

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS: The National Women’s History Museum has yet to be built on the National Mall, but with endorsement from more than 200 members of Congress, it’s only a matter of time before that dream becomes reality. The bipartisan nonprofit organization’s “Women Making History” gala was chaired by Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Linda Sanchez and honored three exceptional women: former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, former professional ballerina and founder of the Swan Dreams Project Aesha Ash, and world renowned cellist Christine Walevska. The museum is now located online (NWHM.org) where it aims to educate and empower visitors with programs that communicate the experiences and accomplishments of American women.

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Reps. Eric Swalwell, Martha Roby, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Tulsi Gabbard. (Photo by Erin Schaff) WL EXCLUSIVE

Jenn Higgins and Jessica Grounds

RUNNING START’S 10TH ANNUAL ‘YOUNG WOMEN TO WATCH’ AWARDS

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Madeleine Albright

National Museum for Women in the Arts | PHOTOS BY ALFREDO FLORES ELECTING WOMEN: Running Start celebrated a decade of training 10,000 young women to run for political office at a reception where guests heard “campaign” speeches from three of the group’s young alumnae and then voted for one to be the 2016 #ILookLikeAPolitician Ambassador. After receiving the TrailBlazer Award, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the crowd there was “a special place in heaven for women who help other women.” SPOTTED: Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, Martha Roby and Eric Swalwell (yes, men were there, too!).

Krista Chavez and Alexandra Curtis Missy Edwards, Laura Cox Kaplan and Erin Loos Cutraro

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Yoani Sánchez

Akanksha Hazari and Donna McLarty

Tina Brown WL SPONSORED

VITAL VOICES

Chouchou Namegabe Dubuisson and Hafsat Abiola- Costello

The Kennedy Center | PHOTOS BY BEN DROZ LEADING LADIES: The 15th Annual Global Leadership Awards recognized honorees from four different corners of the world for their exceptional impact on their communities and beyond. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as videos of the women’s courageous journeys were projected on stage. Khanim Latif received the Human Rights Award for running Iraq’s first independent non-governmental organization working to eliminate violence against women. “It’s not enough to fight against something,”Latif told guests. “You have to fight for something.” Presenters included fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg and Daily Beast founder Tina Brown.

Meighan Stone, Lael Mohib and Afghan Amb. Hamdullah Mohib

Khanim Latif and Susan Davis

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Melissa Babbage, wife of the Australian Ambassador, with John and Ellen Eggerton WL EXCLUSIVE

“Outback Wrangler” Matt Wright with National Geographic Channel’s Geoff Daniels

Australian Amb. Joe Hockey introduces a trailer for “Outback Wrangler” at his residence

‘OUTBACK WRANGLER’ PARTY Australian Ambassador’s Residence | PHOTOS BY BEN DROZ “BIG COUNTRY, BIG CROCS, BIG MAN”: There’s nothing cute and cuddly about “Outback Wrangler” Ma hew Wright’s co-stars. The gigantic crocodiles and snakes he captures Down Under are some of the biggest in the world and he’s doing his best to make sure they don’t end up on the endangered species list. That’s the message National Geographic Channel’s telegenic conservationist delivered at Australian Amb. Joe Hockey’s reception — and no, it wasn’t a barbecue — to celebrate the show’s second season. “It’s the world’s best conservation model and it worked,” Wright told guests, noting that, “from 4,000 crocs in the wild in the early ’80s, we’re now up to 140,000.”

Nick Fordham

D. Timothy White and Kirk Johnson VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

Gary Faddell and Tony Faddell

Paula Faris and Martha Raddatz WL EXCLUSIVE

AMERICAN TASK FORCE FOR LEBANON AWARDS The Fairmont Washington, DC Hotel | PHOTOS BY JAY SNAP

Ralph Nader and Peter J. Tanous Carla Jazzar and Spencer Abraham

ALL IN THE FAMILY: No one is more aware of the vital role Lebanon plays in the Middle East than the 500,000-plus Americans of Lebanese descent, especially now that the motherland has been overwhelmed by its efforts to house, feed, educate and provide medical care for 1.4 million Syrian refugees. That issue was much on the minds of guests at the American Task Force for Lebanon’s annual gala, which, in addition to raising funds for related humanitarian efforts, brought together a diverse community to celebrate Lebanese food (kibbeh got mentioned about ten times throughout the night), family and culture while honoring three of their own: Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of Sen. Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy and chairman of the Kennedy Institute; Silicon Valley inventor, entrepreneur and “angel investor” Tony Faddell; and ABC News Emmy Award-winning journalist Paula Faris.

Huda Siniora and former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora

Victoria Reggie Kennedy and Lauren Janes

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pollywood

Speaking truth to power National Security Agency whistleblowers share their stories and accept awards from the Committee for the Republic.

BY C at h e r i n e T r i f i l e t t i

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hen William Binney, had gone to Congress claiming he needed Kirk Wiebe, and big bucks to make big changes at the NSA Thomas Drake were in terms of its intelligence-producing confronted with wrongdoing capabilities.” while working at the National Binney called it an “empire building Security Agency in early 2000, process” that wasted billions of taxpayer they couldn’t turn a blind eye dollars and diverted the energy of NSA as many of their colleagues analysts. Ultimately, Trailblazer proved to had. They were forced to ask be a complete failure. themselves if the pursuit of In seeking the truth and a shred of justice would be worth the risk justice, Wiebe, Drake and Binney filed a of their careers and reputations. report with the Department of Defense Three NSA whistle blowers J. Kirk Wiebe, William Binney, and Thomas Drake, each Wiebe explained: “Speaking in 2002 detailing the negligence they had received a Defender of Liberty award. (Photo by Fran Griffin) truth to those in powerful witnessed at the NSA. The FBI and other positions within government can be a lonely Trailblazer program. Unlike ThinThread, federal agencies responded swiftly, raiding each act.” But that didn’t stop them.

Hayden’s initiative amassed an enormous of their homes. The ensuing process left Drake On September 15, 2015 the three men volume of information requiring that city- charged with treason against the nation he had gathered at the National Press Club to receive sized storage facilities be built to house it. worked so diligently to protect.

“Defender of Liberty” awards from the President of the Committee for the Despite the dire consequences they faced as Committee for the Republic–a predominantly Republic, William Nitze, said: “the NSA, not whistleblowers against powerful U.S. government, Republican group that educates citizens about only did not need to collect massive amounts Wiebe, Binney and Drake remained steadfast in the dangers of empire-building for the U.S. of data on U.S. citizens stored in their servers, defense of their rights as citizens.

After years of persecution, Wiebe, Binney and but that massive data collection itself has made At the conclusion of the award ceremony, Drake were presented accolades for speaking it impossible for NSA to do its job by focusing Drake told the audience: “I’m going to keep out against the NSA. The only thing more on the most probable threats. In simple terms, standing up. I’m going to keep raging against gripping than the personal stories they shared the larger and less differentiated the haystack, the lies, against the corruption...because it really were the abuses they unearthed. the harder it is to find the needle.” does matter. In the end, we are our own moral As the Internet blossomed in the mid Wiebe, who was familiar with both programs, agents and the call that I make at this time is that ‘90s, the NSA was faced with the challenge went as far as to say 9/11 could have been we all exercise our moral agency together and of filtering national security threats from prevented if the Agency had put their energy into individually wherever we are.” He continued massive amounts of American citizens’ personal culling important data under the ThinThread with one final plea: “Do not, do not go silent communications. In 1997, Binney–an NSA template. “During those five years focused on into the night.” technical director at the time–believed there Trailblazer, NSA analysts were largely blind to the was a way to “save privacy and still succeed at burgeoning world of network communications “A Good American” doing intelligence.” and the continuously emerging and evolving Directed by Friedrich Moser In response to the NSA’s need for an threats using them,”Wiebe said. updated solution, Binney developed a costIn addition to being inefficient, Trailblazer William Binney’s remarkable tale is now documented in a movie, which recently effective prototype, ThinThread. His program disregarded basic privacy for U.S. citizens as laid screened in Washington. The film provides had the ability to sort through metadata out by the Fourth Amendment. Wiebe recalled a deep-dive into Binney’s patriotic crusade to improve the security of the United States and flag relevant communication without that ThinThread was rejected because “it while upholding the constitution and his compromising the privacy of citizens promised threatened the opportunity for large businesses personal quest for liberty as a whistleblower. by the Constitution. to obtain lucrative contracts in an attempt to For more information visit: General Michael Hayden, the NSA solve one of NSA’s biggest challenges of the www.agoodamerican.org Director at the time, ignored the effort and Information Age.” He went on to say: “It also instead chose to proceed with the costly threatened General Hayden’s credibility as he

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NSA

POLLYWOOD | BOOK TALK

DARK MONEY

Investigative journalist Jane Mayer takes on the billionaires funding the radical right.

BY ERICA MOODY

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t’s widely known that the Kansas oil tycoons referred to as “the Koch Brothers” are billionaire funders of libertarian and conservative candidates, think tanks and other groups to promote free enterprise, but what do we really know about them and the network they have built? New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer aimed to find out, and in “Dark Money” she reveals the shocking backstories of the Kochs and other wealthy individuals who spent hundreds of millions to bankroll an American political system to serve their interests, which led to an era of unprecedented wealth and income inequities.

WASHINGTON LIFE: This book was so

impressively researched. How long did it take you to write and was it difficult to get the information you needed?

JANE MAYER The book grew out of a 2010 New Yorker piece I wrote about the Kochs’ covert political operations, so in one sense I started the research then, and kept following the money. I knew I was taking on some of the most powerful and ruthless people in the world, so I had to make sure that it was factually unassailable.

WL: Why did this story need to be told? What first gave you the idea to write the book and what kept you going?

JM I’ve been in Washington since 1984, when I covered Reagan’s White House for the Wall Street Journal. Since then, politics has grown increasingly awash in private interest money.

I watched it tie the government in knots. I felt the public needed to understand what was happening to our democracy behind the scenes, and that I had a unique obligation to tell that story because I’d had a ringside seat.

WL: What was the most challenging part of

writing the book?

JM The hardest part was getting people to

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going on, rather than providing solutions.

But history shows that the inf luence of big money in American politics swings back and forth like a pendulum, and that when things get too corrupt, the public has cracked down. We’re at one of those moments, I think, where the crackdown is overdue.

WL: What will it take to reduce these

talk about the Kochs. It was amazing how intimidated people felt by them.

WL: I was surprised by how shady the Kochs were even within the context of their own families (two brothers attempting to have another brother disinherited for being gay, for example). It seems like a miserable way to live. Do you think money has a way of corrupting people?

JM It’s certainly clear from the families I write about in “Dark Money” that you can’t buy happiness. The conniving and feuding in these families reached epic levels. I suppose they might have been the same if they were broke, but money became the symbol of success, power and even parental favoritism among them. What amazed me was that no matter how many billions of dollars they had, it never seemed to be enough.

WL: What bit of information was the most surprising while doing your research?

JM I was shocked to learn that the Koch family’s fortune was built not just on building refineries for Joseph Stalin, but for Adolf Hitler, too. It’s a pretty controversial origin for a family that also aspires to control American politics.

WL: What can be done to combat the power

of this small group of people in our political system?

JM I’m a reporter, not a political advocate, so I try to inform readers about what’s

billionaires’ power?

JM Billionaires in America are going to be more powerful than ever because with accelerating economic inequality there are more of them than ever. Numerous studies show that wealthy political donors exert hugely disproportionate influence over politics and policy, and that their priorities are often in conflict with those of the rest of the population. ... We’re at a tipping point where public anger over political corruption is beginning to boil over. You can see it in the surprising success of the campaigns of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, who are running as politicians who can’t be bought.

WL: Would our readers be surprised

to know about the “philanthropic” organizations these billionaires set up to write off their political activities? How do they work?

JM Actually, some of the philanthropists I write about, such as Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh oil, steel and banking heir, tell the story very well themselves.

I got hold of his unpublished memoir in which he describes unabashedly what a great deal philanthropy was for him, because he could convert it into a political tool and lower his taxes at the same time.

He boasts that he personally bankrolled 133 of the conservative movement’s 300 most important organizations. He waged a tax-deductible political war. I call it “weaponizing philanthropy.”

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uch as they had achieved by 2015, there was still a major item on the Kochs’ shopping list: the White House. Anyone paying attention knew that 2014 was just a trial run for the presidential race in 2016. Phil Dubose, the former Koch Industries manager who spent twenty-six years working for the Kochs before testifying against them in court, had no doubt that they now had their sights on all three branches of government. “What they want is to get their own way,” he said. “They call themselves libertarians.

For lack of a better word, what it means is that if you’re big enough to get away with it, you can get away with it. No government. If it’s good for their business, they think it’s good for America. What it means for the country,” he added, speaking from his modest home in rural Louisiana, “is it would release the dogs. The little people? They’d get gobbled up.”

On the last weekend of January 2015, as was their custom, the Kochs once again convened their donor summit at a resort in Rancho Mirage, outside Palm Springs, California. Marc Short, the president of Freedom Partners, acknowledged that “2014 was nice, but there’s a long way to go.”

To get there, according to one ally, that weekend Charles and David Koch each

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pledged to give $75 million. If so, their contributions would still represent a mere fraction of the network’s new fund-raising goal announced that weekend. This time, the Koch network aimed to spend $889 million in the 2016 election cycle. The sum was more than twice what the network had spent in 2012. It rivaled the record $1 billion that each of the two major political parties was expected to spend, securing their unique status as a rival center of gravity. The Kochs could afford it. Despite their predictions that Obama would prove catastrophic to the American economy, Charles and David’s personal fortunes had nearly tripled during his presidency, from $14 billion apiece in March 2009 to $41.6 billion each in March 2015, according to Forbes.

“This time, the Koch network aimed to spend $889 million in the 2016 election cycle.”

To Fred Wertheimer, Washington’s battle-hardened liberal crusader against political corruption, the sum was almost beyond belief. “Eight hundred and eighty-nine million dollars? We’ve had money in the past, but this is so far beyond what anyone has thought of it’s mind-boggling.

This is unheard of in the history of the country. There has never been anything that approaches this.”

Wertheimer was a public interest lawyer who had been waging an uphill battle to stem the rising tide of money in politics since the Watergate days.

From his perspective, the country’s democratic process was in crisis. “We

have two unelected multibillionaires who want to control the U.S. government and exercise the power to decide what is best for more than 300 million American people, without the voices of these people being heard.”

He added, “There is nothing in our constitutional democracy that accepts that two of the richest people in the world can control our destiny.”

As was clear from the more than $13 million a year that Koch Industries spent lobbying Congress, the Kochs had enormous financial stakes in the U.S. government. The idea that they and their allies were spending nearly $1 billion for completely selfless reasons strained credulity. Of course, money wasn’t always the determinant of American elections, but there was little doubt that if the American presidency was on the auction block in 2016, the Kochs hoped to make the winning bid.

In an interview with USA Today, another instance in which he said that all he wanted was to “increase wellbeing in society,” Charles Koch bristled at the idea that he was motivated by an interest in boosting his bottom line.

“We are doing all of this to make more money?” he asked. “I mean, that is so ludicrous.”

Some of course might have used the same adjective to describe the twodecade-long legal battle that he and his brothers waged against each other after each inheriting hundreds of millions of dollars, in order to get a bigger share.

But sharing was never easy for Charles Koch. As a child, he used to tell an unfunny joke. When called upon to split a treat with others, he would say with a wise-guy grin, “I just want my fair share— which is all of it.”

Excerpted from “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right” (Doubleday, $29.95)

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POLLYWOOD

MONEY IN POLITICS

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LET’S FIX HOW MONEY INFLUENCES POLITICS

In April, more than 1200 people, including ice cream magnates Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were arrested on Capitol Hill during massive rallies protesting the influence of big money in politics. It’s an issue Americans, who feel their voices are being drowned out, are becoming increasingly frustrated with.

BY CONNIE MORELLA AND MIKE PEABODY

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ore and more, Washington D.C. is starting to feel like a tale of two cities, one dysfunctional and antiquated, the other bursting with vitality.

Old Washington is the one most Americans think of: full of wheeling and dealing within the halls of power and unable to see beyond the next election cycle. It has been broken for years, in part due to skyrocketing amounts of money that dictates who runs for office, who wins and what policies they pursue in Congress.

New D.C. is where you live. It’s shaking off the cobwebs, thriving and full of fresh ideas. It has a burgeoning tech corridor, exploding real estate and culture to match, and its occupants are as adept at debating the tax code as they are at securing a table at Rose’s Luxury.

This is the city we know and love. But it’s Old Washington that 2016 presidential candidates deride in speeches and that voters want reformed.

The good news is that fresh approaches to fixing Old Washington are bubbling up that

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match the prospering spirit of New D.C. – full of both optimism and pragmatism – grounded by real solutions with public support aimed at reestablishing the democracy we fought a revolution to attain.

THE WORST ELECTION YET? By the time we cast our ballots in November, experts predict candidates and special interests will have spent nearly $10 billion attempting to influence our votes.

Much of that money will come from shadowy outside groups, funded by a tiny portion of wealthy interests. The rest are hard money donations going directly to campaigns, from lobbyists, from PACs, from wealthy donors writing $2,700 checks to dozens of candidates.

This is what makes Washington look so bad to so many, and foments the kind of cronyism that hobbles our economy and corrupts our government.

Voter alienation is palpable: 76 percent of both conservatives and liberals say money has a greater influence than ever before, according

to a recent Pew Research study. And a June 2015 New York Times/CBS News poll found that 85 percent of adults – including 81 percent of Republicans – want to see major reforms to how we fund campaigns.

This public appetite for systemic change is giving rise to a new, growing movement of reformers pushing hard for those solutions.

THE NEW REFORM MOVEMENT Perhaps the most novel feature of the new reform movement is its bipartisanship. Good governance is no longer the cause for stuffy liberals who agree with each other in an echo chamber.

Enter – from stage right – Tea Party activist John Pudner (architect of David Brat’s historic primary upset against Rep. Eric Cantor), who launched Take Back Our Republic dedicated to pushing money-in-politics solutions conservatives can get behind.

Take Back Our Republic believes that “individual participation in the American political system,” not new regulations, is the best way to strengthen our liberty.Which is why

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they’re pushing for tax rebates for small-dollar donations, and idea that’s also been endorsed by George W. Bush’s former ethics lawyer, Richard Painter. As he wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed, it would “bring billions of small donations to political candidates, who would no longer depend on a tiny sliver of the population for the money they need to get elected.” Plus, it would allow candidates to spend less time dialing for dollars, which currently consumes half their time in office.

Though Take Back is initially concentrating on building grassroots support in the states, its goal is to help pass federal legislation to really change the dynamic in Old Washington.

Enter – from center stage – Issue One, a District-based nonprofit building an allAmerican movement by recruiting surprising new faces to the fight for reform. One example: the ReFormers Caucus, a group of more than 120 former elected officials from both parties who’ve personally seen how damaging money is to the political process and who are speaking out for solutions. It’s the largest bipartisan group of its kind speaking out for comprehensive campaign finance reform ever assembled. Currently, the ReFormers include former representatives, senators, governors, CIA directors and a vice president, as well as cabinet secretaries and ambassadors spanning the past five administrations.

SIMPLE FIXES There are plenty of solutions to our governing crisis that don’t involve the long march toward a constitutional amendment. From empowering small donors to passing commonsense lobbying rules to reforming watchdog agencies like the Federal Election Commission, these simple fixes would pass muster with even the current Supreme Court.

When Americans learn about these options, they like what they hear. So we wonder why candidates like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton haven’t mentioned them much.

For one, the Securities and Exchange Commission should pass a rule mandating all publicly traded companies disclose their political spending to shareholders. Not only have three former SEC chairmen, including Republican William Donaldson, urged the

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passage of this measure, but more than one million public comments were submitted to the agency, the most in its history.

Then there’s President Obama. With the stroke of the pen, he could approve an executive order requiring federal contractors to

T Securities and Exchange The Commission should pass a rule mandating all publicly traded companies disclose their political spending to shareholders...three former SEC chairman including a Republican ...have urged passage of this measure.” disclose their political spending. If a company receives our tax dollars, we, the people, deserve to know how they’re using that money to influence our votes. This idea transcends partisanship. As former Republican governor from Utah and ReFormers Caucus member Jon Huntsman explained, “It’s about enhancing believability and trust in our institutions and public governance…Winners should always be based on merit and competition, and not on which company can dole out the most campaign contributions.”

A RISING ISSUE It’s easy to be pessimistic about the ReFormers Caucus’ chances of success. After all, Washington cronies have a mountain of cash to spend and a Supreme Court that backs them up, even with the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.

However, just 20 years ago, we would have been called naive to predict a resurgence for this town. Now, New D.C. is home to more than 1,000 tech start-ups. Young families are flooding in every day. It was named Forbes’ coolest city in 2014. All this, even as it has become a symbol for broken governance across the Western world.

In order to save Washington from itself, advocates from around the nation are matching the agility and innovative energy of New D.C., reaching across the aisle to find common ground and pitching straightforward

proposals that all Americans can support. This movement is gathering momentum to restore a democracy where the consent of the voters is again needed to get things done.

Indeed, more than at any time in recent memory, voters are asking tough questions and demanding concrete answers from all candidates as to how both parties plan to restore our democracy so it works for everyone.

Presidential candidates and Congress would be wise to listen, for this issue isn’t going away. In fact, cleaning up the mess of money in politics would help bring the public image of the nation’s capital in line with the fresh and idealistic dynamism that it embodies at its best. And those in power should take a lesson from our civic history: Americans respect political authority when, and only when, it is derived from the consent of the governed.

As the new reform movement succeeds, we can look forward to a single city, our tale of two cities merging into one.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Connie Morella served as a Republican member of Congress representing M a r y l a n d ’s eighth congressional district from 1987-2003 and was the ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 2003-2007. She is a member of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus.

Mike Peabody is the president of Peabody Corporation, a Washington, D.C. real estate development corporation he established in 1975. Mike was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1969-1973. In 1968, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican. He serves on Issue One’s Board of Directors.

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100 Our annual list of un-elected, non-governmental heavy hitters demonstrates what we know to be true about those who hold the keys and open doors in this city: KNOWLEDGE is power, INFLUENCE is power, ACCESS is power, the PERCEPTION OF POWER is power and MONEY can translate into power, depending on how it’s used.

We cast a wide net to find heads of interest groups, political consultants, business leaders, real estate developers, journalists, innovators and philanthropists who — because of their knowledge, influence and access, projection of power and funds in the bank — influence our laws, the outcome of elections and how our capital and nation are perceived worldwide.

BY THE NUMBERS: Of the individuals on our list, 42 are new this year. Overall, about 20 are lobbyists, 18 are strategists or fundraisers, 24 are business leaders, 14 are members of the media and 10 are leaders in arts and entertainment.

Women continue to rise through the ranks and our list is reflective of that, featuring 28 influential female leaders.

PORTRAITS BY TONY POWELL

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Kennedy Center chairman and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein. Photographed at the Kennedy Center.

ROBERT ALLBRITTON CEO, Politico Robert Allbritton’s lengthy memo in January announcing the departure of his founding partners at Politico produced a new euphemism for a massive corporate bloodletting. He said CEO Jim VandeHei, COO Kim Kingsley, Chief Revenue Officer Roy Schwartz, Executive Vice-president for Expansion Danielle Jones and chief political reporter Mike Allen were “seeking their new adventures.” The mass exodus from the top deprived Politico of some of its best product: for example, Allen’s idiosyncratic “Playbook” newsletter is a must-read in Washington. But judging from its campaign coverage, Politico seems to have weathered the tsunami with little loss of the energy, originality and penetration that have in nine years built up its reputation. And to judge from the frequent appearances of its European correspondents on news shows in Paris and London, the brand has exported successfully.

The question is whether Albritton, now the CEO, and former editor-in-chief John Harris as publisher can sustain the momentum when yet another Politico star performer, Susan Glasser, exits towards the end of the year as scheduled to join her husband, New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Peter Baker.

The challenge will be to build on its print circulation and boost its European imprint.

JOSÉ ANDRÉS Chef and Founder, ThinkFoodGroup Jose Andrés may be Spanishborn, but his success is a symbol of rising Hispanic inf luence in America. One of nation’s most renowned restaurateurs and head of a $125 million food empire, his numerous establishments in Washington, Miami, Los Angeles and Las Vegas offer menu choices that combine the gastronomic traditions of Spain with those of Latin America, and more. At China Chilcano, his latest restaurant in downtown Washington, he has combined the cuisines of China, Peru, and Japan. Energetic and outspoken, the

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celebrity chef (who recently became a U.S. citizen) pulled out of a restaurant deal in Donald Trump’s new Washington luxury hotel after the Republican presidential contender made derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants. Andrés argued that Trump’s comments made it impossible for a Spanish restaurant to survive in a Trump building, and there are pending countersuits for millions of dollars. Andrés was active in creating emergency kitchens in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake there and remains engaged in the country’s slow recovery through his World Central Kitchen.

The organization operates in countries affected by food shortages and works with the U.N. to bring solar and clean cookstoves to 100 million people around the world.

JIM BANKOFF & EZRA KLEIN Chariman & CEO, Vox Media and Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Vox Media Ezra Klein left the Washington Post (and his popular platform Wonkblog) in 2014 when the newspaper ruled his $10 millionplus proposal for a separate explanatory news site was a step too far for the digital media pioneer.

In the memo announcing his departure, the Post told staffers he would start the new venture on his own. That venture was Vox, the top-shelf viral video publisher and policy analytics powerhouse that nests among successful outlets that include megapopular sports chain SB Nation and tech news site The Verge. Jim Bankoff, an exAOL executive who serves as the the parent company’s chairman and CEO, has said he wants Vox Media to be “the Conde Nast of the digital age” and is working to make that happen. Amid reports that BuzzFeed missed revenue projections and cut jobs, Vox is raising money, including a $200 million injection from NBC. To manage finances, the company recently brought ex-Rosetta Stone CEO Stephen Swad on board as its first chief financial officer.

JEREMY BEN-AMI Founder and President, J Street In the few years of its existence, J Street has edged its way from what far-right Jews regarded as insufficiently pro-Israel to a strong mainstream voice for Israeli security, democracy and peace.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s president, says his advocacy organization stands for “an end to occupation, for a two-state solution and for an Israel that’s committed to its core democratic principles and Jewish values.” In practical terms that has meant opposition to Jewish settlement building on the Palestinian West Bank, criticism of what J Street sees as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu refusal to accept the concept of Israel and a Palestinian state co-existing side-by-side, and support for the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. Without J Street’s support of President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement, the Iran deal would have never made it through Congress nor would we have blocked Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon. The Obama administration acknowledged J Street’s work by sending Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry to speak at their annual conference earlier this year. Ben-Ami’s group is trying to re-define what it means to be pro-Israel consistent with the views of an overwhelming majority of American Jews. The New York Times recently reported that J Street “has gained inf luence on Capitol Hill.” The group has reportedly raised over $3 million in PAC money to support their pro-Israel congressional candidates in the coming election.

WAYNE BERMAN Senior Advisor for Global Government Affairs, The Blackstone Group Veteran G.O.P fundraiser Wayne Berman, who chaired Marco Rubio’s failed presidential campaign, is one of the most inf luential Republican operatives in Washington. For the past 35 years he has been at the center of Republican political advocacy and has

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used his inf luence and connections on Wall Street and within the Republican Jewish Coalition to get Republicans elected across the board. He worked in the campaign and administration of President George H.W. Bush, the campaigns of George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney and was one of earliest backers Rubio, whom he considered “the candidate who represents a new generation for the Republican Party.” Despite Rubio’s withdrawal, he remains the go-to fundraiser for nearly every member of the Repubican leadership, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Berman has also been a driving force behind maintaining the “carried interest” tax break for private equity firms, such as the Blackstone Group, where he oversees in-house lobbying at one of the country’s most powerful financial services firms.

WOLF BLITZER & JAKE TAPPER Host, CNN “Situation Room” and Host, CNN “The Lead with Jake Tapper” The first is the Emmywinning host of “The Situation Room” and CNN’s lead political anchor. The second is the “State of the Union” and “The Lead” host who prophetically asked Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio if he was in denial about his chances to win the G.O.P. race during a nationally televised primary debate. Together, they have a combined total of more than one million Twitter followers and about 1.5 million total daily viewers in February (the most recent CNN-reported numbers available). While Slate wrote that Blitzer started off the Feb. 25 presidential debate with soft questions and “by the end … seemed to have completely ceded control of the debate,” ratings don’t lie, and the event averaged 14.5 million viewers — the most since Blitzer’s last moderating gig in December, which drew 18 million. Tapper, meanwhile, has pressed candidates (most forcefully Donald Trump) with questions the Washington Post praised for their toughness.

The former ABC Washington correspondent

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(and onetime political cartoonist) is wellknown for more intense reporting than other cable figures. An example being when he unsuccessfully asked Donald Trump to condemn David Duke and the Ku Klux Clan.

DAVID & KATHERINE BRADLEY Chairman, Atlantic Media Group and President, CityBridge Foundation A week after the shake-up that made COO Michael Finnegan Atlantic Media’s first president since 2013, publishing magnate David Bradley lost James Bennet, president and editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, his keystone holding, who moved on to become an editor at The New York Times. It was the latest in a milestone year for Bradley, whose National Journal cut staff and ceased print publication after more than 40 years on the presses. It has been reported that Atlantic Media is looking to sell its digital-first outlet Quartz as well, but at The Atlantic, things are still going strong. Its circulation has risen from about 450,000 to 486,000 since 2007 and it boasts a staggering 21 million unique web visitors per the magazine’s March 2015 figures. Meanwhile, Katherine Bradley (who runs the family-founded CityBridge foundation and has been a huge supporter of Teach for America’s growth in our region) has been quite inf luential in educational reform in D.C. and is considered by some to be the “shadow chancellor” of education in the District because of her involvement in the the city’s public and charter schools.

DAVID BROCK Founder, Media Matters and Correct The Record A current Hillary Clinton supporter originally known for his takedown book on Anita Hill (which he later disavowed as a product of a tumultuous period when he supported the Republican Party), Brock now heads Media Matters, a non-profit group that bills itself as a “progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing and

correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media” as well as the pro-Clinton super PAC Correct The Record. Last July, Brock orchestrated a deal that gives Correct The Record 20 percent or $200,000 (whichever is lower) of each donation to a joint effort with another Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA. While some critics question whether Brock’s tactics may in fact hurt Clinton, Correct The Record has already raised $5.1 million this cycle and is on track to raise more.

ARTHUR BROOKS President, American Enterprise Institute Positioning itself as the free-market alternative to the policies of Sen. Bernie Sanders and the right-leaning alternative to the Brookings Institution, the AEI, under Brooks’ direction, has been notably active during this election cycle and is still home to a legion of neocons. Some believe AEI to be the heart of the conservative movement, occupying more space in Republican thinking today than ever.

Tracking what he has called the culture war between limited government founding principles and European-style socialism, Brooks has hit the opinion pages of the New York Times and other major publications, dishing on topics that range from narcissism to trade. Called the Republican Party’s “poverty guru” by NBC News last year, his “Conversation” column with Gail Collins in the New York Times has become a welcome regular jaunt through the election process from the minds of major inf luencers.

MATTHEW BROOKS Executive Director, Republican Jewish Coalition When the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition debated Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street, a pro-Israel, pro-peace group, in mid-March, he was doing so on the front steps of Republican heavyweight donor Sheldon Adelson, whose casino (and now newspaper) empire dominates Las Vegas.

Since taking the helm of the Coalition in

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1990, Brooks has positioned it as a unique bridge between the more conservative Jewish community and Republican decisionmakers, especially with regard to support for the position of the current far-right Israeli government, U.S. oil independence and a hawkish pro-regime-change foreign policy.

EVAN BURFIELD & DONNA HARRIS Co-Founders, 1776 The two founders and coCEOs of 1776 announced last April that the startup incubator — which has hosted such power players as President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull — would expand to San Francisco by acquiring Hattery, a similar entrepreneurial studio.

“Washington, D.C. is home to the world’s most important leaders,” Harris said in a 1776 news release, “and San Francisco is the heart of the startup movement. By combining … we’re in a stronger position than ever.” Other 1776 news includes the move of former CNN reporter Erin McPike into the communications director role and the recent addition of former New York State chief digital officer Rachel Haot as managing director. In September, 1776 announced a $12.5 million seed fund for new investments. “1776 is … a vibrant community,” the Oxford-educated Burfield said. “To be truly successful, we need to open these resources to … the world.”

WES BUSH Chairman, CEO and President, Northrop Grumman Corporation This MIT-educated engineer and executive won a massive victory in February when the Government Accountability Office denied a challenge from competitors Lockheed Martin and Boeing and upheld Northrop Grumman’s $80 billion contract to build the Air Force’s first new bombers since the Cold War. The 100-plane contract’s survival boosted stock in Northrop Grumman instantly.

The major defense contractor also won a

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Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter. Photographed at the Kennedy Center..

contract to build a laser-based airborne drone that detects sea mines. Meanwhile, the company’s operating income rose to more than $3.1 billion in 2014. ÁNGEL CABRERA President, George Mason University Just as he began the first semester as president of George Mason University, Cabrera — himself only five years older than G.M.U. — took to Twitter to introduce himself to

students. His followers have doubled since he took the helm in 2013, and the university’s rankings have skyrocketed as well. It’s now No. 135 among national universities rated by U.S. News & World Report, with top-20 marks for innovation and a top-70 rank among public schools. The green machine from Virginia also made headlines when it announced that, following a $30 million donation from the Koch Brothers and pending approval from Commonwealth’s higher education board, it would name its law school in memory of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

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STEVE & JEAN CASE Founders, Case Foundation He’s the entrepreneur, philanthropist and now bestselling New York Times author who co-founded AOL. She was elected in February as the first female to head the National Geographic Society. Together, they’re the husband-and-wife chairman and CEO team, respectively, who co-founded the Case Foundation to help foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Steve Case is also the chairman and CEO of Revolution LLC, a venture capital investment firm devoted to innovative and dynamic new companies.

Forbes estimates the couple’s net worth at $1.36 billion, noting that the McLean, Va., residents have joined The Giving Pledge, along with numerous wealthy thought leaders, to donate the bulk of their fortune to philanthropic causes.

GUY CECIL Co-Chair and Chief Strategist, Priorities USA After opting out of the race to be Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, this DSCC alumnus made waves as head of the Clintonbacking super PAC Priorities USA. Last May, he consolidated power in what was understood to be a clear signal to co-board chairman Jim Messina (who led President Obama’s 2012 bid) that he would limit his role to fund-raising.

Cecil worked with David Brock last July to broker a joint fundraising effort between his super PAC and Correct The Record, which also backs Clinton. Priorities USA raised $10 million in January 2016 alone, adding to its $55 million total this cycle. Money, from donors including George Soros, Stephen Spielberg and the Plumbers/Pipefitters Union, has paid for pro-Clinton ads and attacks against Republicans.

JANE CHU Chairman, National Endowment of the Arts Inasmuch as the male head of a government agency is often referred to as its czar (“transportation czar,” “drug czar,” etc) then Jane Chu is the Obama

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Administration’s arts czarina. In February 2014, she was appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, the agency that supports arts projects with government funds and other financing. In 2015, for example, Chu approved grants totaling $103.47 million to finance 2,139 projects ranging from arts education in Alabama to a glass-blowing program for wounded soldiers in Tacoma, Wash.

In addition, Chu is fairy godmother to museum directors around the country because the NEA administers a $15 billion Federal government program that indemnifies against loss or damage of art works on loan from U.S. and foreign institutions for big exhibitions.

With post 9/11 insurance costs spiking, the program is what makes many blockbuster exhibitions still possible.

Born to Chinese parents in Oklahoma, trained as a pianist, she has worked mainly as an arts administrator and fund raiser, most recently as the director of the $413 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., having supervised its construction. One interviewer called her approach to the NEA “beneficent populism” because she encourages social dancing, folk festivals and electronic media. Her own aim, she says, is to make people understand that “the arts are a part of our everyday lives. We want to change the elitist paradigm that the arts are off in a silo by themselves.”

JOE CIRINCIONE President, The Ploughshares Fund From his perch atop the Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation that believes nuclear weapons “do very little to keep us safer from the real threats we face today,” Cirincione led a diverse coalition that eliminated any Iranian path to a nuclear weapon for decades to come. Together with a diverse group of organizations such as Win Without War, Arms Control Association, J Street, and others, Cirincione helped get congressional backing for a

deal that required Iran to pour concrete into the core of their plutonium reactor, eliminate its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, remove the majority of their centrifuges, including all advanced models and submit to around the clock monitoring in exchange for sanctions relief. This was a deal that no one believed could happen and Cirincione was an integral part of it.

STEVE CLEMONS Editor, Atlantic Live As editor-in-chief of Atlantic Live, this politics and foreign affairs writer leads a team responsible for more than 100 events each year that attract thousands of attendees to say nothing of generous media coverage. Past event headliners include secretaries of state, business magnates, television and film power players and politicians of every stripe. This all manages to happen when Clemons isn’t writing up a storm as Washington editor-at-large for The Atlantic, serving as editor-at-large for National Journal and Quartz, editorin-chief of National Journal LIVE and running his comment blog, Washington Note. In April, The Atlantic hired former MSNBC anchor Alex Wagner to will work under Clemons as a senior editor and help expand the company’s video presence.

KELLYANNE CONWAY President, The Polling Company/WomanTrend This self-described “pollstress” has watched her candidate Ted Cruz win the first-inthe-nation Iowa caucuses plus Wisconsin and other races — all with a brokered Republican convention in mind. As president and CEO of the woman-owned, 21-year old The Polling Company, Inc./WomanTrend, Conway’s clients have included the Heritage Foundation, Major League Baseball, American Express and ABC News. She has created a new political space in the Republican party (between evangelicals and the tea party) --- no easy task when dealing with a party that already has so many factions.

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LORENZO CREIGHTON President and CEO, MGM National Harbor When the $1.3 billion MGM resort casino opens in National Harbor, Md. by the end of the year, it will have 3,600 slot machines, 140 gambling tables, celebrity-chef restaurants and a 3,000-seat theater. The complex’s 300-room hotel, however, is rather small by MGM’s standards. According to Creighton, that’s entirely by design. “Our business model was thought of and developed to fit into the region,” he told the Washington Post, “and not in any way cannibalize the region.” An indirect part of that community commitment is the $40 million-plus in tax revenues Prince George’s County stands to collect from the resort. With enough dirt excavated to fill the Ravens’ football stadium and more than 6,400 concrete piles already driven, Creighton is rapidly readying for the next stage.

“When you choose a career in hospitality,” he once said, ”you have to get used to working a lot of nights and weekends.”

JIM DEMINT President, The Heritage Foundation When business mogul and Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump came to Washington for a news conference at the hotel his real estate empire is building at the Old Post Office Pavilion, he met with a few Republican senators and representatives as well as former Sen. Jim DeMint, who became president of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in 2013, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. DeMint stopped short of endorsing Trump, but at the hotel announcement later on March 21, the candidate announced that his shortlist of possible nominees for Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat would be written in collaboration with The Heritage Foundation.

Insiders say that while Heritage remains an important political player, and maintains inf luence withTea Partiers in the House, it needs to start helping win more elections.

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TAD DEVINE & scott goodstein Chief Strategist, Revolution Messaging and Bernie Sanders 2016; Founer and CEO, Revolution Messaging Tad Devine is credited for creating the ads that were key to bolstering Sanders popularity, including what some call his “brilliant” preIowa Caucus ad featuring Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.” Insiders note that Devine will be instrumental in bringing the Sanders and Clinton campaigns and voters together in time for the general election. Goodstein has used his digital prowess to make Hillary Clinton “feel the Bern.” He was brought on board the Sanders team to run mobile in the first Democratic primary and from early on, he and his digital strategy firm, Revolution Messaging, did not disappoint. Considering his previous successes working as Obama’s external online director in the 2008 election, the decision to enlist him was a no-brainer for the Sanders team. A recent headline from Politico calls Sanders’ e-mail list of donors, assembled by Goodstein and his team, the Demcratic candidate’s, “secret weapon.” Democratic politicians and interest groups are clamoring to get access to Sanders’ database of donors and activists developed and maintained by Goodstein JOHN DICKERSON Host, CBS’s “Face the Nation” While NBC’s “Meet the Press” did best in the demographic of adults 25-54 in recent Nielsen ratings, CBS’s offering, “Face The Nation,” which Dickerson has hosted since taking over from Bob Schieffer in 2015, ranked highest — a massive 3.85 million viewers according to TVNewser.

The Dickerson-moderated Republican presidential debate that CNN called a “G.O.P. demolition derby” averaged 13.5 million viewers per Nielsen. The reviews from his eminent predecessor, a half-century news veteran, were glowing. “I thought he

was masterful,” Schieffer told the Washington Post. Among colleagues, Dickerson is wellrespected and admired for his integrity.

GLORIA DITTUS Chairman, Story Partners Dittus has been called “the nation’s first public affairs PR maven,” and her talent for cultivating relationships has been instrumental in building one of Washington, D.C.’s leading female owned-and-operated strategic public affairs firms. After leaving her namesake company, Dittus Communications, in 2009 (following a sale to Financial Dynamics), the Georgia native founded Story Partners. Her “third time’s the charm” agency has already amassed an impressive client list, including Southern Company, Noble Energy, the Aspen Institute and the Entertainment Software Alliance.

Dittus has been credited for running a successful business without strong partisan identification, which is quite hard to do in Washington. She has built a network and social inf luence in Washington, which she leverages to connect people, clients, and causes. Dittus and Story Partners also underwrite the Lincoln Medal Presentation at the annual Ford’s Theatre Gala.

LISA DONNER Executive Director, Americans for Financial Reform Donner runs Americans For Financial Reform a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of more than 200 consumer, business, investor, faith-based, civic and community groups. AFR has kept Wall Street regulation at the forefront of its mission since it was founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. With the grassroots of both parties demanding their presidential candidates represent Main Street, not Wall Street, Donner and the coalition have made complicated financial and trade issues understandable kitchen table topics for many Americans. Her AFR coalition is pushing to re-write the rules to benefit small business

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and American workers instead of multinational corporations and financial firms.

AFR continues to fight for a 21st century Glass-Steagall act so that no bank is so big that taxpayers would have to bail them out again in order to avoid a collapse of the entire financial industry and U.S. economy.

With Congress introducing a number of industry-written reforms supported by members of both parties that benefit the big banks, and with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under attack by powerful deep-pocketed interests, there are sure to be many show-downs to come.

Only two years after Dorsey launched the Divest-Invest campaign, hundreds of foundations and individuals around the globe have publicly taken the pledge to divest their portfolios of dirty energy (oil, coal and gas fracking) that contributes to climate disruption and to reinvest in clean green energy and technology instead. With trillions already divested and institutional investors from universities, cities, faith groups, pension funds and foundations taking the pledge every day, it looks like the movement is picking-up steam. Dorsey and the Divest-Invest campaign are challenging the status-quo thinking of many financial advisors that financial performance will be undercut by divestment by proving otherwise.

THOMAS DONOHUE & SCOTT REED President & CEO and Senior Politcal Strategist, U.S. Chamber of Commerce The Chamber of Commerce holds the top spot on OpenSecrets’s lobbying list, with more than $84 million spent on political contributions. One insider says, “every primary they have played in against the Tea Party, they have won, and there’s nothing like winning in Washington, D.C.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been called the “real winner” of the 2014 election and Donohue has turned it into a powerful lobbying and campaign machine that pursues a fairly narrow special-interest agenda. As senior political strategist for the more-than-a-century-old organization, Reed played a major part in its 2014 effort to elect big-business candidates, a goal it will certainly try to repeat this time around. Outside of the election arena, the Chamber is reportedly poised to sue over provisions of a federal retiree-protection regulation that it claims is “unworkable.”

ANITA DUNN & HILARY ROSEN ManagingDirectors, SKDKnickerbocker The managing directors of what an insider calls “the preiminent communications shop” are having a busy year. Their firm was just tapped to lead the Obama Administration’s media plan to get longtime D.C. Circuit Appeals Court Chief Judge Merrick Garland confirmed to the Supreme Court despite of the opposition of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It’s been rumored that their goal is to use former administration and campaign insiders to weaken G.O.P. intransigence with regard to confirming the president’s nominee.

Dunn, a former White House communications director, is a political insider and go-to eminence gris close to Hillary and also Valerie Jarrett in the Obama White House. Once chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America, Rosen helped shut down Napster and is now regarded as a go-to behind the scenes media consultant on progressive and LGBT issues.

ELLEN DORSEY Executive Direcctor, Wallace Global Fund As executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, Ellen Dorsey has led the expanding campaign to divest portfolios from fossil fuels.

STEVE ELMENDORF Co-founder & Partner, Subject Matter consulting This Democratic strategist represents big-name clients like Time Warner, Verizon, Union Pacific, Ford Motor Co., the Human Rights

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Campaign and the NFL at the firm he cofounded, Elmendorf-Ryan Communications (re-branded as Subject Matter after merging with Home Front Communications last year). The former advisor to Hillary Clinton says one should think of Subject Matter as “your 26-year-old startup,” albeit one that has a reported total revenue of $25 million.

As a result, he and fellow lobbyist Tony Podesta are viewed by insiders as the top two Democratic lobbyists in town, who also know how to devleop clients and new business.

JOHN ENGLER President, Business Roundtable While the anti-trade critique coming from campaigns on both sides of this wildride election cycle has been giving corporate America the cold shakes, Business Roundtable President Engler isn’t all that worried. “There’s nothing new about candidates running who are opposed to trade deals,” he told the Washington Post. “What would be new is when they were elected, they held the same position.”

It is this philosophy that has helped the former three-term Michigan governor lead the Roundtable, which comprises CEOs of leading U.S. corporations that produce $7.4 trillion in annual revenue.

Engler’s Roundtable has published landmark reports on economic growth and monitored business interests through two terms of a Democratic presidency.

RICHARD FAIRBANK Chairman and CEO, Capital One Since co-founding Capital One in 1988, Fairbank has propelled his broadly diversified financial services company into the top half of the Fortune 500 with about 1,000 branches in six states and the District. His personal fortune has been estimated at $800 million, amassed in part by smart moves before and after the credit-card juggernaut went public in 1994. He is also a partial owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment (which owns the Capitals, Wizards, Mystics and the Verizon Center).

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KENNETH FELD CEO, Feld Entertainmentt The CEO of McLean-based Feld Entertainment since 1984, Feld has steered his family’s iconic Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in new directions, including Disney on Ice!, Doodlebops Live!, Disney Live!, Monster Jam, the International Hot Rod Association and the AMA Supercross Championship. He has also produced several Broadway plays. Feld and his circus have been criticized by animal rights activists for more than two decades with Feld fighting back against those who maintained his circus mistreated animals, most notably its elephant population. He even won an $11 million libel judgment against PETA when a judge ruled that the accusations were not true. In 2015, Feld decided to move the circus in a new direction by eliminating the elephant acts altogether. In their place, the “new” circus now has more trapeze artists, a BMX bike act and acrobatic dogs.

HOWARD FINEMAN & RYAN GRIM Global Editorial Director and Washington Bureau Chief, The Huffington Post Howard Fineman and Ryan Grim help keep the 11-year-old news site ahead of other digital-native outfits such as BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox, and on pace with other topranked sites such as CNN and The New York Times. A combination of old school and new, who schmoozes at lunch while checking Twitter and prepping for hits on MSNBC, Global Editorial Director Fineman tends to HuffPost’s expanding worldwide audience. In the last year mobile and international traffic has soared as HuffPost added more video and upped the the number of its editions to 15 (Australia is the newest). The site made its own headlines earlier this year when it publicly elected to cover Donald Trump as “entertainment” in a provocative post by Washington Bureau Chief Grim. A dogged reporter and shrewd, well-liked manager, Grim also bylined on the viral headline “A Racist, Sexist Demagogue Just Won The New Hampshire Primary.”

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Chris Wallace, Moderator, “Fox News Sunday,” which celebrated 20 years in April. Photographed at Fox News.

JACK GERARD CEO, American Petroleum Institute With the national average gas price hovering at $2 per gallon, the American Petroleum Institute and its president have a lot to fret about, but also a lot to celebrate with their unexpected lobbying victory to lift the U.S. oil export ban.

Although they were not able to keep the Department of the Interior from scrapping

plans to increase Atlantic oil drilling (via the optioning of drilling off the coast of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia or Florida), pro-oil insiders have commented that they are “most impressed” that Gerard prevailed on lifting the oil export ban, something they never believed would happen, and under a Democratic president no less. Hess Oil’s top lobbyist, Drew Maloney, was also instrumental in this victory for fossil fuel advocates, a victory that is a true testament to their power.

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MARY KAY HENRY President, SEIU This international president of the two-million-member Service Employees International Union, Henry is the first woman ever elected to the post. She has become a political force as well, with her chapters orchestrating massive voting blocs and her worldwide coalition winning major victories to improve working families’ lives.

With kudos that include being named one of Fast Company’s 100 most creative leaders in 2015 and No. 4 on Nation’s Restaurant News’s 2016 power list, Henry has persistently fought for a $15 minimum wage, the Affordable Care Act and comprehensive immigration reform.

MARILLYN HEWSON President and CEO, Lockheed Martin Capping a more than 30 year career with the nation’s No. 1 defense contractor, Hewson has delivered record profits and expanded into growing industries that include cybersecurity and alternative energy.

Last year, she led the company’s purchase of helicopter giant Sikorsky for $9 billion and had “no regrets” about the buy, even as plummeting oil prices have led to a biggerthan-expected drop in Sikorsky’s sales. Since taking over as CEO in 2013, After naming her the fourth most powerful woman in 2015, Fortune reported that she doubled Lockheed Martin’s market cap, and in April 2015 theWashington Post listed her as the highest paid female CEO so far that year. Recently she has touted the company’s breakthrough efforts to build hypersonic jets that fly at 3,600 m.p.h., or six times the speed of sound.

ERIC HILTON Restaurateur & Co-founder, Thievery Corporation The co-founder of the downtempo DJ collective Thievery Corporation has been backing local entertainment and restaurant establishments for more than a decade. From his initial foray with the

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18th Street Lounge to a handful of bars (Marvin, Patty Boom Boom, El Rey, and The Gibson, among others) he has been insrumental in making the U Street/ Shaw corridor a District destination of note. With expansions to Petworth and Georgetown (Chez Billy and Chez Billy Sud, respectively) in more recent years, Hilton takes gentrification-related criticism in stride.

“I completely appreciate that perspective,” the restaurateur told The New York Times.

And with an eye for picking D.C. digs before they bloom, Hilton now says that North Capitol is the next blossom to watch.

MONTY HOFFMAN Founder & CEO, PN Hoffman Closer to Washington than National Harbor and a stone’s throw from the Waterfront Metro, The Wharf has been called “the biggest project of Monty Hoffman’s life.” Set on 24 acres of land and going for $1,000 a square foot in one of the condo towers, PN Hoffman’s $2 billion project to reinvent the Southwest Waterfront will tranform the area. Despite permitting setbacks, skyrocketing costs and five years of deficits at PN Hoffman, the project’s first phase completion is set for next year. With announcements of eight new restaurants, including a Spanish seafood spot from the Trabocchi’s (whose portfolio includes Fiola and Fiola Mare), the site is expanding by the day. “I knew through all of it that having a mile of shoreline in the nation’s capital ... was just so special,” Hoffman told The Washington Post. “I had to hang on to it.”

CYNTHIA HOGAN Vice President for Public Policy, Apple ESPN wrote in January that this District power player’s partnership with National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell as the league’s chief lobbyist was “turning the NFL into a political machine.”

Now, Apple has torn a page out of Goodell’s playbook, tapping Hogan — previously counsel to Vice President Joe Biden — as its

watchful woman in Washington. Answering to Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson (ex head of the EPA), her appointment is seen as a major coup for the tech giant as it continues legal efforts to acquire greater access to its customers’ data. Apple has been spending more and more on lobbying, including a Politico-cited $4.4 million last year. As one insider puts it, “Apple is one of the few companies with a clear partisan identity that still manages to do well in a town controlled by Republicans.”

JON HUNTSMAN & CAPRICIA MARSHALL Chairman, The Atlantic Council; Ambassador in Residence, The Atlantic Council He’s a former ambassador to China, Utah governor and 2012 Republican presidential hopeful. She’s a former White House social secretary and chief of protocol.

Together, they headline the Atlantic Council, the bipartisan international affairs think tank of which Huntsman is chairman and Marshall is ambassadorin-residence for the group’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. Huntsman, who maintains he’s willing to back Donald Trump if he wins the Republican nomination, but also said f lattering things about Hillary Clinton, whom he worked with while representing the United States.”

Marshall, who had been at Clinton’s side for two decades when she left State, also advised her presidential and two senatorial campaigns and remains extremely close to key operatives in the Clinton campaign.

SETH HURWITZ Founder & Owner, 9 :30 Club and I.M.P. “On any given night,” Washingtonian wrote in a glowing 2014 profile, “Hurwitz’s company, I.M.P. [or “It’s My Party”] … may have provided the entertainment for one of every three concertgoers in Washington.” In addition to the promoting gig — which lost a major

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antitrust suit against LiveNation in February 2015 — Hurwitz has his hand in U Street’s Lincoln Theater, the Merriweather Post Pavilion and an upcoming 6,000-seat venue at The Wharf development in Southwest D.C. That’s all in addition to his famous 9:30 Club of course, whose success Hurwitz says he can’t explain. “The bands who pay here understand it,” he says. “The fans who come here understand it, but it’s not really something you can put into words.” PBS will do its best to communicate the “feeling” to viewers with its new television show based on the venue’s concerts called “Live at 9:30.”

Golden Globe for Aaron Sorkin in 2015.

Since taking the helm of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy think tank, this former Time managing editor and CEO of CNN led Voice of America from 2009 to 2012 as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and just kept on writing. His biographies of Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger and Albert Einstein have been well-received and well-read. A friend calls him “a force in Washington” and says Isaacson “has become an amazing convener in an era where it is hard to do so on a bipartisan basis.”

International Monetary Fund. A piece he wrote in The Atlantic in 2009 garnered more than 1 million views online, and his book about economic meltdowns putting 2008 in context was a major hit with critics and readers alike. Johnson wrote the book with James Kwak, a University of Connecticut School of Law associate professor with whom he co-founded the wildly popular economics blog, The Baseline Scenario. He is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington and a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Economic Advisers.

GWEN IFILL & JUDY WOODRUFF Co-anchors, PBS Newshour The PBS “Newshour” dual anchors made history in Milwaukee in February when they became the first-ever all female team to moderate a presidential debate.(one that had more than 8 million viewers).

Three years ago, they also made history as the first female duumvirate on a U.S. broadcast network. Apart from all that, they’ve also turned around a newscast was once deemed “destined for the boneyard” because it was hemorrhaging ratings faster than any broadcast news program.

With the ladies in front of the cameras, ratings grew from 2013 to 2014. Ifill is also moderator and managing editor for “Washington Week,” which won a 2008 Peabody Award for “its reasoned, reliable contribution to the national discourse.”

JO ANN JENKINS CEO, AARP Since taking over in 2014, AARP’s CEO has led numerous initiatives regarding healthcare, finances and personal fulfillment, including a signature campaign designed to revolutionize society’s views on getting older by driving a new social consciousness. Spearheaded by Jenkins’s new book, “Disrupt Aging,” the eponymously-named campaign recently took on a video component in which operators of a food truck pledge not to serve anyone over 40. As customers express outrage, the video asks “if we don’t tolerate … discrimination at a food truck, why do we at work?”

Jenkins has focused on becoming a “dynamic change agent” at AARP, which has a staff of 4,000 and a $1 billion-plus budget to serve its constituency of more than 100 million Americans 50 and older. According to watchdog website OpenSecrets, AARP spent more than $7.5 million on lobbying in 2015, the last year for which data was available.

STEVE JOYCE President and CEO, Choice Hotels Joyce led Choice Hotels, one of the world’s largest hotel franchisors — whose brands include Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Cambria, Sleep Inn and EconoLodge— to close to $860 million dollars in revenue in 2015, up from $758 million the previous year. Watchers of the company, which Joyce has helmed since 2008, say “he is making a splash” via his focused growth strategy and expansion into new markets. He’s also boosted Choice’s focus on corporate social responsibility, partnering with organizations like the Steve Harvey Foundation, which provides outreach to fatherless youth, and has allowed loyalty program members to make contributions to non-profits. Joyce, who’s worked in the industry for more than three decades, had sharp words on the Republican presidential frontrunner in a recent interview with Travel Agent Central. “Trump’s not a hotel guy,” he said. “He’s a name that goes on a building.”

simon johnson Economist & Professor, MIT Johnson is a professor of entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, where he earned his Ph.D. in economics and is an expert on financial and economic crises like the one that began in 2008, just one month after the beginning of his tenure as chief economist for the

JIM YONG KIM President, The World Bank The World Bank, of which Kim has been president since 2012, recently projected that the global rate of those living in extreme poverty (defined as living on less than $1.90 per day) is now below 10 percent.

But there’s still a lot of work to be done. Kim, who oversees 15,000 employees and about

WALTER ISAACSON President and CEO, The Aspen Institute According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, “When … Steve Jobs came to Time to tout his awesome new desktop, Isaacson, the only staff reporter who wrote on a computer, was asked to sit in.”

More than 20 years later, Isaacson would profile the mysterious computer innovator in a landmark book that hit the silver screen to critical success, winning a best screenplay

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who oversees 15,000 employees and about $200 billion in loans to lift as many people out of global poverty as possible has faced challenges throughout his tenure that include rebounding from the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and mitigating the harrowing effects of the Syrian refugee crisis today. The cofounder of Partners in Health and first AsianAmerican president of an Ivy League school (he led Dartmouth until his current post) once revealed a key element of his mission: “To say that there is not enough money is just a lie.

There’s plenty of money in the world; it’s just not going to healthcare for poor people.”

STEVEN KNAPP President, George Washington University Since the courts approved the takeover of the Corcoran Gallery of Art by George Washington University and the National Gallery, GW’s president has made strides expanding his university well beyond its Foggy Bottom reach. The university’s fund-raising receipts

skyrocketed from $98.5 million to $248 million in the year prior to June 2015 and Knapp seems well on his way to raising $1 billion in the next two years. Athletics-wise, the men’s basketball squad was ranked in the AP Top 25 this year; the women’s team also won its league. Academically, GW saw a record 28 percent increase in 2016 applications over the previous year since going test-optional. (Twenty percent of applicants chose not to include test scores, according to a GW news release.)

HOWARD KOHR Executive Director, AIPAC The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which Kohr heads, was more in the news than ever after a spring conference that packed about 18,000 convention-goers from all across the world into the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to discuss the future of the Jewish state.

Called “the fourth pilgrimage holiday,” the event drew scrutiny for including Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has made a

POWER PLAY:

THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU’S BATTLE AGAINST DARK MONEY

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n 2008, under the Bush/Cheney administration, U.S. taxpayers were forced to bail out big banks. The administration argued that if the public didn’t bail out the private sector banks, the entire economy would implode. Millions of Americans who received bad loans from big banks and predatory lenders had their homes foreclosed, and never recovered. Middle-class Americans, particularly African-Americans, were hit the hardest with an estimated 40-60% of their wealth lost.

To help address such concerns and other financial regulation, the CFPB, an independent agency funded by the Federal Reserve, was established under “Dodd-Frank” legislation with a mandate to protect consumers from banks and other financial companies and lenders. Powerful interests immediately launched a coordinated campaign against the CFPB, spending tens of millions of dollars on TV and web ads to undermine any such consumer protections.

Politico recently reported that one of the

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organizations spending millions in attack ads in the D.C. market, “Protect America’s Consumers,” had an address that matches a lawyer who represents some of the Koch Brothers “astroturf” campaigns.

Astroturfing refers to organizations created to appear to be supported by a mass grassroots army of citizens, but in fact are supported by a few wealthy individuals or large corporations.

Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), a grassroots watch-dog group of over 200 consumer, religious, labor and grassroots organizations released a report in April that shows how a great majority of financial bills and amendments brought up for congressional vote last year “were industrybacked proposals to weaken existing reforms” or CFPB. Under existing laws, the funders of these “dark money” attacks are not known, but what is very clear is that the people spending millions in attacking the CFPB do not wish to be known and that the CFPB is in a pitched battle with powerful individuals and corporations which will play out in the years to come.

number of xenophobic and bigotted comments.

Notably absent was Democratic challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders — the only Jewish candidate in the presidential race — who declined an AIPAC invitation that all of the other candidates accepted. The event’s most notable moment came when Hillary Clinton spoke of her support for the Iranian nuclear deal that AIPAC had unsuccessfully tried to torpedo. According to watchdog website OpenSecrets, AIPAC spent more than $3.3 million on lobbying in 2015. Despite losing on the Iran issue, AIPAC has managed to gain members and raise more money. One insider calls Kohr “a disciplined ego, sort of like the Wizard of Oz. He doesn’t let people see behind the curtain, but he is pulling all he levers.”

MIKE KONCZAL Fellow, The Roosevelt Institute The Roosevelt Institute, inspired by namesakes Franklin and Eleanor, “reimagines America as … a place where hard work is rewarded, everyone participates, and everyone enjoys a fair share of our collective prosperity.”

Konczal, a fellow of the left-leaning think tank, has financial reform on his mind as he writes Rortybomb, one of the top financial blogs on the English-language web. His “comfort with the mathematical models and statistical wizardry that make most journalists blanch is married to an easy writing style and pop-culture sensibility,” ex-Washington Post Wonkblogger Ezra Klein once gushed. Konczal’s writing has also appeared in The New Republic, Al Jazeera America, the Wonkblog and Dissent.

CHRISTINE LAGARDE Managing Director, International Monetary Fund February, the International Monetary Fund Executive Board reselected Christine Lagarde for her second five-year term as managing director (starting in July). The first woman to hold the position, Lagarde has presided over a budget that tops $1 billion and is working tirelessly to boost the international economy. In her first term she dealt with an increasingly tumultuous Eurozone, an ever-changing economic landscape in East

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Asia and the monetary consequences of the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Among many other key efforts, she will be remembered for bolstering the participation of women in the workforce as a means to reduce poverty. Through it all she’s remained cool and collected with an “grit your teeth and smile” attitude that she credits to her synchronized swimming career as a youth. Before working for the IMF, Lagarde served under French President Nicolas Sarkozy as France’s finance minister.

WAYNE LAPIERRE & CHRIS COX Executive Vice President and Executive Director of Institute for Legislative Action, National Rifle Association More guns were sold in December 2015 than almost any other month in this millennium — even when adjusted for the usual Christmas spike. The boost, reported by the New York Times, could be in response to the NRA’s highly effective ad campaign, “Freedom’s Safest Place,” where a range of NRA members use personal anecdotes to draw on the importance of gun rights. LaPierre has led the charge by lobbying against firearm safety restrictions in the face of a nation plagued by gun violence. Earlier this year, he fearlessly challenged President Obama to a televised debate on gun control in response to the President’s open invitation to hold discussions with the NRA at a CNN town hall meeting.

With a working budget upwards of $200 million, Cox, executive director of the NRA’s legislative arm, directs the organization’s lobbying, voter registration activities and government relations as well as its campaign “Victory Fund,” which propelled 90 percent of NRA-endorsed candidates to key election wins in 2014.

TED LEONSIS Owner & CEO, Monumental Sports and Entertainment His Capitals hockey team is looking to top off its exceptionally successful regular season and playoffs first round with a Stanley Cup triumph. Beyond a winning record,

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the Caps have a soaring revenue stream with Leonsis at the helm. His Wizards basketball squad hasn’t fared as well and is in rebuilding mode despite a playoff appearance last year.

The two teams play in the Leonsis-owned Verizon Center, which also hosted the first ACC tournament north of the Potomac in more than 10 years this past March. Leonsis recently gained a “33 percent equity interest” in Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic thanks to a deal with NBC involving Caps/Wizards broadcasting. His outstanding leadership also made him a natural fit as vice-chairman of Washington, D.C.’s 2024 Olympic bid.

TED LERNER & MARK LERNER Owners, Lerner Enterprises & Washington Nationals Ted Lerner turned a $250 loan from his wife in 1952 into what is now a multibillion-dollar business.

That meager sum became the foundation for Lerner Enterprises, which boasts a portfolio of over 7,000 apartments and other properties that make Lerner and his family, including son Mark, the largest private landowners in the Washington metropolitan area.

Of the many hats the Lerners have worn in their careers, the one with the Curly W stands out most to Washington sports fans. In 2006, the Lerner family took over official ownership of the Nationals baseball team, controlling 90 percent of its shares.

An impeccably built stadium and savvy branding have made Nats games a place to see and be seen. The Lerners often host high-rolling Washingtonians and political and media personalities in the stadium’s Diamond Club box seats. Last year Ted, 90, accepted a lifetime achievement award from the Urban Land Institute for the real estate empire he built from the ground up. In a Washington Post article published after the awards ceremony the Institute’s Lisa Rother praised Lerner “as a visionary real estate developer, generous philanthropist, MLB team owner and a pillar of the community.”

WALLACE LOH President, University of Maryland In a November 2015 “Ideas” column for Time magazine, the University of Maryland’s president invoked Frederick Douglass — whose statue had been erected weeks earlier on campus — as he discussed “the challenge now roiling American campuses: how to reconcile academic freedom and racial justice.” The statue later became a lightning rod for student protest, including efforts that eventually led to the renaming of Byrd Stadium — whose namesake was a segregationist UMd. president for nearly 20 mid-century years. But that’s not the only change in College Park. Cranes herald hundreds of millions of dollars in construction projects, including a new hotel, a computer science center, an engineering hall and an academic building. Under Loh, U-Md. joined the Big Ten Conference in 2014 and racked up five conference titles its first year.

PAUL MANAFORT Trump Advisor Manafort, Trump’s newlyminted head honcho and chief delegate wrangler, together with a slew of other experienced Republican operatives and former campaign managers Trump has brought on from the failed campaigns of Gov. Chris Christie (Ken Mckay), Gov. Scott Walker (Rick Wiley), and Ben Carson (Ed Brookover) have joined Trump world to help him secure the delegates and exude the “presidential demeanor” necessary to get Trump the Republican nomination. But, as with most presidential campaigns, the true believers and the newly added “establishment types” are jockeying furiously for position, with Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and his allies, fighting back to preserve turf. Manafort made news and reportedly felt Trump’s ire for remarks he made to 100 RNC members at a closeddoor meeting in Florida suggesting that

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EXPENSIVE FACELIFT: SAUDI ARABIA HOPES TO BUY A NEW IMAGE, BUT WILL IT WORK?

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eal life, as we know, can be stranger than fiction. So, if the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s current, frenetic hiring spree of Washington lobby and public relations firms were the subject of a satirical novel it would be judged too far-fetched. This year, Saudi Arabia is conservatively estimated to be paying more than $20 million to K Street denizens to polish the desert kingdom’s tarnished image among American lawmakers and the media..

The most recent addition to a long list, according to the website Intercept.com, which tracks money and influence in politics, was BGR Government Affairs, founded by the former Republican Chairman Haley Barbour. BGR was one of five firms hired in 2015, and its reported $500,000 a year fee is a drop in the oil bucket compared to the astronomical sums paid to other firms on both sides of the political picture.

The Saudis are also clients of Qorvis MLS Group, the embassy’s prime contractor; the The Podesta Group, a lobbying firm with close ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign (Tony Podesta, who heads the firm, is the brother of John Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign), DLA Piper, and Pillsbury Winthrop.

The campaign coincides with the new monarch, King Salman, ascending the throne and pursuing a more aggressive foreign policy in the region at the expense of the decadesold practice of following America’s lead. The Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, and Obama’s recent remark that Saudi Arabia and Iran should “share the neighborhood,” disagreements over Syria’s civil war, and Saudi

Trump on the stump was “an image” he projected, and that the candidate projects “a different persona” in private discussions, as reported by RealClearPolitics. Still, for Trump to prevail, he will need the advice and dedication of his more experienced operatives and that means they will have

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Arabia’s disastrous Yemen offensive, alleged Saudi financial support for the Jihadists of alNusra, al-Qaida and ISIS, and the reduction of Saudi leverage from falling oil prices and U.S. declining dependence on oil, Saudi Arabia’s economic lifeline are all factors in the increased tension on the old alliance.

In addition, the enhanced reach of social media has placed the Saudi human rights record under unprecedented scrutiny even as the number of beheadings and whippings has spiked, as in the case of the blogger Raif Badawi sentenced to 1,000 lashes and the recent street beheading of a Burmese woman.

Ironically, an extensive and skillful use of Twitter and other social media is part of the new Saudi image enhancing strategy, along with lobbying Congress, engaging in dialogue with foreign policy experts, lavish receptions and trips to Saudi Arabia.

But is it money well spent? An essentially hostile Congress seems bent on legislation that would hold Saudi Arabia responsible for having a role in the 9/11 terrorist attack (15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis). Reports on President Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia earlier in April did not hide the fact that the desert atmosphere was as cold as an Arctic winter.

But the Saudis have another, more potent, hold on Western governments – the prospect of lucrative arms purchases. For all the lack of bi-lateral warmth the Obama administration has since 2010 sold $108 billion worth of weapons to Riyadh, which is way more than the “friendly” George W. Bush administration’s $16 billion.

considerable inf luence on The Donald.

Manafort together with Glassner, a former Palin operative who was enlisted as national political director by team Trump in mid2015, will likely lead this quixotic campaign across the finish line for the Republican nomination, and perhaps the White House.

BILL MARRIOTT & ARNE SORENSON Executive Chairman; & Chairman of the Board and President & CEO, Marriott International He may go by “Bill,” but to hotel guests around the world, he is more recognizable as J.W. Marriott Jr. –the executive chairman of a hotel empire that reported more than $14 billion in revenue across its 4,400 lodging properties in 81 countries and territories last year. He and Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International, hope those numbers will explode with their acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which owns 1,300 properties globally. After Starwood put itself up for sale last year, Marriott and Chinese insurance company Anbang engaged in an exhaustive bidding war that ended with the latter backing out in March. Insider sources marvel at how Marriott was able to kill the Chinese bid while keeping his fingerprints off of it by getting the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments to put a hold on the deal, which led the Chinese government to withdraw their bid to avoid embarrassment. When finalized, the aquisition will make Marriott the largest hotel company in the world.

CHRIS MATTHEWS Host, MSNBC’s “Hardball” Although his wife Kathleen lost her recent bid for Congress, Chris Matthews continues to have outsized inf luence on the political conversation in Washington and around the country, and has been an inf luential journalistic voice amid a f lurry of talking heads reporting on the 2016 presidential election. . He recently threw Trump off script on his views of abortion, strategically maneuvering the presidential hopeful into letting his guard down. Trump maintained that women should be punished for having abortions, making his advisers cringe and his opponents celebrate. Matthews was praised for his

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unconventional approach to Trump’s notorious question-dodging antics.

JANE MAYER Journalist and Author In “Dark Money,” her groundbreaking book on political money and inf luence that has topped the New York Times’ best-seller list, this 20-plus year New Yorker veteran raised the stakes in her fight with what Mother Jones called “the Kochtopus.” And, boy, did they fight back.

Gawker called it a smear campaign stemming from a New Yorker article Mayer wrote on the Kochs in 2010. On the other hand, “Dark Money” revealed, per the Times, that “one or both of the Koch brothers apparently paid a P.I. firm … to dig up dirt on Mayer to retaliate.” Motivations and retaliations aside, Mayer is inf luencing serious political discourse on buying inf luence with the power of her searing pen.

J a n e M a y e r p h o t o c o u r t e s y L a r r y D . M o o r e v i a W i k i m e d i a C o mm o n s

KEITH MESTRICH President and CEO, Amalgamated Bank “Bankers are not the most popular figures in America right now,” Amalgamated Bank’s president and CEO journalist Katrina vanden Heuvel in one of 2015’s biggest understatements. Since joining the bank in 2012 and taking its top spot in 2014, Mestrich has attempted to remedy that with a community-banking approach resembling that of the late Curtin Windsor – Bank of Georgetown’s visionary founder. Mestrich has also offered unfailing support of grassroots and community-based organizations.

CHERYL MILLS Founder, BlackIvy Group BlackIvy Group’s founder and CEO has built and grown commercial enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa and is, together with Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan, one of the three closest personal advisors to Hillary Clinton.

Politico called her “the only person who

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says no to Hillary.” Mills also acted as general counsel to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and advised her as State Department chief of staff. Republicans have alleged that Mills had knowledge of Clinton’s private email server in 2012 but her office responded otherwise to a State Department Inspector General’s request.”

LAWRENCE MISHEL President, Economic Policy Institute This nationally recognized economist joined the inf luential Economic Policy Institute (EPI) as research director in 1987, before becoming the nonprofit, nonpartisan group’s president in 2002. His think tank is devoted to the needs of lowand middle-income workers in economic policy discussions and in the past year its reach and inf luence have been extraordinary.

EPI and its president were cited in six New York Times editorials, among 179 mentions in the Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal alone. Website visitors jumped 79 percent from the previous year, topping 5 million in 2015. EPI partnered with dozens of other organizations incuding the AFL-CIO, Oxfam America, the NAACP and La Raza) last year.

SUSAN MOLINARI & bill PAXON Vice President for Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google and Senior Adviser, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Fed, LLP Power couple Susan Molinari and Bill Paxon know politics, both having served as Republican members of Congress from New York.

After their retirement from government, the likeminded duo both found homes in the lobbying world — Paxon as a senior adviser with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, the country’s top-spending lobbying firm in 2015, and Molinari as Google’s vice president of public policy and government

affairs. Her team “interacts with government and elected officials to explain Google’s products and promote the growth of the web. There’s also the creation of holding company Alphabet (which boosted revenue in the last three months of 2015 more than $3 billion from the same period in 2014).

ROBERT MOSER JR. President & CEO, Clark Construction Group It’s impossible to drive a city block in the Washington, D.C. metro area and not see a sign for Clark Construction because the massive Bethesda-based company capitalizes on the region’s f lourishing economy. It is arguably the biggest developer in a place that never stops developing. At the helm is Robert Moser, better known as “Robby,” who began working at Clark as a field engineer in 1997.

Since that time he has grown the megacontractor into a $4 billion-plus business.

Earlier this year, Clark Enterprises, the parent company of Clark Construction, announced that the management group, including Moser, would purchase majority ownership of the company. Many of Washington’s most prominent landmarks have been built by Clark and that’s a legacy Moser and his team strive to continue. Beyond the opening of the highly-anticipated National Museum of African American History & Culture, Clark has plans to build the new D.C. United Stadium, complete phase two of the Metro’s Silver Line and continue spearheading work on Southwest Waterfront’s Wharf project.

JANET MURGUÍA President & CEO, National Council of LaRaza During her Kansas City childhood, the president and CEO of the National Council of LaRaza says that her Latino family “experienced the American Dream firsthand.” With her personal history in mind, she leads the group committed to breaking down barriers for Latinos in this country. The Council has registered 500,000 new voters to date and says that, where

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politics are concerned, it will “turn our eyes and ears to 2016 to make sure … our voices are heard at the ballot box.” Murguía has been vocal in her firm opposition to Donald Trump, who has called for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and the deportation of all illegal immigrants. Her candid rhetoric combined with an esteemed reputation ensure that she will always have a seat at the Democratic Party’s table regardless of who wins the nomination. robert musslewhite Chairman & CEO, The Advisory Board The Advisory Board Company chairman and CEO’s ascendancy of the corporate ladder has been called “meteoric.”

He has been credited with breathing new life in Advisory Board, the once wildly successful company that was f lailing when he took over. The company’s 2014 annual report cited more than $520 million in revenue, easily double its 2010 figure. Many have called Musslewhite the architect of the comeback.

In late February however, ABC’s shares tanked following disappointing quarterly results. Still, Musslewhite remains steadfast.

“While we expect to see lower revenue growth,” he told The Motley Fool, “we will draw on our differentiated foundation of insight … to continue to drive outsized impact on healthcare and education.”

CHRISTOPHER NASSETTa President & CEO, Hilton Worldwide In 2014 the Washington Post called Nassetta, “the man who turned around Hilton” and the massive hotel chain’s president and CEO is just getting started.

In its latest annual report, Hilton, which is owned by the Blackstone Group, boasts 715,000 rooms in 94 nations with another 320,000 in the pipeline. If Marriott’s takeover of Starwood Hotels and Resorts goes through, Hilton will lose its coveted spot as No. 1 hotelier in the world. Nassetta took immediate action responding to the

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prospective merger and confirmed in late February that Hilton “will spin off its lodging properties and timeshare business into separate publicly traded companies in a bid to boost shareholder value,” according to Bloomberg. “By simplifying our business,” Nassetta said, “each segment should benefit.” On another front, Hilton is also aggressively exploring hostel-concept lodgings that will appeal to millennials.

TOM NIDES Vice Chairman, Morgan Stanley Although the former deputy secretary of state under President Obama did not, as expected, take a high-ranking role in the presidential campaign of his former State Department boss, Hillary Clinton, the Morgan Stanley vice chairman has nonetheless been active in this election cycle. Frequently quoted on matters of foreign policy in relation to the Democratic race, Nides has also been politically active through his firm’s political action committee. According to OpenSecrets, its PAC spent $601,000 as of March 31 report.

Insiders say Nides dodged a bullet on Benghazi as he was the State Department official in charge of admininstrative managment at the time of the ambush.

Although he testified before the congressional committee investigating Benghazi, he was not blamed for anything.

The speculation is he will be Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff if she wins the White House.

GROVER NORQUIST Founder & President, Americans for Tax Reform Since founding Americans for Tax Reform at President Reagan’s request in 1985, Norquist has worked diligently to recast America’s budget. His group’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which pushes for no new income taxes and no reduction in deductions without matching lowered rates, has been signed by all but 16 Republican representatives

and six senators. Norquist’s goal, he says, “is to reduce the size of government … and eventually get it small enough that if you wanted you could drown it in the tub.” With tax reform looming during a potential Hillary Clinton presidency paired with a Republicancontrolled Congress, Norquist is sure to be making headlines in the coming years.

PHEBE NOVAKOVIC Chairman and CEO, General Dynamics Last year Fortune magazine named Novakovic its No. 10 most powerful woman, calling her “the spy in General Dynamics’ corner office.” Indeed, the former C.I.A. operative has used some of that background to her advantage at the helm of the nation’s No. 4 defense contractor.

She has been criticized for being “allergic to the press” and for limiting her contacts with most Wall Street analysts to quarterly calls, but this seems to have worked in her favor. Revenue is up from 2014 according to General Dynamics’s 2015 annual report, topping $31 billion last year, a rebound from revenue declines in years past.

MILT & JON PETERSON Principals, Peterson Companies The Peterson family is a major force in local development.

National Harbor, Md., its 300-acre development on the outskirts of the District, is a glowing example of the firm’s ability to analyze market-demand and then execute. The mixeduse project packed with retail, restaurants and lodging is flooded by locals and tourists on a daily basis. In addition to hosting the high profile Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord Convention Center next year, National Harbor will soon be home to casino giant MGM Resorts International. The project, slated for completion later this year, will occupy 23 acres and 1 million square feet of land. If that doesn’t impress you, the Peterson Companies just announced a massive new mixed-use project to cover an additional 1.28 million square feet in National Harbor with residential, hotel and retail.

Other notable developments are in Fair Lakes,

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Burke Center and downtown Silver Spring.

ERICH PICA President, Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth, led by Erich Pica, is pushing the bounds of advocacy and succeeding across multiple fronts. In the fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground, the organization was instrumental in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. By investigating and publicly exposing conflicts of interest, it was able to undermine the credibility of the State Department’s environmental review of Keystone, leading to the delay and eventual denial of its permit by President Obama. The organization is redefining fossil fuel public lands advocacy by leading the “Keep it in the Ground” movement, contributing to a moratorium on coal permitted on federal lands.

Advocating for safer, healthier food, Friends of the Earth’s corporate campaigning tactics persuaded Lowe’s and Home Depot, the two largest garden retailers, to remove bee-killing pesticides from shelves. It is also blocking the sale of GMO salmon by convincing 60-plus grocery store chains in more than 9,000 stores (including Safeway, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods) across the U.S., not to sell it.

Internationally, Friends of the Earth is tracking financial flows and fighting to ensure that new global financial players such as China, Brazil and India are incorporating environmental and social standards into their financing practices.

Furthermore, the organization is leading the environmental effort to stop the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in both the U. S. and with sister groups in Europe. Pica recently served as chairman of the Green Group and is board chairman of the Partnership Project.

JOHN PODESTA Chairman, Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign When Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton appointed Clinton and Obama Administration veteran John Podesta as her campaign chairman, The New York Times called him her “right hand with a punch”

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Hilary Rosen, Managing Director, SKDKnickerbocker. Photographed at Cafe Milano.

while crediting him with saving Bill Clinton’s presidency “from the fires of scandal” and salvaging Barack Obama’s presidency “from gridlock and malaise.” In his chairman’s role for Hillary, he has eliminated problems of organizational disarray that lingered from her 2008 campaign and helped propel the former secretary of state to a commanding lead in the Democratic primaries over challenger-from-the-left Sen. Bernie Sanders. Numerous publications have called for Podesta’s dismissal — a sure sign of power wielded — but he seems to have a hold on the reins. And, if his tweets are any indication, he still has a quirky penchant for discovering the real truth about UFOs.

TONY PODESTA Founder & Chairman, Podesta Group More than a year after a much-reported divorce from his wife, lobbyist Heather Podesta, this Podesta Group founder and chairman is still leveraging the narrative for clients of the global public affairs powerhouse that bears his name. “As the playbook for moving an advocacy agenda continues to change, we continue to bolster ours,” Podesta CEO Kimberley Fritts told Politico. According to watchdog site OpenSecrets, the Podesta Group earned more than $23 million in lobbying income

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in 2015 from major clients including the Saudi Arabia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Wells Fargo and Lockheed Martin.

EARL RUSTY POWELL Director, National Gallery of Art This is a big year for Earl A. (Rusty) Powell III and the National Gallery of Art of which he has been director since 1992. The NGA is marking its 75th anniversary as a purpose built gallery to house 900 art works left to the nation by Washington financier, art collector,and former Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon. Powell called it “the largest single gift ever given by an individual to a government.” In March, he reactivated the long dormant Andrew Mellon Memorial Fountain situated opposite the gallery to launch a yearlong series of anniversary celebrations, including a reception for over 1,400 donors large and small in the NGA’s galleries. On display were some of the 6,500 art works absorbed by the NGA from the Corcoran Gallery of Art when the latter was forced to close in 2014 because of financial problems; but the complicated process of selecting what to add to the NGA’s collection – one large museum digesting another of considerable size – is nowhere near complete. At the same time, the National Gallery brought to a close a unique exhibition of Hellenic bronzes which was one of its most successful shows. And by September, Powell hopes to be able to re-open the I.M.Pei East Wing, which has been closed since 2014 for renovation and enlargement – an undertaking financed by $30 million in private donations.

REINCE PRIEBUS & KATIE WALSH Chairman and Chief of Staff, Republican National Committee Priebus weilds considerable power given that he will be presiding over a highly divided and potentially contested Republican convention.

Whatever Donald Trump has done or will do to damage the Republican Party, Priebus will

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have to fix it. Following a series of contradicting statements on abortion and Trump’s retraction of his vow to support the G.O.P’s eventual nominee, the two men met for about an hour to focus on “party unity” and other topics Priebus wished to air to get things back on track. Since becoming chief of staff in January 2015, Walsh has made waves herself, even approaching CNBC officials during an October debate regarding the dearth of questions for Jeb Bush (an issue which led the RNC to break with NBC for future debates).

Now, Walsh is working with other operatives to prepare for a contested convention. As one insider put it, “there’s no Reince without Katie as she executes everything and is wise beyond her years.”

MARTHA RADDATZ Moderator, “This Week,” ABC News Since formally joining George Stephanopoulos as co-anchor of ABC News’ “This Week” in January, Raddatz has helped boost the show to its strongest season-to-date ratings performance in seven years — bolstered by election coverage that has seen nearly every major candidate appear on the show. This follows a performance in the Democratic presidential debate where Raddatz went toe-to-toe with Hillary Clinton and outshone moderator David Muir in front of a Nielsen-reported 7.85 million Saturday night viewers. Raddatz’s move to “This Week,” which will keep Stephanopoulos’s name in the title, elevated ABC Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl to the primary substitute role. Though not the first, Raddatz is the only current female host of a network news Sunday show.

ANDREW SHAPIRO & MICHAEL ALLEN Co-founders,Beacon Global Strategies; a Shapiro, Hillary Clinton’s former deputy Secretary of State, and Allen, a former White House staffer for President Gerorge W. Bush, and their foreign policy consulting firm, Beacon Strategies, have remarkably

been advising both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates alike, including Cruz, Rubio and Clinton. The hawkish foreign policy group, founded in 2013 by Shapiro, Allen, Phillipe Reines, a long-time spokesman and media fixer for Hillary Clinton, and Jeremy Bash, former Pentagon and CIA Chief of Staff to Leon Panetta, also advises companies, primarly defense contractors focused on international defense business, as well as cyber, according to Politico.

JOHN F W ROGERS Executive Vice President, Goldman Sachs Some call Rogers “the prince of the Acela corridor” as he is constantly traveling between Washington and New York. A former State Department undersecretary and assistant Treasury secretary, the man Bloomberg called “Goldman’s quiet power player” and Business Insider called “one of the scariest, most important people at Goldman Sachs” has helped keep the company on good terms with government while protecting the company’s industryleading bottom line ($34 billion in net revenue in 2014). Goldman continues to hire high-level Republican and Democratic officials, who go in and out of government, to preserve its’ outsized inf luence.

HORACIO ROZANSKI President & CEO, Booz Allen Hamilton The Washington Post called this Argentine power-player “the man who will steer Booz Allen Hamilton into the future.”

His business chops are considerable. In November 2015, little more than a year after taking the job, his firm bought a software development unit to help Booz Allen expand its technical portfolio and customer base. According to its 2014 annual report, the consulting giant took in more than $5.4 billion in revenue, down from the previous fiscal year. But it was paired with a boost in operating and net incomes.

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DAVID RUBENSTEIN Co-founder, The Carlyle Group and Chairman, The Kennedy Center Since co-founding The Carlyle Group in 1987, this mega-philanthropist has fought to preserve myriad national landmarks that dot the Potomac’s shores, all the while building his private equity firm into a worldwide force managing more than $200 billion.

In March, the New Yorker published a story about a major source of Rubenstein’s wealth, his use of the “carried interest loophole,” a tax break that allows private investment funds to pay a lower tax rate than most individuals.

This year, candidates for president, including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have attacked the loophole, although Rubenstein continues to maintain it is both justified and necessary to encourage his business to succeed and has successfully lobbied members of Congress and officials in several presidential administrations to keep it in effect.

Rubenstein, who has a personal net worth of $2.4 billion, has signed “The Giving Pledge” and plans to give away most of his wealth during his lifetime. He serves as a Smithsonian regent and is the chairman of the Kennedy Center, Duke University and the National Gallery of Art. DEBORAH RUTTER President, Kennedy Center When Deborah Rutter, the former president of the Chicago Symphony was appointed head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 18 months ago, the Washington Post described her as “a breath of fresh air from the Windy City.” Fresh air? Cyclone was more like it. Rutter has taken the country’s largest cultural complex by the scruff of its neck and vigorously shaken it out of its complacency. Not that the Kennedy Center didn’t have a good reputation, but Rutter is about pushing boundaries and getting more out of people than they thought they could give. Washington Post critic Anne Midgette

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has called her “one of those rare individuals everyone likes” – which for Rutter herself is probably beside the point. What she wants most of all is to raise the performing level of the National Symphony Orchestra - for which she has hired the brilliant conductor Gianandrea Noseda as the new musical director (a controversial choice since Noseda has made a reputation as an opera conductor); to have the coming Wagner “Ring Cycle” - the highlight of the Washington Opera’s program this season - live up to expectations; to attract a broader – and younger – audience to the Kennedy Center; to promote more contemporary “classical” music (for which she has appointed the Kennedy Center’s composer in residence); and to broaden the cultural landscape. Hence her engagement of Q-Tip, best known as the founder of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest as artistic director of Hip-Hop Culture.

FRED RYAN & MARTY BARON Publisher, The Washington Post; Executive Editor, The Washington Post Ryan, left his job as Allbritton Communications’ president and chief operating officer when Jeff Bezos named him publisher of the Washington Post in September 2014. Baron is the second Post executive editor to get the Jason Robards treatment — although this time it was by Liev Schreiber in Best Picture Oscar-winner “Spotlight” and focused on Baron’s time as editor of The Boston Globe. Together, they’ve pushed the District’s paper of record into an all-around digital news agency (driven in no small part by Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who bought the Post for $250 million in 2013). The Post’s new headquarters at One Franklin Square, which the trio officially inaugurated in late January, is a big part of that commitment.

“We’re becoming a digital news organization, and everything that means,” said Baron, whom Esquire recently said could be “the best news editor of all time.” Baron added, “There’s a lot of pressure in the business right now. We have to move quickly.”

KEN SAMET President and CEO, Medstar Health As president and CEO of MedStar Health overseeing a $4.6 billion healthcare system that sees more than 800,000 patients each year, Samet was thrust into national headlines this March when he weathered a security firestorm after hackers infiltrated his organization’s computer system. The catastrophe sent MedStar back to the paper-charting era, prompting FBI involvement and many weeks of recovery time. He had sharp words for the hackers, calling “the attempt to negatively impact an institution designed to save lives and care for those in need” a “sad and troublesome reality of our times.”

PETER SCHER Regional Chairman and Head of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase When JPMorgan Chase lost about $2 billion in 2012, it fell upon the firm’s regional chairman and head of corporate responsibility to help mitigate the crisis. Scher, who is seen by many as a permanent member of the Washington establishment, also made waves leveraging the banking company’s major philanthropic gifts, including its Global Cities initiative, a partnership with the Brookings Institution to help cities understand how to participate more effectively in the global economy.

The firm had a year-to-date value of more than $153 billion at deadline according to the Wall Street Journal.

STEPHANIE SCHRIOCK President, Emily’s List The so-called “Acela primaries” were a wild night for Schriock and the slate of female candidates for congressional offices her organization has backed with more than $52 million raised during her tenure alone. Although there was disappointment in the form of Rep. Donna Edwards’

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2015 TOP SPENDERS

Which lobbying groups spent the most funds in 2015? Here are the top 20, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. >> US Chamber of Commerce - $84,730,000 National Assn of Realtors - $37,788,407 Blue Cross/Blue Shield - $23,292,049 American Medical Assn - $21,930,000 Boeing Co - $21,921,000 General Electric - $20,920,000 American Hospital Assn - $20,687,935 Business Roundtable - $19,250,000 Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America $18,920,000 National Assn of Broadcasters - $17,360,000 National Assn of Manufacturers - $16,950,000 Alphabet Inc - $16,660,000 AT&T Inc - $16,370,000 Comcast Corp - $15,680,000 CVS Health - $15,230,000 National Cable & Telecommunications Assn $14,120,000 Lockheed Martin - $13,794,05 Southern Co - $12,860,000 American Bankers Assn - $12,690,000 FedEx Corp - $12,405,835

S o u r c e : O p e n s e c r e t s .o r g

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loss in the Democratic Senate primary in Maryland, there was triumph in Pennsylvania, where Katie McGinty won her race.

Most of the more than 30 candidates Emily’s List backs, including Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) in her Senate race, Kamala Harris’ California Senate run and Catherine Cortez Masto for Senate in Nevada, would not be competitive without the group’s financial and political support. With more than 3 million members, Emily’s List will continue to exert considerable influence. andy shallal Owner, Busboys and Poets The nation’s capital does not take the First Amendment lightly and neither does community activist Andy Shallal, who has welcomed artists, writers and performers from all walks of life into his restaurant/performing arts Busboys & Poets venues. Over the last decade, he turned the self-proclaimed “gathering place” into a six-location fixture of Washington’s art community. His newest concept Mulebone, named after a Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes play, dishes Southern fare and in true Shallal fashion, showcases retail from local lifestyle brands. The restaurateur who ran for Mayor in 2013, was also recently appointed by Mayor Bowser to preside over the District’s Workforce Investment Council, a board run by the privatesector that advises local government how to allocate funds for job training programs. Upon his appointment, Shallal said, “I am ready to get to work ... to improve workforce development and ultimately achieve our shared goal of expanding meaningful prosperity and lift up our city.”

MARC SHORT & STEVE LOMBARDO Koch Companies Lombardo joined The Koch Companies Public Sector in Februar y 2014 as the billionaire brothers’ industr y consortium’s chief communications and marketing off icer after a short stint as public affairs and crisis chair for

Burson-Marsteller. Short had led the Koch brothers’ political arm, Freedom Partners, before leaving in Februar y for the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio and consult for several Senate and gubernatorial candidates, some of whom are likely to get Koch backing. It has been reported that he is also consulting for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Lombardo and remaining Koch operatives have only just begun to rev up their political machine this election cycle, in which the Kochs intend to spend an unprecedented $ 889 million.

Short also runs Mitch McConnell’s super PAC while still helping the Kochs. chris shelton President, Communication Workers of America A f ter on ly a ye a r a s pre sident of t he C WA u n ion , Shelton f lexed t he col lec t ive mu scle s of t he 6 0 0,0 0 0 70 0,0 0 0 U. S. com mu n ic at ion s worker s he repre sent s by st a nd i n g w it h sm a l l bu si ne s s a nd A mer ic a n worker s a nd st a nd i n g up to t he Oba m a ad m i n i st r at ion a nd t he mu lt in at ion a l cor por at ion s t h at back t he Tr a n s Pac i f ic Pa r t ner sh ip ( T PP ) t r ade de a l. Shelton , who se u n ion i s not l a rg e but i s seen a s power f u l bec au se of h i s abi l it y to m a ke m a i nt a i n st ron g rel at ion sh ips on Capitol H i l l a nd i n t he ad m i n i st r at ion , wa s out-f ront a nd voc a l when le a k s reve a led t h at t he sec ret T PP a g reement wou ld g ive ba n k s a way to subver t t he l aw by a l low i n g U. S. ba n k reg u l at ion s to be ch a l len g ed i n foreig n t r ibu n a l s.

H i s popu l i st u n ion endor sed Ber n ie Sa nder s e a rly on — at a t i me when no one bel ieved h i s c a mpa ig n wou ld be able to t a ke on t he Cl i nton ju g g er n aut. Shelton’s C WA h a s a l so joi ned ot her u n ion s, com mu n it y g roups a nd A mer ic a n s i n t he “F ig ht for $ 15” c a mpa ig n , to g ive A mer ic a n s a m i n i mu m wa g e of $ 15 a n hou r.

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KEVIN SEIFERT & JAKE KASTAN Team Ryan fundraiser Recruiting two longtime aides in his stronger-thanever political operation, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced his “Team Ryan,” a fundraising and political endeavor, in November after assuming the speakership. Seifert, formerly Ryan’s Washington chief of staff, and Kastan, once high up in Ryan’s Prosperity Action PAC and the then-congressman’s “body man” during 2012’s vice presidential campaign, lead the Team as executive director and deputy executive director, respectively.

As of an April Politico report, Ryan took in $17 million this quarter through Team Ryan, “a joint committee” that supports the National Republican Congressional Committee, Prosperity Action and his Ryan for Congress committee. While the Speaker has repeatedly said he won’t pursue or accept the GOP presidential nomination, enthusiasm for his legislative agenda has driven big money through Seifert and Kastan’s organization. The largest individual donation to Team Ryan was from Charles Koch, in stark contrast to the billionaire executive’s tepid thoughts on the Republican presidential slate that led him to say it was “possible” he could support Hillary Clinton.

J KNOX SINGLETON CEO, Inova After 25 years under Singleton’s leadership, Inova is now serving more than 2 million people each year in its 1,700 beds across Northern Virginia and is still eyeing expansion. Inova is scheduled to open/opened a newly-expanded, state-of the art children’s and women’s hospitals facilities, part of $850 million in improvements to the nonprofit healthcare company’s Fairfax campus. In February, Singleton unveiled a $100 million venture fund based on precision medicine. Last May he announced the largest gift in Inova’s history, a massive

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$50 million from developer Dwight Schar, in a year that also saw the $180 million purchase of Exxon Mobil’s old Merrifield Campus and the unveling of a $250 million cancer center project. “I’m not sure it was some ‘Eureka!’ in the middle of the night,” Singleton told the Business Journal (which named him its CEO of the Year) of the Merrifield expansion. “But it was clearly where the economic opportunities lie.”

DAVID SKORTON Secretary, The Smithsonian Institution In nearly a year since he left his post as president of Cornell University to become secretary of the venerable Smithsonian Institution, this ex-University of Iowa president has made waves at the world’s largest museum complex. Ahead of the much awaited opening of the National Museum of African American History this fall, the Smithsonian’s 13th secretary has presented his congressional pursers with a $922.2 million budget request for Fiscal Year 2017 that represents an $82 million uptick from this fiscal year. “Innovation comes from the ideas of individual people,” he says. “If you’re interested in innovating, you have to … allow people to try out new ideas and take risks.”

JON TALISMAN Founding Partner, Capitol Tax Partners With a résumé that includes serving as assistant U.S. treasury secretary for tax policy during the administration of President Bill Clinton, chief tax counsel to the Senate Finance Committee under Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and a transactional tax planner for powerhouse Akin Gump, it would be safe to say that Talisman is not your average tax lobbyist. His firm, which he founded in 2001, has clients that include Amazon, Citigroup, Delta, Time Warner and a slew of big banks specializes in tax and political affairs matters. In fact, some call him “the number one tax guru in the United States.” Having occasionally given

advice to then-Sens. Barack Obama (DIll.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) , he would be on a shortlist for a senior tax role in a Democratic administration.

NEERA TANDEN President and CEO, Center for American Progress Since joining the progressive Washington think tank Center for American Progress as one of its first senior staffers, this former policy adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, domestic policy director for the Obama-Biden ticket and deputy campaign manager of Clinton’s 2000 senatorial run has risen to president and CEO of the group, which is widely acknowledged as providing the policy underpinnings of the Hillary Clinton campaign. She was also associate director for domestic policy in President Bill Clinton’s administration and policy adviser to Hillary Clinton during her time as first lady. Tanden has lauded Clinton’s commitment to making “a government that looks like America,” which she has championed from her perch atop the Center (founded in part by Clinton campaign manager John Podesta).

VIRGINIA THOMAS Lobbyist In the days before “Confirmation” aired on HBO in mid-April, critics and fans alike examined the life and career of Virginia Thomas, the lobbyist wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is hailed by insiders to be part of the right wing’s ideological and lobbying intelligencia.

Her husband’s famously tumultuous confirmation process — blown open by sexual harassment allegations from his former staffer Anita Hill — drives the HBO drama.

Her 2011 founding of Liberty Consulting and subsequent role as “a self-appointed ambassador to the freshmen Republican [congressional] class and … the tea party” raised eyebrows. Thomas made headlines in 2012 again when congressional Democrats called her relationship with anti-Obamacare

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lobbyists and donors a conflict of interest as her husband ruled on it from the bench.

million on lobbying in 2015, according to watchdog website OpenSecrets.

CHUCK TODD Moderator, “Meet the Press,” NBC News Since taking over “Meet The Press” in 2014, this NBC anchor has gone head-to-head with 2016 presidential candidates and pushed the national conversation from his post as moderator of the longest-running Sunday morning interview show.

Todd earned headlines in March when he made an about-face and announced he would no longer allow Donald Trump to call into his show, saying the Republican frontrunner could only participate if he appeared in person. Under his direction, “Meet the Press” continues to lead the ratings in the Washington, D.C. market, where it has ranked number one in total viewers since March of 2015.

The national ratings are just as good, and on April 17, the show took the lead over the other networks, winning #1 across the board and topping A BC for the 15th straight broadcast.

CHRIS WALLACE & BRET BAIER Moderator, “Fox News Sunday” and Chief Political Anchor, Fox News Few would doubt that when the Wallace-Baier dynamic duo teamed up with Megyn Kelly for the f irst Republican debate of the season, the race really took off. And if the highest ratings of any non-sports cable program in history are any indication (a whopping 24 million viewers per Variety-reported Nielsen stats), viewers simply couldn’t turn away. On a main stage that still featured ten candidates, the two anchors and Kelly deftly navigated the crags of a f ield that was anything but predictable.

When he’s not moderating, Wallace (who in 2014 celebrated a half-century in broadcasting and is known as the dean of the Sunday shows) hosts “Fox News Sunday” from Washington, which is celebrated its 20th anniversary in April.

Baier, in addition to his role as Fox News’s chief political anchor, draws the largest cable news audience in his time slot for “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

RICHARD TRUMKA President, AFL-CIO The 56 members of the AFL-CIO represent about 12.5 million workers, and the president of the country’s largest organization of labor unions has become one of the nation’s leading advocates of raising workers’ wages during a slow economic recovery since becoming its president in 2009. In the political arena, that means declaring war on Donald Trump or refusing to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary in order to seem neutral. Eighteen unions have endorsed frontrunner Hillary Clinton, but “the AFL-CIO’s decision to stay out of the Democratic race is viewed by some as a victory for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Separately, the union conglomerate spent more than $5

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RANDI WEINGARTEN President, American Federation of Teachers As president since 2008 of the American Federation of Teachers, 1.6 million members strong, Weingarten has worked to put meaningful education reform high on the nation’s agenda. With a carefully caveated position of tentative positivity on the much-debated Common Core standards rolled out to tepid response over the past few years, the AFT has carefully weighed issues in education against labor interests, leading to an endorsement of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. Her backing of Clinton only

boosts Weingarten’s power status. In the political funding arena, the AFT’s PAC has spent more than $4.5 million this election cycle, according to the most recent reports.

CARDINAL DONALD WUERL Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington In terms of his present post, Cardinal Donald Wuerl is living on borrowed time. In 2015 he reached the age of 75 and offered his mandatory resignation to Pope Francis.

But until the pope names a successor, which generally takes months, it’s business as usual for the unfailingly courteous, unf lappable but somehow still distant spiritual leader of the Washington area’s 630,000 Roman Catholics, which, of course, includes some of the country’s leading political f igures. The former Speaker John Boehner, for example, said he went to the cardinal for spiritual counsel when he decided to step down.

Wuerl knows how to lobby privately while maintaining good relations in public, almost a “lost art” in today’s political arena. As bishop of Pittsburgh he took early action against pedophile priests in his diocese, but typically, privately, and under his leadership the DC archdiocese has an inclusive approach to immigration.

Post-Washington, he is likely to end up as a close adviser to Pope Francis, whom he has known for years, and whose successful Washington visit he ably organized in September 2015. He is already one of two Americans who screen nominations for bishops around the world. But the word is that he wants an active part in helping Pope Francis “picking up where (the reformist) Vatican II left off.”

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POWER FAMILIES

THE APPLE DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE. JUST IN TIME FOR MOTHER’S AND FATHER’S DAYS, WE ASKED SONS AND DAUGHTERS — POWER PLAYERS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT — WHAT THEY ADMIRE ABOUT THEIR INFLUENTIAL PARENTS. PORTRAITS BY TONY POWELL

“The most important thing my dad has taught me is to pursue a higher calling. A job cannot just be about receiving a paycheck. It has to deliver something more for both yourself and for the community around you.”

— ZACH LEONSIS

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Zach Leonsis, Vice President and GM, Monumental Network, and Ted Leonsis, Owner and CEO, Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Photographed at Verizon Center.

SPECIAL FEATURE

POWER

“What I admire most about my mom is her huge heart, unrelenting tenacity and the fact that my brother and I never had any doubt that our family was more important than her career.”

— EVAN MORGAN

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Evan Morgan, Partner, Revolution Growth, and Gloria Borger, Chief Political Analyst, CNN. Photographed at Cafe Milano.

SPECIAL FEATURE

FAMILY PORTRAITS

“My father has always inspired me to reach higher than I ever thought I could, especially with my music. A musician himself, we just get each other. No matter what audience I am playing for, it is my dad who’s feedback I admire the most.”

— MARY ANNE HUNTSMAN

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Jon Huntsman, Chairman, Atlantic Council, and Mary Anne Huntsman, concert pianist. Photographed at the Mayflower Hotel.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

POWER

LIGHTS OUT

By Ted Koppel You can’t say he didn’t warn us. Investigative journalist Ted Koppel’s “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath” would seem at first glance to be apocalyptic fiction, but the longtime “Nightline” anchor insists it’s all too real. Koppel imagines a scenario in which America’s power grid is compromised by a major cyberattack, leading to panic and mass chaos. He insists the U.S. government is unprepared for such an “inevitable” attack.

Similar to his approach as a newscaster, Koppel succeeds in making a complex issue accessible, and entertaining, to a wide reading audience.

(Penguin Random House, $26) M TRAIN

By Patti Smith If you loved her National Book Award winning memoir “Just Kids” as much as we did, it’s time to read legendary musician Patti Smith’s latest book, “M Train.” Just as she’s done before, Smith vividly transports you to New York City in the ’70s and all the other places she’s lived, people she’s loved and lessons learned along the way in a book she calls “a roadmap of my life.” Filled with ruminations on craft and creation, it’s the perfect gift for the artist in your life. (Knopf Doubleday, $25)

DC TRIP

By Sara Benincasa A fun read with substance, comedian Sara Benincasa’s novel will appeal to teens and adults alike. A new teacher is in over her head when chaperoning a class trip to Washington. Moments of hilarity ensue. “DC Trip” is a good read when you want to laugh or bond with the teenager in your life. (Adaptive Books, $24.99) DREAMS OF THE RED PHOENIX

By Virginia Pye Richmond novelist Virginia Pye takes you to 1937 China in a story inspired by the life of her grandmother. Historical fiction at its best, “Dreams of the Red Phoenix” will entertain, make you think and give a history lesson at the same time. Author Gish Jen says the Virginia Literary Awards finalist is “Gripping, convincing and heartbreaking… powerfully evocative of the complexities of life in 1930’s China.” (Unbridled Books, $16)

MY LIFE ON THE ROAD

By Gloria Steinem Gloria Steinem delivers her first full-length book in more than 20 years, a memoir that takes us BECOMING NICOLE THE on a journey from her early days TRANSFORMATION OF AN of activist organizing to more recent travels AMERICAN FAMILY around the world. Speaking recently at Sixth

By Amy Ellis Nutt & I Historic Synagogue, Steinem said that for “What does it feel like to be her, traveling is “a form of meditation.” With a problem?” Washington Post this sharp, witty read, the 81-year-old feminist science reporter Amy Ellis Nutt asks in shows us that, as she famously said, “Women the prologue to this national bestseller. may be the one group that grows more radical The fascinating true story she proceeds to with age.” (Penguin Random House,$28) tell attempts to answer this heartbreaking SOMETHING MUST BE question by following Nicole, a transgender DONE ABOUT PRINCE teen, her identical twin brother and their EDWARD COUNTY family in their journey to understand and

By Kristen Green come to terms with Nicole’s identity and A central Virginia newspaper transition. Nutt’s four years of reporting reporter blends memoir and pays off in this extraordinary, timely work history in a tale that hits close to home. After of nonfiction. (Penguin

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hearing of the story of an epic walkout by white students at the local public school in 1951, Green interviews friends and family to get to the bottom of her damaged hometown’s racial history, including a Virginia school system that shut down after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision rather than integrate the schools, and the brave community leaders who worked to gain quality education for all.

(HarperCollins, $13.99) BRAVE ENOUGH

By Cheryl Strayed As an anonymous columnist for The Rumpus, author Cheryl Strayed delivered sage nuggets of wisdom that helped many beyond the advice-seekers. Her columns were previously compiled into a book called “Tiny Beautiful Things” and now, along with memorable lines from her bestselling memoir.

“I have never met anybody with such ambition; she loves going to dance lessons and works out just about every day for her own benefit. As she once told me and continuously tells me, she also does it for me, because working out can increase your lifespan and she wants to be around as long as possible for me.”

— QUINN BRADLEE

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Quinn Bradlee, film maker and founder, Friends of Quinn, and Sally Quinn, author and journalist. Photographed at StudiowerksDC.

SPECIAL FEATURE

FAMILY PORTRAITS

“My dad has inspired me because of the career he has made in a field that you could argue is splintering and dying. He sticks to his classic training as a journalist, reporting in a world where many don’t understand the art of gathering information.”

— MEREDITH FINEMAN

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Meredith Fineman, CEO, Finepoint Communications, and Howard Fineman, Global Editorial Director, Huffington Post Media Group. Photographed at StudiowerksDC.

lifestyles

jetsetters classic trenches and monochromatic emsembles rule the jetways this spring so grab your designer luggage and let us take you up, up and away ...

Left: REISS wren-draped mid-sleeve dress ($370) and REISS Daphne-suede wrap sandal ($320) Bloomingdales 5300 Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (240) 7443700; TIFFANY & CO. Victoria line bracelet in platinum with diamonds ($57,00) and Victoria mixed cluster bracelet in platinum with diamonds ($45,000) Tiffany & Co, 5481 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) 657-8777. Right: AKRIS reversible silver fox cardigan jacket ($6,000), REISS Corinroll neck jumper sweater ($195) and REISS Stevie denim low rise skinny leg jeans ($170) Bloomingdales 5300 Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (240) 744-3700. TUMI Astor San Remo soft duffel ($795) and TUMI Osborne 4 wheeled carry-on ($1,495).-Tumi CityCenterDC 1051 H St NW #208, Washington, DC 20001 (202) 289-5208..

PHOTOGRAPHY: kate warren | WWW.gokateshoot.COM WARDROBE: thea washington, T H E ARTIST AGENCY, assisted by Dwight Bryson Evans and Danasia Graves MAKEUP AND HAIR: carola myers, assisted by sherley z. | www.carolamyers.com MODELs: jacqueline akoko & flavia dias, T H E ARTIST AGENCY editorial direction: catherine trifiletti PHOTOGRAPHED AT grandview aviation in baltimore with phenom 300 jet and bell 430 helicopter | www.flygv.com

HUGO BOSS Diganira dress and Cipeila jacket; Hugo Boss CityCenterDC 1054 Palmer Alley NWWashington, D.C 20001 (202) 408-9845; STUART WEITZMAN nudist song patent heels ($398) Bloomingdales 5300 Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (240) 744-3700. TIFFANY & CO. Schlumberger multiplication earrings in 18k yellow gold with diamonds ($17,500) . Tiffany & Co, 5481 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) 657-8777.

REISS Nadia relaxed belted coat ($370) FRENCH CONNECTION spotlight bandage top ($118) and spotlight bandage skirt ($148) MICHAEL KORS Yvonne open-toe leather bootie ($185) Bloomingdales 5300 Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 TIFFANY & CO. Tiffany & Co, 5481 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) 657-8777. LONGCHAMP fairval wheeled suitcase ($730) Longchamp CityCenterDC 990 I St NW Washington, DC 20001 (202) 842-0625.

Left: AUDACIOUS & FERAL floral print cream jersey knit dress ($120) direct from designer DKNY back detail crepe blazer ($495) Saks Fifth Avenue 2051 International Drive Mclean, VA 22102 TIFFANY & CO. cocktail 2-Hand Pavé 21 x 34 mm women’s watch in 18k rose gold ($22,000) KEN STETSON asymmetrical handmade red clutch with red bottom high heels ($205) direct from designer. Right: THE KOOPLES rings on crepe back satin dress ($395) Saks Fifth Avenue 2051 International Drive Mclean, VA 22102 TIFFANY & CO. Schlumberger multiplication earrings in 18k yellow gold with diamonds ($17,500) and Tiffany & Co. CT60 3-Hand 40 mm men’s watch in 18k rose gold Tiffany & Co. 5481 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) 657-8777.

N / NICHOLAS dress ($529), Saks Jandel, 5510 Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (301) 6522250; HALSTON HERITAGE clutch ($345) and SJP Sarah Jessica Parker pumps ($560), Bloomingdales, 5300 Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815; TIFFANY & CO. Enchant scroll earrings in platinum with diamonds ($11,000), Tiffany & Co., Tiffany & Co., 5481 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (301) 657-8777; CARTIER Paris Nouvelle Vague Delicate white gold and diamond necklace ($16,300) and LOVE bracelet in white gold, pave diamonds and ceranic ($43,700), Cartier, 5471B Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (301) 654-5858

PAULE KA v-neck contrast bow gown ($1,660) and FRENCH CONNECTION studded pointed toe pumps Left: REISS Karmine gilet fluid sleeveless ($110), Bloomingdales, 5300 Western jacket ($370) and Karmine fluid trousers Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (240) ($240); STUART WEITZMAN nudist song 744-3700; TIFFANY & CO. Aria neckpatent heels ($398) Bloomingdales, MD lace of Akoya cultured pearls and TIFFANY & CO. Atlas round pendant in 18k diamonds in platinum ($30,000) and rose gold ($3,100) Tiffany & Co, 5481 WisVictorian mixed cluster diamond and consin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) platinum earrings ($16,000), Tiffany & 657-8777.

Right: REISS Manhattan trench ELIE TAHARI two piece suit; pants ($248) Co., 5481 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase, coat ($465); MICHAEL KORS Yvonne jacket ($398); Bloomingdales 5300 Western MD 20815, (301) 657-8777; CARTIER open-toe leatherChase, bootieMD ($185) BloomingdaAve, Chevy 20815, (240) 744Trinity de Cartier XL pave diamond les 3700; 5300 TIFFANY Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD & CO. Schlumberger mulring ($43,700), Cartier, Cartier, 5471B 20815, (240) earrings 744-3700.in TIFFANY CO. tiplication 18k yellow &gold with Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD Cobblestone platinum with pink diamonds pendant ($17,500) inand alternating gradu20815, (301) 654-5858. sapphires ($14,000)inTiffany & Co, 5481 Wisated necklace platinum with diamonds consin Ave, Chevy MD Wisconsin 20815 (301) ($75,000).

TiffanyChase, & Co, 5481 Ave, 657-8777.

Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) 657-8777.

Left: REISS orchid lace dress ($465) REISS Melania fitted high neck jacket ($520) TIFFANY & CO. enchant scroll earrings in platinum with diamonds ($11,000); Schlumberger Sixteen Stone ring in platinum with diamonds ($9,900), Schlumberger, N / NICHOLAS dress ($529), Saks Sixteen Stone ring with diamonds ($9,000), Jandel, 5510 Wisconsin Avenue, Ring set in platinum with a round diamond Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (301) 652($62,000) REISS gaia suede vinyl ankle 2250; HALSTON HERITAGE clutch heels ($285) Bloomingdales, Chevy Chase, ($345) and SJP Sarah Jessica Parker MD Right: BOSS dress and BOSS jacket pumps ($560), Bloomingdales, 5300 ($795) Hugo Boss CityCenterDC 825 10th Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815; St NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 289TIFFANY & CO. Enchant scroll earrings 9000. TIFFANY & CO. Schlumberger mulin platinum with diamonds ($11,000), tiplication earrings in 18k yellow gold with Tiffany & Co., Tiffany & Co., 5481 Wisdiamonds ($17,500), Victoria alternating consin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, graduated necklace in platinum with dia(301) 657-8777; CARTIER Paris Noumonds ($75,000) Tiffany & Co, 5481 Wisvelle Vague Delicate white gold and consin Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 (301) diamond necklace ($16,300) and LOVE 657-8777 STUART WEITZMAN nudist song bracelet in white gold, pave diamonds patent heels ($398) Bloomingdales, 5300 and ceranic ($43,700), Cartier, 5471B Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD (240) 744-3700.

20815, (301) 654-5858

LIFESTYLES | JEWELRY

DAVID DONAHUE Sterling Silver and Mother of Pearl Cuff Links ($165); Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase, 301-657-9000

CARTIER Himalia Necklace (Price Upon Request); Cartier, Chevy Chase, 301-654-5858

MIKIMOTO Everyday Essentials Pearl Chain Necklace ($1,300); Liljenquist & Beckstead, Fairfax Square, 703-749-1200

JORGE ADELER South Sea Pearl and Diamond Earrings (Price upon request); Village Centre, 703-759-4076 DAVID YURMAN Cable Pearl Ring with Diamonds($825); David Yurman, CityCenterDC, 202-682-0260

IPPOLITA Lollipop Sterling Silver and Mother of Pearl Teardrop Earrings ($3,495); Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase, 301-657-9000

MICHELLE CSX Elegence Diamond, Mother of Pearl and Stainless Steel Watch ($2,095); Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase, 301-657-9000

4)%60= ;,-8)7 Minimal pearls add a feminine and elegant touch to a woman’s power suit.

BY AUBREY ALMANZA

MARCO BICEGO Africa White Pearl, Diamond and Yellow Gold Bracelet ($2,240); Liljenquist & Beckstead, Fairfax Square, 703-749-1200

MASTOLONI Pace Bracelet (Price Upon Request); Charles Schwartz & Son, Mazza Gallerie, 202-737-4757

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TIFFANY SIGNIATURE Pearl Earrings ($1,400); Tiffany & Co., Chevy Chase, 301-657-8777

MIZUKI Diamond and Pearl Split-Band Ring ($1,790);Neiman Marcus, Mazza Gallerie Chevy Chase, 202-966-9700

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LIFESTYLES | MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE

KATE SPADE Mom knows best giraffe pendant ($58); Kate Spade New York, CityCenterDC, 202.408.7598

ANNA SUI Embroidered silkblend kimono ($500); Nordstrom, 8075 Tysons Corner Center, 703.761.1121

CARTIER Just un Clou bracelet ($103,000); Cartier,Tysons Galleria, 703.749.4664

SHINOLA Continental wallet ($395); Shinola Logan Circle, 1631 14th St. NW, 202.470.0200

VIKTOR & ROLF Flowerbomb eu de parfum spray ($130); Bloomingdales, Chevy Chase, 240.744.3700

URBANSTEMS The Jackie ($50) or sign your mom up for a monthly flower delivery service with free delivery in D.C., urbanstems.com, 855.61.HAPPY

1SXLIV¸W (E] +MJX +YMHI

DIOR FINE JEWELRY Rose Dior PreCatalan Ring in yellow gold, diamonds and coral ($5,400); Dior, CityCenterDC, 202.408.5990

The most sumptuous gifts for Mom ... at every price.

BY ERICA MOODY

LOUIS VUITTON Saint-Germain PM ($2,580); Louis Vuitton, CityCenterDC, 202.774.2519 CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Velvet matte lip OLIVIA MACARON color ($90); Saks Petit macaron tower ($130); Olivia Fifth Avenue, Chevy Macaron, 3222 M St. NW, 202.965.1000 Chase, 301.657.9000

MOLTON BROWN Timeless floral hand cream set ($38); Bluemercury, 1619 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202.462.1300

JUNIPER BOOKS Great American Women Writers gift set ($395); juniperbooks.com, 303.946.1494

CAUDALIE Beauty elixir set ($49); Caudalie Boutique, CityCenterDC, 202.898.0804 WA S H I N G T O N L I F E

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ALEXIS BITTAR Mosaic bypass hinge cuff ($395); Alexis Bittar, CityCenterDC, 202.842.2804

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LIFESTYLES | PERFECT PITCH

A STAR RETURNS HOME Comedic actress and singer Ana Gasteyer on growing up in Washington and her one-woman May 9 show at Arena Stage.

BY NANCY REYNOLDS BAGLEY

F

or six years, she made millions of people laugh with her routines on “Saturday Night Live” (including impersonations of Martha Stewart and Hillary Clinton), but many Washingtonians knew Ana Gasteyer before she became a star. My former Sidwell Friends classmate talks about her connection to Arena Stage, her latest creative projects and why she now supports the woman she once impersonated.

WL: You are headlining a one-night benefit show at Arena Stage on Monday, May 9. Can you give us a sense of what’s in store for those lucky enough to be there?

AG My act basically kind of starts and … doesn’t really end with the album, but its all kind of a natural form of that. So, it will be a night of ridiculous music and hopefully toe- tapping fun. As we put the act together, funny usually comes first and all the material in the act tends to have a little bit of a wink in it, which ultimately the album also reflects.

WL: So, it’ll be cheeky?

AG Yes, that’s the plan. I always enjoy a benefit because people tend to be drunker than usual and I enjoy a drunk audience!

Providing a fun, good time is basically what I try to do. And I try to keep it elegant to the

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best of my pathetic abilities. I tend to tell stories and I am bringing my whole band and John my musical director who actually went to Sidwell until eighth grade. They are all amazing.

WL: I remember we did a few play-dates when we were kids at your house and that

you lived not far from Arena Stage.

AG I grew up in Southeast and have really close ties to Arena as a huge childhood influence. My parents were subscribers forever. Some of their best friends were Ida and Bob Prosky and Bob was one of the original tent-poles of Arena. Libby Bower was in my class at Sidwell. Her parents were

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P H OTO CO U RT E SY O F A RE N A STAG E

WASHINGTON LIFE: I love your album “I’m Hip.” It’s on my phone and I think our readers would love it, too. Its jazzy and has been described as saucy — kind of like you!

— but honestly, my favorite song is “The Book of Love.” Did you write it?

ANA GASTEYER No, it’s a Magnetic Fields song. It’s like a hipster downtown East Village-y song from this amazing album called “69 Love Songs.”

amazing performers, hugely influential on my idea that I could become an actor. Arena played a huge role [in my life] personally.

In terms of its community outreach and national [reputation], it is above and beyond the local theater scene … The fact that it was a theater in-the-round was a very experimental idea at the time and they really utilized that space. Their summer programs for youth… all of it, I could go on and on about Arena Stage.

WL: Do you prefer live musical theater and live TV/comedy like SNL over television or film? Do you thrive on the pressure of being live, or is that daunting to you?

AG I love the diversity in what I do. I like the immediacy that both television and theater offer. TV’s a little slower and I do some work where there’s no audience. I like comedy people, so comedy show sets are fun.

no roles for women. It’s very sexist and it continues to resonate across the culture, everything from equal pay for equal work (like it is for every minority by the way). It’s just a really white male world. It’s changing, but it’s just slow to do so.

WL: Are you political?

AG I wish that I were more political. I watch my colleagues from Sidwell — people like Greg Berman, who runs the Center for Court Innovation in New York and is so instrumental in prison reform, and

“I always enjoy a benefit because people tend to be drunker than usual and I enjoy a drunk audience.

Providing a fun, good time is basically what I try to do.”

WL: Who are your comedic role models?

AG It’s evolving. I would start by saying of course the people who inspired me as a kid, Lily Tomlin and Jane Curtin. Bob Newhart was a huge influence on me — his timing is impeccable. But now it’s kind of going the other direction with social media and the young voices of YouTube and Twitter.

Those Broad City girls are fantastic. Amy Schumer’s fantastic. There are so many young funny comics on Twitter that I’m friendly with. John Earley and this girl Kate Berlant are hilarious.

Nick Turner, who also works on prison reform. It’s sort of shocking how helpful these people have been to the world. This court innovation thing that Greg’s done … directly impacts people’s lives. It minimizes incarceration. ... I obviously try to support that and him.

WL: I worked as one of [“Saturday Night Live” creator and producer] Lorne Michael’s assistants immediately after graduating from college — five years before you were there — and my experience was that comedy was sort of tough on women and female performers. Have you experienced this and do you feel that it’s getting easier for women comics?

AG We have more of a community for sure. I’m very close to my female colleagues, so that helps my perspective significantly. Television is much easier because there’s been a trail blazed. The film community is ridiculous; there are

WL: Are you passionate about any issues or nonprofit organizations?

I get involved with nonprofit theater a lot and [as an actor] that’s sort of your responsibility. That’s about it. I haven’t always been so outspoken. I’m an obvious liberal Democrat on issues and a huge Hillary supporter, but that comes more from a place of growing up and wanting the world to be a better place. It’s the most vocal I’ve ever been about a presidential decision because right now I feel like we’re in such a vulnerable place. As a working mother in her late forties, I feel older and wiser and get this kind of head-shaking exhaustion with

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girls who don’t quite realize exactly what a big deal it would be if Hillary Clinton became the next president. Because I think it is the natural inclination of every generation to comfortably move forward and not really worry about what ground has been tread before them.

WL: Yes, especially when the Supreme Court…

AG … could affect generations and generations of change for our kids.

WL: Do you still play the violin?

AG I play in my act, but that’s not saying much. I did play violin for years and years and people were traumatized by it, but I’m so grateful because I was a music major, which led me to comedy. If I hadn’t gone to Northwestern, I wouldn’t have found improv.

I’m the worst piano mom, too. I swore I would never be. I make them practice every day.

WL: What’s next for you? What projects are you working on?

AG I have two television shows coming up.

One, called “Lady Dynamite,” premieres on Netflix on May 20. It’s a comedy about Maria Bamford’s mental illness, believe it or not, and it’s totally not ironically crazy and awesome. … And then there’s a show called “People of Earth” for PBS that will be filmed this summer in Toronto and will premiere in the fall. It’s also a comedy and it’s about alien abduction survivors. It’s really fun and we had a great time shooting the pilot, so I’m looking forward to that.

WL: I’m really looking forward to the show and seeing you. I hope to get a big Sidwell contingent there.

AG And we should all have a good time.

That’s the goal. It’s never to be serious. It’s never to be earnest. I can’t believe I talked about politics as much as I did...Mostly because my goal in life is to make everyone forget anything serious.

An Evening with Ana Gasteyer, May 9, tickets ($150-$1,000), Arena Stage 1101 Sixth Street, SW Washington, DC 20024, 202-554-9066.

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LIFESTYLES | INOVA

WHERE HOSPITAL MEETS HOTEL Focused design and amenities at Inova’s new women’s hospital make the maternity ward feel more like a spa.

BY C AT H E R I N E T R I F I L E T T I

One of the hospital’s new spacious patient rooms.

Exterior of the newly constructed Inova Hospital.

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evoke calmness and promote healing while using “sophisticated state of the art aesthetics.”

A mock-up room was constructed early on in the process so that physicians, staff and patients could give feedback relating to workflow and ambiance.

Moms-to-be looking for a cushier stay can choose from VIP packages available through a concierge program Inova rolled out last month. The offerings provide a high-end holistic experience and most importantly, more space. Patients have a choice between Gold and Diamond packages that feature deluxe suites with private adjoining rooms for visitor overflow (ahem...in-laws) where family members and friends can take advantage of sofa beds and reclining chairs.

Both options include high-thread-count sheets, plush oversized beige towels and a

comforter meant to invoke feelings of Home Sweet Home. Additionally, the Diamond package boasts a swanky basket stuffed with a robe and slippers, high-end lotion, sparkling water, an eye mask and chocolates for those inevitable postpartum cravings. Amenities can also be ordered separately from an à la carte menu.

Patricia Schmehl, Inova health systems vice president and women’s hospital administrator, says her team recognized the value in providing such luxurious services because “the patient experience around a delivery is truly an event.”

In coming weeks, the concierge program will begin offering new mothers a three-course celebratory meal prepared and delivered on fine china by the hospital’s chef. We’ve heard that filet mignon tastes best post-delivery.

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P H OTO S C O U RT E SY O F I N OVA H E A LT H F O U N DAT I O N

C

lose your eyes and picture a hospital room. You might conjure up smells of ammonia and visions of white sterile walls or hear beeping from wire-laden machines. But at the new women’s hospital on Inova’s Fairfax medical campus that stereotype gets flipped on its head.

All labor and delivery rooms are outfitted with large picture windows and soft neutralcolored walls adorned with framed art of natural landscapes. Noisy, blinking medical machines are hidden behind rich cherry wood cabinets and bathrooms are fully equipped to cater to feminine needs. Sound like a hotel yet?

The dedicated team behind the massive project designed the space with hospitality in mind. Interior designer Su Kim of Wilmot Sanz says that the goal was to make rooms

Inova’s celebratory basket for new moms.

lifestyles | hotel watch

Art Deco Destination

P h oto s co u rt e sy o f T h e C a r ly l e . F r o m l e f t: O r i g i n a l a rt by M i c h e l l e O k a D o n e r h a n g s i n t h e lo bby a nd ev e ry g ue st r o o m , E n t ra n c e to T h e Ri g g s by by C h e f M i c h a e l Sc h low , “ Fu l l T i m e P l e a s u re ” by R o be rt M ars

The newly renovated Carlyle Hotel offers style, convenience and outstanding food just off Dupont Circle.

BY Erica Moody

B

efore Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants came up with its brand of luxurious, livable hotels in 1981, nobody had heard of a “boutique” hotel. But now this innovative hospitality company has more than 60 properties in over 30 cities, and eight in Washington alone, with plans for a ninth (the much anticipated Glover Park Hotel) to open in June.

With each hotel uniquely customized, the Carlyle Hotel in Dupont Circle has become known for its Art Deco style and recently, for its new restaurant,The Riggsby, where you can spot business deals taking place over power breakfasts and both guests and locals stopping by to try chef Michael Schlow’s delectable burgers with bacon onion jam, deviled eggs served with Calibrian chiles and a selection of organic and sustainable wines. Both the hotel and restaurant

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have become popular spots for diplomats to enjoy the charm of the Embassy Row neighborhood, and for young leisure travelers who no doubt enjoy the daily “wine o’clock” hour from 5 to 6 p.m., complimentary bicycles to explore the city and the partnership with Fresh Farm Markets to get guests out shopping for local produce on Sunday mornings.

After affiliating with Kimpton last year, Foxhall Partners’ Brian Friedman quickly brought his art world expertise and connections to the renovation efforts; the avid collector’s aunt happens to be acclaimed artist Michele Oka Doner, whose public art lines the walls of New York’s Herald Square Subway Station and Miami International Airport.“Doner has focused her work on the natural beauty blended around the Art Deco history of the building,” Friedman

says, adding that “the current pieces, on display through the summer, combine elements of Pop Art, iconic American figures from history and bold colors and shapes.”

The Carlyle also partnered with DTR Gallery in Georgetown to source much of its art from local artists. Even when it’s not “wine o’clock,” visitors are encouraged to gather in the lobby and adjacent living room to view the curated rotating gallery (including four permanent works by Doner), settle down on the comfortable sofas and mingle with guests enjoying the atmosphere under warm, urban lighting - the classic Kimpton experience.

Rooms start at $229 per night. Visit carlylehoteldc. com or call (202) 234-2000 for details.

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WASHINGTON S O C I A L D I A R Y over the moon﹐ around town﹐ studio theatre gala﹐ leukemia ball and more!

Maria Trabocchi, Marisol LaMadrid and Mariella Trager at the Great Ladies Luncheon and Fashion Show (Photo by Tony Powell)

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AROUND TOWN

Herman Wouk: 101 and Counting Reflections and memories about a prolific and unique author who has been called ‘The American Tolstoy.’

BY DONNA SHOR

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erman Wouk, the longtime bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, tells this: When Jimmy Buffett wanted to turn Wouk’s comic, Caribbean-based early novel, “Don’t Stop the Carnival,” into a musical, he didn’t know where to call.

Finally someone found a phone number to give the wildly successful singer/ composer/entrepreneur and owner of the “Margaritaville” conglomerate of islandthemed merchandise, resorts, restaurants and radio stations.

Buffett phoned. Unfortunately, Wouk didn’t recognize the name of his would-be collaborator.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” an embarrassed Wouk asked.

“No problem if you haven’t heard of me,” Buffett replied. “I thought you were dead!”

Far from it, but Buffett’s mistake was understandable. Wouk, who just celebrated his centenary year by publishing a new memoir, “Sailor and Fiddler,” will be 101 years old on May 27.

For 66 of those years, he enjoyed the constant companionship and acute observations of a most extraordinary woman, Betty Sarah Brown, his wife and the lodestar of his life.

He pays her tender tribute in his book, where for the first time the reclusive novelist speaks intimately of his later life.

At age 19 he graduated from Columbia University, where he edited the college humor magazine and wrote campus shows.

This was something of a new development for the Bronx-born Herman, who had grown up under the sober tutelage of his grandfather, Rabbi Mendel Leib Levin.

Wouk became a well-paid gag man for a popular joke factory, until he got a five-year

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Author Herman Wouk (above) on his 100th birthday (Photo by Iolanthe Woulff) and during his military service in World War II (Courtesy of Herman Wouk)

gig to write skits for Fred Allen, who is still considered one of America’s most original and funny stand-up comics.

After Pearl Harbor, Wouk went to his draft board to enlist. By a f luke, two of the board members who read his résumé were great fans of Allen, who was a major star in those pre-TV radio days. Through their help, Wouk got a commission in the Navy.

He eventually saw eight naval engagements and won several battle stars.

Meanwhile, during his ship’s layover in San Pedro, Calif., for repairs, he met the

future Sarah Wouk, who was working for the Navy there after graduating from USC. They each knew the other was “The One.” A Protestant, she converted to Judaism so they could marry after the war. (“I’d always wanted to marry a blonde Phi Bete,” Wouk sometimes teased her.)

During long days at sea he began writing. By war’s end he was a novelist, and his true career — his life’s work of a score of volumes (“The Caine Mutiny,” Winds of War,” and “War and Remembrance” among them) that have moved millions of readers — was under way. ****** Random memories: In Washington, we lived just five doors from the Wouks, former longtime Washington, D.C. residents, but they were more than mere neighbors. We traveled together, always arriving home by Thursday so they wouldn’t have to worry about keeping the Sabbath laws. I was proud that they would eat at my house after Sarah’s patient instructions for a rather simple kosher supper. I fell from grace brief ly in Aspen when I set out the meat forks for a dairy meal. If we drove any distance, there would be singing; Herman seemingly remembered every show tune ever written.

At our neighboring viewing desks at the Kennedy Space Center we felt our blood quake in our veins as Apollo ll roared off for the Moon.

Three years ago ago I visited Herman at his home in Palm Springs; his eyes still twinkled as he was about to make a point, his greeting was just as warm as always.

Just to think: 1915 — The Germans sank the British ocean liner Lusitania during World War I, the Boston Red Sox won the pennant, D.W. Griffith introduced the “close-up” in “Birth of a Nation” and Herman Wouk was born.

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Cori Sue Morris and Daniela Kelley

Ava Silva in peahen mode

‘FOOL’S PARADISE’ GALA The Studio Theatre | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Ethan McSweeny, Dorothy McSweeny, Nancy McSweeny and Bill McSweeny

APRIL FOOL’S EXTRAVAGANZA: Jesters, troubadours and clowns frolicked with benefactors at Studio Theatre’s “celebration of all things foolish,” a rare night that not only got billed as “something different” but actually delivered on its promise. HUMAN MENAGERIE: After Broadway Baby Christine Dwyer belted out a few signature tunes, frantic Mad Hatters, horse-headed dancers and a muster of sexy peahens pranced and preened throughout dinner (gazpacho, brioche of beef with scallops, apricot cheesecake) in the four-stage complex, keeping spirits high while raising an impressive $250,000 for Studio X, the company’s “new programming stream” designed to support experimental works.

Christine Dwyer performs

Zack Lynch

Studio Theatre Board Chairman Bobbi Terkowitz

VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

Lisa Skalet Hannah Arem with Studio Theatre Artistic Director David Muse

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Scott Whalen

Sivan Battat

Waltzing horses

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OVER THE MOON

On Canvas and in the Flesh Spring highlights in Middleburg feature the Hunt Country Stable Tour and the National Sporting Library & Museum’s exhibition of horse-related works by French artists.

BY VICKY MOON

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ields and paddocks reveal shimmering shades of green in May as newborn foals romp with their doting mothers.

That means it’s Spring in Middleburg and time for the annual Hunt Country Stable Tour.

Barb and David Roux’s 350-acre St. Bride’s Farm will be one of the highlights this year for the 57th edition of the stable tour on Saturday, May 28 and Sunday, May 29. Area fields and farms will be filled with horses of all types: from fox hunters, to Thoroughbreds to steeplechase jumpers.

The foals at St. Bride’s are destined for the show-jumping circuit. They’re born there and then trained for showing. Part of the environmentally responsible complex features an indoor arena with special footing that needs no water, two barns, guest housing and staff quarters. The farm once was the home of the late Washington antitrust attorney and fox hunting enthusiast Edward “Jack” Howrey, founder of the Howrey and Simon law firm.

The stable tour is sponsored by Trinity Episcopal Church, the 12th-century Frenchinspired country church given to the Upperville community by the late Paul and Bunny Mellon in 1960. Bethann and Randy Beeman’s 104-acre farm, “Salem Oaks,” will include western and English horses and cows from Wyoming and Canada. The big attraction here is a “Paint the Pony” event for young artists and a quarter-horse barrelracing exhibition.

While we’re on the subject of horses … more than 40 major French sculptures, paintings and works on paper by Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Antoine-Louis Barye and Théodore Géricault, encompassing Romanticism to Fauvism, comprise a stunning new exhibition at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg.

“The French Horse from Géricault to Picasso: Works From The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts” will be on view from May 6 to

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Visitors to the Hunt Country Stable Tour on Memorial Day weekend will see the foals at St. Bride’s Farm near Upperville (Photo by Missy Janes)

Virginia State Senator Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier) has embraced the countryside. (Middleburg Photo)

July 31. Picasso’s “Jester on Horseback” on composition board from the artist’s Frenchinfluenced Rose Period; two paintings by Alfred de Dreux; two sculptures and two pencil studies by Degas; Raoul Dufy’s vibrant watercolor on paper, “Champ de Courses à Deauville” circa 1937, and two significant bronzes by animalière sculptors Isidore-Jules Bonheur and Pierre-Jules Mêne are all on display.

Several events open to the public will take place at the museum’s stately campus on the west edge of Middleburg. There will be an opening reception on May 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. and morning coffee on May 7 followed by a gallery tour from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Alex and Jill Vogel and their six children have embraced the countryside in great

style with family horse sports. They’re now settled in at their 282-acre farm purchased from the estate of Paul and Bunny Mellon in Upperville.

Mrs.Vogel, a state senator in Virginia (RFauquier) recently held a town hall meeting at the historic Unison Country Store outside of Middleburg. While in Richmond, she serves on the Senate Finance, General Laws and Technology committees and chairs the Privileges and Elections committee. While she has introduced more than 60 bills and budget measures on schools, taxes and health issues, the biggest buzz in these parts is her plan to run for lieutenant governor of Virginia next year. She has defined it as an “awesome opportunity.”

Stay tuned.

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Dory Clark, Nancy Sidamon-Eristoff, Tricia Pinkard, Stephanie Cromwell, Anne Hansen and Lauralyn Lee Rev. Canon Preston Hannibal and Robert Pinkard

Tommy Walker, Maria Walker, Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington and Charles Walker

WL EXCLUSIVE

BISHOP JOHN T. WALKER SCHOOL BENEFIT

Rev. Elizabeth Keeler

The Willard Intercontinental Hotel | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL EDUCATING ANACOSTIA: In his book “A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League,” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind writes about a Washington high school and the issues facing innercity students. It’s fitting that Suskind was the guest speaker at a benefit for the Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys’ benefit, a school that provides emotional, social and educational support for students living east of the Anacostia River.

Launched by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington in 2008, the tuition-free independent school honors the legacy of John Thomas Walker, the first African American Episcopal Bishop of Washington. Generous sponsors of the annual dinner included TTR Sothebys’ Michael Rankin and Mr. and Mrs. Howard Worth Smith III.

Colette Bruce, Diana Reynolds and Christine Terrell

Ron Suskind

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Jonathan and Ashley Papelbon

Katie Walls, Morgan Schulz, Christine Walls and Caitlin Quinn

LEUKEMIA BALL

The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson

Walter E. Washington Convention Center | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Deborah Golden and Jim Burns

ONE ENTERTAINING EVENING: The 29th annual Leukemia Ball certainly did not disappoint, insofar as the entertainment was concerned. Comedian Kathleen Madigan cracked up the crowd before ’90s hitmakers The Barenaked Ladies took to the stage, playing “Brian Wilson,” “One Week” and other faves as guests sang and danced along. The dinner entree was a satisfying duo of lobster and filet mignon and the live auction saw local celebs like Nationals player Jonathan Papelbon pledging sizeable donations to reach $3.25 million in total proceeds for the night. The National Capital Area Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has raised more than $52 million since it was founded in 1998.

Kerry Shea and Bobby Offterdinger VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

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Christopher Addison and John Warner Diana Nash and Flo Stone

Marion Guggenheim and Wendy Burden Morgan WL EXCLUSIVE

ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARD National Geographic Society | PHOTOS BY ALFREDO FLORES WILLY’S WAY: Founded by the Warner and Kaempfer families in 2015 to honor acclaimed author William W. Warner’s life-long captivation with nature and ability to inspire others to treasure the environment. The Beautiful Swimmers Award, named after his Pulitzer-Prize-winning 1977 book, is bestowed annually on a film that “embodies the spirit of a naturalist’s life.” LIFE OF THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE: Laura Dunn earned this year’s honor by directing and producing “The Seer: A Portrait of Wendell Barry,” a portrait of the changing landscape of rural life in Harlan County, Ky.

Jef Sewell and Laura Dunn

Georgiana Warner and Maribel Guevara VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

Chief of Protocol Peter Selfridge, Amb. of Grenada Angus Friday and Neil Parsan

John McCarter and Alicia Adams WL EXCLUSIVE

SMITHSONIAN SECRETARY HONORED Ambassador of Monaco’s Residence

Amb. of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle and Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton

PHOTOS BY BEN DROZ

Terry Crouch, Gideon Malone, Gustavo Morales and Bulgarian Amb. Elena Poptodorova

Amb. of Iceland Geir H. Haarde and Amb. of Mauritius Sooroojdev Phokeer

KEEPER OF AMERICA’S ATTIC: The Smithsonian Institution’s secretary, David Skorton, arrived in Washington less than a year ago and is still meeting local residents from all walks of life. “It’s been a whirlwind nine months,” the saxophone-and-fluteplaying board certified cardiologist said at the meetand-greet hosted by Amb. of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle at her residence. The old saying the Smithsonian’s collection includes “everything under the sun” is “a bit of an understatement,” he told guests, making sure to note that it did have “everything from astrophysics to art history” in its 16 million-item collection.

Maestro Philippe Auguin and Amb. of Kosovo Vlora Citaku VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

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Bitsey Folger

Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu

HIRSHHORN’S ‘SUSPENDED ANIMATION’ Hirshhorn Museum | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL REALITY REDEFINED: At the Hirshhorn’s “Suspended Animation” preview party guests were encouraged to consider the “digitization of [human] identity.” The exhibit, which runs through March 2017, features work from six artists who joined forces to unlock an alternate reality that explores the evolving relationship between mankind and technology. “The point of the animated image is not simply to mirror reality as faithfully as possible,” curator Gianni Jetzer pointed out, because “the animated image has evolved into another kind of reality, to be entered into imaginatively at will. It now competes with reality on equal footing.”

Lisa Brown, Jessica Powell, Eliza Ryan, Susan Hubbard Ryan and David Levy

VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

Geoffrey Smith and Michael Pillsbury

Dancers Venus Villa, Corey Landolt, Samuel Wilson and Ashley Murphy with Christine Reed

CELEBRATING ‘CARMINA BURANA’

Susan Pillsbury and Septime Webre

Susan and Michael Pillsbury Residence | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Kimbell Duncan, Yury and Elena Melnik and Michelle Kosinski

Bob Heggestad and Candy Gerstein

EYES WIDE OPEN: The audience was roaring and on its feet after the Washington Ballet’s long awaited revival of “Carmina Burana” at the Kennedy Center. An orchestral performance of composer Carl Orff’s haunting songs about “love, lust, drinking, fate and the cycle of life,” masterfully mixed with Septime Webre’s choreography, exquisite dancing and 75 be-robed singers from the Cathedral Choral Society, proved to be one of the spring performing arts season’s most spectacular events. Production underwriters Susan and Michael Pillsbury continued the celebration at their spectacular Asian art-filled Georgetown residence with live music under a special garden marquee, sumptuous dinner and dessert buffets, fine wines and yes, even a few quiet corners to ponder the cycle of life.

VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

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Kimball Stroud and Linda Daschle WL SPONSORED

SOPHIE HABSBURG HANDBAG PREVIEW

Kimberly Cahill and Tania Taylor Princess Sophie Habsburg and Aniko Gaal Schott

Fig & Olive | PHOTOS BY ALFREDO FLORES PURSE PARTY: Fig & Olive’s bar was a royal stomping ground as guests sipped sparkling wine spiked with strawberries while admiring a myriad of colorful bags designed by Princess Sophie Habsburg, a great niece of Karl II, the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary. Ranging in size from bucket to clutch, and texture from suede to snakeskin, the collection reflects Habsburg’s own dynamic personality and creativity. She was excited to share that some of her design inspiration comes from her dreams. To that we say, dream on Sophie!

VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM

Heather Podesta

Luis and Monique McSween

Maria Trabocchi and Michelle Kosinski

Elise Lefkowitz, Marc Lefkowitz, Sheila Johnson and Martha Slagle WL EXCLUSIVE

GREAT LADIES LUNCHEON & FASHION SHOW The Ritz Carlton Washington | PHOTOS BY TONY POWELL

Jean-Marie Fernandez, Carrie Marriott, Sharon Bradley, Amy Baier, Stacey Lubar and Dondi Dahlgaard Diane Rehm

Felicia Smith and Hayden Wighy

LADIES WHO LUNCH: Fashion and philanthropy went hand in hand at the sixth annual Great Ladies Luncheon & Fashion Show in partnership with Neiman Marcus Mazza Gallerie. A moving presentation on Alzheimer’s research was followed by a dazzling fashion show showcasing Oscar de la Renta’s Fall 2016 designs. FOX News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace emceed and George and Trish Vradenburg were honored for their contributions to the fight against Alzheimer’s. Guests included executive chairmen Elise and Marc Le owitz; committee cochairmen Laurie Monahan and Lorraine Wallace; and Lynda Carter, Diane Rehm, Lynn Leonsis and Sheila Johnson. Proceeds benefited the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.

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Francine Levinson, Dianne Kay and Lynda Carter WA S H I N G T O N L I F E

Nancy Goodes with George and Trish Vradenburg

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PARTIES PARTIES PARTIES

Developers, Educators & Philanthropists VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM!

BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA CONGRESSIONAL RECEPTION RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING (by Vithaya Phongsavan) Over 200 politicos and supporters of the Boys & Girls Club of America came together for the Boys and Girls Clubs’ National Day of Advocacy to recognize the organization’s important work. Emcee and BGCA alum Luke Russert honored several members of Congress for their policy-making efforts, including Rep. Steny Hoyer and Sen. Thad Cochran.

5. Luke Russert and Sen. Thom Tillis 6. BGCA President & CEO, Jim Clark and Carl Lewis

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ERNIE JARVIS REAL ESTATE LAUNCH BOSS SHEPHERD’S (Photos by Tony Powell) Friends and colleagues filled a private room in downtown’s newest power dining spot to support developer Ernie Jarvis’ latest venture. The event drew key local real estate players who hope to continue relationships with Jarvis or forge new ones as he continues to make his mark on everburgeoning local development.

1. Angie Fox, Ernie Jarvis and Bob Pincus 2. Jack Evans, Beverley Perry and Bill Jarvis

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FOCUS GALA

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MEXICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE (Photos by Jay Snap)

CELEBRATION OF PHILANTHROPY

Educators and champions of public charter schools raised their glasses to 20 years of fairly funded education in the District. Sonia Gutierrez, Donald Hense and Malcolm Peabody were honored by FOCUS, becoming the first members to be inducted into the D.C. Charter Hall of Fame.

ARENA STAGE

3. Allison Kokkoros and Patricia Sosa 4. Sonia Gutierrez and Donald Hense

(Photos by Jay Snap) There was much to celebrate at the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region’s annual benefit, an event that drew 700 supporters.

The Foundation is proud to report that over the past 42 years it has invested $1 billion in 8,000 nonprofit groups across the Washington area.

Partygoers enjoyed exhibits and performances by several artists, including the Gay Men’s Chorus and Critical Exposure.

7. Jennifer Lopez and Jim Gurnari 8. Joe Rothstein and Sylvia Bergstrom

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HOME LIFE Real Estate News and Open House I Inside Homes and My Washington

1SHIVR 2SV[IKMER Norwegian Ambassador KÃ¥re Aas moves into his newly renovated residence for the first time since taking his post in the Fall of 2013.

BY VIRGINIA COYNE PHOTOGRAPHS BY TONY BROWN

HOME LIFE | INSIDE HOMES

n a mild late Apr il evening at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence (across the street from the Naval Observatory) upbeat melodies from the rhythm and blues band One Nite Stand float past the modern Slåke saddle chairs in the living room into the adjacent dining room, where guests nibble smoked fish canapes while gazing upon Edvard Munch’s acclaimed yet ambiguous painting, “Vampire,” in which a red-headed woman is depicted either tenderly kissing a man’s neck or feasting on it. The notes carry through the french doors onto the g packed side garden where Norwegian Ambassador Kåre Aas is greeting guests, including fellow envoys who’ve come to congratulate him on moving into his newly renovated residence for the first time since taking his post in the fall of 2013.

The renovation, the first major overhaul since the Georgian-style structure, which originally also served as the chancery, was completed in 1931, coincided with Aas’ transfer to Washington from Kabul and was spurred by the need to install an elevator to comply with his government’s mandate that all buildings feature universal design and access by 2024.

Most of the work, Aas says, was inside the walls where the electrical, plumbing and air conditioning systems were upgraded; but the interiors got a facelift, too, and he played a key role in choosing the neutral paint colors and also picking out furniture and bringing in new works of art on loan from the National Gallery of Norway. He was aided by Oslo-based designer Ane Wierli Nilsen of ACK Arkitekter and locally, Pamela Rodriguez-Morrison of Morrison Architects.

“I really wanted to combine the new Norwegian designers with the old pieces that were already here,” he says.

The result is undeniably modern. Streamlined chairs

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OPENING PAGE: Norwegian Ambassador Kåre Aas stands in the newly renovated living room, which he furnished with a mix of modern, streamlined sofas and chairs and older wooden pieces.

PREVIOUS PAGE (clockwise from top left): Mokasser’s “Whole in One” chair provides a pop of color in the wood-paneled library.

Mia Hamburg’s “Shuffle” table sits beside it and Kjell Torriset’s painting of a cloud, one of seven in his “Shape of Faith” series, hangs on the wall; More of Torriset’s cloud paintings hang above a sideboard covered with silver souvenirs Aas has collected in his travel; The ambassasdor spends rare free time in the sitting room of his private apartment on the third floor. Edvard Munch’s “Ibsen at the Grand” hangs in the living room.

THIS PAGE (clockwise from top left); Aas’ silver collection includes cups made of artillery shells from Afghanistan. He insisted on a long, narrow dining room table to facilitate conversation. Edvard Munch’s acclaimed “Vampire” is above the sideboard; A desk once belonging to Norway’s King Harald V, who used it to do homework as young boy while in exile in Washington during World War II, is the centerpiece of the private office on the first floor. Hans Dahl’s landscape painting “Rowboat with Hay” hangs above two Slåke saddle chairs upholstered in green fabric in the living room.

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and sofas, contemporary paintings of clouds by Kjell Torriset and wiry LED light fixtures mix with older wooden pieces that had already been in place, such as 19th-century oils of nordic fjords and seven sketches, woodcuts and paintings by Edvard Munch, Norway’s most famous artist.

The rooms are expansive and the ceilings tall, giving the eclectic mix space to breathe and making it feel airy and cohesive.

The wood-paneled second-floor library is filled with books from the ambassador’s personal collection as well as silver pieces acquired on his travels, including cups with intricate carvings made from artillery shells found in the streets of Afghanistan. In the corner is a playful surprise: a pink Mokasser “Whole in One” chair, designed by Christian Sæther and Nora Furuholmen, and Mia Hamburg’s “Shuffle” table with interchangeable parts, an adult version of a child’s stacking toy.

A large, wide dining table was also replaced with a new, attenuated version. “It was very important to me to have a narrow dining table,” Aas explains. “It seats 24 people but I really wanted it to be narrow so that it’s easy to have an exchange of views, a discussion.”

One of the Ambassador’s favorite topics of conversation is his posting as Norway’s ambassador to Afghanistan. An avid art collector, he befriended and then commissioned a street artist there to create several pieces that he showcases in his private quarters on the third floor. It is in these rooms, now transformed into a formal apartment with a private entrance, where he feels most comfortable and truly at home. That’s where he displays photos of his family, watches “House of Cards” and English soccer on television and spends a good deal of time reading. His current book? “The Son,” a crime novel by Norwegian author Jo Nesbø.

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HOME LIFE | REAL ESTATE NEWS

Kith and Kin

John Hechinger’s granddaughter keeps his former Kent mansion in the family, Bill Clinton’s advisor sells in Langley Farm and Washington Capitals orthopedic surgeon sells in the Palisades.

BY STAC E Y G R A Z I E R P FA R R

Jamie Hechinger, a granddaughter of the late home improvement magnate John Hechinger Sr., bought his former home. Ms. Hechinger and her husband Jay Klug acquired CHAIN BRIDGE ROAD NW for $3.6 million. Her grandfather, who died in 1984, lived in the house with his wife, June, who died last summer. He was the son of Sidney Hechinger, who founded the company in 1911. After his father’s death in 1957 he became president and then took the company in 1972, making it a multi-billion-dollar chain selling hardware, plumbing and other building materials at more than 100 stores in the United States. Commissioned by the family in 1951, the six-bedroom house was designed by renowned architect Walter Gropius, a leading pioneer in modern architecture and founder of the esteemed Bauhaus School. Award winning interior designer Thomas Pheasant helped create its classic-meets-modern aesthetic. The Kent contemporary is sited on a 1.25-acre private and professionally landscaped lot that includes a swimming pool and tennis court. The property was listed by Washington Fine Properties’ Morrell-McCormick-Roth Team. Lauren Davis, also of Washington Fine Properties, represented the buyers.

THE DISTRICT Entrepreneur and investor Tom DePasquale purchased the 7,100-square-foot mansion at MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE NW for $3.5 million from the State Central Bank of Iowa. The five-bedroom stucco and tile roofed house was built in 1926 by famed Washington brewer Christian Heurich for his son. The one-third acre property was bank-owned for years despite the being sited next to the Vice President’s residence at the Naval Observatory on Embassy Row.

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Terri Robinson of Long & Foster Real Estate was the listing agent; TTR Sotheby’s International Realty’s Michael Brennan was the buyer’s agent.

Kate Lindsey sold TH STREET NW in Georgetown to attorneys Lisa and Tim Lindon for $3,125,000. The semidetached Federal, built in 1976, was listed

by Washington Fine Properties’ Ellen Morrell, Matt McCormick, and Beth Roth.

The buyer’s agent was Nancy Taylor Bubes of Washington Fine Properties. The four-

bedroom house features a renovated chef ’s kitchen, an elevator to all levels, a luxurious master suite, a second catering kitchen and a large private garden with terrace and pool.

Ernest N. May Jr. , a member of the du Pont clan, sold ND TERRACE NW in Spring Valley for $2,580,000. Holly Cade Barker, an attorney at Morgan Lewis, and Kirk Ogrosky, a partner at Arnold & Porter, purchased the traditional 1958 Federal with uncompromising quality and workmanship.

The house features four fireplaces, a solarium

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HOME LIFE | REAL ESTATE NEWS

MARYLAND Venture capitalist Thomas Dann and his wife Melissa sold KIRKE STREET for $3,650,000. Graceful white columns and an ornate widow’s walk distinguish the stately facade of this Chevy Chase Village gem along with large, luminous rooms with tall windows, high ceilings and beautiful architectural detailing. Built in 1919 by a prosperous local paint and varnish manufacturer, the house retains much of its original charm following thoughtful renovations in keeping with the highest standards of taste, quality and craftsmanship.

This unique dwelling is the sum of its many parts, including a wonderful rambling floor plan, large common areas, a gleaming, newly renovated kitchen, five bedrooms on the second floor and an additional room and bath on the top level. Hans Wydler of Wydler Brothers represented the buyer and Washington Fine Properties Hatfield Team assisted the seller.

Gail Gilece sold TURKEY RUN ROAD in McLean’s prestigious Langley neighborhood for $4,230,000 with the help of TTR Sotheby’s listing agent Michael Moore. The five-bedroom English country-style house was built in 2014 by JK Home with scrupulous attention to detail, the finest materials and finishes and a perfect floor plan for gracious entertaining. The main level opens to a covered porch with a fireplace (one of five in the house), a stone terrace and spacious yard surrounded by trees for the utmost privacy. Wide plank hickory floors on all three levels, a wine cellar, media room, butler’s pantry and a cheery sunlit office and library are among the features of this custom-built 8,200-square-foot residence. Donna Hamaker, of William G. Buck & Assoc. Inc. represented the buyer.

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styled kitchen, an elevator, and a luxe master suite. Monica Boyd of Coldwell Banker represented both sides of the transaction.

WESTHALL DRIVE NW fetched $2,925,000 when Debbie and Kevin Warren purchased the contemporary Palisades house from Jill Shaffer, a yoga instructor, and Ben Shaffer, an orthopedic surgeon and doctor for the Washington Capitals and Wizards teams. The 6,500-square-foot, six-bedroom residence was built in 2003 and overlooks the Potomac River. Its many amenities include a pool, exercise room, elevator and open gourmet kitchen. Jane McDonnell of W.C. & A.N. Miller, a Long & Foster Co. was the listing agent. Wendy Banner of Long & Foster represented the buyer.

VIRGINIA Also in Langley, just steps from the Kennedy clan’s old “Hickory Hill� estate, former Bill Clinton economic advisor Sean Dobson and his wife Joslyn sold DOGUE HILL LANE in Langley Farm for $3,750,000.

Mr. Dobson is the CEO of McLean-based Amherst Securities Group and previously served in the Clinton Administration as advisor for communications and strategy at the National Economic Council. The 1997built five-bedroom beauty was completed renovated by interior design by Daryl Carter and boasts a gourmet kitchen, a wine cellar, and a home gym. The exterior includes a luxe pool, a charming guesthouse and private putting green. TTR Sotheby’s Penny Yerks was the listing agent. Heather Corey of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty was the buyer’s agent.

PJ and TM Klassen sold FALLS RUN ROAD in McLean to Grace Run LLC for $4.2 million. The unique five-bedroom Barnes Vanze contemporary masterpiece was built in 1994 and sits on almost 11 acres.

The property features a new custom kitchen, a four-car garage, a guesthouse, an indoor tennis pavilion and a five-stall horse barn with a riding ring. TTR Sotheby’s Penny Yerks was the listing agent; Homestead Realty’s Christopher Prestera acted as the buyer’s agent.

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HOME LIFE | REAL ESTATE NEWS

PROPERTY LINES THE MOST IN MONTGOMERY: Alan Cohen, a real estate developer at Cohen Siegel Investors, and his wife Patricia, are selling PEMBROKE ROAD in Bethesda for a cool $18 million. The French country-style mansion currently holding the record for the most expensive listing in Montgomery County, was designed by architect Glenn Fong and interior designer Barry Dixon in 2005. Features of the 20,000-square-foot residence include 13 bathrooms, an indoor basketball court, a hunt room, eight garages and a wine cellar. TTR Sotheby’s Marc Fleisher is the listing agent.

KALORAMA ARISTOCRAT: A house once owned by former National Gallery of Art Director J. Carter Brown and his first wife, arts philanthropist Connie Mellon, is on the market for $6.4 million. The classic Federal Revival at KALORAMA CIRCLE NW was built in 1930 and is currently owned by Aaron Fleischman. The four-level house occupies a prominent lot and is complemented by a deep rear garden, multiple entertaining terraces, a rooftop deck with 360 degree views of the city and an attached 4-car garage with a private entrance.

Other features include ample natural light, an elevator accessible to all four levels and a fully finished au-pair suite. Washington Fine Properties’ Ellen Morrell, Matt McCormick and Beth Roth are the listing agents.

RG3 HOME FOR SALE: Former Washington Redskins’ quarterback Robert Griffin III and his wife Rebecca Liddicoat listed their 2010 farmhouse in Aldie, Va. for $2,749,000. The 9,000-square-foot four- bedroom dwelling at CREIGHTON FARMS DRIVE features luxurious amenities that include a wine cellar, a plush home theater and a wood- paneled study. Century 21’s Bill Davis team is representing Griffin, who bought the house in May of 2013 for $2.5 million.

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NATURALLY MODERN: Award winning architect David Jameson’s residence in Glen Echo Heights is for sale for $1.8 million. The contemporary glass masterpiece at DAHLONEGA ROAD features soaring ceilings, a gourmet kitchen, spa-like bathrooms, an impressive floating staircase and a wood deck surrounding a glass cube overlooking the second floor living room. The property, which features natural materials and floorto-ceiling windows overlooking lush grounds and river views, was once described by Jameson as a “portal to the landscape.� Paul Pike of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty is the listing agent.

Send real estate news to Stacey Grazier Pfarr at editorial@washingtonlife.com.

CLASSIC GEORGETOWN: The former residence of the late arts patron and hostess Julie (Muffy) Jeppson Stout (and later biotech millionaire Bill Haseltine) at P STREET NW is back on the market for $9,975,000, making it the third-priciest listing in Georgetown. A private LLC is selling the opulent 10,000-square-foot Victorian grande dame presiding over a large private corner lot in the East Village. Built in 1875, the nine-bedroom house (plus a staff apartment) features soaring ceilings, grand public rooms, a 40foot lap pool, private terraced gardens and onsite parking for six cars.

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HOME LIFE | OPEN HOUSE

Open House Experience the best of luxury living with these new listings.

POTOMAC

HIGHLAND FARM CT > POTOMAC> MD

ASKING PRICE: $4,975,000

This remarkable Potomac estate offers a continental European interior including sumptuous rooms, luxurious materials and carefully curated finishes. Special features include a pool and pool house, wine grotto, executive office suite, indoor basketball court, separate apartments and magnificent spaces for both entertaining and family living.

LISTING AGENT: Karen Kuchins, 301.275.2255 or Sammy Dweck, 202.716.0400, Evers and Co. Real Estate Inc.

BROOKMONT BROAD STREET> BETHESDA> MD

ASKING PRICE: $2,750,000

Opportunity of a lifetime! This spectacular oasis, just across the District, is surrounded by parkland and offers breathtaking views of Little Falls Creek.

Enjoy the roar of the flowing creek from inside the house or while relaxing on the deck, screen porch, or patio. Custom built in 2009 to the highest standards, this home includes a chef ’s kitchen, great room with stone fireplace and master suite plus four additional bedrooms, a recreation room and wine cellar.

LISTING AGENT: Liz Lave`e Shorb, 301.785.6300 and Joanne Pinover, 301.404.7011, Washington Fine Properties

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WOODLEY PARK

GARFIELD TERRACE NW> WASHINGTON DC

This sunny, renovated 4,500 square foot house on a quiet cul-de-sac is a few blocks from Metro and Rock Creek Park. It boasts an exquisite 955-square-foot terrace, large public rooms, abundant floored attic storage, four bedrooms and three baths, an elevator, a large two-car garage and seven gated parking spaces. The walkout level features a spacious in-law suite with separate bath and entrance.

KALORAMA

WYOMING AVENUE NW> WASHINGTON> DC This four-story, 6,600-square-foot Beaux Arts 1912 townhouse blends modern sensibility with many original details, an open floor plan, wood floors, crown moldings, concrete panel flooring, recessed lighting and a Venetian plaster wall.

It includes seven bedrooms, six full and two half baths a finished lower level with its own kitchen, and a two-car detached garage.

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ASKING PRICE: $2,595,000 LISTING AGENT: Marin Hagen & Sylvia Bergstrom, 202.257.2339 (mobile) or 202.471.5256 (office), Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

ASKING PRICE: $3,375,000 LISTING AGENT: Jonathan Taylor, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty

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MY WASHINGTON David Muse, Artistic Director, Studio Theatre

BY KEVIN CHAFFEE

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT THUS FAR? Making room for writers to develop new plays at Studio.

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WHAT DOES YOUR THEATER HAVE THAT OTHERS DON’T? Key to Studio’s uniqueness is that we offer top-notch acting and sophisticated production values in such small spaces. It’s a producers’ and budgetary trick that not many theaters have figured out how to master.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE RUNNING A FOUR-STAGE COMPLEX WHILE DIRECTING PRODUCTIONS YOURSELF? It’s a constant challenge — one that I suspect will never go away. I always feel like I’m shorting one side of the equation.

WHAT CAN THEATERGOERS LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE COMING YEAR? We haven’t announced it yet, but audiences can look forward to what I hope they always look forward to at Studio: an interesting and well-curated selection of plays, great acting and design, sophisticated writing and some measure of mischief.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE STUDIO THEATRE TO BE TEN YEARS FROM NOW? I hope Studio continues what we’re currently doing, only

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better; that we feel like an even more central part of our neighborhood and community; and that the quality of our artistic output is as recognized nationally as it is locally.

MY TOP SPOTS Red Hen (1822 First St. NW) is my go-to favorite place for dinner. It’s consistently delicious and manages to feel like a neighborhood place despite its popularity.

(1) Rock Creek Park / Hains Point / National Arboretum As an avid cyclist, I love having places to get a great ride so close to home.

(2) 9:30 Club (815 V St. NW) hits a sweet spot — big enough to bring in acts I want to see, small enough to feel small.

Hugh & Crye (300 Tingey St. SE #240) has shirts that fit me offered by a company run by local guys I like.

Corduroy (1122 9th St. NW) and Baby Wale (1124 9th St. NW) Good food prepared simply and well. It helps that they are run by friends of mine.

Dolcezza (1414 14th St. NW) Great coffee right next door to where I work and live.

Montgomery County, Maryland Agricultural Reserve is a novel way to protect land so close to a major city and gives me great roads to ride on the weekends when I can get there without a drive.

(3) Komi (1509 17th St. NW). The best dining experience I’ve ever had?

Cady’s Alley (3314 M St. NW) Home furnishings I can ogle, and a refuge of calm just a block from the craziness of Georgetown’s M Street.

(4) Eastern Market (227 7th St. SE) is one of my favorite places to spend a spring afternoon. I miss living a block away.

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CO U RT E SY P H OTOS

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WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES IN REPLACING A TITAN LIKE JOY ZINOMAN, WHO FOUNDED STUDIO THEATRE AND BUILD IT FROM GROUND UP FOR 21 YEARS? Among the challenges: how to continue to provide what Studio audiences have come to expect and admire while moving the company in new directions at the same time; how to balance honoring long-standing artistic relationships and building new ones; how to accustom the staff to new ways of doing things.