Leadership
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Kristyn Peck
Kristyn Peck is the Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA). Since joining LSSNCA in 2020, Kristyn has quadrupled its revenue and tripled its staff. Kristyn led LSSNCA’s response to the largest humanitarian crisis in a generation, providing refugee resettlement services to 4,500 Afghan Allies in the D.C. metro area in fiscal year 2022. She currently serves as the vice chair of the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) board of directors.
Prior to joining LSSNCA, Kristyn was the founding CEO of West Michigan Partnership for Children where she piloted an innovative performance-based child welfare model that decreased the length of stay of children in foster care and decreased the number of days children spent in residential settings. Kristyn also served as the associate director of children’s services at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overseeing national family reunification and foster care programs for unaccompanied children and chairing the Vulnerable Minors Working Group of Refugee Council USA.
Kristyn has testified before Congress on protection needs for unaccompanied children as well as submitting testimony for Congressional hearings, and represented USCCB at the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Annual Consultation meetings in Geneva. She has served on several delegations to identify protection needs of refugees, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, and women and unaccompanied children in Central America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. She also deployed to Malaysia where she developed standard operating procedures for a gender-based violence prevention program within the Burmese refugee community.
Kristyn was the recipient of the 2023 Innovation in Social Work Award from the University of Maryland, and LSSNCA was the 2022 recipient of Lutheran Services in America’s Micah award for its work advancing equity and justice.
Keep up with Kristyn at @peck_kristyn.
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Dr. Mamadou Sy
Dr. Mamadou Sy has 18 years of experience at LSSNCA. Today, he serves as Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Sy’s focus on refugee and immigration services included leading LSSNCA’s Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) program, a federally funded program providing loving, secure foster homes to youth. Since joining LSSNCA in 2004, he has helped resettle more than 10,000 refugees in Virginia and Maryland. A graduate of Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, Dr. Sy holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology, and is the author of several peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Sy is a former member of the Maryland Governor's Commission on African Affairs and currently serves as a member of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services' Cultural and Linguistic Competency Advisory Committee.
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Raymond R. Rawlins
Raymond Rawlins is LSSNCA’s Chief Financial Officer. Ray sits on the Lutheran Financial Management Association's (LFMA) Board of Directors, and was previously the chief financial officer of the City of Mount Rainier, Mount Rainier, Maryland. He also served as senior vice president of budget and grant administration at the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, and held several finance C-suite and leadership positions throughout Washington, D.C., including at The Salvation Army, The Corporate Council on Africa, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Ray holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of New Haven.
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Jacob Barclay
Jacob Barclay, Chief Development Officer, brings LSSNCA nearly 20 years of working with nonprofits in development and education. As co-founder of Bricolage Academy, one of the highest performing charter schools in New Orleans, Jacob worked to secure critical community partnerships for students and families. He also led a $7.5 million portfolio for Teach For America New Orleans and secured additional national funding. In addition, Jacob consulted with nonprofits and small businesses to build capacity and expand impact. While living in New Orleans, he also served as Board Chair for the local Girls on the Run chapter. Jacob earned his Master of Business Administration in global strategic management from Tulane University.
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Nadya Andrusik
Nadya Andrusik, LICSW, LCSW-C, Executive Director for Children, Youth, and Family Services spent more than a decade working in Washington, D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency's Office of Youth Empowerment as a social worker, supervisor, and program manager. She worked to improve the trajectory for youth aging out of foster care and highlighted how foster youth are at higher risk for becoming victims of trafficking. Nadya then moved into the Child Protective Services, followed by working in the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and as the Director of Women's Shelters and Family Programs at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. Nadya graduated with her Master of Social Work in 2007 from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.
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Hameed Girowal
Hameed Girowal is LSSNCA’s Executive Director of Refugee and Immigrant Services. He joined LSSNCA in 2019 shortly after relocating to the United States in 2017 through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program. Since joining LSSNCA, he successfully led the Woodbridge location for several years, and facilitated the resettlement thousands of Afghans with humanitarian parole, SIVs, and refugees in Northern Virginia. Prior to his role at LSSNCA, Hameed contributed to various U.S. Army projects in Afghanistan for 10 years, amassing a wealth of experience in both domestic and overseas settings, leading programs, and site management.
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Sarah Phelps
Sarah Phelps has practiced law in Washington, D.C and the D.C. metro region for more than 30 years with a strong portfolio of legal representation in higher education and human services. After graduating from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, Sarah worked as a staff attorney for the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, supporting and leading cases concerning landlord and tenant, employment, public benefits, and poverty law matters, amongst others. She joined George Washington University in 1996 as its assistant and associate general counsel handling resolution and defense of sexual harassment claims. Sarah was the founder and executive director of Great and Small, Incorporated, a therapeutic horseback riding program for children and youth with various emotional, physical, and cognitive disabilities. For the past 15 years, Sarah served as general counsel for Catholic University of America followed by Trinity Washington University. Sarah joined LSSNCA as its general counsel in 2023.
Directors
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Tameem Al-Talabani
Director, Resettlement and Integration Programs – Maryland
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Eytan Deener-Agus
Director, Housing, Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives
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Christine Dunn
Director, Community Engagement
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Jennifer Friedel
Director, Communications and Government Relations
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Dayna Hinton
Director, Transitional Foster Care – Maryland
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Nigar Ibrahimova
Director, Transitional Foster Care - Virginia
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Joanne Kelsey
Director, Legal Services
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Rahat Khpalwak
Director, Performance and Quality Improvement - Maryland
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Kathryn Lea
Director, Performance and Quality Improvement - Children, Youth, and Family Services
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Kimberly LeBlanc
Director, Resettlement and Integration Programs - Fairfax
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Holly Leon-Lierman
Deputy Director, Programs - Maryland
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Brittany Livingston
Director, Foster Care Services - Washington, D.C.
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Peter Loew
Director, Human Resources
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Keont'a McMiller-Powell
Director, Employment Services - Maryland
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Therese Middleton
Director, Wellness Services
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Joshua Moody
Director, Information Technology
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Khalis Noori
Director, Resettlement and Integration Programs - Frederick and Arbutus
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Mohammed Owais
Director, Budgets and Grants Administration
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Dr. Kristina Peterson
Director, Educational and Vocational Services
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Rocio Rodriguez-Morales, M.Ed
Director, Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program - Virginia
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LaShelle Richmond
Director, Youth Development and Wellness
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Jennifer Runkle
Director, Performance and Quality Improvement - Virginia
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Hasib Satary
Director, Employment Services - Virginia
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Salimah Shamsuddin
Director, Resettlement and Integration Programs - Woodbridge