Leadership

Kristyn Peck is Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA), which was the 2022 recipient of Lutheran Services in America’s Micah award for its work advancing equity and justice. Prior to joining LSSNCA, Kristyn served as the founding CEO of West Michigan Partnership for Children, a nonprofit piloting an innovative performance-based child welfare model. Here, she was named the Michigan Federation of Children and Families Advocate of the Year. 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 as chair of the Vulnerable Minors Working Group of Refugee Council USA. Kristyn has also testified before Congress on protection needs for unaccompanied children, and represented USCCB as a subject matter expert on unaccompanied children at the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Annual Consultation meetings in Geneva.

Kristyn’s migration and immigration expertise draws on both her national and international experience. Kristyn served on several official delegations to identify protection needs of refugees, asylum seekers, women and unaccompanied children, and victims of human trafficking. These included assessments in Central America, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Jordan, Türkiye, and Lebanon. She also deployed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia building child protection standard operating procedures for gender-based violence prevention activities within the Burmese refugee community.

Keep up with Kristyn at @peck_kristyn.

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.  

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.