Alexandra Pardo, Board Chair, Governance Committee Chair, DCI Parent

Brandon Hill, Secretary

Leroy Clay, Treasurer, Facility & Finance Committee Chair

Dahlia Aguilar, Academic Committee Chair, DCI Parent

Vinette Brown, Public Affairs Committee Chair

Kevin Cantfil, Trustee

Jackie Gran, Trustee

Elani Lawrence, Trustee, DCI Parent

Chi Perrus, Trustee

Melinda Woods, Trustee

Barry Wright, Trustee, DCI Parent

Melissa Kim, Trustee Emeritus

Michael Rosskamm, Executive Director

Christopher Nace, High School Principal

Dr. Davian Morgan, Middle School Principal

DCI Board of Trustees meetings are typically held the third Thursday of the month in the school Theatre unless otherwise specified. Click on the SY25-26 Annual Meeting Calendar and Agendas link below to view the meeting calendar for this school year and corresponding agendas. Meeting Notices, a RSVP form for public comment and interpretation support, and the meeting Zoom link will be posted the Monday before each meeting. Please RSVP if you would like to sign up for public comment and / or require interpretation support.

• Public Meeting Notice: September 18th, 2025
• Click here to RSVP for Public Meeting on August 21st 2025
• Watch live: Click here to join a live meeting via Zoom.

• SY25-26 Annual Meeting Calendar and Agendas
• SY25-26 Open Board Meeting Minutes
• Archived Public Board Meeting Agendas and Minutes

To request recordings of any Open Meeting, please email sarah.siddons@dcinternationalschool.org.

To contact our Board Chair and Vice Chair, please email boardchair@dcinternationalschool.org.

Alexandra has been working for over 20 years to reimagine and redesign schools driving towards impacts that increase opportunities and outcomes for students in K-12 education systems. Alexandra is a national education consultant working with school districts, states, and the US Department of Education focusing on program evaluation, implementation, and charter schools.Her expertise ranges from academics to school operations and finances. Previously, she was the Executive Director of Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School from 2011-2015 and Principal of the school for the five years prior. Under her leadership, the school became the highest performing open-enrollment high school in Washington, DC and attained unparalleled outcomes and national awards. Her use of data has been recognized nationally by the Department of Education in its Doing What Works series, and she is featured in the books, Driven by Data (Paul Bambrick-Santoyo) and the upcoming From Good to Great: School Leadership (Jim Collins). Alexandra received a Distinguished Educational Leadership award in 2013 from The Washington Post. She is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University at the McCourt School for Public Policy.  A Teach for America alumna, Alexandra taught in high schools and adult-education. Alexandra earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the George Washington University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from American University, a Master of Science in Administration from Trinity University and a Doctorate of Education from the George Washington University. She is a native of Warsaw, Poland. Her daughters attend DCI and LAMB.

Brandon is a Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he is a leader in the Education, Employment and Welfare practice. He has led major strategic initiatives and performance improvement programs across organizations in the education sector. For over a decade, Brandon has developed expertise in driving innovation and deploying enterprise-wide, organizational and operational programs for his clients in the private and public sectors. He helped lead the development of BCG’s capabilities in technology and innovation hubs, for which, his work is published in the BCG article ‘A People-First Approach to Cultivating Innovation Hubs’. Brandon’s passion for education and fostering career development for students transcends his client work and drove him to serve separate stints as BCG’s Recruiting Director for Black and Latinx talent across the country and as the Washington DC’s MBA Recruiting Director. 

Brandon holds a BA from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Brandon’s commitment to education was first nurtured in the International Baccalaureate programs at Davidson IB Middle School, and Harding University High School in Charlotte, NC.

Leroy is a Certified Public Accountant with over 15 years of progressive experience in finance and accounting, including six years as a CFO. Leroy began his career at Arthur Andersen as an auditor where he primarily served clients in the real estate, hospitality, and financial services industries. His engagements included financial statement audits, audits of internal controls and compliance, due diligence projects, IPOs, annual and quarterly SEC filings, and ad hoc consulting projects. After spending four years at Arthur Andersen, Leroy left Andersen as a Senior Auditor and began developing his career in the media and entertainment industry. He has held positions and provided consulting services to several leading media companies. Over the course of his career, Leroy has developed expertise in the areas of financial modeling, financial planning and analysis, internal and external auditing, business process reengineering, internal control evaluation and development, and financial accounting. Currently as the Agency Fiscal Officer at the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD), Leroy is responsible for directing the financial operation of the agency. In this role, Leroy is responsible for the oversight of the formulation and execution of MPDs $500 million budget.

Dahlia Aguilar is a Senior Partner with DEIscovery Partners. In her role as an executive coach, designer, and trainer, she helps organizations build their capacity to see how their ecosystem is yielding the outcomes they desire, to understand how their stakeholders and constituents are affected by their practices, and to help deepen their ability to institute lasting, transformational change. Throughout her career, she has focused on building work environments that center equity and function as learning organizations. Prior to beginning her work as a Senior Partner with DEIscovery Partners, Dahlia was a founder of Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School where she served as the Chief Schools Officer and principal of the school from 2010-2021. Before joining Mundo Verde, Dahlia taught in District of Columbia Public schools and Texas Public Schools as a teacher, and instructional leader. As well, she served Unidos US as the Director of Teaching and Learning where she provided technical assistance and professional development to community-based organizations in developing educational models. In addition to her work as a trustee of DCI, she serves on the Mary’s Center Community Engagement Council. She lives in the historic neighborhood of Deanwood in Ward 7 of Washington, D.C. with her son (a student at DCI), and their two dogs.

Vinette Brown is the Director of External Relations for Genesys Works, a nonprofit focused on creating pathways to career success for high school students in the DC region. She has over 20 years of fundraising and communications experience. She was formerly Development Director at City Kids Wilderness Project, and previously at College Summit/Peer Forward, where she led fundraising and external relationships for the National Capital and Mid-Atlantic regions. Vinette has also managed business development and communications for international development organizations, including Family Health International (FHI360), Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, and the Academy for Educational Development. Vinette served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Haiti, and has served on the boards of Friends of Haiti and Perry Street Prep Charter School in DC. She studied at the Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, has a B.A. in International Relations from Boston University, and an M.A. in International Development Studies from the George Washington University.

Kevin Cantfil is the Vice President of Finance and Administration at the National Children’s Museum where he is responsible for finance, human resources and compliance. He previously managed operations and facilities from 2021, when the Museum’s downtown Washington DC location opened, to 2024. Prior to joining the National Children’s Museum, he worked in public education for over a decade, most recently in school-based operations leadership at DC Public Schools. He started his career at TNTP, formerly The New Teacher Project, where he consulted with Memphis City Schools and Cleveland Metropolitan School District on their performance management and human capital systems.

Kevin holds a B.S. in Economics from Florida State University, where he was also a recruiter for Teach For America. He grew up in a military family and lived in 12 different cities across the country before settling in Washington DC. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Capitol Hill and they are a sponsor family for Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy.

Jackie Gran is the founder of Sundial Strategies, a mission-driven consultancy that partners with organizations seeking to strengthen schools, support teachers and leaders, and improve outcomes for students. She has spent over two decades at the intersection of policy, practice, and research.

Jackie most recently served as Chief Officer for Policy & Strategic Initiatives at New Leaders, where she led the organization’s federal and state policy agenda and supported the launch of new initiatives including alumni engagement, higher education partnerships, and accreditation. Her leadership helped secure significant federal investment in school leadership and enabled the expansion of the National Aspiring Principals Fellowship to 40 states. She also oversaw New Leaders’ research, evaluation, and publications on teacher leadership and principal impact.

Previously, Jackie served as a Special Assistant at the U.S. Department of Education. Earlier in her career, she was the National Director of Growth and Policy at New Leaders, a legislative aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and a middle school teacher in New York City. Jackie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Wellesley College and a Master of Science in Teaching from Pace University. She has two children who attend DC Bilingual.

Elani Lawrence is an educator with over 20 years of experience in public schools. She serves as an Assistant Principal at the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School. Elani has previously taught ESL and Spanish in elementary, middle, and high schools in NY and DC. Elani started her career in the field of education after graduating from the University of Virginia  with a BA in sociology and a minor in Spanish. She served as a community education promoter in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. Elani earned a Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Teachers College, Columbia University and a Professional Diploma in Educational Administration from Long Island University and has experience as a school administrator in secondary schools and adult basic education programs.

Elani is a native Washingtonian and a proud DCPS graduate. Elani is the mother of two boys that attend DC Public Charters Schools at the elementary and high school level. Elani lives in Brightwood with her husband, a special education teacher, and her sons.

Chi Perrus is a real estate developer and construction executive with deep expertise in real estate finance, commercial lending, underwriting, construction, and commercial real estate development. He began his career in leadership roles at Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, where he structured and managed hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for affordable housing, charter schools, and community-based projects.

In 2017, Chi founded Paragon Construction Group, a minority-owned firm based in Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, Maryland. Under his leadership, Paragon has grown from single-family renovations into large-scale multifamily developments, student housing, and affordable housing projects.

Committed to inclusive economic growth, Chi has built a subcontractor base that is over 80% minority-owned, resulting in more than $1 million in annual payments to businesses from underserved communities. He also fosters leadership opportunities for Latino and African American professionals in the construction industry.

In addition, Chi currently serves as a real estate development consultant for Howard University, where he has managed the renovation of over 3,000 on-campus student housing beds and an adaptive reuse of a historic building for a charter school and School of Education in an integrated academic setting. He also serves on the loan committee of the Business Finance Group, Inc, which originates SBA real estate financing for small business owners. Chi holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an M.S. in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University.

Melinda K. Woods is a dynamic and proven facilitative leader who has held multiple senior leadership and advisory positions in the Federal Government and high-tech industry over the last 20 years.  Melinda leverages extensive technology and business expertise to propel companies through start up and growth stages overseeing business structure, development, and production of new capabilities.  Melinda is an executive leader in multiple growth stage technology and lifestyle organizations. Melinda serves on the board of advisors for the National Institute for Innovation and Technology and Overweb Council. Melinda cultivates business pathways, technology solutions, and operational models for emerging technology, digital transformation, and consumer behavior companies.  As CEO and founder of MentalMassage, LLC, Melinda provides self-care services for women in leadership using partnerships with mental health and wellness professionals, while currently serving at the executive staff level of Eccalon, LLC where she has been the Director of Industry, Innovation & Analysis for over three years.  Prior to nearly 14 years of public sector roles, Melinda managed product R&D, reliability, and quality teams in the commercial semiconductor and telecommunications sectors at Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor.  Melinda holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees with academic distinctions in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and the Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively, and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Melissa Kim has been working in DC education for 22 years. She currently serves as the Deputy Chancellor of DC Public Schools. Previously she was the CAO for KIPP DC, Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund, and Principal of Alice Deal Middle School. Melissa is proud to be affiliated with Teach for America and NewLeaders for NewSchools. Melissa holds a BS from Colby College, an MS from Trinity College, and an Ed.D from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation positions student voice and student perception of race identity at the center of school leadership to enable thriving school cultures that close both academic and social engagement gaps.