The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected]. 

Congratulations to Andrew Doster who has joined EagleBank as the Head of Operations & Technology. He will spearhead the operational execution and enterprise-wide transformation of the bank. Upon accepting the position, he said, “It’s an honor to join EagleBank as Head of Operations & Technology. I’m thrilled to collaborate with this talented team to deliver on our ‘Relationships FIRST’ values, driving tangible results and exceptional service for our clients across the DC, Maryland, and Virgina regions.” 

EagleBank said about Doster, “He has a robust career spanning finance transformation at CrossCountry Consulting and strategic advisory at Boston Consulting Group; Andrew excels at turning complex visions into streamlined realities.”

Previously, Doster worked with CrossCountry Consulting in D.C., as director, Finance Transformation, Office of the CFO. He has also held positions with Fannie Mae, Strategic Alliances Team Lead, Digital Alliances and Distribution, Digital Product; with the Boston Consulting Group, Washington, D.C., Project Leader, TURN (Turnaround and Restructuring); Guidehouse Consulting, Management Consultant, Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets Washington, D.C.; and Fifth Third Bank, OH and IL. He is a TutorMate for Capitol Hill Elementary, Innovations for Learning; and is an Eagle Scout. 

Doster earned his bachelor’s in finance and accounting, University of Dayton; and his MBA from Xavier University. 

Congratulations also to Jonathan Lovitz new Senior Vice President of Campaigns and Communications, and to Amy J. Peña new Senior Vice President, General Counsel, both joining the senior staff of the Human Rights Campaign. HRC President Kelley Robinson said, “I’m thrilled to welcome Jonathan and Amy to the Human Rights Campaign at a critical moment for our community and the fight for equality. Their deep well of leadership experience, strategic vision, and passionate advocacy, will ensure HRC is prepared to face the ongoing threats to LGBTQ+ freedoms from a place of strength, joy, and respect.”   

Lovitz is a nationally recognized public affairs and policy leader with deep experience in LGBTQ advocacy. He most recently served as director of Public Affairs and Senior Adviser at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was a Biden-Harris administration appointee shaping the “Investing in America” story behind the CHIPS and Science Act and other major national economic growth initiatives. Prior to that he spent nearly a decade at the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). 

Peña brings more than two decades of experience in legal counsel and management for non-profit and for-profit organizations to the general counsel role at HRC. She most recently served as the first ever General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for The Chicago Community Trust, a 100-year-old non-profit organization with assets exceeding $4.3 billion. Prior to that she worked as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the Association of Lions Clubs, a 1.4-million-member global 501(c)4 association and a $300 million 501(c)3 foundation with offices in the U.S., India, Japan, South Korea, and wholly owned legal entities in Brazil, Canada, and Australia. 

The 28th annual Delaware Pride Festival is back this weekend in the capital city of Dover. 

The Saturday event will take place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on the Legislative Green outside of the state capitol building in Dover. The festival is hosted by drag queen Scarlet Masters.

The schedule includes a policy panel with State Representatives Eric Morrison and DeShanna Neal, a performance from the Rainbow Chorale of Delaware, and drag shows. There will also be food vendors, a kids zone, beer garden, and 21+ after party. 

“Pride season is a riot, a time to advocate, and a time to remember those that came before us to take us as far as we are today, especially our trans and BIPOC siblings,” wrote Delaware Pride President Zach Workman in a letter on its website. “Always remember that when one member of our community is under attack, we come together to support them. We remember the sacrifices of our ancestors in order to fuel our push into the future. We are here, we have always been here, and we will be here for the future to come no matter how many times others try to erase us … This festival is a testament to the strength of queer Delawareans as it has stood the test of time over the last 28 iterations, becoming a lasting tradition.”

A prominent LGBTQ activist who lives in the U.K. said she could not travel to D.C. for the WorldPride 2025 Human Rights Conference because the U.S. revoked her eligibility to enter the country without a visa.

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, the co-founder of UK Black Pride known as Lady Phyll, was supposed to speak at the conference’s opening plenary at the National Theater. Opoku-Gyimah instead spoke remotely.

She said the U.S. “revoked” her eligibility to participate in the Visa Waiver Program and use an Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, to enter the country without a visa because she traveled to Cuba earlier this year.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection website notes the State Department on Jan. 12, 2021, designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

President Donald Trump’s first administration ended eight days after he made the designation. Then-President Joe Biden in the final days of his administration said the U.S. would move to lift the designation as part of a Vatican-brokered deal that secured the release of prisoners on the Communist island. Brenda Díaz, a transgender woman with HIV who participated in an anti-government protest in 2021, is among those who the Cuban government released from prison.

The CBP website notes that with “limited exceptions, a traveler who is found to have visited Cuba on or after this date is not eligible for travel under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) using an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and must apply for a visa to travel to the United States.”

“Additionally, a traveler who at the time of application for an ESTA holds dual nationality with both a VWP country and Cuba is not eligible for travel under the VWP using an ESTA and must apply for a visa to travel to the United States,” it reads. “If an ESTA has already been approved and it is later determined that the traveler has been present in Cuba or holds dual nationality with both a VWP country and Cuba, the ESTA will be revoked.”

“Ineligibility for an ESTA is not a bar to travel to the United States,” notes the CBP website. “Individuals who are not eligible to travel under the VWP may apply for a visa at any U.S. embassy or consulate.”

Opoku-Gyimah said she learned of the revocation “as I preparing to be with you.” Opoku-Gyimah in her remarks said she applied for a visa that would have allowed her to enter the U.S., but the first available appointment was not until later this year.

“Yet from afar, I’m here,” she said. “We don’t abandon our people.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, has yet to respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment.