Local
Comings & Goings
Taube wins award, Jackson moves to Compass
From left, David M. Taube, Jeffrey Jackson and Gregory Varnum
The Comings and 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].
Kudos to David M. Taube, CFA, CFP for receiving the Financial Planner of the Year award from the Financial Planning Association National Capital Area Chapter.
Upon receiving the award, Taube, founder and CEO of Kalorama Wealth Strategies, LLC said, “I am honored to receive this award from the National Capital Area chapter of the Financial Planning Association. To be recognized by peers for my professional accomplishments is truly rewarding. There is much more to being a successful financial planner and investment adviser than having technical knowledge. It requires a passion and authenticity to help clients and always put their interests first.”
Some of his passion and understanding came after surviving cancer more than 25 years ago. It was then Taube realized he needed to devote his time and energy to helping people. This insight, combined with a passion for all things financial, eventually led him to establish Kalorama Wealth, a fee-only investment advisory and financial planning firm. Since its inception in 2005, Taube’s mission has been to help professionals, business owners, and their families achieve greater financial security and independence by providing objective advice customized to meet the needs of each client.
In 2012, Kalorama Wealth Strategies, LLC obtained official certification as an LGBT owned and operated business through the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s Supplier Diversity Initiative.
Taube volunteers for D.C.-area LGBT non-profit organizations through Burgundy Crescent Volunteers, including Gay Men’s Chorus, Food and Friends, Mautner Project, Equality Maryland and HRC. He serves on the NGLCC’s Certification Committee, which certifies LGBT owned and operated businesses for its Supplier Diversity Initiative. Taube has appeared in The Washington Post’s “Ask the Experts” column and has written personal finance columns for the Washington Blade.
Since 1999, Taube has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Finance and Real Estate in the Kogod School of Business Administration at American University.
Congratulations are also in order for Jeffrey Jackson, who just announced he has moved to Compass Realty. Jackson has been in the real estate business for more than 20 years after a career at the World Bank.
He goes to Compass with the Capital Estate Group after long stints at Sothebys International Realty and Keller Williams Capital Properties. Capital Estate Group’s mission is to map paths to better lives and better communities through innovative, dynamic real estate services. Compass Realty was launched in 2013. It is a state-of-the-art, technology-driven real estate company that is expanding in D.C., New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. Compass provides comprehensive brokerage services.
Congratulations also to Gregory Varnum, who has landed an exciting new contract to serve as communications strategist for the Wikimedia Foundation communications team. In this role, Varnum will oversee a variety of different areas, including several related to communications with the Wikimedia community (the global community of volunteer editors that contribute to the Wikimedia projects). Having worked with the Wikimedia community extensively in a volunteer capacity, Varnum will now work to develop and hone communications messaging and strategy related to Wikimedia announcements, campaigns and initiatives that impact the Wikimedia community.
According to Samantha Lien who handles communications for the Wikimedia Foundation, “Greg will also be responsible for duties relating to communications outreach projects in support of public policy and advocacy objectives as they relate to the Wikimedia Guiding Principles. Greg will be coordinating communications efforts related to many of the areas of focus outlined in the Wikimedia public policy portal, including issues related to access, privacy, copyright, and more.”
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
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