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Comings & Goings
Bobbitt to CDISC; Williams lands at NAGE
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
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].
David Bobbitt
Congratulations to David Bobbitt, named the new CEO of The Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC). CDISC is a global, non-profit organization that develops data standards to foster smarter research and enable connections to healthcare.
In accepting the appointment, Bobbitt said, “CDISC is at an inflection point. I feel privileged to begin this new chapter. As we enter the next stage of CDISC, our organizational strength through collaboration, inquiry and innovation will provide the fertile substrate from which an even-stronger CDISC will grow.”
Prior to joining CDISC, Bobbitt served for the last three years as president of the SCORE Foundation in D.C., where he led the organization in significant growth while maintaining high-quality services to America’s entrepreneurs. Previously, he served in a senior executive role at the New York Genome Center. He also built the largest private sector fundraising program for kidney disease services and research in the U.S. He founded and ran a successful revenue consulting firm focused on the nonprofit biomedical research sector.
Bobbitt holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar and Lawn Resident; a graduate engineering degree from Northeastern University; and an MBA from Darden Graduate School of Business at UVA where he graduated with the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence.
Congratulations also to Lateefah Williams, who joined the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) as an Assistant General Counsel. The Assistant General Counsel position among other duties assists and represents federal, municipal and private sector employees at arbitration, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and various state, federal and municipal administrative forums.
Prior to joining NAGE, Williams served as the Community Engagement Specialist in the D.C. Office of Attorney General Karl Racine. She previously served as Political and Legislative Director for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, Counsel to the Prince George’s County State Senate Delegation, and Nonprofit Speech Rights Policy Analyst for OMB Watch.
Williams is also a community activist in the District. She is currently a board member of the Wanda Alston Foundation, and periodic contributor to the Washington Blade. She held executive positions in several local organizations, including president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, second vice president of the Metropolitan Women’s Democratic Club, recording secretary of the Ward 5 Democrats, and National Committeewoman for the DC Young Democrats.
Lateefah Williams
Finally, congratulations also to Timothy Merritt who after a decade of experience in federal politics, recently joined progressive entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg’s team as chief of staff. Sanberg is an entrepreneur and investor and co-founder of Aspiration.com, an online financial firm that delivers banking and investing services. He is a founding investor in Blue Apron, the leading provider of home-delivered, ready-to-prepare meals for individuals and families.
Previously, Merritt was a member of the Los Angeles-based fundraising team for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He has also worked for Ambassadors Susan Rice and Samantha Power at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and on first lady Michelle Obama’s team during President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. He began his political career working in the U.S. Congress for Rep. Gene Green and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Timothy Merritt
Maryland
Hate crime charges dropped against most Salisbury students in off-campus attack
Suspects allegedly used Grindr to target victim
BY MIKE HELLGRIN, CHRISTIAN OLANIRAN, AND ELLIE WOLFE | Prosecutors in Wicomico County are dropping felony assault and hate crime charges against at least 12 of the 15 Salisbury University students charged in an off-campus attack in October.
Misdemeanor false imprisonment and second-degree assault charges remain for most of the defendants, and many trials are set for late January.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs moving to new location
LGBTQ community center also set to leave Reeves Center
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which is currently located at the city’s Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U Street, N.W., was scheduled to move during the week of Dec. 9 to a new location at 899 North Capitol St., N.E., according to Japer Bowles, the office’s director.
Bowles said the LGBTQ Affairs office will be located on the seventh floor of the privately owned office building in which the city has rented space for several other city agencies, including the D.C. Department of Health.
The move comes about amid longstanding plans to demolish the Reeves Center and replace it with a redevelopment project that will include a mix of housing, office space, a hotel, and retail stores along with a public plaza and a 200-seat amphitheater.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, which has been located in the Reeves Center for about 10 years, also expects to be moving out of the building in the spring of 2025, said Kimberley Bush, the LGBTQ center’s executive director.
Bush said the LGBTQ center looks forward to moving into its new, larger space in a building at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. in the city’s Shaw neighborhood, which is located one block away from the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.
The LGBTQ center entered a joint lease to rent space in the Wiltberger Street building with the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride events, including the upcoming World Pride 2025 events set to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8.
In response to a request by Bowser, the D.C. Council earlier this year approved $1 million in funding for fiscal year 2025 to support the build-out and construction of the LGBTQ Center’s space in the Wiltberger Street’s converted warehouse building.
But shortly after the Council approved that funding, the D.C. Center and Capital Pride Alliance announced the launch of a fundraising campaign called “Welcome Home – Building Together, Thriving Together” to raise an additional $1.5 million needed to complete the renovation of the new building.
“This endeavor is more than just the construction of a building; it represents a commitment to carve out a generous 7,000 square feet of space devoted to nurturing unity, empowerment, and support across the LGBTQ+ spectrum,” a statement announcing the fundraising campaign says.
District of Columbia
D.C. LGBTQ community to gather for post-election dialogue
Dec. 12 event to address federal workers’ rights, immigration, more
Several leading LGBTQ organizations in D.C. are coming together to make sense of the recent election and to discuss the future of advocacy and resilience as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.
With Republicans in firm control of the federal government after winning majorities in the House and Senate, many are concerned about attacks on the LGBTQ community, including Trump’s pledge to ban trans people from serving in the military. In addition, many LGBTQ federal workers have expressed concerns about being targeted for reassignment or termination, as outlined in Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for Trump’s second term.
In response, D.C.’s LGBTQ community is coming together for an event on Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.) featuring an array of speakers who will address issues, including: anticipated policy shifts; community resilience strategies; legal rights; immigration advocacy; and federal workers’ rights.
The event, titled, “Charting Our Future: LGBTQ+ Advocacy & Resilience in a Changing Landscape” is free; visit washingtonblade.com/future to RSVP.
The event is being hosted by the Washington Blade and includes community partners: the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, HME Consulting & Advocacy, Eaton DC, DC LGBTQ+ Community Center, Capital Pride Alliance, and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs. Heidi Ellis of the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition will moderate. A list of speakers will be released later this week.
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