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Comings & Goings
Fanning joins CNAS board
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].
Eric Fanning (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Congratulations to Eric Fanning who has joined the Center for a New American Security’s (CNAS) board of advisors. The board is comprised of prominent leaders from the private sector, academia, the military, and government who help inform the Center’s research and expand its community of interest.
Fanning was the 22nd Secretary of the Army, appointed by President Obama on May 18, 2016. He is the first person to have held senior presidential appointments in three military departments. As Secretary of the Army, he had statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army, its $147 billion budget, and its 1.4 million people. Fanning previously served as chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense. From April 2013 until February 2015, he served as the 24th Under Secretary of the Air Force (the No. 2 civilian position in the Air Force) where he oversaw an annual budget of more than $110 billion while serving as co-chair of the top Air Force corporate decision making body, the Air Force Council, and also led the Air Force Space Board, the Air Force Energy Council and the Force Management and Development Council. From June 2013 through December 2013 he simultaneously served as Acting Secretary of the Air Force. Prior to that he served as the Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy/Deputy Chief Management Officer.
Congratulations also to Paul C. Hurdle III who has a new position with WilmerHale as senior conflicts attorney. “In this role I will work on compliance by the firm with the Rules of Professional Conduct and other ethical standards, especially the management of conflicts of interest in connection with the intake of new matters by the firm’s lawyers and the lateral entry of new lawyers into the firm,” Hurdle said.
Prior to joining WilmerHale Hurdle was a partner with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. He is the chair of the Legal Ethics Committee, District Of Columbia Bar. He volunteers with Whitman-Walker Health, Legal Services Division, and serves on its board of directors and handled numerous pro bono asylum cases. He also volunteers with Lambda Legal. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of VA College of the Arts and Sciences and his J.D. is from the University Of Virginia School Of Law.
And congratulations also to Russell Roybal who has announced he’s leaving the National LGBTQ Task Force to return to California. He will become San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Chief Advancement Officer, leading the organization’s marketing, communications and fundraising efforts.
Roybal is currently the Task Force’s deputy executive director. He manages the organization’s day-to-day operations and directs the organization’s policy and programmatic work, including the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. He has filled a number of roles at the Task Force, including deputy executive director of external relations and director of movement building where he managed the organization’s capacity building and training efforts.
Russell Roybal (Photo courtesy Russell Roybal)
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].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
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.).
Minimal version of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ heading to Dupont Underground
Comings & Goings
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Tenn. lawmakers pass transgender “watch list” bill
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