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 Martin Rendon on his appointment to the State of Delaware Human Relations Commission. This is one of the most important commissions in the state since it is responsible for the enforcement of laws related to fair housing, equal accommodations, and employment discrimination. It also conducts hearings and resolves conflicts involving these issues and promotes programs aimed at eliminating discrimination.

Martin recently retired and moved to Rehoboth Beach. He worked for 25 years for UNICEF, retiring as its vice president of public policy and advocacy. He also worked for six years as a personal trainer at Chinn Aquatics and Fitness Center (Prince William County Park Authority). 

He graduated magna cum laude with a BSFS from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and received his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center in D.C. 

Congratulations also to Stephen J. Belcourt who recently began his new position as associate director for new business across Canada with Wiley Digital Archives, a division of John A. Wiley & Sons Ltd. (Hoboken, NJ). 

Upon accepting the position, he said, “Our primary source materials help preserve and make discoverable the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland, the Royal College of Physicians, and The New York Academy of Sciences. These society archives contain century’s worth of at-risk materials, previously only available to researchers on-site, and in their initial form.   The archives contain a variety of materials including photographs, maps, letters, manuscripts, and ephemera. My new role includes working with university libraries and researchers, to help them take full advantage of this newly digitized material.”

Prior to this, he worked for ProQuest in a number of positions most recently as manager, GovDocs, History, and News. Prior to that he worked as general manager of a family restaurant; sales executive for Interbiz a division of Computer Associates; and as a senior account manager for ANGOSS Software Corporation. He has his MSc International Management degree from the University of Liverpool (Laureate International Universities).

$2,000 Blade Foundation Reporting Fellowship

Application deadline extended to Jan. 10, 2020. The Blade Foundation is offering a paid fellowship to an aspiring LGBTQ+ journalist in the D.C. area to begin in early 2020. Applicants must be over 18 and must either be currently enrolled in a college journalism program or have an acceptance letter to a program.

The fellowship will require 15-20 hours a week with a focus on reporting and writing LGBTQ-specific stories in D.C. and Virginia. The fellowship recipient will report directly to a member of the Washington Blade’s editorial staff and will be expected to participate in weekly staff meetings.

To apply send a letter of interest, resume and links to three published articles to Blade Foundation Executive Director Kevin Naff at  HYPERLINK “mailto:[email protected]”[email protected]. The deadline to apply for the fellowship is Jan. 10, and applicants will be notified of a final decision by Jan 31.

All LGBTQ+ journalism students in the D.C. area are encouraged to apply and we especially encourage LGBTQ people of color, transgender and/or non-binary individuals to take advantage of this opportunity. The Blade Foundation would like to give special thanks to the DC Front Runners for raising money to fund this opportunity.