Local
Comings & Goings
Mat Young named VP at (ISC)²
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 Mat Young on being appointed by (ISC)² as Vice President of Global Advocacy. (ISC)² is an international nonprofit membership association focused on inspiring a safe and secure cyber world. It is best known for the acclaimed Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.
Upon accepting the position Young said, “I’m really looking forward to helping (ISC)2 build out our global advocacy program and thought leadership resources. We have some big challenges ahead of us as an industry, but I think it’s going to be rewarding, fun and interesting. Every week, there is major breaking news impacting the cybersecurity profession and lawmakers are really looking for help to understand some of these difficult policy questions. I feel really fortunate to be able to work in a profession that is growing so quickly and is front and center in some of the most critical economic and national security conversations of the moment.”
Young will be responsible for launching and leading a new advocacy and thought leadership program for (ISC)2 to help address the global cybersecurity workforce shortage as well as positively influence laws, regulations, and government standards setting initiatives impacting cybersecurity professionals around the globe. Initially, his role will focus on building (ISC)2‘s public policy programs in the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia. Young will help establish a global system of political and public policy intelligence monitoring with an aim to engage public policymakers and cybersecurity professionals on government best practices as well as emerging public policy trends.
Prior to this, Young served as vice president of state regulatory and legislative affairs for the American Institute of CPAs and oversaw that association’s state advocacy program. He also represented the AICPA before the U.S. congressional and executive branches. Prior to this role, he served as AICPA director of congressional and political affairs, working closely with the state CPA societies and AICPA members on federal legislative efforts critical to the CPA profession. Before that Young was director of economic policy for U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, (D-Mich.), and also worked for the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.
Young earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in Economics and Urban Studies from Trinity University; and his master’s degree in Public Affairs from the School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
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
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BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
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