Board of Trustees
Officers
Joseph Isaacs, President
Joe Isaacs has more than 30 years of experience as an association senior executive, public policy specialist and organizational and health care management consultant. In 2010, he joined the United Spinal Association, a group dedicated to improving the quality of life of all Americans living with spinal cord injuries and disorders as its Vice President for Public Policy. He is also the President of New Heights Management Consulting Group, LLC, a boutique professional services firm specializing in association governance and management assistance. Joe is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Previously, Joe served as the chief executive officer of such groups as the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), RESOLVE Inc.: The National Infertility Association, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and the National Health Council. From 1995-2000, he was the Vice President for Trustee and Community Leadership at the American Hospital Association, where he established a Center for Governance Excellence. His efforts were recognized in 2000 by Chicago’s Association Forum, which presented him with its Management Excellence Award. From 2002 – 2004, Joe served on and chaired the Association Council of Montgomery County.
Joe has received numerous awards for his volunteer leadership, including 1984 Washington DC Volunteer Activist of the Year, 1986 Outstanding Young Marylander, and the 1989 Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Regional Leadership Award, while serving as Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Greenbelt, MD. Joe was named outstanding graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine’s Master’s degree program in Health Services Management. A native New Yorker, he received his Bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He and his lovely wife Deborah love to hike, run and bike at Montgomery County parks. They have three delightful adult daughters and a lovable West Highland Terrier and reside in North Potomac.
Scott Ritter, Vice President
Scott E. Ritter is a Vice President of Commercial Lending with OBA Bank which is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and is a member of the Commercial Lending Team located in Rockville, Maryland. Scott has lived in Montgomery County Maryland for over 25 years.
As a longtime resident of Montgomery County, Scott has served on many non-profit boards and foundations and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of The First Tee of Montgomery County, which is dedicated to teaching youth from all walks of life interpersonal skills and values that last a lifetime through the game of golf. In addition to the First Tee, as well as serving as a Trustee of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. Further, Scott participates as a charity auctioneer throughout the area helping various charities and foundations raise money at their events. Interested in wildlife conservation and the environment, Scott belongs to and participates in several conservation organizations in support of the area’s natural world.
Scott is a graduate of the University of Baltimore and resides in Laytonsville, Maryland.
John Robinson, Treasurer
John M. Robinson has served two terms as Commissioner of the Montgomery County Planning Board, including two years as Vice-Chair. Prior to joining the Planning Board he worked for two years on a task force addressing county-wide transportation issues and on two task forces addressing the revitalization of Silver Spring, one as a Co-Chair. In addition, he was a member of the County’s Commission on 2000 and Co-Chair of a Montgomery County Task Force on Infrastructure Financing. His past community involvements include: Founding President of the Noyes Children’s Library Foundation, counsel and board member for the Gateway - Georgia Avenue Revitalization Corporation, three terms as President of the Allied Civic Group, and two terms as President of the Kensington Historical Society, the Rock Creek Hills Citizen Association, and the Chevy Chase Swim Club. He now serves as President of the Rock Creek Hills Citizen Association and as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. His professional career includes two stints totaling some 33 years as a lawyer for the Federal Government. The first involved 11 years working on the restructuring of the northeast rail system and the reform of rate and financial regulation governing the rail system. His current job involves 22 years at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission specializing in the costing, financial, tax and market structure aspects of pipeline regulation and on the pricing of incremental investments on the electric grid. He is a member of the D.C. and Maryland bars.
Jody Kline, Secretary
Jody Kline is a partner in the law firm of Miller, Miller & Canby where he specializes in land use, zoning and administrative law. He serves on a number of commissions and an advisory panel related to the practice of land use law, and through his professional activities, is familiar with the Montgomery County parks system.
At Large
Edwin S. Grosvenor
Edwin S. Grosvenor is the President and Editor-in-Chief of American Heritage Publishing, based in Rockville, Maryland. The member of a family that has long resided in Montgomery County, he is a frequent user of Montgomery Parks.
From 1977 to 1984, he was the president of Grosvenor Publications, Inc., which published Portfolio, the highest circulation fine arts magazines in the U.S. at the time according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, and a nominee for the National Magazine Award for general excellence.
From 1985 to 1990, Mr. Grosvenor served as president of Hotel Magazine Network, Inc., a publisher of magazines for business travelers with a total circulation of 330,000 copies distributed in the rooms of Marriott and Hyatt hotels.
From 1991 to 1995, Mr. Grosvenor was the president and publisher of Capital Communication Group, L.L.C. Its literary magazine, Current Books, published such authors as Norman Mailer, Bill Moyers, Garrison Keillor, David McCullough, Anne Tyler, and Vaclav Havel. During Mr. Grosvenor’s tenure at CCG, Current Books was distributed in over 4,000 outlets making it one of the most widely distributed book-related publications in bookstores.
Mr. Grosvenor wrote his second book about his great-grandfather, Alexander Graham Bell. Published by Harry N. Abrams Inc., the book is entitled Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Inventor of the Telephone. The Grosvenor family founded and continues to lead the National Geographic Society. Mr. Grosvenor previously worked as a photographer for National Geographic, where he had 23 assignments around the world.
Mr. Grosvenor obtained his MBA and his MS (Journalism) degrees from Columbia University, and his BA from Yale University.
Royce Hanson
Royce Hanson is a nationally renowned authority on local government and planning. He served twice as chairman of the Montgomery County Planning Board, most recently in 2006-2010, and led in creation of the county’s Smart Growth policies. He led the reapportionment movement in Maryland resulting in the Supreme Court’s one-person-one vote rule for representation in legislatures. Cited as one of Montgomery County’s top 40 environmentalists, he is regarded as the “father” of the Agricultural Reserve and is a former chairman of the Maryland Environmental Trust. In addition to his exceptional record of public service, he has had a distinguished career as a teacher, scholar, and university administrator. He has held professorships at American, George Washington, UMBC, VPI, Minnesota, and University of Texas at Dallas. He served as associate dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and as dean of the School of Social Sciences at UTD, President of the Washington Center for Metropolitan Studies, and staff director of the Committee on National Urban Policy of the National Research Council. He is author of many books and articles on local and state government, planning, and constitutional law. He holds MA, PhD, and JD degrees, and is a Senior Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Royce's beloved wife, Mary, passed away in May 2011. Their three children are all graduates of Montgomery County schools and earned doctorates, respectively, in geology, medicine, and veterinary medicine. Royce also has four granddaughters and lives in Montgomery Village.
Tom Hucker
Representing Maryland District 20 in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2007, Tom Hucker serves as a Member of the Economic Matters Committee and the Bi-county Agency Committee and is the Chair of the Joint Committee on Federal Relations. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he was the Executive Director and Founder of Progressive Maryland.
Mr. Hucker is a Member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); National Organization for Women (NOW), Equality Maryland, Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce and Friends of Sligo Creek. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Maryland-India Business Roundtable, USAction, Purple Line Now; and Progressive States Network.
Meredith Wellington
Meredith Wellington serves as the President of Montgomery Women, a non-partisan leadership and political action committee that brings together women from all cultural backgrounds and every corner of Montgomery County to advance common interests and support outstanding women in their quest for elected and appointed positions. She served two terms on the Montgomery County Planning Board from July 1999-July 2007.
Earlier, as the chair of the Recreation Committee for the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights she worked to obtain a community center at Wisconsin Place. That community center—modeled after the Lawton Center—opened in October 2009. On behalf of Bethesda Chevy Chase Baseball, she also secured the inclusion in the Friendship Heights Sector Plan of a Little League ballfield on the GEICO tract. She has a long-standing interest in parks both for conservation and active use.
She is an attorney, and has been in private practice, as well as with the federal government, while raising three sons. She lives with her family in Chevy Chase.
Ex-Officio
Francoise Carrier, Chair, Park and Planning Commission
Mary Bradford, Director, Montgomery Parks
