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Our board is committed to driving positive change, passionate about fostering innovation, and deeply engaged with our community to achieve sustainable growth and impact
Karen’s philanthropic commitments include co-founding and leading 100WomenStrong, founding Powered By Facts to spread awareness about Virginia energy policy, and VAOurWay to educate Virginian voters around common sense policies. She currently serves on the boards of All Ages Read Together and Middleburg Film Festival and is a member of the National Council on White House History. She recently served as Co-Chair of Wolf Trap’s Next Chapter Initiative, raising over $75M for “capital projects and endowment to strengthen Wolf Trap for its artists, audiences, and visitors.”
In addition, Karen is a trustee with the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Altor Locks, as well as CEO of SWaN Hill Top. She has also authored four children’s books: The Lollipop Tree, Larry and Bob, How to Eat a Peach, and Vultures, A Love Story.
John H. Cook, IV has enjoyed 30+ years of practice in diverse areas including Estate Planning, Probate, Criminal Defense, and Catastrophic Personal Injury cases. He also serves as the Senior Deputy Executive Director of CMCF and the Secretary of CMO.
John was active duty in the Navy and afterwards received a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University, followed by earning his Juris Doctor degree from George Mason University School of Law.
After graduation from law school, he focused on litigation, trying more than 100 jury trials to verdict. John later joined Glasheen, Valles, and Inderman, LLC— one of the premier personal injury firms in Texas—earning the title of Partner soon after. He has been recognized by Martindale-Hubble as a preeminent attorney with the highest ethics. He is admitted to practice in all courts of Virginia.
Lara Major has dedicated over 30 years to the field of education. Her roles have included classroom teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools, reading specialist for Loudoun County Public Schools, and Adjunct Professor for The University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development.
Lara founded Major Consulting, where she has spent over 20 years facilitating the professional development of teachers and helping school systems develop curriculum and assessment models.
Lara serves as the Chair of All Ages Read Together (AART), Chair of E3: Elevate Early Education, Co-Chair of the Willowcroft Foundation, and Vice President of 100WomenStrong. In addition, she serves on the Executive Advisory Board for James Madison University’s College of Education and the Board of Directors of The Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties. She served two terms on the Board of Visitors for JMU where she acted as Vice Rector and Rector for four years.
Lara earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from James Madison University and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Virginia.
F. Kevin Reynolds is a graduate of The College of William and Mary with a degree in Economics and has a MBA in Finance/Business from George Washington University.
Early in his career, Kevin was an executive and held management positions with several leading area financial institutions, including George Mason Bank and American Security Bank. He then went on to be President and a founding officer for Cardinal Bank—which merged with United Bank in 2017. He is the Regional President and Director of Sales for United Bank.
Kevin’s volunteer efforts include the American Heart Association, The Economic Club of Washington, DC, Rotary International, The Gladney Center for Adoption, Children’s Science Center, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Special Olympics, Homestretch and The Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Foundation.
He is the former chairman of the Foundation for Fairfax County Public Schools and a current board
member of Marymount University. Kevin was awarded the Greater Washington Good Business Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Cynthia C. Romero received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology and Economics from the University of Virginia and her Doctor of Medicine from Eastern Virginia Medical School.
She is the Director of the M. Foscue Brock Institute of Community and Global Health at EVMS of the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University.
She previously served as Virginia State Health Commissioner, the principal health adviser to the Governor, Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Virginia General Assembly and Board of Health.
Prior to her appointment as Virginia’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Romero was Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Quality and Medical Affairs for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center. Dr. Romero was in private practice for 20 years at Romero Family Practice, 16 years with her mother as her partner and her father as the office manager.
She was recognized with the Mead Johnson Award by the American Academy of Family Physicians for excellence in clinical medicine and community services.
Dr. Romero served as President of the Philippine Medical Association of Southeastern Virginia, Inc., Tidewater Academy of Family Physicians, Virginia Academy of Family Physicians and Norfolk Academy of Medicine. She was also President of the Medical Society of Virginia.
Dr. Hazel is a strong advocate for evidence-informed policies relating to health, healthcare, human services, and technology and has engaged with philanthropy to fund upstream initiatives with the goal of prevention.
He earned a degree in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and followed by a degree in Medicine from Duke University with , finishing his orthopedic residency at the Mayo Clinic. He was an orthopedic surgeon with an office practice in Northern Virginia, was an Assistant surgeon for the Washington Redskins, and was the team physician for the D. C. United Professional soccer club.
He completed two terms as Secretary of Health and Human Resources of the Commonwealth of Virginia and then served as the Senior Advisor for Innovation and Community Engagement at George Mason University. Dr. Hazel was President of the Virginia Medical Society and Trustee of the American Medical Association. He co-chaired the Coordinating Council to address homelessness in Virginia and also co-chaired a task force on mental health, and with the Secretary of Public Safety led the Commonwealth’s response to the opioid epidemic.
Shirley Bazdar has 30 years of experience in public school education within the Commonwealth of Virginia. The sole focus of her career has been to provide high school students with career pathways and opportunities that would prepare them to be college and career ready.
She has served as a career and technical education teacher, coach, high school administrator, and director of career and technical education within Northern Virginia. She spent 11 years working for the Manassas Park City Schools and 19 years working for the Loudoun County Public Schools. Shirley has also been an adjunct professor for Shenandoah University for the last 18 years.
Additionally, Shirley has served on the Northern Virginia WIOA board for 8 years and served as the liaison to the Loudoun Education Foundation and Loudoun School-Business Partnership for 15 years.
After retiring from Loudoun County Public Schools she became an educational consultant with the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation’s Claude Moore Scholars program and is now the Program Manager.
Additional she has served eight years as a board member at Our Health and as a co-chair for the Winchester Area Temporary Thermals Shelter (WATTS) for her church in Winchester, VA.
Laura T. Linn is a collaborative, solutions-oriented professional who has engaged with state agencies and communities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia as a business development professional for 30+ years and currently leads CMO’s fundraising activities.
Prior to joining CMCF, Laura was Dewberry’s Corporate Director of Business Development & Strategy where she spent 25 years selling professional services and positioning the firm for growth. As part of her responsibilities, she also managed many of the firm’s public engagements such as serving on the NOVA Chamber’s Policy Committee and attending the Northern VA Transportation Alliance, Committee for Dulles, the Washington Airports Task Force, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, and other local events.
As a native Virginian and a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Laura’s passion is building new programs and enabling groups to prosper in the Commonwealth.
