PRESIDENT: Jack (John) Kelly

 

Jack and his wife moved to the West End in 1994. In 2013, Jack retired from a 36-year career at the Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he mainly worked on government-wide management reform projects. In 2014, Jack was appointed to Rockville’s Financial Advisory Board and has served on the Board ever since. Between 2018 and 2023, he also served on Rockville’s Boards and Commissions Task Force and the Charter Review Commission. In 2017, he first learned about the Villages movement and spent the next two years trying to promote the creation of a West End Village. In 2021, he attended a meeting in College Gardens Park that turned out to be the kick-off for the West Rockville Connects Village (WRCV). He has been involved in WRCV ever since.

 

VICE PRESIDENT: Jane Pontius

 

Moving to Rockville in 1975 into the home where her husband, John, and his five brothers were raised, Jane became involved in the early Town Center discussions as a member of the “Alive After Five” planning team. Before moving to Rockville, Jane worked as an Assistant Cashier/Operations Officer at the Bank of America in Los Angeles, CA. After moving to the D.C. area, she was hired to work at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress. Taking time off to raise her two sons, John Jr. and James, she later returned to the workforce. She served as an adjunct member of Montgomery College’s English Department. She also taught at Christ Episcopal School in Rockville, where she later became the school’s Headmistress. Currently, she is employed at The Woods Academy in Bethesda.

 

Jane previously volunteered to be a Block Captain for the West End Civic Association (WECA) and later served as its Corresponding Secretary. Being part of the West Rockville Connects Village from its early stages, she has found it to be a great way to connect with local neighbors, make new friends, and participate in a variety of fun activities.

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TREASURER: Joan Nicolaysen

 

Joan grew up in the West End and subsequently raised her own family on the next block. After becoming a CPA as a young mother, she worked for a local public accounting firm, specializing in tax work and the auditing of nonprofit organizations. She left to pursue a career as head of finance for various nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C., the last being the Washington National Cathedral. Joan joined WRCV as Treasurer in August 2024.

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RECORDING SECRETARY: Diane Fuchs

 

Diane has lived in Rockville since 1975 and currently resides in the College Gardens neighborhood. She led epidemiology studies on contracts with the National Cancer Institute for almost thirty years as a member of Westat’s Health Studies sector. Diane served as a board director for her children’s religious school, was a board member of her condominium and on the Board of Directors of Manna Food Center in the 1990s. She was a Board of Directors member of the Friends of the Library’s (FOL’s) Rockville Memorial Library chapter, holding positions of President, Vice President, and Secretary over her twelve years of service. Diane’s interest in the village movement started shortly after her retirement from Westat in 2008. She has been active in WRCV since 2021, initially serving on the steering committee and currently serving as Secretary on the Board. She also serves as co-chair of the Membership/Volunteer Committee, chair of the Welcome Kit Committee, and director of West Rockville Book Connect, Little Free Libraries project.

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BOARD MEMBER: Jeffrey Hudgens

 

Jeff moved to the Rockville West End in 1984. In 2023, he retired from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) after a 46-year Federal career, where he conducted research on topics ranging from laser chemistry to therapeutic antibody structure. He was among the first at NIST to establish an internet site as a tool for organizing international scientific meetings. In November 2022, he attended a West Rockville Connects Village meeting and later joined its steering committee. When WRCV became a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, he became a Board member and chair of the Internet Communications Committee.

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BOARD MEMBER: Aileen Klein

 

Aileen’s career began with D.C.’s Urban Teacher Corps, where she earned an M.A. in Elementary Education and taught in the inner city D.C. public schools until she began her own family. In 1977, she began her IBM career and moved to Rockville in 1985. She is now enjoying her well-earned retirement. In 1998, she joined the Rockville Friends of the Library (FOL) when it was still on Maryland Avenue. She later became the first chapter member to be invited to also serve on the Montgomery County FOL board. She was appointed to the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board and represented Rockville on that board from 2011-2017. She learned about the Village concept years ago when it began in Boston, MA, but had not heard of it in our area until January 2022, when she attended her first WRCV meeting.

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BOARD MEMBER: Doris Schraft

 

Doris Schraft has lived in Rockville’s West End community for over 40 years. She spent her career as a linguist and language professional, writing and editing translations from Spanish, Portuguese, and French into English for international organizations, law firms, corporate entities and individuals, and has enjoyed traveling in those and other countries. Following that constant learning experience, she is learning to be retired. Having first heard about the Village movement from friends in the 1990s, Doris finally discovered the West Rockville Connects Village in 2022 and joined its steering committee, becoming a Board member in 2024. She serves as co-chair of WRCV’s Marketing and Outreach Committee.