Board of Directors

In anticipation of receiving the donation of land, a newly formed, non-profit organization – the Tregaron Conservancy – was started. A Tregaron Conservancy Board was formed in January 2006, and the Conservancy received its Certification of Incorporation from the District of Columbia on January 24, 2006. In addition, the Board passed its by-laws at its first official meeting on February 7, 2006. With twelve original Board members, the Conservancy has recently grown to nineteen, with other interested and highly qualified professionals under consideration.

Tregaron Conservancy Board of Directors

SARAH S. BOASBERG
Sarah is a landscape designer residing in Cleveland Park.  A former Chairman of the American Horticultural Society, she also served as founding co-chair of the Cultural Landscape Foundation and as Vice President of the Friends of the National Arboretum.  She has had broad governance experience on the boards of Smith College, Knox College, National Cathedral School for Girls, and The Washington Opera.  She also serves on the Technical Advisory Board of the District's Urban Forestry Administration.

RENEE SCHILHAB BULLOCK
Renee Schilhab Bullock, a native of Toronto, Canada, is a landscape designer and former journalist who has lived on 34th Street in Cleveland Park for ten years.  Renee and her husband, Tony Bullock, came to Washington in 1996 from Long Island, where Renee worked as a reporter and Tony as the elected supervisor of the Town of East Hampton. Renee designs landscapes and supervises landscape installations for Denchfield Landscaping of Hyattsville, Md. When she first came to Washington from Long Island, Renee worked for Fox News as a political reporter. Before coming here, she worked as a reporter for The Southampton Press and wrote articles for The New Times and New York Post.  Renee is a graduate of the City University of New York. She and Tony have two children, Monty and Alexandra.

JONATHAN GREENBLATT
Jon, a partner in the Litigation Group at Shearman & Sterling LLP, has extensive experience in commercial and international litigation, including arbitrations and class action litigation, concentrating in the areas of antitrust, securities and bank litigation, bankruptcy, lender liability and major fraud investigations. Mr. Greenblatt joined the firm in 1980 and became a partner in 1989.  Prior to that, Jon received his J.D. from George Washington University Law School where he was a member of the Law Review.  Jon, his wife Linda Adams, their three daughters, and dog Hershey live in Cleveland Park where they enjoy a lovely view of Tregaron Estate’s north meadow a.k.a. “sledding hill.

JOHN S. HOFFMAN
John lives on Macomb Street with his wife, Lucinda McConathy.  Their daughter Alla is a college student at the University of Chicago. John is Managing Member of WorkSmart Energy Enterprises Inc, a technology/enterprise incubator and two spin offs, CoolSmart LLC and Enhanced Turbine Output LLC. In the 1980s he headed EPA’s efforts to protect stratospheric ozone. Later he created the Agency’s energy productivity program, including Energy Star. John’s main claim to fame, however, involved working with Chris Nicholson, a former neighbor, to get the city to install stop signs on the "Macomb Raceway," thus helping transform it into the more peaceful street that it has become.

GEORGE IDELSON
George Idelson, a WWII veteran, is cited in “G Company’s War” and Stephen Ambrose’s “The Victors.  He holds a Marketing degree from New York University.  As an advertising professional, he helped introduce the Porsche automobile into the US market and taught advertising at George Washington University.  He set up a public service advertising program for the Federal Trade Commission, was a consultant to the US Office of Consumer Affairs, and was a partner in a Public Relations firm specializing in consumer affairs.  More recently he edited and published a public policy newsletter on consumer advocacy.  Mr. Idelson lives in Washington, DC, and is a board member of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing the democratic ideal of the National Mall.  George is the past president of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association. 

SAREENA JERATH
Sareena is a certified master gardener and landscape designer.  Sareena has served on the board of ROMP (Renovations of Macomb Park) and helped to restore the neighborhood playground.  As a previous volunteer for the Cultural Landscape Foundation, Sareena worked to identify and help preserve at-risk historical landscapes for the 2006 Landslide Program.
Formerly, Sareena was a health lawyer with Epstein, Becker and Green in Washington, D.C. Sareena also holds a graduate degree in Biology, and worked as a researcher in oncology clinical trials and as an analyst with the Institutional Review Board of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Sareena grew up in the Washington area and has lived in Cleveland Park since 2005. She, her husband, Nakul, and their three children relish having the Tregaron estate as their virtual backyard.

JANE LANG
Jane Lang is a founding partner of Sprenger + Lang and is now Of Counsel to the firm. She has specialized in employment litigation and housing law for over twenty years. At Sprenger + Lang she has represented plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases, including race discrimination class actions that settled against the Pillsbury Co. and Northwest Airlines, with consent decrees in 1990 and 1991. She was lead counsel with Paul Sprenger in In re Pepco Employment Litigation and numerous other cases litigated during the first half of the 1990s. She was instrumental in negotiating settlements in several of Sprenger + Lang's cases, including cases against Maytag and Control Data Corp. While continuing to consult with the firm, Jane has focused her energies during recent years on projects of the Sprenger Lang Foundation. She serves as president of the Atlas Performing Arts Center, a project to revitalize the historic Atlas Theatre into a non-profit center for arts performance and education in northeast Washington D.C.
Jane graduated from Swarthmore College in 1967 where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1970, she received a J.D. from the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a member of the Law Review. From 1970 until 1979, Jane practiced law with the Washington D.C. law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, becoming its first female partner in 1977. From 1979 to 1981, she served as General Counsel for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. She then returned to Steptoe & Johnson until 1986. She founded her own firm and developed a plaintiffs' practice. In 1989, she and Paul Sprenger joined their firms, becoming Sprenger + Lang.

BONNIE LePARD
Born and raised in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Bonnie made her way east to Wesleyan University in Connecticut where she got her B.A. in English.  After that, she did graduate studies at Oxford University before obtaining her J.D. from New York University School of Law.  Upon completing law school, Bonnie clerked in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for Judge Barrington D. Parker and Chief Judge Aubrey Robinson.  She entered the Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Justice, working in the Environmental Crimes Section.  After 20 federal criminal trials, Bonnie took a sabbatical to have children and practice law pro bono for several non-profit organizations.  She has served on several boards including Wesleyan University’s Board of Trustees (7 years), Lutheran Social Services Board (6 years; 3 as chair), Beauvoir Elementary School, and the Friends of Tregaron Foundation (President since 1997). 

Bonnie is married to Bruce Reed who was President Clinton’s Domestic Policy Advisor and is now CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council.  Bonnie and Bruce have two children, Julia and Nelson.  They all love living in Cleveland Park.

CLAYTON W. LEWIS
Head, Washington International School. Clayton Lewis has administered international schools for the last 27 years, most recently as director of the International School of Luxembourg, and formerly as high school principal at the American School in London and the American School of The Hague.  He holds a B.A. in history from Rhodes College, an M.S. in educational administration from the George Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University, and has completed advanced graduate studies focusing upon international school leadership at Boston University.  Mr. Lewis became head of Washington International School in August 2007 and is currently a member of the board of trustees of the European Council of International Schools. 

SUSAN LYNNER
Susan Lynner retired as a Senior Vice President in the Washington Research Office of Prudential Equity Group, LLC, in March 2007, following almost 20 years of service offering institutional investors a broad perspective on federal legislative, regulatory and judicial developments affecting individual companies and industries, chiefly in the fields of telecommunications and media.  Prior to her tenure with Prudential, Susan worked as a consultant on trade policy for Newmyer Associates and on technology transfer issues at the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration. Susan has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Allegheny College.
Susan bought her house on Newark Street in 1998, after living at Woodley Park Towers for ten years.  She served on the board of the Cleveland Park Historical Society from 2002 to 2007.  She edited the CPHS newsletter Voices from Fall 2002 through Spring/Summer 2006.  In addition to her work on Voices, Susan put her house on the CPHS October 2003 house tour and her garden on the CPHS May 2006 garden tour. 

Susan also serves on the board of Opera Lafayette, an American period-instrument ensemble based in Washington, DC, dedicated to performances of 17th- and 18th-century operas, particularly the French repertoire.

NANCY MacWOOD
Nancy is a Commissioner on DC’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C, which has strongly supported the creation of the Tregaron Conservancy and the preservation of the Tregaron landmark property.  She is the co-chair of the ANC Historic Preservation Committee and the Planning and Zoning Committee.  She has served on several city-wide task forces, including the DC Comprehensive Plan Revision Task Force, and she currently serves on the multi-year task force reviewing and revising the District's zoning code.  Nancy is a board member of the Rosedale Conservancy, which is also located in Cleveland Park, and a member of the Committee of 100.  She and her husband, Robert Brandon, and occasionally one or more of their three daughters, live in Cleveland Park.

GREGORY NEW
After attending Harvard, receiving his BA from George Washington University and his MLS from Emory University, Gregory had 53 years active service at the Library of Congress.  Recently retired, Gregory has become even more active in the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations.  In addition, Greg was in the US Army Infantry and the Army Reserve for nearly 10 years.  Very involved in the community, Gregory is a member of Cleveland Park Citizens Association (former president, too), Historical Society of Washington, Cleveland Park Historical Society, Capitol Hill Restoration Society, White County Historical Society, Friends of the National Zoo, and Friends of Cleveland Park Library.

Greg cares deeply about historical landmarks, citing his work with Sautee-Nacoochee Community Association, “a group that bought the building in which I went to elementary and high school.”  Greg established an endowment for its History Museum in Georgia.

JOHN WARD POOLE
John graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School.  He was a lawyer in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice for 42 years.  John and his wife Mary moved to Cleveland Park in 1968.  Their children attended the National Children’s Research Center (NCRC) and John Eaton Public Elementary School, both located in Cleveland Park.  Mary taught at the Washington International School, on the Tregaron grounds, for 23 years.  John was on the Board of NCRC and served a term as the School’s president of the board.  He has been involved with the Cleveland Park Historical Society (CPHS) since its inception.  John founded CPHS’ street tree planting program and the organization’s Tree Committee.  In addition, John has served over ten years on the CPHS Board and he is presently president of this historical society. 

BILL PRESTON
Bill is Director of Business and Operations at Washington International School. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Columbia University. He spent 11 years at Citibank in New York and Ohio. Most recently he was the Associate Head for Finance and Operations at Christ Church Episcopal School, a 1000-student school in Greenville, South Carolina. Bill is a native of Richmond and went to Episcopal High School in Alexandria. He is delighted to return to the area and is living with his wife Midge on Massachusetts Avenue. Their son and daughter are working in Vermont and California, respectively.

DENISE SCHLENER
Denise is the National Director of the Land Trust Alliance where she leads LTA’s programs that focus on strengthening land trusts.  Before coming to LTA, Denise was the Director of The Trust for Public Land’s Chesapeake and Central Appalachian Field Office.  Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Denise lived in Connecticut where she led the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy; created and directed a finance program for the Open Space Institute that supported landscape scale conservation purchases in northern New England and New York; and opened and led the Connecticut office of the Connecticut River Watershed Council.  She also served as the director of foundation relations for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York and director of development for environmental programs at Yale University.  She is a co-founder and former director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters and currently serves on the board of the Norcross Wildlife Foundation.  She has an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and a Masters of Forest Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

GREG SCHMIDT
Greg Schmidt moved to Washington DC from Denver, Colorado, in 1966, when he was 15 and graduated from Wilson High School in the District.  He then attended Swarthmore College, where he majored in economics and political science, and Stanford Law School.  Between college and law school, he worked as a general assignment reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune and after law school worked at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco as a court law clerk and Deputy Supervising Staff Attorney.  Returning to the District, he was a partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling specializing in media law and then worked at LIN Television Corporation most recently as Executive Vice President Digital Media.  He is now CEO of Speech Conversion Technologies, Inc., in Silver Spring MD, a company which is developing speech recognition and machine translation technologies.
He and his wife, Jennifer Lyman, a professor of clinical law and organizational development consultant, live in Chevy Chase DC. They have two children, Jordan, 24, and Owen, 22, both of whom graduated from the Washington International School (WIS).   Greg was on the Board at WIS for seven years, the last two as Chair.  

PAUL SPRENGER
Paul Sprenger is the founding partner of Sprenger + Lang and is now Of Counsel to the firm. He graduated from the University of Michigan School of Business Administration and received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.  Paul practiced law with the Minneapolis business/defense law firm of Johnson & Sands becoming a partner in 1970. Between 1965 and 1977, Paul focused on individual defense work and commercial class actions. He began to develop his current employment litigation specialty in 1973 and began his own firm which merged into Sprenger + Lang in 1989. Since 1977, the firm's primary focus has been employment discrimination class actions. Paul has always been a litigator, having tried several hundred cases involving extremely diverse subject matters and forums. He is currently involved in the litigation of the TV Writers' Cases.

Paul has served as lead counsel for many seminal fair employment class and multi-plaintiff actions, including the following: Rajender v. University of Minnesota, 546 F. Supp. 158 (D. Minn. 1982); Mabone v. Pillsbury Co., C.A. No. 4-89-386 (D. Minn.); Aburime v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., C.A. No. 3-89-402 (D. Minn.); In re Pepco Employment Litigation, C.A., No. 86-0603 (D.D.C.,); Henry v. Maytag Corporation, C.A. No. 92-C-417 (W. Va. Cir. Court): Hyman v. First Union, C.A. No. 94-1043 (D.D.C.); Jones v. Ford Motor Co., 95-MDL-1044 (D. Mich.); In re Burlington Northern Employment Practices Litigation, 810, F.2d 601 (7th Cir. 1987); Burns V. Control Data Corporation, C.A. No. 4-96-41 (D. Minn.); and Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite, Co., 130 F.3d 1287 (8th Cir. 1997). Over the past 20 years, he has spoken regularly at national, state and local continuing legal education courses across the country and prepared articles concerning trial of employment class actions and related topics.

CAREN WILCOX
Caren, a former Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association, currently operates her own consulting business, Caren Wilcox & Associates L.L.C. where she provides advisory services to clients on health, agriculture and food safety issues.  She has also served as a senior advisor to a Member of Congress, and was the first Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1997 to 2001. 

Prior to moving to Washington, DC, Wilcox spent almost 20 years with the Hershey Foods Corporation, based in Hershey, Pa., where she served as Director of Government Relations.  She holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a M.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.  Having grown up in a historic part of Philadelphia, and maintaining a long term interest in historic preservation, Ms. Wilcox has restored two early 20th century homes – one in Pennsylvania and one in Washington.

JAMES WHELAN WOHLGEMUTH
A native of Chicago, Jim Wohlgemuth has lived in Washington DC for over 26 years.    Jim began his professional career as a Marketing Representative for the E&J Gallo Winery in Denver, Colorado.  He then moved to Washington DC in 1983 and began working in the securities industry for Dean Witter Reynolds.  From 1987 to 2009 Jim was a Managing Director at Alex Brown and Sons and its successor companies.  He is currently a Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley in Washington DC.  Jim received his MBA from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Colorado State University.  Jim is a former coach and currently serves on the board of the Northwest Washington Little League.  He lives in Woodley Park with his wife, Caroline, and their four sons.