AOI's Leadership

The AOI Officers and Directors ~ 2023

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President: Dr. Cynthia (Cindy) Gueli
Cindy Gueli is a historian, author, and historical consultant for TV and film. Her academic teaching and research focuses on U.S. cultural, political, and women’s history with an emphasis on Washington, D.C. Her book Lipstick Brigade: The Untold True Story of Washington's World War II Government Girls has been optioned for television. Cindy holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and a master's in Communications and master's and Ph.D. in History from American University. Her family connections to D.C. go back several generations: her great-grandfather worked as a stonemason on the National Cathedral; grandmother graduated from Providence Hospital Nursing School; and father coordinated PADC development activity on projects such as the Willard Hotel (at which Cindy later created its history exhibit) and Old Post Office Pavilion.

Vice-President: John Edwards
John Edwards is a native Washingtonian, with roots in Georgetown back to the 1820s, including a great-grandfather member of AOI. A product of Montgomery County public schools, he holds a degree in history & political science from UVa and an M. Arch from U Md., and is currently a principal with Bonstra Haresign Architects in the Shaw/U Street neighborhood, where his work includes multi-family housing, institutional and commercial projects with a focus on sustainable design. A longtime resident of Capitol Hill with his husband and son, he has been active over the years with Whitman-Walker Clinic, Washington Architectural Foundation, Capitol Hill Community Foundation, St. Mark’s Church Capitol Hill, AIA/DC, Capitol Hill Cluster School, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and the National Architectural Accrediting Board.

Secretary: Ric Marino

Treasurer: Carolyn Michell
Carolyn Chapman Michell is a second-generation native Washingtonian. She was educated in D.C. public schools, studied economics at American University, and earned an M.A. in economics at the University of Maryland. Besides working in the field of economics in D.C., Carolyn has served on the board of local civic organizations. She is a Deacon at Northminster Presbyterian Church in D.C., which she grew up attending. She became involved in AOI leadership at the encouragement of her late father, former AOI member Clinton Chapman, to continue the legacy of her late mother and father's commitment to civic engagement and historic preservation in Washington, D.C. Carolyn is married to Dr. Antonio Michell, and they have two children, Cara, a professor at Northeastern University, and Alex, an actor.

Historian: Nelson Rimensnyder
Nelson Rimensnyder began his career with the Congressional Research Service in 1971 soon after arriving in Washington. There, he was assigned to work with the House Committee on the District of Columbia as it began writing legislation providing Home Rule to the District of Columbia for the first time in 100 years. Following enactment of this landmark law, Nelson was hired by Chairman Charles Diggs to serve as Director of Research for the Committee. Since retiring, Nelson has continued civic activism and advocacy in Washington on behalf of voting representation in Congress, historic preservation, and local government issues. He is currently cataloguing his unique collection of books, documents, government reports, and political memorabilia comprising the New Columbia Archives to prepare for their acquisition by the DC History Center.

Director: Kimberly Bender
Kimberly Bender is a cultural administrator and public historian who reinterprets established narratives. Over the last decade, she has transformed the Heurich House Museum into a vibrant and inclusive space that explores (im)migration, labor, and the American experience. Key to Ms. Bender’s work is her background as an attorney, which has not only helped her reinvent organizations, but assists in her DC history research. Her public history work currently focuses on the “lost” Chevy Chase neighborhood of Belmont and DC education leader, Myrtilla Miner. Kim is a current appointee of the DC Council’s Archives Advisory Group, and founder of the DC Archives Advocates, and is working to get a new purpose-built state archives for the District of Columbia.

Director: Ned Rich
Ned Rich is a fifth-generation Washingtonian who grew up in NW DC. His family ran a business called Rich’s Shoes from 1869 until 1987. His father Frank Rich Sr. was very involved in DC politics which influenced Ned’s love for the city.
Ned graduated from Lehigh University with a B.A. in History in 1985 and soon thereafter chose real estate as his profession. Active in the Realtor Community, Ned has served on the Board of Directors for the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR), GCAAR’s Education Committee, GCAAR’s Professional Standards Committee, MRIS’s SAC Committee and GCAAR’s RPAC Committee. As an instructor for GCAAR, Ned teaches numerous courses to real estate agents including Professional Standards, The National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics, and DC Fair Housing.
Ned has two children and 2 grandchildren who live in the DC area. By summer you might find Ned on his boat in the Chesapeake Bay, and in winter you will find him on the slopes skiing.

Director: Marcia Rock
Marcia Nestingen Rock has lived most of her life in Washington since her family moved here during the Kennedy administration. She has a career in global health and has served on mission in several countries in South Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Her civic engagement includes serving as a school board member, a Sunday school teacher, a therapy horseback riding counselor and hospice volunteer. She conducts an ongoing book drive to stock little libraries in low-income neighborhoods. Marcia currently works in education at Rosemount Center in Mt. Pleasant. She and her husband, also a member of AOI, have two daughters and live in the Crestwood neighborhood.

Director: Gary Scott
Gary Scott came to Washington DC in 1971 to work as research assistant to the Clerk of the Works at Washington Cathedral, doing research for stone carvers and stained-glass artists in iconography for the building of the cathedral. In 1975 he volunteered for the Jimmy Carter Presidential campaign, attending the Democratic National Convention, and serving in the presidential transition in the Interior Department. He began a 34-year career in the National Park Service, first in the inventory of historic buildings, then as historian, National Capital Region, finally as Regional Historian, National Capital Region, working with National Parks in Washington DC and surrounding counties, the national monuments and memorials, and Civil War battlefields. He served for 30 years as bus tour leader for the Smithsonian Resident Associates, leading tours to historic sites and houses DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, and West Virginia. For 20 years he served on the planning committee of the DC Conference of Historical Studies. He brought into public view the Clara Barton Civil War Apartment and helped it get established as a museum in downtown Washington, DC. He did restoration work on the House Where Lincoln Died across from Ford's Theater and the Pry House Federal Headquarters at Antietam National Battlefield. He retired in 2012 and is a member of the Cosmos Club.

Director: Sherri Sewell
Sherri Sewall is a 5th generation Washingtonian who grew up in Southeast Washington, DC and currently lives in N.W. She attended D.C. Public Schools and during her junior year at H. D. Woodson Sr. High school, was accepted into the Hi-Skip program and attended The University of the District of Columbia during her senior year. She graduated from U.D.C. with a bachelor’s in business management and immediately began to take courses to become a certified educator in D.C. Public Schools. She trained Customer Service Representatives at Blue Cross Blue Shield of the National Capital Area while simultaneously gaining her teaching credentials in Washington, DC. In April of 1991, she began teaching in D.C. Public Schools and has had the honor of educating children for the past thirty-two years in D.C., Roanoke, Virginia, and Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Her great grandfather George T. Sewall, MD helped to start AOI for colored residents along with Jerome A. Johnson who was married to George’s sister, her Great Aunt Glovina Sewall Johnson.
Her great-great grandfather John Bond Blake was a past president of AOI and according to family lore, was the father of all 7 of her great-great grandmother Caroline Sewall’s children. She says, “I am honored to be a part of the Board of AOI and will undertake this mission with determination and pleasure.”

Past-President: William N. (Bill) Brown
Bill Brown is a 5-generation Washingtonian, a product of the DC Public Schools, and was graduated from American University with Ba's in Television/Film and Psychology. After serving as Program Director for WAMU-FM in the mid-70's he spent the next 26 years in law enforcement rising to the rank of Deputy Chief of Police for Fairfax County. Upon retirement he was a seasonal interpretive Park Ranger for the C&O Canal National Historical Park until the demise of The Georgetown canal boat in 2011. He has served as a trustee for the Historical Society of DC and continues to sit on the, now, DC History Center’s Collections Committee. He served for twenty years as President of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia from 1999 to 2019. He currently serves as a Past-President of the organization.

Past-President: Jan A. K. Evans
Jan Evans is the granddaughter of renowned District brewer Christian Heurich; she spent her early years living the Heurich Mansion at 1307 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. She was for many years a US "Diplomatic" daughter and wife serving overseas in Japan and Cuba. Jan was not only the first female member of the AOI of DC but was elected the organization's first woman President in 2019.

Past-President: Thomas H. Neale
A native of Auburn, New York, Tom Neale came to Washington in 1965 as a student at Georgetown University. In 1971, he joined the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, where he serves as a specialist in American National Government; his portfolio includes constitutional history and theory, the presidential election process, and Washington D.C. history. Always a history “buff,” Tom developed a strong interest in “the city beyond the monuments”: Washington’s natural and built environment, its people and institutions, and their history. He served on the AOI Board of Directors beginning in 2016, and as President from 2020 to 2022. During his tenure, Tom assisted the Board in coping with the impact of the covid epidemic on the Association, and in implementing measures to sustain and reinvigorate AOI. He lives in Glover Park, on land that was once part of Henry Kengla’s farm.

AOI's Official Mascot: Mazzy Springman-Marino
Mazzy attends all Board and regular luncheon meetings and is always attuned to disruptions, disorder or unwelcomed behavior... when she is awake.