AOI's Recent Past Leaders
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Immediate Past-Director: Sherri Sewell - 2023-2025
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.” |
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Past-Director: Ned Rich 2022-2023*
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.
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.
Past-Director: Marcia Rock 2022-2023*
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.
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.
Past-Director: Barbara Hopkins - 2022*
*Barbara Hopkinson, Ned Rich and Marcia Rock were instrumental by stepping up and serving during the years that the AOI was emerging from the pandemic and transitioning to new leadership. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their help.
Past-President: Thomas H. Neale (Deceased 12/23/2023) - 2020-2022
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.
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.
Past-Treasurer: Hulit Pressley Taylor - 2006-2021
Past-Secretary: John P. Richardson - 2014-2021; Vice-President 2012-2013
Past Director: Barbara Bates - 2017-2021
Past-Director: Carl Cole - 2005-2021
Past-Director: Jessica Hodge - 2014-2021
Past-Director: Margaret Hobbs - 2014-2022
AOI new Board post Covid-19 Pandemic at the Woman's National Democratic Club. Sept. 2021
AOI Board Meeting at Annunciation Church Hall during Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020. July 13, 2020
AOI Board at the Heurich House in Sept. 2014.
L-R: Jan Evans, Damon Cordom, Gary Scott, Cindy Janke, John Richardson, Jessica Hodge, Maggie Hobbs, Hulit Taylor, Nelson Rimensnyder & Bill Brown.
And... if you reach way back in time, this is what the AOI Board looked like in 1868!