Local
Comings & Goings
Engles named managing director at Accenture for Metro D.C.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Eddie Engles, who was appointed Accenture Office Managing Director for Metro D.C., covering Baltimore to Richmond. He takes over the role from Marty Rodgers, who led Accenture in Metro D.C., and will continue to lead Accenture in the South as he has since 2019.
“I am proud to pass the torch to Ed and know that our people in Metro D.C. will be in great hands,” said Rodgers. “He is a purposeful, compassionate leader with a deep understanding of our people, our business, and our community. Ed will take Accenture’s impact and presence in the District, Baltimore, and Richmond, to new heights.”
Upon accepting the position, Engles said, “I am honored to take on the role of Office Managing Director in Metro D.C. I look forward to continuing the great work done by Marty Rodgers, and further strengthening our ties with the community and our clients. We are committed to bringing the best of Accenture’s global capabilities to the capital region and contributing to its growth and prosperity.”
Engles has spent his career with Accenture. He has a wealth of experience and a record of leadership. Prior to this he led the North America Service Practice for Accenture Song, overseeing a team of more than 500 experts across advisory, technology, creative, and data and AI domains. Under his leadership, his teams have driven substantial growth and innovation in customer experience, sales, service, commerce, marketing, and business innovation. He will continue this role in addition to his new job.
Engles is active in the community serving on local nonprofit boards, and volunteering in the community both with Accenture and on his own. He acts as the executive sponsor for Accenture’s work on the 11th Street Bridge project, which aims to launch and support local and minority-owned small and medium businesses in a mobile kiosk at the 11th Street Bridge Park, linking the Anacostia and Navy Yard communities.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Loyola University.
Congratulations also to Mary E. Anderson JD, MPA, on her new position as a team member with Penchina Partners in D.C. Daniel Penchina founder and president of Penchina Partners said, “Penchina Partners is thrilled to have Mary join our team. Her depth of experience with non-profit, social justice, and governmental organizations is a perfect addition to our strategic team.”
On joining the group she said, “I’m very impressed with how Penchina Partners leads with strategy in support of its clients. I’m excited to work with a group of like-minded nonprofit and strategy leaders who share my values of collaboration, curiosity, deep passion for social change, mission-driven service, and of course, a sense of humor.”
Anderson has had an impressive career. She recently served as Chicago Director, AARP. Prior to that she was Managing Director, Mission + Strategy Consulting, in Chicago. She served as executive director of Stand for Children in Chicago. Her legal career includes serving as senior adviser in the Office of the Attorney General, State of Illinois; senior litigation associate with Goldberg Kohn Bell Black Rosenbloom & Moritz; and deputy inspector general for policy and legislative affairs, Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies, Illinois governor.
She has her bachelor’s degree in political science from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa.; an MPA, Certificate in Urban and Regional Planning, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.; and her JD, cum laude, New York University School of Law, New York, N.Y.
Virginia
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Upwards of 30,000 people attended PrideFest in Norfolk on June 22
Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.
Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June.
Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk.
PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.
Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.
“You know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,” Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.
“It was a great year,” he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.”
State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond.
Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.
The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state.
Baltimore
Baltimore street named in honor of trans activist
Iya Dammons is founder of support groups Safe Haven in Baltimore, D.C.
Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.
A section of Baltimore’s 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.
The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.
A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women “navigating survival mode” living.
“Through compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,” the statement says. “Our programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,” it says.
Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.
“This is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,” a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. “Iya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,” it says. “This honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.”
Baltimore
Despite record crowds, Baltimore Pride’s LGBTQ critics say organizers dropped the ball
People on social media expressed concern about block party stampede
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | This year’s Baltimore Pride Week attracted 150,000 people — record attendance that far exceeded initial projections of 100,000.
But some see room for improvement and want organizers to address safety issues and make changes so the annual event that celebrates the LGBTQ population is better run.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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