Lisa Martin has over 25 years of experience working with arts and cultural organizations on both US coasts, as well as across Europe. Lisa has served as Executive Director of Silver Spring Town Center Inc, a non-profit, since November 2011. As the first Executive Director of SSTCi, she has oversight of over 120 ongoing SSTCi programs and events that take place throughout the year in Downtown Silver Spring, including the annual Silver Spring Blues Festival. She has also worked in research and evaluation for museums, galleries, science centers and historic sites. 

Lisa is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer having served as an English Teacher in the village of Loo (LOW)--10km, from the Estonian capital of Tallinn. In the early 2000's, she served as the NPCA Events Chair for the Peace Corps' 40th (and rescheduled 40 1) anniversary celebrations. In 2005, she served as a Crisis Corps Volunteer on Rita/Katrina Relief. She has served on boards related to international development and cultural exchange, including the international board of directors of Partners of the Americas and its DC Chapter, as well as with Peace Corps alumni groups, including as president of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington DC and Friends of the Baltics. In 2013, as part of a Partners of the Americas cultural exchange, she traveled to Brasilia, Brazil on an Education and Culture Program travel grant sponsored by the US State Department. As part of this exchange, she gave several presentations entitled Community Building Through the Arts in Public Spaces, which details her work in creative placemaking.

She has a Master's Degree in Arts Management from American University, a BS in Cultural Anthropology and BA in Journalism from San Diego State University, as well as an Executive Certificate in Facilitation from the Institute of Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University. Lisa is recipient of the 2016 Montgomery County Executive's Award for Excellence in the Arts & Humanities for Community Leadership, and is a member of the 2017 Core Class of Leadership Montgomery.

Like many RPCVs, Lisa is an avid traveler and learner of languages. In her spare time, she also enjoys festivals, museums, music, film, theater, comedy writing, doing art (encaustic, mosaics, mixed media & collage), and singing in two choirs, including the Washington International Chorus and the Baltimore Washington Estonian Choir.

A Native San Diegan, Lisa has called DC home since 1999. She lives in Foggy Bottom with her partner Towfik who is originally from Bangladesh.

Peace Corps Staff - Washington, DCl

Rachel Howard was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central Highland Andean region of Ecuador in 2004-2006 (Rural Public Health). As a Peace Corps volunteer, Rachel taught health education and English in her village schools, worked with the health care providers on vaccination campaigns, secured small business grant funding for the local youth group to start a small business in the community and learned to speak the local language, Quichua.

Her hobbies include: gardening, designing and implementing home improvement projects with her husband, Jorge, enjoying the local outdoors, and travel-especially to Latin America.  

She loves learning and teaching languages (currently trying to maintain her Quichua and learn Portuguese)  She and Jorge run a weekly Spanish/English language exchange group and they enjoy attending language exchange groups in the DC area.

Rachel is an elementary ESOL teacher in Silver Spring, MD-she was inspired to become an educator as a result of her Peace Corps experiences. She loves teaching first and second-generation immigrant children, often shares her Peace Corps experiences with her students and encourages her students to maintain their home language while learning English. 

RPCV   Community Development - Nepal  1983-86

RPCV Ethiopia 1966 - 1968, teaching mathematics to 7th, 8th and 9th grade. 

30 year career in information systems development as a developer and manager with AT&T. 

Erica Brouillette served in Armenia (2007-2009) and is also a Rotarian, active in both Peace Corps affiliate groups and Rotary International. She serves as the Community Service Director with NOVA RPCV and a Past President of Falls Church Rotary – currently the Area Governor for Area 10 with District 7610. 

Erica is passionate about the Rotary-Peace Corps Partnership and opportunities available to leverage this partnership.  Check out Partnering for Peace at partneringforpeace.org to learn more!  She is also a member of Partnering for Peace and Peace Corps Community for Refugees.

She has a BA in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. In addition to working full time in a requirements-based writing role, on a part-time basis, she is pursuing her MA in Global Affairs with a concentration in Global Culture & Society, expecting to graduate May 2021. She also enjoys volunteering with local charitable organizations.

RPCV Paraguay (2000-2002)

Elaine has served on the NOVA RPCV Board since 2018. Currently, she volunteers as the Social Events Chair planning different social events for the group. Recently, in 2021, she helped to plan a wreath laying ceremony and reception for the 60th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. She has also planned hiking, biking, and kayaking excursions, happy hours, and cultural events for the group. 

Apart from her volunteer work on the board, Elaine works full time teaching English learners. She has taught for 18 years at the elementary and middle school levels as well as at the post secondary level at Northern Virginia Community College.  

Elaine served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay over 20 years ago but she still remembers her experience well. She worked in a rural village outside ot General Aquino in the district of San Pedro. Her primary job was working with small farmers and teaching them about crop diversification and soil conservation techniques. Her secondary jobs teaching health topics at the elementary schools and teaching English at the high school later inspired her to become a teacher.

Elaine is happy to be part of the Returned Peace Corps Community and volunteer and help when she can. She has supported the Oral History Project and will continue to create social events for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. 

Don Boileau served in Seoul, South Korea for the two calendar years 1968-69.   He was in a TESOL program.  Besides his day job teaching English at a government training institute, Don did English classes for the Korean Department of Forestry's Director, Associate Director, and Financial Officer to help them prepare for a trip to New Zealand for purchasing trees for Korea's reforestation project.  He used his Peace Corps experience to coordinate with another PCV the settlement of 30 Cambodian refugees in Mt. Pleasant, MI.   While at Central Michigan University he attended the first national conference on intercultural communication where he worked on developing a model syllabus for that course.  For 27 years he taught at George Mason University, where his favorite course to teach was intercultural communication.  

RPCV Togo (1995-8)

Safe motherhood & child survival.

Volunteer with Volunteer Fairfax, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County Park Authority Invasive Management Area, Girl Scouts, Scouts BSA, Leave No Trace, Fairfax ReLeaf, Clean Fairfax.

Doctor of Public Health focused on maternal, newborn & child health in lower & middle income countries.