Maddie Ferrucci, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, received her B.A. from Bowdoin College, where she double majored in classics and government and legal studies and played field hockey (All-American, Division III Senior Team, two time All-Region and All-NESCAC). She received her M.S. in management and leadership from the Busch School of Business at Catholic University, where she was assistant field hockey coach. She previously worked in marketing and fundraising for the Maine Celtics (an NBA G League team) and as an intern with the Orleans Firebirds, part of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Bernie Fitzsimmons, Development Coordinator, previously held the roles of development director at House of Mercy in Manassas, Va, associate director of development for the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., development operations manager at New Jersey Audubon, and director of alumni relations at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Md. Fitzsimmons, who received his B.A. in history from the University of Montana, also completed educational coursework at the University of New South Wales and participated in a National Outdoor Leadership School program, hiking 130 miles in the Central Alaska Range.

Randall W. Frye joins our coordinate music program as Associate Director of the Upper School choral music and Director of the Form I and II chorus. He previously directed multiple school choirs at the Canton Area Junior-Senior High School in Pennsylvania and Liberty Memorial Central Middle School in Lawrence, Kans., where he was also principal organist at the First Presbyterian Church. Frye received his B.S. in music education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his master’s of music in vocal performance from Kansas State University.

A part-time bus driver and a member of the operations team, Bernard Fuller previously drove buses for the French International School, the British International School, Prince George’s County Schools, and Abe Transportation. He also drove trucks for People’s Supply and DBI Services and worked as a supervisor at Pittsburgh Auto Glass. Fuller, whose skills include auto repair, welding, and carpentry, studied at the Woodstock Job Corp Center in Baltimore.

Darcy Gallagher joined the Communications Office as a Content Developer. She previously managed social media for the startup company Rituil and for the marketing agency Industria Creative. Gallagher received her B.S. in journalism from Boston University, where she was editor in chief of BU Buzz, a campus lifestyle magazine. She is the author of Tiny Poems: Butterfly Keeper, a collection of poems.

Our new Admissions Coordinator, Jeanne A. Gilroy comes to St. Albans from the U.S. Department of Education, where she served as director of the Office of Communications and Outreach, as associate director of the Office of Chief Financial Officer, and as team lead of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. With a B.S. in accounting from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Gilroy began her career as an auditor at the firm of Arthur Anderson/Ernst & Young.

Organist and pianist Sherry T. Graveson joins us as a part-time Accompanist. Graveson holds two bachelor’s in music from West Virginia University, one in organ performance and the other in education; she also studied organ at the Peabody Conservatory. Graveson is an accompanist at several area schools, including St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes, Bishop Ireton, Hayfield Secondary, George Washington Middle School, and Flint Hill, and she is an organist at area churches, including Immanuel Lutheran Church and the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, Va.

Renee Henderson joins us as our Front-desk Receptionist. Henderson has a long career in concierge services and security, most recently working for Homeland Protection Services in McLean, Va. Other past employers include the Washington Plaza Hotel and the American Council on Education in D.C. Henderson is licensed with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice System and certified as class D security in Virginia. 

Carolyn Higgins joins us as Director of Annual Giving. She previously worked as Manager of Leadership Gifts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and as senior membership manager at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Higgins received her B.A. (summa cum laude) in art history, with a minor in museum studies, from the University of Mary Washington.

A 2019 St. Albans graduate, Edward L. Karppi returns to campus as an Upper School math teacher and coach. Karppi received his B.A. in mathematics from Northwestern and his M.Ed. in secondary mathematics teaching from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. He served as a mathematics teaching assistant while an undergraduate at Northwestern and has since taught at the Hume-Fogg Academic High School, Mathnasium, and Northfield Mount Hermon.

Our forty-fourth Writer in Residence, W. Emmett Knowlton, received his M.F.A. in fiction from the University of Montana and his B.A. in English from Amherst College, which honored him with prizes for excellence in fiction and journalism. His stories have been published in Southern Humanities Review, Writer’s Digest, MAYDAY Magazine, and The Masters Review, and have garnered many honors, including first place in Writer’s Digest’s “Short Short” Story Contest, honorable mention in the Merriam-Frontier Prize, and a University of Montana 2022 Pushcart Prize nomination. He also received a Sports Emmy Award as associate producer of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Knowlton previously taught writing at the Interlochen Arts Academy and as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Montana.

Caitlin Lane joined the Development Office as event planner and office manager. Lane attended Washington & Lee University, where she received a B.A. in psychology and was a four-year member of the equestrian team and was inducted into their Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023. Lane has more than ten years of event operations experience, many of those years focusing on equestrian events held in the U.S. and internationally, and she has worked on many major championship events, including the Tokyo Olympic Games and Pan American Games in Lima.

Veronique MacRae, a long-term substitute at St. Albans, has been named Co-Director of our coordinate theater program, teaching drama classes and directing performances for Forms I through VI. MacRae received her B.A. in theater from North Carolina Central University and her M.A. in Christian studies (performance and religion) from Duke Divinity School and is pursuing a master’s in social work from Catholic University. MacRae is the founder of Stage and Spirit, a nonprofit arts organization in D.C. integrating creative expression with social-emotional wellness and community healing, and of the VMJ Arts Collective in Brooklyn and Durham, N.C. She previously taught at KIPP Academy in Charlotte, N.C., the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Digital Pioneers Academy, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes, and the Fletcher’s Academy.

Michael McMullan joined the Lower School StartSmart last spring as our “front line” leader, monitoring pick-up at Pilgrim Road. McMullan’s background is in media, and he has extensive experience as a media professional working for CNN, Maryland Public Television, Bloomberg Television, and WBEC radio in Massachusetts. He graduated from West Virginia University alumnus with a bachelor’s in journalism.

Beth Nusman, incoming director of development services, comes to St. Albans from the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee in Florida, where she served as director of development operations. She previously worked as database administrator for the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation for two decades and as a database coordinator for the Ringling Museum of Art. Nusman received her B.A. in international studies from the University of South Florida.

Matthew H. Rawson, a 2007 graduate of St. Albans, has joined the Development Office as a Leadership and Legacy Giving Officer. Rawson comes to St. Albans from St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, where he was Associate Director of Admissions. He previously worked in admissions at the Middlesex School and at Phillips Exeter Academy. Rawson received his B.A. in history and English from Amherst College, where he played varsity football (All-Academic, All-League, and All-Region) and lacrosse. He received his master’s in education policy and management from Harvard University and his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Rimpi Saini joins the Business Office team as receivables and revenue accountant. Saini has worked in independent schools for the past two decades, first at the Madeira School and then Washington International School. Her expertise with a wide variety of systems and accounting principles has served her as she has grown her scope of financial responsibilities. Her early career involved finance work within the banking and real estate industries. 

Rachel Jarvis Shah joins the Development Office as Director of Leadership and Legacy Giving. Shah previously served as Chief Advancement Officer at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, where she oversaw the Saints’ largest philanthropic campaign to date, and as assistant vice president for development, principal gifts, at George Washington University. She also worked in fundraising for George Mason University, B.U.I.L.D., and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Shah received her B.A. in political science and her M.B.A. from George Washington University.

Nate Stone joins St. Albans as a Building Technician after supporting the PECF Grounds Team as Athletic Turf Specialist and performing horticultural work in ornamental beds across the Close. Stone, who is working on his degree in landscape architecture and design, previously worked in the maintenance department at Washington Adventist University. 

Lili Sundberg, who served last summer as a residential faculty member at the School of Public Service, has returned to work year-round as the program’s coordinator. Sundberg graduated in 2024 from Emory University, where she studied English and creative writing. She previously worked as a social media fellow for Emory, as a marketing intern for the literary journal Ploughshares and for the Georgia Review, and as an associate editor at the Adirondack Review.

Allison Taylor joined St. Albans in March as the Executive Assistant to the headmaster. Taylor previously served as executive assistant and chief of staff to senior leadership at the Institute for Defense Analyses and as executive assistant to the rector at Christ Church in Alexandria, Va. Taylor received an M.A. in French from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in French from Sewanee, the University of the South.

Megan Tribble joined us last school year as a Consulting Reading Specialist in the Lower School. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Pennsylvania and an additional master’s in reading from the University of Virginia. With teaching experience in Costa Rica, Fairfax County Public Schools, and NYC, she most recently served as an English acquisition teacher at Lafayette Elementary and trained teachers at the DC Reading Clinic. Tribble is certified by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction and the International Dyslexia Association; she serves on the Board of Directors for the Reading League - DC Chapter.

Kevin Walker transitions from working on our campus as a contract employee with Lincoln Property Company to becoming full-time building engineer. Walker received his education at Mount Vernon High School and previously worked at Capitol Boiler Works, RCD Inc. Electrical, and AGW & Associates, and he owned and operated a small business. Walker is highly credentialed through the National Association of Power Engineers in air conditioning, principles of electricity, low pressure boilers, and high pressure boilers, and is licensed as a DC3rd steam engineer.

We are delighted to welcome back to the Close Kenya Waugh, who joins St. Albans as a part-time auxiliary assistant. A second-generation alumna of NCS and former assistant enrollment director for her alma mater, Waugh most recently worked as an independent consultant on digital campaigns and data-driven storytelling for a number of local D.C. businesses. Waugh graduated from Hampton University and is pursuing her M.S. in marketing analytics from American University.

Upper School Spanish teacher and coach Gordon Winn has tutored English in Madrid and Spanish in the U.S. and has taught Spanish at St. Catherine’s School, Episcopal High School, and North Cross School. He recently launched a boutique travel service, the Sol of Spain, in Madrid, and previously served as a developer’s representative in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Winn earned his B.A. in Spanish from the University of Richmond and his M.A. in Spanish language from Middlebury College.

Victoria T. Dawson, who taught English at St. Albans for more than a decade, returns as a substitute English and religion teacher. After graduating from Catholic University with a B.A. in English, Dawson began her career as a reporter and editor for The Washington Post and The Times Picayune. She then pursued a career in the classroom, teaching at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, and Washington Latin Public Charter School before coming to St. Albans. In recent years, she has worked as a writing specialist at Green Apple College Guidance and Education.

David A. Hla, a member of the St. Albans Class of 2020, will be filling in this fall as a Form A math and homeroom teacher and in the spring as an Upper School math teacher. Hla received his B.S. in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. He has served as a computer science course assistant, taught rock climbing, and tutored high school and college students in science, math, economics, and SAT-ACT prep. Hla was runner up in Johns Hopkins’ HopHacks Hackathon—an annual contest where hundreds of college students race to design software or hardware applications.

Last June, we celebrated Peter Kelley at his retirement, yet we will soon be welcoming him back as he has agreed to substitute in the Upper School Math Department in spring 2026, teaching AP Calculus AB. Kelley, who received his B.S.E. from Princeton University before serving in the Navy, started teaching math at St. Albans in 1983 and became Upper School academic dean in 2013. During his tenure, Kelley also chaired the Math Department, represented the faculty on the Governing Board, served as associate director of college counseling and director of the Summer School, and mentored the Upper School Math and It’s Academic teams.

Zachary R. Petersen joins us as a year-long substitute Upper School English teacher. Petersen received his B.A. in history and music from Gettysburg College and M.A. in English literature from George Mason University. He previously taught at the National Cathedral School, American University, Connelly School of the Holy Child (where he chaired the English Department), St. John’s Catholic Preparatory School (where he also chaired the English Department and the senior class voted him the most inspirational teacher), Montgomery College, George Mason, and Northern Virginia Community College.

Mary Somerville will be substituting as an Upper School Latin and Greek teacher. Somerville previously taught at Stratford Academy, the University of Pennsylvania, and Bryn Mawr College, where she received her M.A. and is pursuing her Ph.D. in Greek, Latin and Classical Studies. She received her B.A. in Latin (summa cum laude) from Wake Forest University.