Catherine Kahl Linskey '09, President

Catherine grew up in Alexandria, VA and was a lifer at Potomac, as was her younger brother, Cameron ’12. After Potomac, Catherine attended Colby College, where she earned her degree in International Studies and was a member of the Colby Women’s Lacrosse team. Currently, Catherine works in for Global Impact, a nonprofit consulting group focusing specifically on corporate social responsibility, disaster relief, and employee assistance programming.

Catherine and her husband, Mike, live in Old Town Alexandria. Over the last year, Catherine has also served as a Vestry Member at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Old Town, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the St. Paul's Episcopal Preschool. 

Meaghan Kiernan Sparkman '05, Vice President

Meaghan attended Potomac from the ninth through the twelfth grades and has strong family ties to the school. She met her husband, Charles Sparkman ’05 at Potomac, and her sisters, Kathleen Kiernan Harnden ’00 and Cara Kiernan Fallon '03 and sister-in-law, Paige Sparkman Goodwin ’02 are all alumnae. In addition, her eldest son, Charlie is currently a second grader at Potomac.

Meaghan leads Ready-to-Drink Beverages at Nestlé USA as the General Manager & Marketing Director. Prior to this, she served in various marketing, sales, and strategy roles in addition to acting as Chief of Staff for two CEOs.

Following Potomac, Meaghan graduated with her B.A. from Wake Forest University, M.A. from the University of Virginia, and M.B.A. from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. She resides in Falls Church, VA with Charles and their two young boys.
 

Lauren Wackerle '12, Secretary

Lauren grew up in Arlington, Virginia and attended Potomac from the seventh through the twelfth grades. Following Potomac, she majored in Political Science and graduated from Yale with distinction in 2016.

While attending Yale, Lauren was a four-year member of the Women’s Varsity Lacrosse team, served seven semesters as an editor for the Yale Historical Review, and completed summer internships in the US Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committee. After graduation, Lauren worked for Morgan Stanley in New York in the Global Capital Markets division, and enjoyed volunteering as President of the company’s Fresh Air Fund in NYC. She returned to the DC area and is currently a Vice President in the Financial Sponsors and Leveraged Finance group at MidCap Financial.

Lauren continues to enhance her alumni relationships and community involvement as a Board Member for the Yale Club of DC and is excited for the opportunity to engage with many former Potomac classmates and graduates as an enthusiastic member of the AGC!

Michael Amann '04

Mike graduated from Potomac in 2004 and was the graduation speaker for his class. He grew up in McLean, VA and was a Potomac lifer along with his older sister, Stephanie Amann Kapsis ’01. After Potomac, Mike earned a B.B.A. from The George Washington University and was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.

Today, Mike is a Principal at Commerce Properties, specializing in the acquisition, management and leasing of industrial and retail real estate in the DC area. Commerce Properties is an owner/operator with expertise in the development and management of large facilities and provides security personnel and superintendents.

Mike lives in Arlington, VA with his wife, Alison and their two children, Thomas (Tommy) and Abigail (Abby). Mike’s closest friends remain his friends from his years at Potomac, and he looks forward to contributing to the Potomac community as a member of the AGC.
 

Shannon Gopaul Balser '01

Shannon grew up in Washington, DC and attended Potomac along with her brothers, Spencer '08 and Brandon '05.  After Potomac, she graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Economics and American Studies and a Master's in Public Health from Howard University.

Shannon serves as the Chronic Disease Division Chief for the DC Department of Health and oversees program strategy, development, and implementation. She also serves as the Chronic Disease Director for the District of Columbia. Shannon has over a decade of experience managing, implementing, and supporting clinical research in chronic and infectious diseases in Washington, DC and the surrounding metropolitan area.
 
Within the fields of clinical research and public health program management, Shannon has extensive experience in community engagement and addressing health disparities. Her passion for public health has been deeply rooted in addressing the needs of the underserved, from measuring the impact of the HIV pandemic on seasonal workers in Mozambique to the health inequities that plague the residents of DC’s Wards 7 and 8.

Shannon lives in DC with her husband, her daughter who is a first grader at Potomac, and newborn son.

Hamilton Brooks '18

Hamilton grew up in Lake Ridge, VA and attended Potomac from the fifth through the twelfth grades. He was a part of Student Government, serving as Potomac's Student Body President for the 2017-2018 school year. A graduate of New York University, Hamilton majored in History with additional minors in Sociology and Social Cultural Analysis.

He served as Field Director at Generation Vote NYU, the only student-led voting rights organization serving NYU's 27,000 undergraduate students. Hamilton also led social mobilization efforts for the 2020 election looking to raise student turnout from 49 percent to at least 55 percent. An Institute for Responsible Citizenship scholar - the premier fellowship for African-American men in higher education - he has interned with the NAACP, the ACLU, and a number of other social justice organizations. Hamilton plans to pursue a J.D./Ph.D. dual-degree and aspires to become a college professor and voting-rights organizer. 

Mariah Chappell '12

Mariah grew up in McLean, VA right up the street from campus and graduated from Potomac in 2012 as a lifer. Her three sisters Lele '07, Lissie '09, and Helena '14 also attended Potomac. Mariah earned a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Art History from Santa Clara University where she also served on the philanthropy committee of her sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Mariah is currently a creative executive at the Academy Award-winning production company Story Force Entertainment (credits include Spotlight and LuLaRich) where she runs development for the company’s scripted and unscripted projects. She was most recently an associate producer on her company’s latest docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets streaming on Amazon Prime Video. She previously worked at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles and at New Leaf Literary & Media in New York City.

Stephanie Croghan '07

Stephanie grew up in McLean, Virginia and joined Potomac in high school. Following Potomac, she attended Boston University where she played soccer for the Terriers and majored in Communications.

After graduation, Stephanie moved back to the DC area and has been working as a commercial real estate broker at JLL for the past 10 years. She is also a member of the Tysons Partnership, helping to build community and grow the Tysons area. Stephanie’s passion project has always been working with animal rescues in the area. In her free time, she loves fostering dogs, spending time with her two pit bulls, boxing, and traveling. 

Brendan Dwyer '15

Brendan grew up in Arlington, VA and started at Potomac in the sixth grade along with his two younger siblings, Molly ’18 and Malachy ’20. After graduation, Brendan attended Wake Forest University where he received a degree in Business and Enterprise Management. At Wake, Brendan served as the president of the club volleyball team and worked in the intramural sports department.

Currently, Brendan lives in Washington, DC and works as an analyst for JLL’s Law Firm Practice Group which represents tenants - mainly AmLaw 200 law firms - in their leasing of office space around the world. 

Stephen Garibaldi '13

Stephen grew up in Arlington, VA and attended Potomac from the first through the twelfth grades along with his two younger sisters Sophia '15 and Nicole '20. After graduating, he received his B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia and spent 2 years in Charlotte working at Jefferies in its real estate investment banking division.

He moved back to DC in 2019 to join the Meridian Group, a Bethesda-based real estate owner, operator, and developer, where he focuses on financial analysis to support the acquisitions and asset management teams.

Stephen Gavula '01

Steve grew up in Mclean, VA and was a Potomac lifer along with his younger brother Dan ’03. After Potomac, Steve attended Vanderbilt University where he earned his degree in Economics and Human & Organizational Development.

Steve is currently Founder and CEO of Costa Tequila, LLC a national liquor supplier with headquarters in Vero Beach, Florida. Steve is responsible for strategy and oversight in all business facets including production, distribution, supply chain logistics, marketing and sales. Prior to his current role, Steve spent 16 years working on Wall Street in the Fixed Income trading divisions of three different banks. His focus was Mortgage-Backed Securities and Interest Rate Derivative products.

Steve lives in Bethesda, MD with his wife, Courtney, and their two children Stephen and Valentina.    

Ashaad Holley '11

Ashaad grew up in Fort Washington, MD and attended Potomac from the ninth through the twelfth grades. After studying Economics at the George Washington University, Ashaad moved to McLean and began his career in real estate. 

Ashaad currently works for McKinney Properties in their Property Management Division, where he specializes in asset repositioning and revitalizing underperforming properties. 

He currently lives in Washington, DC where he enjoys playing recreational basketball and continuing his passion for ceramics. 

Sasha Minsky '24, Senior Class President

Sasha, who lives in Great Falls, joined the Potomac community as a ninth grader. He was elected to represent his freshman class in Student Government and has remained an active participant ever since; he currently serves as Senior Class President.

A dedicated student-athlete, Sasha helped lead the cross-country team to its 2023 MAC and State Championships. On the swim team, Sasha contributed to Potomac’s 2022 and 2023 MAC Championships. This year, as a captain on both teams, Sasha is looking forward to both groups’ continued success.

After three years of fundraising and team building, Sasha recently launched the Alexandra Youth Swim Academy, an international service project whose mission is to combat drowning in the poor townships of Johannesburg, South Africa by providing weekly swim lessons. 

Sasha is looking forward to learning about Potomac’s alumni community and supporting the AGC’s work on behalf of Potomac’s current students.
 

Kasim Khapra '25, Student Body Class President

Kasim is a member of the Class of 2025 and serves as Student Body President. Raised in McLean, VA, he joined Potomac in seventh grade and has a younger brother, Miqy, who is a current Potomac sophomore. In addition to his involvement with SGA, Kasim competes in Extemporaneous Speaking on the Speech & Debate team, is a member of  the Student Board of Investments, and is active with the Muslim Students Association. Kasim’s academic interests lie at the intersection of technology, public policy, and private investment, and he is part of the Science and Engineering Research Center (SERC) concentration.

Outside of the classroom, Kasim founded and runs MyPy Coding, a 501(c)(3) that provides free, one-on-one, online coding lessons to students from low-income communities in grades 2 through 8. He also enjoys baking, playing the piano, weightlifting, and spending time with friends. 

Kasim is excited to work with the AGC and current students of the Potomac community.

Gabriel Miller '16

After graduating from Potomac, Gabriel earned his B.S.A. in Entrepreneurship from High Point University in 2020. Gabriel recently joined MillerWalker Retail Real Estate in Washington, DC as a leasing associate. MillerWalker is the Washington, DC Metro area’s premier retail and restaurant brokerage firm representing both landlords and tenants in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

Gabriel lives in DC and enjoys playing soccer and attending concerts.

Adam Moses '14

Adam grew up in Northern Virginia and graduated from the Potomac School as a lifer in 2014. The Moses family's affiliation with Potomac began long before Adam and his sisters - Sarah '08, Ali '11, and Grace '16 - were born. Adam's dad, David '76, attended Potomac and his grandmother, Carol Moses, served as a faculty member.

Following Potomac, Adam attended Dickinson College where he pursued a major in Political Science. After graduating, Adam worked on the Jennifer Wexton Campaign for Congress in Virginia's 10th Congressional District and then joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Most recently, Adam served as the Center Program Administrator at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, but left in the summer of 2023 for law school. He is currently a 1L at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Adam lives in Washington, DC with his dog, Lilly, and is thrilled to continue his relationship with Potomac as a member of the Alumni Governing Council. 
 

Ellen Overstreet '11 

Ellen grew up in McLean, Virginia and attended Potomac beginning in kindergarten along with her brother Jack ’10. She recently retired from a 10-year professional ballet career in Houston and Sarasota while pursuing her degree in Hospitality Management at the University of South Florida.

Ellen moved back to DC in 2021 and joined Pathstone, a national multifamily office, as a Client Solutions Senior Associate. She assists clients with a variety tasks and special projects including administrative, concierge, travel and property management.  

Stefanie Thomas '03, Board of Trustee Liaison

Stefanie is a venture investor at Impact America Fund. She joined the firm in 2015 and is particularly interested in the network effects that propel bootstrapped entrepreneurs, a focus inspired by her father who overcame tremendous challenges as a low-income business owner.

Prior to joining Impact America Fund, she co-founded Quarterback Impact while also managing fund development for an impact investment evergreen project. In 2014, Stefanie led a 6,000-mile road trip across the US to meet and work with entrepreneurs who are focused on making an impact in their local communities. She co-founded and is an advisor for Women Who Launch, an organization that fosters a gender-equal entrepreneurial ecosystem and was recognized as an emerging voice of “Black Women VCs” by Fast Company.