WISH Fall 2013 Career Night for DC Interns and Young Professionals
When: Tuesday, November 19th, 6:15pm to 8pm.
Where: WISH Classroom (Location is walking distance from Union Station metro stop, across street from Heritage Foundation.)
What: An informative panel of former interns and young professionals discuss ways to make the most of your DC experiences and to continue benefitting from your DC internship after the semester’s end. Insights and tips will include skill building, networking, gaining better work projects, and proven strategies for gaining full-time positions in DC or back home after you graduate. Panelists will represent many career fields including government, nonprofits, corporate, media, lobbying, and political advocacy.
Event also includes audience Q and A and intern networking session.
Pizza and refreshments provided at 6:15, Program starts promptly at 6:30
RSVP: Required via email to interns@atdevserver.com.
Scheduled Participants Include:
Sarah Conklin
Sara Conklin is currently the Development Specialist at SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders), a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering LGBTQ youth. Sara came to SMYAL after a year with the Human Rights Campaign, where she specialized in membership, fundraising, and gift processing. Prior to this, Sara graduated with her MA in African Studies from Stanford University, where she concentrated her studies in global health, gender, and sexuality. While at Stanford, Sara worked at the University’s Health Center, providing free HIV testing to the campus community. Beforehand, Sara graduated with a BA in International Relations/Political Science from Florida International University in Miami. Her global studies have taken her to East and West Africa, including the summer of 2009 living in Arusha, Tanzania where Sara worked on HIV/AIDS testing and education.
Abe Henry
Abe Henry is currently a Program/ Financial Specialist at Banyan Global, where he works on USAID-funded program financial and risk-management. Previously he has worked as an Associate Program Officer at Counterpart International, providing financial and programmatic support to USAID, USDA, and US Department of Labor contracts in Ethiopia, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Burkina Faso. For Counterpart, he traveled to Ethiopia during the Fall of 2012 to support the implementation of a beekeeping intervention for rural economic development. Mr. Henry is a former Department of State intern (Fall 2010) and a 2011 graduate of the University of Minnesota Morris with a B.A. in International Relations and Spanish.
Bradley Ballou
Mr. Ballou is the Director of Federal Relations where he serves as the D.C. based liaison to Congress and the Administration on behalf of the 17-campus UNC system. He works with the North Carolina Congressional delegation and D.C. based higher education associations to advocate for the UNC system’s policy and budgetary priorities, including veterans’ issues. Mr. Ballou worked for North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole in various administrative and policy positions and then joined the American Council of Life Insurers as part of their government relations team. While working for ACLI, he worked on financial services policy and primarily on the Dodd-Frank Act. He is a North Carolina native and originally from Cary. Mr. Ballou graduated from UNC Wilmington with a B.A. in Political Science. He received his Master’s Degree in Political Management from George Washington University.
Jay Hunter
Jay Hunter is a journalist working for CQ Roll Call, part of the Economist Group. He is part of the “Members” team or basically the nerds of the newsroom that are responsbile for compiling profiles and bios of each member of Congress. He also writes regularly for Roll Call including managing the annual 50 Richest Members of Congress project. The Pittsburgh native graduated from The Ohio State University in March 2011 with a BA in International Studies and stayed in WISH Housing during an internship in DC.
Jason Scheff
Jason Scheff interned in 2009, when he was interning for Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II. After graduating from the University of Rochester in 2010, he went to NYU for law school, graduating in 2013. Jason is now a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Enforcement Section of the Tax Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Steven Lucas
Steven Lucas is in his second year of working fulltime at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), but has been involved with the agency since 2009. Currently, he is a Project Finance Assistant in the Portfolio Management Division of OCFO. Initially, Mr. Lucas interned with OPIC as an undergraduate junior in the Human Resources Department and returned for the summer internship program in 2010 after receiving his B.B.A. in Real Estate and Managerial Finance from the University of Mississippi. He completed his M.I.M. in International Financial Management at the University of Maryland University College last May. Steven has been involved in various departments throughout the agency, such as aiding the Office of External Affairs in business outreach, supporting the Office of Investment Policy in monitoring reporting requirements for projects, establishing a Toastmasters Club at the agency, and by leading the Feds Feed Families drive for donations to the Capital Area Food Bank the past two year
Gerald Prado
Networks and Projects Manager, Organization of American States. Gerald is from Maracaibo, Venezuela, where he received a B.S. (2010) in Electrical engineering, with a focus on telecommunications. He obtained a diploma (2010) in Strategic Management and received a Master’s Degree (2012) in Marketing Management, from Rafael Belloso Chacin University (URBE-Venezuela). Before completing his Master’s, Gerald received honorable mention for his research on “Consumer Behavior & Integrated Marketing Communications to prevent E-Banking Fraud”. From 2009-2011, he co-founded and served as President of the Board of VenSpace Organization (Venezuela’s first private organization focused on Research & Development Technologies in communication and space exploration).
Austin Wright
Austin is currently in the Finance Department at the Republican National Senatorial Committee. Austin has managed and/or worked on staff for various political campaigns.