Goodwin Living Elects Al-Askari to Board of Trustees; Goodwin Living Foundation Elects New Board Directors
January 18, 2024
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Goodwin Living, a nonprofit, faith-based, senior living and health care services organization in the National Capital Region, has announced the election of Yasamin Al-Askari to its Board of Trustees. Al-Askari is a former Senior Vice President at Truist, from which she retired this year. For the past seven years, she served as the Truist relationship manager for Goodwin Living. During her 23-year career at Truist, she worked in the Senior Care Banking, Senior Care Finance, and Not-for-Profit divisions. Her term on the Goodwin Living board started on January 1, 2024.
“As a not-for-profit, faith-based organization, Goodwin Living is charged with maintaining and growing financial strength in support of our mission,” said Goodwin Living Board Chair Cyrillene “C.C.” Clark. “We are honored and grateful to welcome someone with as much financial acumen and expertise as Yasamin Al-Askari to the Board of Trustees and to benefit from her career in Senior Care Banking and her volunteer commitment as a director and advisor to multiple nonprofit organizations in the National Capital Region.”
“I am excited to work with the talented team at Goodwin Living and look forward to contributing to their ongoing success as they provide first-class care to our most vulnerable population,” said Al-Askari.
The Board of Trustees also extended gratitude to Mary Lewis Hix, who completed 16 years of service to Goodwin Living. Under her leadership as board chair, Goodwin Living navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, serving and supporting thousands of residents, members, and team members. She also enacted significant bylaw amendments, prioritizing board and organizational diversity. During her tenure as chair, Goodwin Living grew its mission by purchasing land in Loudoun County for a future senior living campus and by welcoming another senior living community, Hermitage Northern Virginia, into the Goodwin Living family.
Goodwin Living has been led by a volunteer Board of Trustees since it opened its first senior living community in 1967. The Goodwin Living Board of Trustees guides the governance and strategic directions of the organization. Today, nearly 2,500 older adults are served daily by three Goodwin Living senior living communities, a federally-assisted nonprofit senior living community — Lewinsville Retirement Residence — and a growing portfolio of health care services supporting older adults who are aging in place in their homes throughout the National Capital Region.
Meanwhile, the Goodwin Living Foundation has also announced the election of four new members to its Board of Directors. The Goodwin Living Foundation is the philanthropic organization that supports the mission of Goodwin Living.
“The Goodwin Living Foundation is grateful to support excellence in care and support of older adults served by Goodwin Living as well as innovative programs available to older adults across the country to support their health, wellness, and sense of purpose,” said Joan Renner, Chair of the Goodwin Living Foundation Board. “Today, we welcome four new foundation board directors whose expertise will grow and innovate programs for residents, members and patients of Goodwin Living, and the team members who uplift them every day.”
The newly elected members of the Goodwin Living Foundation Board of Directors are:
Frederick F.Y. (Fred) Pang, a former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Assistant Secretary of Defense and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He is also founder of ViStar Corporation, a Defense Consulting Company. Mr. Pang formerly served on the boards of the Pentagon Federal Credit Union and its Foundation, of which he is its former chair. He and his wife, Brenda, are residents of Goodwin House Alexandria.
Tricia Rodgers, a former director of Volunteers in Service to America, having been appointed to the role by President George H.W. Bush. She is also the former director of community building initiatives at two local United Way offices. She served as executive director of the Arlington Community Foundation and as a program officer with the Northern Virginia Health Foundation. She is a master gardener and volunteer therapeutic horticulturist at Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads.
Steven Smith, a senior relationship manager and co-head of CIBC Private Wealth Management’s Mid-Atlantic offices in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He is a former president of the board of Sitar Arts Center and served on the board of trustees of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He has served on other nonprofit boards, including the Cathedral Choral Society, Campagna Center, National Aquarium of Washington, D.C., and Kennedy Center Circles. He is currently a member of The Economic Club of Washington.
Dr. Alton Wallace, a mathematician by profession, with an interest in history and civil rights. He has written several history books and articles on local and national history. Dr. Wallace was one of the four founders of the Alfred Street Baptist Church HBCU College Fair, which annually attracts over 10,000 students to the Washington, D.C. area. As president of his church’s foundation, he was instrumental in founding a scholarship program that has awarded almost $1.5 million in scholarships to needy students in the area. He has served on the President’s Council of Leland Seminary in Arlington, Virginia, and he was a Visiting Lecturer in the Federal Scholars Program at the University of Maryland.
Under the leadership of the Goodwin Living Foundation, philanthropy is a core value of Goodwin Living. In 1989, Goodwin Living established the Goodwin Living Foundation, (formerly the Goodwin House Foundation) as a 501(c)(3) organization that supports Goodwin Living residents, team members and their families. Thanks to generous support from donors, the Goodwin Living Foundation offers financial assistance programs for residents and team members, as well as initiatives for educational and professional development and innovative care services for end-of-life care provided through Goodwin Hospice.
Goodwin Living’s senior living and healthcare services footprint in the National Capital Region includes three life-plan communities, including two nursing-care centers that are five-star-rated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; its age-in-place program, Goodwin Living At Home; and its Medicare-certified services provided by Goodwin Home Health, Goodwin Rehabilitation, and Goodwin Hospice. In addition, Goodwin Living serves roughly 16,000 older adults across the U.S. with its StrongerMemory brain health program, available at no cost through the support of the Goodwin Living Foundation. Goodwin Living has been a Washington Post Top Workplace for five consecutive years and was named the #1 Top Workplace for 2023.