Staff
Norman Sandridge is a co-founder of Kallion Leadership and has facilitated numerous Kallion Circles on such topics as leadership and emotional intelligence/empathy, leadership for peace and reconciliation, leadership through trauma, and democratic leadership, using such works as Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti, Morowa Yejidé’s Creatures of Passage, and Congressman Jamie Raskin’s Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy. In addition to being a co-executive director of Kallion, Norman is an associate professor of Classics in the department of Political Science at Howard University, where he teaches courses on global leadership development and political theory. He is the author of Loving Humanity, Learning, and Being Honored (HUP 2012), which is about the leadership theory of the ancient Athenian author, Xenophon. He enjoys working with learning communities in businesses, non-profits, and higher education, to help them grow their conversations about leadership, increase the clarity and precision with which they think and speak about leadership, and improve the frequency and quality of their leadership behaviors.
Board of Directors
John Esposito (co-founder) holds a PhD in Classics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and currently works as a principal software engineer at 6 Street Technologies. His academic research focuses on Greek epic, leadership in the ancient world, proto-Aristotelian biology, and psychology in ancient literature. John has taught in three academic departments at two universities and is currently working on a manuscript on hetaireia (warrior-companionship) in Homer.
Sarah Brown Ferrario (co-founder), associate professor and chair of the Department of Greek and Latin at The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), is a specialist in Greek history and literature, particularly
of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. She is the author of Historical Agency and the ‘Great Man’ in Classical Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Leadership in the Greco-Roman World (in progress), for which her own contribution explores leadership during the ‘twilight’ of the Athenian democracy. Her most recent additional publications include chapters on loyalty in Xenophon’s Anabasis, on leadership
in Thucydides, and on the characterization of cities in Xenophon’s Hellenica. She is currently finishing a co-authored book chapter on Mikis Theodorakis’ opera Antigone and working on a monograph on the social performance
of equality in classical Athens.
Kristen Grimm is the founder of Spitfire Strategies, a strategy firm dedicated to advancing racial, economic and social justice, protecting the environment, and expanding opportunity. She is the mastermind behind Spitfire’s Smart Chart, Planning to Win, Mindful Messaging and Discovering the Activation Point, among other big think pieces. Kristen has a B.A. from Smith College. She is a member of the 2014 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute and serves in the moderator corps for Aspen.
Monique Maley is President of Articulate Persuasion. She is an experienced, sought-after Consultant, Coach, Speaker and Author of Turbulence, who works at the intersection of Leadership and Language. Monique began her professional life as a classically trained actor having attended RADA in London and spent 15 years in the theater and film industry in both the U.S and London. She founded Articulate Persuasion, her third
entrepreneurial success, to cultivate authentic and influential leaders by providing clients with the insights, skills and strategies to connect with others, articulate their vision and value and embody a strong and authentic leadership
style. Leveraging both her actor’s toolkit and her entrepreneurial experience, Monique guides and mentors her clients based on her unique approach and experience. She has a particular passion for working with under-supported founders
to help them cultivate their influence and credibility. She is a TechStars All-Star Mentor, speaker and coach with SXSW, and Vice-Chair of DivInc. Monique is bi-cultural and a fluent Spanish speaker. She is a graduate of Tufts University
in Boston and currently resides in Washington DC.
Nina-Maria Potts serves as Director of Global News Coverage for the international broadcast news agency, Feature Story News. Before taking up the role in 2014, she was an on-camera TV journalist with more than 20 years of experience reporting for multiple networks worldwide. Nina has been based in Sydney, Beijing, Brussels, London, and Washington. Apart from the daily global news agenda, Nina has directed news coverage of the major global events over the past nine years, including three US presidential elections, several Olympic games, the pandemic, Brexit, the Queen’s jubilee and funeral, major terror attacks, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and, more recently, the conflict in Sudan. In 2020, Nina won a Peabody for her contribution to the PBS Newshour’s Covid-19 coverage. She is also a regular contributor to WAMU/NPR’s 1A on international affairs and has been involved in training journalists all over the world.
Adrienne Ramsay is managing partner of Delphi Strategies, an innovation and high technology consulting firm she founded after two decades in public policy and aerospace. She previously served as a professional staff member of the US House Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, worked at the Congressional Budget Office, and OMB. Prior, she was an engineer and program manager at Raytheon, Booz Allen Hamilton, and TRW. Adrienne graduated from Harvard’s Women on Boards program, holds a Private Company Governance certificate from the Private Directors Association, and serves on the Advisory Boards of Wyoming Hyperscale and Girl Scouts of the USA.
Mark D. Young (board chair) is Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Credibility, LLC. He is an authority on national security, intelligence, and technology, having played a critical role in the oversight and development of the nation’s intelligence and cybersecurity policies, plans, and operations. Before founding Credibility, LLC, he was the first Chief Security Officer and executive member of the Senior Leadership Team at IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc., an advanced technology and cloud computing firm. Prior to entering the private sector, Mr. Young served as the Executive Director for the Directorate for Plans and Policy at U.S. Cyber Command, where he was an advisor to the National Security Agency Director. Prior to his work at U.S. Cyber Command, he was the Special Counsel for Defense Intelligence on the House Intelligence Committee, responsible for the oversight of all defense intelligence programs and operations. Mr. Young was a civilian senior staff officer at the National Security Agency and is a former U.S. Navy naval aviator. Mr. Young received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Norwich University in 1992, a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College in 2002, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2006. He is a member of the Maryland Bar and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ed Zakreski is the Managing Director of Round House Theatre where he oversees the management, finance, marketing, and fundraising. He has been working in theatre and arts management in the DC region for more than 30 years. As an executive leader and fundraiser, he has raised more than $100 million in his career. Prior to joining Round House in 2016, Ed spent 12 years as the Chief Development Officer at Shakespeare Theatre Company. From 1998-2005, Ed served at the Kennedy Center in increasingly senior positions, culminating as Director of Individual Campaigns. Ed holds a degree in arts management from American University. He is a frequent presenter and leader of workshops about management and fundraising for nonprofit arts organizations. He lives in Fairfax, VA, with his wife, Judy, and three children.
Advisors
Mallory Monaco Caterine is a co-founder of Kallion Leadership. She believes that humanities artifacts can help us connect the past with the present and reveal creative ways to support the needs and dreams of our communities. She loves working with humanities educators to integrate ideas and practices of leadership development into their classrooms and curricula. As a senior professor of practice in Classical Studies at Tulane University, she teaches courses on leadership in classical antiquity, mythology and leadership, and Greek and Latin language. Her current book project is How to Lead When Men Fail: An Ancient Guide to Women’s Leadership, a translation of Plutarch’s Virtues of Women for the Princeton University Press Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series. She served as Kallion’s co-executive director from 2020-2025 and held the Greenberg Family Professorship of Social Entrepreneurship at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking.
Ashleigh D. Coren is a curator, museum educator, and content strategist. Ashleigh is also a board member for the Museum Education Roundtable who has worked for the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, and the University of Maryland, College Park.
Eli Embleton (BA Classics, MBA Organizational Development) designs leadership experiences and conversations for skilled workers and senior level executives. Eli’s creative credentials include performing in a two-man play with a leading director from Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, performing his own poetry accompanied by an internationally known pianist, and teaching organizational communication with an Aikido master. He was an award winning non-profit CEO supporting the fight against pediatric cancer. He recently completed writing a lyric sequence “Pathless,” to talk about the power of the humanities in dealing with trauma. He and his wife are raising their four children in San Antonio, Texas.
Philippa Hughes is a Social Sculptor and Creative Strategist who produces creative projects that transform society through humanizing and compassionate conversations between people who might not normally meet. She has designed and produced hundreds of unconventional and delightful activations to build social capital, social cohesion, and social discourse. Her practice prioritizes relationships and encompasses a multi-disciplinary approach informed by sociology, psychology, philosophy, political science, community organizing, design thinking, creative placemaking, art, and humanities. She leads CuriosityConnects.us, a partner in Looking For America, a national series where politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face.
Rhonda Knight is the James Wayne Lemke Chair in College Service and Leadership and Professor of English at Coker University in Hartsville, South Carolina. She teaches first-year writing, medieval literature, and early modern literature. She holds a Ph.D. from Binghamton University. As a researcher, she has published articles on a wide variety of subjects from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to Doctor Who. She has published Stage Matters: Props, Bodies, and Space in Shakespearean Performance, an edited collection, with Annalisa Castaldo. Rhonda and her colleague, Eric Litton, are regular contributors to the SAGE Ancient Leadership case series.
Zoie Lafis has served as Executive Director of Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC since 1996. She studied political science and economics at Wellesley College and served as an administrator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts prior to coming to CHS. As the CHS US Executive Director, she works closely with the Center’s US Faculty Director and coordinates the daily operation of the Center with the main Harvard campus while promoting the Center’s activities and needs. In addition to her administrative role, Zoie develops exhibitions and programs at the CHS Washington campus to explore the nexus between the modern and ancient world. She serves on a number of nonprofit boards and committees that focus on the arts and humanities: She is Treasurer of the Washington Sculptors Group, Co-Chair of the Committee for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games, and Vice President of the newly-formed International Pythian Council. A lifelong supporter of the visual and performing arts, Zoie is a visual artist whose paintings are displayed at CHS and in private collections. She also practices dance in the technique of Isadora Duncan.
Andrew Nurkin is a poet, educator, and civic practitioner. He currently serves as the Hart Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where he teaches courses in public and community-based leadership, civic engagement, facilitation, and arts policy. He previously directed civic engagement and public humanities programs at the Free Library of Philadelphia and civic leadership programs at Princeton University. Andrew’s work reimagining the role of the public library as a civic commons has been featured in The New York Times, CBS This Morning, WHYY, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He and his husband live in Durham, NC.
Nicoletta Pireddu is Inaugural Director of the Georgetown Humanities Initiative and Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Georgetown University, where she also directs the Program in Global and Comparative Literature. She holds a Ph.D. from UCLA and a Dottorato di ricerca from Università di Venezia “Ca’ Foscari” in Italy.
Her interdisciplinary research revolves around European literary and cultural relations, Mediterranean and island studies, borders and migration, intellectual history, and translation studies. She has authored over eighty scholarly articles in leading international humanities venues and various books—most recently, the edited volume, Migrating Minds: Theories and Practices of Cultural Cosmopolitanism. She received the American Association for Italian Studies Book Award, the “Mario Soldati” Award for Literary Criticism, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Howard Foundation, the Paris Program in Critical Theory, and the Borchard Foundation.
Jamie Raskin was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016. A Member of the House Leadership Team, he serves on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Oversight Committee, the House Rules Committee, and the Committee on House Administration. Rep. Raskin was the lead impeachment manager in the second impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump and served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Prior to his political career, he was also a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law for more than 25 years. He has authored several books, including the Washington Post best-seller Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People, the highly-acclaimed We the Students: Supreme Court Cases For and About America’s Students, and the New York Times #1 best-seller Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy.