Robin Sandenburgh, President

Robin was a resident of Mount Pleasant from 1984-1988, when she moved to Kenya “for a year.”  She moved back to Mount Pleasant in 2014, having spent the intervening years living and doing environmental and social assessments for the World Bank Group in Zimbabwe, India, Egypt, and Turkey.

Robin has an undergraduate degree from Brown University (History) and a masters from the University of Michigan (Public Policy).  She served as a Mount Pleasant ANC commissioner from 2019-2022; was an active member of the Village’s "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" effort from 2020-present; is a board member of Margaret McNamara Education Grants (MMEG), which provides education grants to exceptional women from developing countries; and serves on the boards of a climate fund based in India and a mining concession in west Africa.

Tess Amolsch, Deputy President

Tess has been a Mount Pleasant resident since 2002. She and her husband Christian, a commercial architect, closed on their first house in Mount Pleasant the day they got back from their honeymoon. They and their growing family--a daughter and boy and girl twins--lived in their first house at 19th Street and Newton for eight years and now on Park road for 15 years.

Tess has been highly involved in Neighbors Helping Neighbors and is the current co-chair of the Volunteer Committee. She also helped to co-found the Youth Corps for the Village. She was elected to the Village Board in January 2024. Tess currently serves as Deputy President of the Village. Tess spent 25 years working in corporate operations but left during COVID to build a business as a real estate agent.

Fred O'Regan, Vice President

Fred and his wife Nancy first moved to Mount Pleasant in 1983. Fred's career has focused on poverty-alleviation and environmental conservation, domestically and internationally with a focus on Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Biology and an M.S.W. He began his career as a community organizer in Cambridge, Mass., after serving in the Peace Corps as a science teacher in eSwatini (formerly Swaziland).

Meredith Golemon-Bielke, Treasurer

Meredith Golemon-Bielke is an international trade policy professional, who has spent her career focusing on technology trade policy in the private sector.

Meredith, who joined the Village in 2019, has been a resident of Mount Pleasant since 2010. She lives on Kenyon Street with her husband Rick, and youngest daughter. Her eldest daughter is a freshman at St. John’s University in New York.  Both her daughters attended Bancroft Elementary School where Meredith was active in her daughter’s Girl Scouts Troop. Meredith has also helped to organize the annual Mount Pleasant Lantern Walk, participated in the Village clean-up on Earth Day, and distributed food at the Msgr. Romero building for the Village-World Central Kitchen collaboration during COVID. Her other volunteer work includes volunteering at her children’s current schools, city events, and area food banks.

Barbara Berrie

Barbara and her husband Rick King have been Mt Pleasant residents since 1985. It was the perfect place to raise their two children.

Motivated by a love of libraries as places for adults and children, Barbara was a member of the board of the Friends of Mt Pleasant Library for 30 years. She advocated for restoration and renovation of the building and increased funding for evening and weekend hours to benefit people who work during the day. Barbara had a forty-year career at the National Gallery of Art as a chemist in the art conservation division. She continues to work on art conservation and history related projects. She has a glimmer in her imagination of writing a book on sparkle in paint in her spare time.

Jesse Bump

Jesse's affection for Mount Pleasant dates to 1997 when Rock Creek, the diverse community, and lively streets drew him into a basement apartment on the 18th and Lamont corner. Following years in Italy and Boston, he and his family returned to the neighborhood in 2012. Jesse joined the Village in 2017. His children are students at Bancroft school.

Jesse has an active interest in historic preservation on our business street and residential streets.  He is the Executive Director of the Takemi Program in International Health and Lecturer on Global Health Policy in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Member of the Bergen Center for Ethics and Priority Setting at the University of Bergen.

Barbara Churchill

Barbara is a native Washingtonian and has lived in and around D.C. her entire life. She moved to Mount Pleasant in 2011 with her husband, when they downsized from a house in the suburbs to an apartment in the city. They both retired in 2021 to focus on his care during a two-year battle with colon cancer.

Barbara received a B.A. degree in English with a minor in theater from Northwestern University and returned to D.C. to work behind the scenes in theaters in and around the city.   She worked at the Kennedy Center for thirty years and held the position of Senior Treasurer. She also became active in The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, serving as president of her Local for nine years. Currently she is Vice President of Local 868, is on the executive board of the Metro Washington Labor Council, and is a delegate to the Northern Virginia Labor Federation.

She became involved in the Mount Pleasant Village after her husband died. Village friends and activities have been a lifeline to her since his death. She is currently on the Program and Diversity Committees and is participating in the Caring Card interest group. She participates in the walking and meditation groups and recently joined the End-of-Life discussion group and the grief support group. She has two grown daughters who live in the area and three stepsons.

Trina Dutta

Trina moved to Mount Pleasant (with her husband Will) in 2017, and has lived in DC since 2006.  Her career focus is on behavioral health policy and financing, which has provided unexpected connections to many Village members.  Her attraction to the Village was similar to what attracted her to MtP in the first place--an endlessly fascinating group of diverse individuals with a deep investment in and boundless energy for their community.

Trina grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from The Ohio State University.  After serving in the Peace Corps as a water sanitation coordinator in Nepal from 2000-2002, Trina received a dual Public Health-Public Policy Masters degree from UC Berkeley.  Trina’s family fell victim to MtP’s siren song, as well; she’s lucky that Mount Pleasant is also home to her brother and his family, as well as her parents.  She resides with her jazz drumming husband and soccer playing Bancrofter on Irving Street and can often hear the gibbons chittering loudly in the mornings.

Jill Eden

Jill been in the D.C. area since the late 1980's and moved to Mount Pleasant in 2011, joining the village in 2019.  She has spent her career in health policy—mostly in research at the Institute of Medicine (part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine) where she directed studies on a broad range of health policy issues.  Originally from the south shore of Long Island, Jill went to Barnard College and earned M.P.H. and M.B.A. degrees from Columbia University. Jill is a founding member of the Village Clusters and currently leads the Cluster Coordinators Group. She is especially passionate about family, friends, music, and nature.

Josephine Escalante

Josephine Escalante began volunteering for the Mount Pleasant Village in 2018, assisting in the Village's Raffle Fundraiser. Since then, she has assisted many committees and currently serves on the Partnership (Co-chair) and Volunteer Management Committees. Josephine is an attorney and mother of three. She has lived with her family on Newton Street since 2005. In 2018, Josephine suspended her work as a federal litigator specializing in intellectual property law to devote more time to her non-profit work. In addition to her work for the Village, Josephine serves on the Board of Visitors and Governors for St. John's College, her alma mater. She is also the current President of St. John's College's Alumni Association. Prior to her legal practice, Josephine was the founding Executive Director of New York non-profit, Filipino American Human Services, Inc. (FAHSI). Her work at FAHSI garnered The Banaag Award, among nominees from all over the world, for exemplary service to the Philippine community.

Mary Anne Gibbons

Mary Anne Gibbons is an attorney with over 27 years of federal government and ten years of private sector experience. Prior to retiring in 2013, Mary Anne served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of the U.S. Postal Service for more than 14 years and in other management and staff positions previously.

Mary Anne has been a resident of Mount Pleasant since 1980, and volunteers for a number of community organizations, including the Sacred Heart Church ministry serving immigrants who have had a family member detained or deported. She serves on the Village’s Program, Partnerships, and Membership Committees and leads the Program Committee and walking group.

Mary Anne and her husband, Michael Healy, have a daughter and a son.

Ross Hamory

Ross graduated from Maryville College and worked for 34 years in management and executive positions with the Federal Aviation Administration. Before moving to Mount Pleasant to be closer to family, Ross served on the Board of Directors of the Habitat for Humanity in Beaufort, N.C. and the Main Street Organization in Washington, N.C.

Carolyn Kari

Carolyn moved to Mount Pleasant in 1995.  Prior to this, she attended the Harvard Kennedy School and received a Master's degree in Public Administration.  She also has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois, Chicago.  Her thesis was an analysis of the effects of redlining in the city of Chicago.  One of Carolyn's most rewarding experiences was teaching mathematics at a girl's high school in Kenya as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  She has served on the National Peace Corps board of directors and is currently a member of the fundraising committee of the Women of Peace Corps Legacy.

She transferred her mathematical skills to computer programming in Oracle as a systems analyst at both Peace Corps HQ and Americorps from which she retired in 2019.  She lives on Hobart Street,  has served as the cluster representative for the past two years, and is a member of the Membership Committee.  She especially enjoys the programs offered by the Village as well as meeting people at the Meet the Street events.

She has a daughter who attended Jackson Reed High School (formerly Wilson) and the University of Colorado and has been accepted as an AmeriCorps member.

Jon Langhorst

Jon moved to the DC area from New Mexico in 1990, and into a basement apartment on Brown Street in 2004. He is now living on Newton Street with his wife Catherine, whom he met at Tonic (now Purple Patch). Jon fully retired in 2023 after 43 years in the electronic security industry. He spent the last 21 years leading his own company, specializing in advanced systems for federal and public sector clients nationwide, and mentoring many young professionals, watching them advance within the industry.

In 2023, Jon began volunteering with Mount Pleasant Village, assisting in the development and installation of the camera system covering the Mount Pleasant Street business district, a program coordinated with local business owners and others. As a Village member, Jon is committed to enhancing the quality of life for all Mt. Pleasant residents.

Maria Otero

Maria was born in Bolivia; her family immigrated to the US when she was 12. Until 2024, she served as trustee at the American University, the Kresge Foundation, Development Alternatives, and Bancosol, a microfinance bank in Bolivia. She currently serves on the boards of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and Herbalife Nutrition.

Maria served in the Obama Administration as Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights from 2009 to 2013. She also served as the President’s Special Representative for Tibetan issues. Maria was the first Latina Under Secretary in the Department’s history.

From 2000 to 2009, Maria served as President & CEO of Accion, a global pioneer in building microfinance banks, where she worked for 23 years. She co-edited a book on microfinance and wrote various articles and monographs. Maria was adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS from 1998 to 2008. She received several honorary Doctorate degrees, including from Dartmouth College.

Maria is married to Joseph Eldridge and they have lived in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC since 1981 (with 1986-1989 overseas). They have three children, Justin (a Mount Pleasant resident), David and Ana and one granddaughter, Lila.

Leo M. Sanchez

Leo fell in love with the prospect of living in Mount Pleasant in 1996 when he realized he could live in the city without the feel of being in the middle of it.

He is a Village Cluster Coordinator.  Leo is an avid swimmer and a certified Master Gardener.  He volunteers at the Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens and is also a literacy tutor through the AARP Experience Corps. Retired from Federal Service in 2016, he spent most of his Federal career at the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA).  He has served as a Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) Board Member.

Martha Sipple

Martha originally moved to Mount Pleasant in 1982 and lived on a number of different streets--Park, Ingleside, Lamont, and Irving.  In 1987, she moved to a cooperative building in Lanier Heights, where she has served on the coop board for about a decade.

Martha joined the Village in 2019. She has been an active member of the Diversity Committee and is a founding member of the Waste Management Interest Group, which seeks to make Mount Pleasant a community model for Zero Waste.  Martha is a communications strategist in international development focused on poverty alleviation.