Melvyn (Mel) Leshinsky is a retired senior partner of Aronson LLC, a certified public accounting firm, located in Rockville, MD, which he joined in 1971 and retired from in 2010.

During his tenure, Aronson LLC enjoyed unprecedented growth and received many professional and community acknowledgments. Aronson’s client base is made up of construction, real estate, government contracting, nonprofit, technology and private industry companies located in the Greater Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Mel received his Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from Long Island University in 1964, his Master of Business Administration, specializing in Taxation, from Pace College in 1966 and his Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law in 1969.

Mel is a member of the Board of the Institute for Community Initiatives. He is also a co-founder of the Chesapeake Center for Youth Development in Baltimore.

Ms. Brenda Wolff was elected to her first four-year term on the Montgomery County Board of Education (Board) on November 6, 2018; she is currently president of the Board and is a member of the Fiscal Management Committee.  Brenda also represents the Board to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education’s (MABE) Federal Relations Network Committee and is the vice chair of MABE's Legislative Committee. Following the death of Patricia O'Neill, Brenda became the Board's representative on the Foundation Board of Directors, an ex-officio role that serves as the Foundation Vice Chair.

Previously, she has served as the vice president of the Board and the chair of the Board’s Communication and Stakeholder Engagement. Ms. Wolff has served on various Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) committees, including the African American Student Achievement Group.  

Brenda has had a multi-faceted career that championed equality, civil rights, and education.  She was an attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and a Hearing Officer for the Massachusetts Public Utility Commission. During her 27-year tenure with the United States Department of Education serving in various positions, including as the Chief Regional Attorney in the Boston Office for Civil Rights and the Deputy Director and Acting Director in the Philadelphia Office for Civil Rights.  She also served as the Director of the National Institute of Educational Governance, Finance, Policymaking and Management, and as the Acting Director of the National Institute on Education of At-Risk Students.  She retired having served as the Program Manager for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Brenda graduated from Smith College with a degree in mathematics, and a law degree from Suffolk University Law School. She is married with two adult children. 

Paul Leleck is the Chief Financial Officer for Building Hope. In that role, he manages the organization’s finances and underwrites financial assistance to public charter schools. He also works with client schools on their accounting and budgeting through Building Hope Services. Paul is a certified public accountant with over 35 years of accounting, finance, business and management experience. He has assisted development stage companies and has served as a partner in a Big 4 accounting firm.

Paul currently serves on the boards of the Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School and Paul Public Charter School. In 2016, Paul established the JoAnn Leleck Endowed Fund in memory of his wife who served as MCPS Chief Academic Officer. The fund supports the needs of the MCPS Elementary School renamed in JoAnn's honor.

Kim Watson is the retired Vice President for Corporate Philanthropy and Partnerships at PEPCO. Her primary responsibility was strategic development of corporate partnerships and relationships through the development of signature programs that highlighted the corporation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Kim has over 30 years of experience in customer service, government relations and stakeholder development and engagement.

She currently serves on the board of the YWCA-NCA. Kim also serves on the Board of the American Diabetes Association of Greater Washington and is Board Emeritus of Leadership Greater Washington and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship of Greater Washington (NFTE). Kim is a former member of The Conference Board Philanthropy II Council; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center and the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP).

Kim received her M.B.A. from Georgetown University (IEMBA) with a concentration in International Business. She holds an M.A. degree with concentrations in public administration and international relations from Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she also completed doctoral studies. Additionally, she received a B.A. in political science from McMaster University in Canada. She completed the MIT-Harvard University Program on Negotiation in Boston, MA and the Harvard Business School Program on Corporate Social Responsibility on Creating Social and Business value in 2012.

Monifa B. McKnight currently is the interim superintendent for MCPS, a role she assumed after serving as MCPS deputy superintendent. She has held many educational leadership roles including the Chief School Management and Instructional Leadership Officer for Howard County Public Schools, the Director for Secondary Leadership Development Programs at MCPS, and was a Campus Principal Ambassador Fellow for the United States Department of Education in 2016 under the leadership of Secretary of Education John King.

Monifa was honored as the 2015 Maryland Middle School Principal of the Year by the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals and as the 2015 Maryland State Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. She received this honor during her fifth year as the Principal of Ridgeview Middle School in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Monifa’s prior experiences in education include: classroom teacher, English Resource Teacher, Staff Development Teacher, and Assistant Principal. 

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, South Carolina, a Master of Science in Educational Leadership from Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland, and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Yolanda Pruitt was appointed the Executive Director of the Foundation in 2012. Yolanda has worked to increase the charity’s capacity to effectively support MCPS programs and special initiatives. She works with the Board of Directors to increase Foundation assets, increase annual contributions, expand the base of donors, and engage the community in the Foundation's outreach efforts. In 2020, Yolanda also became the first head of a Maryland educational foundation to become a Certified Education Foundation Leader.

Her position with the Foundation follows a career with the University System of Maryland, where she served three campuses – University of Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore, and Bowie State University. For these campuses, Yolanda held senior-level positions and raised funds for research, lectureships, endowments, science laboratories, new construction, athletic facilities, and academic programs.

Yolanda is a graduate of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park (Bachelor of Science; 1978); and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (Juris Doctor; 2004). She also earned a Certificate in Education Foundation Leadership from the National University and National School Foundation Association (2020).

Yolanda is married and the mother of two MCPS graduates.

Rob Smith is the chair of the Foundation Fundraising Committee.

Rob is the Vice President of the Fitzgerald Auto Malls. In this role, he oversees development and implementation of process-based management systems deployed across multiple locations in three states to achieve desired results in net profit and customer satisfaction objectives. He has extensive previous experience in sales and service in a variety of roles including sales and service management. He has held his position since 1989.

Rob is also President of Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax (ASSETT), which is a grass roots non-profit organization dedicated to changing the collection methodology for the estate tax. 

Rebecca Smondrowski was first elected to the Board of Education in 2012 and was just re-elected to her third term in 2020. She is the Chair of the BOE's Committee on Special Populations and a member of the Policy Management Committee.

Prior to joining the BOE, Rebecca served as the Legislative Aide for Senator Roger Manno. She has served on the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (MCCPTA) Board of Directors, including positions as the Vice President for Legislation, Vice President for Programs, Chair of the Curriculum Committee, Quince Orchard Cluster Coordinator, and MCCPTA’s representative to the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) K-12 Mathematics Joint Task Force.

Rebecca was re-appointed as a Commissioner for the City of Gaithersburg Ethics Commission in January 2015. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for Future Link.

Rebecca is married with two children, an MCPS graduate and one currently attending the Montgomery County Public Schools.

Matthew Swibel leads an integrated team responsible for employee and executive communications; functional communications; a $30 million social impact strategy and giving program; and the corporate operations of the communications function. In this role he also facilitates the development of a multi-year strategic plan for communications.

Previously, he directed the Corporation’s enterprise risk management and sustainability program strategy, implementation and stakeholder engagement. This involved leading business risk assessments and facilitating multiple corporate governance councils chartered to provide assurance to the CEO and Board of Directors on matters related to compliance, risk management and environmental, social and governance topics. Matt joined Lockheed Martin as director of enterprise communications, and led a team supporting several corporate functions including the CIO, CFO and the Executive Office of the Chairman.

Until that time, Matt spent almost a decade as a business journalist, most recently as Associate Editor of Forbes, where he was recognized by the Overseas Press Club for his business reporting from abroad; co-edited the World Billionaires issue; and traveled with the U.S. Secretary of State.

Matt graduated cum laude from American University (DC) with degrees in Communications and Sociology and earned an MBA from the University of Maryland. He taught as an adjunct professional lecturer at the American University School of Communication from 2005 to 2008.

He serves on the Board of the American Red Cross of the National Capital & Greater Chesapeake Region and the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. Matt resides with his family in Montgomery County, Maryland, where his children attend public middle and high schools.