Executive Committee Officers

CURRENT OFFICERS ( As of January 2021)

Stan Benton, President
Stan.Benton@pennbranchdc.org

 

 

 

 

Kyle Murphy, 1st Vice President

Kyle Murphy is a senior associate (non-resident) with the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, he served as a senior analyst with the Department of
Defense, where he authored assessments on global political and security issues. Kyle served at
the White House from 2015-2017 as the National Security Council director for West Africa and
as the acting senior director for Africa during the 2017 presidential transition. Kyle began his
career in government on Capitol Hill, where he served on the personal staffs of Senators Jim
Webb and Robert Menendez. Before joining government, he worked in youth education and
served as a community organizer. Kyle has a master’s degree in security studies from
Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in African and African-American studies,
philosophy, and sociology from James Madison University. His analysis has been featured in
various outlets including the BBC, CBS, France 24, MSNBC, and the New York Times.

 

Cicily Hampton, 2nd Vice President

Cicily Hampton, PhD, MPA is a health insurance executive at a nonprofit health insurer, author,
health disparities researcher and the former Chief Policy & Programs Officer at an international
public health association where she led the association’s legislative and regulatory advocacy activities
to address public health, health disparities, school health, and health education in addition to planning
and conducting advocacy trainings. Prior to joining the association, Dr. Hampton worked as a policy
analyst where she evaluated health outcomes for North Carolina’s Medicaid program and developed
a theory to measure health status. Dr. Hampton began her career advocating on behalf of patients
enrolled in federal health programs as well as development and execution of lobbying strategies
around delivery system and payment reform, quality metrics, and health disparities. She has more
than a decade of experience in health care lobbying and designing advocacy strategies for nonprofit
organizations. She enjoys traveling, reading, and community service. She holds a BA in Political
Science from Seton Hall University, an MPA from American University, and a PhD in Public Policy
from the University of North Carolina.

 

Mohammed Williams, Treasurer

Mohammed “Mo” Williams is a former U.S. Navy Corpsman and he is currently working at the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Program Manager for Workforce Planning and Analysis. His
background in Financial Analysis, Financial Management, Program Management and Planning have
adequately and effectively prepared him to perform the duties of Treasurer. Since, the conclusion of
my Military service, Mohammed has worked as a Finance Analyst at Homeland Security, Country Development
Officer at USAID, and now Program Manager at FAA.

He was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and migrated to Alexandria, Virginia months before the civil war
started. He attended middle and high school in Virginia, and joined the Navy after graduation. During
his 8 years in the Navy he traveled to 10 countries and deployed twice. He  moved back home after his
time in service ended and attended George Mason University, while working at Lockheed Martin
during the day.  Mo and his wife Tiffanie  moved to the neighborhood on Sept, 25, 2015, and they have
three children.

 

Marie J. Fritz, Recording Secretary

Marie was born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania and has lived in DC for over 20 years. After college she participated in a one-year volunteer service program in New York in which she lived and worked in a homeless shelter for women and children. She has worked in community development, direct social services, evaluation, and low-income housing policy. Marie completed her PhD in government and politics at the University of Maryland and teaches courses on social policy, social science research, and U.S. politics at American University. She resides on 38^th Street SE with her husband, John Riley.

 

 

 

Paul Grant, Communications Director

Paul Grant is a native of South Carolina. He is Chief Creative Officer and Senior Producer at Ascender Communications (dba Ascender
Films, Inc), a full-service digital advertising and media production company, based in Washington, DC. He established the firm in
2005 and has 20 years of professional experience producing award-winning advertising and public
health campaign messages for non-profit advocacy groups, businesses, and federal agencies. He also
produces interactive content, oral histories and factual/exploratory documentaries for museum
exhibitions and broadcast media. Paul is a member of the American Advertising Federation (AAF-DC),
American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Women in Film and Video (WIFV-DC) and the Association
of African American Museums (AAM). He studied film-making and graphic design at Virginia
Commonwealth University, School of Visual Arts in Richmond, VA. In his spare time, he enjoys
reading, collecting and listening to vinyl records, and attempting open-fire cookery. He and his wife
Tracey Middleton-Grant have resided in Penn Branch for 8 years.

 

Natiya Curtis, Parliamentarian

Natiya Curtis grew up in the Eckington neighborhood of DC in the 1990s. She attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Spelman College, and Howard University School of Law. After law school
She  briefly practiced law in Philadelphia, but quickly realized there is no place like home. She is currently employed at the Social Security Administration (SSA) as an attorney. She has been a resident of Penn Branch since 2016. She lives with her husband and two children.