Board of Directors
James "JD" Derderian, Co-founder and Chairman
J.D. Derderian has decades of experience working with Congressional and White House leadership.​He is the founder/managing partner of the Stanton Park Group. His issue expertise is in healthcare, energy, technology, and telecommunications. As Chief of Staff to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Mr. Derderian served as the principal strategist and advisor to the Committee with jurisdiction over a wide array of economy drivers – healthcare, technology, energy, and finance. Mr. Derderian successfully guided passage of historic legislation such as the Food and Drug Administration Modernization, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and the Telecommunications Reform of 1996. In addition, he led the oversight of the many agencies and departments under the Committee’s purview such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Commerce, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Food and Drug Administration.​Mr. Derderian graduated cum laude with a B.A. from the University of Richmond. He is also Clay's loving father.
Brian Duggan
Brian Duggan is Minority Owner/Board Member at Apex Clearing Corporation and also serves as Managing Member at Woodland & West, LLC, which offers investing and consulting services in the financial industry. ​Previously, Mr. Duggan served for more than 22 years as CEO of Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, LP. While Head of Goldman Sachs Global Clearing business, Mr. Duggan provided professional trading clients access to all listed exchanges, financing and risk management for their strategies.He is a graduate of Miami University, where he received a BS in Finance.
Caroline Jones Hubbell
Caroline Hubbell spent 20 years working in advertising both in Washington, D.C. and New York, N.Y. She served on the board of The Paper Bag Players and as a member of the Vestry at Grace Church New York City. Currently, Caroline is Director of Admissions for the Upper School at The Ethical Culture Fieldston School. She lives in Connecticut, and is a graduate of Emory University.
Cindy Nachman-Senders
Cindy Nachman-Senders is the President of CNS Consulting Group, a full-service corporate and association events-planning company. CNS Consulting Group’s expertise includes hotel, venue, and vendor contract negotiation, programming and content, staging and production, marketing, branding, print and digital design, tradeshows and expositions, special events, and sales incentive programs.​Cindy worked for the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the National Food Processors Association before starting her own firm in 2001.She is on the Marriott Luxury Collection Association Advisory Board. Cindy holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health with a minor in marketing from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Amit Sachdev
Amit K. Sachdev is Chief Regulatory Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he has served in numerous executive leadership roles spanning the business as a corporate officer and member of the executive leadership team. During this time, Vertex experienced seven-fold growth and successfully developed and commercialized three novel breakthrough medicines for patients with serious liver disease and for patients with cystic fibrosis. Today, Vertex is one of the world’s leading global biotechnology companies with its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts and London, England.
Prior, Mr. Sachdev held various senior executive appointments in government both at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and in the U.S House of Representatives. He also practiced law first at the American Chemistry Council and then at the law firm of Ropes and Gray.
Amit has a B.S from Carnegie Mellon University and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law.
Erin Strawn
Erin Strawn is an advocate for innovation and entrepreneurship with professional experience spanning industry, non-profit and government. Erin serves as the Director of Advancement for the Iowa Center for Economic Success, an economic development organization that empowers entrepreneurs to launch and grow small businesses. Erin was a partner at the Stanton Park Group. Prior to that, Erin developed her significant professional expertise as a staffer to the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Education where she established budget and spending priorities for approximately $150 billion in spending across more than 200 programs at the three Agencies under the Subcommittee’s area of responsibility. Erin is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Business,
Mary Bannon Derderian
Mary Bannon is co-founder to Imagine an Answer, and Clay's mom. For 12 years she earned a "Mom-cology" degree by immersing herself in the pediatric oncology world and advocating for Clay's needs and his care. Before this, she held Director positions at the National Geographic Society and The Washington Post's online division. After Clay's diagnosis, she earned a Master's Degree in Education ( Visual Impairment) at U.Mass Boston, and became an Orientation & Mobility instructor, working with children with vision loss. Now, she has a boutique interior design firm and is earning her Interior Design Certificate. She also holds a B.S.B.A. from the University of Richmond and an M.B.A. from George Washington University.
