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Board of Directors

Judy Scott Feldman, Ph.D.
Chairman and President

A native Washingtonian, Judy Scott Feldman is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the National Mall as the nation's premier public space, work of civic art, and symbol of democracy. Dr. Feldman earned Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in art history from Pennsylvania State University, as well as a doctorate in art history from The University of Texas at Austin. Before assuming leadership of the Coalition, she was assistant professor of art history at American University, where she taught Washington architecture and medieval art, the subject of her doctorate. She has taught art history at Hood College, Montgomery College, Texas Christian University and the University of Dallas. She has been a board member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, D.C. Preservation League, the Anacostia Coordinating Council (Anacostia was her childhood home), and a member of the Advisory Council for Theology and Arts of the Washington Theological Union. In her leadership of the Coalition she has provided a focal point for community activists, informative content for the website, and she frequently provides resource and background information to the media as an expert on the National Mall and its history; several of her articles are available on this website. She is a member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City and a member of the Architectural Control Committee of the Potomac Highlands Citizens Association. She is a frequent lecturer for the Smithsonian Institution Resident Associates Program. Dr. Feldman received the Committee of 100 on the Federal City Vision Award in May 2002 and the D.C. Federation of Citizens Associations Award in 2005 for her work protecting the Mall.

W. Kent Cooper, FAIA
Vice Chair

W. Kent Cooper has been involved with architecture and design in the nation's capital since the 1960s. He started his career working with Eero Saarinen on the innovative and greatly admired original design for Dulles International Airport. Kent was the Architect of Record for the Vietnam War Memorial and architect of the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall. A long-time member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, and currently serving on its Board of Trustees, Kent now heads the Coalition's National Mall Third Century Initiative. As project coordinator, he brought the public symposium "Designing for Democracy" to fruition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in late 2005, further opening the vital conversation between design professionals, the general public, government agency representatives and the media regarding the future of the National Mall. Kent was awarded the Committee of 100's Lifetime Achievement and the Washington Architectural Foundation's John "Wieb" Wiebenson Award for Architecture in the Public Interest in 2005. In addition to his work with the Coalition, he is assisting the DC Downtown Business Improvement District with further enhancement of the rapidly growing city's urban amenities.

George H. F. Oberlander, AICP
Vice Chair

George Oberlander, an urban planner, was born in Vienna, Austria and came to the United States in 1940. He is a veteran of the Korean War. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University and a Masters of Science in Planning and Housing from Columbia University. His 49-year urban-regional planning career has included work for various communities in the New York metropolitan area including Planning Director for Newark, N.J. He came to Washington in 1965 to be Planning Director of the National Capital Regional Planning Council and then spent 31 years with the National Capital Planning Commission, mostly as the Associate Executive Director, DC Affairs. Currently he is an urban planning and zoning consultant. In addition to his work with the Coalition, he is a member of the DC Preservation League, a Trustee of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, and is active in the American Planning Association, American Institute of Certified Planners, and the International Fraternity of Lambda Alpha, among other organizations. He is an active volunteer at the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health. He enjoys skiing, playing tennis, bike riding and eating sushi with his family.

Lisa Benton-Short, Ph.D.
Secretary and Treasurer

Lisa Benton Short is Associate Professor of Geography at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Her interest is in Urban National Parks, public memory spaces, and national identity and the political planning process, especially at San Francisco's Presidio. She has written a book about The Presidio of San Francisco, The Presidio: from Army Post to National Park, Northeastern University Press, 1998. She is currently working on a book about national parks, public space, and memorials, part of which will examine planning and development issues confronting the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In addition to teaching urban geography at GWU, she hosted the 2004 public forum and workshops for the National Mall Third Century Initiative.

Charles I. Cassell, FAIA
Director

Charles Cassell, also a native Washingtonian, contributes to the work of the Coalition his architectural background, long-time activism in and love of his home town and the National Mall. Mr. Cassell attended Cornell University prior to serving in the US Army Air Corps during World War II; after the war he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As a government architect, he designed naval facilities for the US Navy and hospitals for the US Veterans Administration. Following the 1968 civil disturbances in DC, he served as Director of Facilities Planning for the DC Redevelopment Corporation. He was assistant professor of Urban Studies at Federal City College (predecessor to the University of the District of Columbia), and Director of Facilities Development for the University of the District of Columbia, supervising architectural design and construction on the Van Ness Campus and directing the acquisition of the University's $250,000 African American art collection. He chaired the DC Statehood Constitutional Convention in the middle 1980's, and has served as chairman of the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, Chairman of the Duke Ellington Centennial Commission, Vice President of the D.C. Preservation League, and served on the Board of Trustees for the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. In addition to his work with the Coalition, Charles co-founded and was President of the Charlin Jazz Society for twenty one years; in October, 2005, received the Mayor's Lifetime Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation, serves as DC Advisor Emeritus for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is a member of the Institutional Review Board for the University of the District of Columbia.

Thomas C. Jensen, Esq.
Director

Tom Jensen is a nationally recognized expert in natural resources, energy and environmental law and policy. He represents business, government, and not-for-profit clients before federal and state regulatory agencies and Congress, and frequently serves as strategic counsel to clients facing complex challenges at the intersection of law, policy, and politics. He also represents clients in commercial disputes and regulatory enforcement actions. A certified mediator, Tom chairs the federal government's National Environmental Conflict Resolution Advisory Committee. He is a Trustee of the William D. Ruckelshaus Institute for Environment and Natural Resources of the University of Wyoming and a member of the federal government's Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Advisory Committee. Tom has served on the White House Council on Environmental Quality as Associate Director for Natural Resources from 1995-1997; Executive Director of the Grand Canyon Trust from 1992-1995; Majority Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water and Power, from 1989 -1992; and Deputy Executive Secretary of the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Commission from 1987-1989. Tom graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 1983, and from the University of Southern California in 1980. Lewis and Clark Law School presented its first Distinguished Environmental Law Graduate Award to him in 1997. He has served on a variety of corporate, university, and conservation organization boards of directors; and has received Martindale Hubbell's highest rating for professional ethics and expertise.

George Idelson
Director

A long-time resident of Washington and a World War II veteran, George Idelson brings his love for the National Mall and his public relations background to the work of the Coalition. Mr. Idelson grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He was an Infantry Squad Leader with the 26th Yankee Division in the European Theatre during World War II, fighting from France, through the Battle of the Bulge, and across Germany. He was awarded a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and a Purple Heart. He is cited in "G Company's War," in Stephen Ambrose's The Victors, and in an early edition of his Citizen Soldiers. After the war, he completed college at New York University and entered the field of advertising, helping to introduce the Porsche automobile in the US market and serving as an adjunct professor in advertising at George Washington University. He subsequently set up a public service advertising program for the Federal Trade Commission, was a consultant to the US Office of Consumer Affairs, and was a partner in a public relations firm specializing in consumer affairs. More recently he edited and published a public policy newsletter on consumer advocacy. He continues to consult on consumer and privacy issues. Mr. Idelson lives in Washington, DC. In addition to his work with the Coalition, he is president of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association and on the board of the newly formed Tregaron Conservancy.

Joseph D. West, Esq.
Director

Joseph D. West is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Co-Chair of the firm's Government and Commercial Contracts Practice. For over 30 years, Mr. West has concentrated his practice on contracts counseling and dispute resolution. He has represented both contractors (and their subcontractors, vendors and suppliers) and government agencies, and has been involved in cases before various United States Courts of Appeals and District Courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims, numerous Federal Government Boards of Contract Appeals, and both the United States Government Accountability Office and Small Business Administration.

John R. Graves
Director Emeritus

John Graves, a public relations professional, was born in a small town in rural northeastern Missouri. His high school diploma qualified him for the Civilian Conservation Corps; from there he went to Detroit to work in a war plant. He was sent to France with the US Army 63rd Division where he saw ground combat as a machine gunner, earning the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star and three Battle Stars. After the war he remained in Europe for two years, traveling extensively. He graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1951 while working for the US Senate. Active in the Democratic Party, he has worked in every presidential campaign since 1948. In his field of public relations, he represented small businesses with government agencies, lobbied for the Clean Air and Water Act of 1963, and represented Governor Warren Hearnes of Missouri. He was a political appointee in the US Department of Agriculture during the Carter Administration. He has authored his autobiography, Memories of a Missouri Corporal. As chairman of the WW II Veterans to Save the Mall, he and other WW II veterans vigorously opposed the intrusive and controversial location of the massive granite WW II Memorial structure in the heart of our National Mall.

Updated January 2010

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