Board of the National Mall Coalition
Judy Scott Feldman, PhD, Chair
A native Washingtonian and art historian, Judy Scott Feldman founded the Coalition in 2000 and has served as the Chairman of the Board since that time. She has testified on Mall matters before Congress, and has been quoted and interviewed by national and international media including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Voice of America. She has been a guest on The News Hour, CBS Sunday Morning, and National Public Radio’s Diane Rehm Show and Kojo Nnamdi Show. She is author of “Turning Point: The Problematics of Change on the Mall” in The National Mall: Rethinking Washington’s Monumental Core (John Hopkins University Press, 2008). Dr. Feldman received the Committee of 100 on the Federal City Vision Award in May 2002, the D.C. Federation of Citizens Associations Award in 2005, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Committee of 100 in June 2011 for her Mall advocacy. Dr. Feldman holds a 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.
W. Kent Cooper, FAIA, Vice Chair
Kent Cooper has been involved with architecture and design in the nation’s capital since the 1960s when he began his career working with Eero Saarinen on the innovative design for Dulles International Airport. Mr. Cooper was the Architect of Record for the Vietnam War Memorial and architect of the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall. He is a long-time member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, serves on its Board of Trustees and was awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his work with the Coalition, Mr. Cooper as assisted 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’s 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. Mr. Oberlander’s 50-year urban-regional planning career has included work for various communities in the New York metropolitan area and Newark, N.J as well. Mr. Oberlander 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 a veteran of the Korean War and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University and a Masters of Science in Planning and Housing from Columbia University.
Joseph D. West, Esq., Treasurer
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.
George Idelson, Secretary
George Idelson is a long-time resident of Washington and a World War II veteran as an Infantry Squad Leader with the 26th Yankee Division in the European Theatre, earning a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and a Purple Heart. 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. Mr. Idelson is president of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association and on the board of the newly formed Tregaron Conservancy.
M.J. “Jay” Brodie, FAIA, Director
M.J. “Jay” Brodie has spent a long career in economic development, architecture and city planning, most recently retiring as President of the Baltimore Development Corporation, responsible for the City of Baltimore’s city-wide economic development. Previously, Mr. Brodie has led other major redevelopment agencies in Washington and Baltimore, with his contributions to the revitalization of these cities being recognized in 1994 by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Thomas Jefferson Award, which honors public officials and public- and private-sector architects whose career achievements represent quality design. Mr. Brodie is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Urban Land Institute, and National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mr. Brodie earned a master of architecture degree from Rice University and a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Virginia.
Charles I. Cassell, FAIA, Director
Charles Cassell, a native Washingtonian, served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II before becoming a federal government architect, during which time he designed naval facilities for the US Navy and hospitals for the US Veterans Administration. He has served as chairman of the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, Vice President of the D.C. Preservation League, and served on the Board of Trustees for the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. Mr. Cassell earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Ellen Goldstein, Director
Ellen Goldstein has been actively involved in protecting the beauty and promoting the livability of Washington since arriving in 1970, In addition to a long career in spanning teaching, politics, and government affairs, Ms. Goldstein has served actively on boards of several historic preservation organizations, including Don’t Tear it Down and the DC Preservation League. She also served for more than 20 years on the board of Family Matters (previously known as Family and Child Services of Washington DC, founded in 1901) which provides many health care and adoption/foster care services to support the most vulnerable children, elders, and their families. Ms. Goldstein graduated from the Ohio State University and earned a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University.
Hon. David H. Marlin, Esq., Director
David H. Marlin has been a public interest lawyer in Washington, DC since 1961 having joined the Kennedy Administration then as a trial lawyer in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Other assignments include the Assistant General Counsel of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the deputy director of the Washington Neighborhood Legal Services Program, Director of Legal Research and Services for the Elderly (affiliated with the National Council of Senior Citizens), co-founder and executive director of the Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington. He served for 11 years as a trial and appellate administrative judge for the District of Columbia.
Arthur Cotton Moore, FAIA, Director
Arthur Cotton Moore, a sixth-generation Washingtonian, is a national award-winning, internationally recognized Architect, Planner, and Preservationist. Since 1965, Mr. Moore has practiced in 38 cities across the country, and received over 70 Design Awards, including three National AIA Honor Awards, and two national Architectural Record Residential Design Awards, while his work has been published in over 2,600 articles in magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. Mr. Moore has been the principal designer for the Coalition’s innovative, multi-use National Mall Underground proposal that would help ensure the Mall’s resiliency and vitality in the 3rd century.
Albert H. Small, Director
Albert H. Small represents the second generation of a family involved in real estate development in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and is a dedicated philanthropist for many Washington area organizations. In 1950, he founded Southern Engineering and eventually built more than 20,000 homes, condominiums, and office buildings throughout the region. In addition to his work with the Coalition, Mr. Small serves on the Board of Directors of the National Symphony Orchestra, Department of State Diplomatic Rooms Endowment Fund, James Madison Council of the Library of Congress, Tudor Place Foundation, The Life Guard of Mount Vernon, Historical Society of Washington, D.C., and the National Archives Foundation. He was awarded the prestigious National Humanities Medal in 2009.
Executive Director: Mark Bennett
3rd Century Mall Advisors
Gordon Binder, Senior Fellow, World Wildlife Fund
Amy Meyer, Co-chair, People for A Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Robert E. Simon, Jr., Founder, Reston, Va.
