Meet the Team
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Matheos Mesfin is the Founder and Executive Director of ADC Councils. He is a Posse Scholar, a graduate of Grinnell College having recently completing his pre-MBA program at Harvard Business School in 2018. Mr. Mesfin is well acquainted with the East African Community and has previously worked to establish ad hoc college access programs in Washington DC. A native of Ethiopia, he has worked extensively with the higher educational community including in organizations such the American Council on Education (ACE), College For Every Student (CFES) and other nonprofits and government contractors. He has also served as the youngest Board of Director at the Calvin Coolidge Alumni Association (CCAA). He speaks Amharic, French, Italian, and is currently learning Arabic and German.
Matheos Mesfin
Executive Director
Seth Johnson
Seth Johnson is a Fundraising and Development professional with ten years’ experience both abroad and domestically. He has worked as a fundraising, and major donor coordinator with CARE International, Human Rights Campaign, and Save the Children. Through a program with the United Nations: English in Mind, Seth volunteered in Haiti to help create and oversee curriculum, as students prepared for their ESL exams, using the University of Cambridge’s English syllabus. A graduate of Georgetown University with concentrations in English and Comparative Literature, it was in managing a region-wide team of lobbyists and fundraisers to overturn HR3, better known as “The Bathroom Bill”, that he has come to be a devoted nonprofit developer. A father of one dog, and one cat, Seth resides on Capitol Hill, D.C. where you may find him playing a very competitive game of tennis.
Development Director
​Timothy Glymph III
Timothy Glymph III joined ADC Councils in 2016 to help transition the organization from a volunteer based to funded based organization. He is a nonprofit professional with over 10 years of experience in the education sector. Most recently Timothy managed a program called Connect 4 Youth for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington helping 18 to 24 years obtain their first job in youth development. He also worked as a therapeutic crisis counselor at the Episcopal Center for Children a private, non-profit, non-denominational day treatment facility for emotionally troubled children and their families from the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Timothy received his Master of Public Administration and Certified Nonprofit Professional certification from University of the District of Columbia’s School of Business and Public Administration. He obtained his B.S. in Psychology from Wilberforce University.
Operations Managergtimothy@ieacouncils.org
Tsion Bizuayehu
Tsion Bizuayehu is a Program Manager and assistant to the Executive Director Matheos Mesfin at ADC Councils. She is a Senior at the University of Maryland studying Government and Politics with a concentration on InternatIonal Relations and Development. With a keen interest in education policy, the nonprofit sector, and a passion for mentoring and giving back to the East African community Tsion joined ADC Councils in the summer of 2020. Since joining she has handled the daily programmatic services and structural adjustments necessary due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She engages with our stakeholders as much as our students, providing individualized support. She speaks Amharic and Spanish, and is learning French.
Program Manager
Alisha Tesfalem
Alisha Tesfalem is the Alumni Relations & Persistence Advisor Specialist at ADC Councils. Alisha has served over ten years in higher ed advocating for underrepresented individuals. Alisha got her master's in student affairs in 2017 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Alisha has served students at various universities like the University of California Washington Program. Alisha is excited to join ADC to support first and 2nd generation African students as they pursue their goals and find their life's purpose. Her passion for African students comes from being an Eritrean first-generation college student. Alisha enjoys traveling, community organizing, and working on her online jewelry business
Alumni Relations, Curriculum and Persistence Advisor
Laurie Sedlmayr
Laurie Sedlmayr is a retired Federal employee with nearly 40 years experience working both in the U.S. Senate and the Department of the Interior. Laurie grew up in Tucson, Arizona and graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. In addition to her volunteer work with ADC, she also volunteers with Northwest Family Foods and Healthy Roots in St Albans, Vermont. Laurie and her husband split their time between their home in the District of Columbia and rural Northern Vermont and are avid hikers. They have an adult daughter who graduated from Bowdoin College and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts.
Student Mentor
Suzy Cohen
Suzy Friedman Cohen is a former lawyer who has tutored students for many years. Before her work with ADC, she previously tutored at veterans and active duty military at Walter Reed National Medical Military Center. In addition, Suzy serves on the Board of Tracy’s Kids, a charity that provides art therapy to children receiving treatment for cancer. Suzy was previously a consultant for the BP America Ombudsman program, conducting investigations and drafting reports on workplace employment and safety issues arising from BP’s United States operations, and a consultant for the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, researching and writing on legal issues. Suzy also worked in the U.S. Senate during the Supreme Court nominations of Justices Roberts, Alito, and Sotomayor. Suzy began her legal career as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice following a federal clerkship. She is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School. She and her husband have two adult sons.
Student Mentor
Meg Flax
Meg Flax is a former lawyer who is active in many community organizations. In addition to her work with ADC, Meg currently serves on the Boards of the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center and the Eastern Regional Board of Advisors of Hebrew Union College. She also has served as a Trustee and Chair of the Board of Sidwell Friends School and is a former board member and Past President of Washington Hebrew Congregation.
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Meg received a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Following law school, Meg practiced corporate and securities law at Arnold & Porter and later at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Meg also received a Master of Laws in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.
Meg resides with her husband in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They have three adult children
Student Mentor
Susan Kaplan was a Law Professor at Washington University in St. Louis for 22 years serving as the Director of their DC-based clinical program. Prior to joining the faculty at Wash U, she spent over a decade working as an attorney for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee where she was Chief Counsel to the Constitution Subcommittee. She is a graduate of Bowdoin College and Georgetown University Law School. Becoming a mentor at ADC was a natural fit after retiring from teaching as Susan not only has worked with students but also helped her own two children navigate the college application process.
Susan Kaplan
Student Mentor