James Schroll, Chair
Elizabeth Gearin, Vice-Chair
Denyse “Nia” Bagley
Stephen Hughes
Nancy Iacomini
James Lantelme
Kathleen McSweeney
Elizabeth Morton
Devanshi P. Patel
Tenley Peterson
Jane Siegel
Sara Steinberger
Daniel Weir
James Schroll, PC Chair
James Schroll was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2015 and has served on the Transportation Commission since 2014. Previously, he served as the president of the Arlington County Civic Federation and president of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association.
James earned an MPA from George Mason University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Mary Washington. In 2012, he was a member of the Sorensen Institute’s Political Leadership Program. James lives in the East-Falls Church neighborhood with his wife, Melissa.
Rappointment: May 21, 2019
Appointment Term Ends: May 31, 2023
Elizabeth Gearin, PC Vice-Chair
Elizabeth Gearin is a former member of the Arlington County Park and Recreation Commission. She has lived with her family in the Yorktown Civic Association neighborhood since 2003. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and has worked as both a community development planner and as a housing coordinator. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Southern California and has taught in the USC Price School of Public Policy and the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Appointment: December 31, 2015
Appointment Term Ends : December 31, 2019
Denyse “Nia” Bagley
Nia is a 30-year resident of Historic Monroe Courts (1938 rowhouses) in Virginia Square where she maintains a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat. Her godchild Emily was born and raised in the house next door and attended Taylor, Swanson, and W-L. Nia was born in Buffalo and raised in Michigan. As a child, Nia’s parents were actively involved in the community and inspired her to ‘make a difference’. She served four terms as president of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, one term as its vice-president, and six terms as its treasurer. Before getting involved with BVSCA, she and a small group of volunteers organized SaveQuincyPark.org to preserve Arlington’s ‘central’ park when it was threatened by a proposal to build a new high school on the site. She is a life member of the University of Michigan Alumni Club (she is a second generation grad; her parents met there) as well as the University of Michigan Alumni Marching Band (clarinet). She pursued post-graduate work in public relations at The American University. Nia currently manages the Arlington office of a large residential real estate company (after serving many years as its regional marketing for D.C., Maryland and Virginia) and is licensed in Virginia and Maryland.
Appointment: July 16, 2019
Appointment Term Ends: July 31, 2023
Stephen Hughes
Stephen Hughes has lived in Arlington, VA since graduating from George Mason University. He grew-up in Roanoke, Virginia where he was actively involved in his community. Since moving to Arlington, he has lived in Crystal City and on Columbia Pike as a renter. He is the former president of the Arlington Heights Civic Association and has served on the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee and was a member of the Thomas Jefferson Working Group. He and his wife purchased their first home in Arlington and enjoy spending time with their two young children.
Reappointment: May 21, 2019
Appointment Term Ends: May 31, 2023
Nancy Iacomini
Nancy Iacomini, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, moved to Arlington in 1980.
She lived for 15 years in Ballston before moving a few blocks north to a 1928 home in Cherrydale. Nancy has undertaken many civic endeavors during her time in Arlington including leadership roles in the Ballston/Virginia Square Civic Association, the Cherrydale Citizens Association, and the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee. She is a past member and chairman of the County’s Transportation Commission, as well as a past member and chairman of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board and past Chairman of the Towing Advisory Board. She chaired the Fire Station #3 Relocation Task Force.
Nancy has also had active roles in the East Falls Church Working Group, the Clarendon Sector Plan Update, Neighborhood Traffic Calming Measures Ad Hoc Advisory Group, the Subdivision Ordinance Working Group and the Joint George Mason University/Arlington County Advisory Board.
Regionally, Nancy was Arlington’s representative to WMATA’s Riders’ Advisory Council 2006-2009, serving as chairman in 2008.
Nancy is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the George Washington University with a BA in Art History and an MA in Art History, respectively.
Her “day” job employers have ranged from the National Gallery of Art to the National Endowment for the Arts to the United States Senate. Nancy is married to Dan Donahue and has two stepsons who graduated from W-L High School and who both remember fondly the monkey exhibit in the Shoe Department of the long ago Virginia Square Kann’s Store.
Appointment: January 24, 2012
Reappointment: January 26, 2016
Appointment Term Ends : January 31, 2020
James Lantelme
Jim Lantelme and his wife are 30 year residents of Arlington. He has watched the Clarendon area adjacent to his neighborhood change from used car lots and Sears to the current mix of stores, restaurants, offices and apartments. Their daughter attended Arlington Public Schools and was in the neighborhood 4th of July parade every year. Jim is a native New Yorker and holds a J.D from Georgetown University and a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former president of the Lyon Village Citizens Association and was active in the Arlington County Civic Federation.
Appointment: February 7, 2017
Appointment Term Ends : February 28, 2021
Kathleen McSweeney
Kathleen McSweeney has lived in Arlington since 1989, and in the Lyon Park neighborhood since 1996 with her husband, Michael Rafky, and their three sons. By day, she is an IT Project Manager, working in the healthcare and museum sectors.
Kathleen has been active in the County, having served on the Executive Committee of the Lyon Park Citizens’ Association, on the Lyon Park Board of Governors, as a former chairman and member of the Housing Commission, member and housing sub-committee chairman on the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, former board member of Doorways for Women and Families, member of the Arlington New Directions Coalition (ANDC) and an advisory board member of Bu-GATA. She also served as a member of the Buckingham Working Group, Columbia Pike Land Use and Housing Study, Columbia Pike Implementation Tools Committee, and on the Community Facilities Study Committee for the County.
Her work with Arlington Public Schools has been as a member of the Long Branch, Thomas Jefferson, Washington-Lee and Wakefield Parent-Teacher Associations, and she has served as the Treasurer of the Long Branch PTA and PTA President at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. She also served on the Exemplary Project Committee that selected the Middle Years IB Programme for Jefferson. She has represented schools on the Advisory Council on Instruction (ACI) and on the County Council of PTAs (CCPTA), where she has served the past three years on the CCPTA’s Executive Committee. She was appointed to the Superintendent’s Master Planning Committee, participated in the Thomas Jefferson and the South Arlington working groups, and has been a champion of the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) committees at Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Wakefield High School. In 2013, Kathleen was recognized as an APS Honored Citizen.
Appointment: December 31, 2015
Appointment Ends: December 31, 2019
Elizabeth Morton
Elizabeth Morton has lived in several Arlington neighborhoods and, upon becoming an empty-nester, moved with her husband to a townhouse in the Lyon Village Civic Association neighborhood in 2017. She previously served on the Arlington Public Art Committee and the Arlington Cultural Facilities Task Force.
Elizabeth is a professor in the Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program at Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region campus. She has worked for a number of arts and preservation organizations, and as a planning and design consultant for numerous domestic and international organizations. She is also an active member of the leadership team of the American Planning Association’s Urban Design and Preservation Division.
Elizabeth has a BA from Williams College, a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and a Ph.D in Urban Planning from MIT.
Appointment: June 19, 2018
Term Ends: June 30, 2022
Devanshi P. Patel
Devanshi Patel is a graduate of the Arlington Public School System, and she earned her B.A. in Government and International Politics from George Mason University and her Juris Doctor from the Howard University School of Law. She co-founded a law firm in Arlington County, and she currently serves on several commissions.
Devanshi also is the Vice President of the John M. Langston Civic Association.
Appointment: January 2, 2019
Term Ends: January 31, 2023
Tenley Peterson
Tenley Peterson was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2019. She lives in the Court House neighborhood with her husband and two children. Previously, Tenley served on Arlington County’s Fiscal Affairs Advisory Commission for eight years, 3.5 of which she chaired the commission. Additionally, she was an appointee to Arlington County’s Audit Committee, acted as moderator for Arlington’s FY2020 budget town hall meeting, and was a facilitator for the County’s 2018 “Big Ideas” roundtables. Tenley is the director of web and digital strategies at Georgetown Day School. She grew up in Massachusetts and has lived and/or worked in Singapore, China, Australia, and London. She graduated summa cum laude from Bryant University with a bachelors in business administration. She graduated with a masters in Asian studies from the University of Hawaii.
Appointment: July 16, 2019
Appointment Term Ends: July 31, 2023
Jane Siegel
Jane has lived in Arlington since 1976. her two children went to Oakridge and HB Woodlawn schools. Jane is retired from the federal government, where she was an international trade specialist focused on trade, environment and labor policies. Jane was also a Brookings Legis Fellow in 2005, and worked as a legislative aide to Senator Tom Harkin in that year. She served on the Transportation Commission from 1995-2000. Jane lives in South Arlington and represents the Commission on the Crystal City Citizens Review Committee and the Community Energy Plan Implementation Review Committee as a part of her participation on the Commission.
Appointment: March 19, 2013
Reappointment: April 4, 2017
Appointment Term Ends: March 31, 2021
Sara Steinberger
Sara Steinberger (Shapiro) was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2019 and has served on the Arlington Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) since 2016. She was recently the Vice Chair of the Arlington County World War I Commemoration Task Force which completed its service in December 2018. Sara holds a JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law and earned her BA in political science and classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Sara and her husband, Jared, have lived in the Ballston neighborhood since 2014. Sara previously lived in the Courthouse neighborhood.
In her day job, Sara manages a portfolio of contracts for a large government contractor based in northern Virginia.
Appointment: January 2, 2019
Appointment Term Ends: January 31, 2023
Daniel Weir
Daniel Weir moved to Arlington in 2007. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Barcroft School and Civic League. Before moving to Barcroft, he lived in Dorchester Apartments in Columbia Heights for five years. He has served on various commissions and working groups, including the Transportation Commission and the Thomas Jefferson Working Group.
Daniel holds a JD from the George Mason University School of Law and an MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. He earned a BA in Political Science from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He and his wife Laurel have lived in Barcroft since purchasing their first home there in 2013.
Appointment: April 25, 2017
Appointment Term Ends: April 30, 2021