First-Ever Student Member Joins Organization

(Thursday, October 5, 2022) The county’s powerhouse LGBTQIA+ advocacy organization welcomed six new members to its board of directors today including, for the first-time, a student member.

New members include Mastin T. Fowler of Annapolis; Dennis McGowan of Annapolis; Roberta Pardo of Severna Park; Sarah Sample of Annapolis; Josh Seefried of Crownsville and South River High School senior Jaden Farris of Crownsville. Four individuals are also leaving the board as their terms end including founder Jeremy Browning, Jasmin Carey, Jenny Llamas and Izzy Shycoff. Member Brandon Bratcher has also resigned from the board.

“Annapolis Pride is thrilled to welcome six talented, driven and passionate members to its board who bring experience in finance, advocacy, event planning, arts and development,” said Annapolis Pride Board Chair Joe Toolan.

New members include:

Mastin T. Fowler (he/him)

Mastin joins Annapolis Pride as a board member and vice-chair of the governance committee. He manages a department of legal professionals from the D.C. office of an

international law firm based in New York City, where he has spent most of his days (and some nights) since 2014.

 

Dennis McGowan (he/him)

Dennis is committed to bringing more visibility to the LGBTQ+ community. As Vice President of Professional Practice at the Center for Audit Quality, McGowan currently leads a team of audit executives to advance technical and policy-oriented projects to identify, develop, and seek consensus on issues affecting the public company auditing profession. He will serve as the vice chair of the organization’s internal affairs committee.

 

Jaden Farris (he/him)

Jaden has the distinction of serving as the first student member of the board but is no stranger to advocacy. In June 2021, Jaden, among other leaders in the LGBTQ+ Community successfully lobbied the Anne Arundel County Board of Education in passing the Safe and Inclusive Environments for LGBTQ+ Students. In February 2022, Jaden successfully passed an LGBTQ+ Studies Course for Anne Arundel County Public School’s students – for which he developed.

 

Roberta Pardo (she/her)

A native of Brazil with dual citizenship, accomplished artist Roberta Pardo has lived in Maryland since 2000. Her great passion is street art for its connection between art and environment. For nearly 10 years, she has been a strong and effective advocate for diversity, human rights, education, and women’s empowerment. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, Maryland Commission for Women, and Indian Creek School. She will serve on the organization’s development committee.

Sarah Sample (she/her)

Sarah will take over as chair of the events committee leading the wildly successful Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival. She has 10 years of experience in entertainment venue finance, booking, and marketing, having spent 7 years at Live Nation Entertainment and 3 with Rams Head Group. Sarah left Live Nation in 2019 to work in local government. She is currently an associate policy director for the MD. Assoc. of Counties, a non-partisan, non-profit that represents the needs of local government to the Maryland General Assembly.

Josh Seefried (he/him)

Josh Seefried is an Air Force veteran and co-founder of OutServe-SLDN, the association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members of the U.S. Military. A graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2009, Josh was formerly known by his pseudonym JD Smith during his campaign to end the discrimination against lesbians, gays and bisexuals serving openly in the United States military. Josh is currently the external lead for strategic communications of the Office of IT and chairs the LGBTQ+ sub-group at Veteran Affairs.

While Annapolis Pride’s founder Jeremy Browning is leaving the board he will continue to work with the community serving as the state’s first administrative director for the newly formed LGBTQ Affairs Commission.

“Annapolis Pride would not be the organization it is today without Jeremy’s vision and direction over the last four years. We are incredibly grateful for her leadership and look forward to a continued partnership of working together,” Toolan said.

The new board members will join returning members of the board, pictured below. To get to know the full board, visit https://annapolispride.org/board-of-directors-bios/

Annapolis Pride’s VISION is A safe, equitable, and anti-racist community where people of all identities thrive, and will achieve that through it’s MISSION to advocate for, empower, and celebrate our LGBTQ+ community in Anne Arundel County to live fully and authentically.

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