COMMUNITY CATALYSTS: CHANGING LIVES ONE PERSON AT A TIME

This salon featured two CEO's who lead very special organizations in DC. Maria Gomez heads Mary’s Center, and Laura Meyers is the CEO of Planned Parenthood in the metro DC area. They took us through their journey as professionals who have worked to provide critical health, education and other services to women and their families.

Dr. Laura Meyers is currently CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. Prior to joining PPMW in 2008, Laura was CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western New York. Dr. Meyers holds a Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education from the University at Buffalo (UB). Laura holds a Masters in Counseling from UB and an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany.  She is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Management Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Meyers serves on the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association’s Board of Directors. Laura served for twelve years as an elected member of the Amherst Central School District Board of Education in Amherst, New York. Prior to Planned Parenthood, Dr. Meyers was Vice President of National Program for EPIC-Every Person Influences and was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Education at Niagara University.
Laura prides herself on baking great chocolate cookies and brownies. She is the mother of two adult children and lives in Washington, DC.

Maria S. Gomez is the founder of Mary’s Center, a community health organization providing health care, education and social services in the DC metropolitan region. The goal of Mary’s Center is to provide healthcare early and throughout the individuals’ lifecycle, support families and individuals in their own community and guide individuals to move up the economic ladder through education and training opportunities. Under Maria’s leadership, Mary’s Center has grown from an initial budget of $250,000 serving 200 participants at a basement in 1988 to an annual budget of $42 million serving close to 40,000 individuals at six locations and a mobile unit in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Maria has been the recipient of numerous local and national important recognitions, including the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor. In 2015, Maria also received the Hispanic Heritage Foundation Healthcare Award, the Montgomery Country Hispanic Heritage Public Service Award and the Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Award. Originally from Colombia, South America, Maria holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to establishing Mary’s Center, Maria was a public health nurse with the D.C. Department of Health. She also worked for the Red Cross and the Visiting Nurses
Association.