As a college student at NYU in 1972, John reached out to Bruce Catton about a writing project on the Civil War. Mr. Catton responded with a letter of encouragement, which John says makes his election many years later to the Board of the CWRTDC -- which Mr. Catton helped found -- truly an honor. John is also a member of the Ulysses S. Grant Society and the Grant Monuments Association.
In the late 1990's, John and his wife considered producing a feature film on the life of General Grant. During the course of that project, John reports that he had the good fortune to take many tours with Ed Bearss through the Smithsonian program. He also contributed ideas for enhancing the battlefield narration at Chickamauga, which were adopted and put into place in 2019.
John holds an MS in International Finance from Brandies University and a BA from New York University. At NYU, John was awarded the Thomas Wolfe Award for Creative Writing. In addition, John did graduate work at the MIT Sloan School of Management and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has written several technical books that are archived at the Computer Museum in Silicon Valley and at many major universities.
John has spent his working career involved in international marketing for Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett Packard) and served as special technology consultant to Ford Motor Company's National Dealer Council, where he pioneered early internet solutions for the automotive industry.
Although having an active career in the high-tech industry, John has also spent over 25 years working to train students in business. In recent years, he has been involved in developing business curricula for veterans. For his work in connection with the development of federally certifiable degree programs in this area, John was awarded a Congressional Citation in 2016.
John is currently retired from the faculty of Diablo Valley College, where he served as an adjunct Professor of Business and Finance. He is most proud of his work as a faculty advisor to veterans and for developing training programs for faculty working with veterans. John currently serves on the Board of the Peter Sategna Educational Foundation, which awards scholarships to veterans and other worthy individuals.
Robert "Mick" Bedard, Vice-President & Director
William P. Binzel, Director
He is a native of New York City, and he has been an independent writer, historian, and journalist since the early 1970s. In 2015, he served as chairman of the awards committee for the Frederick Douglass Book Prize given by the Gilder-Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, resistance, and Abolition, at Yale University. He is currently a member of the advisory council of scholars for the U.S. Capital Historical Society and serves in a similar role for the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith historic site in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His articles have appeared in many national magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Smithsonian, and American Heritage.
Mr. Bordewich is a frequent speaker on subjects related to nineteenth century American history. As a journalist, he reported extensively on politics, economic issues, and culture from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. He has also worked for the United Nations and, in the 1980s, served as an advisor on modernization to the Chinese National News Agency, Xinhua. He holds degrees from the City College of New York and Columbia University.
Mr. Bordewich has been a lifelong student of the Civil War. Two of his forebears, John Madigan and Patrick Madigan, served in the 88th New York, in the famed Irish Brigade. Stories of their war experiences were handed down to him by his grandmother. His interest in the war was deepened by a 1956 visit to Gettysburg, and again for the battle’s centennial in 1963. He has since walked many of the war’s battlefields from Maryland to New Mexico.
Mr. Bordewich lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Jean Parvin Bordewich, an advisor to philanthropies on democratic governance and a playwright.
For additional information about Mr. Bordewich and his books, visit: http://www.fergusbordewich.com
Eileen has traveled widely and always tries to fit history tours into her travels. Among the highlights was when she went to Belgium for work and stayed over, hiring a private guide to help her retrace her father’s steps with the U.S. Army in the Battle of the Bulge. It was 69 years after the Battle, but Eileen was treated as an honored guest due to her father’s service.
Eileen recently retired from Nucor Corporation, the largest steel producer in the U.S., where she headed the Washington, DC office and directed federal government affairs for the company. Prior to joining Nucor, she was a partner at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s international trade practice where she represented U.S. manufacturers on Capitol Hill and in high-profile trade cases. She began her career in the U.S. Senate where she worked on the Special Committee on Aging and as a Legislative Assistant to the late Senator John Glenn of Ohio.
In addition to her history pursuits, Eileen is a founding member and Vice Chair of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, a national support group for families who have adopted from the former Soviet Union. She also leads the Mended Hearts visiting program at Virginia Hospital Center, offering cardiac patients hope and encouragement in the days following surgery.
Eileen is from Toledo, Ohio, and lives in Arlington, VA.
Paul A. Mazzuca, Director
Paul Anthony Mazzuca is a former Capitol Hill staffer and lobbyist. He is now a licensed professional tour guide and tour director in the Washington, D.C. area. Paul is also a member of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society; the Historical Society of Washington; the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, DC; and the Smithsonian Associates. Elisabeth Rowan's interest in the Civil War stems from the discovery of her great-grandfather’s Civil War diaries. He graduated from West Point in May 1861 and served as an infantry officer in the Peninsula Campaign and in the battles at 2nd Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.
Elisabeth enjoys expanding her knowledge of the people and military strategies that defined the Civil War. In 2017, she retired from a 35 year career as a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. she has been a member of the CWRTDC since 2017.
Wayne R. Popham is the chief financial officer (CFO) at PLASTICS (https://www.plasticsindustry.org/) He has been in that position since 2017. At PLASTICS, he oversees the association’s financial and technology operations.
Prior to becoming the CFO at PLASTICS, Wayne served as interim CFO for a number of trade associations and not-for-profit organizations. He was formerly a Partner at Tatum, LLC, a national executive services firm, where he focused on the firm’s Not-for-Profit Practice segment and emerging growth company segments.
Prior to his consulting work, Wayne served as CFO or director of finance at four emerging growth companies in the high tech and alternative energy industries. He also worked in corporate finance at MCI in the 1990s.
Wayne holds a Master of Business Administration from the Darden School at the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts in History from The Citadel. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for eight years before embarking on a career in business.
Wayne lives with his wife, Laura Dromerick, and Labradoodle, “Shenandoah,” in Alexandria, Virginia, and he has a son, Nathaniel, who will be a rising junior in college.
Wayne spent his early years growing up on the Maryland side of DC and his interest in history (and Civil War history in particular) was kindled by extensive reading and visits to many Revolutionary War and Civil War battlefields and sites in DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania as well as by his travels to more distant sites. Living in Charleston, South Carolina, and in Charlottesville, Virginia, provided him even more opportunities to learn more about these conflicts
Wayne has an ancestor from Anne Arundel County, Maryland (Maryland Line), who fought in the American Revolution and turned 18 years old at the Battle of Yorktown. Wayne recently uncovered another ancestor from Frederick County, Maryland, who served in the Maryland (Union) Home Guard, was captured at the Battle of the Monocacy, died as a prisoner of war in early 1865, and is buried in Danville, Virginia.
Dr. Frank Smith, Jr., Director
From 1959 until 1962, Mr. Smith attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was a founding member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He left Morehouse during his senior year to play a role in the Civil Rights Movement. From 1962 until 1968, Mr. worked with SNCC organizing and registering African Americans voters in Mississippi and Alabama. He is noted for his involvement and leadership role in planning and executing protests and marches in Greenwood, Mississippi, during the Freedom Summer of 1964.
In 1968, Mr. Smith moved to Washington, D.C., when he accepted a job as a researcher for the Institute for Policy Studies, focusing on education and planning issues. He became involved in local community issues and was elected to serve as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC). In 1978, Mr. Smith unsuccessfully ran for the District of Columbia City Council, but the following year he was elected to public office and served one term on the D.C. Board of Education. In 1980, he earned his Ph.D. degree from the Union Institute in Ohio.
In 1982, Mr. Smith was elected to the District of Columbia City Council where he represented one of the most racially, ethnically, and economically diverse wards in the city. He was subsequently elected to serve four terms on the Council, remaining there until 1998. During his tenure on the Council, Mr. Smith supported legislation creating subsidies for housing down payments, a lottery system for disposing of condemned and surplus housing and establishing tax incentives for new business development.
In 1998, Mr. Smith became chairman of the board and chief executive officer for the organization which worked to establish the African American Civil War Memorial and an accompanying museum (AACWM)(https://afroamcivilwar.org/) . It is the only national memorial to the colored troops who fought in the Civil War and one of the most unique memorials in Washington, DC.
Mr. Smith has received numerous awards for his civic, community and political leadership.
Paula Whitacre, Treasurer & Director
Paula Tarnapol Whitacre is a writer and editor based in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to her service on the Board of the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia, she is a board member of the Alexandria Historical Society, Planning District III representative on the Alexandria Archaeological Commission, and chair of the Hazel Rowley Award Committee of Biographers International Organization.
Ms. Whitacre previously worked at The Washington Post and as a Foreign Service Officer in Costa Rica. As founder and principal of an editorial services company, she has worked for clients that include the National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies and nonprofits. She has also written articles for Emerging Civil War, Washington Independent Review of Books, Muster (the blog of the Journal of the Civil War Era), and other publications. She shares resources on her website (https://www.paulawhitacre.com) and on social media (Facebook: @ptwhitacre; Instagram: @ptwhit; Substack https://discoveringlives.substack.com).
Ms. Whitacre’s first book, A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time: Julia Wilbur’s Struggle for Purpose (Potomac Books, 2017), was a biography of a New York State abolitionist who moved to Alexandria during the Civil War to help people escaping slavery by coming across Federal lines. Her second book, Alexandria on Edge: Civil War, Reconstruction, and Remembrance on the Banks of the Potomac, is under contract with Georgetown University Press.