Chair Phyllis J. Randall was first elected Chair at-Large of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in November 2015 and was re-elected in 2019 and 2023. Her historic election marked the first time in Virginia history that a person of color was elected Chair of a county Board.

As Loudoun’s Chair at-Large, she represents the county in various regional, state, and national bodies, including as Chair of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA). In addition, Chair Randall currently serves as Chair of the National Association of Counties’ Health Policy Steering Committee, and on the board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (COG) Board of Directors. In Loudoun, Chair Randall serves on the Board of Supervisors’ Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committees. She also serves on the Transportation and Land Use Committee, represents the Board of Supervisors on the Affordable Dwelling Unit Advisory Board, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, which she graduated from in 2005.

Chair Phyllis Randall is a member of the 2025-26 class of Leadership Greater Washington, an organization designed to foster communication and cooperation among the area’s established and most influential leaders. In December of 2024, Chair Randall was the recipient of the Elizabeth and David Scull Metropolitan Public Service Award in recognition of her contributions to the well-being of the region by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. In September of 2024, Chair Randall was voted one of Northern Virginia’s most influential leaders by Northern Virginia Magazine. Additionally, in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the residents of Loudoun County voted Chair Randall Favorite Public Official – an honor which she is most humbled by and proud of.

In June of 2018, Chair Randall was selected as one of only 25 women in the country to be included in the 2019 class of Governing Magazine’s Women in Government Leadership Program. In 2016, Chair Randall founded the Loudoun Commission of Women and Girls, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization that promotes leadership development and fosters an inclusive community for Loudoun's women and girls through education, collaboration and empowerment.

Chair Randall is a mental health therapist by profession, focusing on substance dependence and rehabilitation, working in the justice system for more than 20 years. She and her husband, Thaddeus, have lived in Loudoun County for over 30 years and are the proud parents of two sons, Ashon and Aaron – both of whom were educated in and graduated from the Loudoun County Public School System.

Monica Backmon is the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) and has led NVTA since May 2014. Bringing more than 25 years of public and private sector transportation experience, Ms. Backmon oversees the region’s long-range planning, prioritization, and funding of regionally significant projects bringing multimodal transportation solutions to Northern Virginia. Managing an annual revenue stream provided through House Bill 2313 that is trending at $425 million per year, Ms. Backmon led the NVTA through the adoption of all six funding programs, the most recent occurring in July of 2022. With the implementation of NVTA’s six funding programs, NVTA is advancing 122 regional multimodal transportation projects totaling nearly $3.12 billion for congestion reduction throughout the region. Ms. Backmon also oversees the distribution of $110 million annually to the Authority’s nine member localities for their local transportation priorities. Ms. Backmon holds a B.A. in Psychology and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Alyia Gaskins, a tenacious fighter for families, communities, and health equity, is the first African American woman to serve as the Mayor of Alexandria. She was elected in 2024 and is dedicated to building a healthier, more prosperous Alexandria for all.

The same issues that motivate Alyia as an elected official—health, housing, education, public safety, and the economic, social, and physical vitality of cities— have motivated her professional career as a public health strategist and city planner. She has worked on hunger policy at D.C. Hunger Solutions and health issues at the National League of Cities, managed an affordable housing investment program at the Center for Community Investment, and was most recently a Senior Program Officer at the Melville Charitable Trust, a national philanthropic organization devoted to ending homelessness. Currently, Alyia runs her own consulting business, CitiesRX, which focuses on building physical, social, and economic health through community partnerships. Alyia graduated from Vanderbilt University, where she majored in medicine, health, and society. She earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of Pittsburgh and further honed her policy chops with a master’s in urban planning at Georgetown and a Professional Certificate in Municipal Finance from the University of Chicago.

Nuria Fernandez is the President/CEO of AMDC Consulting LLC, a transportation strategic advisory firm. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 10, 2021, she is the 15th Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), having previously served as Deputy Administrator since January 20, 2021. With over 35 years in transportation, she has made significant contributions across highways, transit, and aviation. At FTA, she managed a $20 billion portfolio aimed at modernizing public transit infrastructure and transitioning over 10,000 buses and minivans to zero-emission technology.

Before joining the FTA, Fernandez was General Manager and CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), overseeing 2,100 employees and serving over two million people in Silicon Valley. She completed the first Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) line into Silicon Valley, a 10-mile, $3 billion project that opened in June 2020, and established VTA’s Innovation Center to foster collaboration and technological advancement.

Fernandez has held key leadership roles in major transit agencies, including Chief Operating Officer at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Senior Vice President for the Chicago Transit Authority and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. She also served as Commissioner for the Chicago Department of Aviation, managing O’Hare and Midway Airports.

In 1997, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the FTA, where she led significant reauthorization efforts.

Fernandez has chaired the American Public Transportation Association and the Mineta Transportation Institute Board of Trustees, and she is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum and a member of various organizations, including the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS). She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois, an M.B.A. from Roosevelt University, in Chicago and NACD Directorship Certification® from the National Association of Corporate Directors. 

Clark Mercer is Executive Director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). In this role, he is responsible for the nonprofit association’s overall administration, supporting the Board of Directors and policy committees, and representing COG before a variety of government, business, and other stakeholder organizations.

Mercer is an executive leader with more than 20 years of experience in the public, private, and civic sectors, including serving as a Chief of Staff to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

Born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Mercer received a Master of Public Policy degree from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.