Our team.
Bridgette Stumpf
Executive Director
[she/her/hers]
Bridgette Stumpf, Esq., is the Executive Director of Volare, a position she has held since co-founding the organization in 2012. She has over 15 years of experience advocating to ensure those impacted by crime are afforded meaningful rights and access to supportive services to mitigate the negative effects of trauma post-victimization.
Bridgette grew Volare from a $200,000 startup budget to over $7,000,000 in annual revenue today, which supports a team of 45 advocates, therapists, and attorneys who have served more than 10,000 survivors since the organization’s founding. Under Bridgette’s leadership, Volare has been honored with the Conference on Crimes Against Women 2021 Ignite Award, the American Bar Association 2019 Frank Carrington Victim Attorney Award, the Crime Victims’ Rights Congressional Caucus 2017 Outstanding Advocacy Award, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute 2015 National Crime Victims' Advocacy Award.
Bridgette frequently participates in local and national policy conversations around victims’ issues—providing expertise to members of the U.S. Congress to increase the transparency of sexual assault prosecutions and to the DC Council to enhance the rights of crime victims. Several landmark laws have resulted from these efforts. Bridgette is currently the co-chair of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia’s Advocacy Committee and serves on the review board for Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Advocacy Certification Program. She also served as an appointed member to DC’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Committee for five years and was a Negotiator for the Department of Education’s Rulemaking Committee charged with implementing changes made to the Clery Act through the VAWA Reauthorization of 2013.
Bridgette led the launch of Volare’s international Trauma-Education Project and is the co-host of TraumaTies—a podcast dissecting the structural and systemic knots that keep us from addressing trauma.
As a leader, Bridgette draws and retains a highly talented team with remarkably low turnover, particularly given the nature of the work. Many of Volare’s staff have been with the organization since its early years. Bridgette is committed to growing and sustaining the crime victims’ rights and services field through advocacy for living wages and work conditions that allow professionals to build a fulfilling, life-long career helping others heal from trauma. Additionally, Bridgette’s leadership and ability to convey her passion for the work has drawn investments of time and funding from volunteer board members who are at the top of their fields, as well as millions of dollars of pro bono donations per year from attorneys at leading firms in DC and globally.
She has been a Maryland certified police instructor since 2009, has taught the Study of Victimization at the University of Maryland Global Campus since 2011, and served as part-time faculty at George Washington University, teaching Victims, Victimization & the System. As a former crime victims’ rights attorney, Bridgette has provided subject matter expertise to other country leaders throughout the world and has consulted for national organizations including I Have the Right to and the Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center.
Bridgette was awarded the 2023 Mussey-Gillett Shining Star Award from the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. She was also selected as the 2020 Social Enterprise Scholarship winner through Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Club of Washington, DC and attended the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management at HBS in the summer of 2022. Additionally, she has been individually honored with the 2022 Sandra H. Robinson Women's Caucus Award from the Trial Lawyers Association of DC, the 2014 Young Women Achievement Award from the Women’s Information Network (WIN) for her efforts in nonprofit advocacy, and the 2019 Excellence in Chief Executive Leadership (EXCEL) Award from the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, recognizing outstanding nonprofit chief executives in the areas of innovation, motivation, community building, ethical integrity and strategic leadership.
Lindsey Silverberg
Deputy Director
[she/her/hers]
Lindsey Silverberg is the Deputy Director at Volare. In this capacity, Lindsey works to ensure seamless delivery of survivor services in the acute crisis response, advocacy and case management, legal, and therapeutic programs. Her responsibilities range from building infrastructure and support for direct service staff, to educating the local and national community about trauma, and thinking big with Volare's Executive Director on how to help survivors achieve survivor-defined justice. Lindsey joined Volare as one of the first full time staff members in 2012, as an advocate providing hospital accompaniment for sexual assault survivors, attending court, and offering direct advocacy support to survivors of crime. She received her B.A. from the University of Maryland and her M.A. from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Kristin Eliason
Head of Services at Volare
[she/her/hers]
Kristin Eliason, Esq. is the Head of Services at Volare, a nonprofit organization in the District of Columbia that provides holistic, trauma-informed, survivor-centered services to people who have experienced crime in the District. In her role, Kristin oversees Volare’s Legal Services, Crisis Response, Case Management, and Advocacy Services, Therapeutic Services, the Victim Legal Network of DC, and various restorative justice programs.
Kristin’s career working with survivors of crime began while attending the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, where she served as a student attorney in the Families and the Law Clinic representing survivors of domestic violence in various legal proceedings. Kristin has more than 13 years of experience representing survivors of crime, with the early part of her career spent serving survivors of intimate partner violence, dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking. In early 2013, Kristin was hired as one of Volare’s first two staff attorneys, tasked with both representing clients and building out Volare’s Legal Services Program. As a result of her leadership and dedication to quality, trauma-informed legal services, Kristin has occupied a variety of supervisory positions at Volare, including senior attorney, supervising attorney, and Director of Strategic and Legal Advocacy. In addition to her continued representation of survivors of sexual violence, intimate partner and dating violence, and stalking, Kristin’s client and litigation experience since starting at Volare have included working with survivors of a variety of crime types, including surviving family members of homicide victims, gun violence survivors, survivors of child sexual abuse, identity theft, elder abuse, carjacking, burglary, and robbery. Kristin’s areas of practice have focused on Protective Order and Anti-Stalking Order matters, higher education misconduct proceedings under Title IX and the Clery Act, and the representation of crime victims in the assertion of their rights in criminal legal matters.
During her tenure at Volare, Kristin has pushed for the rights of crime victims through policy advocacy and strategic litigation, working with members of the DC Council and United States Congress to effect change through legislation and has served on various committees and coordinated community response groups, including the DC Superior Court’s criminal rules advisory committee, the DC Sexual Assault Advocate Credentialing Project Steering Committee, the Victim Assistance Network, and the District’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). From 2015 to 2020 Kristin served as a member of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence Legal Advocacy group, which was instrumental in the major overhaul of the District’s Intrafamily Offenses Act in 2021. In 2023, Kristin was appointed by Chief Judge Josey-Herring to serve on the Crime Victims Compensation Advisory Commission and Appeals Board.
To expand the number of attorneys who provide free representation to survivors, Kristin has conducted CLE and pro bono trainings for law firm attorneys, including national and local training and CLEs on crime victims' rights. Kristin serves as a trainer for the DC Forensic Nurse Examiners and the District’s Sexual Assault Crisis Response credentialing program. Kristin has served on various rulemaking committees, including the VAWA Negotiated Rulemaking Committee’s Stalking Subcommittee and the DC Superior Court’s Criminal Rules Advisory Committee. Kristin also participates in peer review sessions of grant applications submitted to the Office on Violence Against Women. In 2013, Kristin was selected to travel to Fiji as part of the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative Pacific Fellow’s Women’s Rights Program.
Kristin’s passion for ensuring marginalized and oppressed people have access to the support and resources they need after experiencing crime which led her to being part of the Rainbow Response Coalition’s steering committee which designed a holistic district-wide healthy relationships education and outreach campaign for the LGBTQIA+ communities in the District. Kristin has served as a participant on various steering committees and roundtables conducted by the American Bar Association, including a 2022 roundtable on to assist in the creation of materials to assist prosecutors with jury selection in cases with LGBTQIA+ victims. Kristin also serves on Ayuda’s Language Access Program’s Advisory Board and was a peer reviewer during the development of the Breaking the Silence training manual which is used by Ayuda for training interpreters working with victim service providers. Kristin is passionate about providing survivors of crime with options outside of the traditional legal avenues and oversees Volare’s various restorative justice projects.
Prior to joining Volare, Kristin was an attorney with House of Ruth Maryland's Protection Order Advocacy and Representation Project where she represented survivors of intimate partner and dating violence in protection and peace order litigation and staffed legal clinics in Maryland’s Montgomery and Prince George’s County courthouses. Kristin also served as law clerk to Magistrate Judges Janet Albert and Mary Grace Rook with the DC Superior Court. Kristin received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary and her J.D. at the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law. Kristin is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (active), and Maryland (active). Kristin serves as a part-time professor at the George Washington University where she teaches about victimology, victims, and the criminal legal system. Kristin received the 2022 Washington Council of Lawyers Legal Services Award for her extraordinary contributions to the District’s public-interest law community.
Merry O'Brien
Head of Finances & Operations
[she/her/hers]
Merry O'Brien, MSW is Volare's Head of Finances & Operations. For the past twenty years, she has worked in the nonprofit field, over a decade of which has been spent in the victims' rights and services field. Merry is experienced with the administration of grant awards, provision of fiscal and programmatic oversight and training to grantees, capacity development, coalition coordination, staff and volunteer training, grant writing, project management, organizational budgeting, and financial forecasting.
Merry manages over a dozen federal, DC, and foundation grants each year, while continually building and diversifying Volare's grant funding. During her tenure, Volare's budget has increased from $300,000 supporting a small staff to $3,800,000 supporting a staff of over 40 FTE.
For seven years at Volare, Merry additionally served as its Elder Justice Coordinator. She founded and coordinated DC TROV: The District's Collaborative Training & Response to Older Victims. DC TROV brings together Volare, AARP's Legal Counsel for the Elderly, DC Metropolitan Police Department, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, and Adult Protective Services to increase awareness, training, and service to elder abuse victims in DC. She also created Volare's Identity Theft Assistance Project (ITAP), which works to increase the community's ability to meet the needs of identity theft and fraud victims, providing training to victim advocates, attorneys, and law enforcement officials in Maryland and DC.
Additionally, Merry serves as an OVCTTAC Consultant, works to advance the rights of elder abuse survivors through coordinating advocacy to the DC Council, and has presented to national audiences at conferences including those hosted by the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), the American Society on Aging (ASA), and the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA).
Previously, in her position as Director of Special Grants at at the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center, Merry was responsible for administering millions of dollars in federal grants and providing technical assistance and oversight to sub grantees around the country. She served as Director for the National Identity Theft Victims Assistance Network, supported by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) at the U.S. Department of Justice, Director for the HOPE II grants to victim service programs targeting underserved victims, host of the 2010 National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims Public Forum, and founder and chair of the PEACE Coalition, a multidisciplinary group in Maryland dedicated to preventing and responding to elder abuse victims.
Prior to this role, Merry was involved with several projects at the nonprofit Elder Law of Michigan which strove to improve seniors' access to food, medical coverage, and safety from abuse. Merry earned her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan, where she received the Geriatric Scholars Award, and focused on nonprofit management.
Naida Henao
Head of Engagement
[she/her/ella]
Naida Henao, Esq. is the Head of Engagement at Volare. Naida joined Volare as a Bilingual Staff Attorney in 2016 and represented survivors/victims of crime in criminal cases (as a crime victims’ rights attorney), civil protection orders, and Title IX proceedings on college campuses and universities. In 2017, she became Volare’s Strategic Advocacy Counsel and took on legislative advocacy responsibilities in addition to her legal work, which included the introduction of, and advocacy for, various pieces of legislation before the DC Council and Congress.
Now, as Head of Engagement, Naida continues to oversee Volare’s legislative advocacy, but also works collaboratively with Volare staff and leadership to increase survivors’ access to justice by coordinating the organization’s Pro Bono Program, fundraising, outreach and communications efforts as well. As part of Naida’s role, she trains a variety of audiences on topics related to victimization and trauma, including attorneys, law enforcement, nonprofit staff, and community members.
Prior to joining Volare, Naida clerked for the Honorable Timothy Lydon at Mercer County Superior Courthouse, Criminal Part. She graduated from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2014. Naida is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (active).
Kris Klassen
Advocacy Director
[she/her/hers]
Kris Klassen is the Advocacy Director for Volare, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the advocacy and case management program. Kris joined Volare as an advocate and later transitioned to the role of Manager of Advocacy where she provided administrative support and coverage to the program director and team.
Prior to her work at Volare, Kris volunteered with the DC Rape Crisis Center, providing direct services to survivors of sexual assault, their families, and friends and with the Collective Action for Safe Spaces in DC, where she co-facilitated anti-street harassment and bystander intervention trainings to share tools and resources for combating street harassment. Kris was a Program Manager for the National Cooperative Business Association managing projects in Latin America, South East Asia and East Africa, to strengthen individuals and their communities through socioeconomic empowerment. Kris also worked at the Pan American Development Foundation as a Program Coordinator providing training and technical assistance to civil society groups advocating for women's rights in Latin America. She received her B.A. from American University.
Languages Spoken (other than English): Spanish
Megan Challender
Director of Legal Services
[she/her/hers]
Megan Challender is the Director of Legal Services at Volare. In her role, Megan supervises the legal services staff and their casework. Previously, Megan served as a Managing Attorney at Volare.
Prior to joining Volare, Megan was the Managing Attorney at Break the Cycle, a local legal services program serving youth survivors of dating violence, ages 13-24. When Break the Cycle made the decision to end its legal services program, Megan worked with Volare to transition this critical legal services program to Volare and continue these services to youth survivors.
Megan previously worked as a Supervising Attorney at Maryland Legal Aid in a high-volume brief advice program in Prince George's County. Megan was a Clinical Legal Fellow in the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown University Law Center where she taught and supervised third-year law students in the Domestic Violence Clinic. Megan also previously served as a legal intern, Staff Attorney, and Senior Staff Attorney at Break the Cycle.
Megan brings a background in community organizing, program management, and campaigns to her work. Megan holds a Bachelors in Political Science and Women's Studies from Kansas State University, a JD from the University of the District of Columbia, and an LLM in Advocacy from Georgetown University Law Center.
Megan is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (active) and Maryland (active).
Sasha Drobnick
Appellate Litigation Director
[she/her/hers]
Sasha Drobnick is the Appellate Litigation Director at Volare. Prior to joining Volare, Sasha served as Legal Director and Interim Executive Director for the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), a national non-profit providing pro bono appellate advocacy and representation to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. In 2022, DV LEAP merged into Volare, where Sasha now leads the organization’s growing appellate program that provides pro bono representation to survivors and amicus advocacy on their behalf in D.C. and nationally.
Sasha’s passion for using the appellate process to make the laws better protect survivors was shaped by her experience as a trial attorney representing low-income clients in family law and domestic violence cases.
Before becoming a litigator, Sasha worked extensively in South Africa to promote Black
women’s equal access to higher education for the American Council on Education, then directed two fellowship programs providing women access to post-graduate education opportunities in the U.S. at the American Association of University Women. Sasha received her B.A. from Georgetown University and her J.D. from the New York University School of Law.
Shannarese Sims, MA, LPC
Director of Therapeutic Services
[she/her/hers]
Shannarese (Reesie) Sims is the Director of Therapeutic Services at Volare. She holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Bowie State University and practices as a Licensed Professional Counselor. Reesie's interest in anti-violence work began as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology/Community Health. After relocating to Washington, DC, Reesie worked at various victim service organizations and has accumulated over nine years of experience working with survivors of power-based violence. Her professional experience includes survivor-centered program development, crisis intervention and response, and sexual assault support services. She joined Volare in 2019 and in 2021, developed a therapy program to expand support for survivors of violence. In her role, Reesie oversees all operations and activities for the Therapeutic Services Program, supervises therapeutic support staff, carries a caseload of therapy clients, facilitates support groups, and maintains a comprehensive therapy resource guide for community referrals.Reesie strives to address the wellbeing of trauma survivors and remains steadfast in her commitment to eradicate power-based violence through advocacy, education, and trauma-informed services.