Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

MURIEL BOWSER

    MAYOR

February 20, 2024

The Honorable Phil Mendelson

Chairman

Council of the District of Columbia

John A. Wilson Building

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 504

Washington, DC 20004

Dear Chairman Mendelson:

In accordance with section 2 of the Confirmation Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-

142; D.C. Official Code § 1-523.01), and pursuant to section 4 of the Commission on the Arts and

Humanities Act, effective October 21, 1975 (D.C. Law 1-22; D.C. Official Code § 39-203), I am

pleased to nominate the following individual:

                                      Ms. Gretchen Wharton

                                         5th Street, NW

                                      Washington, DC 20001

                                            (Ward 2)

for reappointment as a member with specific interest, ability, or experience in arts or humanities

education of the Commission on the Arts and Humanities, for a term to end June 30, 2027.

Enclosed, you will find biographical information detailing the experience of the above-mentioned

nominee, together with a proposed resolution to assist the Council during the confirmation process.

I would appreciate the Council’s earliest consideration of this nomination for confirmation. Please

do not hesitate to contact Steven Walker, Director, Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments,

should the Council require additional information.

Sincerely,

Muriel Bowser

Mayor

 1                                                                       ~~

                                                                          Chairman Phil Mendelson

 2

 3                                                                        at the request of the Mayor

 4

 5

 6                                      A PROPOSED RESOLUTION

 7

 8

 9

10                      IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

11

12

13

14

15   To confirm the reappointment of Gretchen Wharton to the Commission on the Arts and

16          Humanities.

17

18          RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that this

19   resolution may be cited as the "Commission on the Arts and Humanities Gretchen Wharton

20   Confirmation Resolution of 2024".

21          Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia confirms the reappointment of:

22

23                                        Ms. Gretchen Wharton

24                                           5th Street, NW

25                                        Washington, DC 20001

26                                              (Ward 2)

27

28   as a member with specific interest, ability, or experience in arts or humanities education of the

29   Commission on the Arts and Humanities, established by section 4 of the Commission on the Arts

30   and Humanities Act, effective October 21 , 1975 (D.C. Law 1-22; D.C. Official Code§ 39-203),,

31   for a term to end June 30, 2027.

32          Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit a copy of this resolution,

33   upon its adoption, to the nominee and to the Office of the Mayor.

34          Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

                                            Gretchen B. Wharton

Gretchen Wharton, a native Washingtonian and life-long Shaw resident, retired from Xerox Corporation after

a successful career in marketing and sales that spanned 30 years. She excelled at program implementation,

public relations and communications, customer relationship management, and cross-functional teamwork,

winning multiple awards, including two President's Awards for extraordinary achievements in customer

service.

Ms. Wharton's long and diverse career at Xerox included management of National and Global trade shows,

industry seminars and special sales and marketing events. She managed marketing integration, marketing

and sales management for the US Navy and major government and commercial accounts, marketing &

channel development, strategic alliance development, bid opportunity, marketing operations, collaterals and

multi-media presentation design and delivery, customer engagement, and training program design and

delivery.

Her tenure also included management of the hugely successful Xerox Corporation worldwide customer

education series known as Innovate. Innovate seminars were attended by over 75,000 people in more than

60 North American cities and some 200 international locations in Central and South America, Europe, Africa,

Asia, Australia and New Zealand. US ROI for the seminar series exceeded 1000%. She developed budgets,

managed speaker selection, directed development of module content, website design, registration, site

selection, advertising, and coordinated audience acquisition, direct and electronic mailing, menu selection,

language translation and customer satisfaction surveys.

While at Xerox, she was placed on loan to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) where she

managed program development for the Graduate Legislative Intern Program. Additionally, she served for five

years as the primary fundraiser and manager of the highly successful CBCF fashion show that funded the

Intern Program. She was responsible for fundraising and securing sponsorship, as well as managing the

operational and logistical aspects of the fashion shows, which were attended by more than 5,000 people each

year.

Also, Ms. Wharton was loaned to the Government of the District of Columbia where she served as Transition

Director for the new Mayor. In this capacity, during a three month timeframe, she designed the transition

process, and managed a team of 400 people, producing comprehensive assessments of and recommendations

for improving DC government agencies. At the request of the Mayor-Elect she remained for an additional

year as Special Assistant to the Mayor where she spearheaded several initiatives requiring coordination

between the Mayor’s office, cabinet officials and the City Council. Ms. Wharton introduced the Total Quality

Management principals and techniques, used by Xerox in winning the Baldridge Award, to DC government,

and served as facilitator for the Procurement Regulations Reform taskforce.

Ms. Wharton, an active member of the Shaw community and member of numerous charitable and community

organizations, was formerly Vice President, Board of Directors, DC Special Olympics and Vice President,

Board of Directors, Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home. Presently, Ms. Wharton serves as a Mayoral Appointed

Commissioner, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Chair, Shaw Main Streets and Board member of

City Dance.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

       Executive Office of the Mayor – Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments

  John A. Wilson Building | 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 600 | Washington, DC 20004

                                     Gretchen Wharton

                    Gretchen Wharton is a current member of the Commission on the Arts and

                    Humanities.

                    Ms. Wharton, a native Washingtonian and life-long resident, retired from

                    Xerox Corporation after a successful career in marketing and sales that

                    spanned 30 years. She excelled at program implementation, customer

                    relationship management, public relations and communications, and cross-

                    functional teamwork, winning multiple awards, including two President's

                    Awards for extraordinary achievements in customer service.

Ms. Wharton's long and diverse career at Xerox included management of national and global trade

shows, industry seminars and special sales and marketing events. She also managed marketing

integration, marketing and sales management for major military, government and commercial

accounts, marketing and channel development, strategic alliance development, bid opportunity

review, marketing operations, marketing collateral and multimedia presentation design and

delivery, customer engagement, and training program design and delivery.

Ms. Wharton has also worked with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the District

of Columbia government. She has been a member of numerous charitable and community

organizations and on the board of directors for DC Special Olympics and the Lisner-Louise-

Dickson-Hurt Home and is an active member of the Shaw community and the Convention Center

Community Association.

A Ward 6 resident, Ms. Wharton earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland

and continued her education at Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School,

and Georgetown University.

                              GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

                                 Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser

Office of the General Counsel to the Mayor

To:                 Tomas Talamante, Steve Walker

From:               Betsy Cavendish

Date:               January 25, 2024

Subject:            Legal sufficiency review of Resolutions nominating Gretchen Wharton,

                    Kymber Lovett-Menkiti, Cora Masters Barry, and Reginald Van Lee as

                    members of the Commission on the Arts and Humanities

This is to Certify             that this office has reviewed the above-referenced resolutions and

found it to be legally unobjectionable. If you have any questions in this regard, please do not

hesitate to call Erika Satterlee, Deputy General Counsel, Executive Office of the Mayor, at 202-

724-1303, or me at 202-724-7681.

______________________________

Elizabeth A. (Betsy) Cavendish

______________________________________________________________________________

The John A. Wilson Building   • 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW   •   Suite 300 •   Washington, D.C. 20004   • Office (202) 724-7681