The Peerless Rockville nominating committee is pleased to submit the following candidates for the 2024 Peerless Rockville Board of Directors:

Officers: July 2024 through June 2026

President – Debra Liverpool – 2-year term, 2024-2026
Debra has a diverse background in executive leadership, fundraising, and community-based organizations. She is a former banking executive and a consultant with Capacity Partners LLC. Debra is actively involved in various service organizations, including the Downtown Silver Spring Rotary, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority – Xi Omega Chapter, and Rockville Kiwanis. She has served on numerous boards and was the past president of the Rockville Chamber of Commerce.

Vice President – Nancee Simonson – 2-year term, 2024-2026

Nancee has an undergraduate degree in journalism and a master’s degree from George Washington University in American Studies. Her journalism career spanned positions in Chicago and Washington, D.C. She worked for 40 years in legal and economic journalism for the Bureau of National Affairs in Washington before directing BNA’s journalism training program. Nancee returned to the Peerless Rockville Board of Directors in 2021 having previously served for ten years, was the Presenting Sponsor for the annual awards events, and founded Peerless Rockville’s Nancee Simonson African American Education Fund.

Secretary – Eileen McGuckian – completing 2-year term, 2023-2025

Eileen is a historian, author, and recognized leader in historic preservation at the local, regional, and state levels. A founder of Peerless Rockville, her 2001 book, Rockville: Portrait of a City, chronicles the history of her adopted hometown. Her experience in history and preservation spans four decades with Rockville and Montgomery County nonprofits and historic commissions, and she currently serves on the boards of four cemetery organizations.

Treasurer – Paul Hillstrom – 1 year term, 2024-2025

Paul is the Broker / Owner of Hillstrom Real Estate, an independent residential brokerage firm started in 1978, with an office in the historic Anderson House at 104 S. Washington Street. He currently serves on his community HOA board and is active with the Rockville Chamber of Commerce where he was a past board member. Paul’s interests span historic preservation, home remodeling, spending time with family, and spoiling three grandchildren.

For new terms as Directors, July 2024 through June 2026

Jim Gilchrist – 2-year term

Jim has 32 years of experience working with various organizations and serving on a number of Boards. His work experience includes time with the MD Department of Housing, History Associates Incorporated, and serving as a member of the MD House of Delegates representing Gaithersburg and Rockville from 2007-2023. Jim was a member of the Americana Centre Condominium’s Board of Directors, served on the Potomac Area Council of Hostelling International, on the Maryland Historical Trust Board, and on the Board of the Harry Hughes Agro Ecology Center. He is currently a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Rockville Rotary Club.

Paul Newman – 2-year term

Paul has lived and worked in Rockville for over 40 years. A lifetime member of Peerless Rockville, he previously served on the Peerless Board from 2016-2020.  He is a former Board Chair of Rockville Economic Development and current President of the Thirty Oaks Homeowners Association. For the past 3 years he has served as Annual Gala Chair for Community Reach of Montgomery County. He has also served on the Chestnut Lodge committee of the West End Citizens Association and on the Rockville Compensation Commission. He recently retired as an employee-owner at Westat, the largest private employer in Rockville, where he was Associate Vice President for Corporate Administration and Information Technology. His career there and elsewhere has afforded him more than 35 years of experience in information technology, business management and systems analysis, strategic planning and change management, and capabilities development. His education includes a master’s degree in engineering and operations research from Virginia Tech, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Muhlenberg College. Paul and his wife, Bobbi Sprague, live in the West End of Rockville.

Richard Stoner – 2-year term

Dick is a Broker/Owner of Reist Corporation which restores and manages historic rental homes, farms and other properties in Maryland and Virginia. He has been licensed in real estate since 1995, starting with Rory S. Coakley Realty, where he began a property management division and became Associate Broker. He previously worked for CoStar Group, Inc. in Bethesda, MD where he was director of commercial property research for the country’s largest private real estate database, and before that as Vice President and Administrative Manager for Bank Earnings International, Ltd and Golembe Associates, Inc. in banking finance.

Dick specializes in farm and rural land,  is farmer-certified for nutrient management plans,  and is  involved with Land Preservation both for residential historic districts and for agricultural and environmental land use programs . He works with landowners in Washington, Frederick, and Montgomery Counties in rural, suburban, and urban markets to weigh both development and preservation value of open land, nutrient and wetlands credits and other easements for farm properties.

Continuing two-year terms, July 2023 through June 2025:

Noreen Bryan, Stephen Daoust, and Hannelore Quigley will continue as directors on the Peerless Rockville Board and are not up for reelection now.

The Peerless Rockville Board of Directors Election will run virtually from June 14 to Monday, June 24 at 11:45 pm. The Annual meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Wednesday, June 26 at the Red Brick Courthouse.