Lisa Spies | Executive Director

Kate Michael is a Writer, Model, On-Camera Host and Producer. Kate started DC's longest-running online lifestyle website, K Street Magazine, while serving as Miss District of Columbia 2006 and competing in Miss America.  Currently, Kate also works as a professional spokesperson and model, walking the runway for such industry icons as Valentino, Carolina Herrera, and Oscar de la Renta. She is also a travel insider and editor for Pursuitist, a producer at C-SPAN and American History TV, has frequent bylines on The Well News, and showcases tech products on QVC and BestBuy.com.

Teresa Davis Morgenstern is the Co-Owner of Win The Future Strategies, a boutique political consulting firm she runs with her husband. Win The Future Strategies provides communications, government affairs, operational support, image consultations, and strategic advisory services for small to mid-size businesses, non-profits, and political campaigns.

Teresa served as a Senior White House Communications Advisor for Operation Warp Speed and the White House Coronavirus Task Force, where she developed and executed messaging strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the historic rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines. Prior to this role, she was the Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary, where she supported the Secretary of Defense handling media affairs and communications strategy on a broad range of priorities, including force resilience for the nation’s largest employer during the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of the military in responding to civil unrest, U.S. force posture in EUCOM, and the National Defense Strategy.

She joined the Trump Administration in 2018 serving in roles at the U.S. Department of Commerce as Deputy Director of Protocol, and as Special Assistant the Assistant Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs at the State Department. She has traveled extensively on behalf of the United States government and has represented the United States at several international conferences including the UN General Assembly, ASEAN, and WEF. She began her career on Capitol Hill, working for a senior Member of Congress. Additionally, Teresa was Miss District of Columbia 2014 and subsequently competed at the Miss America Pageant that year, earning more than $10,000 in scholarship money from the program. Teresa dedicated her year of service to military families, working and volunteering with various military support organizations including the USO and Blue Star Families.

A graduate of the University of Georgia, she holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a B.A. in Spanish. She currently lives in Alexandra, Virginia, with her husband, her cat, and her dog. They are expecting their first child in April.

Stephanie is the Vice President of Public Affairs for the Plastics Industry Association, which represents the entire plastics supply chain, and nearly one million workers in the $518 billion U.S. Plastics Industry.

Stephanie Strategos Polis has over two decades of strategic communications, government, and public affairs experience within the private sector in the not-for-profit arena and at both the state and federal levels of government. Steph has worked on Capitol Hill as the Public Affairs Liaison for the U.S. Congressional Budget Committee, as a Presidential Appointee at the United States Department of Labor as public liaison for the Office of the Secretary, Director of Federal Affairs for the United States Chamber of Commerce and as a fundraiser both in the public affairs and not-for-profit sectors. More recently, she served as the Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs at the

American Property Casualty Insurance Association, working to progress industry strategic communications efforts, advocacy campaigns, earned and paid media strategy, consumer education and positioning and reputation initiatives. Prior, Steph oversaw the endeavors for the National Capital Area as the Regional Development Officer for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, building their board and DC office, overseeing all fundraising and public affairs and managing the successful execution of all events including the National Youth of the Year.

Stephanie completed the Washington D.C. Buckley to Burke regional fellowship for the National Review Institute (2019) and has received professional certification through Cornell University in Public Relations and Crisis Communications (2022) as well as a certificate of Strategic Management from Georgetown University (2024). She is a

graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a Degree in behavioral science and law and attended through the school of music as a full opera performance scholar. Steph served as a member of the board of Trustees for the Mclean School of Potomac Maryland, as well as the Guild Chair for the Christ Child Society of Washington, D.C. She previously served on the board of the Children’s National Medical Center for the Hearing and Speech Development Clinic and as a trustee for The National Child Research Center. She resides in Bethesda, Maryland with her three teenage sons and Sean Connery, the family golden-doodle.

Steph is a proud alumnus of the Miss America program having received titles including Miss Wisconsin Central (1998), Miss Madison (1999) and First Runner Up at Miss Wisconsin America (1999). Stephanie ran on a platform to encourage a society of volunteerism and performed operatic music as her pageantry talent.