Episodes

Few leaders have shaped Virginia’s public life as profoundly as Jim Dyke. A graduate of Howard University and its School of Law, he served as domestic policy advisor to Vice President Walter Mondale, helped establish the federal Department of Education, and became Virginia’s first Black Secretary of Education. He has chaired the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, received the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award and EduTutorVa’s 2025 Education Legacy Award, and most recently served as a key advisor to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s acclaimed Un/Bound: Free Black Virginians exhibition. Inspired as a young man by hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak at the March on Washington, he has dedicated his career to advancing social justice and expanding opportunity through education and law.

This will be a rare and meaningful opportunity to hear Mr. Dyke reflect on a lifetime of public service and draw on his wisdom at a pivotal moment for higher education and American democracy. The conversation will explore the current challenges facing colleges and universities, the enduring importance of equal access to education, the business community’s role in promoting equity, and the possibilities for moral courage and bipartisanship in a polarized political climate.

Voices of Purpose is made possible by the generous support of Claudine Malone.

Ambassador Moreno was born in Madrid in 1968 and holds a Law Degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She joined the Spanish Foreign Service in 1994.

Until her appointment, she was Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs since 2021. Previously, she held positions in the Presidency of the Government as Director of the Cabinet of the Secretary General, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation as Undersecretary and Secretary of State for International Cooperation, in the Ministry of the Interior as Director General of International Relations and Foreign Affairs, and in the Ministry of Defense as Director of Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Defense.

In her career as a diplomat abroad, the Ambassador has been posted in Russia, Panama, Egypt, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Elisabeth Griffith has built a reputation as a respected authority on women’s lives, advocating for women’s rights, working to elect women candidates, and supporting women’s causes as a leader in the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Campaign Fund.

Her latest book, Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality, 1920-2020 (Pegasus Books, 2022), covers the roles of Black and white women as change agents and social justice activists who worked to secure voting rights, end racial violence, and improve the lives of all women. Her biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, *In Her Own Right* (Oxford, 1984), was named one of the 15 best books of 1984 and one of the best books of the century by *The New York Times Book Review*. It inspired Ken Burns’ PBS documentary Not for Ourselves Alone, where she served as a consultant.

From 1988 to 2010, Dr. Griffith served as Headmistress of The Madeira School, an independent girls’ boarding and day school. During her tenure, she elevated the school’s profile, led its centennial celebration, raised $100 million, and enhanced the school’s sense of community. Her achievements were recognized with the Washington Post’s Distinguished Educational Leadership Award in 2005. She has served on numerous boards, including Wellesley College Alumnae Association, the Women’s Campaign Fund, and WETA, and received the Junior League of Washington’s Sally Carruthers Spirit of Volunteerism Award for her work promoting racial diversity.

Dr. Griffith earned her doctorate in history from American University, where she was named the University’s outstanding graduate student and alumni “Lodestar” in 1992. She holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a BA with honors in history from Wellesley College. Elected to the Society of American Historians, her research has been funded by the J. Franklin Jameson Fellowship from the American Historical Association and the Library of Congress. She is an engaging public speaker whose audiences have included corporate conferences, law firms, the League of Women Voters, and the Girl Scouts.

Dr. Irma Becerra became the seventh President of Marymount University on July 1, 2018. A Cuban-born American who immigrated as an infant, Dr. Becerra earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Miami and became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Florida International University.

Under her leadership, Marymount has gained national recognition in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges Rankings, earned Research College & University and Opportunity College & University designations from Carnegie, became Virginia’s first Hispanic-Serving Institution and launched innovative initiatives including new doctoral programs, the Placemakr Marymount Ballston mixed-use development, the Early Learning Academy, and the first Amazon Just Walk Out store at any U.S. university campus.

Before Marymount, Dr. Becerra served as Provost at St. Thomas University (2014–2018) and spent nearly two decades at FIU in various positions, including Vice President, Vice Provost, and tenured full professor. She founded FIU’s Knowledge Management Lab and led significant projects as principal investigator at the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Air Force Research Lab. She holds four patents and copyrights and has authored four books and numerous journal articles.

Dr. Becerra has received numerous honors, including the Virginia Business Women in Leadership Award, Washington Business Journal’s DEI Champion Award, and recognition as one of Northern Virginia’s 50 Most Influential People. She is a frequent contributor to Forbes Business Council and has been featured on numerous podcasts. An ardent advocate for Dreamers, she established Marymount’s partnership with TheDream.US and created the institution’s Dreamers scholarship fund. She currently serves on multiple boards including the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Greater Washington Board of Trade, and Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Dr. Mattie Fitch is an Associate Professor of History at Marymount University, where she joined the faculty in Fall 2018. A cultural historian of modern Europe, she specializes in 19th- and 20th-century France. A native of Ohio, she previously taught at Tarleton State University, the University of Dayton, and Wright State University.

At Marymount, Dr. Fitch teaches courses such as Race and Modern Europe, Modern European History, and Modern French History. Her scholarship explores the intersections of art, citizenship, national identity, class, and religion in modern France, with particular attention to the interwar period.

Her first book, The People, the Workers, and the Citizens: Antifascist Cultures and the Popular Front in France, 1934–1939, was published by Routledge in the Studies in Modern European History series. The book examines the antifascist cultural movement that emerged in France during the 1930s, showing how individuals and organizations used cultural practices—including music, theater, and visual art—to shape political identities and community as fascism threatened Europe.

Dr. Fitch has conducted extensive archival research in Paris, Marseille, Rouen, Nantes, and other regions of France. She regularly presents her work at academic conferences and has published in scholarly journals. Her research sheds light on how people in France between the World Wars negotiated multiple identities—defined by class, ideology, region, and religion—in their efforts to imagine and defend the French nation.

Claudine B. Malone has served as CEO of Financial and Management Consulting Inc. in McLean, Virginia, since 1984. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, she graduated from Wellesley College and Harvard Business School.Throughout her distinguished career, Malone has served as a senior executive and CIO at Cardinal Health Inc., Allegiance, Baxter International, and AlliedSignal Corporation. She has also been a business professor at Harvard Business School (1972–1981), Georgetown University (1982–1984), and the University of Virginia’s Darden School (1984–1987).Malone has served on numerous corporate and institutional boards, including Hasbro Inc., Hannaford Brothers, Anadarko Holdings, Houghton Mifflin, and the Limited Stores. She also served as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, demonstrating her leadership across business, education, and public service sectors.