Our team.
Bridgette Stumpf
CEO & co-founder
Bridgette Stumpf, Esq., is the CEO and co-founder of Volare (formerly the Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)), where she has led the organization since its founding in 2012. A recognized leader in building trauma-responsive systems, Bridgette has pioneered an integrated model that combines direct crisis services, legal advocacy, policy reform, and institutional capacity-building to transform how institutions respond to trauma and support healing. She brings over 15 years of experience advancing meaningful rights and access to services for those impacted by crime.
Under Bridgette’s leadership, Volare has grown from a $200,000 startup to a nearly $13 million organization ($5.5M+ in revenue and over $7M in in-kind services), supporting a multidisciplinary team of 50+ advocates, therapists, and attorneys who have served more than 13,000 survivors. Through this work, Volare has become a national model for survivor-defined, trauma-responsive care and systems change.
Central to this impact is Bridgette’s leadership of Volare’s international Trauma-Education Project, which equips professionals across legal, healthcare, and public systems with the tools to respond effectively to trauma while preventing vicarious trauma and burnout. This work advances workforce resilience and helps institutions—from local agencies to national and global partners—build more responsive, sustainable systems of care.
Bridgette is a leading voice in policy and systems reform, regularly advising members of the U.S. Congress and the DC Council on strengthening victims’ rights and advancing justice through an equity lens. Her contributions have supported landmark reforms that increase transparency in sexual assault prosecutions and expand protections for crime victims. She has served as a Negotiator for the U.S. Department of Education’s rulemaking process implementing the Clery Act amendments under the Violence Against Women Act, and as an appointed member of DC’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Committee. She currently serves on the Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Advocacy Certification Program review board and co-chairs the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia’s Nonprofit Subcommittee.
Under her leadership, Volare has received national recognition for its innovative and impactful work, including the 2025 Community Human Rights Award from the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA), the 2025 Constance L. Belfiore Quality of Life Award from the Bar Association of the District of Columbia (BADC), the 2021 Ignite Award from the Conference on Crimes Against Women, the 2019 Frank Carrington Victim Attorney Award from the American Bar Association, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute 2015 National Crime Victims' Advocacy Award.
A committed educator, Bridgette has taught victimization and trauma-related courses for over a decade, including at George Washington University, the University of Maryland Global Campus, and currently at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in DC. She is also the co-host of TraumaTies, a podcast exploring the structural and systemic barriers to addressing trauma.
Individually, Bridgette has been recognized for her leadership and innovation across the nonprofit and legal sectors. Her honors include the Excellence in Chief Executive Leadership (EXCEL) Award from the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, the Mussey-Gillett Shining Star Award, and the Sandra H. Robinson Women’s Caucus Award from the Trial Lawyers Association of DC. She was also selected as a Social Enterprise Scholarship recipient through Harvard Business School’s Club of Washington, DC and completed the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program at HBS.
As a leader, Bridgette is known for building and sustaining high-performing, mission-driven teams in complex, trauma-exposed environments. She is deeply committed to strengthening the crime victims’ rights field by advancing equitable compensation, sustainable working conditions, and career pathways that allow professionals to do this work long-term. Through her leadership, Volare has also mobilized millions of dollars annually in pro bono support from leading law firms and cultivated a network of highly engaged board and community leaders. Bridgette is deeply committed to expanding Volare’s role in building trauma-responsive systems that strengthen resilience across individuals, institutions, and communities.
Lindsey Silverberg
executive director
[she/her/hers]
Lindsey Silverberg is the Executive 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 CEO 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
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
Merry O'Brien, MSW is Volare's Head of Finances & Operations. For the past 25 years, she has worked in the nonprofit field, over half 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 $5,800,000 supporting a staff of over 50 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
Naida Henao, Esq. is the Head of Engagement at Volare, where she leads the organization’s external strategy to expand access to justice for survivors of crime and drive institutional growth. She oversees legislative advocacy, national pro bono partnerships, fundraising, and communications—mobilizing more than $7 million in in-kind pro bono resources and contributing to over $5.5 million in annual revenue through strategic development initiatives.
Since joining Volare in 2016 as a Bilingual Staff Attorney, Naida has built a career at the intersection of direct legal advocacy and systems change. She began by representing survivors in criminal proceedings, civil protection orders, and Title IX cases, ensuring survivors’ rights were upheld across multiple legal systems.
As Strategic Advocacy Counsel, she expanded her impact to the policy arena, helping shape and advance legislation before the DC Council and U.S. Congress to strengthen protections and access to justice for survivors.
Now, as Head of Engagement, Naida drives cross-sector partnerships and organizational strategy to scale Volare’s impact nationwide. She works closely with leadership and stakeholders to strengthen survivor-centered services, expand pro bono engagement, and elevate the organization’s visibility and influence. A recognized trainer and speaker, she regularly equips attorneys, law enforcement, and community organizations with trauma-informed, survivor-centered practices.
Naida previously clerked for the Honorable Timothy Lydon at the Mercer County Superior Court, Criminal Part. She earned her Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law and is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia.
Kris Klassen
Advocacy Director
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
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
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
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.