The Youth of the Year is Meenu K. Singh from Winston Churchill High School. Citizen of the Year is Sharan London, of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. Business Person of the Year is Donald Dell, who was earlier this year inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
To attend the dinner, or for more information, call the Potomac Chamber of Commerce at 301-299-2170.
Meenu Singh is among the highest scholastically ranked students in the Class of 2010. In June, at the end of her Junior year, Meenu’s weighted grade point average was 4.7. She holds membership in the National Honor Society; Mu Alpha Theta, the Mathematics National Honor Society and in the Science, English and Spanish National Honor Societies. She was selected as a National Merit Scholarship Commended Scholar for her PSAT performance. In the spring of 2009 she received the Smith College Book Award for "academic achievement, leadership qualities and concern for others in the community.
At Churchill, Meenu is a leader among her peers. She is the elected president of the Student Government Association.
Meenu serves as the Student Advocacy Chairperson for the Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association. She is active in Churchill’s Environmental Club which reaches into our community to preserve energy and to promote recycling. She is a founding member and officer in the Churchill Key Club, the high school branch of the Potomac Kiwanis Club.
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR: Sharan London, executive director, Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless
In this climate of tough economic times, skyrocketing gas prices and global natural disasters, most community members are trying to figure out how to weather this recent surge of challenges. However for Potomac resident Sharan London, her focus and determination remains steadfast — ensuring that every resident in Montgomery County has a place to call home. Sharan has spent her entire career advocating for social change, enlisting key stakeholders along the way to turn the vision of ending homelessness in Montgomery County into a reality.
Sharan was hired as the first executive director of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (MCCH) back in 1996 to manage a new HUD contract. Within two months of her start date, she got the new Safe Havens program up and running, providing housing for 40 mentally ill, homeless adults. Twelve years later, MCCH is a leader within the provider community thanks to the tireless determination of Sharan London. MCCH now operates seven programs and an affiliate organization that serve over 1,700 clients each year.
As the executive director of MCCH, Sharan champions solutions to end homelessness in our county. This was recently exemplified when she visited the County Council's office 12 times this past spring to advocate for the dedicated percentage of the Housing Initiative Fund to be earmarked for "housing first." Housing first is an approach that centers on providing homeless individuals and families with housing quickly and then offering support services as needed in order to maintain their housing stability.
BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR: Donald L. Dell.
Donald Dell Dell was one of the four new members inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 11 in Newport, R.I.
Dell was the first American tennis player to compete in the Soviet Union in 1961, served as the youngest non-playing team captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1968 and 1969, co-founded the Association of Tennis Professionals in 1972, and founded the Legg Mason Classic in 1969. The local tournament has raised more than $15 million for local children’s tennis programs.
Dell is a former No. 4 singles player, No. 1 doubles player, and TV commentator for Wimbledon, French and Australian opens as well as countless ATP Tour events.
Dell was undefeated as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, which he led to championships against Australia in 1968 and in 1969 against Romania.
Dell founded ProServ, the first management company to represent tennis players. He wanted tennis players to carve out careers and call themselves professionals, the same way lawyers and doctors could, he said. His first two clients were Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith, players he coached on the Davis Cup team.
"They’re good people, wonderful people, who happened to be great players, and I really want to stress that. I was spoiled very early on by Stan and Arthur," said Dell at his induction ceremony, who has managed other players including Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Jan Kodes, Yannick Noah, Gabriela Sabatini, Tracy Austin, Andy Roddick and Pam Shriver.
Dell also represented 15 No. 1 picks in the NBA, including Michael Jordan, John Lucas, Moses Malone, Phil Ford, Adrian Dantley and Patrick Ewing.
