Tracy Sayegh Gabriel

President/Executive Director

  tracy@nationallanding.org

Tracy Sayegh Gabriel is an urbanist, planner and placemaker who has helped communities shape and implement plans for neighborhood and downtown vibrancy, inclusive economic development, capital investment, and programming. Tracy has served as President and Executive Director of the National Landing Business Improvement District since 2018, leading placemaking and promotion for the DC region's fastest-growing downtown district located in Arlington, VA. She has been featured on the Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business and Power 100 lists. Tracy’s career has spanned public and private sectors and includes management of some of the most complex and high-profile public plans and development initiatives in New York City as a Vice President at NYC Economic Development Corporation and in Washington, DC, as Associate Director at the DC Office of Planning. 

Tracy serves on the Board of Directors of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Synetic Theater, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Arlington. She received her undergraduate degree in International Affairs from The George Washington University, her Master's in City Planning from MIT, and was a Fulbright Scholar in economic development in Damascus, Syria. She is thrilled to help build community and tell the story of National Landing's exciting evolution.

Rob Mandle

Deputy Executive Director

  rob@nationallanding.org

Since 2007, Rob has played a leading role in the successful transformation of the National Landing area into a vibrant downtown community that is attracting residents, new businesses, and a wave of new investment by the private sector. His background in urban planning and economics combined with his passion for placemaking and collaboratively building communities for people, not just buildings, drives his perspective and vision. Rob’s work envisioning and championing a new pedestrian connection to Washington National Airport, the CC2DCA Intermodal Connector, helped propel a unique, differentiating idea into an important infrastructure investment included in the Commonwealth’s winning Amazon proposal. Additionally, Rob’s framing of the Greater Crystal City area as a downtown of scale and substance as the largest, walkable downtown in Virginia helped propel the BID’s efforts to extend its boundaries to Pentagon City and Potomac Yard.

Outside of National Landing, Rob has a track-record for active and engaged community involvement with a vision for community action that embraces creativity, efficiency, and partnership building in order to proactively make change, not just advocate for it. Rob has founded a downtown Civic Association in Norfolk, launched a farmers market in the Petworth neighborhood of DC, and served a term as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner where he championed new bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming measures, supported community organizations, and advocated for economic development efforts along Georgia Avenue. Rob is also currently serving as Assistant Cubmaster for Scouts BSA Pack 98 providing leadership and management that supports a team of volunteers providing programming to over 100 youth.

Rob earned a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning at Virginia Tech’s regional campus in Old Town Alexandria. Rob is also a graduate of Bowdoin College of Brunswick, Maine having earned a degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. Rob resides with his family in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Malaika Scriven

Vice President, Planning & Development

  malaika@nationallanding.org

Malaika Abernathy Scriven leads planning and development within the National Landing's three vibrant neighborhoods of Crystal City, Pentagon City, and Potomac Yard. Through a comprehensive budget, she curates on-the-ground projects to support three core BID service areas, including, Public Realm and Beautification, Transportation, and Economic Development. Excited about implementing cutting-edge planning principles to support Virginia’s largest walkable downtown commercial core and all the diverse businesses that thrive here, she also ensures the BID furthers its commitment to engage the National Landing community by elevating diversity and representation, fostering inclusive community building, and advancing racial equity within the organization, its programmatic activities and through public engagement. 

Previously, Malaika served as the Chief of Staff, in the DC Office of Planning. In this role, she spearheaded several community planning projects under Mayor Bowser's administration, including updating the DC Comprehensive Plan, supporting housing production equitably within each Ward across the District, and fostered strategic partnerships with District agency partners and stakeholders.

Malaika holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH, and a Master of Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati.

Ben Wills

Director of Communications and Marketing

  ben@nationallanding.org

Ben Wills is a public relations leader, with more than a decade of experience working in economic and community development, placemaking, and architecture. He’s a design enthusiast, passionate about sustainability, who uses creative storytelling strategies to advance brands and influence progress.

Ben joins the National Landing BID team from The American Institute of Architects, where he was head of social media and a strategic public relations and communications advisor for the international association. Previously, Ben served as head of communications and marketing for the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, Editor-in-Chief of Chamber Executive magazine, and head of communications, marketing, events, and partnerships for the award-winning Southwest Indiana Chamber in Evansville.

Ben is an Indianapolis native and graduate of the University of Southern Indiana, where he earned a degree in public relations. An advocate for inclusive communities, Ben has served on the boards of directors for the Girl Scouts, Evansville Museum, and young professional groups. He lives with his partner in Washington, DC, and enjoys commuting to National Landing by Metro and experiencing other places through travel whenever possible.

Mai Abdelaziz

Office Manager

  admin@nationallanding.org

Mai joined the BID part-time in May 2019, initially as part of the events team. She resides in Crystal City herself and is excited with the changes happening in the neighborhood, which is the reason she became involved with the BID. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Mai moved to the U.S in 2004 where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. Previously, Mai interned at the World Bank as an architect's assistant; worked at a boutique design firm and as a Design Coordinator; and consulted at Ethan Allen.

As a lover of languages and dance, she became interested in Latin music, which made her fall in love with Zumba. She has been teaching Zumba since 2010, which helped her learn the Spanish language. Mai is also fluent in Arabic, her native tongue.

Luke Fichter

Marketing and Communications Manager

  luke@nationallanding.org

Luke Fichter comes to the BID from the Washington Nationals where he managed their community relations efforts. During his time with the Nationals, Luke led the team’s youth baseball outreach and programming where he developed his marketing and planning skills, collaborated with the business sector and community stakeholders, and represented the organization to various publics, including the DC BIDs. He witnessed firsthand the progression of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood while working in Navy Yard.

With National Landing, Luke manages communications and marketing strategies focused on brand engagement and relationship building across the BID district. Luke is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where he studied geography and public and urban affairs. Outside of National Landing, he enjoys traveling, recreational sports, and holds a private pilot's license. He is a lifelong Arlingtonian.

Matthew Jones

Planning & Transportation Project Manager

Matt Jones is an urban planner, storyteller, and transit advocate who strives to connect people of all abilities to sustainable transportation. While he was born and raised in Washington, DC, Matt is passionate about people-first mobility throughout the region, and has led several projects around the region including: Montgomery County, MD's bus rapid transit project; Washington Union Station's expansion project; City of Boulder, CO's bike, pedestrian, and vision zero efforts; Baltimore City's BaltimoreLink project; and the District Department of Transportation's goDCgo initiative to encourage Washington, DC's 22 million annual visitors to use sustainable transportation.

Matt received his undergraduate degree in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a Master's in Community Planning from the University of Maryland (UMD). In 2020, he was named to the Association for Commuter Transportation's TDM 40 under 40 list. He serves on the Board of Governors of the University of Maryland and President of UMD's School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation Alumni Network. When he's not cheering on the Terps, you can find him giving walking tours of Washington Union Station or at one of the many art galleries in the DMV.

Alex Michael

Public Realm Coordinator

  alex@nationallanding.org

Alex Michael is the NL BID's Public Realm Coordinator, and is responsible for leading initiatives to create a more attractive, active and sustainable place for us all in NL.  Alex comes to the BID from the City of Takoma Park, MD where he worked on a wide variety of public space and public transportation projects through an equity-focused lens. He has a robust history of experience with GIS, as well as researching, collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data. He is a geographer, urban planner, and public space enthusiast who is deeply engaged in issues of equity, social mobility, racial justice, and inclusion, especially as it relates to smart growth practices, public space, public transportation and climate change resilience.

Alex was born and raised in Dayton, OH, but found his love for cities when studying abroad in Edinburgh. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geography from Ohio University and a Master’s degree in Geography from George Washington University where he also obtained a Professional Certificate in GIS. Alex recently received a certificate from the National Charrette Institute at Michigan State University and frequently completes courses on Planetizen.

Ashley Labadie

Senior Manager, Planning & Economic Development

  Ashley@nationallanding.org

Ashley Labadie is a certified urban planner with nearly 15 years of experience in comprehensive and downtown master planning and economic development strategic planning from the public and private sectors. Ashley serves the National Landing neighborhoods and stakeholders in a planning, placemaking, and economic development capacity bringing together her passion for data-driven solutions and inclusive community processes for impactful and equitable outcomes.

Most recently, Ashley served as the Senior Project Director for the Public + Non-Profit Solutions team at Streetsense where she led economic development strategic planning efforts for five jurisdictions across the United States. She also served as an urban planner with the City of Alexandria’s Department of Planning and Zoning where most notably she led the approval processes for the redevelopment of Landmark Mall into a well-connected, multi-use neighborhood.

Ashley is a Texas native and holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Bachelor Degree of Landscape Architecture from Texas Tech University. She resides with her family in neighboring Alexandria, Virginia and enjoys being active and outdoors whether it be through running or exploring all the region’s attractions via bike and public transit.