RA Board Names New Officers; Farrell Tapped To Serve As President

This story was corrected to reflect the new RA Board secretary.

RESTON, VA — At its Wednesday night meeting, the new Reston Association Board of Directors elected John Farrell as its new president. He succeeds Sarah Selvaraj-D'Souza, who served in that role since April 2022.

"Can I take a minute of indulgence and thank you for your year of service and for the fabulous improvements you've made to the operation of the board?" Farrell said to Selvaraj-D'Souza, after he was voted in as the new president. "I look forward to serving with you for the balance of your term. I think the entire board thanks you for your diligence and hard work and trying to make this board more efficient and more effective in its operations."

The switch in presidents was not the only change in board leadership. Mike Collins (Apartment Owners) was chosen to be the new board secretary, succeeding Irwin Flashman (Lake Anne/Tall Oaks). Jushchuk (South Lakes) and Robert Petrine (At-Large) were reelected to their respective positions as vice president and treasurer, respectively.

The vote came a day after the RA's annual meeting, at which the results of the March board of directors election were announced.

Related: 5 Candidates Elected To 2023 Reston Association Board Of Directors

The board chose Farrell last May to fill a vacancy after Tim Dowling decided to step down. Since Farrell was filling a vacancy, he either had to run in the March election or step down when the new board was sworn in.

Farrell chose to run for one of the vacant at-large seats. On Tuesday, he learned that he had defeated Margaret Perry and Gene Zapfel. Farrell will serve a three-year term.

Here are the members of the 2023-2024 RA Board of Directors:

• President John Farrell (At-Large)
• Vice President Jennifer Jushchuk (South Lakes)
• Secretary Mike Collins (Apartment Owners)
• Treasurer Robert Petrine (At-Large)
• Irwin Flashman (Lake Anne/Tall Oaks)
• Travis Johnson (Hunters Woods/Dogwood)
• Trevor Grywatch (At-large)
• Sarah Selvaraj-D'Souza (At-Large)
• Laurie Dodd (North Point)

In February, Farrell announced that he was running for the open House of Delegates seat in District 7. This came after he'd already put himself forward as a candidate in the RA Board election. He told Patch at the time that it was too late for him to withdraw from the board election, so he was a candidate in both races.

Then, in early April, Farrell withdrew from the District 7 race and threw his support behind Democratic candidate Karen Keys-Gamarra.

Farrell is an attorney for McCandlish Lillard, specializing in land-use. His previous leadership experience includes serving as the president of the Colonial Oaks Homeowners Association, Fairfax Girls Softball League and the Candlelighters' Childhood Cancer Foundation.