Executive Board
Dr. Carol Tacket
Executive Committee President: Dr. Carol Tacket
Dr. Carol Tacket is a strong leader and supporter of the Literacy Council and has tutored three AACLC students. She is also a retired adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland. Dr. Tacket’s primary research interest has been in conducting phase 1 and phase 2 studies of candidate vaccines against enteric infections. Dr. Tacket has authored or co-authored more than 100 research papers and book chapters on infectious disease topics.
Dr. Michael Keller
Vice President: Dr. Michael Keller
Dr. Keller is a leader for both local and national organizations and has resided in Annapolis for more than 30 years. He is chair of the Annapolis Human Relations Commission, the national Board President of the Peace Action Education Fund, and co-coordinator of the Homework and Reading program at his church. He retired as Director of Policy Analysis and Research for the Maryland Higher Education Commission in 2008. Trained in journalism, Mike served as a war correspondent for the Vietnam bureau of Pacific Stars & Stripes. Mike brings a wealth of leadership and fundraising experience to the AACLC.
Megan Jackson
Treasurer and Finance Committee Chairwoman: Megan Jackson
Megan Jackson has been a resident of Anne Arundel County for over thirty years and has twenty-plus years of experience providing financial management and professional accounting support to a national nonprofit organization in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Megan has been with our Literacy Council since 2010 as Treasurer.
Mary Jane McCarthy
Recording Secretary: Mary Jane McCarthy
Mary Jane graduated from Strayer College in 1972. She spent the next 40 years working as a court reporter in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Her work included reporting depositions, Federal government departmental and agency hearings, administrative law judge hearings, White House press conferences and Presidential remarks under three Presidents, as well as House and Senate committee hearings. For 24 years, Mary Jane worked for the U.S. Senate in the Office of the Official Reporters of Debates. The job of the Official Reporters of Debates is to report the debates and parliamentary procedures while the full Senate is in session and compile the Congressional Record for the Senate. Mary Jane is an avid supporter of our Literacy Council.
Corresponding Secretary & Finance Committee Member: Beverly Sumpter
Beverly has been a proud resident and active community leader of Anne Arundel County for more than 20 years. She graduated from Bowie State University and has an MA in Human Resource Development (HRD). In 2008 she retired from the United States Air Force after serving 23 years. She currently works for the Secretary of the Air Force, Public Affairs Office as Chief, Security and Policy Review.
In 2014, her love for community building, outreach, and education inspired her to join the Anne Arundel County Literacy Council as a tutor. For four years, she volunteered as a tutor, fully committed to working with her student. As one of the members who wear many hats in the organization, she was the 2019 AACLC Appreciation Dinner Chairperson and worked to organize the AACLC Annual Literacy Lights the Way Walkathon. Beverly is a member of our Finance Committee.
Program Chair: Michael Green
Michael and his wife retired to her native Maryland in 2014 after ending his long career as a restaurant manager in Los Angeles. Retirement was a new adventure; he was looking to make a contribution and responded to a notice for tutor training with AACLC. Michael found a group of caring and supportive people who welcomed new members and wanted to make a difference. Most of Michael’s tutoring has been done at the Jennifer Road Detention Center, although he has students elsewhere and is happy to help anyone willing to put themself out there and ask.
Tutor Representative: John Wetzel
John Wetzel holds an undergraduate degree from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from the American University in Washington. He retired in 2017 as vice president of Congressional Affairs for a national, nonprofit trade association. He has lived in Anne Arundel County for more than forty years and has served as a tutor with the Literacy Council since his retirement. In addition, he volunteers at a local food pantry. His wife, Angela, also tutors for the Literacy Council. They have three grown children and are the proud grandparents of two little girls.
Dr. Michael Keller
Development Committee Chair: Dr. Michael Keller
Dr. Keller is a leader for both local and national organizations and has resided in Annapolis for more than 30 years. He is chair of the Annapolis Human Relations Commission, the national Board President of the Peace Action Education Fund, and co-coordinator of the Homework and Reading program at his church. He retired as Director of Policy Analysis and Research for the Maryland Higher Education Commission in 2008. Trained in journalism, Mike served as a war correspondent for the Vietnam bureau of Pacific Stars & Stripes. Mike brings a wealth of leadership and fundraising experience to the AACLC.
Michael Ahearn
Mary Austin
Catie Comer
Catie is the Vice President of Development for The Arc Central Chesapeake Region. She brings nearly nine years of fundraising and communications experience to the Anne Arundel County Literacy Council. She is passionate about nonprofits and supporting the community. Catie also volunteers with the Sister States Leningrad Oblast Committee and the Association of Fundraising Professionals Emerging Leaders Taskforce.
Catie is an Annapolis native and a graduate of the University of Maryland with degrees in Journalism and the Russian Language. She formerly taught English as a Second Language in Russia and volunteered as an AACLC ESL tutor.
