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Town Council
The Town Council is responsible for making all of the legislative decisions that affect the Town. They are elected each May and serve for two year terms, with two seats being filled one year and three the next. The Council serves in an unpaid capacity. Each Council member donates many hours per year helping to ensure that the Town runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. The Council meets the second Wednesday of each month, in public, to discuss Town business and policy. In addition to these public meetings, each Council member serves as a liaison to at least one Town Committee and has many other public service interests.
Agendas & Minutes
Agendas and minutes are posted on the Town's website. Copies may also be obtained at the Town office.
Barney Rush, Mayor
Liaison to 4-H Special Committee
Term Expires 2024
I have had a varied business career, including positions as an executive in an electric utility, CEO of a technology start-up company, a developer of renewable energy plants, and an operating partner at a private equity firm. I am currently on the board of directors of ISO – New England, the authority which ensures the supply of electric power for that region. I also work for an investment bank focused on financing power plants in Africa, and am on the board of directors of a solar energy developer based in India. I enjoy playing alto saxophone with the Rockville Concert Band. My wife, Marjorie, and I have lived at 6917 Maple since 2003. We have two grown children, Alison and Carolyn.
Joel Rubin, Vice Mayor
Liaison to Long-Range Planning Committee
Term Expires 2023
Joel Rubin is serving in his third term on the Town Council of the Town of Chevy Chase. He is the Council’s Secretary and liaison to both the 4-H Special Committee and Racial Justice Special Committee.
Joel is also currently the Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress, a legacy Jewish community institution, and a partner at Democracy Partners, the leading progressive Democratic political consulting firm in Washington.
In government, Joel served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in the Obama-Biden Administration, where he led the State Department’s work with the U.S. House of Representatives. Earlier, Joel served in the U.S. Senate as a foreign policy advisor. He began his career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, afterwards joining the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Energy Department as a Presidential Management Fellow. He also served as a career Foreign Affairs Officer at the State Department in both Near Eastern Affairs and Political-Military Affairs.
In advocacy and politics, Joel is a Middle East policy expert. He was J Street’s founding Political and Government Affairs Director on Israel-related issues and the Policy Director of Ploughshares Fund on nuclear weapons-related issues. He also served as the Jewish Outreach Director for the Bernie Sanders 2020 Presidential Campaign during the primary season and was a Middle East policy volunteer for the Biden-Harris Presidential Campaign during the general election. In addition, Joel was a Congressional Candidate in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in 2016.
In the media, Joel is a frequent commentator on national security, foreign policy, and politics, focusing on a broad array of domestic and international topics. On television, he has appeared often on MSNBC, FOX, CNN, and the BBC. In print, he has written for Foreign Policy Magazine, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Axios, and Haaretz, among others.
Joel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Brandeis University and a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management with a Minor in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
He and his wife, Nilmini, have lived in the town since 2006, and are now residing with a large bundle that includes their three daughters, his mother-in-law, and their rescue dog Maddy.
Irene Lane, Treasurer
Liaison to Community Relations Committee and Public Services Committee
Term Expires 2024
Irene lives at 4106 Aspen Street with her husband, Brian Geffert, teen son, Andreas, and hound dog, Barstow. She is the founder & president of Greenloons, which specializes in providing training and financial modeling services to tourism boards and businesses that want to apply sustainable best practices to their tourism operations. She also works with university study abroad programs and individual clients to connect travelers with certified sustainable travel experiences around the world. Before founding Greenloons, Irene was at eBay where she managed customer service business strategy and developed Powerseller service software solutions. Prior to eBay, she was at KPMG where she implemented process improvement and cost-savings initiatives for various state and federal government agencies. Irene received her BA from Boston University and her MBA from American University. She enjoys traveling (current tally of 48 countries), reading historical fiction, cooking, and biking
Joy White, Community Liaison
Liaison to Climate and Environment Committee
Term Expires 2023
Joy White and her family have lived in the Town of Chevy Chase since 1999. While her children were enrolled in Montgomery County Public Schools, she served on the PTA Boards of Rosemary Hills and Chevy Chase Elementary Schools, and Westland Middle School. She also spent four years as a cluster coordinator advocating for operating and capital budget priorities on behalf of all of the schools in the B-CC cluster. She was recently a volunteer on the Town’s Long Range Planning Committee.
Since 2001, Joy has enjoyed the great privilege of working at a Bethesda-based global development company, DAI, a leading partner of public and private sector donors around the world, including USAID and the World Bank. While at DAI, she has held a variety of leadership roles in project management, human resources, communications, and the Office of General Counsel. In addition to serving as an internal Board member of her employer, she currently leads employee ownership programs at DAI, which is 100-percent owned by employees hailing from 40 countries around the world.
Before joining DAI, Joy was a career foreign service officer with the Department of State, an analyst at the Departments of Commerce and Treasury, and a management consultant with Accenture. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University. She lives on Leland Street with her husband, son, and Waldie, their German Shorthaired Pointer.