Photo by CSAAC Foundation

The historic City Tavern Club will again serve as the setting for this year’s annual“Fashion, Music and Art for Autism” on Saturday, June 4, 2011. This charity benefit will feature a runway show with local designer fashions, classical piano performances and a silent auction.

This event, which already has several hundred individuals on the guest list, including some of the District’s most prominent business and social personalities, will raise money for Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children (CSAAC) and will draw attention to the steep increase in autism rates, which now affect 1 in 110 children born today.

Maggie Burgess, designer and owner of CAS Boutique in Gainesville and McLean, VA will showcase her designs made for the Washington woman on-the-go from Hunt Country to the White House.  Don Patron, a DC-based artist, will feature his “art as clothing” line. His models will also carry photos of children impacted by autism as they walk the runway.

Guests will also be treated to a classical piano performance by Julliard doctoral fellow and classical pianist, Dr. Edvinas Minkstimas.

VIP admission with runway seating is $100 per person and general admission is $50.  All proceeds will benefit CSAAC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supporting CSAAC, and agency  providing services to adults and children with autism, as well as educational and support programs to their families.

Guests will also have the chance to win silent auction items that include donations from local artists, restaurants, hotels, spas and salons.

Event co-chairs are Janine Schoonover, an entrepreneur active in local charities and Georgetown Business Association Member, and Rokas Beresniovas, Vice President at HSBC and board member of CSAAC Foundation. The Host Committee includes:

• Lolly Amons, DC Artist
• William Farrand, Blue Flame Capital
• Wendy Gordon, Flash Communications
• Michele Lebar, Lebar Consulting
• Dr. Richard Meyer, President, City Tavern Club
• Don Patron, Artist (www.donpatronarts.com)
• Kimberly Robinson, The Big Bang
• Marilyn Thompson, BeautyInDC.com
• Angelique Velez, Special Assistant to Congressman Pedro Pierluisi
• Jenny Zinn, Betsey Johnson Georgetown

The event’s Silver Sponsor is ALCO Pharmacy. Other sponsors include the Georgetown Business Association, The Latham Hotel, Beauty In DC, The Georgetown Dish, The Last Crumb, and Salon Roi.

Please contact Ayda Sanver of CSAAC Foundation at 240. 912.2256 for more information.

Photo by Neshan H. Naltchayan

Jennifer Altemus, Beth Solomon and Joe Giannino

A record-setting 250+ Georgetown Business Association (GBA) members and friends sauntered among floating trays of elegant appetizers, cocktails and wine as GBA and The Georgetown Dish on Wednesday launched a new social media channel for Georgetown businesses called Out & About, the first such channel by a local business organization in Washington.

Out & About will promote GBA member businesses with daily news, announcements and event coverage — including video — as well as legislative affairs, new business openings, issues facing the business community and more.

“Our goal is to support our members by creating platform to help them increase sales and increase their visibility,” said GBA President Joe Giannino at the launch, sponsored by EastBanc. “GBA and The Georgetown Dish are committed to supporting a vibrant business community, harmonious relations between residents and businesses, and enhancing the qualities of Georgetown that make it one of the world’s most loved neighborhoods. We are committed to Georgetown’s success.”

The new channel also begins a campaign of increased pro-business advocacy on behalf of GBA’s members on local and national issues. “Georgetown Means Business — that’s our message,” said Giannino, standing with Out & About Channel Director Beth Webster. “The new GBA Channel on The Georgetown Dish will allow us to make our voices heard on taxes, public safety, traffic and parking, and other issues that affect our members and our bottom line.”

Councilmember Jack Evans offered his congratulations to the crowd. “I read The Georgetown Dish every morning. I have to make sure I know what they’re saying about me,” he said. At-large Council candidates Josh Lopez, Patrick Mara, and Vincent Orange also offered remarks in the countdown to the April 26 election.

“The Georgetown Dish is now increasing the visibility of businesses and community organizations, keeping Georgetown ahead of the curve, where we like to be,” said Beth Solomon, Publisher of The Georgetown Dish.

GBA members and board members including Rokas Beresniovas, Riyad Said, Jennifer Altemus, Sonya Bernhardt, Jim Wilcox, Susan Calloway, Janine Schoonover, Sue Hamilton (an organizer of the event), as well as House of Sweden’s Cecilia Browning, Keith Lipert of Keith Lipert Gallery and Brian Armstrong of The George Town Club attended the event. Business leaders John Asadoorian, Chris Smith, The Current Newspapers’ Davis Kennedy, Mary Kay Williams and George Steinbraker, Liz Sara, Marilyn Salenger, Bo Jonsson and Dean & Deluca’s Eric Forsythe also mixed and mingled.

The Georgetown Business Association (GBA) is a non-profit membership organization committed to maintaining and improving the climate for conducting business in Georgetown.  The GBA’s  goals are connecting Georgetown businesses with potential customers, other businesses and Georgetown/DC leadership and acting as advocate on behalf of the Georgetown businesses and professionals.  The Georgetown Dish is the number-one news and social media site in Georgetown. Sign up for the Dish o’ the Day newsletter here.

Lithuanians from UK and US Will Help Students Improve

(Vytautas Magnus University)

The USA Big Brother project is overseen by Lina Tolvaišait?, LCLC member Darius Daubaras’ “small sister”, currently working at the World Bank in washington, and representatives of the Global Lithuanian Leaders (GLL) – Rokas Beresniovas, the Vice President of HSBC Bank in Washington and Edvinas Minkštimas, a pianist and doctoral student at the famous performing arts conservatory, the Juilliard School, in New York.

Photo by Wendy Gordon

Christine & Rokas Beresniovas

It was a little speakeasy; a little Roaring Twenties on Saturday evening as One Lounge opened its doors for a DC Air Society event benefiting the Kunsberg School for chronically ill children on the campus of National Jewish Health®.

Guests including the GBA’s Rokas Beresniovas and his wife, Christine, donned Fedoras, feather boas and beads taking over the club in Dupont for a worthy cause.   Although none had to whisper the immortal “Joe sent me…” to gain entrance, invited guests spent the evening enjoying cocktails, dancing and some light bites.

The AIR Society was founded in 1991 when a group of young

(Photo by: Wendy Gordon) Guests crowded One Lounge to benefit the DC Air Society

professionals with the common tie of having loved ones came together because some of them or their family members that have had been treated for asthma, allergies and/or immune system disorders at National Jewish Health.   The AIR Society expanded from New York to include a group in Denver in 2001 and now has added this chapter in Washington, DC, which held its inaugural event in May 2010.  Since its inception more than $2.5 million has been raised for this cause.National Jewish Health For more than 110 years, National Jewish Health has been at the forefront of research and medicine, integrating the latest scientific discoveries with coordinated care for lung, heart and immune diseases.

For more information on DC Air Society or to donate, see www.dcairsociety.org

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Photo by Judith Beermann

Vincent Orange, R.Donahue Peebles, Trinity L. Jennings, Rokas Beresniovas

What more auspicious spot to kick off the new year than in the landmark 1700s building where George Washington and Pierre L’Enfant met to plan the Federal City? Known today as the elegant George Town Club, it was here that the Georgetown Business Association celebrated with members and friends Wednesday evening.

Just like George and Pierre, Don Peebles, chairman and chief executive officer of the Peebles Corp, the largest African American real estate development and ownership company in the U.S., joined GBA President Joe Giannino, along with Chip Dent, Ed Solomon, Rokas Beresniovas, respected arbitrator Jim Harkless, WASH-FM radio personality Marilyn Thompson, D.C. Digest”s Donna Christenson, Sue Hamilton, Jennifer Altemus and others — hosted by inimitable General Manager Brian Armstrong and his top flight team at the Club.

(Photo by: The Georgetown Dish) Madeline Wade, Janine Schoonover and George Town Club Manager Brian Armstrong

Armstrong, told the The Georgetown Dish “We’re in our 45^th year of offering club members a business friendly atmosphere and excellent service.” Indeed. He said “business is up” in 2011 — hopefully a good sign for all.

This party put Georgetown business leaders in a good mood for sure. The lovely surroundings, excellent food and drink and warm atmosphere was inspiration enough to say, “We”re going to have a great year.” May they be so right! Good for Georgetown, good for jobs, good for everyone.

Wine in hand, new members and old friends casino online meandered through the cozy bar and walnut lined English Tudor living room enjoying delicious passed hors d”oevres created by executive chef, Peggy Thompson.

(Photo by: Judith Beermann) Former DC Council Chairman Vincent Orange and Ambassador of Jamaica to the U.S., Audrey Marks

 

(Photo by: Judith Beermann) Zubair Popal, Jennifer Altemus and Ed Solomon

 

(Photo by: The Georgetown Dish) Arbitrators Jim Harkless of Georgetown and Ezio Borchoni of Bethesda

 

(Photo by: Judith Beermann) Hope and Ed Solomon withTonnie Chamblee

 

(Photo by: Judith Beermann) The George Town Club”s GM, Brian Armstrong and Exec Chef Peggy Thompson

 

(Photo by: Judith Beermann) Alan Helfer, Madeline Wade, Janine Schoonover, Joel Bennett

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January 18, 2011 | by G’town Gravyboa

Photo by Courtesy

Rokas Beresniovas

HSBC, one of the world’s largest financial services organizations, has lured Georgetown’s Rokas Beresniovas away from a position at Wells Fargo to be Senior Business Banker and Vice President. Beresniovas, also Vice President of the Georgetown Business Association, will be focused on the banking needs of businesses throughout Washington and will remain active in the Georgetown market. Headquartered in London, HSBC’s international network comprises around 8,000 offices in 87 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. HSBC opened a Georgetown branch in 2009.

Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, Beresniovas immigrated to the U.S. after graduating with a marketing degree from Kaunas College in 1999. He began his career in the retail industry and later worked for Bank of America and Eagle Bank.

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What New York City foodie haven is moving into this spot at the corner of M Street and Wisconsin? Read on and find out!

2010 was a difficult year for businesses in Georgetown, much like virtually every other area throughout the country. Some might think that the upscale shops that line M Street and Wisconsin Avenue would be immune to an economic downtown…but they would be wrong.

“The main challenge facing Georgetown businesses right now is diminished cash flow due to declining sales,” Said Rokas Beresniovas, the Vice President of the Georgetown Business Association. “In some ways, this economic downturn has brought business owners together to form groups and business forums to help strategize how to remain competitive in this kind of market. But practically, some businesses still could not make it.”

The results are evident, as boarded-up storefronts continue to appear in a community that’s used to filling space with posh shops and chic, pricey restaurants.

“In the past year, about 20 businesses closed their doors in Georgetown,” Beresniovas said. “Other businesses are behind on their rent, running sales and specials, trying to renegotiate their leases and rents with their landlords. Businesses are all having to be leaner and meaner, doing more with less.”

There is good news in Georgetown, though, as several new establishments are moving in, including New York City’s own eatery Serendipity.

“Everyone is excited about Serendipity opening up in late January,” Beresniovas explained. “This is great, because it is going to bring a famous New York institution right into the heart of Georgetown with special touches just for the unique Georgetown, D.C. market. This venue has a history of being a warm, welcoming, fun place to be, and it will have over 70 employees from the D.C. area, and will contribute to the Georgetown economy, (via) shopping, parking, patronizing other venues, and so on.”

Business movement like this has Beresniovas and others in Georgetown approaching the New Year with cautious optimism and hope.

“I feel that 2011 will be a great year for Georgetown,” He said. “Revitalization is on the horizon and consumer confidence appears to be increasing as well. More shops, restaurants and nightlife will breathe new life into the business side of Georgetown.”