Donna Potts is an experienced communications executive with a broad background in public affairs disciplines, grassroots political organizing, community outreach, arts advocacy and support for returning citizens and the recovering community.
A native Washingtonian, Ms. Potts has held leadership positions throughout her career in the District government and the nonprofit sector including the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger, the American Red Cross, For Love of Children, the Washington Convention Center Authority, and the Democratic National Committee. At the Shakespeare Theatre she helped develop the inaugural community arts presentation, Shakespeare, Free for All, which achieved critical acclaim as a community presentation for traditional Shakespeare for non-traditional audiences performed at the legendary Carter Barron Amphitheater. She is a former member of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and was the first president of the Friends of Carter Barron and today, continues to support the efforts to reopen the famous amphitheater.
Currently, she is president of the board of the DC Recovery Community Alliance (DCRCA) which supports sustained recovery for DC citizens who suffer with alcohol and substance use disorder and has secured funding to open the first peer operated Recovery Support Center in the District of Columbia for returning citizens. This is known as the Peer Operated Center for Excellence (POCE) and has significance as an opportunity for recovering individuals to have training as recovery coaches, to engage with others who seek recovery, to server the provider community as well as the community at-large to educate and advocate for sustained recovery in the District of Columbia.