Benjamin Takai, is the proud fourth generation of his family to call Washington DC home. He spent most of his childhood in Montgomery County and moved to DC to pursue his graduate studies and has been a proud resident ever since.

Ben is an infectious disease epidemiologist with experience in infectious disease prevention policy at the local, national, and international levels. He currently works coordinating the evaluation of HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), Hepatitis, and Tuberculosis prevention services for the city of Washington DC.

He has also served on advisory workgroups for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on national HIV monitoring as well as worked with the Department of Health and Human Services on the development of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the Obama administration.

At the city level, Ben was appointed by Mayor Vincent Gray as an advisor focusing on health policy for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, advocating for health issues affecting the LGBTQ community. He was subsequently appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser to advise the Mayor's Office on Asian American and Pacific Islander affairs which he currently serves.

In his free time, Ben enjoys teaching yoga and playing with his rescue dog, Buddy. He is so excited to be a part of an organization that creates safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and gives the communities the support and resources they need to further this goal.

Ben’s email: bentakai@pflagdc.org.

Meredith Laurie has been living in Washington, D.C. since 2007 when she moved from her native Rhode Island to go to graduate school at The George Washington University. This began a fulfilling career in higher education that Meredith will always regard as some of the most purposeful and important work she has done.

Today, Meredith works as a Human Capital consultant. A what?! In other words, Meredith works with clients to help solve their people problems and think of creative and innovative ways clients can leverage their most critical resource, their workforce!

Meredith, her wife Lindsay, and their dog Gansett just purchased their "hopefully forever home" in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Meredith joined the Metro D.C. PFLAG Board of Directors in 2017 and has been inspired by the commitment of the local community. She hopes to leverage her skills to help further the mission of Keeping Families Together and support local community groups as they do truly amazing work. Meredith is an only child, loves the beach, drinks iced coffee all year long, and is a sports enthusiast.