Our Executive Director
On April 29, 2024, Caitlin Orth became the second Executive Director of The Ruth and Hal Launders Charitable Trust. Prior to joining the Trust’s staff, Orth served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer at So Others Might Eat (SOME), one of DC’s largest nonprofits that provides daily emergency services, affordable housing and clinical services to those experiencing poverty and homelessness. During her time at SOME, Orth led the development and implementation of initiatives that created new revenue streams with corporate and foundation funders and expanded relationships with community members, the media and elected officials. Under Orth’s leadership, she led the restructuring of the Marketing and Communications and Special Events teams to optimize revenue and reduce expenses, which heralded a new era of strategic growth for SOME’s fundraising operations.
Prior to SOME, she was the Grants Manager from 2011-2021 on the two-person staff at the Philip L. Graham Fund, a private foundation named in honor of the late publisher of The Washington Post. The Philip L. Graham Fund awards grants to nonprofits that provide essential and enriching services across Maryland, DC and Virginia. From 2008-2011, Orth was the Assistant Director of Admissions at The Norwood School, an independent co-educational school in Bethesda, MD.
Orth currently serves on the Board of the Greater DC Diaper Bank as the Chair of the Development Committee. Orth received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Gender Studies from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from The George Washington University. She is married and lives in Maryland with her husband and two children.
On May 1, 2019, Jeffrey J. (“Jeff”) Fairfield became the first Executive Director of The Ruth and Hal Launders Charitable Trust and he will be retiring effective July 31, 2024. Further, he will continue as a part-time employee limited to his role supervising the foundation’s real estate assets at Arrowbrook Centre.
From its establishment in May 2006 until becoming Executive Director, Mr. Fairfield served as a Managing Co-trustee for the Trust, initially in concert with the late L. Farnum Johnson, Jr. until his death in 2012, and thereafter as a sole managing trustee. He resigned from the Board of Trustees effective May 1, 2019 to assume the position of Executive Director.
Mr. Fairfield is a Virginia attorney. For more than 40 years, he maintained a private law practice in Herndon, Virginia focusing on trusts and estates and commercial real property law. His practice has now closed allowing him to devote full time to the position of Executive Director. Mr. Fairfield will continue to represent The Trust and its subsidiaries as its employed attorney.
Mr. Fairfield holds a B.A. degree from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York and a J.D. degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is married with two adult children and lives with his wife in Herndon.