Meg Smith
Co-Founder
Meg, Gavin’s mom, is the co-founder of Cape Ivy. Her background in fine arts, graphic design and small business entrepreneurship, combined with knowledge of the hospital systems from a parent’s perspective, gives her a unique understand of the needs of children and their families during and after hospital stays.
Meg graduated from UVA in 1989 with a BA in English and a minor in Fine Arts. She worked for 25 years at various consulting firms (Coopers & Lybrand; AT Kearney; Booz & Co.) as a graphic designer. While raising 3 children, she started a few small online businesses that worked with her busy home life while caring for her chronically ill son Gavin. From 2009-2015 she worked as a camp advisor with Tips on Trips and Camps. In 2014, Meg designed bracelets to cover fitness trackers and started Fitness Bitsy. She grew the concept into a successful online business with her business partner, Cindy Hargroves. Following Gavin’s death in 2017, Meg took the concept of the fleece ponchos that she had made for him and turn it into a charity in his honor. She saw the need for a warm cover while patients are hooked up to IVs and PICC lines. Her goal is to provide support and warmth to critically and chronically ill children and their parents as they courageously fight for their health.
Cindy Hargroves
Co-Founder
Cindy, a co-founder of Cape Ivy, was a Systems Engineer for almost 25 years at The MITRE Corporation, a think tank for the US Government. She has lived in Virginia since 1992, but still considers herself a Jersey (shore) girl. Cindy received her BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University and her MBA from Boston University. These combined degrees have come to great use since starting Fitness Bitsy with Cape-Ivy co-founder, Meg Smith in 2014. Cindy runs the business end of the Fitness Bitsy company and the Cape Ivy charity including accounting, financing, budgeting, logistics, planning, and social media.
Cindy has volunteered for many non-profits, with an emphasis on her church, Girl Scouts and home owner associations in many different roles. Cindy is married and a mother to 2 daughters in their 20’s. In her spare time, Cindy enjoys reading and fitness. She and her husband have ‘retired’ to Charlottesville, VA.
Shawn Cox
Shawn is a tax attorney with twenty-five years’ experience. He is currently the Director of the Tax Advisory group in the corporate tax department at DXC Technology Company, a publicly traded corporation with $20 billion in revenues.
Prior to his role at DXC, he was tax counsel at AOL LLC for nine years, culminating in the role of Associate General Counsel, Tax. He also practiced in two law firms at the start of his career, and during this time served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Tri-State Community, a community foundation. While his primary focus is corporate controversy and transactional matters, he has advised many public charities and exempt organizations throughout his career. He received a B.A. from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 1991, a J.D. from Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina in 1994, and a LL.M. from New York University in New York, New York in 1995.
Bic DeCaro
Bic DeCaro is the founder of Bic DeCaro & Associates, a top producing real estate team ranked in the top 1% of agents in Northern Virginia. In 2019, after 20 years with a small boutique firm, she joined forces with eXp Realty a publicly-traded company, that uniquely offers real estate professionals within its ranks opportunities to earn equity awards for production and contributions to overall company growth. The company provides 24/7 access to collaborative tools, training, and socialization for real estate brokers and agents through its 3-D, fully-immersive, cloud office environment.
Bic is a Certified Residential Specialist the highest Designation awarded to sales associates in the residential sales field. The CRS Designation recognizes professional accomplishments in both experience and education. She is a graduate of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtor’s Leadership Institute and spent several years chairing NVAR’s Community Outreach Committee and the Vietnamese Realtor Forum. She has served on Zillow’s Agent Advisory Board since inception in 2012.
Bic grew up in McLean, Virginia and received her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Psychology from the University of Mary Washington. She is married with 2 children and 2 dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling and playing tennis.
Elizabeth Cox
Beth is a native of Kentucky and has lived in Northern Virginia since 1997. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Transylvania University and a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood and Montessori Education from New York University. She has taught in both the elementary and Montessori preschool environments. After many years on the go raising her two children, she returned to work combining her passion for teaching with her desire to connect with other women and help them feel great about themselves. She did so first as an aerobic dance instructor and currently in her career as a stylist, team leader and training facilitator with cabi, a California-based women’s clothing company. Since joining cabi in 2009, she has held many leadership roles and currently serves as a Key Leader on the stylist leadership team, helping to plan and execute programs and training to support stylist growth within the organization. She is a member of the Capital Speakers Club of Washington D.C. and loves travel, yoga, reading, and spending time outdoors biking or hiking with her family and dogs.
Jennifer Graham Clary
Silicon Valley veteran, Jennifer, helps executives, startups, companies and investors shape stories of innovation across all industries and geographic regions. She further guides executive communications for notable CEOs.
An entrepreneur herself, Jennifer founded North of Nine, a highly successful technology communications firm. Leading brands and startups, including Kleiner Perkins (KPCB), Intel, Ericsson, Marriott and Snapchat have relied on Jennifer’s counsel to create and implement their communications strategies.
Before founding North of Nine, a WPP company, Jennifer served as chair of the Global Technology Practice at Burson-Marsteller. She also served as WPP marketing and communications lead for Intel Corporation for over a decade. Previously, Jennifer helped launch Liberate Technologie. Jennifer also spent several years in New York at Brouillard Communications, a division of JWT, creating integrated advertising and public relations campaigns for corporate and consumer brands.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Jennifer’s career includes communications activities for the White House, campaigns and nonprofits. She served on the Presidential Inaugural Committee and as a presidential appointee and White House Public Affairs Liaison to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She worked for the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992, traveling across the country on the press advance team and consulted to the Hollywood Women’s Political Caucus.
Jennifer is an active board member and has contributed hundreds of hours of pro bono work for a variety of nonprofit organizations.
Dee Flaherty
