D.C. Local Organizing Committee

Cheryl A. Head

Co-Chair
Sponsorships, Partnerships, Charity, Salons

Cheryl A. Head writes the award-winning, Charlie Mack Motown Mysteries. Her 2023 book, Time’s Undoing, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Anthony, Agatha, Strand Book Critics, Macavity, and Hurston Wright Legacy Awards. In 2026, she won the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival Fiction contest, and her short story, Finding Jimmy Baldwin was selected for inclusion in the 2026 Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology. Cheryl is a past National Chair of Bouchercon, Inc., and a former television and radio reporter, producer, and broadcast executive in Detroit, and Washington, DC.

Shawn Reilly Simmons

Co-Chair
Registration, Book Room

Shawn Reilly Simmons is the Agatha and Anthony Award-winning author of seven novels in the Red Carpet Catering mystery series featuring Penelope Sutherland, chef-owner of a movie set catering company. She’s also written over thirty short stories that have been published in various anthologies. Shawn has worked as a line cook, bartender, marketing executive, and bookstore manager, sold fine wine, written radio commercials, organized mystery conventions, and cooked for the cast and crew on movie sets. In addition to her own writing, Shawn is Publisher and CEO at Level Best Books, a crime fiction press based in Frederick, Maryland.

  • Sujata Massey, GoH Chair/Coordinating Sec

  • Black and White Photo of Thriller Author Mark Bergin

    Mark Bergin, Logistics Manager

  • Deanna Fowler, Finance/Registration

  • Mystery author Barb Goffman headshot

    Barb Goffman, Programming Manager

  • Ellen Clair Lamb, Special Events Manager

  • K.T. Nguyen, Marketing, Publicity, Digital Manager

“Bouchercon aims to be the preeminent international destination for readers, writers, and publishing professionals to celebrate and advance the mystery genre.”

– Bouchercon Vision

  • Mystery Author Donna Andrews

    Donna Andrews, Programming Committee

  • E.A. Aymar, Anthology

  • Kathleen Barber, Sponsorships & Charity

  • Austin Camacho, Salons

  • Mindy Carlson, Sponsorships & Charity

  • Christopher Chambers, Guest of Honor Support

  • Carla Coupe, Programming Committee

  • Tracee de Hahn, Volunteers, Hospitality, Vendors

  • Bill Gormley, Local Tours

  • Teresa Inge, Partnerships

  • Alma Katsu, Anthology

  • Vera Kurian, Book Room Liaison

  • Mystery author Meghan Lewis

    Meghan Lewis, Opening/Closing Ceremonies, Anthony Awards

  • Laura Martinez, User Experience

  • Eliza Nellums, Sponsorships & Charity

  • Thriller Author Rick Pullen in Fedora

    Rick Pullen, Program Book

  • Mindy Quigley, Volunteers, Hospitality, Vendors

  • Marcia Talley, User Experience

  • Jennifer van der Kleut, Newsletter