May 21, 2025: We’re proud of how Woodley House staff members bring skill and compassion to their work every day. This spring, we have been showcasing our colleagues who help make Woodley House such a special organization.
At the end of 2025, we will be bidding farewell to two amazing Woodley House leaders: our Senior Programs Director Maria Paipa Farias and our Chief Financial Officer Tyrone Cartwright. Both will be retiring after giving a combined 40 years to Woodley House.
Originally from Argentina, Maria began her career as a clinical psychologist before moving to the U.S. She worked in Los Angeles and New York, and lived briefly in the United Kingdom, before finally settling in D.C. with her family. Maria has had two stints working at Woodley House dating to 2005. In her current role, Maria oversees Woodley House’s Supported Independent Living (SIL) and Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) programs, in addition to managing our compliance and quality improvement functions.
After Maria retires from her current role this fall, she hopes to continue working with Woodley House on a part-time basis, and will spend part of her year with family in Argentina. Maria also hopes to invest more time in her hobbies: photography, music and volunteering.
But she’ll miss clinical meetings with her colleagues, and “the little conversations” she has with our housing clients. “Some of them have been with us for many years, I know them well. I love to see them and share with them their progress and achievements in life,” Maria says.
Like Maria, Tyrone also has had two separate stints working at Woodley House. When he first became Woodley House’s administrator in 2000, Tyrone had oversight of Woodley House’s finance, HR, IT, operations and maintenance. He left Woodley House in 2009 to serve as director of finance and administration at a peer nonprofit, the Transitional Housing Corp. (today known as Housing Up). But he couldn’t stay away from Woodley House forever, and eventually returned in 2015.
Tyrone notes that some current residents of Woodley House’s Supported Independent Living program have been with us for decades. He remembers several residents coming to watch his teenaged son play basketball; Tyrone’s son is now 41 years old.
After Tyrone retires later in 2025, he and his wife, Shirley, plan to relax at their home in North Carolina, spend time traveling, and enjoy their four grandchildren. But he’ll always be proud of the work he’s done helping Woodley House achieve a foundation of financial stability, which he’s confident our leadership will maintain and strengthen. “We’ve positioned ourselves to continue Joan Doniger’s vision of providing services to those who need it, allowing them to live as much a normal life as possible,” Tyrone says.
Return to Woodley Updates
