Board of Directors
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 Hargroves is a co-founder of Cape Ivy and manages the business side of the charity, including accounting, finance, budgeting, logistics, planning, and overseeing the social media interns. She and Meg Smith also co-founded Fitness Bitsy in 2014, a partnership that eventually led to the creation of Cape Ivy.
Cindy was a systems engineer at The MITRE Corporation for almost 25 years, working on projects supporting the U.S. government. She holds a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an MBA from Boston University. The combination of her technical and business backgrounds has been especially useful in her work with both Fitness Bitsy and Cape Ivy.
Cindy has volunteered with a number of nonprofit organizations over the years, including her church, Girl Scouts, and homeowners associations, serving in a variety of roles. She and her husband live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they have retired. They have two adult daughters. In her spare time, Cindy enjoys reading and staying active.
Beth Cox, Secretary
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.
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.
Leili Bowers
Leili Bowers serves as a member of the Board to provide her vast experience in the fundraising realm. Over 34 years at UCLA, she progressed from stewardship to Assistant Director of Annual Giving for the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, and Dentistry, where she managed events and fundraising strategies. She later joined the UCLA Annual Giving team as a database manager focused on solicitation strategies, bringing deep knowledge of donor engagement, campaign planning, and data-informed fundraising to the board.
Keith Smith
Keith Smith serves as a Director on the Board of Cape Ivy, where he focuses his efforts on fundraising initiatives. Keith recently retired following a dynamic career in the technology industry, specializing in launching and scaling new businesses. Driven by the memory of his son, Gavin, he is deeply committed to the organization’s mission of providing warmth and comfort to children and families navigating long hospital stays. Keith holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.