Tysons Community Alliance (TCA) CEO Katie Cristol will resign this Friday (March 13) after leading the booster organization for less than three years.
Cristol announced her decision to leave last Friday (March 6) in a message to the TCA’s board of directors, just days before the alliance hosts local elected officials, developers and business leaders at its inaugural Vision Tysons summit at Capital One Hall on Thursday (March 12).
“Thank you for giving me this chance, three years ago, to be your colleague in building this new organization. I’m so proud of what we’ve done, together,” she wrote to the board. “Tysons’ story is still being told. It’s been an honor to join you for this chapter, and I will be eagerly rooting for your continued success.”
Cristol declined to comment on her impending resignation beyond what’s in her letter, telling FFXnow only that she’s “departing to pursue other opportunities.”
Hired as the TCA’s first permanent CEO in May 2023, Cristol previously served as chair of the Arlington County Board and hoped to use her political experience navigating housing, development and transportation issues in an increasingly urban Northern Virginia suburb to support the alliance’s mission of turning Tysons from an exclusively commercial, auto-centric hub into a community where people actually live.
Replacing the Tysons Partnership, the Tysons Community Alliance is a nonprofit charged with implementing Fairfax County’s vision of Tysons as its “downtown.” As outlined in its first strategic plan, released in December 2023, the TCA particularly focuses on advocating for the area’s economic development, transportation and accessibility improvements, and housing and community amenities.
Under Cristol, the TCA has made a regular practice of collecting and sharing economic data, sponsored public art, installed wayfinding signs and advocated for transit funding. It also organizes a number of events, both for members of its Tysons Teammates program and the public as a whole, such as the annual COPA Tysons Soccer Fest and Pedal with Petals bicycle rides.
However, some initiatives have faced setbacks. A proposal to install artwork on a Dulles Toll Road bridge currently undergoing rehabilitation was dropped because the long-term requirements of adding and maintaining the piece went beyond the project’s scope, and efforts to beautify the road interchanges that shaped Tysons have been slow to come to fruition.
At its Feb. 3 meeting, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors had been set to authorize a public hearing on proposed landscaping plans that the TCA would’ve been implemented under the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Comprehensive Roadside Management Program, but Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik withdrew the agenda item.
“In the context of shifting priorities related to placemaking and community development, the Tysons landscaping plan proposal will need to be reevaluated,” Palchik’s office told FFXnow after the meeting.
The board had voted earlier in the same meeting to explore consolidating or restructuring some of the county’s placemaking organizations, including the TCA, Volunteer Fairfax and Visit Fairfax, in a bid to reduce costs. Like Volunteer Fairfax, the TCA primarily relies on annual contributions from the county for funding, though it also received $1 million this year from the Tysons service tax district for transportation projects.
Among other cuts, County Executive Bryan Hill’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, which begins this July 1, eliminates a $750,000 contribution to Celebrate Fairfax — the nonprofit best known for organizing the annual Celebrate Fairfax! Festival that was discontinued after the pandemic — so it can be merged into Visit Fairfax, the county’s tourism agency.
The advertised budget plan does include $2.75 million for the TCA, the same amount that the alliance received for the current FY 2026. The budget will be up for public hearings on April 14-16 and face final adoption by the Board of Supervisors on May 5.
The TCA announced on Wednesday (March 11) that its vice president of strategy and research, Drew Sunderland, will serve as interim CEO following Cristol’s departure.
The longest-serving team member for TCA and Tysons Partnership, Sunderland’s work so far has included leading the development of the Tysons DataHub and quarterly market reports that provide regular updates on different sectors of Tysons’ economy.
“Tysons stands as one of the most important economic centers in the National Capital Region,” Sunderland said in a press release. “I’m honored to step into this role and work with our public and private sector partners to build on the district’s strong momentum and continue positioning Tysons as a vibrant, globally competitive urban center.”
Cristol’s full message to the board is below.
To the Tysons Community Alliance Board of Directors,
With gratitude for your partnership and pride in what we’ve accomplished together in Tysons, I’d like to let you all know of my resignation from the TCA. I intend to end my service at the end of next week on Friday the 13th, and hope to have the opportunity in the coming days, including at the Vision Tysons 2026 event on Thursday, to thank each of you personally.
As I conclude my tenure, I want to reflect on all we’ve accomplished together. Thanks to the generous investment of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors and the strategic vision of this Board of Directors over the past three years, we’ve built an organization that has:
- Told the story of one of the region’s most competitive submarkets weathering and even thriving amid instability – one of the lowest office vacancy rate in Northern Virginia (1); overall visitation up 5% last year (2); hospitality revenue growing amid steep DMV declines in hotel stays (3) – by debuting innovative data platforms used by thousands and a marketing strategy that is making Tysons a regional draw for sports and entertainment;
- Garnered national recognition among our place management industry peers;
- Left our mark in the public realm through wayfinding, public art and soon, our first transportation pedestrian improvement; and
- Distinguished our organization as a grantee of state agencies, like Virginia Housing and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, where our grant program doubled in size and inspired more than four thousand miles walked and biked around Tysons.
To name just a few highlights.
I hope I’ve done enough to elevate the spectacular group of professionals behind these accomplishments: The talent and commitment to mission that Drew, Jason, Lezlie, Monique, Kevin, Yi, Lexi, Jessica, William, Camila, and Melissa have brought to Tysons are truly exceptional, and leading them has been the privilege of my professional career.
Thank you to each member of this Board of Directors for your collaboration: You have donated an uncountable number of hours of thought partnership and tens of thousands of dollars to underwrite events like Copa Tysons and Vision Tysons 2026 and mural installations; you have helped solve difficult problems and hatch “Plans B” (and C… and D…) when the ambitious public realm projects we were tasked with piloting flew into unforeseen headwinds. Above all, thank you for giving me this chance, three years ago, to be your colleague in building this new organization. I’m so proud of what we’ve done, together.
Tysons’ story is still being told. It’s been an honor to join you for this chapter, and I will be eagerly rooting for your continued success.
Sincerely,
Katie
