Leadership

Garrett Moran is the President of Year Up, where he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of daily operations and helping to develop and execute its growth strategy.

Prior to joining Year Up Garrett served as the COO of Blackstone’s Private Equity Group from 2005 to 2012, overseeing the group’s day-to-day operations, playing a senior role in its investment process and guiding the firm’s CSR initiatives. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2005, Garrett was the President of MMC Capital. Before joining MMC Capital in 2002, Garrett worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette for twenty years. His last position there was Vice Chairman and co-head of the Banking Group. He joined DLJ in 1982 as an investment banking associate and subsequently headed the firm’s High Yield Bond Department and served as Chief Operating Officer of DLJ’S Taxable Fixed Income Division.

Garrett serves as a board member of Middlebury College. He formerly served on the board of the Posse Foundation, the Blackstone Foundation, the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, and the Brunswick School. He received a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeff Artis joined Year Up in 2013 as National Director of Corporate Engagement, with over 30 years’ experience selling complex business solutions to large enterprises in both the private and public sectors.

Jeff has an extensive background in selling workforce management and IT-based services solutions. He started his career with IBM and held a variety of sales roles of increasing responsibility over his 19 year career; including regional sales manager (for services) in the Midwest and national Business Unit Executive for Availability Services. Other roles have included Director, Consulting Services Sales (U.S. and Canada) for BMC Software, VP of Sales for Getronics and SVP, Technology Solutions for Spherion.

Jeff previously served on the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Urban League and is a graduate of Williams College, with a B.A. in English Literature and Psychology. He is a native of Harlem, NY and currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

Jay Banfield was raised in Somerville, Massachusetts. Jay moved to California in 1986 to attend Stanford University, where he met his wife Kate. They have two daughters, Grace and Dray, and a son, Aidan.

After playing baseball in Europe, Jay began his career as a business development manager at Oracle Corporation in Washington, DC. While at Oracle, he built corporate volunteer programs and participated in the launch of the Clinton Administration’s AmeriCorps program, thereby prompting a return to the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a Master in Public Policy (MPP) degree.

Jay has worked on local, state and national political campaigns and has served in both the legislative and executive branches of government. Jay was appointed the Assistant Treasurer for the City and County of San Francisco in 1999 where he spearheaded a national award-winning e-government initiative. He was awarded the city’s Public Managerial Leadership Award in 2001 and later was appointed an Assistant General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. For several years Jay served as an adjunct faculty member at the Edward S. Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University.

In the fall of 2005, Jay moved to the non-profit sector when he became the Executive Director of the San Francisco Parks Trust. Now serving on the board of the San Francisco Parks Trust, he moved on to launch the San Francisco Bay Area office of Year Up. In addition to his work as Executive Director at Year Up Bay Area, Jay remains an active member of the community. Trained as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), Jay served on the board of San Francisco CASA for five years, serving one term as co-chair of the board. Jay has also served as a trustee at the San Francisco Friends School and coach of numerous youth athletic teams.

Over the last 30+ years, Shawn Jacqueline Bohen has made a career as a collaborative strategist, creating, growing, and strategically managing mission-driven entities. Shawn is nationally recognized for her ability to turn great ideas into dynamic, diversely-staffed, fiscally-viable entities. Shawn is currently a member of the executive leadership team at Year Up, the fastest growing youth-serving organization in the US founded in the 21^st century. Shawn is responsible for crafting and orchestrating this social enterprise’s movement building strategy, policy agenda, and R & D on new impact efforts, including the launch of the Grads of Life initiative, a best practice insight and business consulting start-up, and new internal disruptive innovation function, NEST. In her 10 year tenure Year Up has sustained a 24% CAGR on opportunity youth served, and 10x revenue growth.

Prior to Year Up, Shawn spent fourteen years working at Harvard University in a series of leadership roles facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle some of society’s most challenging and interesting social, political and economic dilemmas. Shawn led the strategic evolution of four university-wide start-ups, including the Harvard Initiative for Global Health, the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the John F. Kennedy School, the university-wide Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative, and the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions. As Assistant Provost, Shawn co-created and co-lead the first institution-wide Office for Faculty Development and Diversity committed to transforming Harvard’s approach to finding, developing and promoting a diverse, world-class faculty.

Having worked as an actor, waitress and janitor, Shawn began her full-time paid professional career conducting grassroots environmental and consumer affairs campaigns for the Public Interest Research Groups in CT and MA. Shawn is married and has five children, four of whom are teenagers.

John Bradley joined Year Up as Chief Operating Officer in July 2015, after serving as a member of our National Board of Directors and chair of its Human Capital Committee for six years. Before joining Year Up, John served as the Global Head of Human Resources at UBS AG and was based in Switzerland upon joining them in 2009. He provided global support to businesses whose employee base comprised about 60,000 staff. Prior to taking this role at UBS  John served as Chief Human Resources Officer at JPMorgan Chase and was a member of the firm’s Operating and Executive Committees. John joined the predecessor firm, JPMorgan, in 1983, and held various human resources positions supporting areas such as Investment Banking and Technology & Operations and leading functions such as Employee Relations and Compensation & Benefits. He was also an HR executive for JPMorgan Chase’s operations in Europe and Asia, and was based in London for a period of time.

He has served as Non-Executive Director of the London-based Coalition Development Corporation and was formerly the Board Chair of INROADS/NYC. He also was a member of the South Orange/Maplewood, NJ Board of Education from 1991 to 1997, and served as its Chair from 1992-1994.

John completed his undergraduate work at Cornell University, earning a B.S. from Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Dwight Powery is the National Site Director at Year Up, a nationally workforce development nonprofit organization, where he is responsible for all of Year Up’s West Coast operations. With over 250 corporate partners nationwide, including General Electric, LinkedIn, State Street, and Salesforce, Year Up provides young adults with the opportunity to reach their full career potential through paid training and corporate internships. Dwight comes to Year Up with more than 30 years of executive experience in both corporate and nonprofit environments. While at LifeMoves, a major nonprofit that works to support the transition of homeless families to stability, Dwight served as the Vice President of Strategy, Operations, and Technology. Prior to holding that role, Dwight worked in global account management, services and operations at Hewlett Packard. An active community member, Dwight volunteers as a youth basketball coach, works closely with the Arthritis Foundation of Northern California, and served as a board member of Friends of CARRA (Children Arthritis Rheumatology and Research Alliance). Dwight graduated from Columbia University and completed the Executive Development program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Donald Ger has spent the past 20 years working with organizations in a variety of business development and consultant roles. Donald joined Year Up in 2007 as a consultant and shortly thereafter was hired to lead the Boston and National corporate engagement teams. He developed and led several organization-wide efforts to increase the number of internships offered to Year Up students.

Donald launched Year Up’s first ever community college campus-based program in Baltimore in 2010. This effort seeded the new Professional Training Corps program model and division that Donald now leads.

Donald lives in Needham, MA with his wife and four children. He actively supports the work of his wife’s non-profit, Beyond the 11th. He earned a B.A. from the George Washington University, a General Course Certificate from the London School of Economics and a MBA from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Meredith Jaremchuk has been with Year Up since 2009, and has served in a variety of roles, both locally at the National Capital Region and Chicago sites, as well as nationally.  As the National Director of Program, she supports sites across the network in delivering Program to young adults.  With a commitment to excellence, she oversees the Quality and Delivery as well as the Research and Evaluation arms of the organization, working in partnership with local teams to ensure the young adults and partners that Year Up services have both a high quality experience and strong outcomes.

Prior to joining Year Up, Meredith spent several years working for the Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, providing crisis intervention and intensive outpatient therapy to children and families in the city of Chicago.  Through the same organization, she spent a number of years serving adults through an intensive, community-based case management capacity.  Meredith also spent time at Rocket Learning, a for-profit education service provider, managing a portfolio of schools in the Chicagoland area, in both the sales and delivery of the services.

Meredith has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master’s degree in Social work from Loyola University of Chicago, with a specialization in nonprofit Leadership and Management.  Throughout her life, she has spent time serving multiple organizations as a volunteer, notably at Bear Necessities Pediatric Foundation in Chicago.  Meredith lives in Chicago with her husband and two children, Theodore and William.

Motivated by curiosity and a propensity to lead, Ellen McClain has gained extensive professional management experience over the past 25 years as a CFO and COO at companies in various stages of development, helping companies navigate competitive challenges and market opportunities brought about by technological and regulatory change.

Ms. McClain began her career at Bank of New England, N.A. in 1986 as an analyst and lender to radio, television and cable companies. After graduating from business school in 1993, she joined Granite Broadcasting Corporation. As VP, Corporate Development and SVP and Chief Financial Officer, Ms. McClain financed the television station group through ten years of rapid change. In 2004, seeking a new challenge at a bigger company, Ms. McClain joined Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. As Vice President of Finance, Ms. McClain built a strong foundation in finance, acquisitions, investor relations, SEC reporting and financial controls, and sought to expand her industry and operating experience. In 2009, Ms. McClain joined the New York Racing Association. After turning around their failing finance organization, in the fall of 2011, Ms. McClain was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, then President, with responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the enterprise while managing all aspects of the operation. In 2013 Ms. McClain resigned in order to pursue board opportunities.

Ellen McClain earned a B.A. in Economics from Brown University in 1986 and a Master in Business Administration degree from Harvard University in 1993. She currently serves on the Board of Directors, and is a member of the Audit and the Nominating and Governance committees, of Crane Co. A native of suburban Boston, she resides in New York City with her husband and two children.

In collaboration with her Co-Director of Development Connie Askin, Susan Murray is responsible for creating and executing a strategy to secure the philanthropic resources needed to sustain and grow Year Up nationwide. Together, they lead Year Up’s National team of fundraising professionals.

Susan joined Year Up in February 2011 as Senior Philanthropic Advisor. In this role, she partnered with Gerald Chertavian, Year Up Founder and CEO, to complete a successful $57 million growth capital campaign. Prior to joining the Year Up team, Susan raised capital for the University of Pennsylvania during the $4.3 billion Making History campaign. She also served as a Director of the Columbia University College Fund, and was part of the NYC2012 team that led New York’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Outside of Year Up, Susan co-founded the Brooklyn Crescents Lacrosse Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to youth development through the sport of lacrosse. She also serves as an advisor for the Urban Justice Center Domestic Violence Project.

Susan earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Rochester and an M.P.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). She is a native of Newton, Massachusetts and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Casey Recupero serves as National Site Director for Year Up’s markets in the Metro North and New England regions. Working with and through Executive Directors and their leadership teams, Casey oversees Year Up’s impact in Chicago, Greater Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, and Wilmington.

Previously, Casey served as National Director of Program where he was responsible for ensuring high-quality delivery of Year Up’s demand-driven program across the organization’s multi-site network, with the goal of ensuring strong outcomes for young adults and top employers alike. Earlier in his Year Up career, Casey served as the Executive Director of Year Up Boston, stewarding Year Up’s largest site through several stages of growth while deepening the organization’s impact on the Opportunity Divide facing young people in Massachusetts.

Before joining Year Up in 2004, Casey served as a Program Officer at World Education, where he partnered with African nonprofit organizations on a variety of initiatives, including HIV/AIDS peer education for Ghanaian youth, development of the South African small business sector, and grassroots education reform in Malawi.

Casey has a B.A. in Anthropology and African Studies from Harvard College, is a graduate of the LeadBoston program, and has served on the Selection Advisory Council for the GreenLight Fund, the Lewis Family Foundation’s Community Advisory Group, and Mayor Menino’s Success Boston Task Force.

Belinda Stubblefield joined Year Up in July 2013 as Executive Director of the Atlanta site.  She was promoted in 2015 to National Site Director, responsible for 5 sites in the Southeast Region. The Chief Diversity Officer role was added to her responsibilities in 2016.

Prior to Year Up, Stubblefield was an entrepreneur and partnered with Paradies to operate retail stores in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. She also owned and managed WineStyles Cascade, a retail wine store in Southwest Atlanta.

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Stubblefield spent 18 years in corporate roles.  She was an officer of Delta Air Lines and held leadership roles in Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Global Diversity.  She began her career in sales at IBM and continued on to marketing at Procter & Gamble and Nestlé.

Stubblefield is a member of the International Women’s Forum. Previously, she served as Board Chair for CredAbility and Vice Chair of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. She has also served on the Boards of Leadership Atlanta, The Herndon Foundation and the Piedmont Park Conservancy. She was named “Woman of the Year” by the Atlanta Business League and “Executive of the Year” by the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council.

Stubblefield holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Applied Science from UCLA and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jim Thie has worked in the technology field for three decades building and growing both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Prior to joining Year Up, Jim was Chief Information Officer for three other nonprofits including the American Lung Association and Habitat for Humanity International – a top 10 international non-profit with $1.1 billion in revenue. At both organizations Jim led major technology innovations including those focused on constituent experience management.

Before joining Habitat, Jim was Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Ultimate Software – a top provider in mid-marker payroll. Jim also held positions at Encore Development, an e-business and systems integration company, and Computer Associates, an international advanced technology company. Finally, Jim was a senior executive at one of the nation’s leading financial institutions. In this capacity he served as Senior Vice President of technology and operations.

Jim earned his MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College and BS in Business Administration from Bowling Green State University.

Ronda Harris Thompson is the National Director of Alumni Relations. Since joining Year Up in 2007, she has served in several critical capacities, including Senior Director of Program and Academics and Executive Director of Year Up’s National Capital Region. In this position she drove the outreach, admissions, college enrollment, and academic components of 300 young adults annually, consistently exceeding expectations for each area of responsibility. Ronda also developed and implemented a groundbreaking dual enrollment partnership with Northern Virginia Community College.

With over 20 years of experience in the D.C. market, Ronda has held several positions maximizing her youth development and managerial expertise. Prior to joining Year Up, Ronda served as Deputy Director for City Year in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw the site’s training, corps member support and service initiatives.

Other positions Ronda has held include Acting Director of the Public Affairs Office of the D.C. Housing Authority and Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Ronda, a D.C. native, graduated from Bowie State University, an historically Black university, with a B.A. in Psychology and a Master of Science in Administration (M.S.A.) in Organizational Development from Trinity Washington University. She currently serves on the board of Gifted Servants (Maryland).

Alison Washabaugh is Year Up’s Chief of Staff. She joined Year Up in 2014 as the Director of Strategic Projects. She partners with Year Up’s CEO and President to drive organizational initiatives with the goal of providing excellent outcomes to young adults and fostering a strong culture across all Year Up sites.

Prior to joining Year Up, Alison was a consultant with Huron Consulting Group’s Global Education practice, working with universities, libraries, museums and other education-focused nonprofits on their online and global strategies and operational efficiencies. Alison has also worked for the Congressional Hunger Center, City Year, American Prospect magazine, and the American Institutes for Research. She holds an MBA from University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a BA in Public Policy from Brown University.

Jack Crowe brings impressive experience to Year Up Chicago from the Cristo Rey Network where he was the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. Cristo Rey Network is the largest network of urban high schools in the country enrolling exclusively low-income youth. All Cristo Rey students work in a corporate work study program, which generates over $50 million per year from over 2,000 corporations. During his five year tenure, enrollment increased from 5,000 to nearly 10,000 students across the U.S.

Prior to working at Cristo Rey Network, Jack was a General Counsel of FBOP Corporation, a $16 billion bank holding company. Before joining FBOP, Jack was a litigation partner at Winston & Strawn where he handled complex corporate disputes. He clerked for the Honorable Ilana Rovner, a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Jack obtained a JD degree from Loyola University of Chicago and received a BA in English from Boston College. Following undergraduate studies, he taught at St. George’s College, a Jesuit high school in Kingston, Jamaica.

Bob is the Executive Director at Year Up Boston. He comes from an experienced background in senior leadership in the financial services industry. Bob previously worked at State Street as a Senior Vice President in the Investor Services Group. He managed several large client relationships as well as the Product and Technology implementation team. Earlier in his career Bob worked in the global business unit as Managing Director of the Australian Investor Services business and Chief Operating Officer of Asia Pacific. Bob has been active with Year Up as mentor and volunteer for many years before joining the organization. He has a Bachelors degree in Business from Boston University and an MBA from Boston College.

Cathy Doyle joined the Year Up Providence Team in 2012 after having spent most of her career in Sales and Business Strategy for General Mills. A founding committee member of the Network of Executive Women (NEW), a national non-profit focused on empowering women, Doyle was recognized for developing and leading NEW’s first College Outreach and Mentoring programs. She also served as an Executive in Residence focusing on career education at Bryant University, and as a marketing and communication consultant for Serve Rhode Island working on urban education projects.

Doyle currently serves as Executive Director and Senior Director of Corporate Engagement for Providence. “I’ve found my passion and heart at Year Up. Not a day goes by that I’m not grateful for this work and for our young adults.”

John Galante joined Year Up in 2017 as a senior advisor to the corporate engagement team.

Previously, he was the CIO for the consumer and business banking divisions of JP Morgan Chase. In this capacity, Galante was responsible for setting and implementing the technology strategy that transformed Chase branches to a client-focused self-directed digital environment.

Prior to that role, he was the CIO for the Chase Wealth Management business where he led the largest retail brokerage conversion in the history of the industry.

During his tenure at JP Morgan Chase, Galante was also the executive sponsor of the JP Morgan Chase / Year Up partnership. Through this partnership, JP Morgan Chase hosted over 800 Year Up interns and converted over 200 of the interns to JP Morgan Chase employees.

As Year Up Puget Sound’s Executive Director, Fred brings more than 20 years of experience serving young adults who find themselves on the wrong side of the Opportunity Divide. From Casey Family Programs to Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, Fred has built programs and partnerships that improve the lives of homeless and former foster youth. In 2012, Fred joined Year Up Puget Sound as Senior Director of Corporate Engagement, developing strong partnerships with Microsoft, Expedia, T-Mobile, and Amazon, among many others, and helping build Year Up’s co-location model with Bellevue College.

Since moving into his role as Executive Director in 2017, Fred has worked to build Year Up Puget Sound’s vision for scaling impact and building Year Up’s presence in our community and within our corporate partners. Fred holds an MSW from Portland State University and a BA in Psychology from Linfield College. When he is not busy serving our young adults, he enjoys time with his two daughters.

Following a 35-year career in investment banking, investment management, and technology start-ups, Michael Faught spent five years creating, partnering and teaching a business, finance and career readiness program at a charter high school in south Los Angeles. Formerly, Michael was a Founding Partner of Los Angeles Social Partners, an Education Pioneers Graduate Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Loyola Marymount University’s MBA program. Michael, who holds an AB in economics from Harvard College and an MBA in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has also served as Chairman of the Los Angeles Venture Association’s Investment Capital Conference.

Michael has spent significant time developing and teaching educational programs to better serve Los Angeles’ inner city youth. He brings with him extensive experience in non-profit and education and is fully committed to closing the Opportunity Divide. Among Michael’s top priorities are deepening our impact in Los Angeles and thoughtfully expanding to serve more Opportunity Youth.

Kim Owens is Executive Director of Year Up Arizona, which launched in January 2015 in partnership with Maricopa Community Colleges.

Prior to joining Year Up, Kim served as Vice President of Workforce Solutions at the University of Phoenix’s Community College Center of Excellence. There, she formed collaborative partnerships with more than 500 community colleges across the country to help fulfill their shared mission of building a globally competitive workforce. She brings more than twenty years of leadership experience in higher education, technology recruiting, hospitality and sales.

Kim served on the board for Jobs for Arizona’s Graduates (JAG) and UMOM New Day Centers; and was an active member of key industry organizations such as American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). Kim received a BS in Journalism/Public Relations from San Diego State University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She lives in Phoenix with her husband, Dan, and has long been a community advocate on initiatives to address homelessness, education pathways and workforce development.

Guylaine Saint Juste, fondly called Guy, joined the Year Up team as its Executive Director of the National Capital Region this past September.  Guy is a passionate and spirited leader who believes that a culture of intention is instrumental to growth and transformation.  Her passion is to help Year Up students, her team, stakeholders, to scale, grow, contribute, thrive and prosper.

Prior to joining Year Up, Guy served as the Business Banking Virginia Market Executive at Capital One Bank. She provided strategic oversight, cultivated a culture of purpose and significance, and created a learning organization where a team of banking professionals provided good advice and expertise to clients in the emerging market.

A thought leader with a keen sense of “perceptual acuity”, adept at creating a culture of intention and purpose where human capital grows, learns performs and contributes. She is a dynamic, enterprising and seasoned executive with broad-based management and leadership experience in retail and commercial banking, talent, operational and organizational strategy development, leadership and implementation of major business lines/units to improve performance and profitability, brand development to enhance value and competitive positioning.

Guy is thrilled to be a part of the Year Up movement and she often quotes Dr. Seuss “Oh the places we’ll go…”

Emily started her career addressing poverty and its impact on educational opportunities as a part of the Teach for America teaching corps in urban Los Angeles. After teaching, Emily moved to the business sector to learn first-hand about business strategy as part of the tech start-up, Posit Science. She used this experience to guide her work in business development as the Director of Programs for SpringBoard Forward, bringing a cutting-edge career development program to entry-level workers in the Bay Area. At Year Up Bay Area, Emily oversaw the outreach, admissions, student services and corporate engagement teams, ensuring that each phase of the program students feel supported and well prepared for their next steps: internship, graduation and job placement. Emily currently serves as YUBA’s Executive Director, after 5 years of leading programmatic efforts. Emily received her Education M.A. from Loyola Marymount University.

Mr. Selby is a Project Management Institute (PMI) Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.  He has 20 years management-level call center/customer service operations and training experience; and was a National Retail Federation Foundation (NRFF) Customer Service Skills (CSS) Certified Trainer.

Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Selby provided his unique blend of project management, call center management, and departmental leadership for Fortune 100 companies including, American Express, Ameriprise Financial, Citigroup Bank Card Services, Lockheed Martin, MBNA America, and Wells Fargo Bank.

Mr. Selby is a native of Baltimore and an alum of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Morgan State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.  He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated and serves on the Board of Directors for the Howard E. Rollins Foundation, and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program.

Robin Tanya Watson serves as the Executive Director of Year Up in Jacksonville, Florida. Year Up Jacksonville launched in 2015 in partnership with Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Prior to joining Year Up, Robin served as the Assistant Vice President of Institutional Advancement as well as the University Development Officer at Tennessee State University.  Prior to joining TSU, Watson was the Vice President of Business Development at PRISM International. At PRISM International, she assisted organizations in strategically focusing their diversity processes and leveraging their resources to close business gaps. Her functions included providing strategic direction and sponsorships solicitations management of sales team.

She brings a wealth of relationships and a vision and commitment to closing the opportunity divide Year Up’s distinct mission. Robin’s leadership and development efforts at Tennessee State University during her tenure- resulted in raising over $19M, helped increase the endowment to a net asset position of $69M, a 6% increase in new Alumni giving. Robin served on the Foundation board and finance committee stewarding and protecting the University legacy. Robin Tanya Watson has a deep commitment to bettering the lives of those in need of direction and those that dream of the desire to participate the American way of a better life. Robin grew up in Nashville; she is a graduate of Fisk University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and an additional post Baccalaureate Degree in Natural Science and Mathematics.  She has two adult children Brian Alexander Watson and Kirsten Antoinette Watson.

Kim Williams joined Year Up in April 2015, as the Executive Director of the Year Up Atlanta organization. Year Up’s mission is to empower young adults ages 18-24 to go from poverty to professional careers in a single year. Atlanta serves 250 young adults a year with a successful track record of over 90% positive outcomes.

Kim has over 20 years as a proven business leader.  She provides leadership for Year Up Atlanta to deliver relentless focus on staff development, passion and rigor to increase our student reach and retention, build a sustainable donor base, expand our corporate partnerships and deliver excellence in all we do.
Prior, Kim was Chief Operating Officer at iCorps Technologies of Boston MA. She was responsible for ensuring operational excellence across all aspects of the company as it grew. The company delivered exceptional double digit growth, superb customer satisfaction with relentless focus on excellence in 2014 as a result of Kim’s leadership and partnership with the iCorps executive team.

Prior to that role, she spent seventeen years at Microsoft Corporation in multiple senior leadership roles including 10 years as General Manager in multiple segments. She is best known for building great teams and bringing her unrelentingly positive spirit and passion to driving exceptional sales leadership and business growth while coaching and mentoring so many people to success.  Kim’s legacy without a doubt will include her incredible focus on people.
Kim brings over 30 years of sales and business leadership to guide her teams to success. Kim led her team to the company’s top sales team award in 2008, the Circle of Excellence.  In addition to her record of sales excellence, Kim is a leader with a passion for people, development and diversity.  A graduate of Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) Executive Academy Leadership Program, she carries out that commitment as a career coach and mentor within the Microsoft Community.  Kim is an active board member and past marketing chairperson for ITSMF and serves as the executive sponsor for the SMB diversity efforts. Prior to joining Microsoft in 1996, she worked with Digital Equipment Corporation for 13 years in numerous sales positions.

Kim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Maryland. She is currently based in Atlanta, GA.  There you will frequently find her playing golf or spending time with family.

Timothy Dibble is a General Partner with Alta Equity Partners. Tim joined the Board of Year Up with over 25years of experience working with and investing in a variety of industries and companies. Tim began his career at the Bank of Boston in the Acquisition Finance Division, structuring and monitoring the performance of management buyouts in cash flow industries. Tim received a degree in Economics from Wesleyan University. Tim and Alta have incubated Year Up from the idea stage through to execution – offering office space, support, and resources. Tim also sits on the Board of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay and was previously the Chair of its Board of Directors. In addition, Tim is the current Chairman of the Board of Shining Hope for Communities.

Peter Handrinos is a Partner with Latham & Watkins LLP. Mr. Handrinos practices corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and venture capital transactions for life sciences and technology companies. Mr. Handrinos has advised both public and private companies in connection with a broad range of matters, including IPOs, follow-on offerings, strategic investments, 144A offerings, cash and stock mergers, tender offers and going-private transactions.
He counsels numerous start-up companies and venture capital firms in venture capital financing’s. Mr. Handrinos also regularly represents investment banks in connection with capital markets transactions. A significant portion of his practice involves general corporate work for ongoing clients on matters such as SEC compliance, securities and disclosure issues, and corporate governance matters.
Mr. Handrinos received a J.D. from New York University and an M.B.A. and B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University.

Before attending the Year Up program, Angelica was working at Target and attending college part-time while being a single mom to her 3-year-old son. Her best friend who was working at Robert Half at the time told her about the Year Up program, Angelica decided to apply because she thought it could provide her with an opportunity to start a career and utilize all the potential she was sitting on. After 5 months of training in Year Up’s Project Management track, she earned an internship as a Grants Program Coordinator for Salesforce.org, performing due diligence for non-profit organization’s eligibility to receive donations, owned her team’s participation in the Becoming Salesforce Program for new employees, supported Workforce Development Grants, and helped disburse payments to American and Canadian non-profits and charities. After finishing her 6-month internship, Angelica was offered a 6-month contract, which two years later has turned into full-time employment at Salesforce.org. Today Angelica is working towards her bachelor’s degree in Diversity & Inclusion at Skyline College works full-time as a Senior Workforce Development Associate at Salesforce.org engaging employees in meaningful and purpose-driven volunteerism related to Workforce Development, and is a single mom to her 3-year-old son. Angelica continues to serve as an advocate of untapped talent and pay forward all the support that was poured into her journey.

Joseph Baratta is Global Head of Private Equity and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Since joining Blackstone in 1998, Mr. Baratta has been involved in the execution of Blackstone’s investments in Universal Orlando, Nycomed Pharmaceuticals, Houghton Mifflin, Spirit Group and was responsible for Blackstone’s investments in First Eagle Investment Management, Seaworld Parks and Entertainment, Merlin Entertainments Group, Center Parcs, Tragus Group, Southern Cross and ICS Group. In 2001, Mr. Baratta moved to London to help establish Blackstone’s corporate private equity business in Europe.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Baratta was with Tinicum Incorporated and McCown De Leeuw & Company. Mr. Baratta also worked at Morgan Stanley in its mergers and acquisitions department. Mr. Baratta graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University where he currently serves on the University’s Board of Directors. He serves as a director of Blackstone portfolio companies First Eagle Investment Management and Penn Engineering. He is also a trustee of the Tate Foundation in Britain and serves on the board of Year Up, an organization focused on youth employment.

Melody Barnes is Co-Founder and Principal of MB2 Solutions LLC, a domestic policy strategy firm, and Vice Provost for Global Student Leadership Initiatives at New York University, where she is also a Senior Fellow at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.  Ms. Barnes serves on the Board of Directors of Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company and the Marguerite Casey Foundation.  She also chairs the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions and Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund.

As Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Ms. Barnes provided strategic advice to President Obama and worked closely with members of the Cabinet coordinating the domestic policy agenda across the Administration.   Under her leadership, innovative new policies, practices and partnerships were initiated to address significant national challenges, including education, health care and the federal government’s relationship with local governments and communities.

Ms. Barnes received her law degree from the University of Michigan in 1989. In 1986, she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she graduated with honors in history.    Ms. Barnes’ media appearances include This Week with George Stephanopoulos, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Charlie Rose and Morning Joe.  She currently resides in Washington, DC with her husband, Marland Buckner.

Ruth Bowen is an alumna of Year Up Atlanta Class 8, July 2013. She graduated with a full time offer from her internship and current employer at Bank of America. During internship Ruth was recognized for creating the onboarding process specific to her organization by her Senior Business Executive. In 2014 she continued to own and document Program, Project and Vendor set up processes; and in 2015 established and streamlined Governance routines as part of her PMO’s Program Governance and Execution team. Ruth is currently part of the User Acceptance Testing team, which manages code development testing and pushes the banks ITSM program forward. In her 3 years at Bank of America, she has proven her process improvement ability to be valuable; as a result she has acquired a wide cross-functional skillset that brings her experience and flexibility to all aspects of the program.

Ruth has spent time on her local Alumni board as Treasurer, with her Toastmasters club as VP of Membership, Communications chair for internal network – Leadership Education Advocacy and Development for Women, and various roles that have helped fine-tune her leadership skills. As part of her personal initiative to give back, she launched a Professional Wear Clothing drive for Year Up at Bank of America, and continues to work with national and local staff members to help improve student and alumni outcomes.

Her aspirations include attaining her PMP certification, working on a start-up business venture and partnering with her colleagues to make a positive impact in her community. Her motivation to build a strong foundation for her children alongside her spouse continues to be her driving motivator in taking her next opportunity.

Gerald Chertavian is dedicated to closing the Opportunity Divide that exists in our nation. Determined to make his vision a reality, Gerald combined his entrepreneurial skills and his passion for working with urban young adults to found Year Up in 2000.With its annual operating budget in excess of $130M, Year Up is one of the fastest growing non-profits in the nation. It has been recognized by Fast Company and The Monitor Group as one of the top 25 organizations using business excellence to engineer social change. Year Up has also been named one of the nation’s top 50 non-profits to work for by the Non-Profit Times for the past seven years.

Gerald’s commitment to working with urban youth spans more than 25 years. He has actively participated in the Big Brother mentoring program since 1985 and was recognized as one of New York’s outstanding Big Brothers in 1989. In 2006, Gerald was elected as a Fellow with the Ashoka Global Fellowship of social entrepreneurs, and in 2008, he was appointed by Former Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick to serve on the MA State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. In 2013, he was appointed by Governor Patrick to serve as Chairman of the Roxbury Community College Board of Trustees and reappointed to that role by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker in 2016.

Gerald began his career on Wall Street as an officer of the Chemical Banking Corporation. Following graduate school he co-founded Conduit Communications and fostered its growth to more than $20M in annual revenues. From 1993 to 1998, Conduit ranked as one of the UK’s fastest growing companies. Following the sale of Conduit to i-Cube in 1999, Gerald turned his full attention to creating opportunities for others.

Gerald earned a B.A. in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College and in 2017 he was awarded the Bowdoin Common Good Award. He received his M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School and in 2016 received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He has received honorary doctorates from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and Mount Ida College. He is on the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative and a former member of the World Economic Forum’s Youth Unemployment Council. Gerald is also an Emeritus Trustee of both Bowdoin College and the Boston Foundation.  His 2012 book, A Year Up, is a New York Times best seller.

Paul Edgerley has been a Managing Director at Bain Capital since 1990, a private investment firm with over $75 billion in assets under management, where he focuses on investment in the industrial and consumer product sectors. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Boston Celtics, Steel Dynamics, Sensata Technologies, Hero MotoCorp, APEX Tool Group, FTE Automotive, MYOB and TI Automotive.

Paul is also Co-Chair of the Harvard University Capital Campaign and Co-Chair of the Harvard Campaign for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kansas State University Foundation and the Board of the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation.

Prior to joining Bain Capital, Paul spent five years at Bain & Company where he worked as a Consultant and Manager in the healthcare, information services, retail and automobile industries. Previously, he was a certified public accountant working at Peat Marwick, Mitchell & Company.  Paul was awarded an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Kansas State University.  He and his wife, Sandra, reside in Brookline with their four children.

William (Bill) Green is the retired Executive Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer of Accenture, a global management consulting firm. In addition to chairing the board of directors, Mr. Green was involved in planning Accenture’s long-term business strategy. He represented Accenture with clients around the world, with business and government leaders and with key external groups. Mr. Green was also a champion for Accenture’s Skills to Succeed corporate citizenship efforts. He served on Accenture’s board of directors since its inception in 2001. From September 2004 through December 2010, Mr. Green served as Accenture’s CEO. He assumed the additional role of chairman in 2006. Mr. Green successfully navigated the company through a challenging global economic environment. During his term, Accenture grew revenue from $13.7 billion to $21.6billion, doubled its workforce to 211,000 employees and expanded its global footprint. In his 35-year career with the company, Mr. Green built a reputation for his strong work ethic, results-oriented consensus building and exceptional ability to forge and maintain major client relationships.

Prior to serving as CEO, Mr. Green was Accenture’s Chief Operating Officer of Client Services with overall management responsibility for the company’s operating groups. In addition, he served as group chief executive of the Communications & High Tech operating group from 1999 to 2003. He was also group chief executive of the Resources operating group for two years. Earlier in his career, Mr. Green led the Manufacturing industry group and was managing director for Accenture’s business in the United States. Mr. Green represented Accenture in a number of external venues, including Business Roundtable, where he serves as chairman of its Education, Innovation and Workforce Initiative and previously served as chairman of The Springboard Project, an independent commission on workforce issues. He was also a member of the Business Higher Education Forum, The Business Council, and the G100. Mr. Green is a frequent speaker at business, technology, and academic forums around the world.

Mr. Green joined Accenture in 1977 and became a partner in 1986. He attended Dean College and is a member of its Board of Trustees. He received a bachelor of science degree in economics and a master of business administration from Babson College, as well as an honorary doctor of laws. He and his wife have two children.

Rod McCowan is the founder and principal of the Accelerance Group, an advisory firm dedicated to helping visionary leaders build innovative, high-performing, and high-growth organizations that drive dramatic impact. Accelerance works exclusively with such leaders and helps them accelerate their performance. It focuses on the key drivers of innovation, performance and impact: effective CEO leadership, high-performing top leadership teams, and outstanding execution. Rod has helped a diverse range of CEOs, entrepreneurs, top teams and boards more effectively manage these inter-related issues of organization transformation and systems change to achieve higher levels of performance and impact.

Rod spent most of his early career leading complex, large-scale organizational transformation and improvement efforts, alternating between executive management and global chief human resource officer roles within the public, private, and non-profit sectors, both domestically and internationally. At Herman Miller, Inc., Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, and VeriSign, Inc., he restructured and led global HR organizations to drive improvements in corporate performance. With Herman Miller, Rod also served as Managing Director, Southeast Asia, and President of Herman Miller East Asia. He led the transformation of both organizations into the highest performing business units in the company. He began his career with IBM in marketing, IT consulting, and government relations, and with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in investment banking.

Rod was a White House Fellow during the George H. W. Bush Administration. He was the Assistant Secretary for Management at the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton Administration, where he led there invention of the $30B, 5,000-employee, cabinet-level department into a more strategically managed, high-performance organization. Rod earned an MAR from Yale University, with a concentration in Social Ethics, and an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was twice selected a Kennedy Fellow.

Effective August 1, 2015, Judy C. Miner was appointed Chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, where she served as President from 2007 to 2015. She has worked as a higher education administrator in the California Community Colleges since 1979 where she has held numerous administrative positions in instruction, student services, and human resources.

She serves on six regional advisory boards, five national advisory boards, and serves as an expert advisor by Hewlett Packard and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) in their initiative to increase underrepresented student enrollment in computer science. Miner is also the Silicon Valley CEO representative to the Economic Development and Program Advisory Committee for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and serves as the chair of the planning committee for the 2016 American Council on Education national conference.

Under the auspices of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), she served on the Working Group that produced Report to the President, Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, published by the White House in February of 2012. On March 23, 2012, Science magazine published her editorial entitled “America’s Community Colleges” with an accompanying podcast that highlighted the science initiatives at Foothill College.

Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Patrick came to Massachusetts at 14, when he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through the Boston-based organization A Better Chance. After Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he clerked for a federal appellate judge and then launched a career as an attorney and business executive, becoming partner at two Boston law firms and a senior executive at Texaco and Coca-Cola. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick to the nation’s top civil rights post, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In 2006, in his first bid for public office, he became the state’s first African-American governor. In his two terms as Governor, Patrick oversaw the expansion of affordable health care to more than 98 percent of state residents, launched initiatives stimulating clean energy and biotechnology, won a national Race to the Top grant, and steered the state out of recession to a 25-year high in employment. Patrick currently serves as a Managing Director of Bain Capital Double Impact, where he focuses on investments that deliver both a competitive financial return and significant positive social impact. He is a Rockefeller Fellow, a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and the author of two books, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life and Faith in the Dream: A Call to the Nation to Reclaim American Values.

Paul S. Pressler is a Partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC, a private equity firm based in New York and London. The Firm’s professionals include a combination of financial and operating executives. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investments of more than $21 billion in 59 U.S. and European businesses representing abroad range of industries with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $90 billion and revenues nearly$100 billion. Mr. Pressler is currently chairman of two of their portfolio companies, David’s Bridal and John Deere Landscapes, Inc. Mr. Pressler also serves on the board of directors for The Drybar, Inc.

Mr. Pressler was President and Chief Executive Officer of Gap Inc., a $15 billion leading specialty retailer, from September 2002 to January 2007. He led the company’s turnaround, strengthening its balance sheet, improving operations, returning cash to shareholders and launching a new brand.

Prior to joining Gap Inc., Mr. Pressler spent 15 years with The Walt Disney Company. Most recently, he was chairman of the company’s global theme park and resorts division. Mr. Pressler previously served as President of Disneyland, President of The Disney Stores and Senior Vice President of Disney Consumer Products. Prior to Disney, he was Vice President of Marketing and Design for Kenner-Parker Toys.

A native of New York, Mr. Pressler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business economics from the State University of New York at Oneonta.

Mr. Pressler served for 15 years on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters, first in Los Angeles and later their National Board.

Barby has embedded into Zeno a relentless focus on work that matters in a client-centric culture, most dramatically manifested in the one global P&L model that ensures clients benefit from the full force of Zeno every day. Under her stewardship, Zeno has experienced unprecedented growth and industry recognition for its creativity, highly-collaborative culture and fearless pursuit of the unexpected.

Zeno was named PRWeek ‘Mid-Size Agency of the Year’ for three consecutive years (2011, 2012, 2013) and was named ‘Consumer Agency of the Year’ by the Holmes Report. In 2012, Barby was named PRWeek ‘PR Professional of the Year’. Accolades aside, she is even prouder that her teenage daughters Matty and Mallory have put their own stamp on ‘fearless.’

Mr. Steel is a Partner and serves as Chief Executive Officer of Perella Weinberg Partners. Prior to joining the firm, he was New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development from 2010-2013 where he was responsible for the Bloomberg Administration’s five-borough economic development strategy and job-creation efforts, and oversaw such agencies as the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Department of City Planning, Department of Small Business Services, NYC Economic Development Corporation and NYC & Company, and chaired the Brooklyn Bridge Park board. A key initiative for Mayor Bloomberg’s Administration was to encourage and grow the technology sector of New York City’s economy, and Mr. Steel led the applied sciences initiative, which established the Cornell-Technion campus on Roosevelt Island and New York University Center for Urban Science and progress initiative in Brooklyn, New York.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Mayor, Mr. Steel was the President and CEO of Wachovia where he oversaw the sale of the bank to Wells Fargo & Co. and served on the Wells Fargo board of directors until 2010. During his tenure at the U.S. Treasury as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance from 2006 to 2008, he received the President’s Working Group, the core group responded to the global economic crisis of 2008.

He is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.  Mr. Steel is the chairman of the Aspen Institutes’ Board of Trustees.

Kerry Sullivan is President of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation which supports the company’s purpose to improve the financial lives of the communities, clients and customers it serves.  The Foundation strengthens the economic and social health of communities around the world through $200 million in annual philanthropic investments, in support of its ten-year $2 billion giving goal.  In this role, Sullivan sets philanthropic strategy for the company, leading a team responsible for driving a broad range of national and international philanthropic partnerships associated with the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.    Sullivan manages strategic relationships with global philanthropic partners addressing pressing issues, including workforce development and education, community development, and health and human services.  She leads the company’s signature philanthropic programs, Neighborhood Builders® and Student Leaders®, which recognize the community leadership and service of nonprofit organizations and students in 44markets across the U.S., with more than $190 million invested since 2004.  In addition, Sullivan is responsible for Bank of America Community Volunteers, employee volunteers around the globe who contributed 2 million hours of service to improve communities last year.

Kim brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in business and philanthropy.Throughout her career, she has played a leading role in developing strategic business initiatives aswell as the creation and implementation of operational processes for corporations, privatecompanies, and family foundations.

Kim currently serves as the Executive Director for theJenesis Group, a private family foundation bringing innovation, entrepreneurial acumen, andmarket based solutions to the philanthropic sector.  As Executive Director, Kim is responsible forleading the foundation’s efforts to advance its mission and effectively support grantees with bothhuman and financial resources.  Kim oversees all aspects of grantmaking and operations for thefoundation as well as setting strategic priorities and building relationships with key partners.  She has been instrumental in developing and implementing a “venture like” approach to helping youth development organizations achieve their goals. She has spent the past 18 years in philanthropyserving as an engaged partner to multiple scaling organizations as a funder, board member, andthought partner.  She has served on panels and conducted conference sessions specificallyfocused on investing in social entrepreneurial led organizations and building revenue generatingcapacities for nonprofits.

Before entering philanthropy, Kim worked at MetLife as the youngest Regional Administrator incharge of the administrative operations of 17 sales offices in the western half of Texas.  Followingher tenure at MetLife she worked briefly in the Telecom industry building-out the administrativeoperations, reporting tools and systems, and marketing efforts for a national sales organization.

Kim earned her bachelor’s degree in Finance & Marketing from Texas Tech University.

Bob Templin served as the fourth President of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) from 2002 to 2015.  During that time, NOVA became Virginia’s largest public institution of higher education, one of the nation’s largest and most diverse community colleges, and one of the leading associate degree-granting institutions in the United States.  NOVA enrolled over 78,000 students at its six campuses and awarded nearly 7,000 credentials in 2013-14.

Under Mr. Templin’s leadership the college created a strategic plan to increase college access and student success for 25,000 additional students drawn primarily from low-income and immigrant communities through a “collective impact” strategy that champions closer working relationships between NOVA and the region’s high schools, community-based non-profit organizations, universities, and employers.
During the last several years, Mr. Templin has become a leader in the national community college reform network, emphasizing the importance of student success through program completion, transfer and baccalaureate attainment, and superior labor market outcomes for graduates.  Since 2010, Mr. Templin has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Achieving the Dream, a national community college reform network.  He is also the founding Chair of the C-4 Network that supports the design and implementation of collective impact partnerships between community colleges and Goodwill Industries International at over 90sites across the country.

Shortly following the White House Summit on Community Colleges in 2010, Mr. Templin was named a “Champion of Change” by the White House.

Bob Templin retired from NOVA in early 2015 and is serving part time as both a Senior Fellow with The Aspen Institute and a Professor at North Carolina State University.  His current work focuses on continuing his national community college reform work by concentrating on the preparation of the next generation of community college leaders.

Jordan Urrutia is a graduate of Year Up Providence. Upon graduation, Jordan continued to work towards Year Up’s mission by serving as a Year Up National and Year Up Providence staff member. Jordan has also spent time working in Human Resources with CVS Health. Currently, Jordan is the CEO and Founder of startup company First Impressions Parking Solutions LLC, located in the Twin Cities Metro area. Jordan is the third ever alumnus elected to the Year Up National Board of Directors, serving as the Representative to the NAA Board. He is the former Chairman of the Year Up Providence Alumni Board and is a former member of the Year Up Providence Local Advisory Board.

In addition to his work with Year Up, Jordan serves on the Board of Directors for MapleBrook Soccer Association. He is a US Soccer Federation licensed and paid youth coach.

Jordan and his wife, Oneyda, met in Providence, Rhode Island. They relocated to Maple Grove, Minnesota in 2016 with their two sons, Giovanni and Neydan.

Greg graduated from Year Up Boston in January of 2007 and has stayed committed to Year Up’s mission to close the Opportunity Divide. He’s the husband of Alicia Walton and father of four year old Greg Jr. & his new born daughter Gia Jalise. For the past seven years, Greg has worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and he is currently a Desktop Support Specialist IT Consultant II. In this role, Greg provides computer support to a plethora of departments across the Institute.

Greg is the first alumnus of Year Up to join its National Board of Directors. He is also continuing his education at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Greg is passionate about giving back and is a motivational speaker to young people across this country on the importance of giving back and staying dedicated to being the best you can be for yourself, your family, and your community. Greg was recently elected to the Boston Re-Entry Initiative (BRI) Advisory Board. The BRI program works with the Boston Police Department, the Suffolk County House of Correction, other law enforcement, and local youth/family/community services programs to help young men transition from prison back into society. Greg’s current mission currently is to get more people to care for and serve their communities and help create a positive movement of change that enables growth and success for all.

David is a professor of public service and co-director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, positions he has held for the past decade. In addition, he serves as a senior political analyst for CNN and works actively with a rising generation of new leaders. In the past, he has served as a White House adviser to four U.S. presidents of both parties: Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. He wrote about those experiences in his New York Times best-seller, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton (Simon & Schuster, 2001). In the 1980s, he began a career in journalism. Starting with the McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour in 1984, he has been a regular commentator on public affairs for some 28 years. Twice he has been a member of election coverage teams that won Peabody awards, and he has contributed to two Emmy award-winning political analysis teams. In the late 1980s, he was chief editor of U.S. News & World Report, working with publisher Mort Zuckerman to achieve record gains in circulation and advertising. Over the years, he has been active on many non-profit boards, serving in the past on the boards of both Yale and Duke Universities. Among his current boards are Teach for America, City Year, the Schwab Foundation, the Mission Continues, the Aspen Institute and Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Sustainable Investing. A native of North Carolina, David is a member of the D.C. Bar, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an honors graduate of Yale and the Harvard Law School. He has been awarded 27 honorary degrees.

Richard “Dick” Parsons is a Senior Advisor at Providence Equity Partners, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm specializing in media, communications and information companies.  He is the former Chairman of the Board of Citigroup, Inc., and was the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Time Warner, Inc. In its January 2005 edition on America’s Best CEOs, Institutional Investor magazine named Mr. Parsons the top CEO in the entertainment industry. From May through September, 2014, Mr. Parsons served as the Interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clipper.

Mr. Parsons is currently a director of the Estee Lauder Companies Inc., Lazard Frères and Company, and Madison Square Garden, Inc.  His civic and non-profit commitments include Chairman Emeritus of the Partnership for New York City; Chairman of the Apollo Theater Foundation; and of the Jazz Foundation of America. He also serves on the boards of Teach for America, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Mr. Parsons received a Juris Doctor from Union University’s Albany Law School and his undergraduate education from the University of Hawaii.

Joseph L. Hooley is chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Corporation, one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, with US$28.5 trillion in assets under custody and administration, and US$2.4 trillion in assets under management* as of March 31, 2015.

Since joining State Street in 1986, Mr. Hooley has held a number of diverse leadership positions with increasing responsibility. After leading the US Mutual Fund sales organization, he joined State Street’s shareholder servicing joint venture with Kansas City-based DST systems. From 1988 to 1990, he served as president and chief executive officer of National Financial Data Services and went on to become president and chief executive officer of Boston Financial Data Services from 1990 to 2000.

Mr. Hooley returned to State Street in 2000 to manage the company’s global investment servicing business. During this time, he played a lead role in the company’s major strategic acquisitions, including Deutsche Bank’s Global Securities Services business in 2003 and Investors Financial Services Corporation in 2007. Mr. Hooley was appointed vice chairman in 2006 and president and chief operating officer in 2008. In this role, he was responsible for all of State Street’s asset servicing and trading activities worldwide, and also oversaw the company’s securities operations and its corporate technology organization. He assumed his current role in 2010.

Mr. Hooley is a director on the board of Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, the President’s Council of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP) and a trustee of the board of Boston College.

Mr. Chenault joined the company in September 1981 as Director of Strategic Planning. He was named President of the Consumer Card Group in 1989, and in 1993 he became President of Travel Related Services (TRS), which encompassed all of American Express’ card and travel businesses in the United States. In 1995, he assumed additional responsibility for the company’s worldwide card and travel businesses and also was named Vice Chairman of American Express. Mr. Chenault became President and Chief Operating Officer in February 1997.He assumed his current responsibilities as CEO on January 1, 2001, and as Chairman on April 23 of that year. Before he came to American Express, Mr. Chenault was a management consultant with Bain & Co. from 1979 to 1981, and an attorney with Rogers & Wells from 1977 to 1979.

Mr. Chenault serves on the boards of American Express and several other corporate and nonprofit organizations, including IBM, The Procter & Gamble Company, the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution’s Advisory Council for the National Museum of African American History & Culture, and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. He also is on the boards of the Partnership for New York City, The Business Council and the Business Roundtable and serves as Vice Chairman of each of these organizations.

A wide variety of civic, social service and community organizations have recognized Mr. Chenault for his public service leadership. He has received the Phoenix House Public Service Award, the Corporate Responsibility Award from the International Rescue Committee and the Wall Street Rising Leadership Award, among others. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Michael K. Powell, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2001 to 2005and a member of the FCC for eight years, began his tenure as president and CEO of the National Cable &Telecommunications Association (NCTA) on April 25, 2011.

Powell was nominated as a member of the FCC by President Bill Clinton and sworn in on November 3, 1997. He was designated by President George W. Bush as FCC Chairman in January 2001, serving in that role until April 2005.

Prior to his tenure at the FCC, Powell served as the chief of staff of the Antitrust Division in the Department of Justice where he advised the Assistant Attorney General on substantive antitrust matters, including policy development, criminal and civil investigations, and mergers. He also served as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP and clerked for the Honorable Harry T. Edwards, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Before his legal career, Powell served as a policy advisor to the Secretary of Defense. His experience also includes military service as an armored cavalry officer in the United States Army.
Powell serves on a number of non-profit boards, including the Mayo Clinic, the Aspen Institute and America’s Promise, where he co-chairs Grad Nation, an effort to end the high school dropout crisis.

Powell graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Government and earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Ruth J. Simmons is the former President of Brown University and also a professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Africana Studies. She has served in various administrative positions at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College prior to becoming President of Smith College in 1995. At Smith, she was responsible for various initiatives including the first women’s college engineering program. Dr. Simmons has received numerous awards and fellowships including the Fulbright Fellowship, the 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, and the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal. In addition, Dr. Simmons has been featured as a speaker at the White House, the World Economic Forum, the National Press Club, the Association of American Universities, and the American Council on Education. Currently, she resides on a number of boards, including the Howard University Board of Trustees, Texas Instruments, and the Goldman Sachs Group. Dr. Simmons graduated from Dillard University and received her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature’s from Harvard University.

Mr. Thomas M. Ryan is the former chief executive officer of CVS Caremark Corporation, and currently serves as an operating partner at Advent International Corporation. In October of 2001, he joined Advent International, where he advises and works closely with Advent’s investment team to identify opportunities and generate post-investment value at retail and healthcare companies.

Mr. Ryan joined CVS Caremark in 1974 as an in-store pharmacist and oversaw the company’s transformation from a drug store chain focused on the northeastern US into a more comprehensive pharmacy services company. He served as the chief executive officer at CVS Caremark from May 1994 until March 2011, as president from May 1998 to May 2010, and as chairman until May 11, 2011.

Mr. Ryan is also involved with a number of other corporations and organizations. He has served as the vice chairman of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. He has been a director of the following organizations: Yum! Brands, Five Below, Inc., Bank of America Corporation, Citizens Bank of Rhode Island, Reebok International, Ltd., FleetBoston Financial Corporation, Melville Corporation, Ryanair Holdings, TriCon Global Restaurants, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Trinity Repertory Company.

Mr. Ryan is a trustee of the University of Rhode Island and has served as the member of the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council and the Brown University School of Medicine. Mr. Ryan is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy.

Jason Coullette is a graduate of Year Up New York’s second cohort (Class of January 2008).  He was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens.  Jason graduated from high school in 2005, and didn’t want to immediately go back to school.  He didn’t think he was ready for college and went straight to work.  A few years later, he was working as a dietary aide at a hospital when he realized that it was not the job for him.  He attended Touro College for a digital media arts certificate, but he saw something more for himself – he really wanted a career. A mentor of his forwarded him an email about Year Up, and he decided to step out and give it a shot.  What stood out to him at Year Up was how motivated all of the staff members were.  They clearly wanted students to succeed.  Jason demonstrated a hunger to learn and advance, so he appreciated the support.  The entire Year Up community was a source of energy and inspiration for him when things got tough. He was able to build the confidence to say “I can do this. I know how to do this. I’m actually pretty good at it.”  

Since Year Up, Jason graduated from SUNY Empire State in 2013 with his Bachelor’s in Business Management and Economics. He has worked in analyst positions at Lehman Brothers, Barclay’s Capital and American Express. He now works as a Compliance Analyst at JPMorgan Chase. Jason has served as a member of Year Up New York’s Board and now serves as the New York’s Site Representative on the National Alumni Association Board.  His next goal is to advance to a position where he can help others move up the ladder as he did.

Oneyda is a graduate of Year Up Providence Class of July 2010 (Class 10), where she served as a keynote speaker for graduation and was the recipient of the Excellence Award. Oneyda was the first ever Year Up intern to be placed at Covidien (now Medtronic), working her way up to her current role as Senior IT Service Desk Supervisor. She is HDI Support Center & HDI Team Lead certified and is actively working towards her Six Sigma Greenbelt certification for continuous improvement . In 2011 Oneyda became the first ever alumnus to serve on the Year Up Providence Local Advisory Board. She has also been a member of the Providence Alumni Board since 2012. Oneyda was the 2014 recipient of Year Up’s Accountability award granted by former Year Up Providence Executive Director, Meghan Hughes. In 2014 Oneyda was selected to be the Providence Site Representative for Year Up’s National Alumni Association Board. She met her husband, Jordan Urrutia in Providence, Rhode Island. They relocated to Minnesota in 2016 with their two sons, Giovanni and Neydan.

La’Quana Ford is a graduate of Year Up Greater Atlanta, Class of January 2013.  She is originally from the Bronx and moved to Atlanta in 2004.  After graduating from high school, she initially attended West Georgia University to pursue a degree in the Radiology field.  While working and attending college, her mother told her about the Year Up program. After successfully completing the Year Up program, she soon found full-time employment and is currently a Fraud Analyst at Bank of America. Since graduating, La’Quana has remained very active within the alumni community.  She currently serves on Atlanta’s Local Alumni Board and as the Atlanta Site Representative for the National Alumni Association Board.  She stays connected with the community through volunteer events.  La’Quana recently went back to school and is pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and she hopes to eventually gain her MBA with a focus on project management.

Graduated from Miami Dade College in May 2013 with an Associate in Arts Degree in International Relations. In July of that year, he graduated from Year Up South Florida, where he served as a keynote speaker for the graduation and was the recipient of “The Chris Mello Award for Leadership.” At the end of his internship, he was offered a full-time position at AT&T. One year and half later, he was selected to participate in a six months leadership program in AT&T Retail Management Development Program. Now David is the host and producer of Impact The Outcome (I.O), a podcast that focus on history and tourism of Haiti and one-on-one conversation with Haitian impactors in the community. David is also the Site-Rep of Year Up South Florida Alumni. He is a brethren who enjoys running, reading, attending Sunday service and being with his family. These are activities in which he engages in for reflection and to make himself a more effective leader in the organizations he is a part of.

Herb Gay is a graduate of Year Up NCR’s Class of July 2009. He is a Washington D.C. native, graduating from Crossland High School in 2002. At Year Up, he was the recipient of the Chris Mello Award for Leadership. Throughout the program, Herb worked hard to earn an internship at Microsoft. Upon graduation, Herb took a position at Nordstrom’s working in the Loss Prevention department while going back to Year Up to encourage those who have come after him to stay motivated and engaged during their time in the program.

For the last seven years, Herb has been employed at Year Up NCR on the Academics Team as a Technical Teaching Assistant. Herb served on the Local Alumni Association Board for several years before joining the National Alumni Association Board as a Site Representative for the National Capital Region. He is currently working on achieving his A+, Security + and Network + certifications to expand.

Samara Greene-Taylor is a graduate of Year Up Baltimore, Class of January 2014. During the program, her dedication was recognized with the Strive to Learn Award, Geek Award and Academic Excellence Award. After graduation, she began working for the Maryland Health Connection and currently works for Connections Education as a Tier II Blended Technical Support Agent.  Samara also serves as the Vice Chair of the Baltimore Alumni Association and as the Baltimore Site Representative for the National Alumni Association. In June 2014, she graduated from Baltimore City Community College with an Associate’s degree in Arts and Sciences with an IT Certificate.  She was honored as a Distinguished Scholar with a 4.0 GPA in her major.  Samara is currently studying International Relations and Business Administration at American Public University.  She aspires to create a non-profit organization to benefit the global community.

Darryl Harrell is a graduate of Year Up Chicago, Class of July 2014. He joined Year Up with hopes of gaining strong IT and project management skills as well as an opportunity to attend college. Darryl was the recipient of the Professionalism Award and the Dave Retik Award for Excellence. He was placed at GE Capital on an information security internship. After successfully leading three high visibility projects, GE offered Darryl a position as an analyst on the information security project team which he accepted on the spot and now works as a Information Security Divestiture Project Manager. He has now been working with GE for 3 years and is currently managing all information security controls and processes for 6 of GE Capital’s global divestitures totaling ~$34.9B. Still dedicated to higher education, Darryl is also attending DePaul University pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems. After graduation, he looks to attend an East Coast business program to pursue is MBA in Digital Technology and Management. Darryl currently sits on both the Year Up National and Chicago Alumni Association Boards. He hopes to encourage his fellow Chicago alumni to continue interacting with new students, developing their professional networks, and giving back to their local communities.

Katrina Hill is a graduate of Year Up National Capital Region, Class of January 2012. Katrina was born in Maryland and raised in seven states and two countries across the world due to her family’s military background. Upon graduation, Katrina began working at Aerotek as an Administrative Assistant and later a Training Coordinator and Business System Analyst. She now works at Year Up National HR team as the Staff Learning Specialist supporting onboarding for all new hires at Year Up.

Katrina is currently working towards a Bachelor’s degree in Management at the College for American at Southern New Hampshire University. She also has aspirations of obtaining her PMP certification. Katrina currently serves as the Chair for the Year Up National Alumni Association and participates in many other activities such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Walk, and Wreaths Across America.

Iran Brown is a graduate of Year Up Baltimore, class of July 2013. Iran was the recipient of the Year Up “Be Accountable” core value award. He currently works as an IT Specialist for Johns Hopkins University. Iran is associated with numerous nonprofit organizations where he donates his time and energy to serve others. Iran is a career student currently studying at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) in pursuit of his Associates of Applied Science (A.A.S) technical degree. Iran mentors countless mentees in attempts to lift as he climbs. Iran is the site representative for Baltimore Year Up and currently sits on the local and national board of directors.

Jelissa Lee is originally from Milwaukee, WI.  She graduated from Year Up Atlanta class 4, July 2011. Upon graduation she gained full time employment as Operations Service Center Team Lead with her internship QTS, where she spent 4 years.

Jelissa is currently employed in the IT field as a Service Desk Engineer Team Lead at iVision Inc. Jelissa is actively pursuing a career in IT management and engineering. She continues to pursue her passion of motivating and speaking with several non-profits to bring awareness, opportunity, and motivation to young women in the technology industry.

She attended and graduated from Georgia Military College with an Associates of Science degree in Information Technology.  She is currently enrolled at Georgia State University as a JR, completing her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems in Business.

In her spare time she enjoys playing basketball, motivational speaking, video games, and spending time with family.

Adriana (Adi) Ortiz graduated from Year Up Puget Sound, Class of January 2014. She began her career in retail at the age of 16, specifically men’s attire at Eddie Bauer.  She developed customer service skills there and in the specialty financial services industry.  After graduating from West Seattle High School, Adi enrolled at Bellevue College.  After giving birth to her now four-year-old daughter, she opted not to continue at college. While working in retail, Adi found Year Up which she saw as a path to a better career while earning college credit.  She was a strong student there, earning a Core Values award and an internship at Tech Mahindra where she was hired as a Senior Software Test Engineer.  Adi is currently working as a Customer Success Consultant at Managemyspa.com’s headquarters in Mercer Island, WA, satisfying a diverse customer base of owners and managers of salons, spas and medi-spas around the world.  Adi is an active alumna as a member of both the Local Alumni Board and Site Representative on the National Alumni Association Board.

Dallas Phinsee III is a graduate of Year Up Bay Area, Class of January 2012.  He attended Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo and Mission High School in San Francisco.  Dallas’s grandmother was a strict disciplinarian who instilled in him the importance of a good education. A further inspiration was his mother who returned to school after 20 years to get her Masters in Social Work to accomplish her goal of becoming a social worker.  Dallas attended Voorhees College where he majored in Criminal Justice and minored in African American Studies. At Voorhees he was an RA, IT Help Desk Agent, a tenor in the choir and a member of the Alpha Psi Omega Honor Fraternity.  While in Year Up, he served on the Student Outreach Committee which gave him the opportunity to meet with business partners and co-facilitate a weekly open house for potential students. In 2010, Dallas founded Compumind Marketing, Inc. and is currently its Managing Director.  He is an engaged alumnus, helping to foster a better relationship between the underserved communities in the Bay Area, corporate partners and Year Up, while serving as Treasurer for Year Up’s National Alumni Association Board and Chair of the NAA Fundraising Committee.  Dallas is an active member of his church and is deeply committed to mentoring elementary, middle and high school students to read across the Bay Area, helping to give them a better understanding of the importance of education.

Anne Ronquillo is a graduate of Year Up Bay Area, Class of January 2010. She was the recipient of the Chris Mello Award for Leadership and the Year Up Alumni Association Scholarship.  Anne is currently working as the Youth Coordinator for EAH Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing where she is helping the youth to reach their full potential. Anne is currently studying at Contra Costa College pursuing her Associates Degree and planning to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with an emphasis on community change.  She was part of the first YUBA Local Alumni Association where she served as the Secretary. Anne is currently serving as the Bay Area Site Representative for the National Alumni Association. She volunteers at various local organizations where she teaches and creates different technology projects with the youth in her community.

Leticia Thomas is a graduate of Year Up Greater Philadelphia, Class of July 2014.  She always had an interest in business ever since she started participating in world-wide DECA competitions in high school.  Now she is exploring other business opportunities thanks to Year Up.  When she applied to Peirce College, she found out about Year Up’s newly launched Philadelphia site. She was the first to be accepted, earned no infractions while in the program and spoke at Year Up Philadelphia’s ribbon cutting event. She earned an internship at Comcast and has been hired by their fast-paced Human Resource Operations team as an SAP Analyst.  She is currently studying Business Marketing at Peirce College, working toward an Associate’s Degree.  She remains engaged with the Year Up family as a proud advocate, serving as Philadelphia’s Site Representative on the National Alumni Association Board.

Byron Tolbert is a graduate of Year Up Greater Atlanta’s Class of July 2013. He graduated from Wheeler County High School in Alamo, GA in 2008 and immediately relocated to Atlanta for a better opportunity in the big city. He enrolled at Georgia Perimeter College and landed his first job at McDonald’s and then at Fed Ex Ground where he worked overnight while attending classes in the morning. Two years later, Byron was expecting a beautiful baby girl. With the birth of Tiana, Byron knew he had to make some extra money, so he dropped out of college and began working at Chick Fil-A. When he learned about Year Up from his aunt, Byron applied, determined to make a difference not only in his life but in his daughter’s as well.  During the program, he worked at Fed Ex during the evening and as a Security Officer on the weekends to make ends meet. Byron interned at Elavon and the experience was a great one. Elavon was initially not able to hire Byron due to the budget, but the CEO felt the need to keep him there. Two weeks before graduating and two days before his birthday, the CIO extended an offer for full time employment as a PC Specialist. Byron is still with the company that he interned with and enjoys every day. He is very grateful for what Year Up has done for him and pays it forward every chance he gets. Byron currently sits on the Year Up National Alumni Association Board as the Chair of Events and Programs.

Jordan Urrutia is a graduate of Year Up Providence. Upon graduation, Jordan continued to work towards Year Up’s mission by serving as a Year Up National and Year Up Providence staff member. Jordan has also spent time working in Human Resources with CVS Health. Currently, Jordan is the CEO and Founder of startup company First Impressions Parking Solutions LLC, located in the Twin Cities Metro area. Jordan is the third ever alumnus elected to the Year Up National Board of Directors, serving as the Representative to the NAA Board. He is the former Chairman of the Year Up Providence Alumni Board and is a former member of the Year Up Providence Local Advisory Board.

In addition to his work with Year Up, Jordan serves on the Board of Directors for MapleBrook Soccer Association. He is a US Soccer Federation licensed and paid youth coach.

Jordan and his wife, Oneyda, met in Providence, Rhode Island. They relocated to Maple Grove, Minnesota in 2016 with their two sons, Giovanni and Neydan.

Jasmine Walthall is a graduate of Year Up Boston’s Class of July 2103.  She believes that joy is contagious and helpfulness is a daily responsibility.  Jasmine had amazing role models when she was young: her grandparents taught her the value of relating to others, showing respect and active listening, while her mother reinforced these values and showed her what company loyalty and hard work looked like. Jasmine graduated from Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, MD and moved to Boston.  Like many working teenagers, she wanted a career and the opportunity to grow and contribute to a company that sought her values and abilities but didn’t know exactly how.  In the midst of this challenging time, she was introduced to Year Up. In her words, “I turned in an orange apron at a national retailer for a business suit.” At Year Up, she felt a personal transformation along with others in her learning community.  She and her classmates grew in confidence, tackling challenges where they once were riddled with fear and doubt.  After an internship at State Street, Jasmine worked as Year Up National’s Office Coordinator and was recently promoted to Internship Services Coordinator at Year Up Boston.  She serves as Boston’s Site Representative on the National Alumni Association Board and is planning to pursue a degree in Journalism.

Shanique Davis graduated from the Year Up National Capital Region program in January 2008. Upon graduation, she was hired full-time at America Online (AOL), where she interned while in the program. She was previously employed at Verizon where she served as a Fiber Customer Support Engineer. She recently returned to AOL in 2014 where she currently serves as a Senior Network Engineer and a Lead for her team. Shanique also attends the University of Phoenix’s IT Network Security Bachelor’s Degree Program. During her free time, Shanique mentors young adults in her community including current Year Up students, interns and alumni while also serving as an Advisor to the Year Up National Alumni Board. She is very dedicated to participating in different community service projects, including: City Year events, Walk for AIDS, and Light the Night Walk for cancer. Shanique engages and encourages others to become more involved in their communities. Shanique was born and raised in Washington, DC.

Ms. Feingold is a Co-founder and Investment Principal of Feingold O’Keefe Capital, LLC, a Boston based alternative investment management firm. Prior to founding the company, Andrea was Co-head of High Yield at PIMCO where she managed $3 billion high yield securities. Earlier, she ran the leveraged credit team at Triumph Capital, a private equity firm. Prior to that, Andrea was responsible for all high yield investment and research at Colonial Management, a Boston-based fund company. There she oversaw $2 billion in assets including the firm’s flagship high yield funds which, under her tenure, produced Lipper top-quartile performance and achieved Morningstar’s highest ratings. Ms. Feingold also worked as a Private Placement Analyst at SunLife of Canada and began her career in the commercial bank credit training program at EAB, now part of Citigroup. Feingold O’Keefe Capital, LLC was co-founded in 2001 by Ms. Feingold and Ian O’Keefe, former PIMCO head of High Yield Trading. The firm manages two absolute return strategies including an event-driven opportunistic fund and distressed loan fund. Intense credit-oriented, fundamental research is the cornerstone of all investments and is supported by the deep experience of the Co-founders, who have worked together since the early 1990s, managing risk assets to produce strong non-correlated returns in a variety of markets.

Ms. Feingold graduated with a BA in Economics Cum Laude from Columbia University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Andrea is an Emerita Trustee for Year Up.

From April 2002 until January 2011, David Ford worked at the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation as Executive Director. The Foundation focuses on medical research, youth development and poverty alleviation, and contributes about $11 million per year primarily in the Boston area. Organizational capacity building is an overarching theme of the Foundation. For four years prior to joining the Smith Family Foundation, Mr. Ford was President of the Lucent Technologies Foundation and head of the Corporation’s community affairs program. From 1988-1998, Mr. Ford was President of the Chase Manhattan Foundation which provided grants to several thousand nonprofit organizations around the world.

Previously, Mr. Ford was Director of the Center for Human Resources at Rutgers University for nine years, provided philanthropic consulting services to a number of private foundations and corporations, was Deputy Director of the Bergen County, NJ Community Action Program and Director of the Upper Passaic County, NJ Head Start Program, and taught English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (while in VISTA).

In late February 2012, David left New England and drove to Belize, Central America, where he is now living. David is also very involved in volunteering for the Seine Bight Cultural and Community Center and the Seine Bight Artists’ Cooperative.

Lisa Jackson is the Co-Founder and Managing Director at College for Social Innovation. The College for Social Innovation seeks to develop a diverse pool of leaders who effectively address the challenges facing humanity, at the local, national, and global level. Prior to this endeavor Lisa was the Managing Partner for Portfolio Investments at New Profit Inc., a venture philanthropy firm that invests nationally in nonprofits seeking to scale their impact. Lisa serves on the national boards of Year Up, the National College Advising Corps, Single Stop USA, and the Reset Foundation. Lisa is also a School Committee member for the Public Schools of Brookline. Lisa has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Education from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Psychology from Howard University.

Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart has been a successful executive at two Fortune 20 companies, one of the largest healthcare hospital systems and one of the largest public sector enterprises in the country. Melodie started her career in technology at the IBM Corporation as a systems engineer. During her 13 years at IBM, she rose through the management ranks holding such positions as Systems Engineering Manager, Marketing Support and Operations Manager, and Regional Market Support Manager. She spent her next 14 years serving as the only black female Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the health care industry, where she pioneered the development of electronic medical records and other major technology “firsts” in the industry. She was the first female and black CIO at Community Health Corporation, (California), St. Thomas Hospital (Tennessee) and Beth Israel Medical Center (New York). She then became the first black female to serve as the Vice President and General Manager of Global IT Shared Services and Delivery for the Amoco Corporation.

To fulfill her personal passions, she founded the Black Diamond Capital Group LLC to provide management and technology consulting services solely to non-profit companies, working with non-profit executives to better plan and leverage technology to achieve their mission-driven goals. In 2002, she was appointed Cleveland, Ohio’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and CIO. She was responsible for the City receiving national recognition from such Fortune 50 companies as Intel, AT&T, Microsoft/Gates Foundation, and Oracle for developing a high technology workforce development program in area high schools, community centers and community colleges.

Pedro Noguera is a Distinguished Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences at UCLA. Noguera is an urban sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment. He holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Teaching and Learning and Humanities and Social Sciences at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, as well as in the Department of Sociology at New York University. Dr. Noguera is also the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the Co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS). In 2008, he was appointed by the Governor of New York to serve on the State University of New York Board of Trustees.

Dr. Noguera received his bachelor’s degree in sociology and history and a teaching credential from Brown University in 1981. He earned his master’s degree in sociology from Brown in 1982 and received his doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley in 1989. Dr. Noguera was a classroom teacher in public schools in Providence, RI and Oakland, CA. He has held tenured faculty appointments at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (2000-2003), where he was named the Judith K. Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools, and at the University of California, Berkeley (1990-2000), where he was also the Director of the Institute for the Study of Social Change. He has published over 150 research articles, monographs and research reports on topics such as urban school reform, conditions that promote student achievement, youth violence, the potential impact of school choice and vouchers on urban public schools, and race and ethnic relations in American society. His work has appeared in multiple major research journals. Dr. Noguera is the author of The Imperatives of Power: Political Change and the Social Basis of Regime Support in Grenada (Peter Lang Publishers, 1997), City Schools and the American Dream (Teachers College Press 2003), Unfinished Business: Closing the Achievement Gapin Our Nation’s Schools (Josey Bass, 2006) City Kids, City Teachers (with Bill Ayers and Greg Michie, New Press 2008), and The Trouble With Black Boys…and Other Reflections on Race, Equity and the Future of Public Education (Wiley and Sons, 2008). Dr. Noguera appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on CNN, National Public Radio, and other national news outlets.

Mr. Pallotta is the Chairman and Managing Director of Raptor Group, a Boston-based investment management firm. In his portfolio management role at Raptor Capital Management LP®, he manages individual, institutional and his own personal capital.

Previously, from 1993 to 2008, he was employed by Tudor Investment Corporation (Tudor). Mr. Pallotta joined Tudor as Managing Director of the U.S. Equity Securities Group in 1993, became a Member of the Management Committee of Tudor in 1996, and became Vice Chairman of Tudor in 2005. He also served as a Director, Executive Manager and member of the Capital Allocation Committee of Tudor Group Holdings. While at Tudor, Mr. Pallotta served as the principal portfolio manager for the Raptor Global Funds, which he launched in 1993 with $200 million in assets under management. At the peak, Mr. Pallotta was responsible for managing in excess of $11 billion of assets under the Raptor strategy. Mr. Pallotta played an integral role with respect to Tudor’s efforts in direct and co-investments in private equity and third party hedge funds. He served as one of three members on Tudor Ventures’ Investment Committee.

Mr. Pallotta has more than 29 years of experience in equity research and analysis, including 25 years directing client capital. He is a member of the Executive Boards of the Boston Celtics and AS Roma. He is also a member of the Boards of certain charitable organizations.

Diane Schueneman started at Merrill Lynch & Co. in pre-automation days, working at night as a billing clerk while she was still in high school. It was an inglorious beginning for someone who had, as Head of Global Infrastructure Solutions, run the back office of the nation’s biggest brokerage. She managed services, operations, technology, and information security for the firm, which had net revenues of $35 billion.

Ms. Schueneman is one of a handful of women in top technology jobs on Wall Street. Her rise at Merrill began in 1971 when, lacking the money to finish college, she parlayed her early jobs there into a position in fixed-income sales. Over the next 33 years, she headed numerous businesses.

She oversaw a $1 billion overhaul of brokers’ work stations, a watershed accomplishment that experts say has given Merrill a several-year advantage over its competitors. Ms. Schueneman is currently a Board Member of ICAP Plc.

Joseph Smialowski is the Head of Operation and Technology for Citibank NA, as well as the executive responsible for Citigroup’s Data Innovation program. Prior to this role, Mr. Smialowski was the Executive Vice President of Operations and Technology for Freddie Mac. He was responsible for managing the largest segment of Freddie Mac’s business operations, including all of the company’s mortgage purchasing, master servicing, securities issuance and capital markets operations, and information systems divisions.

Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Mr. Smialowski was Executive Vice President at FleetBoston Financial where he was part of the firm’s management committee and had direct oversight for Fleet’s business lines in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. He held a key role on the integration team following the acquisition of FleetBoston by Bank of America. Prior to joining FleetBoston in 1998, Mr. Smialowski was Chief Information Officer at Sears, Roebuck and Co., while at the same time serving as the Chairman of the National Retail Federation’s Technology Council. Earlier in his career, he held managerial positions in several organizations. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Merrimack College and a Master’s degree in Computer Systems Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Mr. Smialowski served on Year Up’s National Board of Directors until 2008,was one of the founding members for Year Up Boston in 2001, and helped found Year Up National Capital Region in 2005. He also served as the first Chairman of the Year Up New York Board of Directors. In addition, he was instrumental in the design of Year Up’s internal management reporting system. Finally, he introduced Year Up to many large companies such as State Street, CVS, JP Morgan Chase, Freddie Mac and Citi, just to name a few.

Gail Snowden became Chief Executive Officer of Freedom House in January 2009 and retired in 2013. Freedom House’s mission is to promote educational excellence, economic self-sufficiency to alleviate poverty, and social innovation for Boston’s most distressed urban neighborhoods. Freedom House has an extraordinarily rich sixty-year history of addressing issues of poverty, educational achievement and social injustice, such as urban renewal, racial segregation, and educational issues including disparities in academic achievement (which have a long term negative impact on students of color).

From 2004 to 2007, Snowden served as Vice President for Finance and Operations of The Boston Foundation, one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the United States. She oversaw the financial and administrative operations of the $650 million community foundation. Snowden, a veteran of the banking industry and a nationally recognized leader in urban community development, retired from banking after a successful 36-year career. She was Executive Vice President for Bank of America, where she was responsible for strategy development and oversight of over 60 strategic alliances and partnerships. Prior to that, she was President of Fleet Boston Financial Foundation and also served as the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Fleet Boston Financials Community Investment Group. Here, she was responsible for directing and investing the bank’s resources into low-and moderate-income communities.

Snowden joined Bank Boston in 1968 and served in many capacities through the bank’s numerous mergers, including her membership on the bank’s Leadership Advisory Group. Under her leadership, innovative financial services were brought to those most in need, and nationally recognized community investment efforts were developed. Her contributions resulted in the awarding of “Outstanding” Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) ratings at the banks, and the White House Ron Brown Award for Advocating for the Needs of Minority and Low-Income Constituents.

Born in San Francisco, California, Pamela Trefler spent most of her childhood outside the United States. After 18 years as an investment banker, she finished her undergraduate degree in English literature at UMass Boston and received a Master’s in Education at Harvard University in 1994. She interned at Dorchester High School  (now the Dorchester Education Complex) and is certified to teach English and English as a second language(ESL).

In 1999, Pam and her husband, Alan Trefler, founder of Pegasystems, formed the Trefler Foundation, which has focused resources on public education, including school restructuring and teacher training, and youth development.

Pam has served on many boards in the Boston area, including Boston Partners in Education and Teen Empowerment. Currently, she serves on the Board of Cambridge College and the Advisory Board of the Center for Collaborative.

Craig Underwood, founder or co-founder of six for profit and nonprofit enterprises, was a pioneer in developing data-based customer loyalty programs and has been an innovator in the social media and nonprofit spaces.  He is an advisor to leading companies, venture capitalists and social entrepreneurs. Craig is currently serving as the Interim Director of Business Development for Year Up Jacksonville.  He was also a founding board member of Year Up.

Craig’s experience includes Founder and CEO of Sports Loyalty Systems, Founder and CEO of The LoyaltyGroup/ AIR MILES Canada, Co-Founder of Social Sphere Strategies and Partner at both Bain & Company and The Bridgespan Group, Bain’s nonprofit affiliate.  He has served on over 10 start-up, corporate and nonprofit boards.

Craig earned a BA in Political Science from West Virginia University, a Masters in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.  He lives with his two teenage children in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.  He is an active snowboarder, tennis player and cyclist.