2026 Board of Directors
Serving — and led by — our community.
Julia A. Houston
Board Chair
Julia Houston is currently the chief strategy and marketing officer at Equifax. In addition, she oversees Communications, Compliance & Privacy and Enterprise Risk. Julia joined Equifax in October of 2013 and previously served as chief transformation officer for three years, overseeing the response to the company’s significant cybersecurity incident in 2017. Prior to that, Julia held the position of senior vice president, U.S. Legal and led the team that provides legal support for the company’s three U.S. businesses.
Prior to Equifax, Julia was general counsel and corporate secretary at Convergys Corporation, where she managed both the legal and human resources functions. She was also General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Mirant Corporation, where she ultimately oversaw negotiations to merge the company with RRI Energy. Julia began her legal career as a corporate attorney at King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta, Georgia.
Julia holds a Bachelor of Arts with distinction from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor summa cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law. After graduation, she clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Julia is active in the Atlanta community, where she serves on the Boards of CHRIS 180, Leadership Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Foundation and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. She is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta and previously served on the Board of the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta.
David Allman
Regent Partners
Mr. Allman is Owner & Chairman of Regent Partners, a Real Estate Investment and Development company based in Atlanta. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1976 Magna Cum Laude with Distinction in Economics.
Mr. Allman has been in the commercial real estate business since 1980. Regent Partners has developed or acquired more than $2.5 billion in real estate assets including its acquisition of the $500 million, 2.2 million square foot Concourse Complex in Atlanta and its acquisition and development of the 2.5 million square foot Tower Place complex in Buckhead, including The Sovereign, a 50-story mixed use project in Buckhead and the tallest building to be built in Atlanta in 30 years.
Mr. Allman is active in numerous real estate, civic, and ministry initiatives. He currently serves as Trustee for the J. Bulow Campbell Foundation, Trustee for The Lovett School, and Trustee for the national Urban Land Institute (ULI). He also serves on the Boards of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF), the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC), and the Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund initiative.
As Founding Chairman of Opportunity International Nicaragua, he has spearheaded efforts to establish new models for holistic alleviation of poverty. Mr. Allman formerly served as Founding Chairman of the Buckhead Community Improvement District (BCID), Founding Chairman of the Eleazar Wheelock Society at Dartmouth College, Chairman for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, and sat on the Board of Councilors at the Carter Center.
He has been married for 41 years (Donna), has four adult children and thirteen grandchildren. He and Donna are native Atlantans.
Ronald E. Alston
Truist Financial
Ronald E. Alston is the not-for-profit & government banking leader for the Georgia Region of Truist Financial Corp. In this role, he leads the team of commercial bankers that work with not-for-profit and government clients primarily in metro Atlanta to meet their financial needs. Prior to this role, Ron was the Atlanta market president for Truist, leading a team that worked with privately held companies with annual revenues between $5-75 million. In his more than 30 years of experience with Truist and its predecessor bank, SunTrust, Ron has served in a variety of roles on both the client management and credit management sides of the business, bringing financial solutions that have helped clients reach their goals.
A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ron earned his B.B.A. in Finance from Northeastern University and his M.B.A. also in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
An active community volunteer, Ron serves on the boards of Drew Charter School (Board Chair), Agnes Scott College, the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, Early Learning Property Management, Partners for Home, the DeKalb Choral Guild and RSF Social Finance (Board Chair). He is a 2008 graduate of Leadership DeKalb and a 2018 graduate of Leadership Atlanta. He and his wife Stacey are the parents of three grown sons.
Janine Brown
Partner-in-charge of the Alston & Bird Atlanta office
Janine Brown is the partner-in-charge of the Atlanta office of Alston & Bird, a global law firm. More than 350 lawyers are based in the Atlanta office, the largest among firms in the city. Prior to her role as partner-in-charge of the Atlanta office, she served for eight years as the firm wide practice group leader of the Corporate Technology Practice.
Janine has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America© since 2001 and has been recognized by Georgia Super Lawyers since 2004. She has also been included in Atlanta Magazine’s Top 500 Most Influential Leaders in Atlanta since its inaugural edition.
Janine serves on several boards of directors, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Georgia Research Alliance and Spelman College. She is past board chair of Piedmont Healthcare and Georgia Justice Project. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of Duke Law School Board of Visitors and a trustee at the Woodruff Arts Center. She received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from Duke University School of Law.
Roxana Chicas
Emory University School of Nursing
Roxana Chicas, PhD, RN, is an assistant professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Her research focus is on occupational and environmental health disparities, investigating the physiological effects of heat exposures among farmworkers through community-engaged research. Roxana’s work is shaping the future of climate and occupational health science, two pressing fields of scientific inquiry. Her methodologies are unique and effective due to direct partnership with farmworker communities, who are now bearing the brunt of life-threatening and dehumanizing extreme heat health effects, which more communities will face as climate change worsens. Her research is creating solutions that are sustainable and grounded in the realities of labor. Her intervention studies are providing relief to workers, collecting critical health data and informing prevention/intervention practices in the U.S. and globally.
As a bilingual, bicultural nurse scientist, Roxana is committed to conducting research that informs policy to advance environmental justice. She earned an Associate of Science in Nursing degree from Georgia Perimeter College and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and PhD from Emory University.
Adrian Cronje, Ph.D., CFA
Balentine Wealth Advisors
Adrian Cronje is Balentine's Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, the firm has experienced exponential growth. He has been recognized by Atlanta Business Chronicle for his leadership as a Most Admired CEO and by Barron’s for his impact guiding clients as a Top 100 Independent Advisor nationally and one of the Top 10 Financial Advisors in Georgia, across independent and brokerage firms alike. In addition, Balentine was named one of America's fastest-growing companies by Inc. and one of America's fastest-growing Registered Investment Advisors by Citywire RIA. Adrian is a founding partner of Balentine, its former Chief Investment Officer, and a member of both the management committee and the investment strategy team. Previously, Adrian served as Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Strategist at Wilmington Trust and chaired its investment strategy team. Adrian began his career at Schroders in London as Director, Deputy Head of Quantitative Equity Products.
Adrian holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics, with honors, from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Adrian is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the Journal of Wealth Management Editorial Board. He is actively involved in the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Within YPO, Adrian is a member of the Chief Executives Organization and the Learning Officer for YPO’s Financial Services Network. He is also Past Chair of the Wealth Management Vertical for the Global Financial Services Network. Dedicated to serving the Atlanta community, Adrian is a member of Leadership Atlanta's Class of 2026, actively involved in the Rotary Club of Atlanta as Past President as well as Board Member and Trustee of the Charitable Foundation, and the founding President of the not-forprofit A+ Squash. He served previously as a Trustee and Head of the Financial Success Committee and Investments Sub-Committee of Agnes Scott College.
A frequently requested speaker, Adrian has published several papers and addressed national audiences on topics relating to investments and the economy. In addition, he enjoys teaching and is a recurrent guest lecturer at several prominent universities. He regularly contributes his expertise in wealth and legacy to entrepreneurial publications such as Fast Company and Real Leaders Magazine. In 2010, Adrian was named one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 40 Under 40, an honor designating the region’s up-and-coming business and community leaders. He was also an honoree at TiE Atlanta’s 2018 Top Entrepreneur Awards. In 2019, Adrian was recognized as a top new speaker for Vistage International for his highly rated talk on how “Capital Markets Lead the Economy, Not the Other Way Around.” He is also a published author. First Generation Wealth, a book he co-wrote with Chairman Robert
Balentine, won the Nautilus Book Award in 2023.
Doug Hooker
Midtown Connector Park Project
Doug Hooker leads the Midtown Connector Park Project, an initiative to build a park over I-75/85 in the heart of the city. Throughout his career, Doug has worked for public sector and private sector organizations including: the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Atlanta Department of Public Works, the State Road & Tollway Authority, Atkins Global Engineering and Georgia Power.
Doug currently serves on the boards of several community organizations including the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Atlanta Housing Authority, the Latin American Association, the Clayton State University Foundation, St. Vincent de Paul, the Fox Theatre, Aurora Theatre, the Ivan Allen College (of Georgia Tech) advisory board, and the Hands On Atlanta advisory board. In addition to community service, he is currently a Special Fellow with the Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State University. He is also on the board of directors of Barge Design Solutions, a privately held engineering consulting firm.
His past service has included the Atlanta Music Project, the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, the Council for Quality Growth, CHRIS 180, the Georgia Tech (President’s) Advisory Board, the (Georgia Tech) Civil & Environmental Engineering Advisory Board, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, the Georgia Conservancy, the Piedmont Park Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land – Georgia Chapter, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, the Metro Atlanta Chamber Transportation Committee, the Civic League, The Emory University Board of Advisors, and Atlanta Technical College.
Doug is an alumnus of Leadership Atlanta, Leadership Georgia, the Regional Leadership Institute, the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership, and Leadership PBS&J. Throughout his career, he has received many honors and recognitions, including the Dean George Griffin Community Service Award from the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, the inaugural AeroATL Honors award, the inaugural Regional Leadership Institute Outstanding Leader award, the Outstanding CEO from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, award for Distinguished Community Impact from the American Council of Engineering Consultants, award for career achievement from the Latin American Association, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Ivan Allen College School of Public Policy, 100 Most Influential Georgians (Georgia Trend), 100 Most Influential Atlantans (Atlanta Business Chronicle), 10 Most Influential Atlantans (Atlanta Tribune), the Harry West Regional Visionary Leadership Award, the President’s Award from the National Association of Regional Councils, the Whitney Young Award from Boy Scouts of America, the Lauren Solomon Award from COMTO, Excellence in City Government award from the Atlanta City Council, and many more. In March 1997, he was recognized by the Mayor and City Council with a Doug Hooker Day. He attended Emory as one of the business school’s first Woodruff Scholars and was recognized by that faculty with the Outstanding Graduate Student award upon graduation.
Doug holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science from Georgia Tech, as well as an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business.
His hobbies include composing music (symphonic, choral and instrumental works), singing with The Trey Clegg Singers, studying the oboe, traveling with his wife, spending time with his grandchildren, and reading.
Soumaya Khalifa
Khalifa Consulting - Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta
Soumaya Khalifa, president and chief executive officer of Khalifa Consulting, is a highly regarded coach, trainer and consultant, specializing in intercultural communications, diversity, equity and inclusion and leadership development. In addition to her consulting work, Soumaya is the founder and executive director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta (ISB), one of the most distinguished community-building organizations in the area. Soumaya is a frequently requested speaker, both as a consultant and ISB representative, and has a significant social and traditional media presence.
Through her firm, Soumaya provides corporate, nonprofit and governmental institutions with wide-ranging expertise and practical solutions to cross-cultural operations. Using resources she developed to examine the impact of religious diversity in the workplace and marketplace, Soumaya has seen her clients and their employees improve their work environments and increase productivity. Her clients include Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, McDonald’s and Walmart.
In her role with ISB, Soumaya connects American Muslim communities with a wide range of civic and faith-based groups, bringing Muslim voices to places where they have not been before. The ISB sends trained speakers to civic groups, churches and synagogues, law enforcement agencies and schools, providing opportunities to learn about Islam and Muslims objectively through dialogue, outreach programs, presentations and panels.
Prior to founding ISB and launching her consulting practice, Soumaya had an exemplary career in human resources. Throughout her career, Soumaya saw – and felt – the challenges religious and ethnic minorities faced in the workplace and addressed those challenges by designing and implementing company-wide initiatives. As a committed believer in building bridges of understanding, Soumaya is involved in a myriad of community activities, including sitting on the boards of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center and Georgia 3R’s Advisory Council.
Since 2009, Soumaya has been an adjunct faculty member at Emory University’s Center for Continuing Education, offering courses on Women in Leadership, Leading Inclusively and Equitably and Human Resources Certification. She has published numerous articles, reviews and blog posts on managing cultural differences, including contributing a chapter to Religious Diversity at Work (2016).
Her work has brought her much recognition and many significant honors. In 2023, Soumaya was named in the 500 Most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend Magazine. She received the Living Mercy Award in 2023 and 2021 Honorable Mention Power the Future award from The Forum on Workplace Inclusion. She is a 2019 YWCA Woman of Achievement, was honored in Atlanta Magazine’s 2019 Women Making a Mark and was presented with the prestigious Phoenix Award by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in 2017. Soumaya completed Leadership Atlanta in 2015, the Regional Leadership Institute in 2022 and is also a member of the International Women Forum of Georgia.
Debra Lam
Partnership for innovation
Debra Lam is the founding executive director of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, a statewide public-private partnership committed to investing in innovative pilot projects. She was previously managing director of Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation, a Georgia Institute of Technology initiative in applied research for community impact. In that role, Debra founded the award-winning Georgia Smart Community Challenge, the nation’s first statewide effort designed to empower communities of all sizes with the tools and applied research data to become smarter. Prior to that, she served as Pittsburgh’s inaugural Chief of Innovation & Performance where she oversaw all technology, sustainability, performance, and innovation functions of city government. She also served as a management consultant at a global engineering and design firm, Arup.
Debra is the recipient of numerous awards, including one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government by Apolitcal, and 40 Under 40 by both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Georgia Trend. She is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta and has served on the boards of Neighborhood Nexus and MetroLab Network. She has worked and lived in the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Debra received her bachelor’s in foreign service, international politics, and Asian studies from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Wonya Lucas
Crown Media Family Networks
Wonya Lucas is President and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, the umbrella unit subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. that includes cable’s leading family friendly networks including the Hallmark Channel. She was previously president and CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta, overseeing Atlanta’s NPR (WABE) and PBS (ATL PBA) stations. Under Wonya’s leadership, WABE broadened their audience primarily driven by a format change adding more national and local news coverage and she was named to serve as the Vice-Chair of the NPR national board. Wonya also served as president and CEO for TV One where she was the second African American woman to be president and CEO of a cable television company. Her background also includes leadership positions at Discovery Communications, Turner Broadcasting System, The Weather Channel Networks as well as brand management roles for The Coca-Cola Company and Clorox.
Wonya is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, International Women’s Forum and Leadership Atlanta. She serves on the boards of EW Scripps, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Georgia Tech Foundation, Sundance Institute and Festival, Peabody Awards Board of Jurors, and the Children’s Museum of Atlanta. She is also a member of the Links, Inc. and Jack & Jill of America, Inc. Wonya is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing. She is the proud mother of two adult daughters.
Tiffany McKenzie
Harrison LLP
Tiffany McKenzie, a partner with Harrison LLP, focuses her practice on estate planning and administration, family wealth transfer tax planning, succession planning and fiduciary litigation. She also helps clients advance their charitable intentions by creating charitable trusts and foundations. In addition, Tiffany helps financial institutions and individuals navigate a wide range of fiduciary disputes, including trust, estate and probate disputes. She has handled several high-profile matters and often represents family offices, athletes, entertainers, CEOs of public and private companies and prominent individuals in their estate and tax planning.
As a true leader, Tiffany serves on Harrison LLP’s Executive Committee, is the president-elect of the Alumnae Board of Agnes Scott College and is outgoing president of the Out of State Division of the Florida Bar. In 2016, she was selected to be part of the exclusive LEAD Atlanta Class by Leadership Atlanta. Tiffany was ranked in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide from 2020-2022, named a Georgia Rising Star from 2017-2020 and recognized by Georgia Trend Legal Elite in 2019.
Tiffany is also a Fellow with the esteemed American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). In her free time, Tiffany enjoys traveling and spending time with her family. She is passionate about Black maternal care and infant loss and has founded a charity in honor of her late daughter, entitled Alila’s Gift that supports such causes. She is also an owner of several fitness and wellness franchises.
Marc Pollack
RangeWater Real Estate
As the co-founder of RangeWater Real Estate, Marc Pollack and his team created a full service multifamily real estate firm focused on a process-oriented approach, disciplined teamwork, seasoned experience and innovation. Since the firm’s founding in 2006, Marc has helped grow RangeWater into a multi-faceted organization that specializes in acquisitions, development, and property management across the Sunbelt of the United States.
As Chairman, Marc advises the company on strategy, execution and serves on the investment committee. Marc has more than 35 years of experience in the multifamily real estate business and has been responsible for the development, acquisition and disposition of more than 30,000 housing units valued at more than $4 billion. As an expert in the industry, Marc speaks at various conferences and events nationally representing the company.
Over the past 13 years, Marc led RangeWater in the development of several award-winning mixed-use projects and high-profile luxury apartment communities. In 2015, RangeWater built the residential component of the Atlanta Braves dynamic new mixed-use community known as “The Battery Atlanta” next to SunTrust Park. RangeWater developed three luxury apartment communities totaling 531 multifamily units in partnership with the Braves, creating a new model of collaboration between professional sports team and multifamily developer.
Marc holds a Master’s degree from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s degree from Emory University. He serves on numerous associations and committees including the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the National Association of Realtors, the Atlanta Board of Realtors, and the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC). He also serves on the advisory board of Mary Hall Freedom House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for women; the advisory board of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership; the advisory council of The Gateway Shelter, and is Chairman of the Board of the Partners for Home, the administrative arm of the Atlanta Continuum of Care for Homelessness.
In January 2020, Marc co-founded The Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund, a social impact fund dedicated to creating and preserving affordable housing in ATL. The Fund is intended to be a $25M low interest rate debt fund that will provide gap financing to sponsors for projects that, “if not for the Fund,” could not get done.
Marc also was a real estate instructor in the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University for many years. An Atlantan for more than five decades, Marc enjoys spending time with his family in New Orleans and with his “better half” – wife Robin. His other passions are cooking, travel, and music.
Dantes Rameau
Atlanta Music Project
Dantes Rameau has been co-founder and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Music Project since 2010. Atlanta Music Project provides world-class music training and performance opportunities supporting youth growth and development. Operating in under-resourced communities, Atlanta Music Project’s mission statement is to empower youth to realize their possibilities through music.
As CEO of Atlanta Music Project, Dantes leads an organization serving 500 students annually and offering tuition-free programming in band, orchestra, choir and private lessons. Atlanta Music Project also provides college scholarships and career counseling. In 2019 Dantes led a major capital campaign leading to the establishment of Atlanta Music Project’s endowment and new headquarters space, the Atlanta Music Project Center for Performance & Education. Atlanta Music Project’s youth music ensembles and faculty members perform over 60 concerts yearly at venues across metropolitan Atlanta, from community centers to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Dantes has developed key partnerships for Atlanta Music Project, including with the City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation, Clayton State University, and Atlanta Public Schools.
Dantes holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from McGill University and a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Yale University School of Music. He also completed a Performance Certificate at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a graduate of the Sistema Fellows Program at the New England Conservatory, where he studied nonprofit management and music education. In 2022 he completed the DeVos Institute’s Global Arts Management Fellowship.
Dantes performs and teaches regularly alongside the faculty of the Atlanta Music Project. He was recently a soloist with the Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes de l’Ontario Francais in Ottawa, Canada. He has performed with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, Charleston Symphony and Wallingford Symphony and at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
He is a member of the 2012 class of LEAD Atlanta, a leadership development program for Atlanta’s outstanding young professionals, and the 2015 class of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute.
A unique and compelling voice for social change through the arts, in 2010, Dantes was one of 25 groundbreaking creatives to be awarded $25,000 from AOL Artists’ 25For25 grant program. He was selected to Ebony Magazine’s 2013 Power 100, a list of the nation’s most influential African-Americans. He also received the McGill University Alumni Association’s 2014 James G. Wright award, presented to young alumni who demonstrated exemplary service and made a difference in the community.
Dantes is married to Katori Rameau, an attorney. They have two young boys, Greyson and Xavier.
Johanna Ellis-Reisinger
Root Local
Johanna Ellis-Reisinger is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist with over 20 years of leadership in employee development and luxury customer experience. The only child to her mother, the formidable Cathy Ellis, Johanna developed an independent and direct communication style that has enabled her to drive change.
Since graduating from Tulane University with a BA in Communications, Johanna has optimized her interest in travel in pursuit of global opportunities. She gained critical automotive industry experience outside her family business at the Mercedes-Benz flagship Manhattan store and in working for smartUSA at MBUSA’s then-headquarters in Montvale, New Jersey. Johanna’s first foray into entrepreneurship began in 2006, in Memphis, Tennessee, where she opened an airport park-and-ride on her family’s former John Ellis Chevrolet property. The 24-hour park it here facility is where Johanna honed her skills in the development of progressive employee culture and operational management. In 2010, she graduated from the National Automotive Dealers Association Academy and was elected president of her cohort.
A third-generation luxury automobile dealer, Johanna is the former owner and dealer principal of Atlanta Classic Cars and Infiniti of Memphis. Having sold her dealerships in 2020, Johanna now devotes herself to community engagement and improvement initiatives. In partnership with two others, Johanna founded Root Local, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that helps Atlantans take an active role in sustainability efforts by convening environmental allies, identifying opportunities for impact, and advancing environmental education through collective impact.
Johanna serves on the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Open Hand Atlanta, and Root Local. She previously held board positions with Goodwill of North Georgia, nsoro Educational Foundation and Meals on Wheels Atlanta. Johanna is Co-Chairing NBAF’s Fine Art + Fashion in April 2023. She is the Chair of The Healing Power of Food, a $16.5mm Capital Campaign for Open Hand Atlanta. Residing within the City of Atlanta with her husband, daughter, and two Brussels Griffons, Johanna enjoys Atlanta’s vibrant dining scene, live music and cheering for the Atlanta Falcons.
Natosha Reid Rice
Habitat For Humanity
Natosha Reid Rice is Habitat for Humanity International’s first Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Officer, leading the development and execution of Habitat’s global DEI strategy. She is a highly recognized transformational leader, global equity and inclusion strategist and attorney. She is a courageous and ethical senior executive with broad experience in developing and implementing global strategies, network engagement, change management, strategic communications, partnership development and community impact. She is also a gifted and skilled communicator and public speaker, able to gain trust and active participation at all organizational levels.
Previously, as associate general counsel at Habitat, Natosha initiated and managed financing programs and strategies to generate sources of capital to enable Habitat affiliates to build affordable housing with families throughout the U.S. In addition to her work at Habitat, Natosha served as an associate pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta for 11 years before now serving as All Saints’ Episcopal Church’s minister for public life. Prior to joining Habitat, she practiced law in the commercial real estate practices of Alston & Bird LLP, in Atlanta and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in New York City. While at these firms, her practice focused on commercial real estate development transactions, loan workouts, acquisitions, dispositions and leasing.
Natosha is passionate about providing a voice to the voiceless and opportunities to communities that have been historically disadvantaged. Shortly after graduating from college, she was one of five students chosen by the King Center for Nonviolent Change and Harvard University to implement a voter education program with the South African Nonpartisan Voter Education Program in preparation for South Africa’s first democratic elections. She trained more than 6,000 people in Cape Town, South Africa who then participated in the election that led to the election of President Nelson Mandela in 1994.
Natosha puts her passion into action by serving on the following boards: Goodwill of North Georgia, the Executive Committee of the global Harvard Alumni Association, Harvard Alumni Association’s Awards Committee, International Women’s Forum (GA chapter), Out of Hand Theater (Advisory), The Redress Movement (Board Chair) and the Westminster Schools. In addition, her work with other activists and advocacy organizations to pass legislation and policies to protect victims of human sex trafficking in Georgia led to the passage of the Safe Harbor/Rachel’s Law (2015) and a state Constitutional Amendment (2016) to create the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund and Commission.
Additionally, she is a highly regarded keynote speaker, presider and workshop facilitator for organizations such as the Atlanta Hawks, Delta Air Lines, the Junior League of Atlanta, LEAD Atlanta, Leadership Atlanta, National Charitable Gift Planner’s Association, and TD Jakes Global Faith & Family Conference, as well as at churches and other global civic and community organizations. She covers topics such as the power of authentic leadership, effective DEI strategies, the intersection of faith and justice, the power and impact of privilege, equity and inclusion, race and gender justice and community empowerment. Natosha has presided over the annual National Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service for the past 8 years and delivered her TEDx talk - “If We Are More Alike Than Unalike, Then…” (watch here) for TEDx Centennial Park Women.
Natosha has received widespread recognition and numerous awards for her work and leadership, including: the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top Diversity and Inclusion Officers, the Atlanta Tribune’s 50 Women of Excellence, one of Atlanta’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Atlanta Business League for multiple consecutive years, the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, the Circle of Friends Pearl Award and the Church Women United’s Outstanding Young Woman. Natosha is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and an Associate Mother in the Lake Spivey Chapter of Jack and Jill, Inc. She was also a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2014 and was a fellow in the 2017-2018 International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation Fellows Program with 35 women from 14 nations.
Natosha received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. in Government with honors from Harvard/Radcliffe College where she was a Harvard/Radcliffe Class Marshall and awarded the Captain Jonathan Fay Prize (Radcliffe’s Highest Honor) and the E.P. Saltonstall Prize. In her free time, Natosha enjoys cooking, hiking, traveling and spending time with her husband, Corey, and their children Kayla, Malachi and Caleb.
David Roemer
Ideas United
David Roemer is co-founder and CEO of Ideas United (IU), a creative studio changing the way stories are told. IU developed the world’s largest student film festival, Campus Movie Fest, which evolved into a revolutionary content creation model. Ideas United’s in-house team works alongside its global talent network to shape experiences, rethink conventions and speak to new audiences including brands, nonprofits, universities and original content platforms through a progressive model that tells stories built on partnerships and diverse perspectives. IU delivers for its partners seeking high-quality, authentic marketing solutions and original content, and currently is helping its university and nonprofit partners raise over $5 billion towards impactful causes. David oversees the company’s long-term growth.
IU has worked with leading organizations including Apple, Disney, PGA, Smithsonian Institution, Equifax, Emory and Georgia Tech. David’s previous experience includes many years in marketing with Apple. In addition to his service on the Community Foundation board, David serves on the board of the Atlanta Speech School, Metro Atlanta Chamber, Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation, and the Robert T. Jones, Jr, Program, on the Host Committee for the PGA TOUR Championship, as an inaugural member of London & Partners’ LGBTQ+ North American Trade Mission, as well as a member of Rotary Club of Atlanta. He graduated from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and studied as a Bobby Jones Scholar at the University of St. Andrews.
Lovette Russell
Coxe Curry & Associates
Lovette Twyman Russell is a senior consultant with Coxe Curry & Associates. In this role she provides strategic consultation to nonprofit organizations to strengthen their capacity in the critical areas of board development, volunteer engagement and fundraising. A native of Atlanta, Russell is committed to community service. Passionate about children’s causes, she currently serves on the boards of the Community Foundation, Zoo Atlanta and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation. Having chaired or co-chaired many of the city’s leading events, including the Mayor’s Masked Ball, the Atlanta History Center’s Swan House Ball, Zoo Atlanta’s The Beastly Feast, Park Pride’s 25th Anniversary Gala, and the inaugural Grady Hospital Gala, Lovette was named the 2012 Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. That same year, she received the 11Alive Boisfeuillet Jones Community Service Award and was named the Mary Caan Volunteer of the Year by the Lupus Foundation. Previously, both the YWCA of Greater Atlanta and Atlanta Woman magazine recognized her as a Woman of Achievement. Lovette also received the Trailblazer Award from the NAACP in 2013. In 2017, Lovette was honored by the naming of the emergency department at Hughes Spalding Hospital as the Lovette Twyman Russell Emergency Department. Most recently, she was honored at the 35th annual Atlanta History Center’s Swan House Ball.
A graduate of Spelman College, Lovette is an active alumna and currently serves on the College’s Board of Trustees. In addition, she chairs the Hughes Spalding Hospital Community Foundation and is a member of Buckhead Cascade City Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. An experienced triathlete, Lovette has completed a number of triathlon events, in addition to the Honolulu Marathon, and has trained groups of women and children to compete in triathlons. She and her husband, Michael Russell, CEO of H. J. Russell & Company, are the proud parents of two children — Michael, director of partnership sales at Fenway Sports Management, and Benjamin, who completed his master’s degree at the University of South Carolina and is now a field engineer at H. J. Russell & Company.
Dekia Scott, CFA
Southern Company
Dekia Scott is the chief investment officer at Southern Company where she leads the Trust Finance team which oversees the Company’s corporate pension plan and the investment options of the company’s 401k plan. The team also has direct oversight responsibility of various other asset pools such as the Georgia Power Nuclear Decommissioning Trust, the Georgia Power and Southern Company Gas VEBA Trusts, and the Georgia Power Company, Southern Company Charitable and Southern Company Gas Charitable Foundations. She has been with Southern Company since 2000. She has a broad array of experience ranging from asset manager research and structure to portfolio strategy, asset-liability analysis and high-level accountability to executive management. Throughout her career, she has developed strong relationships with many asset management organizations and professionals, across various layers of the institutional investment industry.
Dekia received a B.A. in economics from Spelman College and an MBA in finance from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. She is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charterholder and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs (an affiliate of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce) and the Development Committee of KIPP Atlanta. Prior to joining the Community Foundation Board she served on its Investment Committee. She and her husband, Michael, have two children.
Jewel Burks Solomon
Collab Capital
Jewel Burks Solomon is the Managing Partner of Collab Capital, a $50M venture capital fund she launched to close the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs. Her work and mission is about creating more access to the technology innovation ecosystem. She also serves as the head of Google for startups in the U.S., where she works to level the playing field for underrepresented startup founders and communities by connecting them with the best of Google’s products, people and platforms.
Prior to leading Google for Startups and Collab Capital, Jewel was Founder/CEO of Partpic, a startup that was acquired by Amazon in 2016, which streamlined the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology. After the acquisition of Partpic, she became a product leader at Amazon’s visual search and AR team. She led the integration of Partpic’s technology and launched it as Amazon PartFinder in 2018 to the over 150M users of Amazon’s Mobile Shopping App. Before founding Partpic, Jewel held management and sales roles at McMaster-Carr and Google, Inc.
She was named as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016, one of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 in 2018, and one of Atlanta’s 100 Most Influential People in 2020. She serves on the board of reImagine:ATL, a nonprofit that trains, equips, and inspires Generation Z to build careers in the creative and digital media industries and is a member of the 2019 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Jewel received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Howard University. She currently resides in Atlanta with her husband, Zekarias and their newborn son.
Margaret A. Stagmeier
TriStar
Margaret (Marjy) Stagmeier is an affordable housing landlord and a founding partner of TriStar, a nationally recognized real estate investment firm located in Atlanta. Stagmeier led TriStar to develop its sustainable housing model that targets large blighted apartment communities near failing elementary schools and stabilizes families through health and education interventions. In addition to creating safer, affordable apartment communities of choice, Marjy and TriStar offer equity interventions through free after-school programs, summer camps, on-site health screenings, access to affordable health care services, affordable internet and community gardens through pioneering partnerships with educators, federally qualified health clinics, municipalities, public schools, corporations, nonprofits and foundations. Marjy has owned and managed apartment communities representing over 3,300 units.
A graduate of Georgia State University, Marjy successfully passed the Georgia CPA exam. She is the board chair of Star-C, board chair of Eduhousing Communities Corporation, Advisory Board co-chair of HouseAtl and has served as Board Chair of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Vice President of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, President of the Ansley Park Garden Club and Board Ansley Park Beautification Foundation, and a graduate of Leadership Atlanta (class of 2016). Marjy is married to John and has a stepson and three grandchildren.
Marjy recently released her new book Blighted, a powerful narrative about the decades-long decay and two-year reinvention of Summerdale, a 244-unit aging apartment community located in one of Atlanta’s grittiest corridors. From burnt out, mold-infested buildings, to traumatized classrooms, Blighted unfolds in the voices of ruthless drug dealers, phantom tenants, fearless landlords, exasperated healthcare workers, the working poor, educators, and visionary local leaders, and demonstrates a business model which builds social capital through the delivery of safe, healthy housing to low-income families.
Kelli Stewart
L.E.A.D., Inc. | L.E.A.D. Center For Youth
Kelli Stewart is the first nonprofit leader to serve on the board of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. She and her husband, C.J., founded and oversee two business ventures: Diamond Directors, which trains and develops some of the country’s top amateur and professional baseball athletes and L.E.A.D., which works with Atlanta Public School students providing inner-city boys with the same opportunities to excel in life through baseball, higher education and community leadership. To date, L.E.A.D. Ambassadors have achieved a 100% high school graduation rate and a 91% college enrollment and scholarship rate (academic, athletic and need-based).
Kelli was born in Atlanta and raised in Oglethorpe County, a rural community just outside of Athens, Georgia. She attended Georgia State University and completed her undergraduate studies at Kennesaw State University, earning a Bachelor’s degree from the Coles College of Business with honors. In addition to her degree, Kelli holds a wealth of knowledge regarding sport-based youth development as a resource for social justice and the impact sports has on the social-emotional development of youth. Kelli and C.J. have two daughters.
Suzanna Stribling
The Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation
Ryan Wilson
The Gathering Spot
Ryan Wilson is the co-founder and CEO of The Gathering Spot, an Atlanta-based private membership club that serves as a hub for collaboration, connections and experiences. He is also the co-owner of A3C, a music, tech and film conference and festival. At the age of 24, Ryan and his business partner raised private capital to open their first Gathering Spot location in Atlanta, which has since established itself as a home for creatives and business professionals. Responsible for the company’s overall management and strategic vision, Ryan has led the club’s physical expansion with locations in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, and with established membership communities in Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Houston and New York City, and digital expansion of the company’s platform TGS Connect.
Ryan has been honored as the Small Business Person of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, was named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2020 40 under Forty honorees, was named one of Goldman Sachs Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in 2021, and was selected for the inaugural class of Shea Moisture’s Social Justice Coalition. Atlanta Magazine named him one of “Atlanta’s 500 most powerful leaders” from 2019-2022 and he has also been named as one of the country’s most influential African Americans in The Root 100 and the Ebony Power 100. Ryan has been widely featured in national media and regularly speaks and moderates conversations with other thought leaders at industry and corporate conferences.
A native to Atlanta, Ryan actively serves organizations including the Atlanta Business League, Metro Atlanta Chamber, Peace Preparatory Academy, Usher’s New Look and The Woodruff Arts Center. He is a member of the Atlanta Chapter of the 100 Black Men and Atlanta Rotary Club and has previously served as Co-Chair for Black Men Count Initiative of Fair Count. Ryan graduated from Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center and lives in Atlanta with his wife and daughter. Read his complete professional background here.