This is the fourth of a five-part series.
Malika Evanco is the division administrator for Wisconsin’s Division of Personnel Management (DPM), which provides leadership and support to other state agencies in human resources management and oversees the state civil service system. The division also manages labor relations while leading the state’s affirmative action and equal opportunity employment programs. Previously, she was Head of Human Resources for the Sun Prairie School District and also spent seven years as Director of Employment, Diversity and Community Relations at Madison College as well as a year as Head of Human Resources at Agrace. Evanco is a proud member of the Madison alumnae chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Major Cooper is an assistant director of Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, working in regional recruitment. Prior to assuming his current role, he spent time working as an assistant director of intercultural engagement for African American Student Services. There, he developed and coordinated student programming efforts designed to increase students’ awareness of their own ethnic and cultural heritages. Cooper has been working in student affairs since 2001.
Jacarrie Carr started holding shoe drives for those in need, dubbing them Jacarrie’s Kicks for Kids, when he was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The shoe drives started after he witnessed a young boy wearing shoes with holes in them and a man wearing two different shoes approached him. This past August was the sixth annual shoe giveaway. Carr collects new and gently used sneakers, and refurbishes and customizes them so kids can have new pairs of sneakers at the start of each school year. His organization is now expanding to include educational and motivational programs for youth. Jacarrie’s Kicks for Kids was voted Nonprofit Organization of the Year in the first-ever Wisconsin Leadership Community Choice Awards at the Wisconsin Leadership Summit.
Sheronda Glass is the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Assistant Chancellor of Human Resources and Employee Engagement. In 2018 she received the Milwaukee Business Journal Top HR Award in the government category and in 2019 was chosen as the Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award honoree from the UW-System. She is known for her dedication to inclusion and diversity in Parkside faculty and staff.
Kendricks Hooker is the dean for the School of Health Education at Madison College. He previously served as the associate dean in the School of Arts and Sciences at Madison College. Prior to joining Madison College, Hooker served as the Chair of the Biomedical Sciences and Pre-Health Studies programs at Baptist College of Health Sciences in Memphis and simultaneously taught biology, microbiology, anatomy and physiology and pathophysiology. Kendricks holds a PhD in urban higher education from Jackson State University, a Masters of Business Administration from Bethel University, a master’s and bachelor’s of Science in Biology from Jackson State University and an associate of arts degree in biology from Coahoma Community College.
Samantha Mitchell is the engagement manager of diversity and inclusion initiatives at the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. Previously she was the project coordinator for diversity initiatives and has been with United Way for more than two years. Mitchell has worked in numerous public relations and marketing positions such as Advertising Account Coordinator at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Creative Director at SamanthaStarr Events.
Dr. Colleen Simpson joined Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) as vice president for Student Services in 2018. Most recently, she directed Retention and Student Success at Bronx Community College, leading and managing a comprehensive program of services promoting access, support, engagement and student success. Dr. Simpson brought more than 20 years of experience in administration and instruction from the College from the City University of New York (CUNY). She chose NWTC because of the College’s focus on student success and “intentional commitment to move the needle in terms of retention and completion.” In her role, she hopes to eliminate student barriers.
Lee Cole is director of operations at The River Food Pantry in Madison, where he coordinates service to more than 1,000 households every week. In 2019 alone, more than 2,500 volunteers worked more than 40,000 hours, providing two million pounds of food, nearly 30,000 community meals and 60,000 mobile lunches for children and teens.
Jeanette Mitchell is chief creative officer of Leadership By Dr. Jeanette, a leadership development consulting firm, and “chief catalyst” of the new African American Leadership Alliance-Milwaukee (AALAM). Prior to starting her own businesses, she was program director for Cardinal Stritch University’s Leadership Center, where she managed and directed the Professionals of Color lines of business. She also founded and was executive director of the Stritch Leadership Center, through which she developed innovative programming for professionals of color. She was the driving force behind the African American Leadership Program, providing leadership training to more than 200 Black professionals over the past 12 years. That program has grown into the AALAM, which just launched last month.
Part five coming tomorrow!
Browse previous lists:
