This is the second of a five-part series. Part one is available here.
Lander Brown is senior director of talent strategy and inclusion at Exact Sciences in Madison. He returned to Madison in 2019 to join Exact Sciences after about 12 years in Chicago, most recently as president of human capital consulting firm Gumbo Group. A 1989 graduate of Michigan State University, Lander now leads the talent strategy for a team of more than 2,200, many of whom are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, processing thousands of COVID19 tests every day.
Genia Stevens is founder and executive director of Rock County Jumpstart, an organization dedicated to supporting Black-owned startups and small businesses in Beloit and around Rock Countuy. She is also a marketing strategist at Belwah Media and a strategic planning consultant at Belwah Strategy. Through Rock County Jumpstart, she plans on assisting in the creation of a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem that invests in Black businesses.
Marc Young is the director of admissions and recruitment at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point. He received a bachelor’s degree from UW-Stevens Point in 2013, and has worked at the university ever since, advancing from an administrative assistant, admissions counselor, interim association director of admissions and the interim director of recruitment.
Mahnker Dahnweih is community power building coordinator at Madison-based Freedom, Inc. She works across Black, Hmong, and Khmer programming to build a culturally vibrant civic engagement program. She is the child of Liberian refugees and grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Later, she moved to Normal, Illinois where she studied Geography at Illinois State University and has spent most of her career in electoral politics. Before starting with Freedom Inc in February, Mahnker developed civic engagement programming for Milwaukee Riverkeeper. Mahnker enjoys listening to music, reading novels, and hanging out with family.
Kenneth Robertson is the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer at Greater Milwaukee Foundation, which invests more than $4 million in grants to community organizations each year. He has served as vice president and CFO since October 2015. Prior to joining Greater Milwaukee Foundation, he served as the Vice President of Finance for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee.
Opal Ellyse Tomashevska is the senior manager of multicultural business strategy at CUNA Mutual Group. She is also the director of the Multicultural Center of Expertise (MCOE), which exists to help CUNA gain a deeper understanding of multicultural consumers, identify business opportunities, develop action plans, and execute those plans to serve more people and generate substantial business growth. She was on the board of directors for the Lussier Community Education Center. She is also a spoken word poet who released a poetry album titled “My Name Is Opal.”
Darryl Johnson is the Executive Director at Riverworks Development Corporation, currently working to revive Milwaukee’s northeast industrial corridor, which experienced economic devastation in the 1990s. Over the course of the last 17 years, Johnson’s main focus has been encouraging economic development within his childhood neighborhood of Harambee in northeastern Milwaukee. Johnson was key in securing funding for art and cultural programming for the area’s most influential project, the Beerline Trail. He has also developed three Development Corporation owned projects: the Riverworks Commons Shopping Center, the Riverworks Lofts, and the Riverworks City Center.
Frank Nitty is a Milwaukee activist who has been a prominent advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. He recently led a march to Washington D.C from Wisocnsin. The group walked 750 miles over 24 days and he spoke to an estimated 50,000 people near the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28.
Terrence Gordon is the assistant Chief of Police of the Milwaukee Police Department and has been a member of the MPD since 1995, working a variety of assignments in patrol, investigations, administration, and training. Gordon has a bachelor’s degree in business and public administration, a master’s degree in criminal justice, and is a Ph.D. candidate in business psychology. As a trainer and leadership consultant, he travels in the U.S. and Canada presenting training in leadership, stress/resilience, and community policing. Gordon is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police and is committed to continuously improving the police profession in collaboration with diverse communities.
Nada Elmikashfi is the Chief of Staff or Wisconsin State Representative-elect Francesca Hong where she plans to work with her to serve the 76th Assembly district in a way that promotes working-class policy and re-establishes Madison’s proud progressive tradition. A prominent activist in Madison, Elmikashfi recently ran for Wisconsin State Senate District 26, finishing in second place. Born in a small farming village in Sudan, Africa, Elmikashfi earned a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Certificates in Environmental Studies and Entrepreneurship. Elmikashfi served under Gov. Tony Evers in Gubernatorial Appointments, was a legislative fellow for Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, and organized for the political action organization NextGeneration America.
Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr. started America & MOORE, LLC to provide comprehensive diversity, privilege, and leadership training/workshops. He is the founder and program Director of the White Privilege Conference (WPC) and founder and president of The Privilege Institute. He is co-founder of the on-line journal Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, co-editor of Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories, The Guide for White Women who Teach Black Boys, The Diversity Consultant Cookbook: Preparing for the Challenge (2019), and Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls (forthcoming, 2021). Dr. Moore received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Education Leadership. His Ph.D. research was on Black football players at Division III schools in the Midwest.
Part 3 coming tomorrow!
