28 nonprofit leaders of color on the rise in Philadelphia

Reminder: Your board isn’t diverse enough.

A board governance program for professionals of color with an ongoing goal to change that has announced the members of its third cohort.

DiverseForce on Boards (DFOB), named for its partnership with Sulaiman Rahman’s workforce diversity consulting company, DiverseForce, trains mid- to senior-level professionals of color on the ins and outs of nonprofit board leadership over seven months. Participants are matched with board placement opportunities at the end of the program.

The program is offered in partnership with Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies and ImpactED. The Philadelphia Foundation and Knight Foundation have also committed $25,000 and $75,000, respectively, over the past two years. (Most participants of the first cohort paid the $5,000 tuition personally, though some were paid for by corporate and philanthropic sponsors.)

This time around, William Penn Foundation is throwing in $400,000 over the next two years in support of “increasing a pipeline of underrepresented board candidates, hosting board matching events, and conducting inclusivity trainings for nonprofit board leaders that they fund in their priority areas of education, arts & culture, and environment,” Rahman said via email.

To date, 80 percent of DFOB’s graduates have been matched and are serving on boards. This third cohort, which will begin classes this month at the Pennovation Center, will be matched with organizations specifically focused on education, arts and culture, and the environment — William Penn’s three funding focus areas.

See the members of the 2017-2018 cohort here, and 2018-2019 here. Here’s who makes up this year’s cohort:

• Nathan Allison — Business development, Grabb-It Inc.
• Phillipa Ashby — Managing principal, Alchemi, Inc.
• Dr. Koren Bedeau — Vice provost, Drexel University
• Rohan Brown — CEO and founder, Barley Sober, Inc.
• Heidi Broxton — Project change lead, Barclays
• Charmaine Collins — Director of talent support services, School District of Philadelphia
• Monique Curry-Mims — Director of development, Steppingstone Scholars, Inc.
• Rebeca Cruz — Organizational effectiveness consultant, Populouz
• Sybille Damas — COO, Congreso de Latinos Unidos
• Dominique Goss — U.S. philanthropic lead and charitable manager, TD Bank
• Regina Hairston — Senior associate, Bellevue Strategies
• Whitney Harris — HR consultant, Wolford HR Consulting, LLC
• Berkley Harmon III — Certified business performance advisor, Insperity
• Dr. Melinda K. Johnson — Director of administrative operations, Drexel University
• Al Motley — Managing partner, Techademics
• Terri Matthews — CEO and founder, Jaden’s Voice
• Michael O’Bryan — Director of youth and young adult programs, The Village of Arts & Humanities
• Melissa Quinones — Director of public relations, Four Seasons
• Darryl Ridgeway — Commercial real estate, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors
• Vaughn Ross — Deputy chief of staff, City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office
• Ebony Staton Weidman — Southeast regional director, U.S. Senator Bob Casey
• Ayanna Washington — Director of career connections, Community College of Philadelphia
• Donavan S. West — COO, People for People, Inc.
• G. Stephen Williams — VP, Wells Fargo
• Rob Wilson — Chief insight officer and financial advisor, Wilson Insight
• Maria J. Wing Esq. — Deputy CEO, Delaware River Port Authority
• Lee Woodall — President, NFL Alumni — Philadelphia Chapter
• Malcolm Yates — Director of district engagement, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon