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Leadership Series with Ciemone Sheppard 
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Leadership Series featuring Governor Deval Patrick
Limited Means and Limitless Hope
Deval Patrick

CONTENT  CATALOG ~ 76 Episodes | 573 Schools

Ben Wilson
Enviromental Law

“I am passionate about generational responsibility, the old-fashioned notion that we in our time must do what we can to leave things better for those who come behind us.”
 

Deval Patrick was raised on the South Side of Chicago and came to Massachusetts as a teenager when he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through the Boston-based organization A Better Chance. He graduated from Harvard College in 1978, and from Harvard Law School in 1982. He is a Rockefeller Fellow, a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and the recipient of 20 honorary degrees.
 

Patrick served two terms as governor from 2007 to 2015; he was the Commonwealth’s first Black governor, and one of only two Black governors elected in the United States. Prior to his career in government, Patrick practiced as an attorney and business executive. He served as a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a partner at two Boston law firms, and an executive in two Fortune 50 companies. From 1994 to 1997, Patrick served as assistant attorney general for civil rights, the U.S. government’s top civil rights position, appointed by President Bill Clinton.

 

After his service as governor, Patrick founded a ground-breaking impact investment fund at Bain Capital. As co-chair of American Bridge 21st Century, he remains engaged in grassroots political organizing through its BridgeTogether initiative, which supports local organizing efforts to engage disenfranchised and marginalized voters.

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Leadership Series  featuring Beth Turner 
Producing Against All Odds
 
Beth Turner

Dr. Beth Turner is a playwright, director, professor, founder and publishing editor of Black Masks, a long-established Black theater and entertainment magazine. Created in 1984 this publication has gained the support of both Black theater and entertainment practitioners and audiences.

 

Though her works have debuted nationally and abroad, Turner never imagined a career in theater. With a Bachelor’s in French from Colby College, and a Master’s in Human Relations and Community Studies from NYU, her role as a playwright emerged after meeting her husband, an actor and graduate of Yale School of Drama. Turner’s transition from writer to director happened over her thirteen-year term as a professor at NYU. She went on to earn her PhD in Theater from the University of Georgia. Currently an adjunct Professor at Florida A&M University and Florida State University.

 

She is particularly drawn to African-American life teaching the interplay between history and theatrical works to her students. Dr. Turner’s favorite subject matter is often found in the past. Her first full-length play, Ode to Mariah, was a woman’s coming of age tale at the turn of the 20th century. Turner’s children’s play, “Sing On, Ms. Gri” received a grant that allowed her to travel to West Africa and compare African influences in African-American dance, music, and storytelling.

Leadership Series  featuring Dr. Helene D. Gayle
The Route to Making a Difference
Gayle

“We’ve got to give young people a sense of a way out. A sense of hope. A sense of future. A sense that they can feed their children and the ability to hold their head up with dignity because they have work that gives them dignity.”

 

Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH, has been president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations since October 2017. Under her leadership, the Trust has adopted a new strategic focus on closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap in the Chicago region.

 

For almost a decade, Dr. Gayle was president and CEO of CARE, a leading international humanitarian organization. An expert on global development, humanitarian, and health issues, she spent 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control working primarily on HIV/AIDS. She worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation directing programs on HIV/AIDS and other global health issues. 

 

Dr. Gayle was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. She earned a BA in psychology at Barnard College, an MD at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MPH at Johns Hopkins University. She has received 18 honorary degrees and holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington and Emory University. 

 

She was awarded the Chicago Mayor’s Medal of Honor for her work on COVID relief and recovery for the city. Named one of Forbes “100 Most Powerful Women” and one of NonProfit Times “Power and Influence Top 50.” Dr. Helene D. Gayle has authored numerous articles on global and domestic public health issues, poverty alleviation, gender equality, and social justice. 

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Leadership Series  featuring Glenn E. Martin
Navigating Our Darkest Moments
Glenn E. Martin
Dr Okeke

“My life is not linear, like things were bad, things were good. Life is a rollercoaster. Even in all my success now I have dark moments. Although I find that I learn more in the valley than I do on the mountain top. I embrace those times when I’m in the darkness cuz I know there’s light up ahead on the horizon always.”

 

For two decades, Glenn E. Martin successfully conceptualized, created and directed a handful of national multi-million dollar organizations in the non-profit sector. Glenn has occupied the important leadership role of "visionary", while developing a strong track record in the more pragmatic aspects of building and running successful organizations, including fundraising, operations, administration and communications.Before launching both GEMrealestate and GEMtrainers, multi-state real estate investment company and a successful non-profit consultancy, respectively, Glenn founded and served as President of JustLeadershipUSA for three years, an organization he built as a tribute to his son Joshua, dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030.

 

For almost 20 years, since leaving prison, he's been a part of the vanguard of successful reform advocates in America.His leadership has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2017 Brooke Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship.Prior to founding JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, where he founded and led the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy. He also served as the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and co-founded the Education from the Inside Out Coalition. He's also the founder and visionary behind the #CLOSErikers campaign in NYC. His story personifies the importance of perseverance in navigating our darkest moments.

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Leadership Series  featuring Dr. Nkem Okeke
A Global Citizen for Global Health

Dr. Nkem Okeke has collectively spent two decades as a healthcare executive, advisor, physician, change management facilitator, accomplished speaker & entrepreneur. Currently, through her firm, Medicalincs, Dr. Okeke guides and advises healthcare leaders and organizations on strategic solutions to enhance go-to-market/implementation framework strategy, improve operational efficiencies and outcomes, and increase revenue volume/revenue streams by connecting market opportunities.

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With 20-years’ experience as a practicing clinician and expert in the fields of public health, business administration, and project management, Dr. Nkem Okeke is a Kaizen-spirited healthcare executive who has carefully honed an ability to lead large multidisciplinary care-delivery teams and make a lasting impact.

 

“There were certain protocols we had to take to try to control costs if it was going to be paid out of pocket. So I would question policies like that and they would say the committee decided, and I was like who is this committee. I was bold enough to go to the Chief Medical Directors Office and ask to join the committee. He laughed at me and I felt so small, but I said I’m going to fix this. I made sure I had a seat at the table.”

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Ted Bunch
Ben Wilson
Leadership Series  featuring Ted Bunch
Empathy & Transparency

Ted Bunch is an educator, activist and lecturer working to end all forms of violence and discrimination against women, girls, and other marginalized communities. Bunch is Chief Development Officer of A CALL TO MEN and internationally recognized for his efforts to prevent violence against women while promoting a healthy, respectful manhood.

 

Bunch is the former director and co-creator of the largest program for domestic violence offenders in America. His innovative work laid the groundwork for the prevention strategies now endorsed as best practice in engaging men to end violence against women.

Leadership Series featuring Ben Wilson
Climate Change & the Importance of Environmental Law
Kailee Scales

Ben Wilson was lead counsel in numerous complex environmental litigation and regulatory matters for major consumer product corporations, retailers, oil and gas companies, municipalities, and developers. He served as the Court-Appointed Monitor for the Duke Energy coal ash spill remediation project and as Deputy Monitor for Emissions & Environmental in the Volkswagen AG emissions proceedings. He previously served as lead counsel at the largest chromium site in the United States. Ben also counseled clients on environmental justice representations and is a recognized leader on diversity and inclusion issues in the legal profession.
 

Ben represented a number of municipal government agencies on Clean Water Act enforcement, litigation, and project development matters, including the City of New Orleans, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), the Metropolitan Water District of Greater Chicago, the San Antonio Water System, and the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority.

Leadership Series  featuring Kailee Scales
A Force for Amplifying Others
 

Kailee Scales is a global strategist, social justice advisor and Founder of ThinkFree Global Strategies, a firm that caters to all those interested in crafting forward-thinking solutions to complex issues, and served as the first Managing Director of Black Lives Matter Global Network. A long-time advocate of equity in educational opportunities, she has committed her career to mission-driven work around the world. Scales also held prior leadership roles with Teach for America, EngenderHealth, The Climate Group, Mentor International and Jumpstart for Young Children before joining Pencils of Promise as the CEO in 2021.

 

Pencils of Promise (PoP), is a for-purpose education organization whose mission is to support access to quality education for children around the world. “School in every fundamental way was instrumental to who I am and who I know myself to be. That is my birthright, and that is the birthright of children everywhere. A pencil is a tool that, if utilized, can capture the deepest, most creative thoughts, dreams and talents of the person holding it. It connects what lives inside of us to the outside world.”

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Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change

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