Westside Future Fund (WFF) announced the election of seven new members to its Board of Directors: Rev. Kenneth Alexander, John Gamble, Jim Grien, Shawntel Hebert, Wonya Lucas, Derrick Jordan and A.J. Robinson.
“I am grateful these talented Atlanta leaders have chosen to serve on the Westside Future Fund Board of Directors,” said Richard J. Dugas, Jr., Westside Future Fund Board Chair. “They each have dedicated their lives to advancing their respective organizations, whether in business or community service, and I have no doubt that they will bring high energy and expertise to help tackle the long-standing challenges on the Westside. I look forward to working with them to build a community Dr. King would be proud to call home.”
The addition of these new members represents a significant expansion of the WFF Board of Directors, bringing the total to 23 members. “We are thrilled to add these impressive individuals to our board,” said John Ahmann, President and CEO of Westside Future Fund. “We have an ambitious mission and the breadth of their leadership experience combined with their deep commitment to serving the community will make our organization and Atlanta’s Historic Westside even stronger.”
The Rev. Kenneth Alexander is Co-Pastor of the historic Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta. For more than 20 years, the third-generation Baptist preacher has served the church in multiple roles: president of the Minister’s Alliance, presiding minister of the Antioch Lakewood Mission and assistant to the pastor. An innate leader and gifted scholar, “Rev. Kenny,” as he is affectionately known at Antioch, is also Executive Director of the nationally acclaimed Antioch Urban Ministries, Inc., which is the umbrella nonprofit that manages and operates most of the Antioch outreach ministries. He attended Florida A&M University where he pledged Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and served as the organization’s fundraising chair. Rev. Alexander graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and from Argosy University with a Master of Industrial Organizational Psychology.
John Gamble has been the Chief Financial Officer of Equifax since 2014. Previously, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Lexmark International. Gamble holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
Jim Grien has served as President and CEO of TM Capital Corp. since 2008. In addition to overseeing TM Capital’s management and strategic direction, Grien leads many of the firm’s most noteworthy relationships and transactions. For nearly two decades, Grien has served as a trustee of The Marcus Foundation, which is funded and chaired by Bernard Marcus, to fulfill the Marcus family’s philanthropic mission. Grien also serves on the board of directors of Micromeritics and Keystone Screw. He is the director, audit chair and treasurer of The Georgia Aquarium and serves as a director of the Georgia Charter School Association. Grien is a 1980 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Shawntel R. Hebert is a partner at Taylor English Duma LLC in Atlanta. Ms. Herbert is an experienced attorney partnering with in-house counsel and human resources professionals to prevent, correct and advise on day-to-day employment matters and vigorously defend employment litigation. Hebert litigates in defense of companies against claims relating to race, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, religious and disability discrimination as well as harassment, retaliation and wrongful discharge. Her practice includes a variety of employment law litigation, including representing Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) carriers on a local and regional level. Since 2017, she has served as president of the Gate City Bar Association. Ms. Herbert holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and political science from Howard University and earned her J.D. from the Emory University School of Law.
Derrick Jordan helps the National Church Residences focus on the construction and rehabilitation of affordable senior housing developments as well as permanent supportive housing for veterans and formerly homeless individuals. As the former director of the Office of Housing for the City of Atlanta, Jordan was responsible for the day-to-day supervision of 17 professional staff in the implementation of activities for affordable housing and economic development projects. He managed the implementation of $15 million in grant funds annually and leveraged $120 million in private financing for various housing and economic development projects. A graduate of Mississippi State University with a master’s degree in public policy and administration, Jordan began his career with the City of Atlanta as a management analyst intern in 2004. The next year he was hired by the City of Atlanta as a departmental management analyst.
Wonya Lucas is President and CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta (PBA) where she oversees Atlanta’s NPR (WABE) and PBS (PBA) stations. Before her time with PBA, Lucas was President and CEO for TV One, CMO for Discovery Communications, EVP/GM of the Weather Channel and SVP, Marketing for CNN Worldwide. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, International Women’s Forum, Leadership Atlanta, and Metro Atlanta Chamber. She currently serves on the NPR Board of Directors. Lucas is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing.
A.J. Robinson is President of Central Atlanta Progress (CAP), a private business association founded in 1941 that remains one of the most effective advocacy organizations in Atlanta. He is also President of the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID). Previously, Robinson was President of Portman Holdings, where he managed the operations of a real estate company with offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Shanghai and Warsaw. During his 22-year career at Portman, Robinson oversaw the real estate development process, which included identification of new opportunities, securing financing, design, construction, marketing, acquisition, property management and asset management. Robinson has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emory University and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard School of Business.
The WFF Board of Directors is made up of individuals who believe in the future of Atlanta’s Historic Westside neighborhoods. Each is committed to helping restore and revitalize the strength of these neighborhoods by working with community leaders from all areas of Atlanta to create an ecosystem that disrupts the cycle of poverty.