World Literacy Initiative, Inc.
The Board of Directors
OFFICERS
Charles Dewald.
Charles was elected
Chairperson of the Board of Directors in January 2009.
A past Secretary as well, Charles has been a member of the board since
the inception of
World Literacy Initiative.
Active in the North Decatur Presbyterian Church where he is an ordained
Elder, Charles came to
World Literacy Initiative after retiring from a
thirty-four year career with ACCO-Babcock, Inc. where he was Vice President of
Material Handling Group/General manager of Integrated Handling Systems Division.
Besides being a Registered Professional Engineer and a Sr. Member of the
Institute of Industrial Engineers, Charles has been an amateur glider pilot as
well.
Greg Gerhard – Greg serves as the Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors and is a Vice President for SunTrust Bank, serving in the Foundation and Endowment Specialty Services Group. He has been in the banking industry for 12 years and is a graduate of the State University of New York College at Oswego, N.Y. Greg is active in the non-profit community, serving on several Atlanta non-profit organizations' advisory boards. Through his role at the bank, Greg consults with non-profit organizations to help them determine giving patterns of Foundations in the community and serves as a bridge between grant seekers and grant makers.
Vickie T. Smith, M.B.A.
Vickie is a past chairperson of the
board of directors and currently serves as its Treasurer. She is the Director of Grant and
Contract Programs at Clayton State University. Her twenty plus year career has
primarily been devoted to business and financial roles in support of research
and higher education. She is also a
member of Southern Crescent Toastmasters
and serves as an officer and charter member of
Clayton State’s Women’s Forum.
Along with her husband, Brent Vickie lives in Atlanta.
Margaret Collier. Margaret is a founding member of the board, a past Secretary for it, and continues presently to serve in the appointed position of Chief of Overseas Operations. Margaret is the CEO of Summit Ridge Hospital in Gwinnett, Georgia and makes her home in Fayetteville. Margaret has completed all but her dissertation for Ph. D. in Organizational Psychology at Auburn University and she is a member of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. An active surveyor for CARF - the national accrediting agency, Margaret is also a member of Rotary International. She and her husband Chris make their home in Fayetteville and have two grown sons.
NON-OFFICERS
The Rev. Dr. Johnny Yao Akoto.
Dr. Johnny was born and raised in Ghana and is a founding member of
the
board. A past Chairperson and Vice
Chairperson for
World Literacy Initiative, Johnny has won the
Presidential
Award, Ethos in Integrity at the Interdenominational Theological Center in
Atlanta and was awarded the African Student Making a Distinguished Contribution
in Research and/or Community Activism
in Pan-Africanism in 1992.
He also received the Mona and Richard Millikan International Student
Award
for Distinguished Services.
Samara Cummins. Samara is the newest member of the board. She is currently the Director of Affiliate Sales for ION Media Networks in Atlanta and has held a variety of senior level positions in media including Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Black Family Channel, Senior District Manager for the International Channel (Atlanta), the Southeast Regional Manager of Sales & Marketing for Access TV, Regional Director (SE) for Digital Music Express, and she was a Promotions Executive in the U.K. for Vogue Magazine. Samara also has been active in domestic, humanitarian, non-profit endeavors including The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications that educates, advocates and empowers multi-ethnic diversity in the telecommunications industry, Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), the oldest and largest organization serving women professionals in cable telecommunications, and Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) that provides education, recognition and networking opportunities for cable companies and content providers.
Willie
E. Gary has been touted by Forbes Magazine as one of the "Top 50 Attorneys
in the United States" and Ebony magazine has identified him as one of the "100
Most Influential Black Americans". Besides being
the exceptionally successful attorney from Stuart, FL that these and others
have written about, Willie E. Gary is also widely known for his support of
higher education and as a motivational speaker. Mr. Gary is known in legal
circles as "The Giant-Killer" by winning law-suits against some of America's
most well known corporate 'giants', on behalf of his clients through his law
firm, Gary, Williams, Parenti,
Finney, Lewis, McManus, Watson & Sperando, P.L. He and his wife Gloria live
in Stuart, FL and have four adult sons: Kenneth, Sekou, Ali and Kobie. Learn
more about Mr Gary by clicking here.
Nicholas A. Lotito, J. D.
Nick is a founding member of the board
of directors and a past Chairperson.
Nick is a successful attorney in private practice in Atlanta, GA.
for the law firm of Davis,
Zipperman, Kirshenbaum and Lotito.
He is a past President of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers and a member of the State Bar Association of Georgia, the
Atlanta Bar Association, The
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1000 Lawyers for Justice and the Lamar Inn
of Court.
Cynthia Warner, Ph. D.
Cynthia is a biologist. She has worked with fruit flies, mitochondria, rabies,
and HIV. During her first 10 years in Atlanta she worked in biology labs at
Emory University. For the last 20 years she has been a lab scientist at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Six years ago she joined the
Global AIDS Program (GAP) at CDC. Her first assignment with GAP was as Lab
Advisor to the GAP Caribbean Regional Office. During that assignment, she lived
in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She returned to Atlanta in 2006. She is an active
member of North Decatur Presbyterian Church and has served in many capacities
there. Her favorite church job is teaching adults.
INACTIVE STATUS
DEANA
GARNER
Deana is on inactive status as part of an
approved sabbatical from her duties on the board. Scheduled to end by the
end of 2010, we hope to see her back by then. In the meantime, we know
that World Literacy Initiative is in her thoughts and prayers as she is in ours.
The Board of Directors meets on a quarterly basis or when called to do so
either
by the
Chairperson or
by
a quorum of the board. It meets at 918 Ponce de Leon
Avenue, N.E. Atlanta, GA 30306.
World Literacy Initiative
(tax
ID EIN:
58-2545583)
was
incorporated on 25 May 2000.
