Sheryl Neverson, Ph.D., LICSW, LCSW-C serves as the Vice President of Maryland programs for Volunteers of America Chesapeake. With more than 20 years of experience in the management of clinical and programmatic services, Neverson is responsible for providing Clinical and Administrative oversight to the Maryland Programs. These programs serve people who experience homelessness or are at risk of being homeless, individuals with mental illness, individuals with intellectual disabilities, those in need of affordable housing or supportive services, those recovering from substance abuse addictions, and those involved in community corrections.A professional truly dedicated to her industry, she serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Neverson also regularly speaks and publishes articles about social work. She is a licensed social worker in Maryland, independent clinical social worker in D.C., certified trauma systems therapist, certified trauma systems trainer, multi-systematic therapist, functional family therapist and community based intervention II/III. She also holds a co-occurring disorders clinical competency certificate.Neverson earned her Ph.D. in Social Work from Howard University, Masters of Social Work from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Maryland.
Contact Dr. Neverson: SNeverson@voaches.org
Phone: 301-955-9473
In 2009 Michael Hunter started EnTel as an Energy Efficiency sales company, marketing energy efficiency solutions for technology and utility companies targeting hotel, commercial & industrial clients. Under his leadership, the company and its partners continue to generate sustainability, energy, green building and Smart City strategies for both the public and private sector.Michael is also both a partner and a founder of the Washington Baltimore Development Company (WBDC) and a partner in Hunter Briggs & Company (HBC). As a stakeholder and real estate professional, Mr. Hunter’s companies are actively developing over $100M of mixed-used projects in west downtown Baltimore that include residential, retail, commercial and parking. Aside from his professional career, Michael is an advocate for the strong ties between social and corporate responsibility. As such, he has served his community as a volunteer for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and while on the boards of the Cornell Black Alumni Association, The American Association of Black in Energy (Baltimore Chapter) and most recently as the Chairman of the Board for Volunteers of America Chesepeake’s “VOA Works” Advisory Board. EducationCornell University College of Architecture, Art & Planning – Bachelor of Science
Contact Michael: Michael.Hunter@EnTel-Inc.com
Phone: 202-670-5192
Kevin Trussell has more than 20 years of diverse experience in Housing, Community and Economic Development, Real Estate Development, Finance, Banking, Mental Health Rehabilitation Services and workforce development. He specializes in spurring growth in under served and emerging neighborhoods; ultimately providing decent, safe and affordable housing, commercial development, small business assistance, job creation, employment opportunities, and social services to low-income families, the chronically homeless and ex-offenders.Currently, Mr. Trussell serves as the Program Director for VOA Chesapeake, under its VOA Works Program; where he manages a Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) grant. In this role, he is charged with working with Community Partners to help remove the barriers to employment for adults who were formerly incarcerated and integrate them back into the community as productive citizens.
Contact Kevin: Ktrussell@voaches.org
Phone: 443-772-0230
A life-long advocate for disenfranchised and marginalized members of our society, Crystal Carpenter has served as an advocate for criminal justice reform for over twenty years. During that time, Ms. Carpenter has been vested in engaging with family members of individuals serving extreme sentences for crimes committed as youth as well as incarcerated individuals themselves. For the past four years, Ms. Carpenter has worked alongside the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth, doing advocacy work in national legislative efforts to eliminate juvenile life without parole and other extreme sentences for youth. In her community, Ms. Carpenter serves as President of her local civic association, as well as a Board Member of the Prince George’s County Civic Federation, an organization tasked with working with civic associations throughout Prince George’s County. Ms. Carpenter also serves as chair of the Prince George’s County NAACP, Criminal Justice Committee, where she leads the advocacy for smarter, results-based criminal justice policies to keep our communities safe, including treatment for addiction and mental health problems, judicial discretion in sentencing, and an end to racial disparities at all levels of the system.
Contact Crystal: CCarpenter@voaches.org
Phone: 240-764-2636
André Robinson is a community and cultural organizer, activist and consultant with a background as a director, producer, writer, and creative-place maker. He has been working in community, talent, and cultural development and engagement for more than 30 years. He has served in an executive and creative leadership capacity on films, television, music, conferences, special events and cultural activations across the country. He is currently the executive director of Innovation Villages: Baltimore, serves on the board and co-chairs the community development committee for Historic Marble Hill Community Association, co-chairs the community development and housing committee for the Social Determinants of Health Task Force, is co-founder of Baltimore Community Prosperity, Inc., and also currently serves as Executive Producer of Carbon Fibre Media, a graphical content and creative studio shop based in Bed-Sty, Brooklyn NY.
Contact Andre: Andre@IVCities.com
Phone: 917-250-1530
Joseph T. Hackett is a social scientist with over 20 years’ experience in community and economic development. He has led teams providing service to local, municipal, faith-based, non-profit, for-profit and government agencies helping to close disparities with marginalized people. With ApexxAdams, he provides community-based assessment, mentoring, and coaching to people in transition using the Apexx Community Resilience Assessment (ACRA). Connecting the lived experience with research and creativity has caused him to achieve record-breaking outcomes with agencies.
Contact Jay: HACKETT2K@gmail.com
Phone: 828-785-0233
Mr. Tyrone Roper is the Associate Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. He holds more than 20 years of management and leadership experience, and was the Director of Special Populations for Behavioral Health System Baltimore prior to joining the Office of the Mayor. A graduate of Morgan State University with a Master’s degree in Social Work. He has a high level of competency of Maryland’s Public Behavioral Health System and the Criminal Justice system. He is passionate about restorative justice practices and supporting returning citizens back into their communities. Mr. Tyrone Roper has been married for 23 years and has two children who are both attending college out-of-state.
Contact Tyrone: tyrone.roper@baltimorecity.gov
Phone: 443-984-3404
When human beings experience life-altering traumatizing experiences, their lives unravel. Gary Antonino’s great passion reflects in his work. Through vocational training, he works to bring resources, as well as hope and positive life change to his students. Gary espouses that employment opportunities help heal people’s trauma and stress. Employment leads to career paths and a living wage encouraging independence and improved self-esteem. Gary is the Executive Director of NCIA’s Herbert J. Hoelter Vocational Training Center. He founded The Center to provide vocational training and employment placement for returning citizens, homeless veterans and at-risk youth. Gary applies his diverse leadership experiences inspiring and empowering the population he serves. Before joining NCIA, Gary was a Senior Executive at MET Life and garnered several leadership awards. He was responsible for leading and directing a management team, sales force, and administrative staff of 800 plus employees.Gary’s powerful public speaking engagements stimulate and encourage his audiences to invest in positive life change.
Contact Gary: GAntonino@NCIA.net
Phone: 410-622-5082
Caryn York is Executive Director of the Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF), an independent, statewide nonprofit organization that promotes policies and programs to help low-wage workers advance to high-wage jobs. Caryn is the first African American female to lead the 23-year old organization. Caryn works tirelessly to encourage key policymakers and stakeholders to adopt and support policies and programs that eliminate educational and employment barriers and facilitate the successful entry, or re-entry, of low-wage workers. As such, Caryn has been instrumental in leading numerous state and local policy reform efforts including, but not limited to, ‘Ban the Box’ on job and college applications, expansion of criminal record expungement and shielding laws, postsecondary access and affordability, and reducing the impact of incarceration on working families through development, passage, and implementation of the Maryland Justice Reinvestment Act and statewide bail reform. Caryn majored in International Studies at Washington College, and has worked within state and local politics for over 10 years.
Contact Caryn: Caryn@jotf.org
Phone: 410-234-8040
Kim LiPira, Director of Business Development for the Martin Architectural Group, is fortunate to be in an arena of industry professionals that envision the future of real estate development, design and construction of where we live, work and play. Supporting the company’s team in building long term relationships, identifying beneficial business connections, and strategically looking for the appropriate fit for partners that care about the best and highest value to the land, communities and environment, is part of the process. Her involvement in industry organizations such as being on the Board of LAI Baltimore, as well as involvement in ULI, NAIOP and AIA are great areas to stay professionally tapped in, as well as being given the opportunity to give back through leadership.Kim is also a Board member for the Gutierrez Memorial fund, which she is very passionate about. This satisfies her need for being a part of an organization that serves communities through the arts.A Baltimore native she loves to travel the world. Her passion for yoga grounds her and gives her the much-needed time to connect, be still and reflex on the fast-moving world around her.
Contact Kim: KLipira@NCIA.net
Phone: 410-218-0950
Dr. Kevin Daniels is a native inner city Baltimorean and is a post-doctoral Harvard University Fellow of the leadership Institute (Community and Economic Development), former Senior Fellow with the National Center for Health Behavioral Change (Kellogg Foundation), and current International Fellow with the International Institute Human Sciences. Recently received the National Community Service Award from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition as well as the International Community service award (Montreal, Canada). He holds a Doctoral degree in Higher Education from Morgan State University (MSU), a Doctorate degree in Theology/Public Health from United Theological Seminary, a Master’s of Science Degree in Social Work (Clinical Counseling/Administration) from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Morgan State University. He holds a Certification of Advanced Studies in Addictions Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. He holds a State of Maryland’s License as a Social Worker & counselor, and a Certification as a Community Conferencing Facilitator within the communities of Druid Heights & Madison Park. He is the Chair of Civic Action with the Minister’s Conference (Baltimore and Vicinity) and a community strategist with Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD). He is curriculum chair for the Macro Community Organization sequence in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. In 2015, he initiated the collaborative cultural competence training for the Baltimore City Police Department (veteran’s and cadets) on the campus of MSU and is currently working as a collaborative community liaison for the Baltimore Consent decree. Dr. Daniels is published in several journals and has lectured throughout the country.
Contact Dr. Daniels: Kevin.Daniels@Morgan.edu
Phone: 443-885-3282
Dr. Allen Tien is the founder and president of mdlogix. He has spent his entire career dedicated to advancing healthcare and has over 30 years of professional experience as a clinical and research psychiatrist. From 1988 to 1998, Allen developed life-course models about the etiology and processes of mental disorders, carrying out studies in clinical neuroscience as well as in community settings. Throughout his work, Allen began to understand the flawed research process, particularly in how studies are carried out and how results are put into practice. He noticed major gaps between academic research, community practice, and public health prevention programs. In 1997, he founded mdlogix so he could develop and deliver tools that help researchers, clinicians, advocates, and patients improve health outcomes. Allen has contributed significantly to developments in the field of health sciences informatics, including world-class innovations in clinical research, team workflow automation, and behavioral health screening and tracking. As Chief Science Officer at mdlogix, Allen has overseen the development of a portfolio of enterprise-level software products that address the clinical and research data collection and workflow integration needs of organizations across the U.S. and abroad.Allen is the author of 50 publications in the field of clinical psychiatry, public health research, and health sciences informatics. He has been the principal investigator on multiple grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.Allen earned his medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and a Master of Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Contact Dr. Tien:Allen@mdlogix.com
Phone: 410-828-8948
Archbishop Ralph L. Dennis is the establishmentarian and Presiding Prelate of Kingdom Fellowship Covenant Ministries, Inc., a synergistic fellowship of Christian churches, ministries, and businesses in the United States, the Republic of South Africa and Kenya. He has also impacted ministries in Australia. After serving for 35 years as the Senior Pastor of Kingdom Worship Center in Towson, Maryland and Columbia Family Worship Center, in Columbia, Maryland, he retired from the pastorate. Archbishop Dennis serves as board or council member for a variety of organizations which include:
- The Council of U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders headquartered in Dallas, Texas. (USCAL)
- The International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (ICAL)
- The Council of Apostolic Fathers for G.U.F. (Global United Fellowship).
- The Board for Mark Hanby Ministries.
- Chairman of the Board, Kingdom Worship Center, Inc.
- Board Member, Firmus Laboratories and Pharmacy
He is also a member and mentor of the John Maxwell Team. After attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland in 1971, he furthered his education and currently holds a Master of Theology in Bible Theology from the International Bible Seminary, Orlando, Florida (1983), an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from St. Thomas Christian College, Jacksonville, FL and a Doctorate of Theology from North Carolina College of Theology (2008). He also completed the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) sponsored by Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of Values in Public Life.Archbishop Dennis worked for about thirty years (30) in Corporate America in retail service station development and operations, bank operations management, sales and marketing, warehousing and distribution, new business development, with companies that include Maryland National Bank (now Bank of America), Exxon Company USA (now Exxon/Mobile), Carnation Company, Frito Lay, Inc., and Hanes DSD. He has authored more than 12 publications, which include: Transformational Thinking, Marketplace Jesus, and Divine Distinction.Archbishop Dennis co-shares his vision with his wife, Deborah. They share the blessing of three adult sons, one daughter-in-law, and seven grandchildren.
Contact Archbishop Dennis:KingdomRLD@yahoo.com
Phone: 410-377-3500
Bishop Gregory A. Dennis is a fifth-generation minister, who continuously strives to maintain a legacy of servitude by working to move the 21st Century Church into a place of maturity. He is one of his generation’s prophetic voices. After working nearly 20 years in corporate America, he began to assist his parents, Bishop Ralph L. and Elder Deborah S. Dennis, by serving as the Executive Pastor of Kingdom Worship Center in Towson, Maryland. Establishing new ministries and outreach efforts that increased the footprint of the ministry within the region. In 2012, Gregory was consecrated to the office of Bishop, overseeing the Youth and Young Adult Ministries for Kingdom Fellowship Covenant Ministries. With over 150 churches and ministries in the fellowship Gregory would aid churches across the U.S. and Africa establish and sustain ministry would to impact to lives of youth and young adults. In 2013 the baton was passed, and Bishop Gregory Dennis was appointed as the successor and Senior Pastor of Kingdom Worship Center. As a community organizer, he infiltrated communities that are considered impenetrable barriers. With the help of God and the ministry, Gregory has been able to impact the people in these communities. Bishop Dennis has completed extensive training in physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. He has served on boards for many community efforts such as, the former Vice President of the Towson Area Ministerial Alliance, the board of spiritual advisors at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), the board of advisors for Bahari (an empowerment organization for woman Kenya), and a board member for Araminta Freedom Initiative (fighting Trafficking in MD). Gregory is also an Honorary Member of Alpha Nu Omega Fraternity, Inc. and possess a Masters in Theology from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Bishop Dennis is an avid reader and writer on that which pertains to Christ, HIS Church and the culture. Bishop Dennis is a contributing columnist and member of the editorial staff of Grace and Glory magazine. He is a much sought-after mentor, lecturer and teacher. He has ministered to people of all ages in venues ranging from after school programs to international conferences. Married since July 1994, he and his college sweetheart, Tonya, desire to be an example to other married couples when it relates to commitment, love and friendship. Together they enjoy teaching and challenging others in their growth. They both delight in their gifts from God, their son, William, and daughter, Reina.
Contact Bishop Dennis: GDennis@KingdomWorshipCenter.org
Phone: 410-377-3500 Ext.105