Dr. Portia Hunt

Portia Hunt, Ph.D. is nationally known as an expert in the areas of racial and ethnic identity, intercultural communications and organizational development. She has been the executive director of the National Center for Family Recovery (NCFFR), a non-profit organization which has been providing culturally specific educational training for families and communities, since 2005. BLACK Lemonade for All, a program that uses a cultural lens to empower parents to support their children’s success in school and personal development, is the flagship project of NCFFR. Dr. Hunt is also the President and the founder of Eclipse Management Consultant Group, a company founded in 1986 that provides customized consultation services and diversity training to business organizations. Hunt is also a Professor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology after 40 years of service at Temple University and a licensed psychologist with a private practice.

Andrea Gosfield - Gosfield Law LLC

Andrea Gosfield is the sole owner of a minority-certified business, Gosfield Law LLC.  Andrea focuses on advocacy work in the areas of diversity and inclusion, community-led movements, business and economic development, commercial real estate, public finance, employment matters, and regulatory compliance.  Her work spans three states – her clients are in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.  Andrea’s over twenty years of experience counseling clients spans the sectors of education, government, nonprofit, real estate development, manufacturing, construction and project management, health care, hospitality, media and communications, and telecommunications.  She currently counsels individuals, private companies, and non-profit organizations.  

With degrees earned from the Wharton School of Business (B.S. in Economics), UCLA (M.F.A. in Dance), and Temple Law (J.D.), Andrea’s diverse background shapes her authentic communication style, sharp technical skills, and business savvy. She draws from her Nigerian heritage and background in business, dance, advocacy, and the law to formulate unique solutions for each project in which she engages.

Tomás Leal

Experienced Change Strategist and Practitioner coaching leaders across the organization to develop and execute global strategies that support workforce initiatives resulting in inclusive, high-performing, and innovative work environments. Leal focuses on training and facilitation, diverse global talent management, inclusion strategies, inclusive leadership, cross-cultural competency building, and developing relationships with external organizations/communities worldwide to promote the organization as the employer and business partner of choice. Leal has experience working across industries and have worked in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. 

Yan Huo - Founder, Art of Wellness, LLC.

Yan Q. Huo is a Tri-lingual, bi-cultural Asian American, specializing as a licensed psychotherapist and holistic nutrition coach.  She has 23 years of mental health experience working with various populations, suffering from acute and chronic illnesses.  She also has her master’s degree in Couples and Family Therapy, helping individuals and families heal and improve communication.  She specializes in trauma and addiction treatment and cross-cultural/diversity training.  She has a decade of experience working with refugees and asylees from Southeast Asian countries with the collaboration of interpreters. She has also worked with African refugees from Ethiopia and Liberia, and inner-city low-income families for over a decade.  She appears as a guest lecturer for various graduate programs in the greater Philadelphia area addressing appropriate AAPI Mental Health treatment.   She is also a consultant for corporate training for various topics, including Implicit Bias and Microaggression. 

Daniel Lee, Ph.D. and Founder, Do What You’re Built For Foundation

The Do What You’re Built For Foundation, Inc. (DWYBF) was created to work with nonprofit, for-profit, faith-based, and educational organizations to address the following needs: systemic, organizational and financial capacity building, parent engagement, fundraising and reentry services programs with an emphasis on self-development, and purposeful and directed community re-engagement. We work with the full continuum of educational institutions, businesses, faith-based organizations, and non-profit organizations to “build communities one project at a time.”

Gary Plummer, M.Ed.

Gary Plummer has been an educator for over 40 years, teaching every level from preschool to graduate school. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Early Childhood Education, he started and directed a preschool center for his church that served the needs of the West Philadelphia community for 39 years. He went on to earn a Certification in Secondary Mathematics from Temple University and an M.Ed. in Secondary Mathematics from Arcadia University. 

In 1988 Gary became a middle school Mathematics teacher for the School District of Philadelphia. During his time working in Philadelphia, Gary served as a Mathematics Specialist, Site Director for the QUASAR Project, Site Director for Project FIRST, staff developer for Family Math and Urban Systemic Initiative Professional Development Leader. He was also an adjunct professor of Mathematics Education at Arcadia University, The University of Pennsylvania, and Widener University. Gary was the 1992 Teacher of Excellence Award winner for the Southwest Region in Philadelphia and was a state finalist for the NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching. He has conducted seminars and workshops at NCTM National, Regional, and local Conferences throughout his career. Gary spent the last 18 years of his career teaching high school students in Lower Merion School District.

Dr. Renaya Wheelan and Petrena Young, M.S - I’m FREE Females Reentering Empowering Each Other

Both Dr. Furtick Wheelan and Ms. Young are certified trauma-competent professionals who have presented their work locally, nationally, and internationally. They are trained to administer the Women’s Risk/Needs Assessment (WRNA) for justice-involved women, which allows services to be targeted to a woman’s specific needs. As Founders, they created I’M FREE as a non-profit organization for previously incarcerated women with specific needs who are re-entering their communities from prison. Its mission: to support women’s transition safely and successfully back into society.

Mike Likier, Ph.D.

Mike Likier, PhD has been a racial justice activist since 1991. The unrest in Crown Heights that August, followed by a course in Racial Identity and Mental Health taught by Robert Carter, Ph.D. set him on his journey. Mike has been involved with the National People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, NAACP, and in several faith based initiatives. He has served as a synagogue board member, chair of social action committee, and accompanist at Shabbat services. As a psychologist, he brings a justice lens to his therapy practice and he is involved with training therapists in multicultural competence. He has served on the NJ Psychology Association Diversity Committee and in an anti-racist psychologist group. Further, as founder of Racial Justice Consulting he consults with organizations that are working toward realizing these values. Mike was a participant in the White People Confronting Racism workshop in 2011 and returned as a facilitator in 2016. He presents regularly at national conferences on race in psychology and education.

Sarah Halley, BS, PCC

Sarah Halley, BS, PCC, is an organizational development consultant, experiential educator and executive coach with over 20 years experience, working primarily on team building, leadership development, and Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work with a focus on supporting white people to develop racial awareness and competency.
She was a member of the PRIME Diversity Training Team at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, PA, and she has worked with students, faculty and staff at Bryn Mawr College on their social justice curriculum and LEAP leadership development program. She was part of a team working on a system wide culture change project with Allstate Insurance and Merck and Co. She worked with St. Martin in the Field on their journey to becoming increasingly anti-racist congregation and she led a 2 part workshop series for GJC members called “Understanding and Confronting Racism.” She is the lead facilitator of the White People Confronting Racism workshop series at Training for Change in Philadelphia and is a co-founder and facilitator of The Race Institute for K12 Educators.
Sarah is a Certified Presence Based© Coach, a PCC with the International Coach Federation and a senior faculty of the Presence Based Coach Training. Her coaching practice compliments her consulting work, though she also has a stand-alone coaching practice with coaching clients from corporate, non-profit and higher education sectors.
Sarah is also a co-founder and co-director of Playback for Change, a multiracial improvisational theatre troupe that uses playback theatre as a vehicle for social change, and is an international leader and trainer in the international Playback Theatre movement.

Patricia A. Ackerman Ph.D.

Dr Patricia A Ackerman, a veteran educator, is executive director of Chalkdust Education Foundation (CEF). She and her colleagues provide professional development programs for K-12 educators in cross-cultural communication, customized learning experiences for parents of school-age children, and sponsor a computer coding program exclusively for African American middle and high school girls.

Her 35-year career in K-12 education included service as an English teacher, principal and district-level curriculum director in urban and suburban school districts in Ohio. Designing unique programs for middle and high school learners, especially those at risk of failure and dropping out of school, was her special talent. To succeed with challenging, student populations, Dr. Ackerman found creative ways to address the culture gap between students and the teachers who served them. Administrators and teachers sharing cross-cultural experiences together not only sparked genuine curiosity and healthy dialogue between them, but also made a positive difference in how participants began to perceive and execute their roles.

A past president of the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), Dr. Ackerman continues to monitor current issues in education. Currently, the chair of NABSE’s Legislative Priorities Committee, she works closely with educators across the U.S being impacted by legislation affecting public schools.   

Also active in higher education, Dr. Ackerman was appointed by two different Ohio governors to serve first a nine-year term as a trustee of Ohio University, her undergraduate alma mater, and later to the Ohio Board of Regents. Other affiliations include the National Institute for African American Health (NIAAH), and the Diversity Advisory Board of Kent State University where she earned the Ph.D.

Marie Amey-Taylor, Founding Principal, InterACTion Consulting Group

InterACTion is a professional development consulting practice that specializes in interpersonal relations, organizational and leadership development, executive coaching, team building and diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and anti-racism interventions, programs, and initiatives

Dr. Amey-Taylor is an Adjunct Professor, the Advocacy and Organizational Development Program, Department of Psychological, Organizational and Leadership Studies, College of Education and Human Development, Temple University; Executive Coach, Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute, Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College; Learning & Development Consultant; and the Former Assistant Vice President, Learning & Development, Human Resources Division, Temple University.  She is also the Founder and Director of InterACTion Improvisational Theater Troupe, a diverse theatrical ensemble of actors/facilitators with extensive backgrounds in organizational development and training, human services program design/coordination and cultural and medical anthropology.

Brenda J. Weaver, MA, CPRP

Inspired by the call of deinstitutionalization, a workforce training grant and the privilege of escorting many through the trauma and transition from state hospitals to community settings, Mrs. Weaver has traveled more than fifty years in community mental health-related services. Initially stepping out on faith, her work roles and experiences range from direct service interventions, staff supervisor, program development and administration, local and national professional affiliations. Mrs. Weaver was invited to have a seat at the state human service policy table, and partnered in the development of a few federally funded workforce training grants. There was also a moment as a research associate developing “workaround” technologies to support individuals with schizophrenia to acquire functional skills and control their quality of life and living well.

Born into a milieu of helping, healing, and educating, it is not by accident that the common thread through all these experiences is making connections, developing understandings, disseminating information, negotiating services, navigating systems, building resource networks, and linking supports. A simple message of civility and humanity.  A mission to make a difference, discover inherent power, develop potential, and advocate for respect.