Families First Young Professionals Board Class of 2018 Alexis Beasley Regional Talent Acquisition Manager, TKC Holdings, Inc. Alexis J. Beasley is a native of Stone Mountain, GA. She realized her innate gift of strategic leadership at a very young age --- even while playing with dolls she assigned them job duties. As the granddaughter of the second woman to be a chief elected official in Georgia and as the daughter of a Pastor she has been nurtured to be passionate about the enrichment of women and a desire to achieve multi-level success. The influence and success of Alexis’ grandmother and mother led her to attend Bennett College for Women. Upon receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Bennett College for Women, Alexis fostered her love of sourcing applicants for hard to fill positions as a recruiting consultant for Fortune 100 companies such as Delta Airlines, Honeywell, Samsung, AT&T and Cisco. With over 10 years of experience, her passion resides in client facing talent acquisition, corporate recruiting and career coaching roles. She also had the unique opportunity to develop a job readiness curriculum for over 2500 TANF applicants as the lead trainer for Smart Talk Seminars. Alexis currently manages talent acquisition for the Southeast Region at TKC Holdings, the nation’s largest provider of products and food services in the corrections industry. Alexis’ passion lies in community building. She is the Founder of The Real Married Women of Atlanta, which is an organization aimed at the uplifting of healthy marriages. Alexis currently resides in Decatur, with her husband Corlan and their rambunctious toddler Annistyn. Callan Blough Senior Clinical Business Manager, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine Callan Blough is currently a Senior Clinical Business Manager in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. In this position she works with faculty to maintain and improve clinic operations and manages a budget of approximately $11 million. Prior to working at Emory, Callan worked for five years in health policy research at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. Throughout her career, she has volunteered at various organizations including Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Children's National Medical Center and smaller retirement communities. Callan earned her Master in Healthcare Administration in 2014 and her Bachelor in Science in Public Health in 2009 both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Melissa Chila Forensic Biologist, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory Melissa received her B.S. in Forensic Chemistry from West Chester University and her M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. She started her career at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) as a Forensic Scientist where she worked to identify the remains of those still missing from conflicts such as WWII and Vietnam. After AFDIL, she spent several years in California working first as a Serologist for The Serological Research Institute and then as a Criminalist for Oakland Police Department. She is currently working as a Forensic Biologist for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory and perform DNA analysis on military criminal casework. She has been in the field of forensics for over 14 years. Candice Crawford Director of Organizational Development and Communications, Movement Forward, Inc. Candice Crawford, a nonprofit and social venture specialist, has served in the social change and nonprofit industry for over 10 years. A majority of her experiences have aligned with organizational development and management as well as building and sustaining partnership with stakeholders that enhanced the mission of the organization. She obtained an abundance of her professional experience while working in community-based organizations that focused on education and social justice reform serving communities in New York City. Candice graduated from CUNY Baruch College, School of Public Affairs with a Masters in Public Administration. During that time she was also a cohort member of the National Urban Fellows program. Additionally, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Spelman College. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA where she is a member of two nonprofit boards and an active volunteer in her community. Emily Desprez Math Department Chair, Charles R. Drew Charter High School A Metro Atlanta native, Emily Desprez, joins the Families First Young Professionals Board while also serving as math department chair and math intervention coach at Charles R. Drew Charter School in East Lake. During the summer of 2016, Emily worked as an Urban Leaders Fellow in Atlanta working with the APS Superintendent and select Atlanta Public School Board members on education policy. Prior to this, Emily taught as the founding Algebra 1 teacher at Achievement First University Prep in Crown Heights Brooklyn for two years. While working at Achievement First, she also impacted curriculum as a curriculum fellow who designed, implemented and coached all Algebra 1 teachers across the northeast in Achievement First high schools. In Brooklyn, Emily led 94% her students to pass the Common Core Algebra 1 Regents test. Before moving to Brooklyn, she taught Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus for two years at Berkmar High School through the Teach for America program. Of the 100 juniors and seniors she taught during her second year at Berkmar, 95% of them graduated at a school with a 48% graduation rate. In addition to teaching, she has led a math club, yearbook class, and served as a class sponsor. During her time with Teach for America, she also worked on the Corps Member Leadership Council which influenced decision-making in the Metro Atlanta corps as well as planning and hosting the Parent Empowerment Summit. Emily earned her Bachelors of Science in Management from Georgia Tech and her Masters in Secondary Math Education from Relay Graduate school of Education. Emily hopes to combine her passion for community empowerment, business skills, and her experience in high school math education to develop a deeper understanding of the strategic initiatives at Families First in order to help advance policies and programs that provide equal opportunity for children and families to achieve their highest potential. Kara Gardner Assistant Director of Scholarship and Stewardship, Georgia State University Perimeter College Kara Gardner coordinates scholarships and stewardship at Perimeter College. Kara has been working in higher education for over 10 years and with scholarship programs for over eight years. Kara earned her undergraduate degree in Public Relations and Marketing from the University of Central Oklahoma; a graduate degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma and Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership from Clark Atlanta University. Kara is active in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and in the Junior League of Atlanta. Hai Giang Marketing Science Supervisor at Hearts & Science (Omnicom Media Group) Hai graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University in 2015. Since then, he’s been fortunate enough to work in his dream job – data scientist. He’s currently a marketing science supervisor with Hearts & Science, a media buying company under Omnicom Media Group. When he joined Hearts on the AT&T account last October, Hai helped orchestrate one of the largest data transitions in advertising history. Prior to Hearts, Hai worked at Southern Company, where he worked to expand their digital marketing channels and to buy media more accurately using data driven insights. Kurtis Greene-Richards Vice President, ADP Global Business Transformation Kurtis Greene-Richards is a Vice President of Transformation at ADP, a human capital management firm that helps employees find their passion and purpose at work, while helping employers outsource non-core functions such as HR, Benefits & Payroll administration. Kurtis is a Georgia native, having graduated from Southwest Dekalb High School in Decatur, GA followed by Georgia State University located in Atlanta. In his free time, Kurtis loves to devote time to social innovation activities. He runs a local business services organization for minority business owners and he has served on the board for Fertile Ground, a mentoring organization for young women. Kurtis describes himself as a serial innovator who passionately believes in human potential and that imagination is more important than knowledge. Melissa Johnson Senior Policy Analyst, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute Melissa Johnson is a Senior Policy Analyst with Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI), an independent nonprofit organization working to build a more inclusive economy. At GBPI, Melissa offers thoughtful analysis and responsible solutions to improve the state’s budget and public policies in the areas of economic mobility and human services. Melissa shares her analyses with state elected officials and other policymakers to help them make decisions critical to Georgia’s future. Her recent research focuses on gender pay equity, workforce development, a strengthened safety net, and affordable child care. Prior to GBPI, Melissa worked in policy analysis and legal roles for the Administrative Office of the Courts of Georgia. In those roles, Melissa evaluated the effects of proposed and recently enacted legislation on Georgia judicial councils and commissions, in addition to executing