Board of Directors
· Mayor Shirley Franklin (Board Co-chair) – Franklin is the first woman to be mayor of Atlanta and the first African-American female to be mayor of a major Southern city. She began her leading role in the city as cultural affairs commissioner under Mayor Maynard Jackson and then as chief administrative officer and city manager for Mayor Andrew Young. Mayor Franklin also served as senior vice president for external relations for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and served as CEO of Shirley Clarke Franklin & Associates.
· Vernon Jordan (Board Co-chair) – Senior managing director of Lazard Frères & Co. in New York, Jordan is also a Presidential appointee to the President’s Advisory Committee for the Points of Light Initiative Foundation; the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on South Africa; the Advisory Council on Social Security; the Presidential Clemency Board; the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission; the National Advisory Committee on Selective Service; and the Council of the White House Conference “To Fulfill These Rights.”
· Doug Shipman (Executive Director) – Most recently a principal in the Atlanta office of the Boston Consulting Group, Shipman also has an extensive educational background in issues of race, ethnicity and gender including undergraduate and graduate studies in topics including the relationship between economics and poverty, the history of American minority groups and religion as applied in social movements including the American Civil Rights movement, the Indian independence movement and the Buddhist environmental movement in Southeast Asia.
· R. Lawrence Ashe - A partner at law firm Ashe, Rafuse & Hill, LLP in Atlanta, Ashe has led trial counsel in some of the largest class action employment and other discrimination cases tried to date, as well as numerous individual cases. He is a former member of the Atlanta Urban League, having served as the president and the director.
· Tom Bernstein - President and co-founder of Chelsea Piers, L.P., formed in 1992 to develop and operate the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex. Bernstein was the co-founder and chairman of the International Freedom Center, and is the vice-chair of Human Rights First and was appointed by President Bush to serve as a council member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
· Coleman Breland – Breland is executive vice president, sales and marketing for Turner Network Sales (TNS), the domestic distribution, sales and marketing arm of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.). He has served on the board of SBCA (Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association) for five years and is currently serving on the board of directors for Zoo Atlanta and is the chair for the organization’s Marketing Committee.
· Ken Burns – A prolific director and producer of films, Ken Burns explores American history in award-winning documentaries and miniseries such as “The Civil War” (1990), “Baseball” (1994), “Jazz” (2001) and “The War” (2007). He is a co-founder of Florentine Films.
· Edith “Edie” D. Cofrin –A recognized leader in the Atlanta community, Cofrin is president and owner of A la Carte Travel. She is involved with the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, AID Atlanta and the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national political organization representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
· Dean Eisner - President and CEO of Manheim, a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc., which is one of the nation’s leading media companies and providers of automotive services. He is also a board member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Children’s Healthcare Foundation.
· Ernest Greer - Managing shareholder at the law firm Greenberg Traurig, Greer also serves on the Firm’s Executive Committee. He is a member of the General Counsel of the National Association of Minority Contractors (Atlanta) and the General Counsel of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc.
· Kwanza Hall – Atlanta City Councilmember Hall represents District 2, Atlanta’s most socio-economically and culturally diverse district. Before his election, Hall served on the Atlanta Board of Education. He is the director of business development for MACTEC Engineering and Consulting and serves on the boards of Operation HOPE, the Historic District Development Corporation and the Butler Street YMCA, among others.
· Jim Hannan – President and CEO of Georgia Pacific since 2007, Hannan previously served as president of INVISTA Intermediates and held several leadership positions at Koch Mineral Services. Previous board positions include Koch Cellulose.
· Kerry Kennedy – Author and human rights champion, Kennedy is devoted to the vindication of equal justice, to the promotion and protection of basic rights, and to the preservation of the rule of law. She established the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in 1988.
· William Lucy – The international secretary-treasurer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Lucy is also president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists which he founded in 1972. He is the founder of the Free South Africa Movement, an executive council member of the AFL-CIO, a board member of the AFL-CIO African American Labor Center, the Africa America Institute, American for Democratic Action and the Center for Policy Alternatives.
· Jim Maddox – Atlanta City Councilmember Maddox represents District 11 in south Atlanta. He is a former director of campaign public affairs for the United Way of Metro Atlanta and a board member of the SW Family YMCA. He has received numerous awards for leadership in the Atlanta community.
· Walter E. Massey – Dr. Massey is a renowned physicist, former president of Morehouse College and former director of the National Science Foundation. He is currently serving his second term as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The recipient of more than 30 honorary degrees, he also has served on corporate and foundation boards, including the Mellon Foundation, Bank of America, BP p.l.c., Motorola and McDonald’s.
· Edward “Ned” Montag – COO and part-owner of A. Montag & Associates, an investment management firm, Montag oversees marketing and client service for the firm. Montag serves on the boards of several Atlanta-based organizations, including Trinity school, The Jewish Education Loan Fund, The Temple and The Sidney Isenberg Lecture Series.
· Egbert Perry - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Integral Group LLC, an urban real estate development and investment management firm, Perry is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Atlanta Life Financial Group, and the Board of Trustees of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.
· David Ratcliffe – Chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, Ratcliffe was previously CEO of the company’s largest subsidiary, Georgia Power. He is a member of the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, CSX Transportation, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Research Alliance, Edison Electric Institute and Woodruff Arts Center.
· A.J. Robinson - President of Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID), Robinson oversees one of the most effective advocacy organizations in the city. CAP has created and spun off a number of organizations such as Trees Atlanta, Research Atlanta, COPA, Inc. and the Midtown Alliance.
· Robert L. Stein – Managing director at Chartwell Capital Management Co., Stein co-founded the Women’s Growth Capital Fund in 1997. He was chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1993-1995 and is active on the boards of Foodfit.com, Marvelous Market, Explore, Inc. and People’s Pottery, as well as the Women’s Consumer Network.
· Andrea Young – The daughter of civil rights leader and Ambassador Andrew Young, Andrea Young is a senior program officer for the Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta, which advances solutions for fairness and excellence in education. A published author, Young released a biography of her mother Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me: Universal Values from Extraordinary Times in 2000.
Center for Civil and Human Rights Staff
Doug Shipman, Executive Director Center for Civil and Human Rights Partnership
Doug Shipman is currently serving as the Executive Director of the CCHR Partnership. Doug was most recently a Principal in the Atlanta office of the Boston Consulting Group. Doug joined BCG’s Atlanta office in 2001 and was a summer consultant in the BCG New York office in 2000. He also spent one year in BCG’s Mumbai, India office as part of BCG’s Ambassador Program.
During his time at BCG, Doug worked for with senior executive clients within the financial services, consumer goods and industrial goods industries. He has led cases dealing with marketing, sales force organization and incentives, sales distribution strategy, pricing, and operations. He has extensive experience in strategy and overall management issues.
Doug also has an extensive educational background in issues of race, ethnicity and gender including undergraduate and graduate studies in topics including the relationship between economics and poverty, the history of American minority groups and religion as applied in social movements including the American Civil Rights movement, the Indian independence movement and the Buddhist environmental movement in Southeast Asia. He has also served as a facilitator for discussion groups exploring racial understanding in Richmond, VA and Cambridge, MA.
Doug has an MPP (Master of Public Policy) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University with an emphasis on domestic politics; an MTS (Master of Theological Studies) from the Harvard Divinity School with an emphasis on religion in public situations and politics and a bachelor’s degree with High Honors from Emory University with majors in Economics and Political Science.
Alisa Smallwood, Vice President of Development Center for Civil and Human Rights Partnership
Alisa Smallwood is currently serving as Vice President of Development for the Center for Civil and Human Rights
(CCHR) Partnership.
Alisa’s work experience has primarily focused on the management of fundraising programs and related marketing initiatives. She most recently served as Chief Development Officer of the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) in Memphis, Tenn., where she was responsible for major-gifts fundraising, grant procurement, growing national and international support, program design and systems management. During her time at NCRM, Alisa planned and organized a $40-million capital campaign focusing on endowment, technology and historic preservation. While serving as the museum’s Director of Development, Alisa nearly doubled annual fund support while planning and executing major fundraising events.
Alisa also has worked with notable academic institutions. In 2001, she was appointed as the first Director of Development for the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she created and managed a comprehensive advancement program. She also Alisa served as the Director of Development for WCBU Radio at Bradley University.
A certified fundraising executive, Alisa began her career in corporate giving and philanthropy in 1993 as the Manager of Volunteers at the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Alisa has served as a board member for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (formerly NSFRE) and Certified Fund Raising Executive International. She holds a Master’s degree in Music Theory from Indiana University School of Music and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from North Carolina Central University.