Our Directors are champions of this worthwhile endeavor.

Greg has served as President of Purpose Built Schools Atlanta since its formation in 2016. He has led transformational projects at the city and neighborhood levels for more than 25 years, playing diverse leadership roles in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Previously, Greg served as President of Purpose Built Communities, a non-profit working with local leaders in more than 25 cities across the country to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. He also worked for the City of Atlanta in various capacities in the administration of Mayor Shirley Franklin, including Chief Operating Officer and President of the Atlanta Development Authority (now Invest Atlanta).

Greg was founding executive director of the East Lake Foundation, the non-profit that developed and continues to implement a bold, innovative and successful model of community revitalization. In that role he helped form the City’s first charter school, Charles Drew Charter School.

Greg is also an attorney who has worked in private practice and as an Assistant District Attorney for DeKalb County.

Thomas G. Cousins is a real estate developer, sports supporter and philanthropist, primarily based in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Cousins was a leader in shaping the skyline in Atlanta.

In 1995, Mr. Cousins founded the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta. The Foundation partnered with the Atlanta Housing Authority to build a mixed income apartment block in a local low income area with a high crime rate and put additional resources into education options and job provision for the tenants. Based on the results of the East Lake Foundation project, Mr. Cousins, with partner Warren Buffett, created Purpose Built Communities. Purpose Built Communities currently partners with 13 other communities in the United States.

In April 1968, Cousins purchased the Hawks basketball team and moved them from St. Louis to Atlanta, renaming them the Atlanta Hawks. At the time Atlanta did not have pro ball facilities, but Mr. Cousins was building a local arena complex.

In 1993, Tom Cousins was the recipient of the Bill Hartman Award which recognizes former varsity athletes from the University of Georgia who have demonstrated excellence in their profession. On March 8, 2010 Mr. Cousins was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Atlanta Sports Awards for his role in promoting sports in Atlanta.

In 1995, Cousins purchased East Lake Golf Club and restored it to its former glory. He also helped to establish East Lake as the permanent home of the TOUR Championship which is the season ending tournament for the PGA TOUR. Profits from East Lake Golf Club go to the East Lake Foundation which in turn goes to help the East Lake Community.

Mr. Cousins graduated with a BBA from the Terry College of Business at The University of Georgia. He has also received an honorary degree in Doctor of Humane Letters from Oglethorpe University.
Mr. Cousins was named the Philanthropist of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Atlanta Chapter in 2015 as well as a 2012 Georgia Trustee by the Georgia Historical Society.

In this role, she is responsible for the philanthropy strategy, deepening strong partnerships with nonprofits and leading corporate foundation donations to strengthen local communities.

Prior to the merger of equals between BB&T Corporation and SunTrust Banks, Inc., Bell served as enterprise community reinvestment officer for SunTrust, leading the community development program to help underserved communities receive economic support to grow. In her more than 30-year career with SunTrust, she has held positions in operations, regulatory affairs, bank examinations and compliance.

Bell has served as a board member of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership and National Church Residences.

Bell received her bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and certification as a compliance manager from the University of Georgia and the Georgia Bankers Association.

Dr. Russell W. Booker, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Spartanburg Academic Movement in Spartanburg, South Carolina. With an unwavering conviction in the power of education, he believes our greatest hope for the future is to inspire and equip our children for meaningful lives of leadership and service.

Dr. Booker retired as Superintendent of Spartanburg County School District Seven, where he directed many transformative initiatives. Most notably, he led a total restructuring of the district, a complete digital immersion, and a bold comprehensive capital plan. He began his tenure in District seven in 2010 after serving as superintendent in York School District One.

Dr. Booker is a South Carolina Liberty Fellow (affiliate with the Aspen Global Leadership Network) and a graduate of the Diversity Leaders Initiative through the Riley Institute. He serves as the Chair of the StriveTogether Board of Directors, as a trustee on the Wingate University Board of Directors, as a board member of Purpose Built Communities and as a member of the S.C. Education Oversight Committee. Locally, he serves on the board of the Mary Black Foundation and the Spartanburg Regional Hospital Foundation. He is a proud member of the Spartanburg Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Inc.

In 2013, Dr. Booker received the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Urban League of the Upstate. He is a past president of SCASA’s Superintendents’ Division. In 2015, Russell was named the South Carolina Superintendent of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) and was also named Superintendent of the Year by the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association. He is a 2015 South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame Distinguished Alumni Inductee. During a surprise announcement in November 2020, Russell received the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor, during a ceremony honoring his 28 years of service in education.

Dr. Booker received his B.S. degree in Education from Wingate University and his Ph.D., in Educational Leadership from the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Russell and his wife Sheryl reside in Spartanburg and are the proud parents of two sons, Grant (US Naval Academy Class of ’23), and Maxwell (Harvard College Class of ’26). They are members of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church.

Daniels has been part of the Foundation team since 2012, serving in a variety of leadership roles. Most recently, as Chief Operating Officer, he oversaw the implementation and operational activities for all programs and initiatives — translating the Foundation’s mission, vision and goals into sustainable processes, systems and procedures to deliver quality program services. He also served as internal leader of the organization — promoting a high-performing culture that fostered the Foundation’s core values of continuous learning, integrity, collaboration and commitment.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Daniels served as Principal of Takoma Academy in Takoma Park, Maryland; Mount Vernon Academy in Mount Vernon, Ohio; and Liberty Christian Academy in Columbus, Ohio.

In addition to his role at the Foundation, Daniels serves on the boards of Maryland Philanthropy Network and Pine Forge Academy. He holds a Master of Business Administration, Finance, from Franklin University and a bachelor’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Columbia Union College. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Business Administration from Wilmington University.

Douglas Jutte, MD, MPH sits on the Board of Trustees for Mercy Housing, a national non-profit affordable housing developer, and is a member of the health advisory committee for Enterprise Community Partners, one of the country’s largest community development financial institutions (CDFIs). He is also a member of CommonSpirit Health’s Community Economic Initiatives committee and Trinity Health’s Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Group. He has been a leader in the Federal Reserve Bank and RWJ Foundation’s Healthy Communities Initiative, which has convened over 40 cross-sector gatherings throughout the country since 2010.

Dr. Jutte worked as a pediatrician for nearly 20 years in low-income community clinics and as a neonatal hospitalist and was a professor in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health for 15 years. He has published in a number of prominent scientific journals including Pediatrics, Epidemiology, the American Journal of Public Health and Health Affairs. Dr. Jutte received his BA from Cornell University, MD from Harvard Medical School, and MPH from UC Berkeley. He trained in pediatrics at Stanford University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in population health at UCSF through the RWJF Health & Society Scholars program.

Stephen E. Macadam is the retired Vice Chairman of EnPro Industries, Inc., a manufacturer and provider of precision industrial components, solutions, and services. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of EnPro from 2008 to 2019.

Previously, Mr. Macadam served as Chief Executive Officer of BlueLinx Holdings, Inc., a wholesale distributor of building and industrial products in the United States. Prior to joining BlueLinx in 2005, Mr. Macadam was President and CEO of Consolidated Container Company, the second largest blow molder of rigid plastic containers in North American at the time. Earlier, Mr. Macadam served with Georgia-Pacific Corporation where he held positions of Executive Vice President, Pulp & Paperboard, and Senior Vice President, Containerboard & Packaging. He served as consultant and then as Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the successful opening of the Charlotte, NC office.

Mr. Macadam brings to the board of directors 30+ years of extensive leadership and operations experience growing and transforming businesses in the U.S. and globally. Mr. Macadam currently serves as a director of Valvoline Corporation (NYSE: VVV), Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX), Veritiv Corporation (NYSE: VRTV) and formerly served on the board of directors of EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE: NPO). Mr. Macadam also serves on the University of Kentucky, College of Engineering, Dean’s Advisory Board.

Mr. Macadam holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in Finance from Boston College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Mr. Macadam resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Marie. They have four grown children and two sons-in-law.

Othello provides strategic and executional leadership on critical business priorities and leads innovation efforts which will expand blue Meridian’s work as it evolves. He explores new philanthropic investment opportunities, leads due diligence on potential Blue Meridian investees and manages relationships with current investees.

In his previous role as President and CEO of Seventy Five north revitalization Corp., a community revitalization and development organization based in Omaha, Nebraska, Othello oversaw the implementation of a $90 million community redevelopment initiative in addition to managing the direction and daily operations of the organization. Before this, Othello was Executive Director of the Omaha workforce Collaborative, a non-profit housed at the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, designed to restructure the workforce development efforts of the Omaha metropolitan area. His responsibilities included designing and implementing improved workforce delivery systems for low-income and low-skilled workers in the greater Omaha area and building strategic relationships with the foundations, community-based institutions, and social services agencies.

In addition to his work with Blue Meridian, Othello owns and operates The Meadows Group, a neighborhood redevelopment consulting firm, and he also serves on several boards in the Omaha area.

Othello earned his BA in Psychology from East Carolina university and his JD from North Carolina central university School of Law. He and his wife Tulani are the proud parents of two sons, Garvey and Gibran.

Carol Redmond Naughton is the Chief Executive Officer of Purpose Built Communities, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving racial equity, economic mobility and health outcomes in communities across the country.

Purpose Built works to improve neighborhoods so that they become platforms that support families working to improve their lives. Purpose Built Communities works with local leaders to help them plan, implement and sustain holistic neighborhood revitalization initiatives that create healthy neighborhoods that include broad, deep and permanent pathways to prosperity for low income families.

For seven years leading up to the creation of Purpose Built Communities, she served as the Executive Director of the East Lake Foundation, the innovative nonprofit organization that serves as the “community quarterback organization” for the East Lake neighborhood. Prior to joining the East Lake Foundation, Carol was the General Counsel for Atlanta Housing Authority where she played an instrumental role in the revitalization of traditional public housing communities into economically viable, self-sustaining, mixed-income communities and was a key member of the leadership team that transformed AHA from a failing bureaucracy to a national leader in community development. Prior to joining AHA, Ms. Naughton was engaged in the private practice of law with Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan’s real estate group, where she primarily represented real estate developers, lenders and asset managers.

Ms. Naughton is a graduate of the Emory University School of Law and Colgate University. Ms. Naughton serves as the on the Board of the Directors of the Low Income Investment Fund, and serves on several national advisory boards including Build Healthy Places Network and Fifth Third Bank’s National Community Advisory Forum.

Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). He is the founding director of HGSE’s Education Redesign Lab. In 2013, he completed nearly five years of service as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

As Governor Patrick’s top education adviser, Reville established a new Executive Office of Education and had oversight of higher education, K-12, and early education in the nation’s leading student achievement state. He served in the Governor’s Cabinet and played a leading education reform role on matters ranging from the Achievement Gap Act of 2010 and Common Core State Standards to the Commonwealth’s highly successful Race to the Top proposal.

Prior to joining the Patrick Administration, Reville chaired the Massachusetts State Board of Education, founded the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, co-founded the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE), chaired the Massachusetts Reform Review Commission, chaired the Massachusetts Commission on Time and Learning, and served as executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform, a national think tank which convened the U.S.’s leading researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to set the national standards agenda.

Reville played a central role in MBAE’s development of and advocacy for Massachusetts historic Education Reform Act of 1993. Reville has been a member of the HGSE faculty since 1997 and has served as director of the Education Policy and Management Program.Reville’s career, which combines research, policy, and practice, began with service as a VISTA volunteer/youth worker. He served as a teacher and principal of two urban, alternative high schools. Some years later, he founded a local education foundation which was part of the Public Education Network. He is a board member and adviser to a host of organizations, including BELL, Match Education, Bellwether, City Year Boston, Harvard Medical School’s MEDscience and others.

He is a frequent writer and speaker on education reform and policy issues. He is also the educator commentator, Boston Public Radio, WGBH. He holds a B.A. from Colorado College, an M.A. from Stanford University and five honorary doctorate degrees.

Alex Robertson is president and chief operating officer of Tiger Management LLC, where he manages the operations of a firm committed to sourcing and developing future leaders in the investment management industry. Prior to joining Tiger in 2008, Alex served as legislative assistant to U S Senator Elizabeth Dole.

Alex serves as a trustee and board member of the Robertson Foundation, Tiger Foundation, Boys’ Club of New York, Memorial Sloan Kettering Board of Overseers, Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council, East Lake Foundation, and Purpose Built Communities. He is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford GSB.

As president and CEO of United Way of Central Carolinas, Laura leads the effort to build stronger neighborhoods, increase racial equity and improve the systems that serve our children and families across a five-county region.

A Charlotte native, in August 2018 Laura was named the sixth leader in the nearly 90-year history of United Way of Central Carolinas. Prior to this role, she joined the United Way team in 2016 as executive vice president and chief impact officer and led the transformation of the organization’s community impact strategy to more directly address economic mobility challenges across the Charlotte region.

Under Laura’s leadership, United Way has increased its investment to expand two major community initiatives—United Neighborhoods to drive neighborhood transformation and revitalization and Unite Charlotte to improve racial equity and increase social capital. Laura also led the development of a new grants funding process that supports more than 100 local nonprofit partners and programs.

A proven leader and longtime advocate for children and families, Laura previously served as CEO of the Renaissance West Community Initiative. She also was formerly director of The Larry King Center at Charlotte’s Council for Children’s Rights, and was United Way’s director of evaluation and community impact earlier in her career.

Laura previously served as the chair of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Charlotte Branch, and as a member of the board for NC Child. She currently serves as a member of the UNC Charlotte Cato College of Education Advisory Board and is on the board of United Way of North Carolina.

Laura earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Appalachian State University and a Master’s degree in clinical/community psychology from UNC Charlotte.

Laura is proud to call Charlotte home. In her downtime, she enjoys reading novels, cooking, traveling to the beach and relaxing with her two rescue dogs.