Carol R. Naughton is the Chief Executive Officer for Purpose Built Communities Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to implementing resident-centered, holistic neighborhood revitalization. Carol sets the strategic vision for the organization, focusing on the growth, development, and impact of Purpose Built, its Network, and the communities it serves.

Prior to joining Purpose Built, Carol served as general counsel and deputy executive director of The Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, executive director of East Lake Foundation, and was an integral part of the team at CF Foundation during the production of the business plan that launched Purpose Built Communities.
Beyond her work with Purpose Built, Carol serves on the Board of Directors of Low Income Investment Fund and was a long-time board member at Charles Drew Charter School in the East Lake neighborhood in Atlanta. She currently serves on the Fifth Third Bank National Community Advisory Forum, the Build Healthy Places Network National Advisory Council, and several other advisory boards. Wherever she serves, Carol advocates for advancing racial equity and developing healthy, equitable communities across the country.

Nationally recognized as a leader in the field of place-based community development, Carol’s published works have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and TEDx, as well as the Federal Reserve of San Francisco and Nonprofit Finance Fund’s book Investing in Results.

Carol graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and from Emory University School of Law with a Doctors of Law.

Dr. David R. Williams is the Norman Professor of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. His prior faculty appointments were at Yale University and the University of Michigan. An internationally recognized social scientist, his research has enhanced our understanding of the complex ways in which socioeconomic status, race, stress, racism, health behavior and religious involvement can affect health. He is the author of more than 600 scientific papers and the Everyday Discrimination Scale that he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies. Dr. Williams is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He has been ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences, worldwide, and as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.

He directed the South African Stress and Health Study, the first nationally representative study of the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in sub-Sahara Africa. He was also a key member of the scientific team that conducted the largest study of the mental health of the black population in the U.S. and the first U.S. health study to include a large national sample of Blacks of Caribbean ancestry.

He has played a visible, national leadership role in raising awareness levels of inequities in health, including serving as staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America and a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, Unnatural Causes: Is inequality Making Us Sick? His research has been featured in the national print and television media and in his TED Talk.

AAs Director of Network Engagement and Partnership for Grantmakers for Education, Kyle is expanding and deepening the organization’s partnerships to generate resources, create programs and establish connections that align with the current and future needs of our members. Kyle is a seasoned leader who is experienced in higher education, nonprofit management and philanthropy and has proudly made a career equalizing opportunities for people who have been disenfranchised. He is dedicated to ensuring that all learners, his own children included, are supported and prepared for higher education and life.

Kyle holds a master’s degree in administration from the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor of arts degree in political science at the University of Indianapolis. In his spare time, Kyle is an avid track and field enthusiast and also enjoys traveling and exploring new cultures.

Ilham Askia serves as the President & CEO of the East Lake Foundation where she is responsible for leading the Foundation’s strategic vision and ongoing work with East Lake Initiative partners to ensure progress towards the Foundation’s mission. The East Lake Foundation was established in 1995 to revitalize the East Lake neighborhood in Atlanta, GA by generating new opportunities for families living there and creating a vibrant community where all residents thrive. The Foundation’s goal is to support programming that addresses mixed-income housing, cradle-to-college education, community wellness, and economic vitality.

Askia is a seasoned nonprofit leader with a deep commitment to advancing social justice and equity. As Co-Founder and former Executive Director of Gideon’s Promise, a national, nonprofit public defender organization whose mission is to transform the criminal legal system by building a movement of public defenders who provide equal justice for marginalized communities, Askia spent 15 years changing the culture of indigent defense representation in America. Before her role as Executive Director, she served as Program Director, where she worked with and helped to recruit new public defenders, as well as develop relationships with public defender offices throughout the Southeast.

Prior to her work with Gideon’s Promise, she served as an educator. Her career began in early childhood education as a Teach for America Fellow in the District of Columbia Public Schools and then she later taught and facilitated teacher training in the charter school system before moving to Georgia. She served as a first-grade teacher, chaired the First Grade Team, and wrote Math curriculum for Fulton County Schools. During her tenure in education, her students were routine examples of the effects of over-policing in marginalized communities, the school-to-prison pipeline, as well as the negative outcomes derived from legal representation provided by poorly trained public defenders with overwhelming caseloads. The latter being a lesson she learned earlier in life when both her father and brother were sentenced to prison.

Askia has been featured by media outlets that include Essence, Black Enterprise, Atlanta Magazine, Share International Magazine, Atlanta’s NPR, and the legal podcast Service Roads: Conversations on the Law and Social Justice. Under her leadership, Gideon’s Promise was also the subject of award winning, HBO Documentary, Gideon’s Army. She regularly speaks at law schools, community organizations and national criminal justice conferences to discuss the critical role of public defenders in the legal system. Notably, Askia has been a speaker at the SMART on Crime Innovations Conference, National Association for Public Defense Conference, Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy Annual Conference, Social Justice Community Foundations, Federal Defenders Conference, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund Capital Training Conference, Public Defender Service for District of Columbia, Mercer Law Review Conference, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference Summit.

She has been honored with the Southern Center for Human Right’s Gideon’s Award, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Inspiring Woman Award, the Atlanta Hawks Most Notable Atlantan, and Atlanta Magazine’s Women Making a Mark Award.

Askia holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning, and a master’s degree in Elementary Education and Teaching from Trinity Washington University. She currently serves as a committee member of Leadership Atlanta, a post she has held since 2017, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF), which she joined in January 2021. She also serves on the Charles R. Drew Charter School Board and the National Head Start HSN Board.

She resides in Atlanta, Georgia with husband Jonathan and children Aaliyah and Lucas.

Marvin Nesbitt Jr. serves as the President of Focused Community Strategies. With over 20 years of experience in community development, housing, and social services, he has led programs that have opened doors of opportunity for thousands of families across Atlanta. From his time at the Atlanta Housing Authority and Action Ministries to his work in higher education and consulting, Marvin has consistently focused on one thing: helping communities flourish.

As President, Marvin’s vision for FCS is both bold and rooted. He is passionate about expanding affordable housing options, including single-family, multi-family, and mixed-use so that neighbors can stay and thrive in Historic South Atlanta and Thomasville Heights. He aims to strengthen our cradle-to-career partnerships with schools, expand economic opportunities, and preserve the unique character of our neighborhoods even as property values rise.

Zenith Houston is the Chief Strategic Partnership Officer, for Purpose Built Communities. As a strategic senior executive, Zenith leads fundraising, communications, and marketing to advance Purpose Built Communities’ mission.

Before joining Purpose Built, Zenith launched her management consulting firm, GaillardHouston, and spent ten years as the Atlanta Director with The Posse Foundation. For over 25 years, she has demonstrated proven experience in successfully driving innovation to build growth and long-term sustainability for diverse, national, and local organizations.

Currently, Zenith serves on the boards of the Veritas School of Social Science and Alliance Theatre. She has received numerous recognitions for leadership including the Atlanta Hawks Forever 404 Honoree, Atlanta Business League’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence, 100 Black Men of North Atlanta Image Award, Chick-fil-A True Inspiration Award, and Kenny Leon’s True Color Theatre Company’s 52 Weeks of Women. She is an alumnus of Leadership Atlanta, the Atlanta Regional Leadership Institute, and REALITY Impact Israel.

A native of Columbia, SC, Zenith holds a bachelor’s in science and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Criminal Justice.

As a senior leader, Catalina leads the development of the organization’s Cradle to College Education Framework and provides direct support to Network Members in implementing the Purpose Built educational model.

Prior to joining Purpose Built, Catalina served as a career educator in Metro Atlanta in roles including teacher, principal, and district level leader in both the public school and independent school sectors. Her passion for education has led her to volunteer her time outside of work as a volunteer religious education leader in her church. Her prowess as an educator has led to elected volunteer positions on multiple school councils and Go Teams within the Atlanta Public Schools, and has served on the election committees for several local principal election processes.

Catalina graduated from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications and from Emory University with a Masters in Teaching with a focus in Middle School Education. She also holds an Educational Leadership Certification from Georgia State University.