Dr. Ayodele Thomas is the founder of Uncommon Insights LLC and a lecturer at Stanford University. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, she was inspired by her own journey as the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Most recently, Dr. Thomas served as Associate Vice Provost for the Office of IDEAL Advancement at Stanford University. Prior to that role, she was the inaugural Associate Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in University Human Resources and served in a number of other Stanford roles for more than 20 years.  Dr. Thomas has been deeply committed to expanding opportunities in STEM education. She became Executive Director of Greene Scholars in 2015. From 2008 to 2016, she served on the Board of Directors for the Stephanie Brown Cadet Foundation, which provides scholarships to Bay Area high school graduates who excel in volunteerism. Ayodele is married and has two children, both of whom are Greene Scholars alumni.

Gina Hendy is a dynamic, multilingual leader, community organizer, corporate liaison and operations leader. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Languages at UCLA, where she competed on the Bruins track team.  She was also an editor for NOMMO, UCLA’s historically Black student publication. During her Silicon Valley career at Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Oracle, Sun and others, she honed her problem solving and leadership skills in engineering, customer-facing and management roles. Among her favorite achievements were setting up new channel distribution offices in Latin American and Asia. Since 2007, Gina has held several roles at Greene Scholars, more recently, Gina was Director of Operations and Talent, where she was instrumental in expanding the scope and impact of the program.  She consistently delivered on linchpin scholar programs events including GSP Science Fair, Science Fair Awards, Career Fair, Engineering Competition, Summer Science Institutes.  Her work has led to the establishment of unique multi-year partnerships with high-tech corporations and active research centers. Gina is also a successful entrepreneur, and nationally ranked in Mary Kay Incorporated in sales.  Gina is a member of and has held leadership roles in the Alpha Kappa sorority.  Her passion is to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields in the San Francisco Greater Bay Area and beyond.  Gina is the mom of a Greene Scholars alumni and resides in San Jose with her husband. In her free time, Gina enjoys salsa dancing, gardening, and traveling.

Founder and President · Excalibur Healthcare.

Debra Watkins earned Master's degrees in Education from Stanford University and Counselor Education from San Jose State University. Debra had spent her entire career of 35 years in the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) of San Jose before retiring in May 2012.  Debra founded the California Alliance of African American Educators in 2001, and in 2018 the CAAAE's name was officially changed to A Black Education Network (ABEN) because of its shift to national work.  Debra was also a founding member of the Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators approximately 35 years ago and served as its president from 1994 to 2001.  When Debra established the CAAAE in 2001, she also created the Dr. Frank S. Greene Scholars Program (GSP). In 2011, she created a school-based model of the GSP at the Dr. George Washington Carver Elementary School in the San Francisco Bayview/Hunter's Point neighborhood.

Ken Crawford currently runs Harp Ventures, an investment company investing and operating in a diverse set of companies ranging from manufacturing to high technology.  Prior to starting Harp Ventures, he was the Technology Finance Controller for Google with financial responsibilities for all of the technology groups within the company.   His career in high technology has included finance and business development positions at Intel, JDS Uniphase and Apple. He began his career with General Motors where he developed software for aircraft navigation systems.

Taryn Grogan is the Director of Enrollment and Strategic Engagement at The Nueva School in Hillsborough/San Mateo, California (PK-12). She successfully achieved enrollment goals (from 350 to 900+) over a middle school expansion and the launch of the new upper school. She served on the Trustee Finance Committee, Advancement Capital Campaign Team, Marketing and Outreach Committee, and Co-Chair for the CAIS/WASC accreditation process. Equity, access, justice, and inclusion have been critical areas of focus throughout her personal and professional career. As a previous board member and Co-Chair for The People of Color in Independent Schools, Program Coordinator for A Better Chance, and now a leader in various initiatives to support gifted students of color, she is dedicated to championing enrichment opportunities for young people. Taryn continues to work with many community-based organizations and brings new programs forward to assist students. The Identifying Gifted Students of Color Conference and the THRIVE program, supporting enrolled underrepresented students, are two initiatives Taryn co-created to support equity and inclusion in schools and society at large. Taryn served two terms as a Trustee for The Berkeley School (Berkeley, CA, PreSchool-8), and Board member and Co-Chair for the Bay Area Directors of Admissions (PK-8). She is currently a Trustee at Sea Crest School (Halfmoon Bay, PK-8), a member of Twelve Days of Christmas, Inc., and sits on the steering committee for the Bay Area Admissions Directors (9-12). Taryn enjoys family time with her husband, mother, and two children, who are themselves Greene Scholars.

Marvin retired as a partner in KPMG LLP’s (KPMG) Internal Audit and Enterprise Risk practice in Silicon Valley. He has more than 30 years of financial and Internal Audit experience in life sciences, technology, automotive, professional services, and manufacturing industries. Marvin has extensive experience delivering audit and risk advisory services. He has experience leading large multidisciplinary engagements where he has personally overseen internal audit, Sarbanes-Oxley Advisory Services domestically and internationally.  He leads KPMG’s African Ancestry Network for employees in the Silicon and San Francisco Business Units. In addition, Marvin is a national Instructor for KPMG and has taught classes on numerous technical topics.   Marvin is happily married, and he and his wife Robin are the proud parents of a fourteen-year-old son. In his spare time Marvin enjoys traveling with his family, trying new restaurants, and cheering for the Golden State Warriors.

Saron Ephraim Williams is an alumna of the Greene Scholars Program, class of 2006. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A in Public Health Policy and B.A. in African American Studies. During her undergraduate studies, Saron spent time at the University of Ghana, Legon in Accra researching traditional herbal medicine. Saron began her public health career as a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fellow and was stationed in Buffalo, New York for two years. She then joined the Georgia Department of Public Health in the Immunization Program where she spent most of her time in the field and her final year working as the Adult and Adolescent Immunization Program Coordinator. She joined the American Cancer Society in 2019 where she served as a Cancer Control Strategic Partnerships Manager working with Federally Qualified Health Centers, hospitals, health plans and public health departments on quality improvement projects to increase cancer screening rates and improve patient outcomes. Saron returned to the CDC in 2022 and she served as a Public Health Analyst for the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services. She also worked as a Health Communications Specialist with the Division of Infectious Disease Readiness and Innovation. Saron started her own consulting business in December of 2024. She is very passionate about reducing health disparities and addressing social determinants of health. Saron resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her growing family.

Gloria Whitaker-Daniels earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.   Her early career was at Johnson and Johnson, Exxon Mobil, and Lockheed Martin before becoming a Sr. Technical Program Manager at Apple Computer responsible for developing 16 generations of laptop computers and wireless products. Gloria then retired and became the CEO of her own engineering firm focused on developing an e-reader unknowingly in parallel with Amazon’s development in the same area. In addition, she served as the Executive Director of the Greene Scholars Program focused on developing youth’s interest in STEM from 2008 - 2014. In 2011, Gloria joined Amazon to delight customers by delivering exceptional and complex consumer electronics designs for Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Echo smart speakers, Alexa software, Astro robotics and nearly every accessory that accompanied Amazon’s vast hardware family. At Amazon, she served as Sr. Hardware TPM, Sr. Software TPM and Manager of Hardware for teams of Hardware TPMs, Operations, Engineering. In addition to her technical roles, she advocated for workforce diversity and inclusion for three decades. In 2018, Gloria  transitioned into the role in DEI delivering creative pipeline, growth, and retention solutions for technical roles within Amazon. She also led STEM initiatives at local Bay Area schools and Amazon/Lab126’s four-year sponsorship of the Greene Scholars Summer Science Institute. Her family calls themselves the Milpitas 5 because she, her husband and children are all STEM degreed and professionals in science or engineering and graduates of the Greene Scholars Program.  Gloria recently entered her second retirement and now with this freedom she has resumed her private interest to advance disruptive thinking to be bold, big and go beyond to launch a strategic movement forming the Innovators Drive which identifies and leverages untapped multicultural product opportunities.

Dr. Bryan A. Brown is a professor of teacher education. His research interest explores the relationship between student identity, discourse, classroom culture, and academic achievement in science education. He focuses on the social connotations and cultural politics of science discourse in small-group and whole-group interaction. Additionally, his research work in science education examines how teacher and student discourse serve to shape learning opportunities for students in science classrooms. Dr. Brown's work in science education in urban communities focuses on developing collaborative curricular cycles and classroom pedagogy based on developing discourse intensive instruction for urban learners. His research has expanded beyond his focus on science education, to include issues of college access in urban communities. His recent work explores how classroom and school culture shapes access to higher education. He conducts mixed methodological work exploring how race, language, and culture impact students learning in urban science classrooms.

Fred Love is the Director of Unified Communication and Collaboration at Capital One. His team is responsible for the strategy, design, and implementation of real time collaboration, conference room technology, collaborative chat, and messaging. Fred has over 28 years of experience in tech with a focus on Unified communication over the past 14 years. His team has been successful at delivering secure, innovative and intuitive services that have enhanced the user experience of our associates. Fred serves on the customer advisor board for Zoom. In addition to his work in Unified Communication, Fred served as the San Francisco chapter lead for Capital One’s Blacks in Tech organization. Prior to Capital One, Fred led Unified Communications for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. His team was instrumental in driving the transformation of voice, video, and conference room services for end-users. He led global teams responsible for the real time collaboration, conference room collaboration, voice and messaging services. Outside of work, Fred is passionate about helping to build STEM confidence and competence in youth from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. He served as the technology lead for Greene Scholars.

Chris Norwood is a social change agent, and has been a leader in creating greater educational and career equity with an emphasis of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He is currently the Senior Trustee for the Milpitas Unified School District, Board President, and was awarded California School Boards Association Trustee of the Year (2020) for his COVID19 response work on behalf of MUSD. Chris became a public figure in middle school at the age of 13 speaking on local and national platforms on a wide variety of topics: Civil Rights, Educational Equity, Race, Religion & Technology. Chris was an early participant of the Silicon Valley dot.com big data evolution and honed his leadership, business development, management and public speaking skills in product management, product marketing and conducting technical training seminars across America and internationally, including Canada, UK, Germany, France, South Korea and Australia. In the education sector, Chris began his career as a business development consultant in 2002 for Xcel Educational Services. In 2013 he bought the assets and rebranded the organization to Bay Area Tutoring Association. He expanded the organization from a math specific, traditional brick-and-mortar operation to a multi-subject, California Department of Education recognized extended learning and online services provider for No Child Left Behind, Title 1, English Language Learners, Computer Science and GATE programs. Under his leadership, XCEL won Best Tutoring Company in Milpitas, California, for four years in a row (2008 – 2012) and Bay Area Tutoring Association was named 2017 Silicon Valley Distinguished Non-Profit of the Year. Since its inception Bay Area Tutoring Association has served more than 5000 at-risk students in math , English and digital literacy in pursuit of career equity for all. In the public education governance sector, Chris was first elected to the Milpitas Unified School District Board of Trustees in 2014 and this past November 2022 was successfully elected to his 3rd term with the second highest vote total. Chris proudly represents a diverse community where 52 languages are spoken and socioeconomics vary greatly. As often as possible Chris encourages 9,720 students, their families, and more than 1100 Milpitas Unified School District employees to always strive to be their best selves. Chris Norwood is a graduate of William Jessup University, formerly San Jose Christian College and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Christian Leadership and Biblical Theology. He has been married to his lovely wife for 24+ years at the time this was written. Chris is the proud father of two high achieving children, a graduate of Cal Poly SLO and a sophomore at San Jose State University.