Meet the Staff
Doug Shipman, Chief Executive Officer
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. In 2010, Doug was named one of the New Leaders Council's "40 under 40" in the area of political entrepreneurship.
Marva Anderson, Finance and Human Resources Manager
Marva brings extensive expertise and specialized training in accounting practices and procedures. Anderson manages the Center’s finances and banking, monitors gifts and pledges, and oversees the annual audit. With more than thirty years of experience in a variety of accounting and bookkeeping functions including audits, banking, payroll, accounting software programs, and overseeing employee benefits, Anderson offers the Center comprehensive financial services.
Most recently Anderson spent twenty-eight years as Accounting Manager for the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland, OH where she made her home until 2009. She is a Cuyahoga Community College alumna where she focused on accounting, audits and accounting for nonprofits. The mother of five and grandmother of nine, she enjoys her family and reading in her free time.
Berry works on annual fundraising campaigns, mailings and publications for the Center’s constituencies. She also plans meetings, and assists with the NCCHR capital campaign.
Most recently, Berry served as Special Events Coordinator in the Office of Special Events for Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. While serving in this role, Berry permitted outdoor events in the City of Atlanta and planned and executed more than 15 events for the Mayor and senior staff, including serving on the committee for the Mayor’s Bowl charity event, which raised $55,000 for Camp Best Friends – a $30,000 increase from the previous year. Berry also held several positions with the National Black Arts Festival where she organized and managed resources and relationships for all government, independent, community and family foundation partners.
Berry earned dual bachelor’s degrees in English and History from North Carolina Wesleyan College. An active community member, Berry serves as a board member for the Reynoldstown Revitalization Corporation, was an organizer of the Southeast Atlanta Neighbors Townhall Meeting and is a member of the Reverend James Orange Commission.
W. Imara Canady, Vice-President of Strategic Partnerships
Imara is leading the charge of cultivating relationships and building collaborations that connect the Center’s vision and mission with a broad array of local, national and international cultural, academic and community organizations and institutions. Imara returns to Atlanta after working with the Chicago Community Trust for two years. Prior to moving to Chicago, Imara was a key aide to Atlanta Mayor, Shirley Franklin serving as Special Assistant to the Mayor/Special Events Manager, after having served as Communications Director/Press Secretary for her successful election in 2001.
Imara’s career as a public servant started in 1997 as Special Projects Coordinator for the previous Mayor of Atlanta, and subsequently he worked for the Office of Vice-President Al Gore and then as Budget Manager for Gore’s 2000 Presidential campaign. Imara has a strong passion for arts and culture. He worked as a consultant for the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, as a staff member with the Theatre and Dance Programs for the 1996 Cultural Olympiad and as a recent appointee to the board for the Fulton County Arts Council. His service to his community is personified by his membership on many boards including the American Red Cross Minority Recruitment Board, the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Committee’s Next Generation Leadership Advisory Council, Horizon Theatre Company Board, the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame Advisory Committee and the Don’t Stop the Music Foundation.
Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Imara graduated from Northside School of the Arts. He received an Associates Degree in Journalism from Atlanta Metropolitan College, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis on Public Relations and Broadcast Journalism from Georgia State University and is in the final stages of completing graduate work at Loyola University - Chicago in Philanthropy and Non-Profit Management.
Johnson directly supports the Executive Vice President’s development responsibilities. She works on annual fundraising campaigns, mailings and publications, and assists with the NCCHR capital campaign. Johnson has over 15 years of experience in business development and program management in the private sector and most recently served as Director of Business Development for Skyline Engineering and Construction. In this role, Johnson was responsible for developing strategic public-private partnerships, identifying state, federal and local project funding opportunities, as well as managing proposals and qualifications processes.
Johnson also has an extensive non-profit sector background which emphasizes her passion for programs that address youth and poverty issues. Johnson currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry as its Co-Director of Fundraising, and is a founding board member of 1st Class Youth, Inc. She was a contributing member of the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council’s local collaborative group and assisted in the design and administration of religious-based after-school programs and summer camps.
As a community member, Johnson is a volunteer with Project Open Hand, Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless, and the ACE Mentor Program. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University, where she majored in Engineering and minored in Political Science and Sociology. She enjoys both the climate and southern hospitality Georgia offers, and has made Atlanta her home for 13 years.
Isha A. Lee, Director of Communications and Marketing
Isha's role includes external communications, copy writing, social media, collateral materials and marketing the Center’s special events and programs. She brings extensive nonprofit fundraising and communications experience to the Center. Prior to this role Isha worked as Director of Development and Communications for VOX Teen Communications and was Associate Director of Philanthropy for The Atlanta Women’s Foundation. She has also worked as a consultant on board development, strategic planning and fundraising strategy as well as copy writing, editing and grant writing for nonprofits and foundations.
Born and raised in NC, Lee is a Davidson College alumna where she majored in political science and completed the Bonner Scholars community service program. She was a 2008 Southeastern Council of Foundations Hull Fellow and completed the Emory University/GA State University Executive Leadership Program for Nonprofit Organizations, and will complete a Masters in Sustainable Business in Community from Goddard College in 2012.
David oversees the exhibition design and content development process for the Center. As the liaison between the curatorial team, the exhibition designers, and the building’s architects, David is responsible for seeing that the emotional and intellectual synergy established by the exhibition’s content and design visually represents and promotes the Center’s message.
David’s career in exhibition design and development began in 1991 when, as a founding staff member at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., he helped develop the USHMM’s permanent exhibition. Hired by Ralph Appelbaum Associates NYC, the world’s largest interpretive museum design firm, as a senior exhibit developer he worked on the National Constitution Center, the Newseum, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Vietnam Era Educational Center. After ten years at Appelbaum, he became the Director of Exhibitions at the N-Y Historical Society in Manhattan where he oversaw the design and development of the landmark Slavery in New York exhibit. While at the NYHS, he designed and installed exhibitions on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, a portraiture exhibit, and a contemporary art show on the topic of slavery. After graduate studies in graphic design at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, he was a partner at Elsas Design, an identity and print design studio.
Exhibitions he has worked on have won numerous design awards including the Presidential Award for Design Excellence (the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum), the Gold Industrial Design of Excellence Award (IDEA) for exhibits (the Newseum), and Communication Arts Award of Excellence for Environmental Graphics (Country Music Hall of Fame).
David has a B.A. in History from Washington University in St. Louis and lives with his wife and daughter in Atlanta’s Lake Claire neighborhood.
Prior to joining the Center staff she was Chief Program Officer at Women’s Funding Network in San Francisco. A native Atlantan, Deborah was the CEO of The Atlanta Women’s Foundation (AWF);Director of Program Development for Fulton County Juvenile Court; founding Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Fund and Managing Director of the National Black Arts Festival.
Deborah has been recognized over the years for her community service. She has been given many distinctions such as: The Community Leadership Award by Spelman College Board of Trustees, The Legacy Award by the Juvenile Justice Fund, The Grassroots Justice Award by the Georgia Justice Project, a Woman of Excellence by Business to Business Magazine, Ember Award by Campfire USA, inducted into the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, the Atlanta Business League 100 Black Women of Influence and the Liberty Bell Award by the Atlanta Bar Association. She is an alumnus of Leadership Atlanta, the Regional Leadership Institute and a recipient of a Harvard Business Club of Atlanta Executive Education Scholarship. She is on the board of the African Women’s Development Fund – USA and a member of the Sister Scholars Advisory Council of the Delta and on the D5 Executive Committee, a coalition among funders to increase equity and diversity in philanthropy.
Deborah is a nationally recognized leader on social justice for women and girls and an advocate against child sex trafficking. She has designed leading programs for girls victimized by commercial sexual exploitation and is the co-author of "Ending Sex Trafficking of Children in Atlanta" (Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, Spring 2007). In 2010 Deborah testified during the “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking” hearing of the U. S. Congress Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. She is a national spokesperson for A Future. Not a Past., a campaign to stop the prostitution of our nation’s children and a frequent contributor to Huffington Post.