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.

Brenda K. Johnson, Grants and Proposals Manager

Brenda Johnson provides C-level support to Center executives utilizing her broad-based experience in corporate and non-profit environments, providing expertise in development, operations and strategy.

 

In her current role as Grants and Proposals Manager with the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Johnson manages all development functions, and directly supports the Executive Vice President’s fundraising initiatives. She manages and implements multi-million dollar campaigns, prospecting, grant writing, corporate and foundation proposals, donor cultivation and stewardship. Johnson has over 10 years of experience in business development and program management.  She is well-versed in developing strategic public-private partnerships, identifying state, federal and local project funding opportunities, as well as managing proposals and qualifications processes.

During her 17 years of experience, Brenda has served in various roles utilizing her background in engineering and project management. Recently, Johnson combined her technical expertise with her passion for community service and fully transitioned into non-profit administration. Driven by her passion for children and youth, she developed an extensive background in the development of youth programs, fundraising, and mentoring.

 

Johnson’s community involvement centers on her commitment to youth and poverty issues.  Johnson served as the Director of Fundraising for the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry, an after-school mentoring and exposure program at Benjamin Mays High School.  Brenda is also a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) advocate, promoting science and technology education and careers to students from high-need communities and girls. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in Civil 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 15 years.

Judith (Judy) Klose, Executive Assistant

Judy was born in Yonkers, New York and has lived in Ontario, Canada, Atlanta, Georgia and St. Petersburg, Florida.  Judy has a great passion for world travel.  Currently she is an Executive Assistant at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.  Previously, a Development Assistant at Southern Regional Medical Center and also worked for The Delta Air Lines Foundation & Community Affairs.  As a result of both of these work experiences Judy has seen both the giving and asking side of Foundation and Corporate support as well as in-kind donations.  Her expertise is problem solving, has great organizational skills and the ability to acquire in-kind donations.  Previous employers include Delta Air Lines, The Coca-Cola Company and World of Coca-Cola Atlanta as well as Georgia Institute of Technology.  Judy worked in the Public Relations and Marketing Department of the World of Coca-Cola and the Foundation, Diversity and Community Affairs Department of Delta Air Lines.  Judy spent seven years as a full-time home missionary directly after graduating from North Clayton Senior High.  Her parents were missionaries in Austria, her father being a Holocaust Survivor and her mother being involved in a human rights Supreme Court case which has helped sustain freedom of religion for all Americans.

David Salk Mandel, Director, Exhibits & Design

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.

Scarlet Pressley-Brown, Vice President of Marketing (Loaned Executive, Delta Air Lines)

As the Vice President of Marketing, Scarlet is responsible for assisting in developing an overall brand approach for the Center where positioning and strategy will be key to grand opening in 2014. Prior to joining the Center,  she served as the Director of External Affairs & Community Relations at Delta Air Lines and Vice President of the Delta Air Lines Foundation.

Since June 2000, Scarlet managed Delta’s presence in the community, establishing the company as a leading corporate citizen.

Prior to Delta, Ms. Pressley-Brown spent six years with the East Lake Community Foundation as director of Community Affairs successfully restoring and revitalizing the historic East Lake Golf Course community.

The restoration included the establishment and opening of Drew Charter School, Atlanta’s first Charter School.

Ms. Pressley-Brown has received numerous awards: the “Outstanding Georgia Citizen” Award presented by the Secretary of State, the Atlanta Business League named Mrs. Pressley-Brown one of “Atlanta’s Top Black Women of Influence” for the past six consecutive years and The Trumpet Awards Foundation presented her the “High Heels in High Places Award in 2007.

The February 2006 issue of the Atlanta Tribune featured Scarlet and husband, Wendell, as one of Atlanta’s “Power Couples” and the Atlanta Urban League Guild recognized both of them with the “Transportation Achievement” Award.

Mrs. Pressley-Brown has received the Outstanding Community Service Award from SCLC Women’s and the Excellence in Business Award from the Interdenominational Theological Center. Ms. Brown has also been featured on the cover and in several editions of Who’s Who in Black Atlanta, the cover of the Business to Business and The Atlanta Tribune.

Scarlet received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and her MBA from University of Phoenix as well as Lean Six Sigma/Green Belt Certification from Georgia State University...

She is on the board of directors for the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Business League, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (ATL), the Atlanta Medical Association, the Advisory Council of Ron Clark Academy and the Agnes Scott Board of Visitors.

She is a member of the National Black MBA Association, the Clark Atlanta Guild, the American Institute for Managing Diversity, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, graduate of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2008, member of NCCHR Women’s Solidarity Society, and a member of The Links Inc. Buckhead/Cascade Chapter.

Scarlet and Wendell have five children, one son-in-law: Wendell, Jr., April, Amber French (Jason), Kiesha, Dexter, and two granddaughters – Ryan Michelle and Riley Maria.

Deborah J. Richardson, Executive Vice President 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.

LaTasha Smith, Director of Communications

As the Director of Communications for the Center, LaTasha is responsible for developing and implementing integrated marketing and communications programs for the Center. LaTasha manages the Center’s press and media relations; plans, edits, and distributes thought-leadership; and manages the Centers web and new media presence in the national community.

Prior to joining the Center, LaTasha served as the Communications Manager for Families United in Educational Leadership (FUEL). FUEL, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, offers incentives to low-income families to motivate them to participate in their children’s higher education ambitions and gives them the knowledge, skills, and network to realize their dreams of educational accomplishment.

While in Boston, LaTasha served as a fellow with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and a member of the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. She completed her Master of Public Administration with honors from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. There she focused her research on international relations, human trafficking, and gender-based policy.

LaTasha also holds a bachelors in Consumer Journalism from the University of Georgia, where she competed as a high jumper for the SEC championship women's track and field team.