Recently named to the Brooklyn Power 100 list for the third year in a row, Dr. Patricia Ramsey was appointed by the CUNY Board of Trustees to serve as the sixth president of Medgar Evers College in 2021. She is the first woman president and the first scientist to be appointed president of the College.

Distinguished as a “National Role Model” by Minority Access, Inc., Dr. Ramsey is a leader and a scholar with a deep commitment to excellence and a passion for making a difference in the lives of students and their families. Through her visionary approach to education and commitment to expanding economic, social justice, and health equity, Dr. Ramsey was instrumental in launching MEC’s cannabis education program, the first for the City University of New York. Students may choose from 13 newly developed courses to earn a cannabis degree minor in testing, cultivation, business, or health, which will prepare them for opportunities in this burgeoning industry.

Being named to City and State’s Brooklyn Power 100 list in 2021, 2022, and 2023, Dr. Ramsey came to Medgar Evers College from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), where she served as senior executive fellow. Before TMCF, she was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. For nearly 12 years, she served in various capacities at Bowie State University, the oldest HBCU in Maryland.

A biologist by training, Dr. Ramsey has a research interest in the biological activity of plants used in folklore, has collected 110 species of agave in the Sonoran Desert, and has traveled a 450-mile span of highway collecting Sapium sebiferum (popcorn tree) leaves in the southeastern United States. Dr. Ramsey earned her Master of Science in Botany from Howard University, a Master of Arts in Biology from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Biology from Georgetown University. Dr. Ramsey received her undergraduate degree from Norfolk State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology Education. She completed the executive leadership programs in AASCU’s Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI), Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management (IEM), and the Civic Leadership Institute.

Fred Jones, Jr., is the first HBCU sports-affiliated person to be honored in ‘The Ten Most Dominant HBCU Leaders.’

Memphis native, Fred Jones, Jr., began his career in entertainment as road manager with Iassc Hayes. Returning to Memphis, Jones began to booking acts such as Lou Rawls, Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles, Count Basie, B.B. King, Sarah Vaughan, John Davidson, Tina Turner, Bill Cosby and Tyler Perry. In 1977, Jones was named national tour manager for the Isley Brothers. He spent two years with the Isley’s, while continuing to bring shows to Memphis.

Emboldened by the cause to help support worthy educational institutions and encouraged by growing attendance, Fred Jones, Jr., added many activities the football game since its launch in 1990 that is now known as the Southern Heritage Classic.

The Southern Heritage Classic Cultural Celebration has become the premier sports and entertainment event in Memphis. This year’s classic game will feature the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions and the Tennessee State University Tigers at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium on Saturday, September 14^th.

Dr. O. Jerome Green is an ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a licensed attorney with over 40 years of professional experience. He is currently employed as President of Shorter College in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He is also pastor of Connor Chapel AME Churches in Little Rock.

As President at Shorter College since 2012, Dr. Green has led Shorter College to receive full reaccreditation by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and re-certification by the State of Arkansas Board of Higher Education. Enrollment at Shorter College has increased from 2 students in 2012 to its current enrollment of over 600 students. In 2015, Dr. Green was named among Arkansas Life Magazine’s list of Arkansans of the Year for innovation in education. Under his leadership, Shorter College has beautified its campus, brought back intercollegiate sports and completed construction on the first of three dormitories to house non-commuter students. Acquired rock island railroad depot from the city of North Little Rock to develop a technology hub with a $1.2 million grant from the federal Economic Development Agency.

A native of Pell City, Alabama, Dr. Green received his B.A. degree from Miles College in Birmingham, AL, his M.A. degree from The Ohio State University, and his J.D. degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He attended Jackson Theological Seminary in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and has done further study at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

Dr. Green is a former member of the Arkansas Ethics Commission and the Arkansas Martin Luther King Commission. He is a current member of the Board of Directors for the Quapaw Council of the Boy Scouts of America and is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities.

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Dr. Larry Robinson is Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) 12th president and a distinguished professor and researcher in the School of the Environment at FAMU. Previously, he served as the interim president of FAMU from September 2016 to November 2017, from July 2012 to March 2014 and in 2007.

Dr. Robinson served as director of FAMU’s Environmental Sciences Institute from 1997 to 2023, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs from 2003 to 2005 and vice president for Research in 2009.

Dr. Robinson’s recent honors include an appointment in July 2018 to serve on the national STEM Education Advisory Panel. Congress authorized the creation of the panel to encourage U.S. scientific and technological innovations in education.

In 2007-2009, Dr. Robinson served as senior scientific advisor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. In May 2010, he took a leave of absence from FAMU to serve in a U.S. Senate-confirmed position as assistant secretary of Commerce for Conservation and Management at NOAA. In November 2011, Dr. Robinson was asked to return to the University as a special assistant to the president and professor to coordinate administrative and eminent scholar searches and integrate Graduate Studies and Title III Programs within the Division of Sponsored Research. He was selected again as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs in March 2012.

Dr. Robinson began his career at FAMU in January 1995 as a visiting professor in the Environmental Sciences Institute and later became director of the Institute in January 1997.

Dr. Robinson attended Lemoyne-Owen College, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry (summa cum laude) from Memphis State University and a doctorate in nuclear chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

David A. Thomas, Ph.D., is the 12th president of Morehouse College. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in organizational management and higher education leadership. A noted academic scholar, award-winning author, and business consultant for 100 of the Fortune 500 companies, Dr. Thomas has also served as dean of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and on the faculty of Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. At Morehouse, his fundraising leadership has resulted in approximately $190 million, a still-growing total higher than during any other presidential tenure in the history of the college. Under his strategic direction, Morehouse has extended its reach by launching and its first online degree programs and has amplified its positioning as a center of intellectual discourse and social engagement in areas such as global leadership, professional equity, social justice, and innovation. He has written or co-written three books and more than 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, cases, and teaching notes.

Among other honors, Dr. Thomas is the recipient of Washington Business Journal’s “Minority Business Leader of the Year” award and the National Executive Forum’s Beacon Award and was named one of “Atlanta’s 500 Most Powerful Leaders” by Atlanta Magazine. Getting Serious about Diversity: Enough Already with the Business Case, co-written by Dr. Thomas, won the 2020 HBR McKinsey Award as the best Harvard Business Review article of the year. He serves on the boards of DTE Energy, Commonfund, Vanguard, and Yale Corporation. He is also a senior advisor for Grain Management. He earned his Ph.D. in organizational behavior studies and a Master of Philosophy in organizational behavior, both from Yale University, along with a Master of Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Administrative Sciences from Yale College.

Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston is the seventh president of Norfolk State University. As President, she is committed to ensuring that Norfolk State University fulfills its mission as an HBCU for the modern world, a university grounded by its heritage, focused on the future, and deeply committed to student success. Her vision is student success, opportunity, access, affordability, growth, and sustainability. A strong advocate for collaboration and developing strategic partnerships with local, regional, state, national, and international stakeholders. Dr. Adams-Gaston is committed to cultivating strong connections with alumni and the community.

During her first year as President at Norfolk State University, the COVID-19 pandemic created multiple challenges for the nation and the world. President Adams-Gaston collaborated with her team to move the institution forward despite the issues created as a result of the pandemic. This led to the university achieving multiple successes. Under President Adams-Gaston’s leadership, Norfolk State University has successfully achieved the state of a U.S. News and World Report 2020, 2021, and 2022 as a Top 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) designation. Attained 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation by its major accrediting body, The Southern Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). This reaffirmation underscores the University’s strength, stability, and forward momentum. Enrollment increased to a six-year high in 2019, to 5,600 students. This included the largest freshmen class in many year, 1,200 freshman student (FY20). For Fall 2022 the new freshmen class included 1,300 students enrolled and a total population of 5,785 students. The university has realized record operating revenues, 104% above projection, the highest in the history of Norfolk State. A new 740-bed state of the art residence complex was opened. And Dr. Adams-Gaston has been successful in acquiring multiple donations including a transformational gift of over $40 million from Mackenzie Scott, the largest single donor gift in the history of NSU and a generous donation of support from Landmark Foundation of $5 million.

President Adams-Gaston is a higher education professional and scholar with more than 35 years of experience at nationally know research one universities. Prior to joining Norfolk State University, Dr. Adams-Gaston served as senior vice president at The Ohio State University and led forty department in the Office of Student Life annually impacting over 66,000 students. With her selection in 2009, Dr. Adams-Gaston became The Ohio State’s first female African American Vice President for Student Life. She came to The Ohio State University from the University of Maryland, where she served in administrative and faculty positions. Her experience includes serving at University of Maryland, College Park as associate dean of academic affairs, faculty member, executive director of the Career Center, equity administrator, psychologist and first UMCP African American female assistant athletic director (Division 1) and as an Athletic Certification Peer Reviewer for the NCAA. Trained as a psychologist, Dr. Adams-Gaston spent more than 25 years as a licensed psychologist in private practice. She also served as a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. She was an affiliate assistant professor at the Ohio State University.

Dr. Adams-Gaston earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, psychology, and general science at the University of Dubuque; a master’s degree in psychology at Loras College; and a Ph.D. in psychology at Iowa State University. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Ernest C. McNealey, Ph.D., is the 30th President of Allen University. Dr. McNealey came to the institution as Interim President in the fall of 2016. During his tenure, the University successfully completed its 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and gained approval to move from Level II to Level III to offer a graduate program; new majors have been added; football and marching band have been revived; campus upgrades have been undertaken; university finances have been stabilized; and the Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary was launched. Prior to coming to Allen, Dr. McNealey was the principal officer in the McNealey Group, an Atlanta-based consulting firm, which specialized in accreditation, planning, financial modeling, and NCAA compliance. Models to research and redress persistent retention challenges were also developed and remain a core interest. Before retiring from Stillman College, Dr. McNealey’s leadership enabled the institution to reach its highest ever endowment, total assets, and enrollment levels. The college achieved its first-ever ranking US News & World Report’s top tier among schools in the Southern region and selection as one of the Nation’s 15 Most Wired Campuses, as well as Apple Computers Innovation in Technology Award.

Dr. McNealey was elected and appointed to a number of professional organizations. He served as a member of the NCAA D-II Presidents’ Council, the HBCU Capital Financing Board, the Association of Presbyterian Colleges’ Risk Management Board, the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge Advisory Board, the ETS/HBCU Advisory Board, and the Paul R. Jones Art Collection Board. He was a member of the Commission on Colleges of SACS and served on the Executive Committee. He also chaired the boards of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

Dr. McNealey holds a bachelor’s degree from Alabama State University, a master’s from Indiana University, and the Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Management Institute, a charter member of 100 Black Men of West Alabama, a Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and was inducted into Beta Kappa Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.

Dr. David Hall is the fifth president of the University of the Virgin Islands. At the same time of his appointment as president, he was also awarded a Distinguished Professorship of Spirituality and Professionalism at UVI.

Under President Hall’s leadership, the University received a $1 million pledge to create a science building, and a $5 million gift to create the 13D Student Entrepreneurial Competition and fund the Kiril Sokoloff endowed professorship in Entrepreneurship. Alumni contributions have also doubled since his tenure as President. The University has also constructed a 100-bed state-of-the-art residence hall on St. Thomas, and has worked with the Research and Technology Park to construct an academic building on St. Croix.

Dr. Hall is also committed to inclusion and transparency, which he views as hallmarks of strong leadership. As such, he has worked to implement a new, open and transparent University that upholds the tenets of shared governance. He has convened presidential advisory committees on both campuses, and has a presence on both campuses.

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Dr. Hall holds a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, where he was named an “All American” for his athletic and scholarly accomplishments. After graduating from Kansas State, he played professional basketball in Italy. He received his doctor of jurisprudence (JD) from the University of Oklahoma, where he also earned a master’s degree in Human Relations. He holds both an LL.M. degree and a doctorate of juridical science (SJD) from Harvard Law School.

In 1993, when he was appointed dean of the Northeastern University School of Law, he made history by being the first African American to hold the position. He also served as Provost and Senior Vice President of Northeastern University, and was also the first African American to hold that position.

Having taught law for more than 25 years in the law schools of the University of Mississippi, the University of Oklahoma and Northeastern University, Dr. Hall has enjoyed a distinguished career as an educational administrator and preeminent scholar in the field of law. In May 2020, in recognition of his significant contributions to the legal field, Dr. Hall was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the New English School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Hall was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Legal Services Corporation Board of Directors.