Effley N. Brooks III
MBA Teaching Assistant Professor

Effley Brooks is President and owner of Tiger Bee Consulting, LLC a company that he established in order to expand his opportunities in working toward positive social change. Effley specializes in leadership development workshops and seminars. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Effley is a Buckeye- born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. However, he decided to move to Colorado after just one visit to this beautiful state. Effley is an avid snowboarder, skier, and fisherman. He has a daughter in middle school and two dogs from Rocky Mountain Puppy Rescue. Effley serves on the Board of Directors for REACH Charter School and is a member of Denver African American Philanthropists (DAAP).

Emilie A. Gettliffe
MSc, MA, ACC

As an Executive & Leadership Coach with Align Leadership, Emilie has dedicated her life to helping leaders and teams find their wings. She channels innovative facilitation, training and coaching methods to help individuals and groups address critical challenges, broaden awareness, and stimulate positive change. With over a decade of experience working with cross-cultural teams and leaders around the world, including in the United States, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Emilie brings unique experience working in complex and diverse environments. She has designed and facilitated programs in leadership development, systems thinking and organizational learning for clients including the Centre for Disaster Protection/UN-OCHA, World University Service Canada, DPR Construction, Duquesne Light, International Rescue Committee, and the International Youth Foundation. Emilie is a certified Integral Coach® through New Ventures West, an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coach Federation, and a Certified Enneagram Coach® through the Enneagram in Business program. Emilie holds an MSc from the London School of Economics, an MA from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciences Po), and a BA from the University of Colorado.

Fesehaye Ghezae Abrhaley
Leadership Africa Committee Chair

Fesehaye is a Senior Systems Engineer/Quality Engineer at Lockheed Martin. NASA Orion Project in the Orion Test labs. Born raised in Eritrea and came to the US in 1997. Graduated from The University of Colorado at Boulder with a Degree in Electrical Engineering. Started working for Lockheed Martin as a Software Engineer for the Department of Defense for two years as RF Distribution systems. In 2006 Fesehaye transferred to the Lockheed Martin Space Systems working for NASA project called Orion which is going to take humans to Mars by 2030. Working for that project in so many levels starting as an Embedded Software Engineer, as a communication and Tracking Systems lead (for a Pad Abort Test flight launched in 2010), as a Lab Manager in the Integrated Test labs here in Colorado. Fesehaye worked as a Launch Team (As Certified Test conductor) for the Exploration Flight Test one (EFT-1) that was launched on December 5th, 2014 from Launch site in Florida NASA Kennedy Space Center. Fesehaye is a proud husband, father and serves on the Boards of African Leadership Group (ALG); Elders in Bethel Eritrean Church Colorado; Co-Founder and Executive Director of American & African Consulting Group LLC; Co-Founder and Executive Director of American & African Investment LLC Link to NASA Journey to Mars: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars

Evans Kwesi Mensah
Leadership Africa Committee Member

Cofounder and executive director for ValueCycle, a supply chain, leadership/organizational development and training institution, Evans serves as the lead consultant with over 20 years’ experience. Evans is also a cofounder of Diversifying Our Communities – a nonprofit that is focused on educating and empowering the minority community by creating opportunities with huge focus on the African woman. Evans is atrio continental individual, works and lived in Africa, Europe and currently in the Americas. Evans is a bestselling author of: ‘Synergy and Commonality – The Key to Success’ and recently, ‘Beyond the Credentials’. As a McKinsey & Company Fellow and a certified lean 6 sigma blackbelt, he has made a lot of strides positively in turning the bottom-line for many institutions. Evans serves on a number of boards locally and internationally as well as engaged in many social activities including but not limited to: Howard University Executive Education where he doubles as chair for career excellence, as well as instructor for their global executive leadership program in Washington D.C.; Charter Education Partners for Omar D. Blair (K-12) Charter School, and chair for their Finance Committee in Denver; mentor for Watson Institute in Boulder, Colorado. He was the immediate past National Council Member for the United Nations Association, USA and their first chair for the Collaboration and Partnerships Committee (SDG 17). He guests’ lecturers at Metropolitan State University in the school of journalism, Denver, and a visiting guest lecturer/trainer at University of Ghana Business School, Legon. He currently serves as the country chair for the Dwight Eisenhower Fellowship in Ghana. More on: www.evansmensah.com.

Dr. Derrick Hudson
Leadership Africa Committee Member

Derrick Hudson is a Teaching Associate Professor in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) at Colorado School of Mines. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Humanities and Middle East Area Studies, Dr. Hudson served in the United States Air Force as an Air Weapons Controller with the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), serving in several locations around the world, to include NATO, Saudi Arabia, and Iceland.  After separating from military service, Dr. Hudson pursued coursework with The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Rome, Italy, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Central Oklahoma. Dr. Hudson returned to Colorado in 1992 to pursue his PhD in International Relations at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies (JKSIS) at the University of Denver, earning his doctorate in 2004.  Dr. Hudson’s major academic interests are in African political economy, international politics, U.S. foreign policy, political theory, urban studies, religious and secular studies, religion and politics, moral psychology, environmental and engineering ethics, and Ethnic Studies. Dr. Hudson has taught at the University of Michigan, Metropolitan State University of Denver, University of Colorado Denver, Colorado Christian University, and American Pathways University.  Dr. Hudson’s most recent book, co-edited with Dr. Steven Roach (University of South Florida), focused on post-secessionist dynamics in South Sudan (The Challenge of Governance in South Sudan Routledge, 2019).  Dr. Hudson’s most recent research interests will explore the geopolitics of the Nile River Basin, with focus on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), one of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams and the largest in Africa.  The GERD, once filled, will be a geopolitical game changer with regard to water politics in the horn of Africa and the Gulf States.

Omar Montgomery
Leadership Africa Committee Member

Omar serves as Director of Black Student Services at CU Denver, where he founded a youth leadership program dedicated to nurturing high school and college students’ individual civic engagement skills. Omar has also continued his family’s tradition of strengthening community. As a key stakeholder in Colorado’s Transforming Safety Initiative which created new economic opportunities for Northwest Aurora. He continues to work directly with the Aurora Police Department’s Citizens’ Advisory Board and Key Community Response Team to improve law enforcement’s relationships with underprivileged communities. He is also board chairperson at the Village Exchange Center—a “one stop shop” supporting integration, engagement and empowerment of Aurora’s immigrants and refugee communities. Omar has his Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, and Dual Master’s in Education Administration and Public Administration. He currently serves as president of the Aurora branch of the NAACP, and is a member of Aurora’s Budget and Golf Commissions. He is a proud family man, father, and companion to his dog, Marley.

Reilly Pharo Carter
Leadership Africa Committee Member

Reilly brings over a decade of experience as a leader in Colorado’s education policy landscape and has been involved in landmark legislation efforts at the state level. From 2009 to 2014 Reilly served as the Vice President of Education Initiatives and prior to that the Government Affairs Director for the Colorado Children’s Campaign where she led the organization’s education policy work, as well as served on the Children’s Campaign’s leadership team. Over the last five years Reilly led Climb Higher Colorado as their President and CEO. In that role she helped establish the organization, build partnerships across a wide range of organizations, elevate the importance of family-school partnerships and launched their signature fellowship, the Systems Impact Institute. Reilly now supports a mix of education related initiatives as Principal with RPC Consulting. Reilly was born and raised in Colorado. She loves spending time with her husband, Brett and daughter Gwen. She is a mentor through the Challenge Foundation, loves hiking, biking and spending time with loved ones. Reilly earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Kansas and a Master of Arts in Urban Education Policy from Brown University.

Vincent Omegba
Leadership Africa Committee Member

A minister, missionary, lawyer, leadership teacher and serial social Entrepreneur, Vincent Omegba is a Nigerian resident in Aurora Colorado. He leads a multi-cultural church that actively participates in community development through Hope Hall Inc. He is the VP International collaboration Consensys Group LLC and manages her Nigerian affiliate Consensys Growth Ltd. He is also senior consultant with Consensys Growth LLC, a Colorado corporation. A proponent of collaborative engagement and consensus participatory systems in leadership and governance, he sits on the city of Aurora Key Community Response Team (KCRT) that advices the government on cultural, security, safety and social issues. Vincent is married to Priscilla Omegba and they are blessed with four adult children and four grandchildren. www.Consensysgroup.com www.Rccgdc.org www.hopehall4all.org

LaTerrell Bradford
Leadership Africa Committee Member

LaTerrell Bradford is a very active community member. She teaches yoga at the Salvation Army’s-Red Shield Community Center. She currently serves on the Colorado Community Advisory Board and frequently volunteers at Food Bank of The Rockies. Her love for community is apparent as she has mentored several girls with The Byrne Scholars-now The Denver Kids. She is also known for sharing information with others of all the wonderful community events that are taking place. LaTerrell studied Mental Health and Counseling and completed her degree program at Metropolitan State University. She worked at Denver Investment Advisors for 24 years before it was acquired by Segall Bryant & Hamill in 2018. She has now accumulated 28 years at the Investment firm. LaTerrell is the mother of one son and the grandmother of two beautiful grandchildren. Her family means the world to her as she wears the title of the matriarch in her family bloodline. LaTerrell’s philosophy is “if generational trauma can be passed down so can generational Love and Healing”. Her mission and passion in life is to model healthy behavior, to appeal to the Light in others and to encourage marginalized, disenfranchised communities to Live their best lives through healing, raising their vibration and taking full responsibility & advantage of all opportunities and capabilities.

Lisa Neal-Graves
Leadership Africa Committee Member

Lisa Neal-Graves is a senior technical executive and thought leader with more than 25 years of experience with multinational, Fortune 50, mid-size growth, and start-up corporations. From architecting WorldNet business internet services to pushing neuromorphic computing research, throughout her career Lisa has led technology strategy and product innovation for publicly traded, privately held, and early-stage growth companies. Lisa has led companies through IPOs and major M&A transactions. Lisa is a recognized technology and legal leader on internet/cyber security, artificial intelligence, data science, data privacy. Lisa also has significant R&D experience, delivering products and services across multiple industries including telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services, as well as federal, state, and local government agencies. Throughout her career, Lisa has led new product introduction and deployment as well as corporate-wide technology strategic planning, senior leadership new technology education, and policy development. Lisa also has extensive experience driving research, strategic planning, and partnership management. Lisa has lived and worked in Europe (Italy and UK) as well as Shanghai, China with responsibility for new product line introduction and business development. Most recently, Lisa leveraged her expertise and experiences as a leader in government, initially as the Chief Innovation Officer for the Colorado Attorney General, then as a candidate for public office.