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BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Roger
Wilkins, Chairman and Publisher
As
chairman and publisher of The Crisis Publishing Company,
Inc. Roger Wilkins links the future of this illustrious
publication with its past. Wilkins is the nephew of
Roy Wilkins, editor of THE CRISIS (1934 - 1949) and
NAACP Executive Director (1955-1977). A distinguished
scholar, Roger Wilkins is a Clarence J. Robinson Professor
of History and American Culture at George Mason University
in Fairfax, Virginia.
An
accomplished journalist and author, Wilkins is a co-recipient
of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Watergate coverage
in the Washington Post. In 1988, he served as Chairman
of the Pulitzer Prize Board. He has authored two books:
A Man's Life (1982; reissued 1991); and Quiet
Riots (1988). He just completed his third book,
Jefferson's Pillow: The Dilemma of Black Patriotism
that was published July 4, 2001. Wilkins also conceived,
wrote and narrated two productions for PBS: Keeping
the Faith (1987) and Throwaway People (1989).
His
professional career has included positions with: New
York Times, CBS News, Mother Jones, Washington
Star, Mutual Broadcasting System, Ford Foundation,
U.S. Department of Justice, US Department of Commerce,
and a private law practice.
He
currently serves on the following boards: NAACP Legal
Defense Fund; Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights (Former
Commissioner); Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law; African-American Institute; Higher Education Issues
Panel - Association of Governing Boards of Universities
and Colleges (Chairman); Milton Eisenhower Foundation;
and WETA.
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Julian
Bond, Vice Chairman and NAACP Chairman
Julian Bond has been an active participant in the movements
for civil rights, economic justice, and peace for more
than three decades. As an activist who has faced jail
for his convictions, as a veteran of more than 20 years
service in the Georgia General Assembly, as a university
professor, and as a writer who raises hard questions
and proposes difficult solutions, he has been on the
cutting edge of social change since 1960.
He
was a founder, in 1960, while a student at Morehouse
College, of the Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation
organization, and of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC). As SNCC's Communications Director,
Bond was active in protests and registration campaigns
throughout the South.
Elected
in 1965 to the Georgia House of Representatives, Bond
was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected
to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected
to his own vacant seat and un-seated again, and seated
only after a third election and a unanimous decision
of the United States Supreme Court that said the Georgia
House had violated his rights.
He
was co-chair of a challenge delegation from Georgia
to the 1968 Democratic Convention. The challengers were
successful in unseating Georgia's regular Democrats,
and Bond was nominated for Vice-President, but had to
decline because he was too young.
In
the Georgia Senate, Bond became the first black chair
of the Fulton County Delegation, the largest and most
diverse in the upper house, and chair of the Consumer
Affairs Committee. During his legislative tenure, he
was sponsor or co-sponsor of more than 60 bills which
became law.
He
appears regularly on America's Black Forum, the oldest
black-owned show in television syndication. He has authored
a nationally distributed newspaper column. His poetry
and articles have appeared in numerous publications.
He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1977, and has been
narrator of numerous documentaries, including the Academy
Award winning "A Time For Justice" and the prize-winning
and critically acclaimed series "Eyes On The Prize."
He
is Chairman of the Board of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The
holder of nineteen honorary degrees, he is a Distinguished
Professor at American University in Washington, DC,
and a Professor in History at the University of Virginia.
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Bruce
S. Gordon, Secretary
Bruce
S. Gordon retired in December 2003 after a 35 year career
in the telecommunications industry. In his final role,
Bruce was president - Retail Markets Group for Verizon,
responsible for the company's consumer and small business
customers. He also directed corporate advertising and
brand management.
Prior
to the Bell Atlantic / GTE merger in June 2000, Bruce
served as group president for Bell Atlantic's Enterprise
business unit. He was responsible for all of that unit's
activities including, Enterprise Customer Services Delivery,
Federal Systems, the Data Solutions group, the Telecom
Systems group. Prior to that, Bruce directed Bell Atlantic's
retail marketing for all consumer and business customers.
His responsibilities included product and market management,
advertising and brand management, and enterprise marketing
for the corporation formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic
and NYNEX. Bruce was also accountable for Bell Atlantic's
Quality initiatives across the entire corporation.
Prior
to the Bell Atlantic-NYNEX merger, he was group president-Consumer
and Small Business Services of Bell Atlantic's Network
Services Inc. Bruce began his career at Bell of Pennsylvania
in 1968 as a management trainee and advanced through
assignments in personnel, operations, and sales and
marketing. In 1985, he was appointed vice president
- sales of Bell Atlantic, and subsequently served as
president-consumer services and vice president - marketing
and sales.
In
July 2002, Fortune magazine named Bruce to its "50 Most
Powerful Black Executives" list. Previously, Black Enterprise
magazine named Bruce Gordon "1998 Executive of the Year."
He is a member of the board of Bartech Personnel Services,
Southern Company and Tyco International, Ltd. He is
also a member of the Executive Leadership Council. Bruce
is a trustee of Gettysburg College and Alvin Ailey Dance
Foundation. Born in Camden, New Jersey on February 15,
1946, he received a B.A. from Gettysburg College and
received a M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. Bruce and his
wife, Tawana, reside in New York City. His son, Taurin,
27, resides in Philadelphia, PA.
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David
Schneiderman, Treasurer
David
Schneiderman is the CEO of Village Voice Media, the
premier publisher of alternative newspapers the United
States.
Village
Voice Media is comprised of seven award-winning, weekly
newspapers, including The Village Voice, LA
Weekly, OC Weekly, Seattle Weekly,
Cleveland Free Times, The Nashville Scene,
and Minneapolis-St. Paul City Pages. The company generates
approximately $100 million in revenue.
Mr.
Schneiderman's association with the alternative weekly
newspaper business began in 1978 when he was named Editor-in-Chief
of The Village Voice. Since 1987, Mr. Schneiderman
has played a leading role in building the company into
one of the most prized newspaper groups in the nation.
During
Mr. Schneiderman's editorship, from 1978 - 1985, The
Village Voice became the first alternative weekly
newspaper to win two Pulitzer Prizes. In addition, during
his editorial tenure, The Voice was also honored
with the prestigious George Polk Memorial Award. In
2000, The Voice won its third Pulitzer Prize
for international reporting.
Before
joining The Village Voice, Mr. Schneiderman spent
eight years at The New York Times, where he began
as an assistant to the late Harrison Salisbury rising
to the position of deputy editor of the Op-Ed page.
He worked with Mr. Salisbury to establish the New
York Times Op-ed page, the first of its kind in
the country.
In
1988, Mr. Schneiderman was the founding publisher of
7 Days magazine, a highly acclaimed New York
City weekly which won the National Magazine Award in
the 2nd year of its existence.
Mr.
Schneiderman received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University
and his M.A. from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced
International Studies. His writing has appeared in Harper's
Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Times Book
Review and Le Monde Diplomatique.
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Ken
Bentley, NAACP Special Contribution Fund Trustee
Kenneth
W. Bentley is vice president of community affairs for
Nestlé USA, Inc. In his position he is responsible for
community affairs activities for all Nestle operating
companies in the United States.
Bentley
is a native of Los Angeles, having been Crenshaw High's
first student body president and All-City athlete and
is a member of the school's Hall of Fame. He received
his BA from the University of California at Irvine and
Masters of Arts in Management from the University of
Redlands. In 1988 the trustees of Lane College in Jackson,
Tennessee awarded Bentley an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities.
He also completed the University of Michigan Executive
Program and the Coro Foundation's Leadership Southern
California.
Bentley
began his business career as a sales representative
for Xerox Corporation in 1973. Since that time he has
been a tennis specialist for Spaulding Sporting Goods,
an area marketing manager for Anheuser-Busch and a senior
public relations account executive for the Phillips
Organization before joining Carnation (a division of
Nestlé) as an assistant manager of community relations
in 1982. He was promoted to community relations manager
in 1983, ethnic marketing manager in 1990, director
of community affairs in 1991 and vice president of public
affairs in 1994.
An
accomplished writer, Bentley has authored seven books,
Very Best In Youth, Women of Courage I and II, Men of
Courage I and II, Beyond a Dream...Black Women in the
Arts and Going For The Gold...The Story of Black Women
in Sports. Men of Courage I was made into an hour long
television documentary and was called by the Los Angeles
Times, "a book every junior and senior high library
should have." The documentary was nominated for a 1994
NAACP Image Award. Bentley has also had more than 60
articles published in national magazines.
Among
his many professional awards are six Bronze Quill Awards
from the International Association of Business Communicators,
Five Prism Awards from the Public Relations Society
of America and seven CEBA Awards of excellence from
the World Institute of Black Communications. Bentley
was named by Dollars and Sense magazine as one of America's
Best and Brightest Business and Professional men.
Bentley
has received the NAACP's coveted Verna M. Canson ACT-SO
Award, Howard University Alumni Club Black Heritage
Award and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Black
Public Relations Society of California and the P.T.A.
He has also received commendations from the California
State Assembly, City of Inglewood (California), Los
Angeles City School Board, Los Angeles County Supervisor
Yvonne Burke and Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Bentley
lives in Los Angeles and has a 15 year-old daughter,
Christina. He is a member of the Executive Leadership
Council, 100 Black Men of America and Phillips Temple
CME Church, where he serves on the Steward Board.
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Justice
Laura Blackburne, NAACP Special Contribution Fund Trustee
After
more than 35 years of public and community service and
being an advisor to four mayors and two governors, the
Honorable Laura D. Blackburne was elected Judge of the
Civil Court of the City of New York. In January 1996,
Judge Blackburne took her seat on the bench in the Criminal
Court of Queens County. She was elected to office once
again and in January 2000, began her term as Justice
of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
Justice
Blackburne began her public service as a teacher and
later held various Civil Service positions in New York
City. In 1970, former Mayor John Lindsay invited her
to join his administration as a member of the Mayor's
Education Task Force and later as Director of the Narcotics
Control Commission and an Assistant to the Mayor.
In
1979, following graduation from St. John's University
School of Law and admission to the Bar of the State
of New York, Judge Blackburne served as President and
CEO of the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution
for a decade. The Institute provided conflict resolution
to public, private and community groups, as well as
training to over 15,000 individuals in negotiation and
mediation techniques throughout the United States and
abroad.
In 1990, Judge Blackburne was appointed by Mayor David
Dinkins to Chair The New York City Housing Authority.
Justice
Blackburne has taught at Long Island University; City
University of New York Center for Legal Education and
Urban Policy; Harvard University, Institute of Politics;
University of Massachusetts Law Center, The New School
for Social Research; and as a Visiting Professor of
Law at St. John's University School of Law.
Her
public service has included: Board Member of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority; Job Training Partnership Council
of New York State; New York City Criminal Civilian Complaint
Task Force; U.S. Peace Academy; Governor's Transit Advisory
Panel; Governor's Task Force on Insurance Regulatory
Reform; Governor's Task Force on Rape; and the Co-Chair
of the Mayor's Committee on Church Avenue Boycott.
Justice
Blackburne has served the bar as a member of the Character
and Fitness Committee for Admission to the Bar of the
Second Judicial Department of New York State; The Departmental
Disciplinary Committee, First Judicial Department; Board
of Visitors, City University of New York Law School;
Pro Bono Counsel to the New York State NAACP.
Her
community service includes: Metro Manhattan Chapter
of Links Inc.; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; Black Leadership
Commission on Aids; Choreographer and Director of the
St Catherine of Sienna Liturgical Dancers at St. Catherine
of Sienna R.C. Church.
She
currently is a member of: The National Association of
Women Judges; The Judicial Council of the National Bar
Association, The Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association;
Queens Convenor of the Judicial Friends (African American
Judges); Queens Convenor of the Not Just for Blacks
and Jews in Conversation (a program to promote interracial
respect and tolerance for high school students).
Justice
Blackburne is a member of the Bar of the State of New
York, the United States District Courts for the Eastern
and Southern District and the Supreme Court of the United
States. In addition to being a graduate from St. John's
University School of Law, she is a graduate of the Ohio
State University and has taken graduate courses at New
York University and Cornell University Center for Labor
Relations. She has been honored with Doctor of Law degrees
from both St. John's University and Niagara University.
Justice
Blackburne has been married 41 years to Elmer Blackburne,
the distinguished Democratic District Leader; they have
three daughters: Anna Blackburne Rigsby*, Judge of the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia nominated
by President Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate
June 27, 2000; Rose E. Blackburne, M.D., Obstetrician
and Gynecologist in private practice, Washington, D.C.;
Faith T. Blackburne, Public Affairs Manager of the New
York Stock Exchange; son-in-law, Robert R. Rigsby, Corporation
Counsel of the District of Columbia and grandson Julian
Christopher Rigsby.
*Justice
Blackburne and her daughter the Honorable Anna Blackburne
Rigsby are the only mother and daughter judges
of courts of general jurisdiction in the United States.
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Bishop
William Graves, NAACP Board Member
Bishop
Graves is the 42nd Bishop of the Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church, elected at the 1982 General
Conference. His role as a representative of the C.M.E.
Church began early in his ministry. He was elected the
President of the National Youth Conference and represented
the denomination in the World Council of Churches in
India; and in the World Methodist Conference on several
occasions (London, England; Dublin, Ireland, Rio de
Janeiro, Singapore and Honolulu, Hawaii), Sweden, and
The Holy Land.
Current
Positions:
Chairman,
Board of Directors, Revelation Corporation of America,
Inc.
Chairman, Board of Trustees, Lane College, Jackson,
TN
Chairman, Board of Trustees, Collins Chapel Health Center,
Memphis, TN
Chairman, Board of Finance, C.M.E. Church
Chairman, Several Housing Projects (Tennessee and Arkansas)
Member of The National Board of Directors, NAACP
Member of Trustee Board, Interdenominational Theological
Center and Phillip School of Theology, Atlanta GA
Vice-Chairman, Board of Directors, Memphis Light, Gas
and Water, Memphis, TN
Chairman, National Headquarters, C.M.E. Church
National Advisory Committee, Boy Scouts, USA
Member, World Methodist Council
1996 Recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year Award,
National Conference of Christian and Jews
Education
and Degrees:
Bachelor
of Arts, Lane College, Jackson, TN
Master of Divinity, Phillips Schools of Theology - I.T.C.,
Atlanta, GA
Advanced Studies, Claremont School of Theology, Claremont,
CA
"Honorary" Doctor of Divinity, Lane College,
Jackson, TN
Doctor of Letters, Miles College, Birmingham, AL
Doctor of Divinity, Reed School of Religion, Los Angeles,
CA
L.L.D., Southeastern University, Greenville, NC
Doctor of Divinity, Phillips School of Theology - ITC,
Atlanta, GA
Doctor of Divinity, Texas College, Tyler, TX
Honors:
Who's
Who in American College and Universities
Who's Who in American Religious Leaders
Featured in Men of Courage
"Man of the Year, " by a number of organizations
Countless number of citations and awards
"Simply the Best" Award - Exemplary Mentoring
(1st African-American Achievement Award),
Memphis, TN
Personal
He
is married to the former Miss Donna Rochelle Bentley
of Los Angeles, CA and is the father to three children;
Jacqueline, Ameera and William, II.
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Gwendolyn
Smith Iloani
Ms.
Iloani is the President and CEO of Smith Whiley & Company.
Smith Whiley is a privately owed investment firm with
a number of private equity and mezzanine debt funds.
The firm has over $120 million under management from
institutional investors. Smith Whiley specializes in
management buyouts, recapitalizations, acquisitions
and growth capital private equity and mezzanine debt
investments. The firm's objective is to partner with
companies that have outstanding management teams and
the potential for substantial growth.
Ms.
Iloani has over 20 years of investment experience and
she oversees Smith Whiley's investment and portfolio
management activities. Prior to forming Smith Whiley,
Ms. Iloani was a Managing Director at Aetna Inc. where
she invested in excess of $4 billion and managed a $9.2
billion portfolio. Ms. Iloani has extensive industry
experience working with companies in the following sectors:
broadcast media, publishing, industrial products, utilities,
telecommunications, healthcare, transportation and financial
services. Ms. Iloani is a graduate of Colgate University
and she received her MBA from the University of Hartford.
Ms Iloani is active on numerous boards. Ms. Iloani is
a member of the Board of Trustees of Colgate University,
and she is Chairperson of the Audit Committee. Ms. Iloani
is a lifetime member of the NAACP.
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David
Levering Lewis
Career
Narrative
A 1956 Phi Beta Kappa graduate in History and Philosophy
from Fisk University, I earned a master's degree in
1958 at Columbia University, writing a thesis under
Richard B. Morris entitled, "John Fiske: A Transitional
Figure in American Social Darwinism". Four years later,
I was awarded the doctorate in European History (specializing
in Modern France) from the London School of Economics
and Political Science, after defending the dissertation,
"Emmanuel Mounier and the Politics of 'Moral Revolution':
French Liberal Catholicism in Crisis, 1926-1952", directed
by William Pickles.
After
brief US Army service in Germany, I was appointed lecturer
in European History at the University of Ghana (Legon)
during 1963-64. Appointments followed over the next
two decades in the USA, ranging from lecturer to full
professor. Four years during this period were devoted
entirely to research and writing: 1971-72, in France,
principally self-financed; 1976-77, in Washington, DC,
as a fellow of the Ford Foundation-funded Drug Abuse
Council, Inc.; 1977-78, as a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars; and 1980-81, as a
fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences.
These
leaves of absence facilitated the writing of four books
and several articles. King: A [Critical] Biography (Praeger
1970; Penguin 1971; University of Illinois Press 1978)
was my first book. Prisoners of Honor: The Dreyfus Affair
(William Morrow 1974; Henry Holt 1994) followed. District
of Columbia: A Bicentennial History (W.W. Norton 1976)
was commissioned as one of the States and the Nation
Series volumes. When Harlem Was In Vogue (Alfred Knopf
1981; Oxford 1989; Penguin 1997) has become a staple.
The article most frequently cited and included in collections
is, "Parallels and Divergences: Assimilationist Strategies
of Afro-American and Jewish Elites from 1910 to the
Early Thirties" (Journal of American History, December
1984).
My
appointment at Rutgers, the State University of New
Jersey, commenced in 1985, after I resigned my University
of California at San Diego professorship to accept the
Martin Luther King, Jr., Professorship in the Department
of History. While at UCSD, I was awarded a fellowship
during the academic year 1983-84 to the National Humanities
Center (Research Triangle Park, NC) where The Race to
Fashoda: European Colonialism and African Resistance
in the Scramble for Africa (Weidenfeld and Nicolson
1988; Holt 1994) took shape.
During
my second year at Rutgers, I received a Guggenheim fellowship
to advance research for a biography of William Edward
Burghardt Du Bois, a three-continent enterprise taking
me to some twenty-two archives and special collections
as well as two research sojourns in the former Soviet
Union, the second (December 1988) as the guest of the
USSR Writers' Union. In Academic year 1988-89, I was
awarded the Distinguished Research Award of the Trustees
of Rutgers University. In September 1994, I became the
Martin Luther King, Jr., University Professor at Rutgers.
From
September 1 to January 10, 1991, a second Woodrow Wilson
International Center fellowship assisted the writing
of the Du Bois monograph. W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography
of a Race, 1868-1919 was published by Henry Holt and
Company, Inc. in October 1993. This biography won the
triple crown: the 1994 Bancroft Prize in History and
Diplomacy; the 1994 Parkman Prize in History; the 1994
Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Du Bois: Biography of
a Race also won the 1994 Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize of
the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
On
the heels of Du Bois came two anthologies in 1994: The
Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader (Viking) and W.E.B.
Du Bois: A Reader (Holt). More recently, an autobiographical
essay, "From Eurocentrism to Polycentrism", appeared
in Historians and Race, edited by Paul Cimbala (Indiana
University Press 1997), and another essay, "Ghana, 1963:
A Memoir", was published in The American Scholar (winter
1999). The second and final volume in the Du Bois biography
appeared in late October 2000---W.E.B. Du Bois: The
Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963
(Henry Holt and Company). Volume II was a finalist in
the National Book Award's nonfiction category. In April
2001, the second Du Bois volume, received an unprecedented
second Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
I
have served as a trustee of the National Humanities
Center, a member of the board of directors of People
for the American Way. I am presently a commissioner
of the National Portrait Gallery and a senator of the
Phi Beta Kappa Society. I serve on the advisory board
of The American Scholar and the Journal of American
History. Professional society memberships include the
American Historical Association, the Organization of
American Historians, and the Southern Historical Association.
I am recipient of three honorary doctorates: Lehman
College of the City University of New York (1995); Lafayette
College (1995); University of Pittsburgh (1999).
On
July 17, 1999, I was awarded a five-year fellowship
by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
During the fall semester of 2000, I accepted the invitation
of New York University to serve as the second Distinguished
Scholar in Residence. In spring semester 2001, I served
in the department of history at Harvard as a visiting
professor.
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Joe
Madison
Human
and Civil Rights Activist, Radio and Television Talk
Show Personality, Political Organizer, Columnist, Lecturer;
Labor and Corporate spokesman, former Musician, and
Athlete. You can't pigeonhole the "Black Eagle". He
is so renowned by his early morning radio audience he
is known only by one name "Madison the Black Eagle".
Thousands wake up in the nation's capitol listening
to "Mornings with Madison & Company" on WOL- AM
(Radio One, Inc. station). He has been featured on BBC
radio stations as a political commentator and has written
a nationally syndicated column which appeared in over
210 African-American newspapers.
Madison's
life is much more than that of a broadcaster and media
personality. He has had an unwavering commitment to
the principles of human decency for decades.
- Selected
Exec. Director of the Detroit NAACP at the age 24.
- Led
the national NAACP Political Education Department
and organized a voter registration campaign that produced
850,000 new voter in the mid-1980's.
- Organized
and led several marches to increase political participation,
including a cross-country march from Los Angles to
Baltimore opposing apartheid in South Africa
- He
has been jailed and has gone on several hunger strikes;
opposing apartheid in South Africa, exposing the CIA
Contra cocaine controversy and against police brutality
- Served
on the NAACP National Board of Directors for 14 years
- Chairman
of the NAACP Image Awards
- Treasurer
of the National Black Leadership Roundtable
- Co-founder
and leader of the 'Enough is Enough" movement against
police brutality
Awards
and recognition: Image Award, who's who in Black America,
The Good Brother Award from the National Political Congress
of Black Women, African Leadership Award from the Liberian
Community Association, Ebony Magazine's 50 Leaders of
the Future, 100 Most Influential Radio Talk Show Host
in America and honored as the Fifth Top by the legendary
Four Tops.
Madison
uses his role as a talk show host to foster minority
small business in the Washington Metropolitan Area,
constantly challenging his audience to be a part of
the American dream to own their own businesses. Madison
is an advocate, activist, and a man who will go anywhere
at anytime to improve the quality of life for everyone.
A native
of Dayton, Ohio, currently living in the Washington,
D.C. area' Madison is a husband, father of four and
grandfather A graduate of Washington University, former
All-Conference Running Back, and baritone soloist with
the university's concert choir.
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