A native of Newport News, Virginia, Krystal Andrews holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Services with a minor in African American Studies, and a Master of Science in Education in Higher Education Leadership from Old Dominion University. Currently, she is the director of student success in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and is a fourth year as a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . As a practitioner, she has six years of experience in student success and retention programs at both predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that fuels her passion for helping students envision their own success. As a scholar practitioner, she is a member of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA). She has also been a member of the Pan African Network directorate board in various positions since 2013, and currently serves as the chair-elect of the network. Her other professional organization memberships include the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC). Her research interests center on the experiences of Black women graduate students at HBCUs and the persistence of Black student populations across institutional types.

Dr. Akpovo is the Senior research scientist at the laser remote sensing laboratory at Florida A&M university. His expertise is in laser-produced plasmas utilizing fast and ultra-fast high power laser beams. In his current position, Dr. Akpovo conducts and coordinate the research activities for the Consortium for Laser-Based Analysis of Nuclear and Environmental Materials (LANEM), an NNSA grant.

Alexis Brame is an effective communicator with over eight years of experience working in both corporate, retail, and start up environments. Her skill lies in her strategic thinking and ability to creatively resolve issues in fast-paced atmospheres.

She is currently a Human Resources Manager for a young startup that specializes in healthcare and clinical services. In her role she manages a team of five and leads her department in achieving key performance indicators regarding recruitment, onboarding, retention for over 100 employees. Prior to this role, Alexis worked for Target. She began as an Executive Team Lead and over the course of six years, was promoted to General Merchandise and Food Sales Leader. During her time at Target, Alexis oversaw the daily operations for a high-volume Target store that grossed over $80 million in annual sales and managed over 200 team members. She was directly responsible for coordinating internal and external tasks to ensure materials and resources were accurately delivered.

Alexis earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communications from James Madison University and her Master’s in Business Administration and Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She resides in Virginia with her husband and their three dogs.

Mary is an executive with 20+ years’ experience working with high level executives in higher education. She is skilled in Talent Management, Training & Development, Instructional Design, Planning & Analysis, Design & Development, and Implementation & Management. Mary has worked with several organizations as a principal consultant to implement and improve their processes and systems and has a passion for using information to answer questions about projects, policies, and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency.

Mary has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Occupational and Technical Studies, focused on Business and Industry Training from Old Dominion University. She enjoys exercising and teaching group exercise classes.

Erika is a Marketing Strategist who partners with CEOs looking to scale their business organically. Erika is a certified
online business manager. She believes that her work has helped people mitigate costs, improve their reach to key
stakeholders and their audience in small ways that proved to have a large impact. Prior to working with small
businesses Erika spent nearly a decade with non-profit organizations and the Department of Defense studying
integrative modalities to help with performance optimization in the US military. Erika holds a Masters in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston.

Sundra D. Kincey, Ph.D. is Assistant Vice President of
Program Quality within the Division of Academic Affairs
at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
(FAMU). Her primary role is to provide leadership in the
development of new degree offerings, oversight of the
university program review process, provide assistance
to academic programs with specialized accreditation for
initial and reaccreditation, and policy development and
implementation related to academic programming and
degree authorization.
Dr. Kincey’s professional career includes a wealth of
experience in higher education that span over a course of twenty years with
combined experiences at the university and statewide system level. Those
experiences include: policy analysis and development; academic program
review and evaluation; specialized accreditation; academic advising and
career planning; online instruction; public speaking; supervision; and
undergraduate teaching.
Dr. Kincey is a member of the inaugural class of FAMU’s Leadership
Academy and has research interests in retention, persistence, and
academic success of minority students. She also serves as an evaluator for
an NSF ADVANCE grant, consultant report writer for summative and
formative data evaluation, and reviewer of select peer-reviewed journals.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, reading, and
bowling

Brandie holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Old Dominion University in Human Services Counseling with a minor in Community Health ,she also has a Master’s Degree in Public Health with a focus on Health Education and Administration. Her studies prepared her for research and analysis, and certification (Certified Health Education Specialist-CHES) earned her the ability to implement and evaluate (public health) programs. While working in hospital management, where she managed work processes in four different hospitals, she decided to expand her passion for public health and interest and began working at a non-profit organization where she analyzed the efficacy of health education programs. In addition, she implemented a new program and provided analysis to stakeholders in efforts to evaluate the program’s efficiency, as well as predict what future steps were needed to further mobilize and improve the program’s overall performance. She has worked closely on projects for the Centers for Disease Control, completing quantitative and qualitative analysis, as  well as authored narratives for grant proposals, annual progress reports, and data reports. Brandie has experience with project management, health care management, and a background of counseling that have given her the opportunity to work with diverse populations and identify needs for improvement to ensure programs are reaching goals set out by stakeholders. She has numerous in-person training on diversity, inclusion, and health equity-as well as has worked on larger projects that focus on prioritizing the needs of under-served populations.

Courtney Boyd’s experience centers around supporting various educational, military, and wellness initiatives through the conduct of program evaluations, clinical trials, and other evidence-based methodologies. With expertise in literature searching and systematic review processes, Courtney has taught workshops on these methodologies as well as basic research literacy. She has co-authored multiple presentations, journal articles, and book chapters on both integrative medicine and cognitive aging topics such as military performance, stress, pain, self-efficacy, and memory. Courtney is a certified Project Management Professional and received her MA in Developmenta0l Psychology, concentrating in Adult Development and Aging, and BS in Psychology, with a minor in Biology and Studio Art from the University of Richmond

Krystal Andrews is a higher education practitioner and has 6 years of professional experience in student success and retention programs at both Predominately White Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities that fuel her passion for helping students envision their own success. In her experience, she has supported minoritized student populations through coordinating a college specific retention program that focused on providing holistic student support to students through intrusive advising, peer mentoring, career planning, and exposure to campus resources. She has experience developing and implementing college-level retention plans, recruitment plans, and programming targeted towards student engagement and academic recovery for at-risk populations. Currently, she is a full-time doctoral student in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a concentration in Higher Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a research associate in the Office of Community Research and Leadership working on grant projects that focus on embedding equity into guided pathways and instituting racial justice on community college campuses. Her research interests include: The Black female college student experience and women of color in executive leadership positions at HBCUs and community colleges.

Dorrien Ford is the Client Support Specialist with over 17-years of customer service experience. Dorrien is the liaison between QM and their clients. She ensures that they have the necessary tools to administer their planned activities per semester. When Dorrien is not juggling the request of clients, she enjoys being Team Parent for her daughter’s cheer team and watching her son play soccer