Dr. Leonard Jeffries
Dr. Leonard Jeffries is founding Director and current second Vice President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Studies. Dr. Jeffries is former head of the Black Studies Department at City College of CUNY and one of New York's most prominent academic leaders. Dr. Jeffries was born in Newark, New Jersey and was raised and educated in the Newark, New Jersey public school system. Dr. Jeffries completed his undergraduate studies at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. As a college student in the Crossroads Program, his first trip to Africa sparked his interest in African Studies at an early age, and by 1964, he had traveled to the continent at least a dozen times. Dr. Len Jeffries has studied at the University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, Columbia University School of International Affairs, New York, and Columbia University Graduate Faculties, New York. Dr. Jeffries has received numerous awards and honors, including: Columbia University Fellowship, African Studies Fellowship, Whitney Opportunity Fellowship and Rockefeller Foundation Fellow. His research and publications such as: Sub-National Politics in the Ivory Coast Republic, Nation-Building in West Africa: Ivory Coast, Ghana and Guinea, Blacks in the Revolutionary Era, Crisis in South Africa, The African-American, and the Curriculum of Inclusion: New York State Department of Education, have reached national and international recognition.

Terrie Williams
Terrie Williams is a licensed clinical social worker and public relations professional. She is a published author, a sought-after lecturer, a dealmaker, a mentor, an executive coach, a community activist. The Terrie Williams Agency was launched in 1988 as a way for Terrie to use her expertise as a social worker and a people person to help others help themselves - and others. Over the years Terrie's Agency has handled the biggest names in entertainment, sports, business and politics. Today the Agency is considered one of the country's premiere public relations and communications firms. In September 1994 Warner Books published Terrie's “The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today's Fast-Paced Business World.” The best-selling book on developing business practices is now in paperback and includes a foreword by Bill Cosby and a preface by Jonathan M. Tisch, the president and CEO of Loews Hotels. Terrie Williams is also one of the country's most highly sought-after speakers, and has shared her own brand of success and personal development strategies with numerous Fortune 500 companies, and organizations such as New York University's Continuing Education Program, the New School for Social Research, and The National Hockey League, The National Basketball Association and The National Football League.

Milton Allimadi
Milton Allimadi is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Black Star News, a publication he founded in 1996, that prides itself as the voice for under-represented people. Born in Uganda, Milton Allimadi attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York City, before commencing a career in investigative journalism. His career incorporates stints at The Journal of Commerce, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Milton Allimadi decided to start his own paper when the black-owned paper he was working for, the now-defunct City Sun, went bankrupt in 1996. His resolve to give people a well-edited paper with a black focus gave birth to a business plan for The Black Star News, which he sent to as many as 50 people, among them entertainer Bill Cosby, who he had met while jogging nine years earlier. Not long after, Mr. Allimadi received a $10,000 check in the mail from Cosby. With Cosby's seed money, Milton Allimadi began publishing the Black Star News as a monthly paper. The Black Star News now runs as a successful weekly publication on paper and on the internet. Milton Allimadi is also author of the explosive and investigative book, “The Hearts of Darkness: How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa.”

Chuck Sutton
The late Chuck Sutton was the head of Public Relations for Inner City Broadcasting and Vice President of Synematics, Inc.

Dr. Theodore Burke
Dr. Theodore Burke is a Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia

Pastor Howard H.L. Dill
Pastor Howard H.L. Dill is Pastor of St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church, Jackson Heights, New York.

Kermit Eady
Kermit Eady is the founder and President of Eady Associates, a full-service consulting company, specializing in for-profit and not-for-profit business development and former President/CEO of the Black United Fund of New York. BUFNY was founded in 1979 to organize the human and financial resources of Black and minority people to participate in their growth, development, and empowerment, by utilizing the operational principles of self-help, mutual aid, volunteerism, and venture philanthropy. Prior to developing BUFNY, Mr. Eady worked for 15 years in the fields of Social Work and Education, holding such positions as Assistant Professor at Medgar Evers College, Director of Admissions and Recruitment at the Norfolk State University Graduate School of Social Work, and Manager with the City of New York. A native of St. Stephen, South Carolina, Mr. Eady holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morgan State University and a Masters in Social Work from New York University with a specialization in Community Organization and Planning.