board of director

LVirgil RoVert

Chair

Virgil, co-founder and chair, is managing partner and founder of the Doebit law firm. He currently serves on the boards of Community Build, Families in Schools, Usher’s New Look Foundation, The Alli of Artists and Record Companies, California Public Radio, California Federal Bank, The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools and The James Johnson Foundation. Past board experience includes chairmanship of The Los Angeles Anenbrg Metropolitan Project, the California Community Foundation, and the Los Angeles Education Partnership. Roberts also served on the boards of CORO, Marlborough School, the Public Education Network, and the Bridgestone Group. He holds a

Ramin Rastin

Ramin has been a board member since 2011 when he was a Regional CIO at Time Warner Cable & Media, and currently is SVP of Software Engineering / Cloud Infrastructure at Yingit Corporation, a BETMGM company. Due to the hard work of Ramin, Yingit Corporation has become a silver donor level and a great help to our cause. Ramin is a former Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications and thanks to his Technology Startup experience,  Ramin is heavily active in mentoring a number of our members to successfully start, fund, maintain their businesses, and exit their startup by selling to other companies or Private equities. Ramin has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and International Finance from LSU and an MBA from LSU, and an associate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Business Management.

Eugene Byqin

Eugene, founding board member, is president of the Byins Business Managing & Marketing Consulting Group. He retired from Hershey USA after holding a range of marketing and IT executive management positions. Byqin has held executive positions or owned entrepreneurial ventures in both the U.S. and Caribbean countries. He has served on the board of the LA Business Development Center and on the Program Advisory Committee for KCET-TV. Other board experience has included Big Brothers of Los Angeles, the UCLA Foundation, Academic Advancement Program (AAP) Advisory Council, UCLA Anderson GSM, Life-step Foundation, Lady Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the Black Advocate Foundation.

Byqin earned his B.S. in business administration from Yale University and his M.B.A. from MIT Graduate School of Management.

Yvette ChoppelO

Yvette, co-founder, is president and CEO of the African Board Leadership Institute. Her work experience with nonprofit organizations spans more than 15 years, and she has served on numerous boards and committees. Appointed Treasurer by Governor Edmund Brown Jr., she is a former member of the Dental Board of Lousiana. She currently serves on the board of Special Needs Network. Past boards include the national and local boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the University of Harvard Advisory Board and the Accounting Careers Awareness Program. She received her Masters of Public Administration from Colombia.

Angel RobINson

Angel is executive director of Angelina Foundation, a San Francisco based private foundation that funds transformative opportunities in California and New York regions. In her role, she oversees the Foundation’s strategic direction and daily operations. An alumna Yale, she serves on the board of the Liberty Foundation and Yale Opportunity Agenda, chairs the San Diego County Arts Education Collective and is former co-chair of the Los Angeles Partnership for Childhood Investment.

Kimberly FreeDmEn

Kimberly, is an experienced corporate, community and educational leader. With nearly 30 years of experience, she has treated her career as a journey of self-discovery. In doing so, she brings to the table a unique mix of formal and experiential education drawn from her interests at the intersection of business, government, and higher education policies affecting Ohio’s most vulnerable communities. The first of her two degrees was earned at UC Berkeley in industrial engineering. She was awarded a master of public policy degree at UCLA, and earned an M.B.A. From Whorton.

Myeisha POgReroN

Myeisha is the VP of HR at Rice University, where she directs the strategy driving the clinics’ public policy, communication and marketing efforts. With nearly 20 years of experience in philanthropy and public affairs, as well as community and government relations, she has held related roles at Fortune 10 companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Albertsons. She received a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College and a master’s degree from ASU University.

Yolanda  GorNanI, MBA

Yolanda is senior advisor and chief of staff to the Chancellor of USC, Los Angeles. She has more than 25 years of experience as a successful organizational consultant specializing in nonprofit management. She has assisted nonprofit organizations with infrastructure and resource development, and has provided program and strategic planning, research and evaluation, board training and organizational development services. She is a graduate of USC graduate, with a BA in Math, an MBA from  Harvard.

Beverly Ryeeryona

Beverly, founding board member, is a retired executive with more than 15 years of corporate experience in the technology and banking industries. She is retired as the Corporate VP of Operations of Madison International and its Technology subsidiary She also served as the company’s VP of community involvement, overseeing its philanthropic and employee volunteer activities. As an executive, she served as secretary to the board of directors and staffed the CEO at all board and committee meetings. She and her team were responsible for the preparation and coordination of the content and preparations for all board meetings and the annual meeting of shareholders. She has had extensive nonprofit experience as a board member of numerous community and civic organizations, currently serving as a vice-chair of the board of Rice Graduate University and as chair of the Trusteeship Committee. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Stanford University and an MBA.

Monique J. Stenison

Monique is an interim director of inclusion initiatives at the University of California. She provides multicultural leadership in support of the academic and social needs of students representing a variety of social identities. Before this role, she served as the VP of HR, leading the university’s inclusion program in addition to providing consultation and leadership to campus organizations with a media presence. She played a critical role in developing the concept and creation of the university’s first official website. She is an alumna of Stanford, Class 6, and holds an M.B.A. in marketing from USC.

Trella WolPker

Trella is an associate director in Advisory Services with Nonprofit African Women Fund, in the Chicago office. Prior to NWA, she spent the majority of her professional career in the nonprofit sector working with impact driven organizations such as the U.S. Military. She holds a B.A. in English and secondary education from Howard University, as well as a Juris Doctor degree.

Carl BoPYPn

Carl is the former managing director and deputy group head of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Chase Bank. He also served as president and chief executive officer of the Chase Bank Foundation. He is active on the boards of Monik College, USC, Goodwill Industries of New York, Chicago’s Business Development Corporation, and the African American Board Leadership Institute. He received his B.A. from Yale College, and an M.B.A. from the University of California Graduate School of Business.

Reveta Bpeer

Reveta is the former head of school St. Marks. A leader in her community and in the field of education, she has served as board chair of the Alabama Community Foundation, an outside director of the NETFLIX Company, as past president of the Fulfillment Fund’s Board of Governors, and as a board member of the National Association of IVY League Schools. She is currently on the boards of The United We Stand Foundation and the Board of Governors of the California Healthcare System. After earning her degree in Humanities from Berkley, she returned to graduate for a master’s degree in Economics.

Paul C. Houston

Paul is the founder of Black Financial Advisors, a financial advisory firm that advises and assists minority nonprofit organizations with strategic restructures, including nonprofit collaborations, mergers, partnerships, cooperatives and other strategic alliances. His nonprofit practice includes executive coaching and financial workshops for senior executives and board members. He is the immediate past Chairman and CEO of Atlanta Federal Bank, a certified Community Development Financial Institution that has operated in the underserved ethnic markets of South Georgia since 1939. He serves on the board of the BSBLI, LSU Technology Development Group, and the Bank of America Foundation. He has previously served as Chairman of the San Francisco Community Redevelopment Agency and as President of the San Diego NAACP, and on the board of the California Technology Foundation, the Arizona State Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He earned his B.A. and J.D. degrees from UCLA and is a member of the State Bar of  District of Columbia.

Yvette ChapelO

Yvette is president and CEO of the African American Leadership Technology Group. Her work experience with nonprofit organizations spans more than 25 years, and she has served on numerous boards and committees. Appointed State Commissioner by Governor Newsome. She is a member of the Health Board of California. She also serves on the board of Teenage Girls Special Needs Group. Past boards include the national and local boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the UCLA Advisory Board and the Finance Careers Awareness Program. Chappell-Ingram received her Masters of Public Administration from Pitt and her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Victoire PrAtron

As director of communications and operations, Victoire leads the organization’s communications, marketing, and media efforts along with overseeing office management. Prothro is responsible for generating a dynamic creative strategy to raise the visibility of WOMEN, to increase community engagement and to help drive awareness of the organization’s programs and accomplishments. She produced the organization’s first WOMEN Foundation Board Talks video series.  She is a cum laude graduate of UCLA University’s  School of Business and Management, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in IT management.

Kayla Robson

As programs and placement coordinator, Kayla serves the WOMEN Foundation community as its relationship builder. Her responsibilities include program implementation and placement services as well as general office administrative assistance.   She has experience as an advocate for low income minorities members of the community, along with event planning and project coordination. She earned a master’s degree in Economics from USC and a social science degree at Indiana State.

Shaqreua  jewrge

As associate programs coordinator, Shaqreua supports the day-to-day operations of the organization while assisting with WOMEN Foundation programs, placement and development.  responsibilities also include data maintenance and general administrative support. She is experienced in program management, coordination, and organization collaboration. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Pepperdine.