Patricia Bordallo Dibildox is a Mexican-born creative, educator, and organizer based in Kansas City, MO. Her work is deeply rooted in community engagement, equitable development, and the intersection of art and organizing.
With experience in political organizing and arts administration, Patricia has served as a campaign manager and organizer, working to build power through policy, tenant organizing, and leadership development. She has also led accessible community workshops on quilting, natural dyeing, and mending.
Her background in manufacturing stems from her lifelong creative practice, giving her a unique perspective on the ways industries profit from artists’ skills and innovation. She believes in the power of creative industries to drive economic justice and cultural preservation that center communities.
Patricia is dedicated to fostering equitable manufacturing ecosystems that empower workers, makers, and small-scale producers. She believes in the power of creative industries to drive economic justice and cultural preservation, aligning closely with UMA’s mission to support inclusive and resilient local economies.
Beyond her professional work, has co-founded and led artist-led initiatives, served on arts advisory boards, and continues to create and exhibit work nationally and internationally. She loves spending time with her loved ones and sewing in her studio. Her ideal days usually include drinking matcha with her partner, Max, practicing yoga, and feeling the sun’s warmth on her skin.
Katie O’Connor, based outside Detroit, Michigan, has always been a maker. Sewing since she was a teen, Katie wanted to find a career that would allow her to continue to sew. This led her down many different roads, including through school for Theatre and Fashion Design.
Eventually, Katie was hired as an inaugural member of the Shinola Detroit leather studio, where she worked with designers and leatherworkers to develop accessories. As a pattern maker and sample maker, Katie worked with designers to bring their visions to life, and then perfect them for production. The studio closed in 2019 to move product development elsewhere.
After leaving Shinola, Katie went to the Industrial Sewing & Innovation Center, where she worked in the Training & Development department. There, she taught ISAIC’s proprietary curriculum Fundamentals of Industrial Sewing & Production (FISP), and moved up to managing the department as well as training for current employees. Their department also supported the set-up and build-out of training programs at several national partners, where she heard the shared issues faced by those within the industry.
It was during her work at ISAIC, Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, that Katie discovered the Urban Manufacturing Alliance and the work that they were doing. A fervent fan of the annual Design Jam and the work that the UMA had done with flexible product fabrication, Katie leapt at the opportunity to join the team. Working with people from across the country in their shared mission of making manufacturing more equitable, accessible, and friendly to the makers within it, is a dream come true.
Katie currently lives outside of beautiful Detroit, Michigan with her partner Albert, 8-year old daughter, and several sewing machines. She spends her spare time as the Chair of the Apprenticeship Subcommittee for the organization Closely Crafted, a nonprofit founded in 2022 dedicated to preserving artisanal craft in the US. When not working, Katie can be found sewing.
Nepal Asatthawasi is a nonprofit leader, strategist, and systems thinker dedicated to expanding the reach and impact of mission-driven organizations. She helps nonprofits and NGOs grow, scale, and deepen their work by strengthening their fundraising, operations, and governance while developing creative, community-centered strategies that drive systemic change. With a focus on economic and social equity, she works to ensure under-resourced organizations and those facing repression or political persecution have the tools, resources, and resilience to advance their missions and defend fundamental rights. As Co-Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, she ensures that governance, operations, and strategy are braided together in creative ways that respond to emerging challenges with agility. Through this work, she helps drive national initiatives that bridge economic development, equity, and manufacturing to create more just and resilient local economies.
Previously, Nepal was the Director of Development and Operations at the Pratt Center for Community Development, a pioneering community-based urban planning organization. After Pratt Center, she helped launch The Action Lab, an initiative that convened activists, organizers, social justice leaders, artists, and cultural producers to reimagine new models of democratic engagement and build power in marginalized communities. She is also a longtime advisor to ArticleGroup, where she trains and empowers human rights NGOs and activists across the Global South to craft compelling narratives, scale their impact, and secure sustainable funding to advance human rights. Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Nepal serves on the board of Mid Hudson Energy Transition, helping municipalities, residents, and businesses build community-owned renewable energy, improve building efficiency, and strengthen climate resilience. She is also a founding board member of At Play Rhinebeck, a nonprofit dedicated to creating inclusive community play spaces.
Nepal holds a BA from Columbia University and Master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and the Architectural Association School of Architecture.
For over five years, Laura worked on behalf of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts to lead a coalition of community partners to rebuild a
downtown district in Springfield, MA into a vibrant center for local
entrepreneurship, arts & dining. Before that, Laura helped evaluate
and scale national programs for Interise, a nonprofit focused on
growing established small businesses owned by women and people of
color. Early in her career, Laura worked for Public Consulting Group
focused on improving state government programs around the country. She
also spent a period in Bolivia supporting a microfinance institution,
ProMujer.
In her spare time, Laura founded a makerspace, a community bike shop
and has served on the Board of an urban agriculture and youth
development organization. Laura loves working with her hands and has
felt especially at home while working on an organic berry farm and in
a Mexican popsicle shop. She has also been an athlete all her life and
is pursuing certification as an Integrated Positional Therapy
practitioner to help more people reduce their physical pain and learn
to heal themselves.
Laura is a graduate of Wesleyan University, has a Certificate in
Nonprofit Management from the Boston University School of Management.
Katy’s biggest strength is her ability to be a connector within a community. Prior to joining UMA, she worked in campaign politics across the country for 10 years. In one of her proudest moments in politics, she worked her way up from intern to deputy campaign manager for a Wisconsin congressional campaign. It was in a traditionally conservative district, but her progressive campaign won anyway because of her ability to help the community connect with the candidate.
Seeing disparate communities come together despite differences and divergent concerns is what drew Katy to UMA. She aids groups from different cities, as they form a network under the UMA banner, sharing what they know, and working towards a common goal. Katy is the junction between the businesses, workers, trade programs, and economic development agencies that make up the UMA community.
Katy’s central role on the UMA team is similar to her role as a nationally-competitive frisbee player. She’s played the sport for almost 20 years, training and traveling all over the world. She just loves being part of a team. Every campaign and every team needs a Katy.
The secret to her biggest strength may be found in her morning ritual: eating pie with a cup of coffee.
When a problem appears too complex to solve, Andrew’s one of those people capable of pointing you in the right direction. He once completed a 30-mile obstacle course in 11 hours, so overcoming challenging feats comes natural to him.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design from North Carolina State University, Andrew uprooted his life in Raleigh and moved to Austin, Texas to work in a design-build architecture firm creating everything from custom furniture to an outdoor kitchen. Immediately after graduating with a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from The University of the Arts (Philadelphia), Andrew jumped straight into entrepreneurship without any experience. Instead of getting a full-time job, he taught himself how to work with an entrepreneurial spirit, taking on many small projects. At the time, he may not have known how to run a business, but he figured it out. For a long time, Andrew was on the path to being a lifetime small business owner, providing services as a designer, maker, and consultant while also teaching design and making in product design, architecture, and crafts.
His desire to move forward into complex industries without reluctance comes from a couple of inspirational educators in his past, all of whom have influenced his career. He was first introduced to technology by a high school teacher who opened his eyes to what was possible in the physical world. In college, he learned to disrupt the conventional boundaries of manufacturing from two vanguard professors.
Andrew loves that UMA’s work is meaningful and impactful. He loves that he gets to engage with communities, learn about what they need to succeed, and then help them respond to those challenges.
When Andrew is not working, he loves woodworking in his small garage, gardening, and learning about vegetables. He can make a mean chicken pho and his pork dumplings might be better than any you’ve tasted in a restaurant.
As the Co-founder of Nashville Made, Audra has always understood the intersection between locally-made goods and small business economic development. As the founder of Audra Ladd Studios, she does pottery and hand weaving, so she knows what it’s like to run a small business. She sees UMA as sitting at the nexus of helping local businesses and manufacturing that support family sustaining wages. She loves the renaissance that manufacturing has experienced in recent years and wants to see that continue. Audra is not interested in doing anything that doesn’t make the world a better place for her kids. Working in manufacturing toward a different future is important to her. She also sees manufacturing as an industry where climate change and economic development come together.
Audra cares about protecting the environment and puts her concern to action. Her late grandmother gave her some irises from her yard that Audra has kept even as she’s moved around Tennessee. Regardless of where Audra’s residence was, every spring she looks forward to the bloom of the irises. Her dream job would be to run an organic sheep and flower farm, where she could weave. Although, she may leave the sheep shearing to someone else.
As a small business owner, you have to be comfortable with some risks, and Audra is no stranger to risk taking. She’s repelled down the inside of a defunct volcano in Guatemala, dove into Oregon’s Crater Lake, and learned to water ski behind her father’s boat when she was seven.
What makes Audra proudest of all is her ability to balance a rewarding career and being an attentive parent of two girls. She loves that she sets a good example for them to follow.
Tanu has spent her whole career in urban planning, and brings a broad perspective to the conversation about manufacturing. She’s been with UMA almost since its inception. She understands the best way to give residents of a community what they need is by engaging with them. In many of the projects she’s worked on, she gets stakeholders to the table early so that their opinions can be heard and implemented before decisions are made.
If she wasn’t an urban planner, she would want to be a historian to understand what came before, and capture the living history of a place to help city builders create the communities people need. The closest she gets to this ideal situation is when she travels to a new city. Tanu loves to wander around new places to explore their neighborhoods and get a feel for how they tick.
Experiencing the pulse of a city is something she remembers feeling growing up during the dynasty years of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. Tanu was a huge fan of the team, but especially remembers how much those championships meant for her city, which was evident in the euphoria of fans celebrating in the streets. It was those moments that showed how shared experiences can impact the history of a city.
Tanu loves kayaking and downhill skiing with her kids. When she’s not on the slopes, she likes gardening, hiking, making Chole Bhatura, and using the best two gifts she’s ever received: a Schwinn lavender bike her parents gave her when she was 8 that she still uses to run errands, and a mountain bike her husband gave her.
Lee Wellington is the Founding Executive Director of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA), a national nonprofit that builds robust, inclusive manufacturing sectors in more than 250 cities across the United States. Through a mix of collaborative research and ecosystem building, and under Lee’s leadership, UMA has become nationally recognized for knowledge transfer across public agencies and community-based organizations. She has led the UMA team in building national learning communities on a range of issues including access to capital, community-embedded workforce programming, and mission driven industrial real estate development. In 2018, Lee guided UMA’s flagship research project, the State of Urban Manufacturing, a six-city study on small-scale manufacturing involving multiple Federal Reserve Banks, research universities, and hundreds of local manufacturing practitioners. Lee is a frequent presenter on urban manufacturing at conferences nationally and internationally, including Berlin’s Urban Tech Summit, The White House’s National Week of Making, the International Business Innovation Association’s Conference on Business Incubation, and the National League of Cities’ City Summit.
Prior to UMA, Lee worked in the public sector at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses and the New York City Council, at nonprofit planning organizations including the Pratt Center for Community Development and the Waterfront Alliance, and at legal services organizations including the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project and South Brooklyn Legal Services.
Lee holds a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, an M.S. in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute, and a B.S. in Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Crystal Marie has been an event planner specializing in destination weddings, corporate events, and private gatherings since 2008. Even if she could do it for fun, she would still love creating luxury travel experiences with food and fabrics. Trips that celebrate femininity, freedom, and leisure.
With a successful career in the private and public sector, she excelled at event planning despite not knowing if she had a successful future in the profession. She wasn’t charging enough, and wasn’t finding clients that valued her work. Then a well-known Detroit event planner named Melinda Anderson saw her work, and encouraged Crystal Marie to place a higher value on herself and her events. Melinda became her mentor, which gave Crystal Marie the confidence every new entrepreneur needs. It was a daring move when she left her corporate career to become a full-time event planner in 2016, but it paid off. With her two Bachelors of Science, in Biology and Nutrition & Food Science, she knew she could always find a job, but wanted to find her purpose and passion.
That is why she believes the best gift you can ever give someone is your time. For her, when you spend time teaching others, as Melinda did for her and how she now does for other novice event planners, you’re demonstrating that you value them as people. As an event planner, she charges for her time, and this sets a standard for how people should treat her.
It is through planning events for Detroit Design Core that she became the Events Leader for UMA. When she’s not planning weddings in Barbados and putting UMA events together, she loves reading, experiencing anything music related, teaching fitness classes (cycling, hula-hoop fitness, step aerobics) and eating fine cuisine, because if any meal happens to be her last, she wants it to be epic.
The UMA Board of Directors is made up of volunteer members who represent the diverse needs, aspects, and interests of the larger UMA Membership. If you’d like to invite one of our directors to speak at your event, please fill out this form.
American Progress
HR&A Advisors
World Resources Institute
US Center for Advanced Manufacturing
Evergreen Exchange
Echoing Green
Clear Impact
American Progress
Growing up in Seattle, Livia watched her parents adapt to life in a new country simply by working two jobs just to make ends meet. As a first generation Chinese American, she was surrounded by a family, including her grandparents, as well as an immigrant community that contributed to her development as a person. When Livia thinks about the 10 years she spent in Congress as the legislative director for U.S. Senator Patty Murray and the senior labor policy advisor for the Committee on Education and Labor chairman George Miller, she’s thankful for the opportunities her community gave her growing up that let her witness what working families need to survive. This positioned her to collaborate on the drafting of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
Livia joined UMA because she saw the connection the Alliance has with the community. The way UMA engages with programs and groups across the country with policy ideas that are in tune with their needs felt very genuine to her. That worker-centered, community-first approach reflected in the work and she wanted to get involved.
Most Christmas holidays, when she’s not advising elected officials and nonprofits on policy, Livia can be found enjoying the bright lights and Yuletide ambiance of Paris.
HR&A Advisors
Sulin Carling is a leader in place-based economic development and urban industrial policy. As a Principal at HR&A Advisors, she works with public, civic, and private sector partners to shape vibrant downtowns, commercial corridors, and industrial districts—always with a focus on helping small businesses and diverse communities thrive amid economic change.
Sulin brings deep expertise in industrial policy, small business resilience, and urban redevelopment. At the NYC Department of City Planning, she served as Senior Economic Development planner and the agency’s lead on industrial policy, directing the first comprehensive study of an industrial district, the North Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone, in decades. The plan has served as a model for citywide zoning changes that support industrial job growth.
At HR&A, Sulin has led a range of transformative initiatives—from advising on the redevelopment of the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx and supporting small business recovery in Manhattan’s Chinatown, to developing industrial growth strategies in Boston and Attleboro, MA. She has also advanced equitable food systems planning, including a master plan for Seattle’s Pike Place Market and strategies to increase access to affordable groceries in underserved neighborhoods. Sulin has developed strategies to prevent small business displacement amidst neighborhood change in Atlanta, San Jose, and South San Francisco.
She is driven by the conviction that economic growth must be grounded in opportunity for businesses and workers of all backgrounds. She is proud to support UMA’s mission of fostering inclusive economic opportunities for local manufacturers and entrepreneurs.
World Resources Institute
Dr. Stephanie Ly is an electric vehicle manufacturing expert and public health educator passionate about climate solutions. She is the Senior Manager for eMobility Strategy and Manufacturing Engagement at the World Resources Institute (WRI) where she convenes medium- and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers, focuses on workforce training needs and works on strategies to advance school bus and heavy equipment electrification.
Stephanie previously worked at a major automotive supplier that deployed some of the world’s first electric trucks and equipment. Stephanie’s research and industry expertise spans manufacturing, workforce development, transportation and climate-related innovation to support UMA’s role in informing the public, policymakers, and industry leaders about the future of manufacturing.
Stephanie also serves as adjunct faculty at the California State University San Marcos. She holds a Ph.D. from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, an M.P.H. from the University of Southern California, and dual bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Business Administration from Lycoming College. Outside of work, Stephanie has backyard chickens, trains for marathons and hikes with her family in San Diego.
US Center for Advanced Manufacturing
Stacey Weismiller is a dedicated and passionate leader in advanced manufacturing, sustainability, and supply chain innovation. With a background in architecture and urban planning, she has built a career at the intersection of infrastructure, people, and place—bridging gaps to transform ideas into tangible solutions.
As part of the Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains Centre at the World Economic Forum, Stacey worked across sustainability and technology initiatives while supporting the U.S. Centre for Advanced Manufacturing. Prior to this, she led industrial and sustainability portfolios at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and SecondMuse, a global innovation firm.
Her commitment to helping businesses navigate the challenges of scaling manufacturing solutions aligns with UMA’s mission to strengthen urban manufacturing ecosystems. She is particularly passionate about overcoming the “valley of death” in manufacturing—ensuring that critical innovations reach production and make a real-world impact.
Evergreen Exchange
Leah has seen much of the country in-person. As a mother of a young baseball player, she travelled with her son to his games from state to state from the time he was eight until he reached 18. She spent countless evenings and weekends on the road seeing many sides of the country. Joining UMA was a relatable experience. She met colleagues with similar missions from all over the country and observes how the manufacturing industry is developing in certain markets.
Besides travelling for her son’s baseball games and travelling for work, Leah travelled a lot for leisure too. Back in her hometown of Buffalo, New York she was active in a Rock’n’Roll band as a musician and songwriter where she met other aspiring musicians. Leah knows she would make a great travel blogger because she loves seeing the world and learning from the people she meets. Her deadpan humor makes her instantly likable. As a masters graduate in Urban Policy Analysis and Nonprofit Management from the New School for Social Research, Leah’s insight comes from the experiences people are willing to share with her.
At home in her almost 160-year-old house, Leah is an excellent cook who can make anything. She likes to grill beef tenderloin with chimichurri sauce in the summer, and oven roast chicken tagine in the winter.
Echoing Green
Clear Impact
Carlos is a self-declared city nerd who spends his time studying urban landscapes for work and in his leisure time. Although he calls Ecuador home, and enjoys returning every now and then to visit his family, Carlos has no problem fitting in anywhere. From Denver, to Syracuse, to Washington D.C., Carlos loves exploring new cities, observing how people live, and becoming one of their citizens.
He lived in Toronto for several years, advising mayors and regional elected officials in equity-conscious economic development. Carlos became highly sought-after by municipalities within the Greater Toronto Area for his understanding of the complexity of how foreign investment, the private sector, academia, and nonprofits can partner on issues with all levels of government. Then Carlos left his public sector career to work for the National League of Cities.Life is D.C. was an adjustment compared to life back in Canada, but as usual he made it work. After a few years in the nation’s capital leading economic development initiatives in urban centers and watching his beloved Toronto Raptors from afar, he returned north of the border, this time settling in French-speaking Montreal, where he is currently learning a third language while managing global partnerships for Clear Impact.
Economic development is something Elizabeth would do even if she didn’t need to work for a living. No matter how big or small an organization might be, she is willing to help. She’s up for the challenge, regardless of the situation.
Her adventurous side comes from her childhood trips to the beach. As a little girl, she enjoyed running into the ocean and jumping into the waves as they crashed onto the beach. The joy she remembers from those moments surpassed the terror of facing the force of the water. That is the courageous attitude Elizabeth brings to her job as Director of Economic Development for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
Elizabeth’s desire for exploring unknown territory goes beyond her career and is evident in how she spends her leisure time too. She once travelled across Italy with her spouse without making any plans. She treats herself every year during the week of her birthday (which coincides with the week of Thanksgiving) with a trip to anywhere in the world, either alone or with a friend. When she’s at home in New York City or visiting other cities, this member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) with a Masters of Urban Planning from Hunter College (CUNY) loves walking around and seeing different neighborhoods. Activities like that help her to see firsthand how residents live and use their neighborhoods, but also observe the potential of the areas.
Elizabeth is proud to be an advocate for urban manufacturing, because most American cities lack leaders who champion the industrial sector. Without people like her, real estate interests miss opportunities to add economic development in and around their projects. She feels blessed to have joined UMA where other advocates of economic development like her share ideas, perspectives, and collaborate on initiatives.
Adam is someone people turn to whether their starting a nonprofit or want economic development advice to bolster a run for elected office. At least twice in his life, people have asked him to start new organizations. First, as the Executive Director of the Garment Industry Development Corporation and then the NY Industrial Retention Network. Both cases were risky endeavors, but the organizations outperformed their expectations and are doing even better today. As someone who used to do triathlons and long endurance bicycle rides, Adam knows how steady determination can often lead to success in the long-run.
When the time came to launch UMA, Adam already knew what it was like to start an organization without a net. Throughout his career he saw how limiting operating in silos was to people working to create economic change, so he wanted UMA to be a network. Adam is most proud of this cooperative approach to sharing best practices, research, and support.
He credits three people with giving him the wisdom he now imparts on others: the former head of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and active union politician, Edgar Romney; the late NYC Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, who Adam considers to have been a brilliant strategist who thought many steps ahead as he analyzed problems; and former NYC councillor Ed Wallace who is a can-do mission-driven person.
For leisure, Adam likes reading escapist espionage novels by Walter Mosley and Alan Furst. But he doesn’t just read books, he publishes them too. He once published a cookbook for everyone at The Pratt Center, and one day he’d love to publish a UMA cookbook with everyone’s favorite meal that they like to cook. On his pages will be boeuf bourguignon and a big salad.
Tulsi has seen firsthand the value of entrepreneurship and manufacturing. For as long as she can remember, her mother has been a small business owner. Without a formal education, it was the only path her mother saw for herself as a means to support a family. Tulsi sees her mother as an example for people who face barriers and limitations to joining the traditional workforce. Currently, her father works in manufacturing, so she also sees the benefits of the industry from the worker’s perspective. This mixed insight has informed much of her career, which explains why she’s dedicated to helping people see that working for a manufacturer is a viable career path and being a maker selling your own products is too.
In 2016, she designed and launched an employment program called the Biotech Leaders Academy, connecting students from East Los Angeles College with internships at startups and research centers in the life sciences industry. The program showed students the options they have in the field, both as workers and entrepreneurs. Connecting youth to places of economic opportunity and mobility where they can sustain families and build wealth is the reason Tulsi is attracted to UMA.
As an aficionado of exquisitely made products, Tulsi would love to one day curate a selection of crafts and handmade items from India. She envisions a gathering place full of textiles, carved products, decorative items, jewelry covered objects, and even furniture. A place where she and the public get to select items while talking to the artisans about pieces, colors, and patterns. On one of her most memorable trips through Southern India with her mother and other relatives, she spent a week visiting many craftspeople throughout the country and thinks it would be great to bring that experience to Los Angeles.
When she’s not helping people become makers, Tulsi’s loves to go hiking. With her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Economics and Policy from UC Berkeley, plus a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA, she appreciates the beautiful green spaces Angelenos have on their doorstep, in the San Gabriel Valley, Hollywood Hills, and Griffith Park.
Bernadine Hawes is an executive level, nonprofit professional and economic development specialist working in the areas of project management, strategy development, workforce, and evaluation. She is considered a subject matter expert in the areas of technology, manufacturing and economic development. Recently, she has begun consulting with medical cannabis and research companies in PA, NJ, and Nevada.
She serves as Vice Chair of the National Advisory Board for the Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP) a division of the National Institute for Science and Technology (US Department of Commerce). She is Chair Emeritus of the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC), which provides top-level growth services to the region’s manufacturing sector.
Bernadine retired as Vice President from the University City Science Center, where her career spanned programming large-scale databases, research and analysis, and incubating over 100 information technology and biotech start-ups.
Her career experience at the Science Center led her to direct other entrepreneurship programs including entrepreneurs from underserved populations. She has authored a best practices manual for growing African American businesses that was funded in part the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Her community service includes serving as Interim President and CEO of the People’s Emergency Center, Chair of the PEC Community Development Board and past Chair of its Foundation. She also serves on the board of the Quest for Educational Excellence, a nonprofit organized through the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Health and Welfare Fund.
Bernadine grew-up in Washington, DC, and came to Philadelphia to pursue her graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania [all but dissertation]. She graduated summa cum laude from B.A. Lincoln University (PA).
Ron is someone who has given much to his family, his community, and the emerging professionals whom he teaches. For Ron, one of the greatest gifts that you can give to someone is your time. When he sees former students become his colleagues, and watches them go on to do extraordinary things with their careers, he is filled with pride. That example of investing in youthful potential was set for him by his parents.
When he was 17, his parents sent him on a five-week trip to Europe with the American Institute for Foreign Studies where he met people from all over America. It was an eye-opening experience for him as an African American teenager from West Virginia. It was his first time on a plane, first time leaving the country, and first time away from his family for so long. What Ron appreciates to this day is the parental investment he witnessed. His parents were raising seven children at the time, three of them were in college, yet they still paid for him to go on the Europe trip. So when Ron became a parent, he took his kids everywhere. Their first trips came early in their lives, because of the example his parents set for him.
Even when he chose to do his undergraduate at the University of Tampa, his father worked extra jobs to ensure that he could graduate without any debt. Though Ron was the most academically underperforming of his siblings, his parents believed in him nonetheless. Ron’s upbringing and his faith is why over the course of his career he has been so generous with his time, caring with his students, and encouraging with colleagues.
It’s that same openness that drew him to UMA, because he saw that it is an organization that lets people operate within their strengths and has a tolerance for uncertainty. When Ron’s not chairing the board or teaches, he loves cooking any type of well-seasoned seafood.
Louis’ path to manufacturing started in college when he studied engineering during the day and attended law school at night. He was led to take on those two challenging subjects after a trip he and his cousin took the summer before his senior year of high school. In what Louis calls the most daring thing he’s ever done, he and his cousin hitchhiked across Canada for 2 months. After the two travelled from Atlantic Canada to British Columbia, they re-entered the U.S. in Washington state. It was there that Louis fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and decided that area of the country is where he wanted to go to college.
He worked in industrial engineering for various manufacturers in Charlotte and Pittsburgh, along with being a mentor to a number of legal professionals, some of whom have gone on to be federal judges. Later in his career, he handled internal human resources disputes for the TSA for several years.
As he was nearing semi-retirement, Louis was searching for a way to continue giving back to the community and to keep himself occupied. So he did some research online and that’s how he found UMA. When he read the mission of the Alliance, he knew someone of his experience had to get involved.
When he’s not sharing his wisdom on the Board, Louis likes fly fishing, reading, and his beloved St. Louis Cardinals. After all his years living in different cities, he now resides back in the Pacific Northwest.