Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors is comprised of transformative leaders and mentors in their respective fields. We are thankful for each of them volunteering their time toward our mission.

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Jen Thompson

Vice President

Marketing

Japonesque

Jen Thompson was recently appointed Global VP of Female Wellness at Reckitt. Prior to her new position, Jen was with Procter & Gamble for 15 years, leading business both in sales and marketing functions during her tenure. The majority of her career has been spent in beauty and grooming divisions on brands such as Pantene, Gillette, Aussie, and Old Spice. She was the driving force behind the turnaround of P&G’s Aussie North America business.

Jen led a half-billion dollar portfolio of brands and the new brand ventures arm for NA Hair Care. She incubated and launched 4 new beauty brands in under 12 months.

Born in the UK and raised in Humble, Texas, Jen is currently based in New York. She holds a B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business. Jen is married with three children ages 5, 3, and 1. She is a passionate working mom mentor for young female marketers and now extends her mentorship to other industries. She enjoys traveling and is an amateur photographer.

Ryan Carter

Vice President

Business Development

Prudential

Ryan Carter has been a Vice President of Business Development in Inclusive Solutions at Prudential Financial since June 2022. His responsibilities include the formal launch and strategy management of Prudential’s developing efforts to reach Black consumers, with a mission to make financial services more accessible and inclusive. Ryan is a proven innovator, with a track record of leveraging financial markets and products to uplift marginalized communities. Before joining Prudential, Ryan Carter was with Morgan Stanley for over 9 years, having held a variety of roles. His primary focus was driving capital into low-income communities. Ryan’s previous experience at Morgan Stanley includes mortgage sales and trading within the Securitized Products Group, as well as Investment Banking.

Ryan holds a B.A. in Economics and Commerce from Hampden-Sydney College, where he was Valedictorian. A Truman Scholar, Ryan is passionate about people, focusing his energy on work aimed at providing localized impact, and continually volunteering as a tutor, mentor, and advisor. Ryan enjoys traveling near and far, and having been a college athlete, remains an avid sports fan. Raised outside of Richmond,Virginia, and after his time in New York City, Ryan now lives in Northern Virginia, with his wife Becca.

Rakesh Mehta, M.D.

Associate Clinical Professor

Hematology

Indiana University School of Medicine

Rakesh Mehta, M.D. joined the faculty of the Hematology-Oncology division of the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2002. Initially hired to develop a Coagulation Medicine program at IUSM, he quickly also became very involved in medical education. He has had the opportunity to serve in several leadership roles within the School of Medicine, including being an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program and the Associate Dean for Medical Student Affairs. More recently, he has been the Patient Care Competency Director for the school, while also helping on the statewide course management team for the Hematology-Cardiovascular Medicine course.

Rakesh was raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and went to college at the George Washington University, graduating with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He then went to medical school at Penn State University. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is married, and has three kids, all currently in high school. With his son, he has become a huge Arsenal football fan, while his twin daughters have taught him how to be a high school debate judge.

W. Graham Carlos III, M.D.

Chief of Medicine

Pulmonary and Critical Care

Eskenazi Health

W. Graham Carlos III, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Medicine serving as the Chief of Medicine for Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. He is a practicing Pulmonary and Critical Care physician in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He joined the faculty at Indiana University in 2011 and has been highly awarded for his academic and clinical endeavors. These awards include the Indianapolis Monthly “Top Doctor” award and the prestigious Indiana University School of Medicine Trustee Teaching Award. His research interests center on medical education within his specialty where he mentors learners from all levels including students, residents, and fellows. Dr. Carlos is quite active within the American Thoracic Society as the Chairman of their section on medical education.

Using his platform as an educator Dr. Carlos has taught thousands of students, trainees, and healthcare team members the importance of cultivating positivity and embracing a growth mindset.

A graduate of The University of Notre Dame, Dr. Carlos did his Medical School training at Indiana University, Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Residency at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, and his Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship at Indiana University in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Amy Johnson, D.O.

Assistant Clinical Professor

Palliative Care

Indiana University School of Medicine

Amy Johnson, D.O. is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She became clinical facility for Palliative Medicine in 2017 after completing her Palliative Care and Hospice Fellowship at Indiana University.

Her clinical work involves caring for patients with serious illness in both the hospital setting and the ambulatory setting. She focuses on education of residents and fellows in Palliative Medicine, as well as teaching clinical medicine at the medical school level. Her research interests are palliative care for patients with end-stage liver disease and the effect of communication education on moral distress in medical residents. One of the most rewarding aspects of her job is mentoring learners and guiding them to finding their true calling in medicine. The best advice she can give is “The patients will choose you. What patients’ stories stick with you best? That is where you should be.”

She received her medical degree from Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2012 and completed her Internal medicine Training at Indiana University in 2015.

Kelly Wong, M.D.

Resident Physician

Emergency Medicine

Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Kelly Wong, M.D. is currently completing her emergency medicine residency at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Rhode Island. During her time there, she founded Patient Voting, a non-partisan organization to help hospitalized patients vote in elections. Her other career interests are rural health, medical education, and patient advocacy.

She won the Resident of the Year award from the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association and the Marc J. Shapiro Resident Teaching Award from Brown University.

Raised in South Dakota, she has a B.A. in Biology and Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish/French) from Augustana University and then attended medical school at the University of South Dakota. When not on shift, she enjoys backpacking and traveling with her fiancé Pete, and less-enjoys (but still tries) long distance running.

Abraham Bankole, M.D.

Resident Physician

Orthopaedic Surgery

University of Texas

Abraham Bankole is a devout champion for advocacy and visibility for first-generation and underrepresented medical students.

He created a YouTube channel in 2018 named “AmbitiousAbe” where he shares the knowledge he has learned over his undergraduate and medical school career to help up and coming medical students reach their goals. To date, his channel has garnered 10K subscribers and over 380K views. His purpose is to motivate and inspire the next generation of students who are historically underrepresented.

Abraham is an orthopaedic surgery resident at The University of Texas at Austin - Dell Medical School. Originally from Houston, Texas, he received his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Texas. He then completed medical school at the UT School of Medicine in San Antonio. Abraham’s interests outside of medicine include working out, watching sports, cooking, and volunteering.

Bret Senior

Brand Director

Pantene, North America

Procter & Gamble

Bret Senior has been with Procter & Gamble for 3 years, leading businesses in the brand management function within the dynamic beauty category. His career has flexed across innovating for category-leading brands, like Pantene, and launching new grassroots, digital projects like HairCode. He was a driving force behind the turnaround of P&G’s Pantene North America business and now leads the brand’s product innovation pipeline and LGBTQ+ communication platform.

Born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, Bret has traveled the world and is currently based in Cincinnati, OH. He holds a B.S. in Business Management, concentrations in Marketing and Consulting, from UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Bret is openly and proudly a gay man, currently dating his boyfriend he met through work. He is a thought leader at P&G, notably one of the company’s youngest Brand Directors in its history, and an anchor for his LGBTQ+ counterparts. He enjoys couchsurfing his friends’ apartments, OrangeTheory, social media, and dancing.

Verna Coleman

Lead Consultant

U.S. Multicultural Strategy

Google

Verna Coleman began her almost 15-year career in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, after graduating from Miami University and receiving a B.S. in Marketing. Her brand-building work spans across many brands in beauty, pet, home and hair care.

Verna led the groundbreaking My Black is Beautiful campaign at P&G, which won over 70 industry awards including 5 Cannes Lions and an Emmy in 2018 for “The Talk” campaign.

When not working and spending time with her children, Verna loves to cook (southern comfort foods are a favorite), read, and watch sports - especially gymnastics and football. Her service commitments include several activities/responsibilities as a life-long member of Quinn Chapel AME Church in Forest Park, OH and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Verna is a Cincinnati, OH native and now resides in New York City.