Ryan C. Mack

President of Optimum Capital Management, Ryan Mack: Mr. Mack has a life mission to build and develop a durable financial empire geared towards educating his community and beyond. Ryan Mack graduated from the University of Michigan Business School (ranked number one in the country) with a concentration in Finance.  His career in equity markets began in Detroit, Michigan as a stock trader and later as a trader for the largest NASDAQ trading firm in the nation, Knight Securities.  Having a passion for teaching he established his own financial awareness group in 2003 where he began to publish regular newsletters about various financial related issues that were of interest to people from all income levels. In addition to being a financial advisor working with many prominent clients across the U.S., he charitably lends his support to inner-city communities by coordinating workshops and creating economic empowerment initiatives that teach the principles of understanding the power of financial literacy. Unions, churches, government-subsidized housing communities, municipal programs, nonprofits, inner-city organizations, international communities and especially colleges and universities have benefited from the financial workshops/programs that he has developed and instructed through Optimum Capital Management.

As a renowned public speaker he has provided keynote presentations to organizations across the country such as Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, NAACP, National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Housing Preservation and Development, National Urban League, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Black MBA Association and many others, Microsoft Corporation, HSBC, KPMG, Johnson and Johnson, Six Flags, and Deutsche Bank.  With a strong sense of philanthropy he flew to South Africa to teach economic empowerment principles to those in need and has partnered with the local District Attorney’s office to teach financial literacy to previously incarcerated community residents with the aim of lowering recidivism rates.  He can be regularly viewed on television networks such as GMTV, CNBC, CNN, Thomson Reuters, and BET discussing economic/social issues that impact American citizens.  Ryan has also been profiled in Tavis Smiley’s Covenant and Action (a New York Times Bestseller); co-authored a book with Kevin Powell entitled “The Black Male Handbook”; featured in Black Enterprise, African American Family, The Source & NV Magazine; contributes regularly to Huffingtonpost.com, The Network Journal, Fortune, and Black Enterprise; received the Top 40 Ander 40 Achievement Award from The Network Journal; was inducted by Medgar Evers College (where he currently serves as a board member) into its national honor society PI ETA KAPPA as a honorary member;  and received Tom Joyner’s “Hardest Working Financial Advisor Award” because of his efforts to empower the community with the crucial life skills of financial literacy.  Whether he is counseling a group of doctors at a convention or in Rikers Island providing a free course Ryan Mack’s comprehensive, exciting approach to teaching economic empowerment to all income levels has generated a level of much needed interest in a volatile economy.

 Darius Graham is author of the award-winning book, Being the Difference: True Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things to Change the World.  Darius received a B.A. summa cum laude from Florida A&M University in 2006 and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley - School of Law in 2009, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy and as an editor of the California Law Review. 
    

 In 2006, USA Today named him one of the top 20 college students in the country and the governor of Florida awarded Darius a Points of Light Award for his community service.  While in Florida, Darius created Books All Around, Inc., a non-profit youth literacy organization that has created small libraries in community centers and distributed over 3,000 new books to children in several states.  Darius has served on the board of directors of the McCullum Youth Court in Oakland, CA and currently serves on the board of trustees of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship in Washington, DC.  Darius is originally from Charlotte, NC and is currently an attorney in private practice in Washington, DC.

Natalie Cofield is President of the NMC Consulting Group a boutique consulting firm that specializes in business development, program management and public affairs. She operates her company with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship and business development opportunities and improving business programs for people of color, women and youth. Her firm has worked with clients including Carnegie Mellon, University of Rochester, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the United Negro College Fund, among others.

In addition to working with external clients, the NMC Consulting Group has two signature programs to advance expertise and knowledge sharing amongst aspiring and existing entrepreneurs – Walker’s Legacy: A Women in Business Lecture Series and PROSPECTUS a nine-week entrepreneurship training program and business plan competition.

In 2010 Ms. Cofield testified before the US Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on “Assessing Access: Obstacles and Opportunities for Minority Small Business Owners in Today’s Capital Markets” alongside Robert Johnson.

She has received numerous awards, including a Certificate of Recognition from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for her contribution to economic policy in Los Angeles. Her work on entrepreneurship and business development programming has been case-studied by the International Economic Development Council. In 2006, Ms. Cofield was named one of Ebony Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30. In 2010 she was listed as one of the Top 30 Under 30 in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia by WKYS.

She is a professional who brings years of expertise in strategic planning, program development and management, public affairs and marketing for businesses, nonprofit and economic development entities. She has worked in major global markets including: Washington, DC, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY and London, UK.

In her prior roles she has served as the Director of Industry & Business Development for the Washington, DC Economic Partnership. During her tenure she developed a number of original programs on behalf of the District of Columbia including: PremierPlan, the District’s first $100,000 business plan competition, BusinessPremier, the District’s business retention and expansion initiative, BusinessPremier Small Business Awards, and the Initial Start-Up Considerations Program, a community entrepreneurship initiative. In her role as Director, she served as a liaison to elected and government officials, community and business leaders on business development matters, as a representative of the District of Columbia before international delegations both domestically and abroad (England and China) and at national conferences related to business development and entrepreneurship.

Ms. Cofield has also served as a Special Assistant to the General Manager for the City of Los Angeles, CA Community Development Department and as a Management Consulting Services Analyst for JPMorganChase in New York where she began her career.

Ms. Cofield, is a frequent public speaker, radio personality, presenter and lecturer on topics of business, economic and community development. She is a researcher, writer and published author on topics of entrepreneurship and industry development including having served as the co-author and lead editor of the Doing Business in DC Guide Book with more than 20,000 copies published in five languages (Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Spanish, English), as author of the 2007 State of Nonprofits and Associations in the District of Columbia on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development, and has written articles that have been published in industry journals including the DC Building & Industry Association quarterly journal. In 2009, Ms. Cofield, published The Pursuit of Entrepreneurship a Guide For African American Entrepreneurs commissioned by the Congressional Black Caucus with more than 1,500 copies released at the 2009 Annual Legislative Conference.

In 2008, Ms. Cofield was appointed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty as the youngest Commissioner for the District of Columbia Commission for Women where she serves as Chair of the Public Affairs Committee and Co-Chair of the International Affairs Committee. She is a board member for the DC Coalition for Capital, and the Greater Washington Fashion Chamber of Commerce and has served on the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development’s Nonprofit Task-force.

She is a graduate of Howard University, magna cum laude and obtained her Master of Public Affairs as a Pi Alpha Alpha graduate of the National Urban Fellows at Baruch School of Public Affairs in New York.

Hailing from Port Saint Lucie, Florida Joshua Moore is a 26 year-old Medical Student at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. Mr. Moore is the epitome of an IMPACT Leader. He is dedicated to empowering communities of color through his work in the medical field. He is passionate about working to eliminate health disparities among Black Americans and other marginalized groups, especially in regards to cardiovascular health. After medical school, he plans to pursue a career in Cardiothoracic Surgery and eventually plans to one day open a total heart health clinic providing care to the disadvantaged and medically underserved.

Mr. Moore is entering his third year of medical school and is already a rising star in the medical field. Throughout his medical school career, he has proven to be an effective student leader and has held various student government positions.

Most recently, Mr. Moore was appointed to the University Of Miami Board Of Trustees, where he will have full voting privileges. Previously, he served as both Freshmen and Sophomore Class Student Government President of at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Mr. Moore also served on the Executive Board of University Miami Student National Medical Association, a national student-run organization focused on the needs of minorities, the medically underserved and medical students of color. In this role, he organized a Bone Marrow Donor Registry Drive that successfully added over 100 potential donors to the National Bone Marrow Registry. As a member of the Executive Board, Mr. Moore co-chaired the Black History Month Celebration.

In addition to his other roles, Mr. Moore is a member of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Department of Community Service. He has been a proven leader in this organization and served as Project Manager for the Jessie Trice Community Health Center. As Project Manager, he provided free, comprehensive health screenings – including Pap smear, Cholesterol/Triglyceride testing, Diabetes Screening, Eye and Vision exams, Dental Care, Pediatric Screenings, and Osteoporosis Screenings – to over 200 uninsured members of the Liberty City Neighborhood of Miami.

Not only is Joshua Moore a leader in his medical school, he has also taken his passion for medicine abroad. He recently participated in a medical Mission to Saraya, Senegal at the Saraya Health Center Pharmacy. . On this trip, Mr. Moore provided multiple life saving medical services, which included Polio vaccinations, Tuberculosis and Malaria prophylaxis to children, HIV testing, Obstetric care, and Labor and Delivery services to pregnant women, acute care to the severely ill (mostly from Malaria.) In addition to medical care, he also assisted in organizing and modernizing the Saraya Health Center Pharmacy and provided insecticide-treated mosquito nets to villages throughout rural Senegal. His trip to Senegal spurred his passion for international work and he has already made plans to attend a medical Mission trip to Port Au Prince and Tomonde, Haiti with University of Miami Caneshare in June 2010.

It goes without saying that Mr. Moore is using his passion for medicine to make significant contributions to his community. As a proven leader, future doctor and public servant, Joshua Moore is our IMPACT Leader of the month.

Jonathon Prince, the youngest of three boys, was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. The product of a single mother household after the divorce of his parents, Prince excelled academically, earning acceptance into Clark Atlanta University (CAU). While at CAU, Prince became homeless, was robbed at gunpoint and was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. In spite of these challenges, Prince refused to give up on his dreams of entering the television and film industry.

Upon completing college, Prince moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams. However, in 2005, he became overwhelmingly inspired by the effect Hurricane Katrina had on the residents of New Orleans. He decided to make a cross-country run to inspire those residents as their stories had done to him. First, Prince ran from Studio City to Atlanta. Months later, he continued his running from Atlanta to New York City. Prince has also run from California to Washington, DC with the hope that President Barack Obama would run the last mile of his journey with him and while that did not happen Prince continues on. Through these experiences Prince raised $100,000 in-kind donations that he used to support organizations rebuilding the Crescent City.

However, Prince was not done with his empowering movement. Throughout his life, Prince has been in tune with his community, but he has used this motivation to build his philanthropic spirit. Prince has inspired a physical and social movement—one that should be celebrated and supported.

Melanie N. Roussell is currently serving as the Press Secretary for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan. Specializing in crisis communication and management, Roussell has spent nearly seven years inside the Beltway crafting messages and developing communication strategies for political principles.

Roussell first came to Washington, DC as a CBCF intern in 2001 for former Rep. William Jefferson and returned as his staff assistant in 2002. She later served as Public Information Director for the New Orleans District Attorney, where she began to specialize in daily crisis management.

In 2004, she returned to Washington as Communications Director for Jefferson. During her tenure, Roussell further developed her crisis communications specialty while dealing with dual crises: the response to Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, and the public bribery scandal Jefferson faced that same month. In addition to her press responsibilities, Roussell also managed Small Business, Education, Social Security, Women and children’s policy issues for Jefferson.

Roussell moved to the House Judiciary Committee in 2007, where she served as Communications Director, leading all message development and print media relations efforts during the U.S. Attorney scandal, the related contempt of Congress charges against Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, and other high profile committee activities.

In 2008, Roussell was named Southern Regional Communications Director for the Barack Obama campaign, responsible for managing communications for three battleground states – Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Her work on the campaign helped turn all three red states blue. Following the campaign, she worked on the Presidential Inaugural Committee as a spokesperson. She was named Press Secretary for HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in February 2009.

Roussell, a native of New Orleans, LA, received her Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Florida A&M University and her M.A. in Public Communication from American University.

Bizunesh “Biz” Scott provides strategic legal advice and counsel on general business matters, corporate compliance, cost-reductions, litigation, contracts, electronic discovery management, document retention, talent management, and diversity initiatives. She has specific experience in the retail, financial services, entertainment, and professional consulting industries. Ms. Scott frequently speaks at legal seminars and conferences on issues ranging from compliance to diversity and mentoring.

She is currently serving as Interim General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Golfsmith International Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOLF). At Golfsmith, she manages all legal functions of the business including oversight of legal issues related to retail real estate, contract drafting and negotiations, human resources, securities and governance, intellectual property, compliance, and overall corporate strategy.

She has also been a Deputy Associate Counsel (White House Associate Program) for the Executive Office of the President of the United State’s Office of Presidential Personnel. Before starting Advice and Counsel LLP, Ms. Scott practiced at both Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Latham & Watkins. As outside counsel, she has defended clients during government agency investigations, criminal investigations, class actions, civil actions, and with respect to changes in management.

More specifically, her civil representation includes complex state and federal civil actions alleging securities fraud, RICO violations, False Claims Act violations, breach of contract, wrongful termination, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duties. She has represented businesses and individuals that were under government investigation for a variety of allegations including accounting fraud or improprieties, FCPA violations, improper trading, market manipulation, and consumer fraud. Ms. Scott also spent six months on a rotation at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, defending eviction actions in the Landlord-Tenant Branch of the D.C. Superior Court and administrative proceedings at the D.C. Housing Authority.

Ms. Scott clerked for the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Ms. Scott earned her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School, a member of both Michigan Law Review and Journal of Gender and Law. She also competed in three moot court competitions, Michigan Law School Campbell Moot Court competition, Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition, and Jessup International Moot Court Competition. Ms. Scott is currently pursuing an L.L.M. at Georgetown Law School.