INTERRUPT RACISM Summit 2023

Dr. Seanelle Hawkins

As the first woman to serve as President and CEO of the Urban League of Rochester, Dr. Seanelle Hawkins has consistently proven her mettle in transparently engaging with and advocating for the Rochester community.

Dr. Hawkins takes a careful, personal approach to every program and staff member; she has helped ULR to exceed expectations in program performance, fundraising, and community recognition, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadership, the Urban League of Rochester has returned to its roots as the premier civil rights organization in the Greater Rochester area with the introduction of INTERRUPT RACISM and an entirely new Equity and Advocacy division.

Dr. Hawkins is an expert in community engagement and cultural change, advocacy, transitional and permanent supportive housing, fiscal stewardship, strategic planning, and staff development. Her nonprofit executive leadership includes over 20 years in various executive leadership roles for nonprofits and program consultancies in New York and Washington, DC. She also serves as an adjunct professor at St. John Fisher College University in its doctoral program of Executive Leadership.

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Dr. Hawkins received her Bachelor’s Degree from Syracuse University, a Master’s in Strategic Leadership at Roberts Wesleyan College, and her Doctorate of Education from the Executive Leadership Program at St. John Fisher University.

She actively serves as a board member for The Council of Agency Executives, Inc, RochesterWorks!, Greater Rochester Housing Partnership, ROC2025 Board, M&T Bank Directors Advisory Council, Excellus Health Plan Inc., Trillium Health, and she is the President of the Women’s Council.

Dr. Hawkins lives in Rochester with her husband John and their four-year old daughter Zoe.

Simeon Banister, a Rochester native, began his tenure as president and CEO of Rochester Area Community Foundation on Oct. 1, 2022.

Banister’s career before the Foundation spanned public and private sectors and included the New York State Senate, state Department of Taxation and Finance, the State University of New York, and several private commercial real estate firms.

He joined the Community Foundation in 2017 as a program officer for equity and later vice president of the Community Programs department, which oversees grantmaking and community leadership. In October 2021, Banister was named executive vice president.

Banister played a key role when the Foundation and United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes launched the Community Crisis Fund in March 2020 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He co-led the committee that met every day for several months to review and approve grant requests. Nearly $7 million was distributed by that committee during the first year of the pandemic. Banister took the lead in establishing the North Star Coalition, which is aligned with Urban Institute to help ensure that post-pandemic recovery dollars are used to create opportunities that will benefit historically excluded residents.

Banister has been recognized for his contributions. Rochester Business Journal named him to the 2019 Forty Under 40 class, and in 2021 was named to City & State New York’s first-ever Western New York Power 100 list.

A graduate of North Carolina Central University and the Princeton Theological Seminary, Banister is a sought-after speaker, most recently on Rochester’s history of redlining and racial inequities. For several years, he was president of the Greater Rochester Martin Luther King Jr. Commission (through 2022) and currently serves on boards of the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Congressional Award Foundation’s Advisory Board. Banister and his family live in Rochester.

Dr. Christopher Metzler is an International Human Rights Lawyer, DEI and ESG pioneer, a well publisher author and lecturer. He is also SVP, Corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at The National Urban League.

He read law at Oxford University in The U.K. and Columbia University in New York City. He is a member of The University of Oxford and Kellogg College at Oxford. His Ph.D is in International Legal Philosophy from The University of Aberdeen where he published the precursor to ESG.  “The Sword of Damocles: Holding Global Organizations accountable for Human Rights Violations.”

A former professor at Cornell University ILR School He created the first certification in DEI in  the nation at Cornell University where he was a faculty member in DEI, Law and related disciplines.

After Cornell, he was Senior Associate Dean at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. At Georgetown, he also launched the Master’s degrees in H.R. and Diversity, Systems Engineering, Real Estate, Sports Industry Management, Emergency and Disaster Management, Technology Management, Urban and Regional Planning and The Executive Diversity Management Certificate. 

He was CEO of a global DEI Consulting Practice which provides consulting, strategy,  training, deisgn and other services for a variety of organizations and the author of the first ever competencies of a Chief Diversity Officer. 

He has served on the faculties of Cornell, Georgetown, Thomas Jefferso n School of Medicine, Bellarmine University, Kings College, The London School of Economnics (LSE)  and others.  He was a Senior Fellow at The Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine. He served on the faculty of The Jossor Institute in Qatar and an educational advisor for The World Cup 2022. He frequently advises organizations on Board Governance and Compliance, and has served as an expert witness is discrimination cases in State and Federal Courts. He is an expert on ESG and advises global organizations on implementation and rankings in ESG and other governance related efforts. He drafts and edits ESG reports for global organizations.

Dr. Metzler provides strategic, policy and SEM support for global sustainability strategy, ESG reporting and ESG stakeholder engagement.

Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu

The Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu knew from early in life that the one thing she would never be is a priest. She has always said, “I have my father’s nose, I do not want his job” However, after years spent as a development consultant, educator and race and gender activist she accepted her call to ordained ministry. She is an Episcopal priest who most recently was Associate Rector at All Saints, Beverly Hills.

The challenges of growing black and female in apartheid South Africa have been the foundation of Naomi’s life as an activist for human rights. Those experiences taught her that our whole human family loses when we accept situations of oppression, and how the teaching and preaching hate and division injure us all.

Rev. Tutu is the third child Archbishop Desmond and Nomalizo Leah Tutu. She was born in South Africa and had the opportunity to live in many communities and countries. She was educated in Swaziland, the US and England, and has divided her adult life between South Africa and the US. Growing up the ‘daughter of …’ has offered Naomi Tutu many opportunities and challenges in her life. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges she has struggled with is the call to ministry. This call refused to be silenced, even as she carried her passion for justice into other fields, the call to preach and serve as an ordained clergyperson continued to tug at her. Finally, in her 50’s she responded to the call and went to seminary.

Her professional experience ranges from being a development consultant in West Africa, to being program coordinator for programs on Race and Gender and Gender-based Violence in Education at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. In addition, Rev. Tutu has taught at the University of Hartford, University of Connecticut and Brevard College in North Carolina. She served as Program Coordinator for the historic Race Relations Institute at Fisk University and was a part of the Institute’s delegation to the World Conference Against Racism in Durban.

She started her public speaking as a college student at Berea College in Kentucky in the 1970’s when she was invited to speak at churches, community groups and colleges and universities about her experiences growing up in apartheid South Africa. Since that time, she has become a much sought-after speaker to groups as varied as business associations, professional conferences, elected officials and church and civic organizations.

As well as speaking and preaching Rev. Tutu has established Nozizwe Consulting. Nozizwe means Mother of Many Lands, in her mother tongue Xhosa and is the name she was given by her maternal grandmother. The guiding principle of Nozizwe Consulting is to bring different groups together to learn from and celebrate their differences and acknowledge their shared humanity. As part of this work, she has led Truth and Reconciliation Workshops for groups dealing with different types of conflict. She has also offered educational and partnership trips to South Africa for groups as varied as high schools, churches, hospices, K-12 teachers, and women’s associations. These trips emphasize the opportunities to share our stories and experiences.

Rev. Tutu is the recipient of four honorary doctorates from universities and colleges in the US and Nigeria. She has served as a curate at Christ Church Cathedral and as Canon Missioner for Racial and Economic Equity, and Canon Missioner for Kairos West Community Center for the Cathedral of All Souls, in Asheville, NC. She is the single mother of two daughters and a son.

Joan M. Allen is a civil rights activist and one of the founders of the Urban League of Rochester. In 1965, due to the racial riots and redlining restricting people of color from buying homes, a group of members in the community got together and coordinated efforts to become affiliated with the National Urban League.

Joan remembers working closely with women of color, such as Connie Mitchell and Hannah Storrs, who met regularly to make sure minorities in the Rochester area were being treated fairly in housing, employment, and education. Joan was the first person of color to be hired at Rochester Telephone as an Accounting Clerk and was responsible for budgeting, and maintaining finances for all engineer accounts. Joan also worked as a librarian at Rochester Public Library in downtown Rochester and served at various other nonprofit agencies.

Joan just celebrated her 90th birthday and lives in downtown Rochester.

“We must interrupt the discriminatory attitudes of those in the community who believe the fight ended…we must continue to campaign against inequity, but more importantly, educate our community because knowledge is essential to cultural awareness.

- Joan M. Allen 1985”

Constance Jefferson

Constance Mitchell-Jefferson was born and raised in the City of Rochester, NY where she attended grammar school and high school. Upon graduation from high school she attended Xavier University of Louisiana a small Catholic HBCU located in New Orleans, La. She attended Xavier for three years but decided to take a year off, during which time she moved to Philadelphia, PA and worked and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Philadelphia University.

Upon graduation she returned to Rochester and worked as a part time consultant to the Rochester City School District Adult Continuing Ed Program: coordinating and teaching entrepreneurial classes for small businesses on developing a marketing plan, advertising and general business management.

In 1982 she went to work for The Nielsen Company as a Marketing Research Field Rep and relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked for Nielsen’s for three years before returning to Rochester in 1984. Upon returning to Rochester she went to work for the Urban League of Rochester as an Employment Counselor with the CEOSC (Comprehensive Employment Opportunities Program) and as the Educational Programs Coordinator. In 1991 she left the Urban League to go to work for INROADS, Inc. as the City Manager, then Operations Manager then Acting Director for INROADS/Upstate New York one of 50 affiliate offices represented at that time.

In this diverse role she served as a mentor, advisor and coach to 100’s of students and as a human resources and diversity consultant to major corporations. INROADS is an international career development organization that places talented minority college students into corporate internships in business and technology and prepares them for corporate and community leadership roles upon graduation. INROADS develops consultative relationships with major companies and aides them in developing diversity recruiting strategies. The end result, to incorporate a pipeline of high potential diversity talent that would be able to hit the ground running upon graduation and be promotable to middle management within the first year after graduation. After nine rewarding years she left INROADS in 2000 to go to work for one of her corporate clients. She still gets thank-you notes from students she mentored and advised, each of whom have excelled in their respective careers to C Level status.

From 2000 to 2005 she worked for the New York-Penn Regional Office of the American Red Cross Blood Services in various positions: Assistant to the CEO for Strategic and Administrative Services, Diversity Employment Associate, Regional Diversity Consultant, Manager of Diversity Marketing. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she was one of 30 individuals chosen to represent American Red Cross as a National Diversity Consultant , to Disaster Relief working in Louisiana and Texas. While employed with Red Cross she attended Roberts Wesleyan College and obtained her Masters of Science in Organizational Management and graduated Magna Cum Laude and received the colleges “Distinguished Leadership Award”, She was asked by her advisor is he could excerpt some of her graduate thesis “Business Unusual…Thinking Outside the Box” for his PHD. Her thesis stated that diversity has been an ingrained part of the life cycle from ecological, biological and societal perspectives since the inception of the world and that societal ills and pressures had allowed people to move away from the concept... thus business unusual.

In 2005 she ventured out on her own and began CMJ Business Solutions where she provided management and business consulting services to small businesses and nonprofits. Her services covered marketing, HR, training, strategic planning, and business development. Her company motto was “we engage clients in collaborative relationships to maintain focus on strategy, process, people, programs and services.” After six years, she was forced to close her business as life got in the way. After twenty-five years of marriage she was divorcing and had a sick parent that required her assistance.

After several years of part-time jobs to fill the financial gap she volunteered to work on then City Council President Lovely Warren’s campaign for Mayor. In 2014, Mayor Warren appointed her to the position of MWBE (Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise) Officer. In this role Constance flourished. She redesigned and reignited the fire of the MWBE program within the City of Rochester and has been able to establish herself as a knowledgeable resource for small business owners while connecting herself regionally and statewide with some of the key players in the MWBE and small business arena. She developed a four-pronged approach to procurement which ensured that MWBE goals would be infused and required at every procurement level the city implements: Public Work Construction, Public Work Consulting, Professional Services Consulting and Commodity: Goods and Services. This makes the City of Rochester the only local municipality outside of NYS that requires goals at all levels of procurement.

In 2016 she started the MWBE Consortium of Upstate New York and served as an advocate and spokesperson. The consortium, now defunct (2019) was designed to operate as a “think-tank” to identify and create solutions to some of the challenges minority and women-owned businesses face in doing business within NY State. The Consortium had members from Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Constance stated: “NYS is a large state and Upstate has its unique and regional challenges that many times are not addressed by our downstate based representatives. The Consortium was the collective voice needed to represent the interest of the many MWBE business that call Upstate NY home”. Although, the Consortium is no longer in existence Constance has continued being a spokesperson and advocate for MWBE businesses in the Upstate arena. She currently is working on a committee with several others throughout the state to have Article 15A extended into state law. This is the executive order which makes MWBE practices apart of NYS procurement.

In 2019 at the recommendation of her predecessor, Constance became the Purchasing Agent for the City of Rochester. Under her direction the Bureau of Purchasing has been redefined and revamped into a consultative arm of the City for public work construction, public work compliance, MWBE and commodity procurement; Taking advantage of cooperative procurement options and maximizing solicitation to encourage competition and price advantages.

As you can see Constance has a long and varied history and she has worked in and around the diversity arena and has tried in all cases to be an example to women and minorities that through preparedness and knowledge, along with determination and advocacy they can excel and progress. She has volunteered to serve on this panel today and volunteers with many organizations to participate in small business training and discussion.

Among her honors and awards are: Distinguished Leadership Award, Roberts Wesleyan College; Rochester Women’s Network, W Award Honoree; Women in Economic Development and Civic Leadership Award from Walker’s Legacy; Recently received a Certificate of Achievement and Recognition from the Rochester City Council for the work she did in producing a 3-day Upstate New York MWBE Conference and lastly she was recently nominated and is competition for the Rochester Business Journal Icon Award for the work she does in representing Upstate Minority and Women-Owned small businesses.

Tiffany Owens

Ms. Tiffany Owens is the Sr. Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Wealth Building at the Urban League of Rochester (ULR).  In her current role, she works closely with the division leaders to execute programming that positively impacts individuals in positioning themselves to achieve financial goals in employment, business, and investments. 

Prior to the ULR, Tiffany served as the Executive Director of a community-based service organization impacting the 44,000 individuals that live in the Southwest quadrant of Rochester. Ms. Owens took the helm in October 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic at a particularly challenging time in the agency’s history. She hastened to realign the budget and establish transparency and accountability to instill confidence in the agency resulting in an increase in funding of over 95% as well as securing resources for capital improvements and increased programming.

Ms. Owens served for over 20 years in the corporate sector in Rochester and Atlanta where she rose into leadership positions in a variety of areas including: mortgage, audit, and property management companies. Throughout her career, she has taken on complex business areas that lacked structure and leadership and developed those areas to become more productive with higher levels of accuracy and improved customer service and quality.

Her success was celebrated in the receipt of numerous awards including a premiere Leadership Award for ranking in the top 15% of the leaders for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.; based on productivity, quality, customer service and employee feedback.  Additionally, she was awarded:  Rising Star Award 2021, Trailblazer Award, President’s Award, and Optimal Service Award for top ranking over 12 months.

Devoted to the Greater Rochester area’s success, Tiffany formally served on the Board of Directors for Council of Agency Executives and currently serves as President of FIGHT Village Development Fund, Inc., Board Chair for United Youth Music and Arts, (UYMA) and serves on the Board of Directors for Jordan Health.  She holds a degree in Political Science and Government from Niagara University.

Jamila Evans-Rogers

Jamila Evans-Rogers is the daughter of the late Bishop Dr. James H. Evans Jr. and Dr. Estella Norwood Evans of Rochester, NY. After graduating from Pittsford Mendon High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She also earned a professional certificate in radio and TV broadcasting while in Michigan.

After graduating college, Jamila began a successful career in advertising sales and marketing with AT&T Advertising and Publishing highlighted by being awarded the 2008 CEO Presidential Award, given to the highest-performing advertising executives around the country. She went on to work in broadcasting as a programmer and voice-over artist working at both TV and radio stations in the Top-25 Metro Detroit market. After relocating back to Rochester in 2021, Jamila started her own consultancy, Agape PR, specializing in non-profit public relations, media consulting, and event coordination.

As a consultant, she has worked with a cross-section of both civic and community leaders on many events and initiatives in and around Greater Rochester. Jamila is also a published writer serving as assistant editor for About Time Magazine in 2022. She is a long-time member and serves as church clerk at Mt.Olivet Baptist Church. Her greatest joy comes from being a mother, a loving friend, and a faithful woman of God.

Marc H. Morial

Marc Morial, one of the few national leaders to possess “street smarts,” and “boardroom savvy,” is the transformative President and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization.

He served as the highly successful and popular Mayor of New Orleans as well as the President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Marc previously was a Louisiana State Senator and was a lawyer in New Orleans with an active, high-profile practice.

He is a leading voice on the national stage in the battle for jobs, education, housing, health, voting rights, equity, and entrepreneurship.

Marc is a published author; his leadership book, Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, United, and Achieve has been widely acclaimed, and his column entitled To Be Equal, reaches hundreds of thousands.

He is the host of the weekly syndicated television show, America’s Black Forum.

A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and African American Studies, he has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine, one of the top 50 Non-Profit Leaders by the Non-Profit Times, one of the 100 Most Influential Black Lawyers in America and he has also been inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta, GA.

Marc and his father, the late Ernest “Dutch” Morial, are history makers as the first African American father/son mayors in the U.S. and were the subject of a Double Jeopardy question on the legendary Jeopardy television game show in the 1990s.

Abdul Tubman

Born in Monrovia, Liberia, he's the descendant of President William V.S. Tubman, the 19th President of Liberia. As a result of the civil war, his family moved to Kenya, connecting with their roots to Sir Sheikh Mbarak Hinawy, a former governor of Mombasa and Zanzibar and a figure knighted by Queen Victoria. Eventually settling in White Plains, NY, he learned of his relation to Harriet Tubman, the renowned abolitionist and activist.

His achievements in community service are significant. In 2014, he spoke at the Father of the Year awards. By 2015, White Plains acknowledged him with the 45th Anniversary Certificate of Merit. The same year, he received the Community Champion Award from the White Plains Juneteenth Heritage Committee, and multiple accolades recognizing his community contributions. May 19, 2015, became Abdul Tubman Day in White Plains, and May 14 was similarly named in his honor in Westchester County and New York State.

His artistic endeavors took off in 2019 when he produced his first NYC Off-Broadway Concert, "Look What a Wonder", at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery. He then ventured into several Off-Broadway productions centered on social justice and LGBTQ+ themes. His short film, "Expiration Date", debuted at the 2022 Chelsea Film Festival.

Educationally, he boasts an International MBA in Sustainability and Environmental Policy from Southern New Hampshire University, and a Bachelor's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Clarkson University. Passionate about the environment, he's deeply involved in researching sustainable technologies, from solar energy to hydroponics.