Board of Directors
Bold Minds is governed by a founding board of educators, creatives, and community builders committed to redefining education for the African diaspora. Together they bring expertise in strategy, curriculum design, finance, and storytelling, rooted in culture and driven by technology.
Yaya Kittles
Founder
Creative strategist and Accenture consultant with more than 15 years in marketing, design, and education innovation. Yaya founded Bold Minds around a single question: if AI becomes one of the primary ways our children access knowledge, who makes sure our knowledge is there?
Founding Board
Contacts:
Yaya Kittles
Founder
Wesley Clark was named Senior Advisor to the President in May 2018. An expert in corporate law, he teaches a wide range of courses including Contracts, Sales, Closely Held Business Organizations, Publicly Traded Corporations, Mergers & Acquisitions, International Law and International Securities Regulation.
Contacts:
Hawa Lansanah
Co-Founder. Educator and curriculum developer specializing in culturally centered, diaspora-focused learning.
Betty Bowman joined the faculty in 2002, and received tenure there in 2007. Before joining the faculty, she was a visiting assistant professor at Syracuse University College of Law. Prior to that, she was a legal consultant with JPMorgan Chase; a contract attorney for Cravath, Swaine & Moore; and an assistant prosecutor for the Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto, Canada.
Contacts:
Zalika Mars
Co-Founder and Finance Lead. Financial consultant with expertise in nonprofit finance, operations, and strategic planning.
With over four decades of law teaching experience, Johnny Jones is a nationally-recognized constitutionalist who has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the first-ever Pioneer Award for his commitment and dedication to students from the FIU Student Bar Association in 2004. Since then, students have voted him “Professor of the Year” multiple times.
Contacts:
Avegnon
Board Member
Dennis Ruiz was a member of the faculty at Texas Tech University School of Law, where she held the Alvin R. Allison Distinguished Professorship and received every teaching award the law school and the University conferred. She was the Distinguished Fulbright Professor of American Constitutional Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Greece in 1992.
Contacts:
Abi
Board Member
Vernon Lowe first joined the University in 2006 as Assistant Dean for Academic Support Programs. He served as Assistant Dean until 2013, when he became a full time lecturer at the College. He teaches classes relating to legal theory and reasoning, race and law, gender and law, and in the area of commercial transactions.
Contacts:
Vernon Lowe
Assistant Vice President for Communications
Contacts:
Yaya Kittles
Founder
Wesley Clark was named Senior Advisor to the President in May 2018. An expert in corporate law, he teaches a wide range of courses including Contracts, Sales, Closely Held Business Organizations, Publicly Traded Corporations, Mergers & Acquisitions, International Law and International Securities Regulation.
Contacts:
Hawa Lansanah
Co-Founder
Betty Bowman joined the faculty in 2002, and received tenure there in 2007. Before joining the faculty, she was a visiting assistant professor at Syracuse University College of Law. Prior to that, she was a legal consultant with JPMorgan Chase; a contract attorney for Cravath, Swaine & Moore; and an assistant prosecutor for the Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto, Canada.
Contacts:
Zalika Mars
Co-Founder and Finance Lead
With over four decades of law teaching experience, Johnny Jones is a nationally-recognized constitutionalist who has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the first-ever Pioneer Award for his commitment and dedication to students from the FIU Student Bar Association in 2004. Since then, students have voted him “Professor of the Year” multiple times.
Contacts:
Avegnon
Board Member
Dennis Ruiz was a member of the faculty at Texas Tech University School of Law, where she held the Alvin R. Allison Distinguished Professorship and received every teaching award the law school and the University conferred. She was the Distinguished Fulbright Professor of American Constitutional Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Greece in 1992.
Contacts:
Abi
Board Member
Vernon Lowe first joined the University in 2006 as Assistant Dean for Academic Support Programs. He served as Assistant Dean until 2013, when he became a full time lecturer at the College. He teaches classes relating to legal theory and reasoning, race and law, gender and law, and in the area of commercial transactions.
Contacts:
Vernon Lowe
Assistant Vice President for Communications