Full Name
Darrin Anderson
Job Title
President & CEO of the Urban League
Company
Urban League of Philadelphia
Speaker Bio
Darrin W. Anderson, Sr., Ph.D., MS, serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League of Philadelphia, the region’s leading human and civil rights organization and an affiliate of the National Urban League. In this role, Darrin works in collaboration with the organization’s Board of Directors in planning, developing, and implementing an aggressive agenda that meets the needs of Philadelphia’s Black and Brown communities.
Full Name
Dr. Frank A. Franklin, , Ph.D., J.D., M.P.H., F.C.P.P.
Job Title
Interim Health Commissioner
Company
City of Philadelphia
Speaker Bio
Interim Health Commissioner Dr. Frank Franklin has a background in injury epidemiology, forensic epidemiology, health policy, and the law.
Before his role as Interim Health Commissioner, Dr. Franklin served as Deputy Health Commissioner. Prior to that position, he was the Director of Epidemiology, Analytics and Evaluation Division at the Multnomah County Health Department. He also had the opportunity to work with an integrated substance use treatment and primary care agency as the Director of Treatment and Prevention Services.
Dr. Franklin received his doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg of School of Public Health. He earned a master’s in public health and completed post-doctoral training in health policy from the Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Franklin also holds a Juris Doctor from the Kline School of Law at Drexel University. He is a member of the National Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Franklin’s career as a public health practitioner reflects a commitment to advancing population health and well-being through applied epidemiology, the law, and public policy.
Before his role as Interim Health Commissioner, Dr. Franklin served as Deputy Health Commissioner. Prior to that position, he was the Director of Epidemiology, Analytics and Evaluation Division at the Multnomah County Health Department. He also had the opportunity to work with an integrated substance use treatment and primary care agency as the Director of Treatment and Prevention Services.
Dr. Franklin received his doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg of School of Public Health. He earned a master’s in public health and completed post-doctoral training in health policy from the Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Franklin also holds a Juris Doctor from the Kline School of Law at Drexel University. He is a member of the National Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Franklin’s career as a public health practitioner reflects a commitment to advancing population health and well-being through applied epidemiology, the law, and public policy.
Full Name
Derrick Johnson
Job Title
President and CEO
Company
NAACP
Speaker Bio
Derrick Johnson serves as President and CEO of the NAACP, a title he has held since October of 2017. President Johnson formerly served as vice chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, as well as state president for the Mississippi State Conference NAACP. A longstanding member and leader of the NAACP, Mr. Johnson has helped guide the Association through a period of re-envisioning and reinvigoration.
Under President Johnson's leadership, the NAACP has undertaken such efforts as the 2018 "Log Out" Facebook Campaign, pressuring Facebook after reports of Russian hackers targeting African Americans, the Jamestown to Jamestown Partnership, marking the 400th year enslaved Africans first touched the shores of America, and the 2020 We are Done Dying Campaign, exposing the inequities embedded into the American healthcare system and the country at large.
As the Biden Administration took office in 2021, President Johnson led the charge in calling for a Cabinet-level position focused squarely on advancing our nation's longstanding issue of racial justice. President Biden signed an Executive Order establishing an interagency effort to eliminate systemic racial barriers and ensuring federal policies are rooted in equity, optimizing the well-being of all in public policies.
Under President Johnson's leadership, the NAACP has undertaken such efforts as the 2018 "Log Out" Facebook Campaign, pressuring Facebook after reports of Russian hackers targeting African Americans, the Jamestown to Jamestown Partnership, marking the 400th year enslaved Africans first touched the shores of America, and the 2020 We are Done Dying Campaign, exposing the inequities embedded into the American healthcare system and the country at large.
As the Biden Administration took office in 2021, President Johnson led the charge in calling for a Cabinet-level position focused squarely on advancing our nation's longstanding issue of racial justice. President Biden signed an Executive Order establishing an interagency effort to eliminate systemic racial barriers and ensuring federal policies are rooted in equity, optimizing the well-being of all in public policies.
Full Name
Dr. Camara Jones
Speaker Bio
Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD is a family physician, epidemiologist, and Past President of the American Public Health Association whose work focuses on naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the United States and the world. She is currently a Commissioner on the O'Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination, and Global Health.
Dr. Jones recently completed her one-year appointment as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London (July 2022 through June 2023). She taught six years at the Harvard School of Public Health, served fourteen years at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was a 2019-2020 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University, a 2021 Presidential Visiting Fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, and the 2021-2022 Presidential Chair at the University of California, San Francisco. She also continues as an Adjunct Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health (Emory University) and as a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Her allegories on "race" and racism illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many people across the globe to understand or discuss: that racism exists, racism is a system, racism saps the strength of the whole society, and we can act to dismantle racism. She aims to inspire and equip all communities to engage in sustained anti-racism work with three tasks: 1) Name racism. 2) Ask, “How is racism operating here?”. 3) Organize and strategize to act.
Dr. Jones recently completed her one-year appointment as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London (July 2022 through June 2023). She taught six years at the Harvard School of Public Health, served fourteen years at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was a 2019-2020 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University, a 2021 Presidential Visiting Fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, and the 2021-2022 Presidential Chair at the University of California, San Francisco. She also continues as an Adjunct Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health (Emory University) and as a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Her allegories on "race" and racism illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many people across the globe to understand or discuss: that racism exists, racism is a system, racism saps the strength of the whole society, and we can act to dismantle racism. She aims to inspire and equip all communities to engage in sustained anti-racism work with three tasks: 1) Name racism. 2) Ask, “How is racism operating here?”. 3) Organize and strategize to act.
Full Name
Makayla Myers
Job Title
Expert Political Strategist & Consultant
Company
Stars of Giving Youth Non-Profit
Speaker Bio
Makayla Myers, the Youngest Political Strategist & Consultant in the East Coast, is a dedicated multifaceted young professional with a passion for helping others and being the change she wants to see in the world. The many hats that Makayla wears includes being the Founder & CEO of youth nonprofit organization, Stars of Giving.
Full Name
April Ryan
Job Title
White House Correspondent, MSNBC Political Analyst, D.C. Bureau Chief for TheGrio
Company
TheGrio
Speaker Bio
White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House - a position she has held for over 26 years, since the Clinton era. She is now the longest-serving Black woman in the press corps. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her unusual insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation's past presidents.
April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for TheGrio. She has been featured in Essence, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Elle Magazines to name a few. April Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association. She is one of only four African Americans in the Association's over 100-year history to serve on its board. She is also an esteemed member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club. In 2015, Ms. Ryan was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work-Debut Author) for her first book. 2016 National Council of Negro Women, Mary McCloud Bethune Trailblazer. In 2017 April was the Journalist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists.
In 2019 April Ryan became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and was recognized as the 2019 Freedom of the Press Award Winner by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. April was nominated in 2021 for the NAACP Image Award for Social Justice Impact. April is a Baltimore native and Morgan State University graduate, and she gives back to this community by serving as a mentor to aspiring journalists and assisting with developing "up and coming" broadcasters. April considers her greatest life's work raising her two daughters, Ryan and Grace- who are phenomenal young women.
April Ryan is the author of the award-winning book, The Presidency in Black and White, and At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White (December 2016), where she looks at race relations through the lessons and wisdom that mothers have given their children. April is also the author of Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Her latest book, Black Women Will Save the World, celebrates Black women's resilience and unheralded strength, reflects on "The Year That Changed Everything" — 2020 — and discusses African-American women's unprecedented role in upholding democracy.
April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for TheGrio. She has been featured in Essence, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Elle Magazines to name a few. April Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association. She is one of only four African Americans in the Association's over 100-year history to serve on its board. She is also an esteemed member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club. In 2015, Ms. Ryan was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work-Debut Author) for her first book. 2016 National Council of Negro Women, Mary McCloud Bethune Trailblazer. In 2017 April was the Journalist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists.
In 2019 April Ryan became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and was recognized as the 2019 Freedom of the Press Award Winner by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. April was nominated in 2021 for the NAACP Image Award for Social Justice Impact. April is a Baltimore native and Morgan State University graduate, and she gives back to this community by serving as a mentor to aspiring journalists and assisting with developing "up and coming" broadcasters. April considers her greatest life's work raising her two daughters, Ryan and Grace- who are phenomenal young women.
April Ryan is the author of the award-winning book, The Presidency in Black and White, and At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White (December 2016), where she looks at race relations through the lessons and wisdom that mothers have given their children. April is also the author of Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Her latest book, Black Women Will Save the World, celebrates Black women's resilience and unheralded strength, reflects on "The Year That Changed Everything" — 2020 — and discusses African-American women's unprecedented role in upholding democracy.
