Carl Gray (Chair)
Carl Gray III is a Business Consultant, Information Security expert in the Washington DC, Metropolitan area. He has over 20 years of professional experience in Politics, Marketing, Consulting IT and related industries. As Carl seeks to master the areas of assurance, business development, and risk management, Carl really digs deep into the many industry standards and not only uses them to assess his clients’ security, but also bring added value to make their processes more efficient. He uses an array of automated and manual tools to perform network vulnerability assessments and internal control reviews to ensure integrity, confidentiality, and availability of system resources. As founder of "Learn From a Hacker" Carl teaches cyber security awareness courses to businesses, organizations, and individuals to help to keep individuals safe on the internet from hackers and other negative threats. Mr. Gray has also developed courses to train the next generation of ethical hackers. Carl has a desire to help 1,000 new entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses in 2022!
Tatiana Johnson
Hailing from Durham, NC, Tatiana M. Johnson is a producer and creative consultant with more than a decade of experience. She holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and Business Management from Hampton University and has worked directly with companies including Leslie Lewis Consulting (Grammy Nomination Production Consultant), WME Entertainment, Blackspace: An Afrofuturism Digital Makerspace, Callaloo Kids, Canady Foundation for the Arts and Duke University. She has maneuvered throughout various industries but finds joy in partnering with creatives to bring their artistic visions to fruition. She currently operates a talent management/creative consulting company, 1st Lady Management, and also serves as a co-Founder for Made for More Entertainment. The mantra she carries with her is “there are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it”.
Meagan Jones
Meagan is a global marketing communications manager with experience in the higher education, finance, fintech, healthcare, and global law industries. With 15 years of experience in building brands and developing marketing and communications strategy plans, she is currently a Senior Global Marketing Communications Manager. She is also an adjunct professor of Mass communications and has been teaching on the college level for over 10 years. As a leader in her field, Meagan has developed multimillion dollar digital marketing campaigns for non-profit, finance, and major global organizations. She has also helped spearhead strategies for popular brands you may interact with everyday such as Geico, Google, X-Games, Hilton hotels and more. Most recently she has been focused on developing marketing strategy for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion model that will be used globally in the legal industry to benchmark and grow DE&I efforts. Meagan is extremely passionate about developing marketing strategies that enable organizations and brands to not only reach their intended target audiences, but exceed their reach goals by connecting with consumers in the most creative ways. Meagan received her BS from Norfolk State University in Mass Communications and her MS from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter also in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Advertising and Communication Strategies. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Derrick Taylor
Mr. Derrick Taylor is an experienced Public and Private Sector strategy, assurance, information technology (IT), and financial management (FM) advisor. He is a graduate of Hampton University, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, and currently publicly serves as a Senior Program Manager with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) United States Secret Service (USSS). His comprehensive portfolio focuses on delivering leadership, strategy, program management, assurance and compliance, audit management, policy management, robotic process automation (RPA), FM solutions, business process reengineering (BPR) and business process management (BPM), IT operations and integration, system and process implementation, contract acquisition and management, business proposal development and review, community service, and youth athletic training. He became a champion of comprehensive diversity and inclusion based on his socialization, collegiate matriculation, and professional collaboration and continental U.S. (CONUS) or domestic travel. During his 16+ year Public and Private career, he obtained multiple Public Sector and Department of Defense (DoD) professional internal controls, IT assurance, and leadership certifications. In the last five years he has sat on multiple DoD audit panels and completed the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) DoD DSS, now DCSA, Leadership Development Program and Graduate School USA Executive Potential Program (EPP) Leadership Development. Additionally, Mr. Taylor has led organizational teams and chaired committees in college, his social fraternity, local public-school classrooms and school boards, residential real estate, community organizations, youth sports, entertainment and promotion companies, and church. He has gained direct financial services experience and investment opportunities from working with his licensed financial advisors and hosted multiple community knowledge sharing events. Mr. Derrick Taylor’s diverse professional experience makes him well-versed, capable of bridging gaps, and a thought leader of the future.